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CHAPTER ONE

OLIVIA COATES-CLARK STRAIGHTENED up and indicated to a nurse to wipe her forehead in an atte her for some minutes ‘Is it ?’

‘I haven’t noticed,’ Kay, the anaesthetist, answered as she kept an eye on theabout tonight, Olivia?’

‘Me? Stress?’ Olivia grimaced behind her mask She was a control freak; of course she stressed ‘Okay, let’s get this second iirl round’

‘So everything’s good to go for the gala fundraiser?’ Kay persisted

‘Fingers crossed,’ OliviaHer list of requirements and tasks was complete, neat little ticks beside every job and supplier and by the na

‘I bu up with everyone’ Kay’s forced nonchalance didn’t fool her

‘I’m sure everyone feels the sa unnaturally hot Zachary Wright Just knowing he’d be at the function she’d spent weeks organising made her toes curl with unwanted anticipation Not to hed into her mask The one man she’d never been able to delete from her mind And, boy, had she tried

‘You need ?’ the nurse asked

‘No, thanks’ That particular irritation had gone, and she’d ignore the other—Zac—by concentrating on supervising the plastic surgery registrar opposite her as he placed the tissue expander beneath the pocket under Anna Seddon’s pectoralis major muscle on the left side of her chest wall

The registrar had supported Olivia as she’d done the first insertion of an expander on the right side, watching every h his life depended on it Which it did One mistake and she’d be on hi an excellent job of the second breast implant ‘Remember to make sure this one’s placed exactly the sa to thank you for lopsided breasts’ This eries to reconstruct Anna’s breasts but it had to be done well There was no other way

The guy didn’t look up as he said, ‘I get it This is ascancer’

‘Making a person feel better about the a path of repairing people who’d had eries But she didn’t knock those specialists working to make people happier in less trauood about themselves, for whatever reasons; to hide behind a perfect facade if they needed to

For Olivia, looking her absolute best was imperative: a confident shield that hid theto pounce Making theht her father had left ho his clothes and car, and her heart Leaving her to deal with her mother’s problems alone

Kay glanced down at the table ‘This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a perfectly healthy woet uts to have

the procedure done if I didn’t already have cancer’

Olivia understood all too well, but… ‘If you’d lost your grandmother and one sister to the disease, and your ht think differently’ Bad luck came in all forms

‘I’d do whatever it took to be around to watch row up,’ one of the nurses said

‘You’re right, and so would I’ Kay shivered ‘Still, it’s a huge decision You’d want your man on side, for sure’

‘Anna’s husband’s been brilliant I’d go so far as to call hi her all the way’ A hero? If she wasn’t in Theatre she’d have to ask herself what she was on Heroes were found in romance stories, not real life—not often anyhow, and not in her real life Not that she’d ever let one in if one was on offer

As Olivia swabbed the incision a clear picture of Zac spilled into herhis scent Oh, get over yourself Zac wasn’t her hero Wasn’t her anything Hadn’t been since she’d walked away froain—ould’ve happened if she’d found the courage to push the affair beyond the sex and into a relationship where they talked and shared and had been there for each other? Eventually Zac would’ve left her At least by getting in first she’d saved herself froht she’d see quite a bit of hiistration for the gala had arrived in her inbox she’d rung hi auction Since then she hadn’t been able to erase hi in the back of your head, reether

‘So there are good guys out there’ Kay’s tone was acerbic

Zacenough to find out She’d got too intense about hi had been all about staying in control and not setting herself up to be abandoned Going through that at twelve had been bad enough; to happen again when she was an adult would be ridiculous So she’d run Cowardly for sure, but the only way to look out for herself And now she had an op to finish and a gala to start ‘Let’s get this tidied up and the saline started’ She had places to be and hopefully not s to do

An hour later she was beginning to wish she’d stayed in Theatre for the rest of the day The nu that not everything was going to plan at the hotel where the gala evening would be held; that her list was in serious disarray

As she ran for her car, the deluge that all but drowned her and destroyed her carefully styled hair, which she’d spent the evening before having coloured and tidied, was the second warning At least her thick woollen coat had saved her silk blouse from ruin But rain had not been on her schedule, which put her further out of sorts Everything about tonight had to be perfect

Slah the indscreen ‘Get a ht’

The third suggestion that things were turning belly up was inition key and the flat clicking sound told a story of its own The battery was kaput Because? Olivia slapped the dashboard with her palhts had been left on There was no one to blame except herself