The Surgeon and the Princess by Karin Baine (ebook reader with android os .TXT) 📕

taught in the army to make quick, detailed assessments of every situation.’ She looked him up and down. ‘I stand by every word I said.’

Ed bit the inside of his cheek lest he say something he’d later come to regret when he was locked away in a tower somewhere as punishment. ‘Thankfully, my offer isn’t conditional on your knowledge, or lack thereof, about my personal life. So, if you could set aside whatever preconceived notions and ill-judged prejudice you have against me and focus on yourself, you’ll see how you could benefit from our state-of-the-art facility.’

‘Uh-huh, and what’s in it for you?’ Georgiana stripped off her shirt, so she was standing there in only her black sports bra and shorts. He knew it was a move to make him uncomfortable and at the same time display her own confidence. It worked on both levels but he wasn’t a man to give up easily.

‘Nothing except the satisfaction of giving someone else the best chance of a full recovery. It’s what I do.’ He knew he sounded glib but he didn’t think sincerity was going to do him any favours with her. Those barriers she’d put up weren’t coming down any time soon and he could tell straight away she wasn’t the sort of woman who’d respond to a softly-softly approach.

She rolled her eyes as she patted a towel around her neck and her décolletage where perspiration from her workout was glistening on her pale skin. If they’d met at a gym or anywhere other than a royal palace, he would never have believed her to be a princess. He was just as guilty of having preconceived notions of her before meeting. Of course, he’d seen and heard mention of her in the press but assumed the stories were either fiction or she was simply another rich kid feigning rebellion. Now he knew different. Georgiana was very much her own person.

He watched as she hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her shorts, tugging them down slightly so the flat plane of her impressive abdominal muscles was visible. It showed she was a hard worker, motivated in the hardest of circumstances to keep up her fitness regime, and boded well for her future despite her life-changing injury.

She cleared her throat and he lifted his eyes to meet her querying gaze.

‘If you don’t mind, I’d like to shower and change in private.’

‘Yes. Sorry.’ He bumbled around, trying to avert his gaze and regather his composure.

‘Close the door on your way out.’ She was ending the conversation and the meeting without agreeing to anything. Ed had to admire her tenacity. It could be the very thing to get her back to the person she used to be. If that was different from the woman standing before him now, he had no idea.

‘She’s going to be okay, by the way. In case you were wondering.’ It occurred to him she hadn’t referenced the reason he was in her home in the first place.

‘Who?’ She looked genuinely puzzled as to who or what he was referring to. It said a lot, nothing good, about her relationship with her mother. Either she didn’t care or there had been a complete lack of information shared with her about the accident. Perhaps even both. The concept was alien to someone who was constantly in contact and, indeed, worried about his own parents. His family was always foremost in his thoughts.

‘Your mother. Very badly bruised after the fall from her horse but no long-term damage,’ he reminded her, in case the details had slipped from her memory during the course of their discussion.

‘Oh,’ was all the response she mustered. He couldn’t help but wonder what had caused their relationship to become so strained. Especially at a time when she would need the support of her family more than ever. He didn’t know how she’d got this far without them.

‘Anyway, I’ve checked all the scans and X-rays to put her mind at rest and she’s going to be fine,’ he assured her again. Although nothing in her tone suggested it had caused her any concern thus far.

If Georgiana, by any miracle, did agree to attend the clinic, he’d be advising her to seek the services of one of their counsellors. In case the psychological trauma had in some way caused this apparent lack of empathy towards the very person who’d come to him for help. Families were a complicated business and no one knew that better than he did.

‘I never doubted it. Now, if you don’t mind...’ She dismissed him again with a nod of her head towards the door. Clearly, social etiquette wasn’t as important to her as it was to her mother. Unless this was another side effect from her accident. Sometimes patients had no filter after such an ordeal. She’d been through a lot and he was prepared to make allowances for someone he really knew nothing about. He could only hope she would do the same for him, since he didn’t seem to be making a great first impression.

‘You have my number should you decide to use our clinic. Goodbye, Miss Ashley.’ He turned to take his leave, only to have a pair of shorts land on top of his head.

Unwilling to give her the satisfaction of going back to confront her, clad now only in her underwear, he pulled them off his head and kept walking.

She really didn’t know him at all if she thought he wasn’t up to a challenge.

CHAPTER TWO

‘LET ME TAKE that in for you.’ Georgiana reached out to take the silver tray from the maid she’d just startled in the hallway.

‘Are you sure, miss?’ The wide-eyed girl looked at the tea tray and back at Georgiana, unsure about what to do in the circumstances.

She was a new face, not one Georgiana had seen before being deployed. It was difficult to tell if she was worried her employer’s daughter couldn’t manage the task without falling over or if she was afraid of