‘No. Shut up and let me speak. So therefore…it stands to reason that you’ve been saving yourself. And I reckon the lady you’ve been saving yourself for has just entered your orbit.’
‘You have to be kidding!’
‘Would I joke about anything as serious as matchmaking?’ Bill demanded. He grinned and lifted one finger on his raised hand. ‘You listen to Uncle Bill, my boy. One. The lady is seriously desirable. Even I can see that, despite my commitment to my Barbara. If Barbara can look sideways at Mike Llewellyn, I can look sideways at Henry Westcott’s granddaughter.’
Then another finger went up. Bill was on a roll here and he wasn’t to be stopped. ‘Two… The lady is a qualified medical practitioner.’ A third finger. ‘Three. The lady has a need to stay in the valley. All you have to do is keep Henry alive and needful of family. And four…’ He said this as Mike rose and stalked to the door. ‘Four, you need to be married, Mike Llewellyn. You need a wife and a few kids and a mortgage just like the rest of us.’
And as Mike walked out and slammed the door behind him, Bill’s face split into a huge grin.
Because Mike Llewellyn didn’t look angry. He just looked confused.
Bloody hell! Could they really have something going here?
‘I just might have another plate of porridge, Mrs Thompson,’ Bill said to the hospital cook. ‘I’d drink champagne if I could, but porridge will have to do. Believe it or not, we might have Dr Mike seriously interested in something other than work!’
Dr Mike wasn’t seriously interested. Or…was he? He did his ward rounds with a strange feeling hanging over his head.
Normally his mind was totally on his job. Apart from his devotion to one crazy dog-and the small matter of his love affair with his car-he gave one hundred per cent concentration to his patients.
Now, though… His patients sensed that there was something different about Mike this morning. He was just as attentive, but there was an air of bewilderment about him.
‘Are you worried about Henry Westcott?’ Sandra Lessing asked. She’d been the cause of his lack of sleep the night before last. Now she was sitting up in bed feeding her day-old son, and, like every patient in the hospital, she was agog with the news of Henry being found.
‘I guess.’ Mike shrugged and smiled down at the downy little head nestled against his mother’s breast. ‘I don’t know, Sandra. There’s no way of telling just how bad the damage is yet.’
‘He was so lucky to be found.’ Sandra’s family farmed a property on the other side of the ridge to Henry’s and she knew at first hand just how hard the country around here was to search. ‘If it wasn’t for his granddaughter coming back…’ She looked at Mike, her eyes twinkling. ‘She’s really something, isn’t she? Bill introduced me to Tessa yesterday when he was showing her over the hospital. She’s just lovely.’
‘Yes,’ Mike said shortly, but he didn’t want to think of how lovely Tessa was. He needed to concentrate on work. ‘Sandra, can we pop your son back into his crib so I can give his mum the once-over?’
‘Sure. He’s not feeding any more. He just likes cuddling.’ She planted a kiss on her son’s head. ‘Give me two minutes and I’ll cuddle you again,’ she promised. She lay back and eyed Mike again, her eyes speculative. ‘I know what,’ she said. ‘How about when I get home I organise a dinner? It can be a thank-you dinner for you for delivering Toby and a welcome dinner for Tessa all in one. How would that be?’
‘If all goes well, Henry will be on the mend and Tess will be back in the States by the time you get home,’ Mike said shortly.
‘Not if this valley has anything to do with it.’ Sandra grinned hugely. ‘The whole valley’s talking about Tessa Westcott, and the whole valley thinks she might be a really good thing.’
‘Sandra…’
‘We’ll work on it,’ she said placidly. ‘Give us time. Like about a day or so!’
By the time Mike reached the little room he used as Intensive Care, he was starting to feel as if he didn’t want to enter. The whole hospital, staff and patients alike, had started to have really strange ideas about Tessa Westcott, and he wasn’t enjoying them. His normal cheerful smile had faded and he approached ICU with misgivings.
Hell, what was happening here? Sure, Tessa was one different woman and, sure, the valley needed another doctor, but Tessa lived in the States, for heaven’s sake! She had nothing to do with him. She was here for maybe a week.
Which was all very sensible, he thought, but logic didn’t account for the way his heart lurched when he opened Henry’s door.
Tess was dozing with her head on Henry’s counterpane. Her wonderful hair was spread out in a flaming halo on the white bedlinen. She was wearing exactly the same clothes she’d had on when they’d brought Henry in.
It had been a really major job to get Henry out of there. The ambulance boys had had to traipse over rough country to reach them, and then there were only two of them. They hadn’t waited for back-up because Mike had wanted oxygen and equipment fast. Henry’s lungs were barely functioning.
Then to get a stretcher over rough ground with only two stretcher-bearers had been risky, but Tess hadn’t waited for back-up even then. No way. In the end, Mike and Tess had taken a stretcher corner each to give them four bearers and make the stretcher stable.
‘I can do it,’ she’d told them when they’d said they’d wait for help. ‘He’s my grandpa, I’m as strong as a horse and I don’t have to use my bad arm. Just shut up and let’s get him somewhere safe.’
So she’d done it, but heaven knew how. Even if she’d been fit, it would have been harder for Tess than for the men because she was inches shorter and, try as they might, they hadn’t been able to compensate entirely-but even though she’d carried with her good arm she was still so badly bruised it must have hurt.
It must have hurt like crazy, but she wouldn’t listen to their protests, and it was the two ambulance men who’d decreed they stop and rest every two hundred yards or so-not Tessa.
She had an iron will. If things needed doing, Tess Westcott just went ahead and did them.
She was such a kid, he thought. From where he was standing, with her head resting on her grandfather’s bed and in her grimy jeans and T-shirt, she looked all of fourteen years old.
Hell. Hell!
Get a hold on yourself, Mike Llewellyn, he told himself harshly. She’s only a woman, and you know your vow. So keep your thoughts to yourself. Hands off.
Easier said than done.
He had work to do here, he reminded himself. So do it!
He stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. Tessa’s eyes flew wide in panic, and she’d half risen from the bed before she realised he was smiling and shaking his head.
‘It’s OK, Tess. There’s no need to hit the panic button.’ He lifted the observation chart from the end of the bed and studied it while she regained her composure. ‘This looks great,’ he told her. ‘I wouldn’t have disturbed you but I wanted to talk to you before I started work for the day.’
She blinked, rubbed her eyes and checked the clock. It was seven a.m.
‘So…where’s your dog?’
‘He’s fast asleep. Where you should be.’
‘You’re here to do your ward rounds?’ she said cautiously, and he grinned. He lifted Henry’s wrist and nodded in satisfaction when Henry didn’t stir. Like Strop, Henry was soundly asleep. It looked like it’d take a bomb to wake him. He had fluids aboard, he had a comfortable bed and he had his granddaughter beside him. There was nothing he needed now but sleep.
‘I’ve done my ward rounds.’ He smiled down at her and the feeling of weird intimacy grew stronger. It was almost as if he’d known her in another life. In fact, it was just plain crazy! ‘The patients in this hospital are used to early morning calls,’ he said, trying to keep his voice steady. ‘I left you until last.’
‘Until last!’ She grimaced. ‘Gee, thanks, Dr Llewellyn. If this is a late call, remind me never to get sick in this hospital. I like my sleep.’
‘I thought you’d be grateful.’ His lazy smile deepened. ‘You can now do what most of my patients do,’ he told her kindly. ‘Enjoy the dawn chorus, have breakfast and then go back to getting some beauty sleep. That means go back to bed. You shouldn’t be here, Tess. You know we’ll take care of Henry. He’s sound asleep. The saline’s working, he’s rehydrating nicely and the antibiotic should kick in within twelve hours. With the fluid on board, he’s
