'I can't come back to you, Luc…I just can't. Please go away and forget you ever saw me.' The wobble in her legs had spread dismayingly to her voice.
He drew closer. 'If I could forget you, I wouldn't be here, cara.'
Catherine took a hasty step backward. 'Don't you remember all those things I used to do that annoyed you?' she exclaimed in desperation.
'They became endearing when I was deprived of them.'
'Stay away from me!' Hysteria was creeping up on her by speedy degrees as he advanced. 'I'll die if you touch me!'
'And I'll die if I don't. I ought to remind you that I'm a survivor,' Luc drawled almost playfully, reaching for her, golden eyes burning over her small figure in a blaze of hunger. 'You won't remember his name by tomorrow.'
She lunged out of his reach and one of her stiletto heels caught in the fringe of the rug, throwing her right off balance. Her feet went out from under her and she fell, her head bouncing painfully off the edge of something hard. As she cried out, darkness folded in like a curtain falling and she knew no more.
* * *
'You can see the area I'm referring to here.' The consultant indicated the shading on the X-ray. 'A previous injury that required quite major surgery. At this stage, however, I have no reason to suspect that she's suffering from anything more than concussion, but naturally she should stay in overnight so that we can keep an eye on her.'
'She's taking a hell of a long time to come round properly.'
'She's had a hell of a nasty bump.' Meeting that narrowed, fierce stare, utterly empty of amusement, the older man mentally matched his facetious response to a lead balloon.
The voices didn't make any sense to Catherine, but she recognised Luc's and was instantly soothed by that recognition. A shard of cut-glass pain throbbed horribly at the base of her skull and, as she shifted her head in a pointless attempt to deaden it, she groaned, her eyes opening on bright light.
Luc swam into focus and she smiled. 'You're all fuzzy,' she mumbled.
A grey-haired man appeared at the other side of the bed and tested her co-ordination. Then he asked her what day it was. She shut her eyes again and thought hard. Her brain felt like so much floating cotton wool. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…take your pick. She hadn't a clue what day it was. Come to think of it, she didn't even know what she was doing in hospital.
The question was repeated.
'Can't you see that she's in pain?' Luc demanded in biting exasperation. 'Let her rest.'
'Catherine.' It was the doctor's voice, irritatingly persistent, forcing her to lift her heavy eyelids again. 'Do you remember how you sustained your injury?'
'I've already told you that she fell!' Luc intercepted him a second time. 'Is this interrogation really necessary?'
'I fell,' Catherine whispered gratefully, wishing the doctor would go away and stop bothering her. He was annoying Luc.
'How did you fall?' As he came up with a third question, Luc expelled his breath in an audible hiss and simultaneously the sound of a beeper went off. With a thwarted glance at Luc, the consultant said, 'I'm afraid I'll have to complete my examination in the morning. Miss Parrish will be transferred to her room. Perhaps you'd like to go home, Mr Santini?'
'I'll stay.' It was unequivocal.
Catherine angled a sleepy smile over him, happily basking in the concern he was showing for her well-being. Letting her lashes lower again, she felt the bed she was lying on move. Nurses chattered above her head, complaining about what a wet evening it was, and one of them described some dress she had seen in Marks. It was all refreshingly normal, even if it did make Catherine feel as though she were invisible. Without meaning to, she drifted into a doze.
Waking again, she found herself in a dimly lit, very pleasantly furnished room that didn't mesh with her idea of a hospital. Luc was standing staring out of the window at darkness.
'Luc?' she whispered.
He wheeled round abruptly.
'This may seem an awfully stupid question,' she muttered hesitantly. 'But where am I?'
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'This is a private clinic.' He approached the bed. 'How do you feel?'
'As though someone slugged me with a sandbag, but it's not nearly as bad as it was.' She moved her head experimentally on the pillow and winced.
'Lie still,' Luc instructed unnecessarily.