Читать книгу The GP's Marriage Wish - Judy Campbell - Страница 7

CHAPTER ONE

‘VICTORIA CURTIS to see Dr Saunders, please.’

The receptionist looked over the counter at the tall girl with glossy auburn hair facing her, then peered at the screen of her computer, frowning slightly.

‘You don’t seem to have an appointment to see him. I’m afraid he’s absolutely booked up this afternoon unless it’s very urgent.’

Victoria smiled. ‘But I’m not a patient—I’m joining the practice. I’m a doctor and he’s expecting me.’

The receptionist’s plump face looked startled. ‘Oh. I’m sorry—I didn’t realise there were two of you. Dr Saunders didn’t mention anything.’

‘Two of us?’ questioned Victoria, puzzled. She had come to help her mother because Dr Saunders, the senior partner, was retiring and now she was here to go over some practice details, and her mother was joining them later. She wasn’t aware that anyone else would be needed in the practice.

‘I’ve probably got my wires crossed,’ said the woman, smiling. ‘I’ll tell him you’re here…’ She pressed a switch. ‘I’ve a Dr Curtis here to see you, Dr Saunders…’

‘Ah—I’ll be ready in one minute, if she could just take a seat in Reception,’ said a deep male voice.

Morning surgery was evidently finished and Victoria sat waiting for him alone, sipping a cup of coffee that the receptionist brought for her. She looked around the room and smiled. It hadn’t changed over the years—rather tatty-looking decor and a faded busily patterned carpet. Perhaps now she was going to be part of the practice, she could tactfully persuade her mother that the place needed a make-over.

She was sure her mother would be relieved that John Saunders was retiring. Victoria remembered him as an opinionated man, with a confidence that bordered on arrogance…very like his son, she thought suddenly. A picture flashed into her mind of the farewell sixth form dance all those years ago and the way Connor had made a fool of her. She hadn’t thought about that episode for a long time, but she was surprised at how vividly the memory of her humiliation at his hands came flooding back to her—how it had shaken her confidence in herself for a long time.

Then she gave an inward shrug. No good thinking about that now. So much had happened to her in the intervening years, much worse than the teenage angst she’d suffered because of Connor. She’d been through a rough patch in the past year, but now for the first time in many months she felt excited and optimistic about the future—and it was lovely to be back in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales.

A few years ago she’d made a new life for herself in Australia, full of hopes and dreams that had been dashed, and the irony was that now she’d returned to Braithwaite again and put the fast-paced life she’d enjoyed in Sydney behind her to kick-start her life again.

‘Dr Saunders asks if you’d go through to him now,’ said the receptionist, breaking into her thoughts. ‘It’s the room at the end of the corridor.’

Victoria made her way to the room, tapped at the door and walked in. A man was standing by the window against the light, and it was only as he strode forward to meet her that Victoria realised with a shock that it wasn’t John Saunders at all. She gazed in astonishment at the broad-shouldered man who stood in front of her, looking as if he did a marathon workout daily in the gym, his body a sinewy combination of muscle and power, thick tousled fair hair flipping over blue eyes. It took her a second or two to recognise that he was Connor Saunders—no longer the lanky schoolboy she’d last seen at the leaving ball but a mature, eye-catching man with a commanding presence.

She drew in her breath, astonished at the coincidence that she’d only been thinking about him a few seconds before, the man who’d once humiliated her so cruelly in front of her friends. And like the automatic response of so long ago, for a split second she felt the faintest shiver of attraction flutter through her—an echo of what she had felt for him when they’d been teenagers.

‘Wh-what on earth are you doing here?’ she stuttered. ‘I was expecting to see your father.’

There was surprise as well in the blue eyes that swept over her appraisingly, then Connor grinned. ‘Well, well, well, I didn’t realise that Freckles Sorensen had become Dr Curtis! We meet again after how many years?’

He held out his hand and shook hers. Victoria pulled herself together and removed her hand from his firm grip. She must have imagined that feeling of attraction a second ago—he was just an ordinary man who’d once been rude to her.

‘Nobody calls me Freckles now,’ she said coldly. ‘Have you come back here for a holiday?’

‘I’ve left the practice I was with in Glasgow and come to take over from my father,’ he said simply, then raised a questioning eyebrow. ‘And where have you come from?’

‘I…I’ve been living in Australia…’

‘Ah—you’ve come back to see your mother, then?’

Victoria gave a short laugh. ‘Actually, I’ve come to help my mother in the practice because your father retires this week—I rather thought I was taking his place.’ She looked at Connor in a puzzled way. ‘What the hell’s going on?’

‘There’s been a change of plan apparently,’ he said laconically.

‘What do you mean—a change of plan?’

He shrugged. ‘Obviously I’m going to be working here as well.’

Victoria frowned. ‘I don’t understand… Mum never said she was taking on an extra doctor. When was it agreed that you should come?’

Connor sat on the edge of the desk, long legs crossed casually at the ankles. ‘Only in the last day or two,’ he admitted. He looked at her rather wryly. ‘As a matter of fact, I’m as much in the dark as you are. Like you, I thought I was the only replacement.’

This is quite bizarre, thought Victoria crossly. Everyone seemed to have got their wires crossed. She hadn’t come from Australia to end up working anywhere near Connor Saunders. Now she was standing opposite him the emotions he’d engendered that evening all those years ago came flooding back to her—the way she’d yearned to be in his arms, the pain she’d felt when he’d made fun of her. He was probably still as arrogant and insensitive as he had been then, and she would bet on it that he had never given a thought to that incident since it had happened.

She folded her arms and looked at him belligerently. ‘I hope I haven’t come all this way on a fool’s errand—I was looking forward to working with my mother,’ she said pointedly. ‘I’d like an explanation as soon as possible.’

‘So would I,’ he agreed drily. ‘They’re both out on home visits now but I hope they’ll be here soon to sort this out. I thought I’d be taking over from my father and then, when your mother retired, getting a junior partner in.’

There was the slightest emphasis on the word ‘junior’ as if to make it clear that he was ultimately going to be the senior partner, whoever he was working with. Victoria looked stonily at Connor—he might find that she had changed a lot since the days of Braithwaite Sixth Form College. What had happened to her in Australia had been horrible, made her doubt that she could trust any man again or feel that she could indeed be attractive to any other man. But it had also toughened her in many ways, and she wasn’t about to be pushed around by anybody. She sat down by the desk and drummed her fingers impatiently on the surface.

‘I suppose we’ll have to wait until they come, then, for things to be clarified,’ she said.

Connor flicked a look at her. Annoyance had made her cheeks quite pink, and her tawny eyes that had once been hidden behind spectacles seemed to reflect the colour of her glossy auburn hair. Victoria Sorensen had become quite a beauty since her school days—the unsophisticated teenager with the gauche manner had blossomed into a confident no-nonsense woman now, he thought with surprise. She’d been a bright girl at school—there’d been quite a lot of competition between them, and he remembered that he’d rather enjoyed stretching himself, always trying to outdo her in exams.

He had to admit he was quite shaken to meet her again. Perhaps deep down he still felt guilty about the way he’d treated her at that school dance—a picture of her stricken face as he’d refused to dance with her floated into his mind, and he recalled the inane laughter of the lads around him on the dance floor. He’d known he’d been cruel even as he’d done it, but he’d been an arrogant twerp then, enjoying the admiration of his mates at his rejection of Victoria, imagining what an alpha male it had made him seem. He felt contempt now for the youth he’d been and hoped against hope that Victoria would have forgotten all about it, although he suspected that she still remembered the incident. Perhaps that was why she so obviously didn’t relish the idea of working with him.

Victoria was oblivious to his inspection as she pondered how unlike her mother it was not to mention that John’s son was coming to work at The Cedars as well. If Victoria had known that, she wouldn’t have come all these thousands of miles to work alongside a man she’d vowed never to speak to again! If only her travel arrangements hadn’t gone so awry she’d have seen her mother the day before and perhaps all this could have been explained.

The sound of voices floated down the corridor, and then the door opened and Betty Sorensen and John Saunders came in. Betty ran over to Victoria and threw her arms round her daughter, hugging her tightly, then held her at arm’s length as she looked lovingly at her.

‘Vicky, darling! I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to meet you. It’s been such a hell of a week with one thing and another—and John and I have been run off our feet, dealing with the consequences of a gastrointestinal virus among the old folk.’ She appraised her daughter beamingly. ‘You look wonderful! I can’t believe you’re finally back in Yorkshire after five years…’

Victoria hugged her mother back—she had missed her so much over the past awful year when having her near to talk to would have been such a comfort.

‘It’s so good to see you, too, Mum. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here last night, but with the plane so delayed I had to stay in London for the night and then get a train up here.’

‘You must be absolutely jet-lagged, but never mind. You’re here now…’

John Saunders stepped forward and took her hand. ‘Welcome back, Victoria,’ he said. ‘I’m sure you’ve made a good move, coming back here.’

He was thinner than she remembered but nevertheless quite distinguished with a head of thick white hair and that air of slight self-satisfaction that she’d always found so irritating.

‘Why don’t we all sit down and have some coffee,’ said Betty. She looked around at the others and smiled. ‘We’ve so much to discuss…’

Victoria and Connor’s eyes met for a second. ‘So it would seem,’ said Victoria lightly. ‘I didn’t realise that Connor would be working here as well.’

Betty gave a slightly embarrassed laugh. ‘Well, things have been moving pretty fast here in the last week, haven’t they, John?’

‘They certainly have.’ He smiled—rather smugly, Victoria thought. ‘But now we can relax, knowing that you and Connor will be holding the fort!’

Connor looked from his father to Betty. ‘I wish you’d tell us what you mean,’ he said impatiently. ‘Have both of us been offered jobs? And what’s this about holding the fort?”

John gave a short chuckle and turned to Victoria’s mother. ‘Forget the coffee, Betty—lets get the bubbly out. We ought to toast Victoria’s return—and we’ve got a little announcement to make ourselves.’

This is extraordinary, thought Victoria as her mother produced a bottle of champagne from a chiller bag. The pompous John Saunders seemed to be turning quite mellow in his old age—she never remembered him being so affable—and what on earth was he going to announce? She flicked a glance at Connor and wondered if he felt the sudden premonition of foreboding she was experiencing.

Betty handed round the glasses and John looked round at them all, raising his glass. ‘I’m not going to beat about the bush,’ he began ‘The fact is, Betty and I have been working together for thirty years now and suddenly we’ve realised there’s more to life than medicine…it’s about time we had some fun.’ He smiled broadly. ‘We want to make up for lost time—and both being single and both realising that we’ve grown rather fond of each other, we’ve decided to get married and take off round the world when we’ve tied the knot!’

There was a stunned silence, the younger couple looking at their respective parents as incredulously as if they’d both divulged they were going to do a bungee-jump in tandem. At last Victoria managed to get out, ‘You’re getting married—after all this time?’

‘And why not? Better late than never—the big day is this Friday. The practice—surely set in the most beautiful part of the country—is there for you two to take over immediately, with no strings attached! And we’re starting on our cruise next week!’

‘Next week?’ squeaked Victoria. ‘You can’t throw us in at the deep end like that!’

‘For heaven’s sake, why the rush?’ asked Connor, folding his arms and looking furiously at his father.

Betty stepped forward and took John’s arm. ‘I know this has come as a great shock to you both…’

‘You can say that again,’ muttered Connor.

‘To be honest, at our age we may not have time on our side—that’s why we want to get going. I know John didn’t want me to mention this, but I feel you ought to know that he’s been having treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma…’

A shocked silence followed and then Connor gave a sharp intake of breath, looking stricken and concerned. ‘Oh, Dad… why didn’t you tell me?’

His father shook his head dismissively. ‘I’m in remission now—and I feel fine, so we’re seizing the moment, aren’t we, Betty?’

‘You should have let me know,’ said Connor reproachfully. ‘I could have helped you out—taken time out from the job in Glasgow…’

John shook his head impatiently and put his arm round Betty. ‘You’ve had your own problems, Connor. Frankly, my illness came as a wake-up call to us both—we realised how much we meant to each other and it was time to move in a different direction.’

Betty smiled at the two stunned people in front of her. ‘You’ll be fine, you know—it’ll be a challenge. We know that both of you have had a rough time recently, and so we thought it was an ideal opportunity for you to make a fresh start—and help us out at the same time. I’m sure you’ll work well together and bring fresh ideas into the practice. Frankly, it’s beginning to get too much for me now.’

Victoria looked at her mother, whose cheeks were pink with excitement, a kind of glow about her that made her seem almost girlish. Betty hadn’t had much fun in her life—it had been all hard work and responsibility. Suddenly Victoria felt a wave of guilt when she thought how happily she’d taken off to Australia five years ago after her mother had seen her through medical school, leaving Betty to carry on by herself, her only child on the other side of the world. She couldn’t spoil her mother’s happiness by telling her that the thought of working with Connor was anathema to her and the fresh start she’d thought she was making in Braithwaite suddenly seemed a very unattractive prospect. She glanced at Connor’s sombre expression. It was plain that his feelings mirrored hers, she thought wryly, but there didn’t seem to be much choice but to get on with things. She swallowed hard and raised her glass towards the older couple.

‘I’m sure we both wish you every happiness—and a wonderful and healthy retirement,’ she said with forced enthusiasm.

‘Of course,’ added Connor. ‘And we’ll do our best to make sure The Cedars goes from strength to strength. It’ll be quite like our old school days—working at the same projects. We should be used to each other’s ways!’

Was that a broad hint that Connor expected to have the upper hand in their working life as he had done when they were students? Victoria took a deep sip of champagne and looked balefully at him over the rim of the glass—she wasn’t going to let there be a rerun of their life at sixth form college. He might have a great physique and good looks, but if he thought he was going to get his own way when they worked together, he was in for a very nasty surprise!