Courtship

Part 30

Over the next few months they attended a handful of the same functions, but rarely found themselves in each other's company. Though neither admitted it, something had changed. Both were very aware of each other at each and every social event but for very different reasons to the one that existed over the last two years.

It was nerves and self-doubt on Marina's part that ensured that their paths never crossed to the exten that they spoke to each other! She hoped no-one had noticed that she was skillfully, thus far, managing to avoid speaking to the man! She was in two minds about her strategy. Well, to be honest she was in one mind, her head was dictating terms, but her heart was fighting hard against the direction being taken. She simply did not want to risk getting involved with him, for that would mean telling him the truth about so many things. Some of which she could handle, some that had implications for other people.

Whatever Rafe tried she managed to circumvent. If he approached a group she was with, she found a way to leave that group just as he joined it. It left him feeling inordinately frustrated, and increasingly exasperated. She was doing it deliberately. He knew that. But why? Surely they had put what had transpired two years ago behind them. He had. But by the looks of things she hadn't! Or was there something he was missing this time round?

By the third party they had attended he had reached the conclusion that he was going to have to change his strategy. Because he fully intended to go out with her. The challenge was asking her for that date without having an audience! Given she was strategically avoiding him at these social events, he seriously doubted whether she would take a phone call from him. So his only chance was to ask her out when they were at one of these social functions. Not that he intended doing that if they had an audience.

It still struck him as rather odd that he would find her interesting. Beautiful, yes, but he'd known that for years. But having worked for her for several weeks, being beautiful had not been sufficient for him to find her interesting. Not like now. For years he had thought of her as a lightweight, someone more interested in partying and her appearance.

It was only after that wedding reception that it had dawned on him that apart from being on the ward together, they had rarely spent any time alone in each other's company. So while he knew about her prowess and skill as a doctor, he had not seen her as a potential date back then. She was one of the many who he had trained and like the others, at the time, she was simply doing a rotation on his ward. That's all she was. A new addition to the profession. She hadn't registered on his social radar. Rhianna's wedding changed that. His opinion of her as a companion had undergone a transformation. Ever since that evening he'd been paying more attention. While they had not spent much time with each other, he had been sufficiently close to see that she seemed relaxed, easy in her own skin, completely at ease. And she was funny and interesting. No wonder she always had a crowd around her at parties. .

Since the wedding he'd noticed her as soon as he stepped into any room. It had taken him by surprise, the fact that her presence affected his mood at these social events. Though they still never quite got close enough to speak to each other, if she was there, he always had a good time, if she wasn't the evening always felt a touch flat. That's what he'd noticed. Her presence, or absence at these social events made a different to how he felt.

He spent a bit of time watching her and her sister, Isabelle interact. Chalk and cheese. Marina was bubbly, sociable, and a talker. Her sister Isabelle was reserved, more aloof, and a listener. They were both tall, and to a certain extent looked more like twins then simply sisters. But their personalities were very different. Rafe leaned casually against the door, with half a ear on the conversation going on around him, and all of his attention on the two women across the room. Though both were holding glasses of champagne, neither appeared to be drinking. They were surrounded by men, not surprising given their appearance. Both women were beautiful.