‘Come on, Dr Russell,’ Luke said gently. ‘Pancakes await us. And I’m not one to hesitate where pancakes are concerned. Are you?’
Still the hand was out. To avoid it Nikki had to walk right by, brushing him aside. Amy watched.
The sun was warm on her face. Nikki’s body was cool in the water, but all of a sudden the water wasn’t enough. It was as if she was flushing all over.
Slowly she brought up her hand. Luke’s eyes were still, watchful, the laughter gone. In a slow, considered movement he brought his fingers closer and closed on hers. The three were entwined, man, woman and child.
‘Come on, Amy,’ Luke said slowly. ‘Let’s take your mother to breakfast.’
Somehow that morning Nikki managed a little study, but little was the operative word. Even with her contact lenses, her eyes refused to focus on the books, and when she forced herself to read the words aloud they failed to make sense.
What on earth was the matter with her? Amy was at kindergarten. Beattie was shopping and Luke was running morning surgery. She had the house to herself and she had less than three weeks to the exam.
‘So work,’ she muttered savagely. ‘Make yourself work.’
She stared back at the page but all she saw was Luke-Luke lifting her daughter high in the air smiling up at Amy, smiling across at her…
‘I’m going nuts,’ Nikki whispered. ‘I can’t…’
Can’t be falling in love? The words suddenly slammed into her head and stayed. Falling in love with Luke Marriott? What on earth was she thinking of?
‘You just feel sorry for him,’ she told herself savagely. ‘Because of the cancer…’
But that wasn’t true at all. This morning the fact that Luke Marriott had suffered from Hodgkin’s disease had been thrust away into some far recess of her mind. She hadn’t been thinking of it while she had been in the pool.
All she had been thinking of was him. All she had been aware of was his body-his presence-binding her to her small daughter, entwining them into a threesome like a family…
Oh, good grief! She had to stop this. Luke Marriott was here for another few weeks and then he would be gone-forever. Just like Scott.
Not like Scott. Her mind suddenly rebelled, refusing to link the two men, and she stood abruptly. She was getting nowhere at all. If she went on like this she was going to fail this damned exam.
The phone cut across the silence and she answered it gratefully. Anything to get her mind away from these dangerous thoughts. It didn’t help, though. It was Luke on the end of the line.
‘Nikki, I’m seeing Sandra Mears at twelve,’ he told her. ‘I’d like you to be present.’
‘But-’
‘I know. I’m covering for you. But Sandra needs someone who’s going to provide ongoing support. If I persuade her to trust me and then leave, she’ll be no better off than before. I’ve done the groundwork, but I want you to be involved.’
So who was whose boss? Nikki held the receiver back and stared at it. She was used to giving the orders.
He was right, though. Her exam-her studying-was important, but not more important than the long-term happiness of the Mears family.
‘I’ll be there,’ she told him slowly. ‘What have you done so far?’
‘I’ve another patient in the waiting-room,’ he said curtly. ‘I can’t talk now. But I’d like you here at twelve.’
Yes, sir. Nikki thought the words but wasn’t given a chance to utter them. The line was dead.
CHAPTER SIX
BY THE time she reached the clinic, Nikki had worked herself up to anger. It was the only feeling she was capable of defining, and it covered a number of other emotions she was trying to dismiss.
Luke Marriott might have been ill but it hadn’t stopped him being autocratic. He said jump and he expected the world to jump. He should have asked- not ordered.
Maybe I should dock his wages, Nikki thought humourlessly. On the grounds of insolence.
The thought gave her a fleeting ray of comfort, putting the relationship back on a purely professional basis. She climbed out of her little car, self-consciously smoothed down the next frock from Charlotte’s neverending supply, and made her way indoors. Her receptionist met her.
‘Hi, Doctor,’ Mary said happily. ‘Wow, you look gorgeous.’ She grinned. ‘I don’t blame you. Our new locum’s worth dressing up for, isn’t he?’
‘I’m not dressing up for any locum,’ Nikki snapped, but her receptionist simply arched her eyebrows and grinned.
‘Mrs Mears is in with him now,’ she smiled. ‘The children are all over at the hospital. And I’ve cleared an hour if you need it.’ She held up her fingers, showing them crossed. ‘Good luck. Sandra’s not going to take to interference very kindly.’
‘She no longer has a choice,’ Nikki said.
Sandra was sitting in an easy-chair in the surgery. Luke had come from behind the desk and was sitting beside her. They looked up as Nikki knocked and entered, Luke giving her a small, professional smile and Sandra looking downright scared.
‘I asked Dr Russell to join us,’ Luke said gently. ‘I’m only here for another two and a half weeks and you’ll need Nikki for longer than that.’
‘Nikki’…The use of her name jolted her, and Nikki flashed Luke a look of annoyance before sitting. He didn’t seem to notice.
‘How’s Karen?’ he asked Sandra.
‘She’s fine.’ Sandra’s voice was apprehensive. ‘At least…’
‘Did you go and see her?’
‘No.’ Sandra shook her head defensively. ‘I…I went and talked to the sister in charge. She says…she says Karen’s OK.’
‘Why didn’t you go and see her?’
‘She wouldn’t want to see me.’
‘I think she would.’ Luke frowned. ‘Sandra, what do you think Karen would say to you now if you went to see her?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Nothing? You mean, she wouldn’t be upset that you hurt her?’
‘No,’ Sandra said bitterly. ‘She’ll just…she’ll just look at me…’
‘You’d like it better if she yelled at you?’
‘Well…’ Sandra’s head sank down so that she was staring at the carpet. ‘I…I hurt her.’
‘So what are you going to do about it?’ Luke’s voice was unemotional and firm. It was as if he were asking what Sandra intended to have for dinner that night. That she should have something was as inevitable as the fact that she was now forced to take action.
Sandra raised tear-filled eyes. ‘I don’t know,’ she said hopelessly. ‘I don’t…’
‘Sandra, why are you living in that dump?’ It wasn’t a criticism, just a statement of fact, and Nikki’s eyes flew to Luke. She would never have been so blunt.
‘I…I can’t afford anything else.’
‘But you’ve the supporting mother’s benefit. I’ve been on to the Department of Social Security here. They tell me what you get should cover one of the Housing Commission homes down near the river. They’re basic but they’re clean and well-kept-and with your skill as a housekeeper you’d get one looking great in no time. And they’re right in town. The children could walk to school and you could walk to the shops.’
‘But…’
‘But what?’
Sandra swallowed. ‘My husband…my husband ran up debts before he left. I’m paying them off but so far…so far I’ve done no more than cover the interest.’
