Courtship

Part 12

Rafe could feel his blood pressure soar. His eyes narrowed, and he exhaled in an attempt to keep calm. "And you don't think I merit it?" He knew his tenuous hold on his temper was fraying at a rate of knots.

"I didn't say that." In any case he thought he had the respect of his junior doctors.

"Then what?" He all but barked, having decided that offering her an olive branch made no difference to her. She was too arrogant to even notice it.

Marina had no intention of pandering to this megalomaniac. She leaned back, folded her arms and snapped, "You're a good doctor." She told him much to his surprise. "But it's perfectly obvious what you think of me, Mr Harlington. So why don't we just cut to the chase." She inhaled, squared her shoulders and braced, "You want to issue me with a written warning, for whatever you think I've done now. So you just go ahead."

"Why would I want to issue you with a written warning?" Rafe scowled at her.

"I imagine for the same reason you issued me with a formal verbal warning." She pointed out as if it was perfectly obvious.

Rafe sucked in a breath and clamped his mouth closed before he was tempted to roar at her. He waited a second then said cooly, "You were discourteous and disrespectful. Even you have to admit that." He reminded her with exasperation in every word.

"You asked me a question. I gave you an honest response. You didn't like it." She told him equally bluntly, "That about sums it up. If you didn't want honesty that's not my fault." Though she knew there was a lot more to their argument, and most of that lay beneath the surface. She'd overheard him, so now she knew that he thought she was playing at being a medic. Just bidding her time.

"You stepped way over the line, even you have to admit that." He leaned back in his chair, "I know you know you made a mistake." He narrowed his eyes and waited for her to admit to her part. But true to form, she didn't. For a few seconds he was torn between laughing or shaking her! For a second there she was sure he was about to laugh at her. "Yes, your eyes gave you away. As soon as you spoke, you could see you registered the implications of your casual disregard for manners, it was written clearly in your eyes." He massaged the back of his neck, and tried once again to curb this escalation toward enmity. He huffed. "Look, I didn't ask you up here to issue you with a written warning."
"Fine. So why am I here?" She asked insolently, she glared and folded her arms.

"To clear the air." He was seriously tempted to laugh. She was being petulant but something about her reaction had him smiling to himself. Then he realised what it was. Very few people defied him. Even fewer did so when they knew they were in the wrong. But here she was despite having been insolent, here she was still challenging him.

"So, what are you saying? That anything I say in the future won't be used to line me up for a written warning." She huffed, and once again wondered if he was laughing at her. There was that glint in his eyes again.

"As long as what you say is justified." He said. His lips quirked at the corners.

"And who decides?" She huffed loudly, now even more sure that the annoying man was indeed laughing on the inside.

"You're being difficult." He told her. He figured he'd finally found a way to deal with her without loosing his composure. All he had to do was keep this image of her in his head. Pouting, huffing and oddly charming!

"No, just looking for clarification." She frowned at him.

"I thought we could both act like the mature adults we are supposed to be and take responsibility for our actions from two days ago." He goaded, just for the sake of seeing her reaction.

"Fine. Is that all?" She went to push back her chair and get to her feet.

Silence greeted that question.

"So are you going to apologise?"

"No!"

Ok, Rafe thought, keeping that pouty face in mind did not work all the time when it came to dealing with her. "No?" He asked silkily.

"No! N. O. No!"

He leaned back in his chair. His eyes narrowed as he kept them trained on her. That fragile hold on his temper once again at risk. "This is a complete waste of time." Rafe finally grated. Marina said nothing. "You may go."

"Thank you Mr Harlington." She smirked, before she turned and left.

Rafe closed his eyes, huffed out a breath and wanted to punch the wall. So much for having a little talk with her, explaining his views, and his reasons for his behaviour. So much for giving her an opportunity to discuss her views and provide an explanation for her behaviour.