The Doctor's Longed-for Bride

Jack’s hand went out to touch a wet strand of hair that had fallen over her brow, then he traced a line under her chin and down her neck with his finger, a faint smile on his lips. Frankie tensed at his touch.

‘You’re so kind, Frankie,’ he sighed. ‘But, no, I… I think I know the kind of person I need—so don’t bother your friend.’

He bent towards her and brushed her forehead in a light kiss, then stepped back and smiled at her with those cobalt blue eyes. The atmosphere suddenly became intimate, quiet and still, as if something momentous was going to happen. Before she knew what she was doing, Frankie put her arm round his neck and drew his face down to hers, her lips pressing softly against his cheek… She wanted to show how much she appreciated his compassion—that was all, wasn’t it?

‘We must look out for each other,’ she whispered.

Judy Campbell is from Cheshire. As a teenager she spent a great year at high school in Oregon, USA, as an exchange student. She has worked in a variety of jobs, including teaching young children, being a secretary and running a small family business. Her husband comes from a medical family, and one of their three grown-up children is a GP. Any spare time—when she’s not writing romantic fiction—is spent playing golf, especially in the Highlands of Scotland.

Recent titles by the same author:

THE PREGNANT GP

THE REGISTRAR’S SECRET

THE DOCTOR’S SECRET BABY

The Doctor's Longed-For Bride

Judy Campbell

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

PROLOGUE

IT WAS HOT in the park—people lay basking on the grass under the shade of the trees and children splashed in the paddling pool, their happy squeals carrying over to Francesca holding Abby by the hand.

‘Can I go in there?’ asked the little girl imploringly, tugging Francesca towards the pool. ‘Please!’

Francesca laughed. ‘You can if Daddy says so—but you’re due at a party soon and he may not want you to get wet.’

‘He doesn’t mind me getting wet—really!’ the child assured her, then she started bouncing excitedly up and down. ‘Look—he’s coming now. Let’s ask him, shall we?’

A tall man with thick russet-coloured hair and rimless glasses that gave him a rather studious look ran up to them. ‘Sorry to keep you, Francesca—the clinic was running late as usual and I couldn’t get away. Thanks a ton for minding Abby.’

‘No trouble, Jack. I love looking after her, as you know.’ Francesca grinned at him. ‘And I’m not surprised you’re late—I’ve never known a Saturday clinic end early.’

Abby pushed in between them and wound her arms round her father’s legs. ‘Please, Daddy, let me paddle in the little pool. I won’t get very wet you know…’

Both adults laughed and the man lifted Abby up in his arms and kissed her cheek. ‘Difficult not to get very wet in water,’ he teased. ‘Go on, then—just for a minute, sweetheart. Better take off that dress, though. You’ll soon dry out in this heat before we go to Sam’s party.’

Francesca helped Abby take off her dress and the little girl scampered joyfully towards the pool, her russet curly hair springing up and down.

‘She’s such a dear little girl,’ said Francesca, her eyes following Abby. ‘So bright and bubbly. You must be very proud of her Jack.’

Jack sighed. ‘Of course I am. I just wish Sue was here to see her, that’s all. It seems so hard that she’ll never watch Abby growing up.’

Francesca looked at him sympathetically. He and his late wife had made such a great couple, devoted to each other and absolutely besotted with their little daughter when she had been born. When Sue had died he had been devastated, and Francesca felt he had never recovered from her loss.

She and Jack started to stroll towards the paddling pool after Abby, and Francesca squeezed his arm.

‘You must be lost without Sue,’ she said gently. ‘But you’ve done so well on your own with Abby.’

‘Thanks in large part to you.’ Jack smiled at her. ‘I’ve really appreciated you helping out when I’ve been stuck, you know—like you did today, picking her up from the childminder and looking after her when you’d already done a long stint in A and E.’

‘If I can’t help look after my fiancé’s niece from time to time, it’s a poor lookout. It works both ways anyway. You’re Damian’s brother-in-law and it’s been good to be able to unload some of my worries on you while he’s in South America.’

‘No regrets about me introducing you to someone who’s away more than he’s here?’ asked Jack.

‘Don’t be silly. Love doesn’t dilute with distance, you know! I’ll always be grateful to you.’ She sighed. ‘I wish I could go out and see him, but he’s adamant that I shouldn’t because of the unrest in the area at the moment.’

A vivid picture of her first meeting with Damian sprang into Frankie’s mind—a lovely summer’s evening by the river in the garden of a country pub. Jack had persuaded her to come and have a drink after a gruelling day’s work and meet his brother-in-law who had been back in England for a short time. A charismatic man with thick fair hair had been holding forth in the middle of a group of people in a witty and exuberant way about life on the island off South America where he’d worked. He’d had the confident and easy manner of someone who had not been embarrassed to be the centre of attention—very different from Jack’s diffident and modest demeanour.

Frankie could recall the exact moment when Damian had turned round and seen her by Jack’s side. Damian’s eyes had held hers for a full minute, it seemed, then his gaze had shifted slowly up and down her body in a frank look of admiration and lust. If any other man had behaved like that, Frankie thought wryly, she’d have told them where to get off, but something about him had made her melt like snow in the desert. Damian had abandoned the group he’d been with, including a wistful-looking blonde girl, and had spent the rest of the evening with Frankie. And after that she’d fallen for him.

‘Any news from him?’ asked Jack.

Frankie turned a glowing face to Jack, her dark brown eyes sparkling. ‘I was going to tell you—I had an e-mail this morning, saying he’s coming back next week—isn’t that great? It’s been six months since I’ve seen him.’

Jack looked startled, almost shocked. ‘He’ll be here as soon as that?’ He stared ahead for a moment, watching his daughter splashing energetically in the pool, then he said slowly, ‘So I suppose you’ll be fixing a date for the wedding, then?’

He watched her eager and excited expression, and she laughed. ‘Oh, I expect so, as soon as possible. And, of course, you’ll be best man, won’t you? I know Damian would want you to be.’

A look of slight embarrassment crossed his face. ‘He may have other plans. I don’t want to assume that he wants me…’

‘Nonsense!’ declared Francesca. ‘He was Susan’s brother and I know that he would want to include you in the ceremony. If Susan had been alive she would have been my bridesmaid—now it would be wonderful if Abby could do that for me instead. I’d love that and I’m sure she would, too. She’d look adorable in a special dress…’

Jack’s expression cleared and he smiled down at her, his blue eyes twinkling. ‘If you’re sure you want a four-year-old hanging onto your train. It could be dangerous!’ He shot a look at his watch, then called out to his daughter, ‘Come on, Abby—time to go to Sam’s party now. Let’s put your dress back on!’

Abby ran obediently out of the pool, giggling as some other children splashed her with water. ‘I’m coming!’ she yelled. ‘I’m going to get you all wet in a minute!’

Jack caught his daughter in his arms and hugged her. ‘You wouldn’t do that to Daddy, would you?’

‘Yes, I would,’ she shouted. She looked up at Francesca impishly. ‘Are you going to take me to the party, too?’ she asked.

Francesca was about to say that she’d be happy to stroll along with them when Jack interjected quickly. ‘Francesca’s given up a lot of her day already, Abby. She’s got a life of her own, you know, things she’s got to do without us! And when she’s married to Damian, we won’t see her as much as we do now.’

Abby’s underlip jutted out crossly. ‘I want her to come,’ she muttered. ‘Everyone else has mummies with them as well as daddies. They’d think she was my mummy…’

A shadow crossed Jack’s strong face. ‘You’ll have to make do with me, sweetheart,’ he said gently.

‘I really don’t mind coming with you, Jack,’ said Francesca, her heart going out in sympathy to the little girl.

Jack’s eyes flicked momentarily across to Francesca, meeting hers for a fleeting moment, an unreadable expression crossing his face. Then he shook his head. ‘No, no,’ he said briskly. ‘No need for that. I’ll see you at St Mary’s on Monday. Thanks again for your help today. Come on, Abby, love, I’ll carry you across the park.’

He strode off with the child in his arms, and Francesca watched them go with a funny feeling of regret—she loved being with them and, she had to confess, being a mother-figure to little Abby. She’d half hoped that she and Jack could have gone and had a cup of tea while Abby was at the party—it would have been good to have had a chat, discuss the branch of the family business Damian was hoping to set up when he returned home, and also talk about Abby and her new school. She was surprised that Jack hadn’t suggested it—they often spent Saturday afternoon together.

She turned and walked slowly back to the little terraced house she rented at the edge of the common, somehow feeling rather flat and deflated. Then she shook herself mentally. Jack was right—she had a life of her own, and Damian would be back soon. She wouldn’t have to rely on Jack to help her when anything in the house needed doing, and equally she wouldn’t be able to act as his escort when he needed someone to go to the theatre with or to a supper party with close friends. She’d got used to a certain way of life when Damian had gone to South America—and now, after six months, things would have to change!

Francesca paused at the doorstep and looked back across the park, where Jack’s diminishing figure could just be seen disappearing amongst the trees. She’d got to know him well these last few months and they’d become really good friends—he was so trustworthy and such fun. She wondered whether it was too soon after Sue’s death to find a girlfriend for him. Nevertheless, she would keep a lookout for a suitable girl and perhaps they could go out as a foursome. Feeling cheered by that thought, she went into the house.

CHAPTER ONE

‘YOU JUST WOULDN’T believe what it was like last night—just completely scary. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry!’

Corey Davidson flopped down on the pub bench, and Francesca Lovatt looked up from the letter she was absorbed in reading. ‘What, Corey?’ she said absently, then her face cleared. ‘Oh, yes…the speed-dating evening. I thought it was supposed to be fun?’

Corey groaned, her round face a picture of dejection. ‘I’m just no good at thinking of questions to ask people I’ve nothing in common with. You know I hate all sports and every man there seemed to be heavily into football, golf or tennis…’

‘Perhaps you ought to join a tennis club, then,’ suggested Frankie, putting the letter back in her pocket with a sigh and feeling slightly sick from the shock of its contents.

Corey scowled. ‘No fear. And it was deeply humiliating, too—I didn’t get anyone wanting my phone number!’

‘Did you want any of their phone numbers?’ enquired Frankie, unable to help smiling at her friend’s comically woebegone face, despite the news she’d just received.

‘No,’ admitted Corey. She looked enviously at Frankie. ‘You’re so lucky to have Damian—did you fix a date for the wedding when he was over?’

Frankie swallowed hard. ‘Not yet…You know he had to go back to South America unexpectedly when the manager of the factory died, so he was only here for a few days.’ She bit her lip and looked sadly at her friend, then added slowly, ‘Actually, I’ve just had a letter. He…he doesn’t know when he can come home—and he doesn’t want me to go out there because of the unrest in that area at the moment. And…well, there is something more…’

Her voice trailed off and Corey put her hand sympathetically on Frankie’s arm. ‘I’m so sorry, Frankie. Here am I, rabbiting on about my ghastly evening and you’ve got worries of your own. You must be fed up.’

Frankie pushed the letter towards Corey. ‘Read the last part,’ she said. ‘It was quite a shock I can tell you.’

‘Not before I get us both a drink,’ declared her friend, jumping up from the bench. ‘I have a feeling it’s bad news and after the day we’ve had in A and E we need a pick-me-up—preferably alcoholic!’

She pushed her way through the crowded bar and Frankie leant back on her seat and closed her eyes for a second, propping her tired legs up on the table crossbar to relieve the pressure on her feet. It had been a long day in Casualty and she wasn’t at all sure that coming to the crowded smoky atmosphere of the Drover’s Arms had been the best idea, especially after reading Damian’s letter. Perhaps the full import of it hadn’t hit her yet because she felt rather numb, detached almost from what Damian had said.

Corey returned with two white wine spritzers and looked at Frankie’s pale face and the dark rings under her eyes. ‘You look knackered Frankie—have a swig of this,’ she declared, handing over the drink.

‘I do feel shattered,’ admitted Frankie. ‘But you must be as well—we were run off our feet after dealing with that multiple RTA this afternoon. We’re so short-staffed at the moment, especially now Larry Higson’s left.’

‘Yeah, it’s a shame about Larry taking off. It can’t be much fun for you, being the only registrar on the unit sometimes. Anyway, help is at hand—someone’s coming in his place tomorrow. I met him at lunchtime.’

Frankie raised her brows. ‘I’m glad to hear that, but how come I’m the last to find out? Do we know who it is—anyone local?’

Corey shrugged. ‘I don’t think so. Jack someone or other—wants to get a consultancy in A and E. Must be mad!’

‘Jack?’ A momentary flicker of interest. ‘Do you know his surname?’

‘No idea, but he’s a bit of all right.’ Corey giggled. ‘Perhaps he’s a better bet than speed-dating. Think you know him?’

‘I shouldn’t think so. I did work with someone called Jack at my last job, but he disappeared quite suddenly and there must be hundreds of registrars with that name.’

Jack Herrick, Damian’s brother-in-law… Frankie sighed. She still hadn’t got over the extraordinary shock when Jack had left without warning, not even staying to see Damian who had been due to come home the following week. It had been a complete mystery as to why Jack should have gone without saying a word to her, just a cursory note left pinned on her locker at work and a brief mention of hoping to see her again, probably at her wedding to Damian. Later she’d heard on the grapevine that he’d become engaged, which had surprised her as she had not known he had even wanted to go out with anyone after losing Sue.

There was no doubt that Jack’s abrupt departure without explanation had hurt. He’d been a comforting link with Damian. She’d thought their mutual support system had helped them both—he’d been like a rock when Damian had had to go abroad and sort out the old family business, a shoulder to cry on, in fact. In turn, he’d talked to her about his little girl, and the difficulties involved in being a widower with a child. They’d worked together at the large casualty department at St Mary’s hospital, thirty miles from the infirmary, and Frankie was sure she’d developed a close and relaxed friendship with him. After all, she was going to be a part of his family in that she was marrying his brother-in-law. It had been a slap in the face when he’d just disappeared without even the courtesy of a goodbye.

She gave a mental shrug of dismissal as Corey’s voice broke into her thoughts. All that was history—she was at another hospital now and only concerned with the present and what Damian had written to her.

‘Now, let me see this letter—looks as if it’s upset you,’ said Corey.

Frankie held it out. ‘You’ll see why when you read it, but I’d rather the whole department didn’t know yet.’

Corey looked scornfully at her friend. ‘As if,’ she protested. ‘You know me better than that.’

Her eyes widened as she scanned the sheet of paper, then she put down the letter and whistled softly, shaking her head and looking in disbelief at Frankie. ‘Oh, God, Frankie, I don’t believe this—he must be mad! He can’t mean all that about not wanting to be engaged any more,’ she added vehemently. ‘He loved you, wanted to marry you. There must be some reason for him to break it off so suddenly.’

Frankie shrugged, and although she tried to keep her voice light, there was a bitter edge to her words. ‘I thought he loved me, too. When he came over he gave me the impression that he couldn’t bear to leave me…’ She gave a shaky laugh. ‘I must have missed something, mustn’t I?’

Corey looked at her friend, full of sympathy. ‘Why didn’t he tell you when he was over here? Too bloody cowardly by half. He left it until he’d gone back—the rat!’

‘Perhaps he was just trying to do the right thing by me,’ said Francesca flatly. ‘He won’t be back for at least a year and maybe he doesn’t want to tie me down for all that time…’

‘Tie himself down more like,’ said Corey cynically. ‘What do you really think, Frankie?’

Frankie stared down at the letter on the table in front of her then looked up at Corey. ‘I think you’re right,’ she admitted. ‘It’s him that wants to be free, although he doesn’t mention that there’s anyone else. Anyway, what’s the point of being engaged to someone if they don’t love you any more? I would like to know the truth, though—why he’s suddenly dumped me…’

She felt tears pressing against her eyes and took a long drink to quell the telltale sobs that threatened to choke her. Corey was right—why hadn’t he had the guts to tell her when they had been together? She felt a hollow empty feeling of rejection coupled with a gathering anger that he’d never hinted that his feelings for her might have changed. It was all so sudden, out of the blue.

‘What will you do?’ asked Corey, putting her arm round Frankie and hugging her comfortingly.

Frankie pulled a snapshot out of her pocket and scanned it bleakly. ‘I can’t kill the man,’ she said in an attempt at humour, ‘but I’m going to have to put him out of my mind somehow…’

Corey looked over her shoulder at the picture. ‘Yeah—he’s drop-dead gorgeous all right, but he must be a moron to let someone like you go.’ She scanned Frankie’s heart-shaped face, framed by thick chestnut hair, and grinned at her. ‘It’s my bet that within the year another twenty men will be after you!’

Frankie tightened her lips and tore the photo into little pieces. ‘I doubt it, Corey, and I can tell you that at this moment in time the last thing I’ll be searching for is a man…what’s the point? You give your heart to someone—and for what? You’re rejected with no reason given, no warning. It’s as if you might never even have existed, the past years wiped out, forgotten about…’

Corey took Frankie’s hands and squeezed them. ‘Darling Frankie, don’t let him get you down…you’re worth so much more than he is!’

She smiled at Frankie who even managed a watery smile in return. ‘Don’t worry,’ Frankie said staunchly. ‘I hope I’m made of sterner stuff than that…’

But it was going to be tough, she reflected as she watched the other people in the pub—so many of them with partners, laughing and happy. It was hard to imagine that any of them were feeling quite as desolate as she was at that moment.

A sudden bellow of noise in the room and a certain commotion around the bar made both girls spin round. The landlord, a big burly man, was pushing his way purposefully through the jostling crowd, a warning finger held up.

His angry voice floated over towards them. ‘You can stop that here and now—I won’t have brawling in my pub! Put that bottle down!’

There was a sound of shouting and scuffling. Corey groaned. ‘Oh, no, we have enough of this at work. What the hell’s going on?’

‘Who suggested we should go and have a quiet drink after work?’ murmured Frankie sardonically. ‘Perhaps next time we’ll go to the café on the high street for a nice cup of tea…’

A chair was thrown against the bar, and a scream came from a woman in the little knot of onlookers. Then there was a general intake of breath as someone fell to the floor and two or three men began to wrestle with a tall youth in a black leather jacket and shaven head. Gradually he was manhandled to the wall and pinned against it with his arms behind his back. The figure on the floor lay still.

‘I only tapped him one,’ shouted the youth. ‘It was just a tickle—no reason for him to go down. He was threatening me with a bottle… He’s dead drunk, out for the count.’

Frankie’s eyes met Corey’s in humorous exasperation. ‘Here we go—sounds rather familiar doesn’t it?’ she murmured. ‘Better go and look, I suppose.’

They pushed their way through the small crowd of gawping customers, and Frankie said quietly to the landlord, who was bending down by the fallen man with two other people. ‘I’m a doctor and my friend’s a nurse—perhaps we’d better see how this man is if you’d just let us through…’

The landlord looked at her with relief and stepped back. ‘Thank God—I’d be grateful. This is the last thing I need. No decent punters want to come to a place where brawls are happening. The police and ambulance are on their way—but Lord knows how long they’ll be.’ He glanced down at the supine figure before him. ‘This guy looks as if he’s had a skinful—completely blotto. What do you think?’

The young man had started groaning, his eyes fluttering in a grey-tinged face and his limbs moving restlessly from side to side.

‘He’s still with us at any rate,’ said Frankie, and squatted down beside him, holding his wrist to take his pulse, touching his forehead with her hand. She looked up at the curious onlookers. ‘Anyone know this man’s name?’

‘Gary Hemp,’ shouted someone.

‘Right, Gary,’ said Frankie, bending low over the man. ‘Can you hear me?’

Gary muttered something unintelligible, and Frankie pulled down his lower eyelid to look at his pupils. ‘No reaction,’ she murmured. ‘He’s sweating and his heart rate’s up.’ She looked up at Corey, frowning. ‘But something doesn’t add up here. Did you see where he was hit?’ she asked the landlord, who was now standing over her with folded arms and pursed lips.

‘It didn’t look a full-blooded punch,’ he admitted, ‘more a swipe that glanced against his chin, but he went down like a felled tree.’

‘It’s possible he’s got concussion from hitting his head on the floor,’ pondered Frankie, ‘But it’s a carpeted area here. I wouldn’t have thought…’ She bent forward and smelt the man’s breath, then looked up at Corey with a slightly triumphant smile. ‘I think I’ve got it, Corey. Not sure if I’m right, though. What do you think?’

Corey knelt next to Gary and put her face close to his. ‘He smells of alcohol, that’s for sure…but there is something else on his breath, too, which reminds me of nail polish. It’s acetone, isn’t it?’