Sydney Harbour Hospital: Lexi's Secret (11 page)

Evie let out a sigh. ‘You won’t get him to apologise, Lexi. You do know that, don’t you?’

Lexi set her mouth into an intractable line. ‘I want him to realise you can’t use people like chess pieces on a board. You just can’t do that.’

‘Good luck with it, hon,’ Evie said. She paused before she added, ‘Oh, and maybe you should try a little concealer on that rash before you go home.’

Sam walked back to his office with the taste of Lexi still fresh on his tongue and the skin of his cheek still stinging from her slap. He knew he had probably deserved it. He had goaded her. He couldn’t seem to stop himself from needling her. He had wanted a rise out of her. He had wanted her all stirred up and fiery. It made his blood thrum when she looked at him with those flashing sparks in her big blue eyes and her beautiful breasts heaving in anger.

He
had
wanted to kiss her. No point denying it. He
had wanted to from the first day he’d run into her in the car park. She kept waving that flashy engagement ring under his nose but the way she’d kissed him back just now made him wonder if she was as in tune physically with her fiancé as she was with him.

And that was another thing there was no point denying, even though she seemed stubbornly determined to do so. Their physical chemistry was as strong and overpowering as ever.

He was going to have to watch his step. Having an illicit affair with Lexi now wouldn’t be a great career move, not with her engaged to one of the hospital’s biggest supporters. But, oh, how he wanted her! It was a constant ache in his flesh. He had only to think of her and he was swelling with need.

He was still having trouble processing the news of her virginity. How had he not noticed that? It made him feel uneasy that he had rushed her into bed without considering the implications. They had mostly practised safe sex. Mostly. He had only once … OK, maybe it had been twice … failed to use a condom in his haste to have her in the shower. His stomach clenched when he thought of how much he had demanded of her back then. She had met those demands with unbridled enthusiasm but it still made him feel he had exploited her. There was so much about Lexi he hadn’t known back then. But now he suspected her sassy, smart-mouthed comebacks were a shield she hid behind when she was feeling threatened. She played the nose-in-the-air socialite role so well. The way she looked down her cute little nose at him, calling him country boy as if he still had hay between his teeth. Hell, it only made him want her more!

Maybe he was being overly cautious about the career
risk. Maybe a short get-it-out-of-his-system affair would clear the air between them. After it was over—and he knew it would be over within a month at the most because he never played for keeps—he could move on with his life and she could go and marry her millionaire. Of course he knew it was wrong; of course if he were the fiancé and she was having an affair with someone else he wouldn’t stand for it; of course it was madness. Sheer madness. But right now he wanted her too much to get tied up in moral knots over it.

Susanne was behind the reception desk when Sam came back in. ‘There’s an organ retrieval scheduled at Sydney Met at six this evening,’ she said. ‘The patient’s family have decided to withdraw life support. He’s a twenty-seven-year-old motorcycle victim who sustained severe head injuries three weeks ago. His kidneys are going to Perth, his heart to Melbourne and his lungs here.’

‘Whose blood or tissues match have we got?’ Sam asked.

‘Mr Baker with the chronic obstructive airways disease,’ Susanne said. ‘He’s been on the priority list the longest.’

‘Right,’ Sam said. ‘You’d better call him and let him know. And organise theatre space. Things are going to get busy around here.’

Lexi was in the main lounge room at the family mansion in Mosman when her father finally walked in. She had been pacing the floor for the last hour, anger roiling inside her like a turbulent tide.

‘Hello, beautiful,’ Richard Lockheart said as he sauntered in. ‘How was your weekend?’

Lexi folded her arms and shot him a glare. ‘I’ve had better.’

Richard moved to the drinks cabinet and poured himself a Scotch. He lifted the lid on the ice bucket to find it was empty. ‘Be a darling and get your poor old father some ice, will you?’

‘I think you’re perfectly capable of getting your own ice,’ she said through stiff lips.

Richard smiled indulgently as he looked at her, his dark brown eyes crinkling up at the corners. ‘What’s up, baby girl? That time of the month?’

Lexi suddenly realised how little she liked her father. Sure, she loved him, but she didn’t much like him. Why had it taken her this long to see through his easy charm to the ruthlessly ambitious man beneath? If people got in the way of his plans he removed them. If people displeased him he made sure they lived to regret it.

She had always blamed her mother for deserting the family, but now she wondered if what Bella had said was right. Perhaps her father had had more to do with her mother leaving than anything else. She had heard rumours of his womanising behind her mother’s back, but as a little girl she hadn’t wanted to think of her father as anything other than blameless. It was a cruel shock to realise how she had been duped. How silly she had been to invest so much emotion and dedication in a parent who had callously used her for his own gain. Her whole life, both childhood and young adulthood, had been nothing but a house of cards that was now tumbling down around her feet.

‘I found out about how you blackmailed Sam Bailey five years ago,’ she said. ‘How could you do that? How could you play with people’s lives in such a heartless way?’

Richard’s brown eyes hardened. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about, Lexi.’

‘I
do
know what I’m talking about,’ she said. ‘You issued an ultimatum to Sam. He had no choice but to leave. He could have lost his career, but did you care? No. All you wanted was to get him out of the way so you could keep me under your thumb. You didn’t even have the guts to tell me he was being appointed here. I had to find out by myself. How do you think I felt?’

‘You’re in charge of fundraising,’ he said. ‘You have nothing to do with the hiring and firing of staff. Anyway, I’d assumed you’d forgotten all about him by now.’

Lexi clenched her hands so tightly her nails dug into her palms. ‘Like you do with all of your lovers?’ she asked. ‘Just how many were there while you were married to Mum? Four? Five? Ten? Or have you
forgotten
?’

Her father’s mouth tightened and he put his glass down with a loud thwack on the bar. ‘What is all this nonsense, Lexi?’ he asked. ‘I don’t expect to come home after a hard day at the office to this sort of behaviour.’

‘You don’t know what a hard day’s work is,’ she tossed back. ‘You spend most of your time at boozy business lunches and resort weekends paid for by other people. Grandad did all the hard work. You just sit back and enjoy the benefits. You pay other people to do the dirty work for you, like bring up your children, for instance. You don’t even take time out of your busy social schedule to visit Bella in hospital.’

Richard’s face was almost puce in colour. ‘I will not have you speak to me like this in my own house.’

‘You told lies about me to Sam,’ Lexi said, her anger rolling in her like a cannonball on a steep slope, and she couldn’t have held it back if she tried. ‘You told him I
was only sleeping with him as part of some sort of teenage rebellion. How could you have done that?’

Richard thumped his hand down on the nearest surface so hard it made the pictures on the wall behind shake. ‘You were too young to know your own mind. I did what I had to do to protect you.’

Lexi felt like screaming. The hurt inside her was like a bottle of soda that had been shaken and was fit to explode. ‘You had no right to interfere with my life,’ she said. ‘Not then and certainly not now.’

Richard gave her a disgusted look. ‘I suppose he wants you back in his bed,’ he said. ‘Is that what this is about? You’d be a fool to jeopardise your engagement to Matthew. Sam Bailey will only use you to get where he wants to go. Don’t ever forget that, Lexi. He’s a boy from the bush who made good. A society bride like you would be the icing on the cake.’

‘You have no idea how much damage you’ve done,’ she said, too angry for tears.

‘The only damage you should be worrying about right now is raising sufficient funds for the hospital,’ Richard said with a sneer. ‘Carrying on like a lovesick teenager while you’re supposed to be concentrating on the ball is going to feed into people’s doubts that you’re not the right person for the job. I had to work hard to convince the board to agree to have you as Head of Events. If you stuff this up now, you’ll not only be made a laughing stock but you’ll make me look a fool as well.’

‘I hardly think you need any help from me in making yourself look a fool,’ she said. ‘You do a pretty fine job of it all by yourself.’

Realising confrontation wasn’t working, Richard put on the charm again. ‘Now, now, baby girl,’ he said. ‘Aren’t you being a little bit melodramatic? Forget about
Sam Bailey. He’s nothing to you now. You’re happy with Matthew. He’s perfect for you. You don’t want to upset him and his family when they’ve been so supportive of the hospital, do you?’

Lexi glared at him. ‘Why is everything always about money with you?’

‘Money is a universal language, Lexi,’ Richard said. ‘It opens lots of doors and it shuts some others.’

Lexi turned and walked out of the room with her heart feeling as if someone had reached inside her chest and ripped it out. There were doors she could never open again. They were shut tight against her. She had been locked out of her own life by walking through the doors her father had opened for her.

But the most important door of them all she had slammed shut all by herself.

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘W
HAT
do you mean, the venue’s been cancelled?’ Lexi looked at her assistant Jane in horror a few days later. ‘The ball is in two weeks’ time!’

Jane grimaced. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘The manager wants to speak to you personally to apologise. He said there was a fire in the kitchen that got out of control last night. There’s extensive water damage from the fire hoses. They’re doing what they can to redecorate but they’ve had to cancel all bookings for the next month. Shall I get him on the line for you?’

Lexi nodded and took the call in her small office. It was as bad if not worse than Jane had described. After talking to the manager it was clear that the ball could not go ahead as planned. The kitchen was out of action, for one thing, and the ballroom was the worst hit in terms of water damage.

What a disaster!

Lexi felt as if everything she had worked so hard for had been ripped out from under her. She had put so much of herself into this job. She had invested a great deal emotionally in order to get her life back on track. Her father’s cruel taunt came back to haunt her. It wasn’t just her own lurking doubts about her ability to make a worthwhile contribution to society; it seemed everyone
else felt the same. Everyone saw her as a shallow party girl with no substance. They didn’t know half of what she had sacrificed to protect Bella. They didn’t know how desperately she wanted to succeed. Bella’s future—her life, everything—depended on Lexi getting the funds for the new equipment.

She
had
to prove them wrong. She had to show everyone, including herself, that she was up to the task no matter what last-minute hurdles were thrown at her.

She had to
think
.

She had to think past the thick fog of panic in her head and find a solution. What solution? All the tickets had been sold. The silent auction items were organised and confirmed. Everyone was looking forward to the big night of wining, dining and dancing and now it was not going to go ahead, not unless she could find another venue that could house that number of people at short notice. She spent an hour on the phone in the vain hope of finding a suitable venue but nothing was available. It was wedding season after all.

She pushed back her chair and went back to where Jane was sorting the silent auction placards.

‘Any luck?’ Jane asked hopefully.

Lexi shook her head in despair. ‘Unless someone cancels their wedding at the last minute, I’m totally stuffed. Everyone’s going to think it’s my fault.’

‘I’m sure no one will think that,’ Jane consoled her.

Lexi gave her a grim look. ‘Won’t they?’ She paced the floor in agitation. ‘I can hear them now: “Lexi Lockheart only got the job because of her father and look at what a rubbish job she did of it.”’ She stopped pacing to grasp her head between her hands. ‘Grr! I can’t believe this is happening to me on top of everything else.’

‘It’s certainly a difficult time for you with Bella in hospital and your wedding so close,’ Jane said in empathy.

Lexi stopped pacing and looked at Jane. ‘That’s it!’ she said.

‘What’s it?’ Jane asked, looking shocked. ‘You’re not thinking of cancelling
your
wedding, are you?’

‘The hospital,’ Lexi said excitedly. ‘We’ll have the ball here.’

Jane gaped at her.
‘Here?’

‘Yes,’ Lexi said, tapping her lips as she thought it through. ‘The forecourt is big enough for a marquee. The patients can even be a part of it that way, those that aren’t too ill, of course. We can get the caterers to do extra nibbles and desserts for all the patients on the wards. It’ll be brilliant!’

‘It sounds great but what will the CEO think?’ Jane asked.

Lexi snatched up her purse and phone. ‘I’ll go and speak to him now. Wish me luck.’

‘Good luck!’ Jane called as Lexi dashed out of the door.

Sam looked up at the clock on the wall. ‘Time of death: four-forty-six p.m.,’ he said in a flat tone.

‘You did your best, Sam,’ the anaesthetist said over the body of Ken Baker. ‘He’d been on the waiting list too long. He would’ve died anyway. He went into this knowing there was only the slimmest chance of success.’

Sam stripped off his gloves and threw them in the bin, his expression grim. ‘I’ll go and speak to the family,’ he said, his stomach already in tight knots at the thought.