Читать книгу The Surgeon's Family Wish - Abigail Gordon, Abigail Gordon - Страница 8

IF HE’D been light-hearted back there at the flats Aaron was not so as he drove home. Annabel wasn’t the only one thinking it had been an unsettling evening. He felt that they’d all behaved out of character except Lucy.

For his own part, his interest in the doctor who’d saved Lucy’s life had increased rather than diminished while she’d been their guest. He’d seen her in a new light. For one thing, she’d taken trouble with her appearance. He didn’t flatter himself that it had been on his account, but it had certainly registered, and for another, he’d admired the dignified brevity with which she’d described her family life while within the loving circle that was his.

Annabel had been like a flower opening up before his eyes and he hoped that she wouldn’t have closed up again when they met on the wards at Barnaby’s on Monday.

He’d had no intention of burdening her with his past and present griefs, but Lucy and his mother had set the ball rolling and he’d had to say something. Once he’d started it had been oddly comforting to be talking to an outsider who’d listened with sympathy and understanding, while making no demands on him.

And an ‘outsider’ Annabel must have certainly felt when he’d been so keen to emphasise that she’d been there merely in the role of someone to whom thanks were due. She must have thought him tactless and rude, though she’d shown no sign of it.

And then there’d been his mother! Sounding Annabel out and showing how anxious she was for him to find himself another wife, when he had no such intentions. It wasn’t like her. She was the kindest and most thoughtful of mortals. But something had got into her and they were going to have to talk it through.

All was silent as he let himself back into the house and as he stripped off and flung himself on top of the covers of his bed Annabel’s face kept coming to mind.

‘No. I haven’t got anyone in my life,’ she’d told him back there in the car, and he’d known immediately that that hadn’t always been the case. Had it been a past relationship that had taken the colour from her cheeks?

Whatever it was, he had a strong feeling that if he’d become more interested in her during the evening, his mother’s comments would have put the flattener on any stirrings Annabel might have been experiencing. If she gave him a wide berth on Monday morning, he wouldn’t be surprised...

* * *

But he was to see her again before Monday. On Saturday afternoon Aaron took Lucy into the town for some new shoes, and as they were leaving the shop he saw Annabel cross the road, looking in the window of an estate agent.

‘We meet again,’ he said from behind her a few seconds later, and she swung round in surprise.

‘Yes, we do,’ she agreed, adding with a special smile for Lucy, who was fishing her new shoes out of the bag for her to see, ‘You’ll be surprised to see that I’m looking at property.’

‘Yes. What has prompted that?’

She had a smile for him now and Aaron thought if she had been upset the night before it obviously hadn’t persisted.

‘What do you think?’ she replied. ‘Going back to the flat after spending the evening in your palatial residence.’

‘Really? So last night did do you some good.’

She could have told him that she’d also woken up feeling ready to face the day, which had to be a step in the right direction, and that the carrier bag she was holding held some smart new clothes. But it wouldn’t do for Aaron to think he’d had that much influence on her.

Lucy was dangling a pair of black school shoes under her nose and Annabel bent to admire them.

‘So do I take it that you’ll soon be going back to school?’ she said as eyes blue as the sky looked up into hers.

‘Yes,’ Lucy said. ‘On Monday. I’ve been away a long time. I’ll be behind in my work and all my friends will have forgotten me.’

‘I’ve told Lucy that the teacher knows she had a nasty accident and won’t expect her to catch up straight away,’ Aaron said gravely as his eyes met hers above Lucy’s blonde head.

‘Yes, of course,’ Annabel agreed, ‘and I’m sure that your friends won’t have forgotten you. I imagine that they all think you very brave having such a serious operation and coming back to school looking just the same as before.’

‘Can I tell them that the doctor who mended my head is my friend?’

‘Er...yes, by all means,’ Annabel said, aware of the amusement in Aaron’s dark eyes. She watched it change to surprise as she suggested, ‘Maybe we could take Lucy’s class on a tour of the hospital. It would increase her standing and they would know what to expect if ever any of them have to be admitted.’

‘Good thinking!’ he exclaimed. ‘I’m sure that she would love to show them where you ‘‘mended’’ her head. But getting back to your house-hunting. Have you seen anything that appeals to you?’

‘Not yet. I’d like something small and classy with open views.’

‘There’s a small coach house for sale next door to my place,’ he said. ‘It isn’t cheap, but it’s certainly classy.’

He could have gone on to say, It belongs to a friend of mine who spends a lot of time abroad. When he’s away I show prospective buyers round. But he was already wishing he hadn’t spoken.

For one thing his mother would be sure to read something into the suggestion, even though it had been totally spontaneous, and Annabel also might think it came from what had been said the previous evening. So instead he followed it up with, ‘Though on second thoughts I think it would be too big for you.’

‘No harm in having a look though, is there?’ she said with her newfound enthusiasm carrying her along.

‘No. I suppose not,’ he agreed reluctantly. ‘You could ring the agent and ask for a viewing.’

‘Supposing I like it,’ she said slowly, aware that he was having second thoughts, ‘how would you feel having me living next door? Seeing me all day at the hospital and having me almost on your doorstep for the rest of the time.’

‘It wouldn’t bother me,’ he replied unconvincingly. ‘There’s a high hedge between the two properties and we don’t see much of the present owner.’

‘That’s because Uncle Richard is always away,’ Lucy chipped in. ‘Why can’t you show Annabel round his house, Daddy? Like you do with all the other people?’

Annabel had to hand it to him. Aaron had been caught out but he didn’t bat an eyelid. He merely said, ‘If Annabel wants to view Uncle Richard’s house, Lucy, she is better seeing it with someone she doesn’t know. I wouldn’t want to influence her.’

‘I think you already have,’ she told him coolly. ‘Maybe I’ll give it a miss after all.’

She bent and kissed Lucy’s soft cheek.

‘I’ll be thinking of you on Monday,’ she told her. ‘I hope you have a good day and I won’t forget what I said about your class being shown round the hospital.’

For her father Annabel had a curt nod.

‘I’ll be seeing you, Aaron,’ she said, and he knew from the tone of her voice that it was more of a threat than a promise.

You certainly handled that well, he told himself as he walked Lucy back to the car. It was your suggestion that Annabel look at Richard’s house, but the words were barely out of your mouth before you were backing off. Go on at this rate and she’ll be thinking she’s got something catching. If you wanted to put her off you made a first-class job of it. For someone who always knows exactly where he’s heading, you’re acting like an indecisive ditherer.

* * *

It was Sunday afternoon and a boisterous wind was lifting the dead leaves in the garden of the house next door as Aaron stared thoughtfully through his study window.

Richard Clements, who lived there, was a television producer and often away. He would appear out of the blue, then a couple of days later be off on his travels again.

He was unmarried, which Aaron often thought was just as well. For any woman he took up with would be left alone for long periods while he was working. Yet he always seemed to have some female company around when he came home for one of his brief stays.

The winter dusk was falling and as Aaron was about to turn away the lights came on suddenly next door. His eyes widened when he saw Richard framed in the window opposite and with him, of all people, was Annabel.

So he hadn’t put her off, he thought incredulously. She was doing the opposite to what he’d expected, viewing Richard’s house. If the russet-haired charmer who was his friend and neighbour was on his usual form, she would be eating out of his hand.