Bachelor Cure

CHAPTER EIGHT

AS BALLS went, it was a fizzer.

Maybe it was the tragedy of the fire the night before that was casting a pall over the night, or maybe it was just that Mike wasn’t in the mood for dancing.

It wasn’t his partner’s fault. Liz was at her vivacious best, svelte and lovely in shimmering black and silver. Usually he enjoyed her company. Liz was a hard-headed career woman with no aspirations for emotional entanglements, and with her he could dance, knowing there was no hidden agenda.

Or could he?

Tessa’s words still stung.

‘Liz, do you think I’m a bastard?’ he asked, as the evening drew to a close. The music was slowing and couples were dancing cheek to cheek.

Liz was dancing easily in his arms, matching his steps superbly, but there was no desire on either part for them to dance any closer.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ve had it implied that I’m a heartless bastard for not taking out any girl more than twice.’

‘You’ve taken me out more than twice.’

‘That’s different.’

Liz grinned. ‘Yeah. But that’s because I’m also a heartless bastard. “Love ’em and leave ’em”-that’s my motto. My dad was like that, and I am, too. There’s no way any man’s going to tie me down. You and I suit very well, Dr Llewellyn.’ Her grin deepened. ‘But don’t get any ideas about us suiting too well or I’ll run a mile.’

He smiled back. Right. It was fine.

It was fine with Liz, but what about the other women? Women like Hannah, whom he’d dated twice and when she’d clung he’d put away fast. Maybe Tess was right. It wasn’t fair.

So where did that leave him, then? Should he only be dating women like Liz?

Yes. A vow was a vow!

Just on midnight he got another call. Mavis rang from the hospital to say Myrtle Jefferson had suffered a fall and needed an urgent house call. It seemed Myrtle had taken an hour to crawl to the phone to call for help, but when Mavis had offered to send the ambulance the old lady had become almost hysterical. She’d told Mavis she only needed the doctor. She needed Mike, she’d wept, but she needed no one else.

It was almost a relief to leave. He left Liz to the attentions of the remaining Bellanor bachelors, and Liz didn’t mind him going in the least.

So… That was the way he wanted it-wasn’t it?

Yes, it had to be, so concentrate on medicine, he told himself fiercely. Concentrate on Myrtle. His medicine had to be the only thing that mattered.

Myrtle certainly needed him. It took him ten minutes to get into the house because she wasn’t capable of reaching the front door to unlock it. In the end he broke a bathroom window, to find her lying on the hall floor by the phone. She’d broken her hip, but what was of even more concern to the old lady was that she’d lost control of her bladder.

Myrtle was rigid with mortification, and it took him a while to figure out just how much of her distress could be put down to embarrassment and how much was due to pain.

‘It’s OK, Myrtle,’ he told her. ‘No one’s going to judge you by this. It often happens after an accident-even to young, fit teenagers.’

But Myrtle would have none of it. She sobbed weakly in distress so, despite his reluctance to move her more than necessary, he administered morphine and then set himself to fix things. By the time the ambulance arrived, Myrtle had been sponged with warm water and was dressed in a clean, soft nightgown. Her soiled night things were soaking in the laundry.

‘Now no one will ever know except you and me,’ he told her, smiling. ‘And you and I go back a long way, Myrtle. I reckon you might even have changed a nappy or two of mine, so that must make us about quits.’

‘I reckon that’s right,’ she said weakly, clutching his hand in gratitude. ‘You were the sweetest little boy. And you’ve turned out… Well, your mother would be proud of you. This new lady doctor’s a lucky young woman.’

‘This new lady doctor…?’

‘Mrs Abbot saw her at surgery this morning and she told Henrietta Smiggins and Henrietta told me. She’s just what you need.’ The morphine was kicking in, her dignity was restored and Myrtle was bouncing back to her old impertinent self.

‘As a medical partner-’

‘No, dear.’ Myrtle patted his arm and fixed him with a knowing look. ‘As a proper partner. That’s what you need, dear. You need a wife, and I won’t let you tell me any different.’

‘Myrtle-’

‘I think I need to go to sleep now, dear,’ Myrtle said weakly, closing her eyes on his protest. ‘I just thought you ought to know…the whole valley’s very happy for you. And so am I. You and Henry’s granddaughter… Well, well.’

He couldn’t stand it.

Tessa had been in the town for a whole three days and the entire district was matchmaking. He travelled back to the hospital behind the ambulance with his mouth set in a grim, angry line.

This was nonsense, stupid, crazy stuff. Fluff! It seemed like the whole town was going nuts.

‘Everyone except me is crazy here,’ he said into the night. ‘I’m not going nuts. I’m the one that’s level-headed here. For heaven’s sake, if she thinks she can bulldoze me…’ His voice died away.

If Tess thought she could bulldoze him, how on earth was he to stop himself being bulldozed?

It took a while to settle Myrtle. He X-rayed her hip and, at Myrtle’s insistence, decided on a conservative approach. The bone wasn’t displaced. With care and bed rest she could recover without internal splinting. Splinting required a trip to an orthopaedic surgeon in Melbourne and a general anaesthetic, and Myrtle wasn’t having a bar of it.

‘Myrtle, it’ll mean up to ten weeks of bed rest if we don’t send you to Melbourne,’ he told her. ‘It’ll take you much longer to recover.’

‘I don’t care.’

‘If you get it splinted you could be up and about much sooner.’

‘I’m not leaving here.’

‘If you stay, you risk pneumonia,’ he told her gently. ‘There’s also the problem of pressure sores and increased difficulty of getting you mobile again afterwards. Myrtle, at your age-’

‘I don’t care what I risk,’ she told him. ‘I’ll lie here and wiggle my toes and keep my circulation going so I won’t have a problem. And at my age I’m well old enough to decide for myself. I’m staying here.’

Maybe she was right. Myrtle was nearly ninety so there were risks whatever course of action Mike decided on. With immobilisation she risked complications, but by giving her a general anaesthetic and putting her through the trauma of travelling to the city maybe she risked worse.

And she was absolutely definite. ‘I’ve lived my whole life here and this is where I’ll die,’ she told him. ‘So if there’s a chance this’ll kill me, I’d rather take the chance that it’ll kill me here.’

‘I doubt it’ll kill you,’ he told her, adjusting the lines on gentle traction. ‘You’re tough as old boots.’

‘Well, even old boots crack in the end,’ she said wearily. ‘And now… I pulled you away from the ball. You go back and enjoy yourself.’

She was wonderful. Mike looked down at her with affection, and suddenly thought this was how Tess would end up. A feisty old lady, loving to the end.

Tess…

He didn’t do as Myrtle had ordered. He didn’t return to the ball. The ball would be over by now and Liz wouldn’t have waited for him. She knew better than that. He wouldn’t mind betting she’d have latched onto another eligible bachelor for a ride home, and he didn’t mind at all.

Now if it had been Tess…

It hadn’t been Tess. Stop thinking like that!

He paused in the corridor, strangely unsettled. It was one a.m. It was time he was in bed, but he didn’t feel in the least tired. Strop would still be snoring. After such an exciting event as a football match he’d likely sleep for a week, so there was nothing calling him home.

He’d just check on Sally, he decided. They were keeping the little girl in overnight to make sure the anaesthetic wore off with no ill effects. Her mother and father had been in earlier, abandoning their intention to go on to the ball, but he imagined they’d have gone home now.

So he’d just check…

He opened the door of the children’s ward, and Tess was there. She was sitting in a chair beside the cot, and she had Sally cuddled in her arms. In the half-dark, with her back to him, Tess was totally oblivious to anything but the toddler in her arms. She was humming the little one to sleep.

He stopped short.

For a long moment he stared. Tess didn’t see him. Her face was in the baby’s hair and she was crooning silly, half-remembered lullabies. She rocked and sang, and Sally whimpered and snuggled in half-sleep.

Dear God, she was beautiful.

Mike couldn’t turn his head away. He couldn’t back out. He stood like he’d been struck.

Tess still didn’t see him. She was wholly concerned with what she was doing, and she had no thoughts for anything but the little one in her arms.

He swallowed and closed his eyes. Hell! Tess had spent the first part of tonight babysitting Louise’s mum so Louise could have a chance at a love life, and then she’d made the effort to come back into the hospital to check on a toddler she cared about.

She had a heart so big…so warm…

Somehow he managed to get himself out into the corridor, but he didn’t know how.

This, then, was what he’d vowed never to have, he thought bitterly. He’d never understood the consequences of his vow so clearly until now. Up to this moment, his vow had been easy to keep. There’d been no one like this to tempt him.

The thought of his mother swept across his mind. Dead… When a decent doctor-a doctor who’d had his mind on his job-could have saved her life.

This woman-Tessa-did have the power to distract him, he knew. She had the power to make him think of something other than medicine, and he dared not risk it. There was no way he was getting personally involved with this woman!

His mother deserved better than this. His mother deserved that he keep his vow. He kept the vision of his mother in his head, and he held it as if he’d drown if he let it go. No! He couldn’t let himself be swayed.

Damn her. She’d have to go.

But he couldn’t make her go. The valley needed Tess almost as much as it needed him.

Swearing softly to himself, he made his way back along the darkened corridor. A nurse came out of Henry Westcott’s room-it was the horrible Hannah-and she lifted surprised eyebrows at the sight of Mike.

‘I thought you’d gone to bed. Myrtle’s resting peacefully. There’s no need-’

‘Is Henry awake?’

‘He is,’ Hannah told him, obviously even more surprised by his curtness. ‘I’ve just given him a rub. He’s been complaining that the pressure sores are hurting.’

Mike frowned. He really didn’t like Hannah on night duty. She meant well, and she would have given Henry an efficient and effective rub, but her words were often capable of inflicting more hurt than her hands could heal. And at night and alone in a hospital bed, everything seemed so much more bleak.

‘I’ll go in and see him.’

‘Suit yourself.’ Hannah shrugged and moved off down the corridor toward the lights of the nurses’ station. ‘If you don’t think you’re better off sleeping…’

Her inference was obvious. Talking to old men in the middle of the night just for the sake of talking, that was a waste of time. Hannah would never do it. She’d do what had to be done medically and no more.

She wasn’t like Tess, Mike thought bleakly. Tess, sitting up half the night to keep a grumpy old lady happy and free her daughter to enjoy herself, and then returning to the hospital to give a two-year-old a cuddle…

No wonder he’d never been tempted to break his vow when he dated the likes of Hannah, he thought. There was no comparison at all.

‘Goodnight, Hannah,’ he said firmly, and he pushed open Henry’s door. He’d check on Henry no matter how much a waste of time Hannah thought it. Maybe he needed a top-up of painkillers.

Henry was wide awake. The old man was watching the opening door with hopeful eyes and Mike smiled in sympathy as he saw the old man’s face fall. That the old man was hoping the visitor would be Tessa was painfully obvious.

‘Tessa’s in the children’s ward,’ Mike said softly. ‘Do you want me to fetch her?’

‘No…’ Henry gave a wheezy cough. He fought to get his breath as the door swung closed. ‘No. I don’t need her. I don’t need anyone. You should all be asleep, not wasting time on me.’

Mike looked at him more closely, hearing the rough emotion in the tired old voice. ‘What’s wrong, Henry? Pain?’

‘No. The rub helped.’

‘Has Hannah been upsetting you?’

‘No. No…’

‘She has. I can hear it in your voice.’ Mike walked across to the bed and dragged up a chair. ‘Hannah’s technically one of my best nurses,’ he told Henry gently. ‘She never puts a foot wrong, but as for her mouth… Medically she might never put her foot wrong, but when her foot’s not in use she stores it in her mouth. Tell me what she’s been saying.’

‘Just…’

‘Just?’

‘She’s just been telling me how good the nursing home here is.’

‘Yeah?’

‘It’s not a bad place to end up, I suppose,’ Henry said wearily. ‘Good as anywhere.’

‘As good as your farm?’

‘No, but-’

‘But nothing,’ Mike said solidly. Damn Hannah. He’d have to give her a few solid orders about what she could and couldn’t talk to patients about. ‘Tessa has you all sorted out,’ he told the old man. ‘Like it or not, she’s dragging you back out to your farm as soon as you’re on your feet, and she has every intention of you and her and Doris the pig living happily ever after.’

‘That’s no life for a girl.’

‘Says who?’

‘Says Hannah. It’d be all right if she was right…’

‘If who was right?’

‘Tessa. Tess says…’ Henry paused for a moment to cough. He was still as weak as be damned. It took him two minutes before he collected himself enough to continue, but Mike waited as if he had all the time in the world. This was important.

And finally it came. ‘Tess says it’s not just she and me and Doris,’ Henry managed. ‘It’s…’

‘It’s?’

Henry hesitated, and then his face creased into a shame-faced grin. ‘It’s you, boy,’ he confessed. ‘Tess told me she intends to marry you.’ Then, as Mike’s face stilled, he hurried into an explanation.

‘Oh, she was just kidding, mind. I told her I wouldn’t have her wasting her life here and she said, nonsense, her intended husband lived here and she had no intention of leaving. Ever. So I thought…’ He smiled. ‘Maybe it’s nonsense but I thought…just for a bit, until I felt more myself…I’d let myself believe it. Only…I told Hannah, just as a joke, like. And Hannah says that’s crazy because there’s no way you’ll ever marry anyone, even someone like Hannah or Liz Hayes, much less Tessa.’

Good grief. What was he to say to this?

‘But, Henry, I’ve only known your granddaughter for three days,’ Mike said helplessly. He was totally at sea here. It was as if he were being washed by waves he couldn’t even see. ‘That’s crazy.’

‘Yeah.’ Henry grimaced. ‘But Tess said three minutes was enough for her. She knew.’ He sighed heavily and tried to twist in bed. His paralysed side held him back. He gave a grunt of frustration and Mike moved to ease him over.

‘Her grandma was the same,’ Henry said finally when he was comfortable again. ‘Tessa’s grandma took one look at me and told me that was it. Forget bachelorhood, she told me. I was the one. It took Ellen a year to talk me round, but I might have saved myself the effort of fighting. Marrying Ellen was the best thing I ever did. But you…’

‘But I’ll not be talked around,’ Mike said heavily. ‘This is nonsense.’ He took a deep breath. ‘So is the thought of a nursing home for you. There’s a job and a life for your granddaughter in this valley without me in the equation. So let’s just make you comfortable and get you back onto your feet and back to Doris. Doris…now, there’s a nice, uncomplicated female.’

‘Ain’t no such thing,’ Henry said morosely. ‘Uncomplicated female? Hah!’

Mike spent most of what little remained of the night staring sleeplessly at the ceiling. About dawn he fell into an uneasy slumber but at seven Strop heaved himself up on the bed and took over the pillow-and by eight Mike was up and ready for work.

In work lay his salvation.

Sunday morning was his easiest time, and it was often his only rest for the week. There was no surgery. He ran an evening clinic for urgent cases-mostly just to lighten his load on Mondays-but apart from emergencies he was free.

There was nothing urgent happening in the hospital this morning, and after Tessa’s intervention there was nothing hanging over from the day before.

He let Sally go home with her relieved parents-proudly carrying her ‘toe ring’. He talked Jason through accepting a full tear of his Achilles tendon and the possibility of fixing it in the valley if Tessa’s registration came through. He made sure Myrtle was comfortable and settled and still determined to stay where she was, and then he turned his attention to the rest of the day.

Tess was nowhere to be seen. He’d visited Henry but Henry was visitor-free and sleeping soundly, no doubt tired after his busy social life the night before. Louise was acting charge nurse, cheerful and still slightly flushed after her night at the ball.

‘Tess went out to the farm early,’ she told him. ‘She’s moving there today.’

Great. That meant he had the hospital to himself.

The day suddenly seemed drab and totally uninteresting.

There was one really nasty task that had to be done. Sam Fisher’s dental records had been dropped off at the surgery the night before. Mike mentally squared his shoulders and headed down to the morgue.

By the time he’d finished making absolutely certain that what lay there was definitely what remained of Sam, the day seemed more than just drab. He was depressed past belief.

Hell!

So, now what?

He collected Strop and emerged from the hospital to brilliant autumn sunshine. The day was gorgeous. He stood in the car park breathing in huge lungfuls of fresh air, trying to drive away the smell and remembrance of what he’d just done.

Who’d be a doctor?

It did have advantages. One of them lay just before him. His Aston Martin was the pride of his life. It was a bit dog-haired, but it was still gorgeous.

It needed a woman in the passenger seat, he decided, looking at it with affection. Not a dopey Basset. To really set it off, it needed a woman, with red hair flying free…

Oh, terrific. He was going nuts here. What the hell was he thinking of? He’d known Tess for three days and he was going nuts.

Strop cast him a reproachful look and he laughed and climbed into the driver’s seat. ‘OK, I’m not thinking of replacing you. Or maybe I could get you a cushion so the gearshift doesn’t bruise your butt.’

More dirty looks, and Mike grinned. Strop knew the priorities. He needed no one else in this car. No one!

Maybe he should go and collect Liz. She’d always come for a drive with him. But…she didn’t like Strop.

So… He’d go for a drive with just Strop.

He didn’t. Instead, he nosed his beloved car northwards, up toward the mountains. He had his phone on his belt. He could be contacted if needed. He’d just see…

And the sleek sports car purred its way straight to Henry Westcott’s farm, and it turned into Henry’s gate as if it were magnetised. It was just to see that Tess didn’t need help, he told himself firmly, but he didn’t believe it for a minute.

It was just because he wanted to see Tess. Hell, he had the self-control of a mating newt!

Tess was in the shed with Doris. Today she was dressed for farm business, with stained jeans that were just a tad too tight-gloriously too tight-a work-stained T-shirt and a gorgeous blue scarf, tying back her red curls.

As Mike entered the shed, Strop at his heels, he found her squatting beside the piglets, deep in conversation with Doris.

‘I don’t know how you can tell them apart because I can’t,’ she was telling the sow. ‘You need hospital wristbands. Trotter bands. Though this little one…he’s fatter than the rest. Let’s call this one Mike, shall we?’

‘Why? Because I’m fatter than the rest?’

‘Oh…’ Tess swung around to face him, and her face flushed scarlet. ‘Whoops. I didn’t know.’ She scrambled to her feet, and then she smiled and there was no disguising her pure, unmitigated pleasure that he’d come. Mike felt himself warm from the toes up at her welcome. ‘I didn’t dare hope you’d come,’ she told him.

‘So this is a private name-calling ceremony?’

‘It’s a family affair,’ she agreed. ‘Just me and Doris and the kids.’

‘Are we intruding?’

‘No, not at all,’ she said cordially. ‘Unless Strop is interested in piglet.’

‘Only roasted. That old idea of catching and killing your own meal was bred out of Strop’s remaining brain cell generations ago.’

Tess grinned as Strop wandered outside to see if roast pork was somewhere else. ‘Then Doris and I are really pleased to see you,’ she said.

The warmth grew warmer-and Mike struggled to keep his face straight.

‘So…why are we calling the fat pig Mike?’

‘Well…’ Tess had her equilibrium back now. She picked up the proposed Mike piglet and surveyed him, nose to nose. Unbothered, Doris suckled on. Some sows took umbrage to having their family handled, but as far as Doris was concerned Tess, it seemed, could do anything she liked.

‘Is it just because he’s fat?’ Mike enquired again, inspecting the piglet closely.

‘Well, there is that,’ Tess agreed. She grinned and checked Mike out. It was all Mike could do not to blush as her assessing gaze raked him from the toes up. ‘But you’re not really fat,’ she added kindly. ‘You’re just…well, just sort of muscled.’

And then Tessa’s grin deepened and she swung the little piglet around so his tail was in the air. ‘But there’s another resemblance. Look at this. He does look like you, Mike Llewellyn. He has the cutest butt!’

‘Gee, thanks!’ The girl was incorrigible. Hell, he was blushing.

She chuckled, unabashed, and gently laid Mike Piglet down on the straw with his brothers and sisters. Mike Piglet headed teat-ward, seemingly at the speed of light, and Tess chuckled again, before turning back to Mike Person.

‘You know, you look really appealing when you’re embarrassed,’ she told him kindly. ‘You’re almost as cute as little Mike and his brothers and sisters-Oinks One to Seven.’

And then she really looked at him. Her smile died and her eyes became searching.

‘Mike, what’s wrong?’

‘There’s nothing-’

She took a step forward. ‘Oh, God… Is it Grandpa?’ The colour drained from Tessa’s face and he spoke quickly to reassure her

‘Henry’s fine.’

‘Then why do your eyes look like that?’ And then Tessa’s face cleared as she figured it out. ‘Oh, Mike. I forgot. I know what it is. The dental records arrived last night. You’ve been identifying Sam.’

She could read him like a book! He took a step back, as though putting distance between himself and Tess, but Tess wasn’t having it. She walked over and gave him a king-sized hug, and it was all he could do not to hug her back.

‘I should have come with you,’ she said softly. ‘I could have helped. It must have been awful.’

‘No.’

‘Oh, no,’ she jeered. ‘Not awful. Don’t forget, I saw him, Mike. It was awful. And you were his friend.’

‘Tess…’ He stopped, unable to go on. For the life of him he didn’t know what to say, or how on earth to respond. Since his mother had died all those years ago, nothing and no one had been allowed close. To have this girl know intuitively what was wrong…and to hug him like this…and to care…

The sensation was insidious in its sweetness.

‘It’s OK. You can admit it was awful, but at least now it’s done. And the end for Sam must have been fast.’ She gave him another hug and stepped back so she could see him again while he was still figuring out how to respond. But he didn’t need to respond.

‘Come in and see what I’ve done to the house,’ she begged, and she took his hand and dragged him out of the barn before he could protest. Her hand held his in a grip which warmed him from the fingers up and which wouldn’t be denied. There was nothing for Mike to do but be propelled forward.

She didn’t stop until she reached the kitchen, and he stopped, stunned, as he walked in the door. What she’d done here…

The place had been transformed.

It was clean for a start. The house in Henry Westcott’s care had been left to deteriorate. Henry’s wife had been house-proud, but after she’d died Henry had simply not cared. He’d kept it clean enough basically, but that had been all.

The last time Mike had been in here-the night they’d found Henry-the place had been dark and smoke-stained and dreary. But now…

‘How long have you been here?’ Mike asked faintly, staring around at the transformation.

‘Since about seven. I couldn’t sleep. Louise’s mum snores and Louise was due on duty early, so we had breakfast together and talked about how wonderful Harvey Begg is. She even loves his Volvo.’ Tessa’s voice sounded awed. She smiled and kept on.

‘I left her stargazing and hiked in to the hospital, said hi to Grandpa, who was snoring as loudly as Louise’s mum, and then borrowed a pile of cleaning stuff from the store. I needed more but Mr Harcourt, the man who owns the hardware shop, was picking up his newspaper from his front lawn as I drove past. I know him from yesterday when I treated his cough. I was very kind about his smoking habits-apart from telling him he’d be dead in two years if he didn’t cut down, I wasn’t threatening or anything.’

Tess paused to catch her breath, and then she kept right on going.

‘Anyway, Mr Harcourt was embarrassed about being caught in his pyjamas. They have yellow ducks all over them! They were a gift from his wife, he says, though I don’t know whether I believe him. I think he likes them. And he was smoking again this morning! Honestly, I think the man smokes in his sleep. So I gave him another lecture and asked if I could get some whitewash and some stove black. And he was so nice-he gave me the key to the shop.’

She meant he was so flummoxed, Mike thought blankly. Anyone would be.

And William Harcourt… It couldn’t have happened to a nicer man. Yellow ducks, eh? Mike’s lips gave an involuntary twitch.

‘So then I scrubbed and scrubbed. This place looked dingy but, in fact, it’s just the smoke stains all over the stone walls from the fire stove. I’m sure Grandpa doesn’t keep the vents open like he should and it’s so bad for his health. I cleared everything out and whitewashed the walls, and I blacked the stove and then I hauled everything back in here-hasn’t it made a difference?’

It certainly had. Mike could only stare.

‘I need help to hang the curtains again,’ she told him, not giving him time to comment. ‘I washed them early and I was just going out to see if they were dry when I got sidetracked with Doris and the kids. I’ll go and get them now. Isn’t it lucky you came?’

And she flew out of the kitchen, leaving Mike staring after her.

She was like a whirlwind, a crazy, wonderful tornado that picked everything up and whirled it around and set it down…different.

And he didn’t know how to stop himself whirling.

They worked steadily on. He wasn’t allowed to protest. He simply obeyed orders and the experience was totally novel.

Mike was an undomesticated animal, but Tess didn’t seem to notice. She had him hauling down the upstairs curtains, beating rugs over the clothesline, hauling sheets off beds and making them up with clean linen, and sweeping out rooms that hadn’t been used for years. Strop followed behind, interested and nosing his way into everything.

‘You and Henry are only going to use two bedrooms,’ he protested. ‘The place has five. Why do we have to clean them all out?’

His protest was met by scorn.

‘If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well,’ she said piously. ‘Didn’t your mother teach you anything?’

And then she looked sideways at him as his face closed-and he knew she was busy adding two and two together and making heaven only knew what out of her thoughts. He didn’t have the faintest idea what she was thinking.

He’d never met anyone like this woman in his life.

She called a halt at two. Miraculously the phone at Mike’s hip hadn’t sounded once. He almost wished it had.

Tess laid out fresh bread and cheese, and hauled a bottle of wine from her grandfather’s cellar. She produced a hambone for Strop-how the hell had she guessed Strop might be here? Then she spread a rug out under the gums, settled herself down in the sunshine and she smiled up at him…

Then again, maybe he didn’t want his phone to ring at all.

‘Come on. You’ve earned this,’ she ordered, patting the blanket.

‘Where did you get all this from?’

‘I begged the cheese from Louise’s mom, the hambone came from the hospital kitchen and the baker was baking early this morning. I was his first customer. I told him I really hoped you might be sharing my lunch and he said he hoped so, too, and he said rye bread was your favourite.’

They’d be the talk of the town, Mike thought faintly. If Tess was breezing down the main street at dawn, chatting to solid citizens in their duck-covered pyjamas and discussing Mike’s likes and dislikes in the bread department…

How had she known he would think of coming?

Miraculously, Tess was silent the whole time she ate. She lay stretched out like a lazy cat, soaking up the warmth and the fresh bread and cheese and the smell of the eucalyptus above them. He was left alone with his thoughts.

Not for long. Never for long with Tess around.

The bread and cheese finished, Tess disappeared inside the house and came back with two steaming mugs of coffee. She handed him one, settled down with hers and then hit him with both barrels.

‘Tell me about your mother.’

‘What…?’

‘Louise says your dad lit out when you were tiny. She says your mother raised you alone and then, when you were sixteen, your mom died. How did she die?’

‘Tess…’

‘I know,’ she said softly. ‘It’s none of my business. But tell me anyway.’

‘Why?’

‘Mike, I really want to know.’

He sighed and stirred and stretched out, lying on his back with his hands behind his head as he gazed up through the canopy of gum leaves. Why tell this girl? Why be here at all?

It seemed there was no choice.

‘My mother died of a diabetic coma,’ he said heavily, his voice sounding as if he’d been goaded. ‘Her diabetes was unstable. She got an infection which ran out of control. One Saturday afternoon she just collapsed. In retrospect she needed intravenous antibiotics and she needed insulin. But she’d never let me touch her diabetic medical kit. She hated me even thinking she was ill, so I didn’t know what to give her or how much-even if I’d known how to give an injection.’

His voice grew incredibly weary as he thought it through. How many times had he gone over and over what had happened? He was tired of it in his mind; infinitely tired, but he couldn’t let it go.

‘So…’ Somehow he made himself continue. ‘So there was no hospital here then and no nurses. There was just a doctor. Just a doctor who didn’t come. Mum was in a coma when I found her, otherwise maybe she could have told me what to do. But there was no one.’

‘You blame the doctor?’

‘He should have come.’

‘So you’re going to be on call, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for the rest of your life?’

‘Something like that.’ He grimaced, then shrugged and gave a rueful smile. ‘No. I’m not that stupid. I know I’m not God. I pay locums once a year so I get a break.’

‘Locums?’

‘Two locums.’

‘Two locums to provide the same service you provide?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Because no other single doctor would be stupid enough to take on what you take on.’ Tessa’s voice was gentle, but insistent.

‘That’s your point of view.’

‘Well…’ She’d been sitting on the rug, staring down at him. Now she flopped backwards so she was lying full length beside him and she put her hands behind her head as well. She stared up into Mike’s gum tree as if she was trying to see what he was seeing. By their side, Strop gnawed peacefully on, supremely content with his lot.

‘It’s just as well I’ve come, then,’ she said decisively. ‘You need me, Mike Llewellyn.’

‘I-’

‘Admit it,’ she said, still staring upwards. ‘You need another doctor.’

‘If you stay, it’ll mean I don’t need to have so many holidays.’

‘It’ll mean you don’t run yourself into the ground so much.’ Tessa nodded decisively. She’d kicked her shoes off. Now she raised one bare foot and examined her toes, with the gum-tree canopy acting as a background for her painted toenails. It was as if she was admiring a work of art. Which, in fact, they were. ‘So you admit it, Mike? You need me?’

‘OK.’ He stirred uneasily. She was too damned close for comfort-too damned close by far-and the sight of her bare toes… Hell, he’d never realised bare toes could be so sexy! ‘I do need another doctor,’ he said grudgingly. ‘If you stay then I’ll be grateful.’

‘Oh, I’ll stay.’ She hauled herself up so she was supporting herself on her arms and staring straight down at him. Her face was now right in his line of sight-between him and his canopy. She was about four inches from his nose.

‘And what about the rest of you, Dr Llewellyn?’ she demanded.

‘The rest?’

‘The doctor part of you needs me as a doctor. Does the personal side of you need me as a woman?’

‘Tess…’

‘You’re not saying there’s no personal side?’

‘Of course there’s a personal side.’

‘But not one that lets anything interfere with your medicine. Is that right?’ she demanded. ‘Because of what happened to your mother in the past you’ve blocked off your personal needs. And…’ Her green eyes grew thoughtful. ‘You think if you let yourself fall for me, I’ll distract you.’

And then, as he stared up at her in baffled silence, Tessa’s mouth creased into a smile. ‘Hey, you might be right at that. Distraction sounds fun.’ She put a teasing finger on his nose and her touch was electric. ‘But I wouldn’t distract you all that much, Dr Llewellyn. If duty calls I’ll be right there beside you, beavering away like mad and being just as devoted a doctor as you. To suggest anything else is insulting.’

He stared up at her and she smiled straight back. Hell! Her curls tumbled down around her shoulders, just brushing his face. Her green eyes smiled down at him. Her face was so near…

Women weren’t supposed to do this, he thought dazedly. Women weren’t supposed to throw themselves at men.

This wasn’t just a woman. This was Tessa.

‘I wouldn’t want to insult you,’ he said faintly, and her smile grew.

‘Now that’s really wise.’

‘Why is it wise?’

‘Because I have friends in high places. Or low places. Insult me and I’ll set Doris onto you.’

‘Perish the thought.’

‘She’d squash you to death in two seconds flat.’

‘She’d do that on command?’

‘She’s a very amenable pig.’ Tessa’s voice softened and her nose lowered a notch or two. So there was about two inches clearance. ‘Almost as well trained as your Strop. So…’

Mike could hardly breathe. His lungs were hurting. The sheer effort of not taking this girl in his arms was almost killing him.

But he didn’t need to. Tessa had no need of assistance. She had things in hand here, and she knew very clearly what she intended.

‘So just shut up, lie back and let me introduce you to a lady who intends to be the love of your life, Mike Llewellyn,’ she whispered. ‘And in case you hadn’t guessed-that’s me.’

Her nose descended a further two inches and Mike found himself being solidly kissed-and for the life of him he couldn’t put up one skerrick of resistance. Somewhere inside him a weight was being lifted which had been almost too heavy to bear, and he hadn’t known he was carrying it. He had sworn he’d never love, but he hadn’t known what love was. He had sworn off commitment, but he hadn’t known that commitment could be as sweet as this.

That a woman could feel like this in his arms… She felt as if she belonged right where she was-as if she were part of him. As if she were the completeness of his whole.

The last of his resistance crumbled. He held Tess to him and her body moulded itself to his in the soft autumn sunlight. At the touch of her body against his, Mike felt his vows slip away as if they’d never been.

Vows? What vows? They must have been unimportant things, made on the mistaken premise that he couldn’t be committed to his medicine if he loved a woman.

He could be. This woman was his partner. He still could be committed, he told himself fiercely, because he had to be. Because, like it or not, he was wholly and wonderfully committed to the woman in his arms.

His Tessa.