out on the bench to steady herself and he’d seen the desperation underlying her veneer of composure. For a moment, he’d been afraid she was going to collapse at his feet.
But there’d been no sign of hesitation or diffidence when she’d helped him with the quad-bike trauma case. He’d watched for it, been ready to take over if she’d faltered. But she’d been great. Better than great.
She’d been fantastic since day one, taking direction from him with no hostility at all. After his father had explained to him the hospital board’s poor handling of the filling of the position he’d wondered how their working relationship would function. But it was a pleasure…in every way. And if there were any undertones of resentment, he couldn’t detect them. If anything, he was the one giving out the mixed signals.
He enjoyed working with her. And on a personal level, he enjoyed being close to her. Perhaps just a little too much. Since that first night when he’d had his hands on her, he’d wanted nothing more than to touch her again.
Professionally, it was a potential time bomb.
She impressed the hell out of him.
As a doctor, she was strong and competent.
As a woman, she was an enigma. One he wanted to solve. The more he
Those occasional flashes of uncertainty and fragility he saw in her cut straight to his heart. They were so out of keeping with the rest of her.
What had upset her tonight? Obviously not the trauma patient. Could it have been the infant?
It didn’t make sense. That case appeared to be so straight-forward. Perhaps Terri had been a little on the cautious side but he preferred that in the staff he worked with than someone who was negligent about cases.
He knew Terri had taken the infant and her mother through to one of the double rooms. The woman had a toddler to look after as well and Terri’s suggestion of a family room for them had made sense. His runners made no noise as he padded through to the quiet corridor
At the door of the room, he stopped dead.
Terri held the happy chortling baby on her knee. He could see her profile, see the loving smile on her lips. The boy’s trusting eyes looked up into Terri’s face as a stream of unintelligible words tumbled out of the rosebud mouth. The fingers of one chubby hand wrapped around Terri’s thumb and he tried to stuff it between his lips.
‘Aren’t you a gorgeous wee man?’ cooed Terri, her voice a warm, maternal caress. Luke’s breath choked up in his throat.
‘Ga!’ said the child, responding enthusiastically to her tone.
‘Yes, you are.’
The sight rocked Luke to the core, raising age-old masculine instincts to protect, to possess. He swallowed hard, waiting for the world to settle.
He adored being a father. From the moment he’d laid eyes on his daughter, his soul had been filled by her sweet invasion of his life.
A sharp, uncomfortable hunger stirred in his heart as he watched Terri with the child.
He must have made a small noise because Terri looked up suddenly. Her smile was filled with a warm uncomplicated love that slammed into him. The charged moment was packed with intimacy. His heart made a slow painful revolution in his chest and a shudder of recognition fizzed through his brain.
He wanted…He refused to let his mind finish the thought.
Terri’s smile faltered and he wondered what she read on his face. Then she blinked, and a quick puzzled look filled her lovely dark eyes before she looked away. She was still seated in front of him but he had the oddest feeling she’d withdrawn from him, mentally fled.
He moved closer, compelled by a wholly male desire to pursue.
‘Someone’s looking a lot happier.’ He sat beside her, putting one hand on the back of her chair as he leaned towards the child. He suppressed a grin when Terri flicked him a wary look. Her senses were spot on. Though he tried to present an unthreatening appearance, she had stirred a primitive corner within him.
He smiled as he stroked the baby’s soft cheek with the back of one finger. The small mouth drooled saliva as it made chewing motions on Terri’s knuckle. ‘Teething as well, is he?’
‘Yes. Which is possibly why he wasn’t settling for his mum.’ Her voice was soft and tender. ‘Poor little fellow.’
Luke’s eyes were drawn to Terri’s profile. She wore her hair up twisted in a loose bun on the crown of her head, making it easy for him to study her profile, the curve of her cheek, the neat straight nose, stubborn chin.
Another wave of need spiralled through his gut. He hadn’t felt such compelling sexual awareness for a long time. Experiencing it now so powerfully was exciting and unnerving.
He had some thinking to do. His situation with Terri was a sensitive one. He was her boss, they worked in a small hospital. They were both here for a limited time.
But there was something between them. Would Terri allow him to pursue it?
Or perhaps the more important question was, was pursuing it wise?
‘Come on, kiddo. You can’t sit there all day.’
Luke’s head lifted at the sound of his sister’s voice coming from just outside his line of sight. He knew Allie was reading a book on the patio. His fingers paused on the pawn he’d been about to move as he strained to hear his daughter’s mumbled response. He picked up his father’s black knight and left his piece on the square.
Not deterred, Megan chirped, ‘It’s time for some girl stuff. Let’s go and see if Terri’s home.’
‘I don’t know if Dad will let me.’ Allie sounded bored and sulky.
‘You won’t know unless you ask him, will you, bunny? Come on. He’s just inside playing chess with Dad.’ Megan stuck her head around the corner of the French door. ‘Hey, Luke, I’m going down to see Terri. Okay if Allie comes with me?’
His daughter’s head appeared beside Megan’s, her face anxious. Was she worried about going? Or worried he wouldn’t let her? Everyday life required the skills of a wiser man than he.
‘Do you want to, Allie?’ he asked, keeping his tone neutral.
‘I guess, sure. It’s not like there’s anything else to do.’ She shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, but he’d seen the gleam of interest in her eyes. More than he’d seen in a long while.
‘Okay, then,’ he said, letting her comment slide. ‘Don’t stay too long.’
‘Thanks, Luke.’ Megan grinned as she turned to Allie. ‘See. What did I tell you?’
Luke watched them go, his silent daughter walking beside his ebullient sister. It should have been the other way around-the teen with the world-weary attitude and the ten-year-old with the naive enthusiasm.
He was failing her in some way that he couldn’t understand. The things he’d tried to reach her fell dismally short of success. He was beginning to wonder if they needed a counsellor to help them through this patch. But if Allie stead-fastly continued to refuse to talk, then the sessions might just cause more of a problem than they solved.
What would Terri make of his unhappy child? This week, he’d found out that she was great with children of all ages. Maybe she could see what was troubling his daughter’s spirit. He would ask.
Perhaps when the girls came back he could wander down to the beach cottage.
Yeah, right. And perhaps Terri would see through him.
‘She’s not settling, is she?’ said his father.
Allie?’ Luke said, earning himself a quizzical look. ‘No, she’s not.’
‘Maybe you should have planned a day out with her today.’
He met his parent’s faintly critical gaze. ‘I did. She didn’t want to go.’
‘Ah.’ His father nodded sagely and turned his attention back to the board.
Luke contemplated the elegantly carved black and white chess pieces. White was in a hopeless position. The defence was shot and he had no offensive pieces in good positions. In short, no matter what he tried now, he was going down.
His thoughts drifted back to Allie. Every approach he’d tried had been grimly rebuffed. He’d hoped the move to Australia might have ultimately sparked some interest in her. He’d know it wouldn’t be easy but he hadn’t expected
