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‘I see. And how do you feel about the idea? Does it bother you?’ he replied smoothly.
‘No. How about you? Does it worry you that I know about you and Claire?’ she shot back.
‘Not at all.’ He shrugged but his gaze was intent. ‘It all happened a long time ago and it has little bearing on the present situation. There’s no reason that I know of why my relationship with your sister should get in the way of us working together. However, I have a feeling that something is troubling you, despite what you’ve just said.’
Beth looked away because she simply couldn’t stand there and meet that forceful stare any longer. Part of her wanted to tell him the truth and get it over with, whilst another part urged her to be cautious. Maybe it would be better to tread carefully until she had a better idea how he might react to her request.
‘I was just surprised when you turned up here,’ she said, choosing her words with care. ‘Claire never told me much about you so I had no idea that you were related to Dr Wright.’
‘I see. It must have been a shock for you, then,’ he said quietly.
‘It was.’ He must have heard the ring of truth in her voice because he visibly relaxed. Beth felt a flurry race along her nerves when he suddenly smiled at her. She had noticed how attractive he was when they had first met but he was devastating when he smiled like that.
‘And I’m not helping the situation by cross-examining you. Sorry. My excuse is that it was a surprise for me, too, to meet you here. Claire spoke about you many times. She was very fond of you, Beth.’
‘I was very fond of her,’ she admitted, feeling the ready tears welling into her eyes.
‘Now I’ve upset you and that was the last thing I wanted to do.’ His tone was so gentle that she had to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat before she could speak.
‘It’s not your fault. It’s been a difficult year, what with Claire’s death and…’ She stopped as she realised what she had been about to say, feeling her heart racing when she saw the way Adam was looking at her again.
‘And what? What were you going to say before you thought better of it?’ he asked in a silky tone that made her shiver with apprehension. ‘Why do I get the feeling that I’m missing something, Beth?’
‘I…I don’t know what you mean,’ she murmured, avoiding his eyes.
‘Don’t you?’ He paused, obviously giving her the chance to explain, but she knew that she wasn’t ready to do that just yet. It was too important that she didn’t make any mistakes. So much hinged on him agreeing…
Did she really think that he would agree, though? Everything she knew about him pointed to the fact that he might very well refuse. After all he hadn’t bothered to answer Claire’s letter, neither had he made any attempt to contact her in the last seven years. Were those the actions of a man who would be prepared to help?
She bit her lip in a quandary of indecision and heard him sigh. ‘I’m doing it again, aren’t I? Interrogating you?’
He smiled apologetically when she glanced at him but she could tell that he was still curious about the way she had been behaving, and was merely trying to smooth over an awkward moment.
‘It’s a rather strange situation for both of us,’ she suggested diffidently.
‘I suppose it is.’ He frowned as though he was considering that idea. ‘Neither of us could have imagined this happening in our wildest dreams.’
Amen to that! she silently endorsed then realised that he had carried on speaking.
‘My problems?’ she queried, her heart turning over as she wondered what he had meant by that. Had she been right all along? Had he guessed what Claire had wanted to tell him seven years ago? The thought suddenly made her feel sick, even though she had no idea why it should matter so much.
‘Having to work with a doctor about whom you know absolutely zilch. It’s no wonder you’re on edge. You’re probably worried stiff in case I make a complete hash of things this afternoon.’
He glanced down at his crumpled clothes and grimaced. ‘I admit that I don’t look the part of a bona fide GP, but I swear that I have all the necessary certificates to prove it somewhere around!’
She laughed shakily, not sure why she felt so relieved that he wasn’t about to confess to such unscrupulous behaviour. ‘You don’t have to prove anything to me. I’m willing to take your word for it that you’re suitably qualified.’
‘Thank you. I appreciate it.’ He treated her to a smile and once again Beth felt her pulse skip a beat. It had been such a long time since she’d reacted like that to a man’s smile that it confused her, and it was a moment before she realised what Adam had said.
‘The airline lost your luggage?’ she repeated.
‘That’s right. I couldn’t get a direct flight back to the UK so I had to make a couple of stop-overs en route. Somewhere between Tangiers and Düsseldorf my cases went AWOL. Fortunately, I had a holdall with me containing a change of clothes so at least I was able to wear something clean to come here today.’
He gave a deep chuckle. ‘Aunt Mary is going to hunt out some of the stuff I left with her the last time I was in England, but I’m not sure if it will do much more to improve my image. I have never been known for my sartorial elegance, shall we say.’
He paused when the phone on the reception desk suddenly rang. ‘I expect you want to go for lunch so I’ll get that. Anything I need to know before this afternoon?’
‘No, it’s all quite straightforward—routine antenatal check-ups with, hopefully, few problems,’ she assured him.
‘Fine. I’ll see you later, then.’
Adam hurried away and a moment later Beth heard the rumble of his voice as he picked up the receiver. However, she didn’t wait around. Apart from the fact that she didn’t want to have to answer any more awkward questions, she didn’t have the time to hang around if she wanted to see Hannah before she was due back at work.
She sighed sadly.
Everything came back to Hannah. She just hadn’t realised how difficult it was going to be to tell Adam about her niece.
CHAPTER TWO
‘RIGHT, Mrs Graham. If you could pop up onto the couch then I can see how junior is doing.’
Adam smiled at the young woman. ‘This baby certainly isn’t in a rush to make his appearance in the world. You’re what…three days overdue now?’
‘That’s right, Doctor,’ Elaine Graham replied as Beth helped her get comfortable.
Elaine had looked extremely tense when she’d arrived. However, Beth couldn’t help noticing how much more relaxed she now appeared to be. It was obvious that Adam’s easygoing manner had had a positive effect on Elaine, as it had had on all the other expectant mums they had seen that afternoon. Beth had to admit that she was impressed.
‘I was hoping this one would be early, unlike his brothers,’ Elaine explained. ‘My youngest is having a birthday party the day after tomorrow and I was hoping that I’d have had the baby by then.’
‘Well, there’s still time,’ Adam assured her, gently feeling the position the baby was lying in. ‘The baby’s head is engaged so in theory it should be all systems go very soon.’
‘I wish you’d tell that to the baby,’ Elaine retorted. ‘I’ve had three children so far, and each time I’ve been told that the birth is imminent and nothing has happened!’
‘We don’t get it right every time, Mrs Graham!’ he admitted ruefully. He finished his examination then helped her to sit up. ‘I just want to take your blood pressure again. The reading seemed to be a little on the high side when Sister Campbell took it earlier.’
‘Probably because I’d been rushing round,’ Elaine admitted, offering her arm so that he could wrap the cuff of the sphygmomanometer around it. ‘There’s always something that needs doing when you’ve got three lively boys.’
‘I’m sure there is.’ Adam quickly inflated the cuff then paused while he took the new reading. ‘I don’t know how you mums cope with everything. It’s no wonder that there don’t seem to be enough hours in a day. But will you promise me that you’ll try to rest more until the baby arrives? It will help to keep your blood pressure down and that’s very important at this stage.’
‘I’ll try, Dr Knight,’ Elaine agreed readily, so readily, in fact, that Beth had to hide her amazement. She knew that Dr Wright had tried—and failed!—to make Elaine see how important it was that she rested during the latter stages of her pregnancy. Obviously, Adam’s charm had garnered better results than Dr Wright’s kindly paternalism had done.
It was unsettling to realise it. The image she had built up over the years of Adam Knight just didn’t gel with what she had seen that afternoon. He had been kind and caring towards the patients, deeply sympathetic to any problems they’d had. She simply couldn’t reconcile the cold professional of her imagination with the warmly attentive man she had been working with. It struck her that she could easily grow to like him, only she wasn’t sure that would be a good thing. There wasn’t room to start worrying about his feelings when she had Hannah to consider.
The thought of her niece made her sigh and she saw Adam glance at her. She forced herself to concentrate as he saw Elaine Graham out, not wanting to give him an opening to start questioning her again. He’d made no mention of their earlier conversation but she’d noticed him watching her several times and knew that he hadn’t forgotten what had happened. Until she’d decided how she intended to handle this situation it seemed safer to err on the side of caution.
Beth set about packing up the blood samples that needed to be sent to the lab for testing. There were no more patients to be seen so once everywhere was tidy she would be free until evening surgery. Adam had come back into the room and she looked at him in surprise when he started stripping the paper sheets off the couch.
‘I’ll do that in a minute. You don’t need to bother.’
‘It’ll be quicker if we both do it.’ He bundled the sheets into a ball and shoved them into a plastic refuse sack then picked up the spray bottle of disinfectant and began wiping down the work surfaces.
Beth was more than a little startled by his actions and it must have showed.
‘Old habits die hard, I’m afraid. I’m so used to having to clear up after myself that I feel positively embarrassed by the idea of anyone else doing it for me.’ He squirted some of the disinfectant onto the couch then began vigorously rubbing the leather. ‘Just ignore me. With a bit of luck I’ll have worked it out of my system in a week or two.’
‘By that time I might have got used to you performing such lowly tasks,’ she replied, trying to inject a little levity into her voice. However, the sight of him working away like that was having the strangest effect on her.
She swallowed hard as she watched the muscles in his arms flex each time he rubbed the cloth over the couch. He had rolled up the sleeves of his shirt so that she had a perfect view of his tanned forearms. When he reached across to the far side of the couch and his shirt suddenly parted company from the waistband of his trousers to reveal a couple of inches of muscular back, she had to bite her lip. Yet why should the sight of an inch or two of exposed flesh make her feel as though her insides had turned to mush? she wondered.
‘What else needs doing? Ah, yes. Those files need to go to the office.’ He stowed the cloth away in the cupboard under the sink and turned. His eyes narrowed when he saw the guilty start she gave. ‘Is something wrong?’
‘No, of course not!’ She gave a tinkly laugh, which wouldn’t have convinced anyone that she was telling the truth, and hurried on. ‘Are you here for evening surgery?’
‘I offered to split the list with Chris but he said that he could manage. I think he was worried that I might keel over from jet lag,’ he explained, although she could tell that she hadn’t completely allayed his curiosity. ‘I’ll be in first thing in the morning, though.’
‘Chris must be very relieved. It’s been hectic here these past few days. Mind you, it’s always busy,’ she replied, keeping the conversation flowing in the hope that it would distract him.
‘So Chris was saying. From what I could gather, they were having problems keeping up even before Jonathan was taken ill,’ he said levelly.
‘Dr Wright told me that the lists have doubled since that new housing estate was built on the outskirts of town,’ Beth explained, feeling easier now that the conversation was firmly centred on the practice.
‘And that’s probably been a contributing factor to why he’s in hospital,’ Adam said darkly. ‘It appears that Jonathan has been having chest pains for some time, only he was too busy to go for a check-up. He self-diagnosed angina and has been treating himself for it.’
‘I had no idea,’ she exclaimed.
‘Nobody had. Jonathan didn’t want anyone to know because he was afraid that he might be forced to cut down the amount of work that he does. Aunt Mary only found out because he confessed to the specialist.’
He gave a deep laugh. ‘I wouldn’t like to be in his shoes when he gets out of hospital. Aunt Mary might be a gentle soul but I’m sure she’ll make him pay for his deviousness!’
‘I expect she’ll forgive him in the end. She must be so relieved that he’s going to be all right,’ Beth said firmly.
Adam shrugged. ‘I’m sure you’re right. They have a great marriage. If anyone needs any tips on how to make a relationship work, they only need to look at that pair.’
‘A good role model for you?’ she suggested, suddenly curious about the state of Adam’s own love life. He hadn’t mentioned that he was married but suddenly the thought that he might have a wife and family was strangely unpalatable, and not just because it could have repercussions on what she wanted to ask him.
‘Oh, I decided a long time ago that marriage wasn’t for me. Once bitten, twice shy, as the saying goes.’
Beth frowned. That seemed to imply that he’d been let down at some point, and she couldn’t help wondering if it had anything to do with her sister. Claire had always claimed that her relationship with Adam Knight had been strictly fun, but had he felt the same about it?
The idea troubled her. However, before she could try to find out more he suddenly sighed. ‘Anyway, enough of all that. You must be itching to put your feet up for half an hour before evening surgery and here I am, rabbiting on. You’re too good a listener, Beth. You remind me of Claire in that respect as well.’
She summoned a smile, although she couldn’t deny that the comparison was disquieting. She had loved Claire and should have been pleased to be compared favourably to her, but the thought that Adam was measuring her against her sister troubled her.
‘I shall take that as a compliment,’ she said, refusing to dwell on the idea. There were far more pressing matters to focus on, but was this the right moment to tell him? He was obviously tired from all the travelling so maybe it would be better to leave it until tomorrow when he would be better able to cope with the news.
It was a relief to be able to put off the moment a while longer and she smiled at him. ‘Right, I’m away upstairs for a cup of tea.’
‘You’re living in the flat over the surgery?’ Adam asked in surprise.
‘Yes. It was a real bonus because I couldn’t have afforded anywhere as big otherwise. A bedsit certainly wouldn’t have been suitable when—’ She just managed to stop in time. Adam looked at her curiously, his brows drawing together into a slight frown.
‘Why wouldn’t a bedsit have been suitable?’ he asked flatly before an odd expression crossed his face. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. It’s none of my business if you’re living with someone.’
‘I’m not,’ she admitted huskily because it still hurt to recall what had happened. ‘I was in a relationship for quite some time but we split up a few months ago. That’s why I needed a place to live when I took the job in Winton. I moved out of the house we’d been sharing after I broke off our engagement.’
‘Tough. It must have been a difficult time for you.’
Adam reached over and squeezed her hand in a genuine show of sympathy, and for some reason she felt some of the hurt dissolve. It was all very strange so that it was an effort to reply calmly when he bade her goodbye.
Beth went up to the flat and made herself a cup of tea then opened the back door. There was a flight of steps leading from the flat to the car park, with a small balcony at the top. She’d filled some plastic tubs with colourful plants and had bought a small bench seat from the local garden centre and had arranged them out there.
It was her own little oasis of calm, the place she went to when she wanted to think, and there was a lot to think about at the moment, most of it centred on one person, funnily enough—Adam Knight. The man she had searched for for so long.
He wasn’t anything like she had imagined he would be.
Evening surgery was packed. Even Eileen looked frazzled by the end of the night. Chris Andrews looked positively grey with fatigue when Beth bumped into him on her way to the office.
‘What a night!’ he declared. ‘Don’t folk know that it’s summer and that coughs, colds and other such nasties should have been left well behind by now?’
Beth smiled sympathetically. ‘It’s hard to believe that we could have an outbreak of flu at this time of the year. It’s the start of the hay fever season soon.’
‘Which means more running eyes and stuffy noses.’ Chris sounded really downhearted. ‘Sometimes I feel like packing in this job and going off beachcombing. There has to be more to life than this!’
‘It should get better now that Adam is here,’ she said, trying to sound encouraging because she could tell that Chris was down in the dumps.
‘It should. I only wish he was staying here on a permanent basis, but this isn’t his scene at all.’ Chris shrugged when she looked at him. ‘Adam has itchy feet and I can’t see him ever settling down in any one place. He prefers the nomadic life—no ties, no commitments other than to his work. Mind you, I’m starting to think he has the right idea. I must have been mad to opt for the life of a GP!’
Chris didn’t appear to expect her to say anything, thankfully enough. Beth went into the office and checked her list for the following morning, but she couldn’t help thinking about what she had just heard. Not that it had come as a surprise. She had guessed a long time ago that Adam Knight was the type of man who avoided any kind of commitment. It made it that more difficult to assess how he would react to what she had to tell him.
It was a worrying thought but she tried to put it out of her head as she went up to the flat and changed out of her uniform. She was a little later than usual so she didn’t waste time as she slipped on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, then pulled the pins out of her hair and quickly ran her fingers through it.
The gleaming red-gold strands swirled around her shoulders as she opened the back door, catching the last rays of evening sunlight. The light was so bright that her eyes were momentarily dazzled when she stepped onto the balcony and she didn’t see the man who was sitting on the bench. It was only when he spoke that she realised he was there.
‘Hello, Beth. I wonder if you could spare me a minute.’
She gasped and pressed a hand to her racing heart. ‘You scared the wits out of me, Adam!’
‘Sorry.’ He stood up and looked pointedly at the door. ‘Perhaps we could go back inside?’
Beth swallowed hard, wondering what it was about the way he was looking at her that made her feel so nervous. ‘I was just on my way out. Can’t it wait till tomorrow?’
‘I’m afraid not. We’ve wasted most of a day as it is.’ He sat back down on the bench although his eyes never left her face. ‘It was you who phoned me this morning, wasn’t it? I wish I had recognised your voice sooner but I was still rather hungover from the flight.’
He treated her to a cool smile when she didn’t reply. ‘If you’re wondering how I discovered it had been you calling then you have the wonders of modern technology to thank. I’d forgotten to set the answering machine before I left this morning, you see. A stupid mistake, bearing in mind I was hoping that the airline would phone about my missing baggage.
‘Anyway, I checked to see if there had been any calls by dialling one-four-seven-one, and there’d been just the one, first thing this morning. Aunt Mary keeps a list of numbers by the phone and, lo and behold, there it was—the number for the surgery flat. The bit of the puzzle I can’t solve is why you were phoning me. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you did say that we hadn’t met before today?’
‘No we hadn’t, but I…I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for a while,’ she admitted shakily.
‘I see. And are you going to tell me why? Or are we going to skirt around it for another day?’ He laughed hollowly. ‘I told you earlier that I had a feeling there was something I was missing. You denied it then but I do hope that you aren’t going to try and deny it now?’
Her face stung at the mockery she heard in his voice. Maybe he didn’t realise how difficult this was for her but she resented the fact that he saw fit to ridicule her. ‘I apologise for lying to you. My only excuse is that it was a shock to have you turning up like that.’
She stared defiantly at him. ‘As I told you before, I had no idea that you had any connections with the surgery. Claire never told me that.’
‘Ah, yes, Claire. Funny how it all seems to come back to her. This is all to do with your sister, isn’t it?’
He leant forward and Beth could see the tension that had grooved deep lines on either side of his mouth. ‘I guessed that as soon as I worked out that it had been you phoning me this morning. It’s the only link you and I have. I knew your sister very well at one time, Beth, as you know. However, I haven’t seen her in years. So what possible reason could you have for seeking me out after all this time?’
Beth could feel her heart racing. The drumming beat was making her feel sick. So much hinged on how Adam took what she had to tell him that she was scared to death in case she made a mess of it.
She stared into his deep blue eyes, realising how familiar they were. Such a wonderful shade of blue, the thick black lashes that framed them simply highlighting the intensity of their colour…
She swung round and hurried back inside the flat then went straight to her bedroom. Adam was still sitting exactly where she had left him when she went outside again. The sun was lower in the sky now and his face was partly in shadow. It made it difficult to gauge his expression but she drove all thought of how he might react from her mind. She had to tell him the truth, no matter what happened afterwards!
‘I want you to take a look at this,’ she said huskily, her voice quavering because the tension was almost palpable at that moment. She handed him the photograph then turned away, not wanting to see his reaction.
The sky was red and purple now, streaked with gold along the horizon as the sun slid from the sky. Maybe Claire was looking down on them from that sea of glorious colour, and if she was then Beth prayed that her sister would understand why she had no choice but to break her word.
‘Who is she?’
She heard the tremor in his voice and her heart ached because she knew instinctively that he was going to find her answer painful. Maybe he had suspected why Claire had asked to see him all those years ago, but it was one thing to dismiss a suspicion and another to ignore a fact. There was a gentleness in her voice when she replied that she hadn’t expected to hear there because suddenly she cared how he took this news, cared not just because of Hannah but because of Adam himself.
‘Her name is Hannah and she’s six years old. She’s Claire’s daughter.’
She heard his swift intake of breath but she couldn’t stop, couldn’t let herself think of anything else at that moment except what had to be done. ‘She’s your daughter, too, Adam.’