Hollywood Hills Collection. Lynne Marshall

they’re doing. Sometimes we never hear anything. We rescue someone and then...’ he spread his hands wide ‘...nothing. The nurses in the public hospitals will often give us a bit of an update. Hearing that someone survived and is doing well helps make our job worthwhile, it helps to make up for the ones that don’t go so well. But once he was moved out of there it was almost impossible to find out anything.’

      Abi could understand that. Tyler wasn’t so different from her, trying to make a difference, trying to save lives. Hearing good news always lifted spirits. What could she tell him? She was happy with Dylan’s progress but it was early days. The bandages wouldn’t be removed for another couple of days so it was impossible to tell how successful the grafts had been. The only positives at this stage were that she’d been able to do the grafts and that Dylan’s temperature was normal, indicating the absence of infection. She compromised. ‘It’s still early but I’m happy at this point. He’ll be with us for another week. Do you want me to ask his mum if you can visit?’

      Tyler nodded. ‘I’d like that, thank you.’

      Abi smiled at him. She knew exactly where he stood, and she was still smiling when James approached them.

      James Rothsberg was a handsome man, tall and fair-haired with blue eyes and great bone structure—Abi always noticed bone structure, she was trained to do that—but although he was good-looking and of a similar build to Damien, he wasn’t nearly as striking. Damien was sleeker and leaner but their contrasting colouring made her think of positives and negatives, and Damien was the positive. She couldn’t ignore Damien and even now her eyes searched the crowd, looking for his familiar figure. There was something about Damien that captured her attention, something that went beyond the fact that he was tall, dark and handsome. She’d have to be careful and keep her guard up around him if she didn’t want to make a fool of herself.

      ‘Abi, one week gone. How are you settling in?’ her new boss asked.

      ‘More smoothly than I expected,’ she said. She’d been busy. The film industry awards were a week away, which had bolstered her patient list, and Dylan’s case had kept her on her toes, but she’d enjoyed her first week.

      But James barely listened to her reply before offering his hand to Tyler. It seemed she wasn’t the only one whose mind was wandering.

      ‘Did you come with Abi?’ he asked Tyler.

      ‘No, Tyler is with me.’ Mila had reappeared and answered before Tyler had a chance.

      Abi could tell from James’s expression that Mila’s answer wasn’t the one he’d been hoping for. Although the air around them was chilly at the moment, it was obvious that at some point these two had been more than acquaintances.

      James made polite small talk for a few minutes but Abi noticed that when Mila headed to the opposite end of the room to prepare for the speeches, James’s eyes followed her.

      The string quartet finished their set and lapsed into silence as Mila and Freya stepped up onto a raised platform that had been positioned in front of the reception desk. As the speeches began Abi felt Damien’s presence at her side. The air stirred whenever he was near; it seemed to move differently around him. She turned to her right.

      ‘Are you okay?’ he asked. ‘Having a good time?’

      She wasn’t really. She still felt uncomfortable and out of place, although she was better when Damien was near. Her world seemed to make more sense and her doubts and fears lessened, even though she still felt off balance, but she knew that was because of the effect he had on her rather than her own uncertainties and insecurities. But she nodded, trying to project confidence as she listened to the speeches.

      Mila took the microphone first. She spoke passionately about the aims of the Bright Hope Clinic and about Paulo, who had been the first joint-venture patient between the two clinics. After the success of the first operation Freya had plans to ramp up the cooperation between the two clinics but she needed funding. Her speech emphasised the success of the first surgery and encouraged the wealthy LA guests to contribute to the charitable organisation she and James were establishing. That would give Mila access to the funds she needed, as well as bring good publicity for The Hills.

      Both of them spoke very well about their vision for the partnership but Abi knew it was easy to talk in public when you were invested in and knowledgeable about your topic, and while she was interested in the project she could listen to Freya without watching. There were other things that had caught her attention, like what was going on between Mila and James. James’s eyes were still glued to Mila. It was easy to see why, she was a beautiful woman, but Abi could feel that it was more than that.

      ‘Ready to go?’ Damien asked, as the speeches wrapped up.

      He had his car keys in his hand. Abi could hear them jingling in his fist. They had agreed to leave as soon as possible after the speeches. Abi had known she would have had enough of the crowd by then, and Damien wanted to get home at a reasonable time to relieve the babysitter. Abi also wanted to get home to Jonty. Irma and George were away for the weekend, visiting their daughter, so Jonty was home alone.

      She nodded. ‘Give me a minute to grab my wrap.’

      ‘I’ll get it for you, I have the ticket.’ Damien pulled the stub from his pocket. The storeroom behind the reception desk had been doing double duty as a coat check for the evening, manned by their regular receptionist, Stephanie, and Abi could see James making his way towards the desk and to Mila, who had just stepped off the platform at the conclusion of the speeches.

      Curiosity got the better of her. ‘It’s okay,’ she said as she took the ticket from his fingers. ‘I’ll only be a second.’ She wanted another opportunity to examine Mila and James.

      She headed for the coat check. James and Mila stood at one end of the reception desk, looking tense. Freya had disappeared into the crowd before James had crossed the room, leaving Mila and James alone. Not wanting to disturb them, she approached the desk from the opposite end but their conversation carried to her.

      ‘Mila, can I talk to you?’ James reached out a hand but Mila stepped back.

      ‘It’s not really a good time,’ she replied, and again Abi got the sense that if there was somewhere that Mila could run and hide she would do so.

      Abi handed Stephanie her ticket. She kept her face averted from Mila and James as she waited for Stephanie to fetch her wrap but it didn’t stop her from being able to overhear their conversation. She didn’t like to think of it as eavesdropping but she was fascinated by the tension between them.

      ‘I’m sorry for everything,’ James said, but he didn’t elaborate on what ‘everything’ was and Mila didn’t question him; she obviously knew what he was talking about.

      ‘You want to apologise but you don’t want to explain?’ she said.

      ‘I can’t.’

      ‘Can’t or won’t?’

      Mila waited for an answer but James was mute. Stephanie returned with Abi’s wrap as Mila said, ‘It doesn’t matter any more anyway. It’s ancient history.’ She brushed past James as she added, ‘Tyler is waiting for me. I have to go.’

      Mila’s path took her within a couple of feet of Abi but she didn’t look at her. Abi thought she could see tears in her eyes.

      Abi glanced at James. She couldn’t help herself. She wanted to see his reaction. He wasn’t looking at her either so Abi followed the line of his gaze. His eyes were on Tyler, who was on the other side of the room, chatting with Freya’s boyfriend, Zack. It didn’t look as if Tyler was waiting for Mila. Why had she made that excuse? And what was James apologising for? There was definite history between them but from James’s expression Abi was guessing that he didn’t want it to be history. He’d looked jealous.

      ‘Do you know if everything is okay between Mila and James?’ she couldn’t resist asking Damien as she sank into the soft leather of his car seat as he wound his way down through the Hollywood Hills and back to