Best Friend To Royal Bride / Surprise Baby For The Billionaire

As soon as she saw him she jumped to her feet. ‘Is it finished?’

‘Yes. You want to come and see it?’

‘There are a few things I have to do, but I’ll have a look later on…’ Alex’s face must have shown his dismay and she laughed. ‘Of course I want to come and see it!’

‘Okay.’ From his pocket he produced the extra-large handkerchief he’d brought from home that morning, brushing a speck of brick dust from it. ‘Stand still for a moment.’

‘You’re going to blindfold me? Seriously?’

‘Charlie’s worked hard on this. I think it deserves a little bit of a ceremony, don’t you?’

The blindfold was nothing to do with Charlie. Alex just wanted to see the look on Marie’s face when she saw the paved courtyard.

‘Yes, okay, then. Hurry up!’

He tied the blindfold carefully over her eyes, trying not to breathe in the scent of her hair. Then, just for good measure, he turned her around a couple of times. Marie flung out her hand, her fingers brushing his chest, before they found a secure hold on the sleeve of his T-shirt. Alex shivered as tingles pulsed down his spine. They were almost in an embrace.

‘Enough, Alex! Take me there or else!’

‘Okay. Hold my arm.’

She clung on to him as he walked her slowly along the corridor. When the idea of blindfolding her had occurred to him this morning Alex hadn’t taken into consideration how good it would feel to have her walking so close, hanging on to him. He was glad he hadn’t foreseen it, because if he had he might have thought better of the idea. And it would have been a shame to miss this moment.

Charlie opened the door for them, standing back with a huge grin on his face.

‘The step’s right in front of you…’ Alex held her arm firmly so she couldn’t fall, and Marie extended her foot. ‘That’s it. A little further.’

When her foot hit the surface of the bricks she gave a shiver of anticipation, her fingers tightening around his arm. Alex’s knees almost gave way, and then suddenly his body was taut and strong again, ready to catch her if she fell.

Marie stepped out into the courtyard carefully, letting him lead her into its centre.

‘You can take the blindfold off now.’ He heard his voice catch on the lump in his throat and knew he dared not do it for her. If he touched her hair again he might forget himself.

Marie reached up, fumbling a little with the knot. She was silent for a moment, her hand to her mouth as she looked around.

‘Herringbone! I didn’t expect that!’

Alex and Charlie exchanged smug looks. The herringbone pattern meant that there had been extra work in cutting the bricks at the edges, but they’d both agreed it would be worth it. Now, it was definitely worth it.

‘This is beautiful. It’s perfect. Charlie, you must have worked so hard…’

It was just like Marie to praise the younger member of the team first. Charlie had worked hard, he’d made sure everything was exactly right, and he deserved it. Alex smiled as Charlie’s cheeks began to redden.

‘And you’ve set out all my planters as well. Thank you so much.’

Charlie nodded. ‘Would you like to see the drainage gulley?’

‘Yes, please.’

Alex watched as Charlie led her to one corner of the courtyard, showing her where excess rainfall would drain away from the surface and into a waste pipe.

‘You’ve made such a good job of it. When we put some flowers and seating out here it’s going to be a lovely place for people to sit.’

Charlie was grinning from ear to ear, and had obviously taken about as much praise as one young man could stand from a beautiful woman. He muttered something about having to report back to Jim, and made his escape. Then Marie turned her gaze onto Alex.

No words. Just a smile. But Alex felt just as pleased with her reaction as Charlie had obviously been.

‘You like it?’

‘You really need to ask, Alex? I love it.’

Alex nodded. This was everything he needed. It was well worth the hard manual labour, the aching muscles and the scraped fingers.

‘Our garden…’ Marie turned around as if she could see it right now. Flowers and seating—everything as it would be when it was finished.

‘Yes. I like the sound of that.’

‘Me too. I could really, really hug you. If you weren’t so dirty.’

He could really, really hug her too, and love every second of it. It was just as well that he was covered in grime, with streaks of adhesive all over his jeans.

‘I think I’ll go and give the showers in the gym changing rooms a trial run. Then I’ll go to my office.’

‘This has been keeping you from your other work…’ Marie shot him a guilty look.

‘There’s nothing so urgent that it won’t wait until tomorrow. I just really need to sit down.’

‘Then come out here. I’ll fetch you a chair and a cold drink, and you can sit and watch me work.’

The idea was much more enchanting than it should be. He could survey his handiwork with a sense of pride at something started and finished amongst a list of tasks that never seemed to end. Better still, he could watch Marie. Her dress brought a splash of colour to the monotonous pale walls of the clinic, and the way she moved injected life and fluidity. He loved the way the light glinted in her hair and—

Enough. He should confine himself to appreciating the colours of the brick. He might even allow himself a moment of self-congratulation that all that tapping with a mallet had borne fruit and they were perfectly level.

‘I’ll be back in ten minutes.’

He grinned at her, leaving her standing in the middle of the courtyard, still looking around, while he headed for the shower.

Marie couldn’t wait to get started. By the time Alex had returned she’d brought the rest of the pots and seed trays through from the other courtyard and was shifting the planters around into different configurations.

‘Stop!’ Alex was leaning back in his seat, drinking lemonade. ‘That’s the one I like.’

Marie stood back. ‘Yes, me too. Then there’s space for some seating.’

Alex nodded. ‘Where are you thinking of getting that from?’

Now or never… The idea had occurred to her yesterday, and since then Marie hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. ‘I had my eye on some old garden benches I saw in a junk shop. They’d scrub up nicely. But…’

Suddenly she felt as if it was too much to ask. As if this little garden with its recycled pots and bedding plants grown from seed wasn’t really good enough.

‘But what?’

Marie must have shown her embarrassment, because Alex was suddenly still, looking at her thoughtfully. There was no way out now…

‘I thought… Did your mother like flowers?’

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. The question had come so much out of the blue.

‘She loved her garden. She was always out there, planting things and helping the gardener. Whenever my father wasn’t around, that is. He reckoned she shouldn’t get involved with any actual work.’

‘I thought… Well, I know this garden’s never going to make the Chelsea Flower Show, but you made it… And you know how they have seats in the park with people’s names on them…?’

She couldn’t quite say it, but Alex had caught her meaning and was nodding slowly. Marie held her breath, hoping Alex wouldn’t take offence at the suggestion.

‘My mother would have loved this garden. And I’d like to buy something for it in memory of her.’

Marie let out a sigh of relief. ‘You’re sure, Alex? I know it can’t do your feelings for her justice.’

He shook his head. ‘My father thought cut flowers and ostentatious wreaths did her justice. I hated her funeral and I wanted to go away and do something simple for her on my own, but I never could find the right thing. This is the right thing. You said you wanted a water feature?’

‘Yes? Do you think that would be better than seating?’

‘Much better. She liked the sound of water; she used to say it was soothing.’ Alex thought for a moment. ‘No brass plates with her name, though. I don’t want that.’

His obvious approval for the idea gave Marie the courage to suggest another. ‘What was her name?’

Hopefully it wasn’t something too long…

‘Elise.’

Perfect. ‘If you wanted we might spell her name out? With the plants we choose to put around the water feature?’

He smiled suddenly. ‘I’d love that. Thank you for thinking of her, Marie. She’d be so pleased to be part of this garden.’

‘Good.’ Marie’s heart was beginning to return to something that resembled a normal pace. She felt almost light-headed.

‘As this is Friday, and we’ll be opening on Monday, I’ll have to go to the garden centre this weekend. I don’t suppose you could spare a couple of hours to help me choose?’

Marie rolled her eyes. ‘Where else did you think I was going to be this weekend? Yes, of course I’ll help you.’

They’d worked hard at the weekend. Alex had chosen an old millstone, with water bubbling from the centre of it, which was a great deal heavier and more expensive than Marie had envisaged. Jim was going to have to construct a base for it, and install the motor and drainage tank, but Alex and Marie had heaved the millstone into the place reserved for it in the courtyard, and it already looked stunning.

She hadn’t stopped Alex from buying plants, some more planters for them, and four wooden benches. This was a labour of love, and the look in his eyes when they’d hauled the first of the planters through into the garden, filled it with compost and arranged echinacea and lavender in it had told her that it meant a great deal more to him than anything money could buy.

On Monday morning everything was ready. Tina, the receptionist, was at her post, and Alex and Marie were sitting in the chairs at the far end of the reception area, along with one of the counsellors, a physiotherapist, and therapists from the pool and the gym. Tina would welcome visitors and summon the relevant person to talk to them.

‘You’re sure we shouldn’t be next to Tina? She looks a bit on her own.’ Alex waved across to Tina, who waved cheerily back.

‘No. We don’t want to frighten anyone away with a horde of therapists waiting to pounce.’

‘But I want to pounce. Actually, I want to go out onto the street and kidnap anyone who walks by.’ Alex was looking a little like a caged lion at the moment.

‘Well you can’t. We’re supposed to be friendly and non-intimidating. We wait, Alex. We’ve got some groups coming soon. Before you know it you’ll have more people than you can cope with.’

‘I hope so…’ He caught his breath, stiffening suddenly as a shadow fell across the entrance. ‘Aren’t they the women you were talking to the other day?’

Carol and Nisha had manoeuvred their pushchairs into the lobby and were standing by the door, looking around. They moved forward to let a group of young mums past, who had obviously just dropped their children off at school.

‘Yes.’ Marie smirked at him. ‘They’re mine, Alex. You can wait here until Tina calls you…’

He grinned at her, obviously relieved that the reception area was beginning to fill up. ‘No one likes an overachiever, Marie.’

‘Too bad. I’m still first.’

She stood up, walking across to where Carol and Nisha were standing.

‘Hi, Marie.’ Carol saw her first, and gave her a wave. ‘We’ve come to check out the mum-and-baby swimming classes.’

‘That’s great. I’ll get you signed up… Would you like to come and see the pool first? It’s in the old gym.’

‘The gym?’ Carol rolled her eyes. ‘That I’d love to see.’

Marie led the way. Both women had been to school here, and by the time they got to the swimming pool the three of them were swapping memories of their years spent here.

‘You’ve worked wonders with it all, that’s for sure.’ Carol nodded her head in approval of the changing rooms and showers, and then stopped short when Marie opened the door that led through to the pool area. ‘Wow! This is a bit different!’

The aqua blues and greens of the tiles and the light playing across the water made this one of Marie’s favourite parts of the clinic. ‘This is the main exercise pool. The hydrotherapy pool is where we’re holding the mum-and-baby classes.’

‘Does it matter if I can’t swim?’ Nisha was looking uncertainly at the pool.

‘No, the hydrotherapy pool is much shallower than this one. You’ll be able to stand up in it. It’s kept at a warmer temperature, which makes it more suitable for babies and children.’

Marie led the way through to the smaller pool, where the same blue-and-green tones lent a more restful, intimate atmosphere. Georgie whooped with joy and started to wriggle in his pushchair, obviously keen to try it out straight away.

‘I think that’s one taker!’ Carol grinned, taking him out of the pushchair and keeping a tight hold on him in case he decided to try and jump in. ‘What do you think, Nisha?’

‘Yes, definitely.’

The matter was settled. Marie had filled two places on the mother-and-baby swimming course, and maybe she’d get a chance to talk a bit more to Nisha.

‘Would you like to come to the cafeteria for some coffee?’

‘That would be nice. There was something I wanted to ask…’ Nisha smiled hesitantly.

‘Oh. Yes—good idea. I’ll leave you to it, then. See you tomorrow, Nisha. Thanks for the tour, Marie.’

Georgie’s protests went unheard as Carol put him back into the pushchair and hurried away, giving them both a wave.

Marie turned to Nisha, who was grinning broadly at her friend’s receding figure. ‘If there’s something you want to talk about we could have coffee in my office.’

‘It might not be anything at all. I’m probably just being silly…’ Nisha twisted her mouth into a grimace.

‘If it matters to you then it’s something. The one thing I’m not going to do is tell you that you’re being silly. You’re the one who tells me what’s important.’

Nisha nodded. ‘It is important to me. I wish you could help me…’

Half an hour later Marie walked Nisha through to the reception area, which was now buzzing with activity. Nisha was grinning, clutching the information pack and the appointment card Marie had given her. Alex was nowhere to be seen, and it was another half hour before he appeared again.

‘Everything okay with Nisha and Carol?’

‘Yes, it’s all good.’

She nodded towards his office, and by silent agreement they walked away from the bustle of people. Alex closed the door.

‘I had a talk with Nisha; she says she hasn’t felt right about sex since having her baby. She’s worried about her relationship with her husband.’

He nodded. ‘So what did you both decide?’

‘Nisha’s coming back to see me tomorrow. I’ll examine her, and she’s given me permission to write to her doctor so he can send her for some tests. Once we’ve ruled anything physical out we can discuss relationship therapy here.’

‘She looked as if she was happy about that?’

‘Yes—she said she’d get her husband to come with her tomorrow. He’s tried to talk to her about it, but she says she panics and shuts him down.’

‘Just talking about it helps.’ He threw himself into his chair, staring at the ceiling. ‘Of course, I’m a proven expert on talking about things.’

The heavy irony in his tone set off an alarm bell. Something was up with Alex. His hand was shaking, and it didn’t seem that hopeful nerves about their opening day was the cause.

‘What’s up?’ She sat down.

‘It’s…’ He waved his hand dismissively. ‘Telling you it’s nothing and that we should be getting back isn’t going to wash, is it?’

‘No. There are plenty of people out there to greet visitors, and we’re confident the staff here can manage without us for ten minutes. Aren’t we, Alex?’

‘Yes. Absolutely.’ He puffed out a breath. ‘In that case… I had a boy who came in to ask about bodybuilding classes. He’s only ten. I talked to him a bit, and told him that he’d have to bring one of his parents with him before he could sign up for any kind of exercise class with us.’

‘Why did he want to do bodybuilding?’ she asked, knowing Alex must have had the same instinct she did.

‘It turned out that he’d skipped off school, so I got Tina to phone the school and they sent a teacher down to fetch him. He’s being bullied.’

‘Poor kid. And he wants to be able to fight back?’

‘Yes. His teacher’s going to talk to the parents, and I told her we would enrol him in our anti-bullying programme. He’s a little overweight, so if he wants to do exercises then I’ll get Mike to devise an exercise programme that suits his age and build.’

‘That makes sense.’

‘Yeah… But when he realised I wasn’t just going to sign him up for bodybuilding he threw a tantrum and then…started to cry—’ Alex’s voice broke, suddenly.

‘That’s good, Alex. You got through to him. He must have a lot of negative emotion bottled up.’

Alex was committed to setting up a programme for both kids and adults who were being bullied. He’d applied his customary insight and thoroughness and then left it to a specialist.

Marie had supposed that someone with Alex’s charm and natural leadership ability couldn’t possibly have first-hand knowledge of being bullied, so he’d left the finer points to the experts he’d recruited. But she’d based her supposition on what she’d thought she knew about Alex. The happy childhood she’d imagined for him.

‘You know, I always wanted you to have been happy as a child.’

He looked up at her. ‘Yeah? That’s nice.’

‘Not really. I just wanted to know someone who’d grown up normally. It made me feel better—as if that was something I could shoot for.’

‘Ah. Sorry to disappoint you, then.’ He turned the corners of his mouth down.

‘But, thinking about it, I guess it might have been a bit difficult to make friends when you were little.’

He was gazing at his desk, as if something there might provide an answer. ‘My father didn’t think I should play with any of the kids who lived nearby because I was a prince. I was taught at home until it came time for me to be packed off to an exclusive boarding school. I was a shy kid, with a name that invited a thousand jokes. Of course I got bullied.’

And so he’d become the student who everyone liked. He’d listened to what people said and charmed them all. Marie had never looked past that.

‘I wasn’t much of a friend, was I?’

His eyebrows shot up. ‘What? You were kind and honest. You brought me colour, and you showed me that however hard things are there’s always time to celebrate the good things. I wanted…’

He fell silent suddenly, and in the warmth of his gaze Marie knew what he’d wanted. He’d wanted her. She’d wanted him too. Honesty was good—but this was one place they couldn’t go.

‘I wanted to be like you.’

His smooth refusal to face that particular fact was a relief, because Marie couldn’t face it either. She’d never really moved on from wanting Alex.

‘Will you do me a favour?’ she asked.

‘Anything.’

The look in his eyes told her he meant it.

‘You’ve got a lot you can give to the anti-bullying programme. All those feelings and the things no one ever said. I want you to get more involved with it.’

He laughed suddenly. ‘Don’t underestimate me by giving me the easy option, will you.’

‘You want me to underestimate you?’

‘No, not really. Keeping me honest is what you do best.’ He held his hands up in a gesture of smiling surrender. ‘Yes, I’ll do it. And now we really should be getting back to our visitors.’

CHAPTER SIX

YESTERDAY HAD BEEN a success. The flood of people who’d wanted to be first to explore the new clinic had subsided into a steady but satisfying trickle. Alex had received a couple of calls from local doctors, enquiring about referring patients to the clinic, and he’d shown a consultant from the nearby hospital around. She had a young patient whose family were currently travelling an hour each way to get to a hydrotherapy pool, and was pleased to find a closer facility that would meet the girl’s needs.

Today there was a new challenge.

Alex assumed his best trust-me-I’m-a-doctor smile, and when he looked down at Marie he saw a similar one plastered uneasily across her face.

‘Oh, really, Alex.’ Sonya Graham-Hall flapped her hand at the photographer from the local paper, indicating that he was to stand down while she gave her clients a good talking-to. ‘Can you try not to look as if you’ve eaten something that doesn’t agree with you? You’re supposed to be welcoming. And stand a little closer to Marie. You’re a team…’

Marie was looking a little overawed by Sonya. Alex took a step towards her, feeling the inevitable thrill as her shoulder touched his arm. He bent towards her, whispering an old joke from medical school, and she suppressed a laugh. He couldn’t help smiling, and heard the camera click rapidly.

‘Wonderful!’

Sonya beamed at everyone, and Alex stepped forward to shake the photographer’s hand and thank him. Then Sonya marched across the reception area to where the local reporter was standing, leading him towards the front doors.

‘What’s she doing?’ Marie looked up at him. ‘Can’t he find his own way?’

‘It’s Sonya’s modus operandi. She’s making sure he knows what he’s meant to write. Although he probably won’t realise that’s what she’s done until after he’s filed his story.’

Alex knew Sonya’s husband from school, and knew she was the best PR representative in London. She was so much in demand that it was usual for her to interview clients, rather than the other way round. Alex had been lucky, though, and a phone call had not only managed to secure Sonya’s services, but they were on a pro bono basis, because she loved the idea of the clinic. There was something to be said for the public school network.

‘She’s formidable, isn’t she?’ Marie’s smile indicated that she thought formidable was a really good thing. ‘I’m a little scared of her.’

Alex couldn’t fathom what Marie would have to be scared about. If he’d been asked to define ‘formidable’, the first person who would have come to mind was Marie. But not quite in the same way as Sonya, who relied on killer heels, designer jackets and an upper-class accent that would have sliced through concrete.

‘She knows so many important people…’

‘It’s her job to know people. Anyway, don’t we prefer to think of everyone as important?’

Marie frowned, nudging him with her elbow. ‘Of course we do. You know what I mean.’

Alex knew. Marie had already told him that she felt like a fish out of water with the great and the good, but they were exactly the kind of people who had the money and influence to help them make this project grow into a whole chain of clinics in different parts of the country. He wished Marie would stop thinking of them as somehow out of her league, because she was just as good as any of them.

‘Right, then.’ Sonya returned, beaming. ‘I think he’s on track. While I’m here, perhaps we can review where we are with everything else.’

‘Thanks, Sonya. My office?’

Alex led the way, hearing Sonya chatting brightly to Marie, and Marie’s awkward, awestruck replies.

Sonya plumped herself into one of the easy chairs, drawing a slim tablet out of her handbag. In Sonya’s eyes, paper was messy, and she didn’t do mess.

‘Ooh, look. I love these. Such lovely colours. Can I have one?’

She leaned forward towards the coffee table, catching up the sheet of brightly coloured stickers that Marie had presented him with this morning. They had the name of the clinic on them, along with the main telephone number and website address, but Alex suspected that their real intent was to bring yet another much-needed shot of colour into his office.