Life Support: Escape to the Country Read Online Free Page A

husband. ”

Chapter 3
    The next day Emma chose a seat in the back row of the small conference room, knowing avoiding Josh was a pointless exercise. With the raised seating and small number of attendees at the early morning session, he’d spot her straight away. She was right. She knew the exact moment he’d seen her. He had wandered in carrying his notes and his eyes had flicked around the room until he caught her staring straight at him. Rather than look away, as Emma expected, his gaze lingered for a second and he smiled before someone drew his attention elsewhere. She frowned. After dropping her bombshell on him last night, she’d hoped he would have ignored her today, but no such luck.
    The morning session dragged and Emma couldn’t concentrate. Josh was an excellent educator and his presentation was informative and interesting, but she couldn’t clear her mind enough from the previous night’s kiss in order to listen to what he was saying. She was mortified by her out-of-character behavior and if she wasn’t so embarrassed, she’d have gone straight up to him, apologized and set the record straight. She was sorry. And she wasn’t interested in him.
    As soon as it was time for the morning tea break, Emma was the first to escape the stuffy room. She managed to sneak out while Josh’s attention was held answering another attendee’s question. Grabbing a coffee and a muffin, she found a quiet spot in a corner and sat, head down, pretending to be immersed in the conference teaching material. She needed Panadol. A restless night with little sleep and a thumping headache was not conducive to a positive learning environment and Josh’s proximity wasn’t helping matters either. She closed her eyes and massaged her temples. She should have stayed in bed for all the learning she was doing.
    “Want to talk?”
    She spun around in her chair. How had he crept up on her so quietly?
    “No,” she said with a slight shake of her head. “I don’t want to talk.”
    “Do you want to listen to me then?” He sat in the seat beside her.
    “That’s all I’ve been doing all morning.” She wasn’t in the mood for a conversation.
    He chuckled, clearly not in the least offended. “Yeah, true. You must be sick of hearing my voice. Anyway, I came over to talk to you about last night. You stormed off and left me hanging. You owe me an explanation, Emma. I wouldn’t have kissed you if I’d known you were married—”
    “I’m not married,” she retorted, interrupting him.
    He blinked, flustered. “What do you mean? You told me Lleyton is your husband.”
    She rolled her eyes. “No. What I told you was it’s complicated.”
    Josh sat next to her. “So why don’t you explain it to me?”
    Emma glanced at her phone and checked the time. “It’s a long story and the next session is about to begin.”
    “Skip it.”
    “But don’t you have to be somewhere now?”
    “No. I’m doing the session straight after lunch. I was about to head back to my room when I saw you sitting here.”
    Emma sighed and eased back in her seat.
    Josh leaned closer and lowered his voice. “How about you tell me what’s so complicated? I happen to find you incredibly sexy, and I thought there was chemistry between us. But right now I’m trying to get my head around the fact that last night you said you were married and your in-laws caught the two of us kissing and now you’re telling me you’re not married after all.” He shook his head. “You have to admit, you’re sending out screwed signals.”
    Emma ran her fingers through her hair. “I told you last night I’m not that kind of woman. I’m not the kind who dresses flirtatiously and sits in bars drinking and waiting for men.”
    Josh leaned closer and his thigh grazed hers. She jumped at the touch and moved away. He leaned in again. “And I’m not that kind of guy either.” He lowered his voice. “But you have to admit, that kiss – wow. What we had together last night