From shy nurse...

To Christmas bride!

Darcey Howard has come to the beautiful seaside town of Seahaven for a fresh start. Working over Christmas in the children’s ward at Oceans House will help her forget her traumatic past. But her quiet, safe existence is shattered by gorgeous surgeon Daniel Osbourne. Enigmatic Daniel is the last man she should fall for, but he’s just too tempting to resist!

ABIGAIL GORDON loves to write about the fascinating combination of medicine and romance from her home in a Cheshire village. She is active in local affairs, and is even called upon to write the script for the annual village pantomime! Her eldest son is a hospital manager, and helps with all her medical research. As part of a close-knit family, she treasures having two of her sons living close by and the third one not too far away. This also gives her the added pleasure of being able to watch her delightful grandchildren growing up.

Also by Abigail Gordon

Christmas Magic in HeatherdaleHeatherdale’s Shy NurseA Father for PoppyHis Christmas Bride-to-Be

The Doctors of Swallowbrook Farm miniseries

Swallowbrook’s Winter BrideSpring Proposal in SwallowbrookMarriage Miracle in SwallowbrookSwallowbrook’s Wedding of the Year

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

The Shy Nurse’s Christmas Wish

Abigail Gordon

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07539-8

THE SHY NURSE’S CHRISTMAS WISH

© 2018 Abigail Gordon

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

THE TRAIN WAS already at the platform when Darcey Howard got to the station. As she heaved her case on board she saw at a glance that it was crowded and about to leave at any moment. Tired and harassed after the happenings of the last few days, she felt like weeping.

Under other circumstances she would have booked a seat for the journey, wanting to arrive at her destination cool and collected with an air of quiet competence about her, but instead she was overwrought and going to be standing all the way there from the looks of it as there were no empty seats to be seen at a glance.

Until a man nearby looked up from the laptop on the table in front of him and, on seeing her standing in the doorway of the carriage, moved a pile of paperwork off the seat opposite him. Pointing to it, he lifted her luggage onto the rack provided while she sank down gratefully into the empty space with a whispered word of thanks and her head bent, her gaze fixed unseeingly on the floor beneath her feet.

When he’d seated himself again Daniel Osbourne observed her briefly.

While hoisting her case he’d seen the name of the town that she was heading for and it was the same as where he lived, which was a coincidence, but he had no time to chatter about that sort of thing.

Having been away on a seminar about new treatments in the orthopaedic field he had been making copious notes about what he had seen and heard while there, and having found a seat for the pale-looking person now seated opposite, he was in no mood to talk.

Yet he couldn’t help wondering what was taking her to Seahaven where he lived and worked. Was it its coastal attractiveness, its pleasant town, or like many folk a need for treatment in Oceans House with problems of the body that could make movement an ordeal in one form or another.

He was employed as top surgeon at the place and having been away for two weeks was looking forward to a restful evening with those he loved before going back to his usual work tomorrow.

* * *

It had been Alexander, Darcey Howard’s eighteen-year-old brother, who had wiped out the pleasure of receiving the news that she had been accepted as a ward sister at Oceans House.

There was just the two of them, brother and sister, having been left parentless some years ago, and since then Darcey, as the eldest, had cared for Alex like the mother he had lost, while at the same time studying for a degree in orthopaedics at a nearby medical college and commuting daily from the home that they shared.

On getting her degree in nursing she had worked on the orthopaedic wards of a local hospital with reasonable contentment until seeing a vacancy for a ward sister in the beautiful coastal town of Seahaven, with accommodation available in the apartment complex at the side of the hospital building.

It had meant a move to new surroundings, living in a new environment, and she’d been happy that Alex had shown no reluctance to move there with her as he was only eighteen and keen to follow in her footsteps by studying for a degree similar to her own.

In fact, he’d been quite excited about the move at first until one night he had talked non-stop about two of his friends who were taking a year out after high school, wanting to see the world first, and had invited him to join them, much to Darcey’s dismay.

She had listened painfully to the way that Alexander had put to one side as if they had never existed the long years that she had cared for him lovingly after losing their parents in an avalanche while on a skiing holiday. Darcey had always accepted that one day Alex would want to leave the safe cocoon she had made for him, but not so soon, she’d thought achingly.

At university he would be where she could see him, care for him still from a distance, whereas if he was travelling the world he could be swallowed up for ever, she’d thought, and it had hurt to know how easy it was for Alex to find freedom from life’s burdens as if he had more exciting things to do, when she Darcey had given up so much over the years.

It was the first time since losing their parents that they’d had a disagreement, as Darcey, ten years older than her brother, had always been there for Alex no matter what. Comforting him when he’d cried for his mother, carefully budgeting what money they’d had, making sure Alex had everything he needed.

She had known that one day he would break free from the bonds of her love and been quite happy with the thought, but not now, as what he was planning had thrown her into confusion and deep dismay.

When she’d expressed her hurt at his change of plan, Alexander had been difficult and unapproachable, and their quarrel had made her contemplate turning down her new job. But, hurt by Alex’s attitude, she decided to put herself first for once in her life, and now, tired and dejected, was travelling towards the new life she had chosen for herself in spite of the anxiety that was consuming her on his behalf, while he was involved in last-minute preparations before he and his two companions flew out to lands far away, from where he had promised faithfully to keep in touch.

He had promised to be at the railway station to see her off earlier but hadn’t kept to the arrangement. Hence her late boarding of the train where she would have been standing if it hadn’t been for the man opposite who had now returned to his laptop after his brief but welcome assistance, and seemed to have no wish to be involved further, for which she was thankful. Darcey was glad that the seating arrangement was for just two passengers instead of the usual four, and also the fact that she could hear the refreshments trolley trundling along the carriage.

She was more than ready for a drink and a bite and when the trolley stopped beside them, and in a mad moment she asked him if he would like a coffee or something similar as a token of her gratitude for his assistance on the crowded train.

‘No, thanks just the same,’ he said briskly, taking his glance off the laptop for a moment. ‘Just see to yourself and if I may be allowed to say so you look as if some light refreshment is needed to combat exhaustion.’ With that he turned back to what he’d been doing, leaving her to squirm at the thought of what she must look like.

She knew that her hair, a soft honey gold, looked lifeless, and many sleepless nights had left lines beneath eyes wide and blue. She’d lost weight and felt bony rather than slender, and a quick sideways glance in his direction, tanned and supple-looking with hair dark and waving, and deep hazel eyes, did nothing to raise her spirits.

As the train picked up speed, her thoughts returned to Alexander, and how his travelling companions seemed decent enough, but she still couldn’t help worrying about their safety, being so far away. She would have liked to have been there when their flight left but there had been a change of plan by the three of them, causing a delay that might have meant a late arrival for her new position in hospital care. Feeling that she had endured enough misery over recent days, Darcey had decided to keep to her original arrangements for travelling to Oceans House.

She groaned softly and the man opposite observed her before asking, ‘Are you all right? Not in pain, physical or mental?’

‘No. I’m fine, thanks,’ she said, perking up to avoid any further questioning from a stranger, and turned her thoughts to the apartment that was going to be her home from now on, and some of the excitement that had been there before Alex had decided to branch out on his own came back.

An announcement over the loudspeaker system broke into her thoughts, informing travellers that the main station on the line, and her destination, was the next stop. She rose to her feet at the same time as the stranger who had taken pity on her, and as he reached her case down effortlessly from the rack above and placed it beside her she was hoping that she might be seeing the last of him, as it was clear that he had her listed as a helpless creature, not that she could blame him.

He was closing the laptop and shrugging into an expensive winter jacket, ready for off, and Darcey wondered what he did for a living, and decided that if there was a taxi queue at the station she was going to join it with all speed to avoid further assistance from him.

There was a queue, a long one, but the man from the train didn’t move towards it because someone had come to meet him. He was getting into a smart car parked a few feet away and Darcey saw him lean over and plant a kiss on the cheek of the attractive woman in the driving seat before it pulled away onto the road in the winter afternoon, and she thought wistfully that he looked like someone who had it made from all angles.

* * *

‘So, Cordelia, what has it been like with me away and you landed with the brood at the Young Sailors’ Club?’ Daniel Osbourne was asking quizzically of his sister, who had turned out to chauffeur him home, when he caught a glimpse of the woman who’d piqued his interest on the train and wondered if she would be able to find her way to where she was going if she hadn’t visited the place before.

Yet he thought he’d done quite a bit of fussing during the rail journey, so enough was enough, and, as Cordelia pulled out into the moving traffic homeward bound, he thought the odds were that the woman, whoever she was, would have seen enough of him and neither needed nor wanted any more assistance.

He’d had no doubts about her lowness of spirit from the moment of helping her with her case, and if he hadn’t been so engrossed with the paperwork from the course that he’d just been on he might have done more.

‘The “brood”, as you describe them, have been in trouble,’ Cordelia told him with an affectionate glance at the man beside her. ‘They have missed you, of course, two of them especially who have ended up in Oceans House with fractures and suchlike that A and E passed on because they were too complex for them to treat.

‘But I hope that you’re not going anywhere near the place tonight because we’re having friends round for supper and we want you with us if you’re not too stressed after being away over the last fortnight. We’re letting the children stay up as the moment your name was mentioned the girls were keen to see you. So what do you say?’ she questioned.

His expression was sombre after the news about what the sailing club had been up to and he commented, ‘There are other doctors at Oceans House as well as me who will take good care of the injured miscreants.’ Now he was smiling. ‘And with regard to the invitation to supper I say, yes, of course. I’ve got something for the children in my luggage and if they get tired I’ll tell them a bedtime story. You know how much I love your daughters.’

‘Yes, I do,’ she told him wistfully. ‘I wish you had a family of your own, though.’

‘Don’t fret about me,’ was the reply. ‘At the time when I could have done something about it I was dumb about a lot of things, blinkered by my own concerns, such as getting my degree and providing for us both as Katrina had expensive tastes and a short fuse. She thought herself right in all things and since I divorced her I haven’t seen her—which suits me fine.

‘But you know all about that don’t you, sis?’ he questioned as Cordelia stopped the car outside a block of apartments with sea views, not too far from Oceans House and near to where she lived contentedly with her husband and two small girls who adored their Uncle Daniel.

‘Yes, of course I remember,’ she said gently. ‘Maybe one day you’ll—’

‘Don’t ever be too hopeful about that,’ he said dryly. ‘I’m content to give my time to my patients and when called upon take my place in the lifeboat. Plus getting to know the young teens in the sailing club and helping them learn how to handle the rescue safety boat. But some of them need a firm hand, and with regard to supper I shall look forward to being with you and yours once I’ve showered and changed.’

‘Good,’ Cordelia enthused. ‘I wasn’t sure if a gruelling fortnight away might have wearied you too much.’

‘Not at all,’ he assured her, with the thought unspoken that he’d also had a cheerless return rail journey on a packed train. That brought to mind again the memory of the fellow passenger that he’d taken under his wing, and he ended up with the feeling that he’d been bossy and interfering. Hopefully they wouldn’t meet again.

Spending time with Cordelia and Lawrence’s children was always a pleasure. Aged seven and five years, the two small girls always greeted Daniel with delight and excitement because he never arrived empty-handed, and that evening was no different.

But the memory of his conversation with their mother in the car on the way home from the rail station was lingering, and he asked himself, as he sometimes did, why he had committed himself to living alone when it would be so easy to respond to the interest that women frequently showed in him. But having made one mistake, he would never be in a hurry to make another.

* * *

Darcey had arrived at Oceans House and, having obtained the key to the small apartment allocated to her, was taking stock of the premises that, circumstances permitting, were going to be her home for some time to come.

It contained a bedroom, a shower and a cosy enough sitting room with a through kitchen adjoining. As she took off her jacket and sank down wearily onto the nearest chair the thought was there of how happy she would have been if the original arrangements that she and Alex had made regarding both their futures had stood firm.

There would have been none of the anxiety on her part because before he had developed a yearning to see the world he had been accepted at university, and been offered accommodation in the halls of residence there, which would have meant that they could have seen each other regularly. It was the kind of situation that did happen and usually parents would be involved, but theirs, hers and Alexander’s, were long gone. She knew that if she didn’t calm down, her own future was going to be threatened and then what would she have left?

For a crazy moment the memory of the man in the train came back, with his calm authoritarian manner and casual concern about her well-being. She could imagine him having an attractive wife and family waiting eagerly for his return to an orderly organised life while her own was a shambles, but why concern herself about that when she was never likely to be in his company again?

Her phone rang at that moment and as she fished it out of her hand luggage, Darcey prayed it was Alex. They’d barely been on speaking terms when she’d left and that had hurt the most of all. If he had just turned up at the rail station for a few moments it would have been a move towards peace between them. But there hadn’t been any sign of him and she’d waited until the guard had blown the whistle to announce the train was about to depart before she’d hurriedly boarded the train, and felt like weeping when she’d discovered how little room there had been for last-minute arrivals. But someone had seen her plight and she had been less than grateful for his assistance, which was awful, she thought as the phone continued to ring.

It was not Alex who spoke when she answered. The voice in her ear was that of the overseer of the pleasant small property that she and her younger brother had just vacated, who was phoning to thank her for promptly settling all rent owing to his firm, and wishing her everything that was good for the future.

* * *

With regard to her signing the necessary forms regarding her residence in the hospital property, Darcey had been given all the details of procedure on her arrival there and been informed that the staff restaurant was open until late if she wanted a meal. As she fought back tears at the kind thought from her ex-landlord, hunger was rising. The last time she’d eaten had been from the refreshment trolley on the train, and after food she needed sleep if she was to appear on the wards the next morning with her wits about her, she told herself. But whether sleep would come to her as easily as the food she sought was another matter.

* * *

As Cordelia watched her brother play with her daughters that evening, their conversation of the afternoon came back to trouble her. Was Daniel really so disinterested in a family life of his own? she wondered. A couple of her friends were present and would be there in a flash if he should show interest. Both were recently divorced and ready to try again.

But that was the difference, she thought, he wasn’t. He’d made one mistake along those lines, having married the wrong woman in the petulant Katrina and was not going to make another. Yet watching him with Bethany and Katie, his small nieces, it was clear to see that he would make an excellent father to children of his own given the chance.

He went once the children were in bed and on the point of leaving told his hosts, ‘I won’t be seeing much of you next week. I’m in Theatre most of the time and there are going to be some staff changes due to retirement and pregnancies, so I will be hoping for no high tides.’

* * *

As Darcey was drifting off to sleep the phone call that she’d yearned for came through, with Alexander sounding awkward and apologetic, asking if she was all right, and after assuring him that she was she enquired the same of him, and was told breezily that everything was great and he would phone her again soon.

The brief conversation hadn’t been exactly heart-warming but after he’d gone off the line she was too tired to think any further than at least he’d been in touch, and that tomorrow she would be starting her new life in Seahaven, which meant that she was going to have to improve her appearance after today’s stresses. After that exhaustion claimed her.

She was awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of an ambulance somewhere nearby, with sirens breaking into the silence, and for a moment she was confused by the strangeness of her new surroundings, but as she gazed around the place that was to be her home for as long as she was employed at Oceans House it wasn’t hard to work out that the staff accommodation where she was going to be based was the nearest building to Emergency.

* * *

As senior doctor at the place, Daniel Osbourne often did his ward rounds late in the morning depending on how much time he had spent in Theatre first thing, planned or unexpected as the case may be, so it was almost midday when he came into the main children’s ward with a couple of registrars in tow to check on the progress of those he had already treated or were awaiting their turn.

On observing a different ward sister, pristine in a new uniform and immaculately turned out, with golden hair tied back from a face that was familiar from the day before, Daniel pondered if this could really be the tired and listless traveller he had taken under his wing and thought, Surely not!

The woman had been moving from bed to bed when he appeared, giving medication and taking temperatures, while members of her staff dealt with other duties allocated to them with regard to child patient care, but on hearing his voice she became still and turned slowly to meet his gaze.

Darcey had known it was the man from the train by the brisk and authoritative tone, and aware that she would be expected to accompany him on his round she went to stand beside him and introduced herself, praying that in a short space of time, namely the matter of hours that she had been on the ward, she would have remembered correctly the answers to any questions that he might have for her with regard to the young patients there.

But to her surprise what he had to say first referred to herself as he queried, ‘Why didn’t you say that you were coming here to work when we were on the train?’

‘I had no need to, or so I thought,’ she protested faintly. ‘And I was so tired.’

‘But of course you were,’ he agreed crisply. He glanced at the two registrars, who were chatting to a girl on the nearest bed with one of her legs in traction. ‘So, shall we proceed, Sister?’

‘Yes, Mr Osbourne,’ she said meekly, and as his companions wasted no time in joining them she smiled at the girl who’d had their attention and told him, ‘Olivia seems to be resigned to her plight for the moment and I’m told that when some of her school friends appear each day in the late afternoon there is a lot of chatter and news, which helps to get the hours over for her somewhat.’

‘Mmm... I’m sure that it must,’ he murmured, his attention on the young patient and the state of her leg, which was supported by attachments from an overhead frame. Turning to Darcey, he said, ‘The fracture of the tibia occurred during a hockey match and this is the result, the leg immobilised until healing of the bone is achieved. Have you dealt with this kind of thing before?’

‘Yes, a few times,’ she told him, thinking that her appearance of the day before hadn’t been one to instil confidence, but surely it might now. As they moved on to the next bed she went on to say, ‘I have trained and worked in orthopaedics ever since it became my specialist subject at university, and the opportunity to work in a hospital in a beautiful coastal area was too tempting to pass by.’ With a sigh, she added, ‘I wasn’t expecting to be alone in my change of scene but far countries seem to have got in the way of my plans, and, as you saw on the train yesterday, I was at a low ebb.’

‘Mmm, so it appeared,’ he commented, without showing much interest, and moved towards the next bed, followed by Darcey and the two registrars.

It was over. He had done the rounds and was about to depart, and his thoroughness had been no surprise to her, with his keen observations of the slightest thing that had caught his eye, whether it be good or not so good.

Once he had left there was a buzz of conversation amongst the nurses that was centred on Daniel Osbourne and all of it was complimentary so that she was left with no doubt regarding his popularity in spite of his no-nonsense approach.

With regard to herself, Darcey was cringing at the way she’d been so free and easy with her comments that might have given him the impression that it was a failed romance she’d been hinting at when it had been far from that.

When her lunch break came round, instead of making her way to the staff restaurant, Darcey went out into the cold air of the seaside promenade that went past the hospital and stood gazing out to where a choppy blue sea rose and fell in the distance.

As she turned to go back into the warmth of the hospital a smart black car pulled up beside her at the pavement edge and he was there again, the down-to-earth doctor who seemed to be everywhere she turned. Winding the car window down, he asked what she was doing out there in the cold without a jacket.

‘It is the first time I’ve been able to see the sea since I came,’ she told him. ‘When I arrived last night it was dark, and the same this morning when I reported to the ward, and I’ve only been out here a moment.’

Daniel was smiling and she thought that he was different away from his duties at the hospital and looking after lost souls like herself on the train, but he was right, the cold was biting and she was hungry. What did he do about lunch? she thought. Had he already eaten? He was pulling away from the kerb, giving her no time to ask, and she went inside with hunger calling and curiosity taking hold. Where did he live? she wondered, and with who, and was that his day finished?

* * *

It was not, by far. Daniel was about to make a brief visit to the sailing club that he had arranged for teens with time on their hands. He usually put in an appearance in the evening but having been away, and remembering his sister’s comments of the night before, he was keen to see the state of things at the place and what he observed there didn’t please him.

His helper with the running of the club was an old guy called Ely, a retired fisherman who was usually to be found on the premises, but not today it seemed, and the boat that was the magnet that brought young folks to the club was in a state of repair in the harbour.

What had been going on? he pondered. When he called at Ely’s cottage nearby to get up to date with the situation, his wife Bridget told him that her husband was in hospital with a heart problem, where he had been when the boat had been damaged.

‘With you both not around, the would-be sailors were impatient to be out there and they took the boat without permission,’ she told him, ‘and came unstuck on a rocky reef, which meant the lifeboat having to turn out. Two of the lads were injured and are in Oceans House.’ With that cheerful item of news to digest Daniel returned to the hospital to carry on bringing mobility to the immobile in one form or another for the rest of the day, and if Darcey had still questioned his movements after watching him drive away in the lunch hour she would have had her answer on seeing him moving purposefully along the main hospital corridor in the direction of the operating theatre in the early afternoon.

* * *

In the evening that followed, Darcey was restless. There had been no more phone calls from Alexander, no contentment at the end of her first day at Oceans House, nothing to brighten the last hours of it. Just a mediocre night of entertainment on the television screen in the small apartment that was now her home. Her time on the ward had been great, she thought, but what now?

On impulse she reached for the warm winter jacket that she’d travelled in and her knee-high boots and without another thought went out into the dark night where a moon hung over the sea that was less choppy than earlier in the day.

The promenade was well lit with a selection of bars and restaurants to choose from, but Darcey was not entranced at the thought of dining alone in a strange place where she didn’t know anyone, and when she came to the teenage meeting place at the far end of the promenade that, unknown to her, was Daniel Osbourne’s project she paused outside the wooden building and looked around her with interest.

Nearby was the harbour and she saw a roomy boat there in the process of being repaired, and as she looked around her she heard the sound of young voices on the night air. A short distance away was the lifeboat house, shuttered and locked until needed, and as she lingered curiously a deeper voice that was becoming familiar caught her attention as it spoke with authority into what had become silence inside the wooden building and she was rooted to the spot.

When Daniel Osbourne had finished speaking the young members of the organisation came pouring out as the clock on a nearby church tower hit the stroke of ten, and having no desire to be seen hovering outside the place she quickly hurried through the crowd of teenagers as they spread out over the promenade, breathing a sigh of relief when the staff accommodation for Ocean House came into sight. Thank goodness he hadn’t seen her lurking outside while he’d been speaking to the young people.

Daniel thought whimsically that the new sister had had no cause to flee from his presence. She’d been unaware that he had been on foot amongst the kids, and short of sprinting after her in the early dark of an October night had to be satisfied with just quickening his pace. But the apartments had come into view and she’d been inside in a flash with the door locked behind her.

It was just a matter of common courtesy to make sure that a newcomer amongst those he worked with was home safely after wandering alone amongst the night crowds who drank in the bars and ate in the restaurants on the promenade, and with that thought in mind he proceeded to his own residence, which wasn’t far away, where he lived in solitary comfort that was edged with loneliness.

* * *

After her speedy return to base Darcey made a hot drink and pondered on the moments that she’d spent outside the place where Daniel Osbourne and the teenagers had been meeting. He hadn’t sounded pleased about something and had been making it known, she thought. The young folk had seemed chastened when they’d come filing out into the dark night.

‘Young Sailors’ Club’ was what it had said above the door of the wooden building at the end of the promenade and next to it had been the harbour where the boat was being repaired. So was it something to do with that to blame for bringing forth his annoyance?

* * *

Daniel could have told her that it was. He had started the club to keep the kids occupied and off the streets by training them in the complexities of sailing in the rescue safety boat, which was a smaller craft than the lifeboat but just as necessary in moments of danger nearer to the shore. No members were allowed to take it away from its moorings without himself or Ely being there.

But with the old guy hospitalised and Daniel absent, some of the teenagers left to their own devices had taken it out and damaged it against a rocky outcrop. So much so that the lifeboat had been called out to get them all safely back on shore, which, as far as Daniel was concerned, was an even greater annoyance as it could have been avoided if they hadn’t broken the rules.

Two of the young guys had been injured in the mishap and when his sister had informed him on his return that they were in Oceans House with fractures, his annoyance had been normal, but it had peaked when he’d seen the boat.

Hence the stern reprimand to the rest that Darcey must have heard through the open doors of their meeting place, and it hadn’t improved his mood as he’d been bringing the evening to a close when he’d caught a glimpse of her through the open door on the pavement outside, alone in the winter night, which had brought forth his effort to catch her up as she’d hurried back to her own place.

And what now he thought with mild irony as he settled down in front of the fire in the sitting room of the tasteful apartment that had long been his residence.

Tonight would have been another example of him interfering in the life of the new sister on the children’s ward if he’d caught her up. What was the matter with him?

If she’d seen him sprinting along behind her down the promenade she would have thought him insane when he had merely been trying to be helpful, but that was it. From now on he would keep a low profile where she was concerned. His only contact would be at the bedsides of their young patients.

CHAPTER TWO

UNAWARE OF THE promise that Daniel had made to himself the night before, when he had finished his ward round the next day and was about to depart Darcey said, ‘I am so sorry about your boat, Dr Osbourne, and I do hope that the two boys who are being treated here will soon recover. I was on the promenade last night near the harbour and saw it.’ She added with a wistfulness that surprised him, ‘If my young brother lived here, he would be most keen to join your sailing club.’

‘So he doesn’t live near, then?’ he commented with the chaos of the night before still upon him.

‘No. I’m afraid not,’ she replied, and when a small child in one of the cots began to cry she went to him and lifting him carefully, soothed the little boy gently until he was comforted, and watching her Daniel thought that whoever had designated her to be sister-in-charge of the children’s ward had got it right.

On the point of departure, he informed her, ‘Needless to say, I’ve seen the two lads with the injuries and am treating them myself now that I’m back. We are talking about a badly fractured leg and a spinal problem at the moment, and tonight I intend to visit my old friend Ely who is in a hospital in the town centre with a heart problem and doesn’t know about the boat and the sea rescue.’

His wife has sensibly kept it from him under the circumstances. As there was never really any time for chatting in his working day he turned to go, yet it didn’t stop him from turning for a last look at her with the child in her arms.

* * *

The day had run its course. The night staff had arrived and Darcey and those she worked with were homeward bound. She had been the last to leave as she’d needed to discuss problems with the night sister that had arisen with one of their young patients just before the changeover, and when she left the ward the corridor outside was empty apart from a small group gathered near the exit consisting of Daniel Osbourne, the attractive woman who had been waiting for him in the car at the station, and two small girls who were cuddling up to him.

If there had been another exit close by she would have taken it, but there wasn’t, and hastening past the small family group she was out in the cold winter night in a flash, her curiosity about his background satisfied after seeing the happy family group.

As Darcey walked the short distance to her apartment loneliness was wrapping itself around her. It was something that she’d only experienced since Alex had gone, and having just seen the happy family group in the corridor it had hit her even more as she thought that she had been right in her surmise that Daniel Osbourne would have an attractive wife and adorable children, and didn’t begrudge him them. He was too charismatic and attractive not to have a family of his own.

* * *

Engrossed with his visitors, he hadn’t seen her coming swiftly towards them and by the time it registered she was past and going through the outer doors of the hospital into the night. As he gazed after her Daniel was conscious of her solitariness and hoped that there was someone else in Sister Darcey Howard’s life besides the unavailable young brother that she’d mentioned.

Cordelia and the children had been on their way home from the birthday party of one of their friends and as they’d had to pass the hospital she had taken them to see him briefly. When the passer-by had disappeared she asked, ‘Who was that, Daniel?’

‘The day sister in charge of the children’s ward,’ he replied briefly, and volunteered no further information because he had none, and once those he loved had said goodbye he didn’t wait long before calling it a day and returning to the familiar solitude of his apartment, which usually replaced the day’s strains and stresses with tranquillity, but not this time. He was restless, couldn’t settle, but wouldn’t admit to himself that it had anything to do with having watched Darcey leave without any assurance that once she had taken off the garments of her profession she wouldn’t be exploring the night life of the promenade on her own, as she had done the night before.

* * *

Daniel was not to know there was nothing further from Darcey’s mind. She was feeling low and lost, and after a snack followed by a shower Darcey went to bed and until drowsiness took her into sleep, she spent the time listening in vain for the phone to ring.

A fourth day had dawned with no more contact from Alex and as the three young men were staying anywhere they could with friends and relatives until flight time she was wishing she had been more adamant about him keeping in touch. But something new was appearing in her life as well as his. Alex was happy in the choices he was making, so why shouldn’t she be the same?

The opportunity was there that hadn’t been present before for her to experience something new in the form of a freedom of her own after all the years that she had cared so devotedly for her young brother. She had put him first in everything and suddenly that was no more, the need for it was gone.

But she still had to know that all was well with him before even contemplating anything else, and, as if he’d read her mind, just as she was about to go to present herself on the ward, Alex called. He told her that he hoped that she would be happy in her new job and that he would keep in touch when he could. To hear his voice was solace after the hours of anxiety that he had caused her.

* * *

Over recent days the smile with which the new ward sister greeted Daniel and his entourage on their arrival on the ward had been missing, but he saw that today there was a change, not totally but she was more relaxed, less pale and stressed than of late.When he stopped at the first bed in the ward, where its little occupant’s condition was causing concern, Darcey was as clear and confident as she always was when doing the rounds with him and was tuned in immediately to his comments, just the same as while he was examining the young girl who had suffered a spinal injury after falling off a swing the previous day and was in much pain.

At that moment the child was in a fretful doze, unaware that she was the centre of attention. Daniel read the notes clipped to the bottom of the bed and said, ‘Sister, I want this child to have a scan and some blood tests to check if there is some injury that hasn’t shown itself previously and has surfaced during the night.’

‘Yes, Mr Osbourne,’ she said levelly, and immediately sent for a porter to follow his instructions. Then, picking up her desk phone, she rang the parents of the injured child to explain there was a new development regarding their daughter’s accident, which came as a shock as they had been at her bedside until late the previous evening and had only left when she had fallen into a deep sleep that had indicated no cause for alarm.

But the little girl had awakened in a winter dawn feverish and in pain, and as the porter moved swiftly towards the ultrasound unit with the crying child on the trolley Daniel was close behind, having left his second-in-command to do the rest of the rounds in the children’s ward.

* * *

The doctor’s name was Brendan Stokes and Darcey braced herself to spend the next hour or so being patronised by him. He had already asked her for a date and been refused because he was arrogant and pushy, and it annoyed her that on something as important as caring for sick children he was still eyeing her up and down. While Daniel Osbourne was just the opposite, this one was the opportunist of all time, she thought.

But having seen the man on her mind in the corridor with his family the other day, it was easy to understand his contentment. With a wife and children of such a kind he must be totally happy. His interest in her would be merely keeping an eye on a newcomer to Oceans House, and as far as she was concerned looking after Alex all those years had left little time to make any commitments with the opposite sex.

There had been a couple of times in the past that she’d let herself be dated by local Romeos, but always Alexander had been her main concern, which had put a dampener on every occasion.

When Daniel came back, she observed him questioningly and he said with reasonable calm, ‘I was concerned that we might have missed something when the child was brought in, but there is nothing of that nature. It seems that she was in the process of developing a chest infection at the time of the accident and now it is making itself felt and causing her temperature to soar. Our young patient is on her way back to bed and I’ve put her on antibiotics to cope with it. So keep a close watch on her, Sister, and don’t hesitate to send for me if you have any more concerns about her.’

‘Yes, of course,’ she replied, ‘and I’ll make sure that the night staff are fully informed.’

He was looking around him and questioned, ‘Where is Dr Stokes? Has he done the rounds?’

‘Not quite,’ she told him, pointing to a small side ward off the main one.

‘Right,’ he replied. ‘I’ll join him,’ and as he turned to go, ‘Is all well with you?’

‘Ye-es,’ she said hesitatingly, and he glanced at her.

‘Are you sure? I’ve thought that you seemed to have lost some of your zest. The kind of work that the likes of us have to cope with can be wearing sometimes, to say the least.’

His concern was quickening her heartbeat and her colour was rising as she repeated that she was fine. Partly reassured, he left her and went to find his assistant and with his departure Darcey wondered what Daniel Osbourne would have said if she’d told him the reason for the melancholy in her that he had picked up on. He would probably have thought she was crazy to be so upset at the freedom that Alexander’s departure had given her.

When a couple of the nurses said they were going to go for a meal at a nearby restaurant on the promenade when they’d finished for the day and did she want to join them, she said yes, and thought that if Daniel saw her out and about he would have no cause to question her lowness of spirit.

Inevitably his name came up in the conversation during the meal as the three nurses chatted about their working day, and Darcey commented that it was to be hoped that the sailing club he was connected with didn’t meet every night or he wouldn’t have much time to spend with his family if both his days and nights were spoken for all the time.

The comment caused her two companions to observe her in surprise and they wasted no time in informing her that Dr Osbourne wasn’t married, that he was a free agent, and if he ever decided to change that situation there would be no shortage of would-be brides.

‘It would have been his sister and her children that you saw him with,’ they told her, and Darcey listened in amazement. ‘The dishy doctor was married way back, but it didn’t work out, from all accounts, and it seems that since then he has steered clear of matrimony with all its joys and sorrows, and gives all his attention to his sister’s children. You’ll know from seeing him on the wards how good he is with young ones.’

‘Er...yes,’ she agreed weakly, and thanked the unseen fates that had prevented her from saying anything out of turn to him. She’d been crazy to take it for granted that he was a family man that day, that the woman and children were his, and wondered what it was that had been the cause of his marriage break-up.

It was still early evening when Darcey arrived back at the apartment after the meal with the two nurses, and now, thinking back, it seemed a long time since her brief conversation with Daniel Osbourne after they’d done the ward rounds, but short as it had been there had been a oneness about it that had never been present before with any man she’d met.

* * *

The man on her mind had gone straight to the harbour after leaving Oceans House Hospital at the end of the day to enquire what progress the repairers were making with the damaged boat, and had been told by them that it would be at least a week before it was seaworthy again. With a grim nod Daniel had proceeded to the hospital where Ely was and had been relieved to find him much better.

The old man’s face lit up when he saw him and the first thing he said was, ‘I know about the boat, Daniel. Those young scallywags will get the length of my tongue when I get out of here. A couple of them came to visit me this morning and let the cat out of the bag because Bridget has been keeping quiet about it.’

‘Did they tell you that two of their friends are in Oceans House with injuries from the accident?’ Daniel questioned.

‘Aye, they did,’ he was told. ‘They’ll have to do better than that if they want to be in the lifeboat crew when they’re older. Has it been called out at all while I’ve been in here?’

‘No,’ his visitor said, ‘for which I’m thankful, as we both know the need for sea rescue can be sudden and dangerous to undertake, but at the moment all is calm.’ Daniel got to his feet. ‘I’m going to leave you now, Ely, and go for a bite at one of the places on the promenade to save me bothering when I get home. I’ll call to see you again soon and in the meantime take care.’

‘Aye,’ he agreed, ‘and you take care too. I’m expecting to be discharged in a week or so.’

As he drove along the promenade Daniel was half expecting to see Darcey Howard, as on other occasions, somewhere along the way, but not this time, and as he ordered a meal in his chosen restaurant the memory surfaced of how his second-in-command Brendan Stokes had been trying to chat her up when they’d arrived at the children’s ward that morning and how her lack of response had made him hide a smile.

But he was far from relaxed about the new ward sister’s seeming lack of family and friends. Was the romance she’d mentioned still off? Was that why she sometimes seemed remote? he wondered, and had to remind himself that it was absolutely nothing to do with him. He had his own life sorted and wasn’t looking for any side turnings.

* * *

The grip of winter was taking hold as October made way for November and Darcey was not looking forward to Christmas. Alexander had been in touch briefly to say that they were having a great time so far with no mention of being home for Christmas or the New Year.

When he asked what plans she had made for the festive season she was vague, not wanting to tell him that she hadn’t got any and that being so had volunteered along with others to work over Christmas and the New Year to give staff with families time with their loved ones.

* * *

She was surprised when one Friday morning in early November, Daniel took her to one side when he had finished his rounds and said with a smile, ‘The boat is now seaworthy again. Some of the club members with me in charge are taking it for a sail down the coast some time over Christmas, and remembering your comment about your brother’s interest in that sort of thing I wondered if you would like to come with us instead as he isn’t around to join us.

‘Some of the young ones seem to be at a loose end on Boxing Day so I thought maybe to go sailing then if the weather is suitable. That is if you’re free, of course, as I’m aware that Christmas is a busy time for most people.’

Darcey could feel her colour rising. The last thing she wanted was to have to explain to him that she was so lonely that she’d volunteered to work all over Christmas. So instead she told him truthfully that she would be otherwise engaged elsewhere.

‘Thank you for asking me,’ she said weakly. ‘It was a very kind thought, but I won’t be free any time over Christmas. I’m fully booked, I’m afraid.’

She saw surprise in his expression and thought that she could at least have explained why she wouldn’t be available, but there was no way she wanted anyone to know how alone she was, least of all him.

Daniel Osbourne had probably never had anyone of her sex not want to be with him, though it hadn’t exactly been for a date, she reminded herself. The other two nurses she’d been with that night had described him as a loner. There would have been a boat full of teenagers to keep them apart if she’d accepted the offer.

‘That’s fine, then, if you aren’t going to be alone,’ he said levelly, and went on his way.

When he’d gone Darcey could have wept with shame at the way she’d thrown his concern back in his face, but the fact remained that she just couldn’t have admitted what a miserable thing her life was at the present time, and if Daniel Osbourne was the loner that she’d been told he was, maybe he was also going to be on his own during the festivities, which would make her refusal of his suggestion even more bizarre.

Though having seen his sister and her children briefly, and in spite of the haste with which she herself had made her exit, she had noted the affection between them that day when they’d called to see him, so it seemed hardly likely.

* * *

The day, like any other when she was on duty, was demanding her time, energy and patience, and she put the unexpected conversation they’d just had to the back of her mind until such time as when she would be free to absorb it fully, which was fortunate as at that moment a ten-year-old boy was admitted to the ward in pain and fractious with the osteomyelitis, which was more common in children than adults.

Daniel had seen Evan Roberts in his clinic and given orders for him to be admitted to the children’s ward and given a course of antibiotics to clear the inflammation, and as Darcey and her staff followed his instructions and comforted Evan, there was an ache inside her at the memory of how she’d been so quick to refuse to sail in the ex-navy whaler that his club practised in.

Her reply to the effect that she was already going to be occupied on that occasion had been the truth and the reason for it had been understandable as far as she was concerned, having volunteered to work during the most important days of Christmas.

But would she have made that sort of commitment if she’d known that he was going to want to take her sailing, and what would he say should she tell him that she would love to go with him on some other occasion when she was free as long as the offer wasn’t made out of pity because of her solitary state.

Daniel had referred to the lifeboat on a few occasions, a bigger and more powerful craft than his club used, as theirs was involved more in the safety of local events, and the thought of it made her keen to know more about the man who had come into her life on a crowded passenger train.

* * *

As she was leaving the ward after checking on Evan and having handed his care over to the night staff, Darcey saw Daniel glance unsmilingly in her direction as he went to speak to one of them, leaving her to make her way home with the feeling that it was going to be a miserable evening and if that was what it turned out to be, she had only herself to blame. With that thought in mind she decided to eat out at one of the restaurants on the promenade to delay enduring the gloom of the evening ahead any more than she had to and went to the nearest one, only to discover that it wasn’t a good plan as just as she was about to enjoy the food put before her, Brendan Stokes appeared. Looking down at her upturned face, he said, ‘Hi, Darcey. Do you mind if I join you?’

Before she could say yes, no or maybe, he was seated opposite and was beckoning to a nearby waitress who had eyes only for a customer who had just presented himself at a table at the other side of the restaurant but had paused to answer his phone, and as Darcey followed the woman’s gaze she stifled a groan.

Why hadn’t it occurred to her? she thought. It was to be expected that staff from Oceans House who had been working all day would choose the nearest restaurant, as had been the case on the night she’d dined with the two nurses.

‘The boss just appeared,’ her unwelcome companion said. ‘He hasn’t had much to say today, but it’s clear that someone has rubbed him up the wrong way.’ As she glanced over again, she saw Daniel abruptly standing and preparing to leave. ‘Look, he’s no sooner arrived than he’s going, which I suspect will turn out to be a lifeboat alert.’

‘So tell me about Mr Osbourne’s connection with the lifeboat service,’ she said. ‘How does he come to be part of it?’

‘His father was in charge at one time, him and old Ely were the main crew members, and when he died a couple of years back Daniel agreed to fill the gap his passing had left.

‘He and Ely are hoping that some day new members of the lifeboat crew will come from their Young Sailors’ Club, but their antics while he’s been away haven’t exactly filled him with confidence.’

* * *

As he turned to leave, Daniel glanced across and saw Darcey and Brendan dining cosily together, it seemed, and his jaw tightened. Was his second-in-command the reason for Darcey’s fully booked Christmas, he thought grimly, the womaniser who never missed a trick if an attractive member of the opposite sex was anywhere near? Had the apparent lack of interest she’d shown when Brendan Stokes had eyed her up on his rounds merely been a pretence?

He had entered the restaurant by another door, but in leaving he passed their table and with a brief nod was gone in answer to the request for his presence on the lifeboat, taking with him the thought that she was the first woman he had even looked at since Katrina’s welcome departure, and he might have been on the way to making another big mistake.

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