About the Authors

Cursed with a poor sense of direction and a propensity to read, ANNIE CLAYDON spent much of her childhood lost in books. A degree in English Literature followed by a career in computing didn’t lead directly to her perfect job—writing romance for Mills & Boon—but she has no regrets in taking the scenic route. She lives in London: a city where getting lost can be a joy.

Born and raised on the Wirral Peninsula in England, CHARLOTTE HAWKES is mum to two intrepid boys who love her to play building block games with them, and who object loudly to the amount of time she spends on the computer. When she isn’t writing—or building with blocks—she is company director for a small Anglo/French construction firm. Charlotte loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her at her website: charlotte-hawkes.com.

Also by Annie Claydon

Forbidden Night with the Duke Healed by the Single Dad Doc From Doctor to Princess? Firefighter’s Christmas Baby Resisting Her English Doc Festive Fling with the Single Dad

London Heroes miniseries

Falling for Her Italian Billionaire Second Chance with the Single Mum

Also by Charlotte Hawkes

The Surgeon’s Baby Surprise

A Bride to Redeem Him

The Surgeon’s One-Night Baby

Christmas with Her Bodyguard

A Surgeon for the Single Mum

The Army Doc’s Baby Secret

Unwrapping the Neurosurgeon’s Heart

Hot Army Docs miniseries

Encounter with a Commanding Officer

Tempted by Dr Off-Limits

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Best Friend to Royal Bride

Annie Claydon

Surprise Baby for the Billionaire

Charlotte Hawkes

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90219-3

BEST FRIEND TO ROYAL BRIDE & SURPRISE BABY FOR THE BILLIONAIRE

Best Friend to Royal Bride © 2020 Annie Claydon Surprise Baby for the Billionaire © 2020 Charlotte Hawkes

Published in Great Britain 2020

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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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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Table of Contents

Cover

About the Authors

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Best Friend to Royal Bride

Back Cover Text

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

EPILOGUE

Surprise Baby for the Billionaire

Back Cover Text

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

About the Publisher

Best Friend to Royal Bride

Annie Claydon

When two friends break the rules…

…the consequences are irresistible!

Best friends Marie and Alex have been inseparable since medical school. Until one impulsive kiss changes everything…and Alex reveals his long-kept secret: he’s king of an exiled royal family. Marie knows she doesn’t belong in Alex’s privileged world, but now neither can deny their unexpected and intense connection. And Marie must decide if she can risk it all to stay in Alex’s arms…as his queen.

CHAPTER ONE
The first Friday in February

THE EVENING OF the first Friday in February had been marked out as ‘busy’ in Marie’s calendar for the last twelve years. As she looked around the table, stacked with food and wine, twelve people all talking at once, she could only hope that it would be booked for the next twelve years.

During her final year at medical school there had been one class that was special. A tight-knit group who had laughed together and shared the ups and downs of their studies. Since then they’d graduated and gone their separate ways, but one evening every year still belonged to them.

Sunita was passing her phone around so that everyone could see the pictures of her new baby. Will was just back from America, and Rae had stories to tell about Africa. Nate was having relationship problems, and was talking intently to David, who was nodding thoughtfully. When she got the chance, Marie would change seats and offer what support she could.

And Alex…

Marie didn’t like to admit it, but she looked forward to seeing him the most. He had been the golden boy of the class, managing to combine a carefree love of life and a wicked sense of fun with academic brilliance. He and Marie had struck up an especially close friendship and, in truth, if you were looking for anything long-term with Alex, then friendship was the way to go. He was seldom without a girlfriend, but those relationships never lasted very long.

Tonight he looked as if he had things on his mind. He’d flipped through Sunita’s photographs, grinning and saying all the right things, but when he’d passed the phone on he’d gone back to playing with his food and staring abstractedly into space.

Marie leaned over, feeling the softness of his cashmere sweater as she brushed her fingers against his arm to get his attention. ‘What’s going on, Alex?’

‘I’m…coasting at the moment. One hand on the driving wheel with the wind in my hair.’ He shrugged, smiling suddenly. Those long-lashed grey eyes were still the same, and so was his mop of dark hair, shorter now but still as thick.

The memory was as fresh as if it had been yesterday. Alex pulling up outside her student digs, the soft top of his car pulled back, saying he just wanted to feel the warm breeze on his face and would Marie like to keep him company? It was a world away from the worries that seemed to be lingering behind his smile now.

‘And you’re still moving mountains?’

Marie laughed. ‘I’m still shovelling, if that’s what you mean.’

‘Moving mountains one shovelful at a time. That’s your speciality.’

He made it sound like a good thing. Something that was fine and virtuous, and not just a fact of life. Her life, anyway.

Alex had never had to worry about money, and had received a generous allowance from his family. Marie had gone to medical school knowing that her family needed her help rather than the other way around. Hand to mouth, taking each day as it came. Mostly she’d had enough to eat and cover her rent, but sometimes it had been a struggle. She’d made it through, one shovelful at a time.

On the other side of the restaurant a waiter was bringing a cake, flaming with candles, to a table of six young women. He started to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ and the tune was taken up around all the tables. Alex was watching, singing quietly, and Marie wondered whether he had any wishes tonight.

The birthday girl stood up, leaning over the cake. And suddenly Alex was moving, ducking adroitly past a couple of waiters and making his way towards her. It wasn’t until Marie was on her feet that she saw what the matter was. The girl was waving her arm, which only fanned the flames licking at her sleeve.

Stop, drop and roll. She hadn’t done the first, and it looked as if she wasn’t going to do the second or the third either. Alex reached her just as she started to panic, grabbing her arm and deftly catching up a pitcher of water from the table.

Suddenly the restaurant was deathly quiet, the girl’s keening sobs the only sound. Alex had his arm tightly around her and he flashed Marie a glance, to check that she would stay with the other young women at the table, before hurrying their injured friend towards the ladies’ restroom.

‘Where are they going? We’ll go with her…’

One of the party rose from her seat and Marie motioned to her to sit down again. She knew Alex had this under control, and if he’d needed any help he would have left no one in any doubt about what he wanted them to do.

‘It’s okay, we’re doctors. The burn should be cooled straight away and that’s what my colleague has gone to do. It’s best that we stay here.’

Alex would be checking for signs of shock, and being surrounded by people wasn’t going to help.

‘But…is she going to be all right? She was on fire…’ Another of the friends spoke up.

Things could have been a lot worse. It had looked as if her blouse was cotton, not a man-made fabric, and the flames had spread relatively slowly. If Alex hadn’t acted so quickly precious minutes would have been lost…

‘The fire was extinguished very quickly. I’ll go and check on her.’

Marie turned towards her own table, where everyone was watchful but still in their seats, trusting that Marie or Alex would call them if they were needed. She beckoned to Sunita, who rose from her seat, weaving her way past the tables towards them, and asked her to stay with the group of friends.

A waiter was standing outside the restroom and let Marie through. Inside, Alex had sat the young woman by a basin and was gently supporting her arm under a stream of lukewarm water. He was smiling, his voice gentle and relaxed as he chatted to her quietly.

‘How many candles on that cake, Laura?’

‘Eighteen. It’s my eighteenth birthday tomorrow. I’m having a party.’ Laura turned the corners of her mouth down.

‘You’ll be fine. This is a first-degree burn, which is the least severe. It’s going to hurt for a little while, but it won’t leave a scar. You’re going to have a great birthday.’ He glanced up at Marie. ‘This is my friend, Marie. She’s a doctor too, so she can’t help poking her nose in and making sure I’m doing everything right.’

Alex shot her a delicious smile, the kind that reminded Marie of when they’d been young doctors together in A&E. Laura turned towards Marie, and Alex steadied her arm under the water.

‘He’s doing pretty well.’

‘Glad to hear it. What about you? How are you doing?’

‘I’m all right. Where is everyone? Are they eating my cake?’

‘They sent me to find out how you were. They’re not eating the cake.’

Alex had done a great job of keeping Laura calm if her main concern was cake.

‘That’s a relief,’ Alex broke in. ‘Laura’s promised me a slice. Not for another ten minutes, though. We need to keep cooling the burn. Then I think we’ll send you off home, with a list of instructions.’

‘Oh, you’re going to write a list of instructions?’ Marie grinned conspiratorially at Laura. ‘Watch out for those.’

Alex chuckled. ‘First on the list is to have a very happy birthday…’

Things might have been so different. Laura’s eighteenth birthday could have been spent in a burns unit, with a prognosis of skin grafts and a great deal of pain. But she was going home with her friends, a little wet from the pitcher of water that Alex had poured on her arm to extinguish the flames, and with a couple of miraculously minor burns. Whatever future she wanted for herself was still waiting for her.

Alex spent another half an hour making sure she was all right, and advising her on how to care for the burns. Sunita had persuaded Laura’s friends to come over and sit with her, and the cake was being divided into portions and wrapped. The low hum of chatter in the restaurant indicated that the incident was already largely forgotten, cleared away along with the debris from Laura’s table.

Alex had gone outside to see Laura and her friends into a taxi, and Marie saw him turn, leaning back against the railings that separated the pavement from the front of the restaurant, staring up at the scrap of sky that showed between the tops of the buildings. It appeared that his easy, relaxed air had been all for Laura’s sake.

Whatever the last year of medical school had thrown at them, Alex had always bounced back, but now he seemed brooding, almost heartbroken. There was definitely something wrong.

Maybe she could help. Maybe he’d stayed outside hoping she’d join him. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d confided in each other, and Marie had always wanted him to feel he could talk to her about anything.

She picked up Alex’s jacket from the back of his chair and slipped away from the table.

Alex had been looking forward to seeing Marie again. He’d wondered whether he should confide in her, and now that he’d sent Laura safely on her way the yearning to do so reasserted itself. He knew he wouldn’t, though. Marie normally understood everything, but she wouldn’t be able to understand how difficult the last few months had been. She’d struggled for everything she had, and it felt somehow wrong to confide his pain and dismay at finding he had much more than enough of everything.

‘Aren’t you cold?’

When he heard her voice it didn’t come as much of a surprise. Maybe that was what he was doing out here, shivering under the street lamps: waiting for Marie to come and find him.

‘Not really.’ He took his jacket from her, wrapping it around her shoulders. The pleasure he got from the gesture seemed way out of proportion to its true worth.

‘That was a bit like old times.’

She turned her gaze on him and suddenly it felt a lot like old times.

‘Yes. I’m glad Laura’s okay.’

‘She has you to thank for that. So, since we seem to be out here, and your jacket’s nice and warm…’ Marie gave him an impish smile. ‘You can tell me what the matter is.’

It was tempting. Alex had never been able to resist her eyes. Almost violet in the sunlight and deep blue in the shade. She wore her dark hair in a shining pixie cut, and Alex always thought of mischief and magic when he looked at her.

‘I’m fine…just tired. You remember tired?’ He smiled at her.

She chuckled. ‘Remember that time you came round to my place and I’d been up all night working on abstracts?’

‘I’ve never seen anyone actually fall asleep while they’re drinking coffee before. Particularly since I’d made it so strong…’

Marie had got a job writing abstracts for scientific papers, which had been more lucrative than waitressing and had fitted around their busy study schedule better. Working and studying at the same time had been a struggle for her, but Alex had learned early in their friendship that she never took help from anyone.

Suddenly he was back in that time when he’d first felt completely free. Marie’s two shabby rooms, right at the top of a multiple-occupancy house, had been as clean as one pair of hands could scrub them, and full of outrageous low-cost colour.

‘Funny thing about that…’ Marie gave him a knowing look. ‘When I woke up you were gone, but I sat down to review my abstracts and found they were all perfect. Not a spelling or grammar mistake in any of them.’

Alex had reckoned he’d got away with that. He’d tried to make Marie stand up but she’d slumped against him, still asleep, so he’d had to practically carry her into the bedroom. He’d taken off her cardigan and shoes and decided to stop there, covering her up with the brightly patterned quilt. He’d sometimes imagined their two bodies naked together under that quilt. But Marie was far too good a friend, too good a person, to contemplate having a throwaway romance with her.

Alex had glanced at the document that was open on her laptop, meaning to close it down. He’d seen a mistake in the text, and had sat down and worked through everything, correcting the slips that fatigue had forced upon her.

‘You must do your best work when you’re flying on autopilot.’ He tried to maintain a straight face.

‘I suppose I must. Apparently I also spell synthesise with a z.’

‘Really? There must be a study in there somewhere. How fatigue alters your spelling choices.’ Alex shrugged guiltily. ‘They’re both correct, according the dictionary.’

‘Yes, they are. Although I imagine that “ize” as a verb ending is considered either an anachronism or an American spelling these days.’ She smirked at him.

‘You can mock if you want. Just because I went to a school that prided itself on having been the same for the last few hundred years…’ Alex had hated school. It had been only slightly less snobby and suffocating than his parents’ home.

‘I’m not mocking; I thought it was very sweet of you.’ She took a step towards him. ‘Along with all those expensive textbooks you used to lend me. And dropping round to pick me up so I didn’t have to take the bus.’

‘Why bring that up all of a sudden? Just to let me know I’m not as tactful as I thought I was?’ Alex wondered if he was in for a lecture about how she could have managed perfectly well on her own.

Marie shook her head. ‘You were very tactful. I hardly even noticed what you were doing most of the time. And you were my friend and you helped me. That’s something that goes both ways.’

He knew that. But he couldn’t talk to Marie about this. ‘I’m fine. Really. And I appreciate your concern.’

‘Just as long as you know that I’m always here for you.’

She reached out, touching his arm, and Alex almost flinched. All his senses were crying out for comfort, and yet he just couldn’t bring himself to ask. Was this the way she’d felt, despite all her self-sufficiency?

‘I know. Thank you.’

He’d meant to give her a basic friendly hug, the kind he’d given her so many times before. But when he felt her body against his he couldn’t let her go. Marie seemed to be the one thing in his life that wasn’t tainted right now.

He leaned down to kiss her cheek. But she turned her head and his lips brushed hers. Before he could tear himself away her gaze met his, her eyes midnight-blue in the darkness.

What if…?

What if…?

What if he could turn his back on the vision of his parents’ unhappy marriage and sustain a relationship for more than a few months? What if he could trust himself to get involved with the one person he cared about the most, even knowing he might break her heart and his? And what if everything he’d sought to escape hadn’t just caught him again in its iron clutches?

They were all serious questions that needed to be asked and answered before he took the step of kissing her. But then he felt her lips touch his and he was lost. Or maybe this was exactly what it was like to find himself. Alex wasn’t sure.

She was soft and sweet, and when he kissed her again she responded. Maybe it lasted a moment and maybe an hour. All Alex knew was that it was impossible to attach a time frame to something that was complete and perfect.

Even the way she drew away from him was perfect. A little sigh of regret, her eyes masked by her eyelashes.

He’d always supposed that kissing Marie was the one thing he mustn’t do. The one thing he wouldn’t be able to come back from. But in a sudden moment of clarity he realised that kissing her had only made him more determined that he couldn’t do it. Marie wasn’t just another pretty face he could walk away from without looking back. She was his friend, and he wanted her for a lifetime, not just a few months.

‘Do you want to go back in?’ If it meant keeping her then he had to let her go.

She still wouldn’t look at him. ‘Yes…’

He felt her move in his arms and let her go. Marie looked up at him for a moment, and he almost forgot that this had been a very bad idea that had the power to spoil something that had been good for years. Then suddenly she was gone, back into the restaurant to take her seat at the table again.

Alex waited, knowing the group always swapped places between courses, so everyone got to speak to everyone else. When he went back inside there was a free seat for him at the other end of the table from Marie. Alex sat down without looking at her, and was immediately involved in the heated debate about football which was going on between Emily and Will.

She didn’t meet his gaze until the restaurant closed and a waitress pointedly fetched everyone’s coats. Then, suddenly, he found himself standing next to her. He automatically helped her on with her coat and Marie smiled up at him.

‘I’ll see you next year. Be well, Alex.’

‘Yes. Next year…’

He’d scarcely got the words out before she was gone. Marie had made her meaning clear. They were friends, and nothing was going to spoil that. Not fire, nor flood, nor even an amazing, heart-shaking kiss. By next year it would be forgotten, and he and Marie would continue the way they always had.

The thought that he wouldn’t see her again until next February seemed more heart-rending than any of the other challenges he’d faced in the last six months.

CHAPTER TWO
The first Friday in May

IT WAS ONLY four stops on the Tube from the central London hospital where Marie worked, but shining architecture and trendy bars had given way to high-rise flats, corner shops and families with every kind of problem imaginable.

Marie knew about some of those problems first-hand. She’d grown up fifteen minutes’ walk away from the address that Alex had given her. Her father had left when she was ten, and her mother had retreated into a world of her own. Four miserable months in foster care had seen Marie separated from her three younger brothers, and when the family had got back together again she’d resolved that she’d keep it that way.

It had cost Marie her childhood. Looking after her brothers while her mother had worked long hours to keep them afloat financially. She’d learned how to shop and cook, and at the weekends she’d helped out by taking her brothers to the park, reading her schoolbooks while they played.

It had been hard. And lonely. After she’d left home she’d had a few relationships, but knowing exactly what it meant to be abandoned had made her cautious. She’d never found the kind of love that struck like a bolt of lightning, dispelling all doubts and fears, and the continuing need to look after her family didn’t give her too much time for regrets.

When she reached the Victorian building it looked just as ominous as she remembered it, its bricks stained with grime and three floors towering above her like a dark shadow in the evening sunshine. The high cast-iron gates creaked as Marie pulled them open, leaving flakes of paint on her hands.

‘This had better not be a joke…’

It wasn’t a joke. Alex’s practical jokes were usually a lot more imaginative than this. And when he’d called her it had sounded important. He’d made a coded reference to their kiss, saying that he wanted her to come as a professional favour to a friend, which told Marie that he’d done exactly as she’d hoped and moved past it. That was both a relief and a disappointment.

She pushed the thought of his touch to the back of her mind and made her way across the cracked asphalt in front of the building. There was a notice taped to the main door that advertised that this was the ‘Living Well Clinic’. Marie made a face at the incongruous nature of the name and pressed the buzzer, wondering if it was going to work.

The door creaked open almost immediately.

‘Hi. Thanks so much for coming.’ Alex was looking unusually tense.

‘My pleasure. What’s all this about, Alex?’

‘Come and see.’ He stood back from the doorway and Marie stepped inside, trying not to flinch as the door banged shut behind them.

‘Oh! This is a bit different from how I remember it.’

At the other end of the small lobby was an arch, which had been sandblasted back to the original brick, its colour and texture contrasting with the two glass doors that now filled the arch. As Marie approached them they swished back, allowing her into a large bright reception space, which had once been dingy cloakrooms.

And it wasn’t finished yet. Cabling hung from the ceiling and the walls had obviously been re-plastered recently, with dark spots showing where they were still drying out. One of the curved-top windows had been replaced, and the many layers of paint on the others had been sanded back, leaving the space ready for new decoration.

‘You know this place?’

‘Yes, I went to school here.’

‘Did you?’ He grinned awkwardly. ‘I wish I’d known. I would have looked for your name carved on one of the desks.’

‘You wouldn’t have found it.’

‘Too busy studying?’

‘Something like that.’

Leaving her name in this place might have signified that she would look back on her schooldays with a measure of nostalgia, when they’d been no more than a means to an end. They’d been something she’d had to do so she could move on and leave them behind. Just like she’d left that kiss behind. The one she couldn’t stop thinking about…

‘What’s going on, Alex? Are you working here now or is this something you’re involved with in your spare time?’

‘I don’t have spare time any more. I’m here full-time; I gave up working with the practice.’

Alex had always said he’d do something like this, and now he’d actually done it. The next logical step from his job as a GP in a leafy London suburb would have been to go into private practice, and Alex had the contacts and the reputation to make the transition easy. But he’d given all that up to come and work here, in a community where his expertise was most sorely needed.

‘And you’ll be seeing patients here?’

‘As soon as we don’t have to supply them with hard hats.’ He bent, picking up two safety helmets and handing her one. ‘Come and see what’s been going on.’

As he showed her around, the scale of the project became obvious. Some of the classrooms had been divided into two to make treatment rooms, with high ceilings and plenty of light from the arched windows. A state-of-the-art exercise suite was planned for the ground floor, which would be staffed by physiotherapists and personal trainers, and the old school hall was being converted into a coffee shop and communal area. Upstairs there was provision for dieticians and other health advisors, along with a counselling suite and rooms for self-help groups of all kinds.

‘We’ll have facilities for DEXA scanning in here…’ He opened the door of one of the old science labs, which had now been reduced to a shell. ‘Along with other diagnostic equipment. There’s a space for the mobile breast-screening unit to park at the side of the building, and when the clinic’s finished it’ll be part of its regular route. We’ll be able to undertake general health screening as well.’

‘It’s wonderful, Alex. Everything under one roof.’

The project was ambitious and imaginative, and would be of huge benefit to the local community.

‘That’s the idea. It’s a kind of one-stop shop, and although it’ll cater for complex medical needs it’s also going to be for people who just want a healthier lifestyle.’

‘What’s going to happen with the courtyards?’

They were walking along a corridor that looked out onto one of the two central light wells. They were one of the few things that remained unchanged, and the dingy concrete floors were a reminder of what this place had once been like.

Alex shrugged. ‘There are no plans for them just yet. Some planting might be nice.’

‘And what about the old gym?’ The annexe at the back of the school was enormous, and it seemed a waste not to use it for something.

‘We made a discovery. Come and see.’

He led the way to the large double doors that opened onto the gym and Marie gasped. The folding seats had been taken out and light from windows on three sides flooded into the space. Instead of sprung wooden floors there was a large concrete-sided hole.

‘That’s not…not a swimming pool, is it?’

He nodded. ‘When we looked at the plans we found that this annexe was built in the nineteen-thirties as a full-sized swimming pool. Later on it was made into a gym, but when we took up the floors we found that the pool had just been filled in with hardcore and the foundations were still there and solid enough to use. There’s room for a hydrotherapy pool, as well as the main pool.’

Alex seemed less excited about this than he should be. Maybe he was about to tell her that they’d run out of money, or had found some catastrophic problem with the building’s structure and it was all about to fall down.

‘This is marvellous. Are the pool and gym just for patients or are they available to the whole community?’

‘There’ll be a nominal charge, well below the usual rates. Anyone who’s referred by a doctor or one of the medical staff here won’t have to pay anything.’ Alex was suddenly still, looking at her thoughtfully. ‘What about you? Would you be interested in being part of it all?’

That sounded a bit like the stuff that fairy tales were made of. A gloomy old castle brought to life and transformed. Alex would fit in there quite nicely as the handsome Prince. But something about the quiet certainty in his manner stopped Marie from brushing the suggestion off.

‘You’d put in a good word with the boss for me?’

‘It’s more a matter of putting a good word in with you. We’d be lucky to get you.’

Excitement trickled down Marie’s spine. This was real. In that case, Marie needed to ask a few real questions.

‘What exactly is your role here, Alex?’

He frowned, as if that might be a problem. ‘It’s rather a long story… Why don’t you come to my office and we’ll have some coffee?’

Marie followed him to a small suite of offices situated at the front of the building, off the main reception area. From here it would be possible to see all the comings and goings, and Marie guessed that Alex would have had a hand in the location of his office. He always liked to be in the thick of things.

His office was one of the few rooms in the building that was finished, but it didn’t seem much like the kind of place the Alex she remembered would like. The cream walls and tall windows lent themselves to minimalism, but Alex didn’t.

‘How long have you been here, Alex?’

‘A couple of months.’ He looked around at the sleek wooden desk that stood at one end of the room and the comfortable easy chairs grouped around a coffee table at the other end. ‘Why?’

Alex had been here for two months? And he hadn’t yet covered the walls with pictures and stamped his own personality on the space? That wasn’t like him at all. Perhaps the clinic had some kind of rule about that.

‘It just seems a bit…unlived-in.’ Marie looked around for something, anything, to comment on, instead of asking whether all that light and clear space hurt his eyes. She nodded towards the stylish chair behind his desk. ‘I like your chair.’

‘I reckoned I’d be sitting in it for enough hours, so I wanted something that was comfortable. Give it a try.’

He walked over to the wood-framed cupboards that lined one wall, opening one of the doors to reveal a coffee machine and a small sink unit.

The chair was great—comfortable and supportive—and when Marie leaned back the backrest tipped gently with her movement. She started to work her way around all the levers and knobs under the seat.

‘I love this. It’s got more controls than my first car.’

She got to her feet as Alex brought the coffee and he motioned her to sit again, smiling as if it hurt his face to do so.

‘You’ve missed a few of the adjustments. The knob on the left lets you tip the seat forward.’ He sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of the desk.

‘Oh!’ Marie tried it, almost skinning her knuckles on the stiff lever. ‘Nice one. I’m glad to see the clinic practises what it preaches and looks after its staff.’

She was just talking. Saying things that might fill the space between them and hoping to provoke a reaction. She’d never seen Alex look so worried before.

Not worried…

Burdened.

It was time to grasp the nettle and find out what was going on. She leaned forward, putting her elbows on the desk as if she were about to interview him. ‘So what’s the story then, Alex? I’m intrigued, so start right at the beginning.’

He paused, staring into his mug, as if that would tell him exactly where the beginning was.

‘A hundred and ten years ago…’

‘What? Really?’

He gave her a strained smile and Marie regretted the interruption. Whatever had happened a hundred and ten years ago must be more important than it sounded.

‘You said start at the beginning.’

‘I did. Sorry…’ She waved him on and there was silence for a moment. Then he spoke again.

‘A hundred and ten years ago the King of Belkraine was deposed and his family fled to London. They brought with them a lot of very valuable jewels, the title deeds to property in this country, and what was literally a king’s ransom in investments. His eldest son was my grandfather.’

Marie stared at him.

She’d thought that she and Alex had shared most of their secrets over the years but he’d obviously been holding back. Marie wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that.

‘So you’re…a prince?’

He gave her a pained look. ‘Belkraine no longer exists as a separate country. I’m not sure how you can be a prince of something that doesn’t exist.’

He was missing the point. The role of many monarchies had changed in the last hundred years, but privilege and money was something that didn’t change.

‘A prince in exile, then?’

‘Strictly speaking a king…in exile. My father died in June last year.’

‘Alex, I’m so sorry.’

‘Thank you. But it’s… We’d been estranged for some years. Ever since I first went to medical school.’

‘But—’

Marie bit her tongue. He’d never spoken much about his family, but she knew that he was an only child and that his parents lived in a big house in the country somewhere. There hadn’t ever been any mention of an estrangement, and Marie had always assumed he came from a normal happy family.

Now wasn’t the time to mention that this was what Alex had allowed everyone to believe. He had no chance to make things right with his father now.

‘That must have hurt you a great deal.’

He shrugged. ‘That door closed a long time ago. I came to terms with it.’

There were too many questions, piling up on top of each other like grains of sand in an hourglass. What was Alex doing here? Why had he never said anything about this before?

Maybe she should just stay silent and listen.

Alex glanced at her uncertainly and Marie motioned for him to keep talking.

‘I didn’t expect that my father would leave me anything, let alone his whole estate. But he did. I find that I have more money than I know what to do with.’

‘How much…?’

It wasn’t good manners to ask, but money had never bothered Alex all that much. If this was a life-changing amount, then that was both good news and bad. Good, because he could do the things he’d always wanted to. Bad, because he seemed so burdened by it.

‘If you include all the assets and property then it runs into something more than two billion. Less than three.’

She stared at him. That was the kind of number that Marie would never get her head around, so it was probably better not to even try.

‘And this… You’ve done all this?’ She waved her finger in a wild circle.

‘My ancestors viewed wealth as a way to gain power and more wealth. I want to spend the money a little more wisely than that.’

It was worthy. Altruistic. Right now it was about all she recognised of the Alex that she knew. The smiling, carefree soul who was in the habit of taking one day at a time had gone.

‘Wait a minute…’ A thought struck her. Had Alex been hiding all this in plain sight? ‘Alex King?’

‘Dr Alex King is who I really am. But my birth certificate says Rudolf Aloysius Alexander König.’

Suddenly she couldn’t bear it. She hadn’t even known his name? The man she’d thought of as her friend, whom she’d dared to kiss and had loved every minute of it…

Marie sprang from her seat, marching over to the window and staring out at the street. Maybe that would anchor her down, keep her feet firmly on the ground, and then she could begin to address the question of whether this really was Alex any more, or just a stranger who looked like him.

Marie wasn’t taking this well. It was almost a relief. The small number of other people he’d had to tell about this had congratulated him on his sudden and immense wealth and started to treat him as if he was suddenly something different. It was typical of Marie that her objection to the whole thing wasn’t what he’d expected. She brushed aside the money and his royal status as if they didn’t exist. All she cared about was that she hadn’t known his name.

‘King is a translation of König. Alex is my middle name…’ He ventured an explanation.

She shook her head. ‘I thought I knew you, Alex…’

There was no point in telling her that a lot of people changed their names, or that a lot of people came from unhappy families. Marie was hurt that he’d never told her about any of it before. Maybe if she’d known his father she would have understood a little better.

‘Rudolf König was the name my father gave to me to remind everyone who my family was. I wanted to make my own way in life, Marie, and to be measured by what I’ve done.’

‘Yeah. I see that.’ She was staring fixedly out of the window and didn’t turn to face him.

‘Then…?’

‘Give me a minute. I’m processing.’

Okay. Processing didn’t sound so terrible. If Marie could come to any conclusions then he’d like to hear them, because all he’d felt since he’d heard about his father’s will was that he was being dragged back into a life from which he’d previously torn himself. Money and status had soured his parents’ lives, and it already felt like it was slowly squeezing all the joy out of his.

She turned slowly, leaning back against the windowsill and regarding him thoughtfully.

‘So…it’s still Alex, is it?’ Not Your Majesty…?’

‘You don’t need to rub it in, Marie. Who the hell else do you think I know how to be?’

Her face softened and she almost smiled. It was one step towards the warmth that he craved.

‘Sorry.’ She pressed her lips together in thought. ‘Who knows about this?’

‘A few people that I know from school. No one here. But it’s not a secret. I just don’t talk about it.’

She turned to face him, her eyes full of violet fire. ‘Isn’t that what secrets are? Things you keep from your friends?’

‘I never lied.’ He heard himself snap, and took a breath. ‘I want the clinic to be about the work and not about me.’

‘It is about you, though. You built it.’

‘I facilitated it. I want people to talk about the things we do here, and talking about who I am is only going to divert attention away from that.’

Alex decided to leave aside the fact that he really didn’t want to talk about who he was, because that would be a matter of reopening old wounds.

Marie was nodding slowly. It was time to take a risk.

‘If you’re not interested in a job here you can always just walk away.’

She pursed her lips. ‘I never said I wasn’t interested.’

Good. That was a start. He knew she’d seen the possibilities that the clinic offered, and maybe it was a matter of getting her to look at those and not at him. Not at the friend who’d broken the rules and kissed her. The friend who’d never told her about where he came from.

‘This is the deal, then. This clinic is a flagship development, which is funded and run entirely by a trust I’ve set up with part of my inheritance. I don’t want it to be the only one of its kind; it’s intended that what we do here will be a model for future clinics all over the country. In order to achieve that we’ll need to attract extra funding from outside sources.’

‘You always did think big, Alex.’

He saw a flicker of excitement in her eyes. That was exactly the way he wanted to feel.

‘I want you to share that vision with me as my co-director for the whole project. This clinic and future developments as well. You’ll be able to dictate policy and do things on your own terms.’

She stared at him. ‘Me? You want me to do that?’

Marie hadn’t said no yet. He resisted the impulse to laugh and tell her that she could do anything she set her mind to doing. He was offering her the job on purely business grounds and he had to treat this conversation in that light.

‘Your professional experience in A&E and diagnostic wards makes you ideally suited to the work here, where we’re suggesting effective therapies and ways forward for patients. And you’re not afraid of a challenge.’ Alex allowed himself the smallest of smiles. ‘That’s one thing I happen to know about you.’

‘This would be the first time I’ve taken on a management role.’ Marie gave a little frown, obviously annoyed that she’d betrayed a little too much interest. ‘If I decide to take the job, that is.’

‘We already have a practice manager on board. She’s very experienced and can advise on the practical aspects. It’s your vision that matters, and your knowledge of what this community needs.’

‘Is that your way of saying that you don’t understand “poor people” and I do?’

She crooked two fingers to indicate quotation marks. There was a touch of defiance in her tone, and it would be very easy for Alex to say that the thought had never occurred to him.

‘I think you understand some of the issues that people who live in this neighbourhood face. I want to formulate policies that are appropriate and which are going to work. If you want to boil that down to understanding poor people then be my guest.’

She grinned. He hadn’t given her the expected answer, but it had been the right one.

‘I think I could help…’

‘I don’t want you to help. This is a full partnership and I expect you to tell me what’s wrong with my thinking.’ He could trust Marie to do that. Their friendship was founded on it.

‘It’s a big step for me, Alex. I need to think about it.’

‘Of course. Take as long as you like.’

Alex knew that Marie wouldn’t take too long; she was nothing if not decisive. If she said no then that would be the end of it. But if she said yes then maybe, just maybe, she’d save him from being the man his father had wanted him to be and make him into the one he wanted to be.

By the time she got home Alex’s email was already in her inbox, with a full job description and a detailed brief of his plans for the clinic appended. It took a while to read through it all, and Marie didn’t finish until the early hours. She decided to sleep on it.

But sleeping on it didn’t help, and neither did extending her usual running route around the park to almost twice the distance. Neither did staring at the wall or surfing the internet.

She wanted the job—very badly. It would give her a chance to shape policy and to be part of a bold initiative that promised to be a real force in helping people to live fuller and better lives.

But Alex…

Before she’d kissed him, before she’d known that he wasn’t who he’d said he was…

That wasn’t entirely fair. Thinking back, he’d never actually said anything about who he was. If it hadn’t occurred to her to ask if his father was an immeasurably rich king in exile then maybe that was a lapse in imagination on her part.

But it still felt as if she’d kissed a man she didn’t really know at all and had let herself fall a little in love with him. A future working closely with Alex seemed fraught with the dangerous unknown.

By Sunday evening she’d distilled it all down. There was no doubt in her mind that this was her dream job, but there were three things she wanted to know from Alex. Could he forget the kiss? Why hadn’t he told her who he was? And what did the clinic really mean to him?

They were tricky questions. She had to find a way of asking indirectly, and after an hour of scribbling and crossing out she had three questions that might or might not elicit the information she wanted.

Marie picked up her phone and typed a text.

Are you still awake? I have some questions.

Nothing. Maybe he’d taken the evening off and gone out somewhere. Or maybe he was asleep already. As Marie put her phone down on the bed beside her, it rang.

‘Hi, Alex…’ She panicked suddenly and her mind went blank.

‘Hi. Fire away, then.’

She’d rather hoped that she might ask by text, as that would give her a chance to carefully edit what she intended to say.

‘Um…okay. Have you interviewed anyone else for this post?’ That was the closest she could get to asking about the kiss.

‘Nope.’

Marie rolled her eyes. ‘That’s not much help, so I’m going for a supplementary question. Why not?’

He chuckled ‘You’re asking if I offered you the job because we’re friends? The answer’s no. I need people around me who I trust and who are the best at what they do. If I wanted to meet up with you I’d call and ask if you were free for lunch.’

Okay. That sounded promising. Alex had drawn the line between professional and personal, and if he could take the kiss out of the equation then so could she.

‘Next?’

Marie squeezed her eyes closed and recited the next question. ‘That Christmas, at medical school, when we all went home for the holidays, what did you do?’

He was silent for so long that Marie began to wonder whether he’d hung up on her. She wondered if he knew how much this mattered, and why.

‘Okay. I’ll play. I stayed in my flat and watched TV all day.’

Marie caught her breath. He knew, and he’d answered honestly. ‘You could have come to ours. You just had to say you were on your own.’

‘You’re really going to take that route, Marie? You’d have been too proud to let me bring as much as a box of mince pies with me. And you’re wondering why I was too proud to admit that I was going to be on my own?’

Marie could understand that, even if she was sorry that he’d felt that way.

‘Next question. And tell me you’re not going to let me down by making this an easy one.’

Marie felt her ears start to burn. But that was Alex all over. He could be confrontational, but there was always that note of self-deprecatory laughter in his tone that made it all right.

‘Do you think the clinic’s going to save you, Alex?’

He was silent for a moment.

‘Nice one. Those aren’t the words I’d have used… But the inheritance is a responsibility, and I know from bitter experience that it’s the kind of thing that can subsume a person. I want to hold on to who I am. So, yes, I guess I am hoping that the clinic will save me.’

These were the answers she’d wanted. And there was only one thing more to say.

‘It’s a great project, Alex. And, yes, I’d really like to take the job.’

CHAPTER THREE

THE MONTH’S NOTICE Marie had given at her old job had seemed like an age. She’d received daily email updates about what was going on at the clinic, and she’d spent many evenings and most of her weekends replying to Alex. If their exchanges seemed more businesslike than friendly, then that was all good. They needed to start as they meant to go on, and Marie was ready to begin work in earnest.

She knew what had been done, but that didn’t match the effect of seeing it for herself. The facade of the building had been cleaned, exposing the soft yellow of the brick and the red terracotta detailing around the windows and door. The railings had been sanded and painted, and the old Tarmac playground was now a paved area, dotted with saplings that would soften the space as they grew. The main door had been stripped and varnished, and the dents from being kicked a thousand times as pupils had passed this way only added to its character.

The bell was new as well, and when she pressed it Alex appeared at the door, looking far less formal than his emails had been, and suspiciously like the man she’d dared to kiss. Maybe seeing him every day would quash that reaction.

Marie smiled nervously as he led her through the glass lobby doors. ‘This is amazing!’

Everything was neat and tidy, with cream-painted walls and comfortable seating. Marie knew that the large curved barrier between the receptionist and the public space had been designed to protect the staff by stopping anyone from climbing across, but the sloping front looked like a thing of beauty and not a defence mechanism.

‘I’m pleased with the way it’s turned out.’ Alex looked around as if this was the first time he’d seen the space. ‘You didn’t have to start until Monday, you know. How was your leaving party last night?’

Marie rolled her eyes. ‘Long. We had too much cake, and then we went to the pub. I cried. I need something to do today to work off all the calories and the emotion.’

‘You’re not regretting this, are you?’ He frowned.

‘No. Looking forward to what’s next doesn’t mean I can’t miss my old job a bit as well.’

He quirked his lips down, as if missing the past was something he’d been struggling with, and then smiled suddenly in an indication that he wasn’t about to dwell on that.

‘You want to see your new office?’

‘Yes, please.’

Alex had suggested that she take the office next to his, but Marie wanted to be close to the two practice nurses and the health visitor who comprised their medical support team, and who would be located on the first floor. The problem had been solved by giving her an office that was directly above his and connected by a narrow private staircase.

‘What do you think?’

Cream walls, lots of light and plenty of space. That was standard issue here, but no doubt she could inject a little colour of her own. Marie had chosen a light-framed wooden desk, and behind it was an identical chair to Alex’s.

‘You got me one of these!’ Marie had wanted one, but hadn’t wanted to ask.

‘Yes. Call it an investment. I don’t want you taking any time off sick with a bad back.’

Marie grinned at him and sat down, feeling the chair respond to her weight. ‘I’ll just take two days off to adjust it, shall I?’

‘Mine took a week. The instructions are in your top drawer. Would you like to offer me some coffee?’

‘Have I got any?’

Actually, Marie could do with some coffee. The combination of cake and beer last night had left her feeling a little fuzzy this morning.

‘Behind you.’

He indicated a door at the far end of the cupboards that lined one wall, and sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of the desk. Marie went to look and found that the door concealed a neat worktop with a coffee machine and supplies. A splash of colour next to the line of cream mugs caught her eye.

‘You got me a mug!’ She took the bright pink mug down from the shelf and examined it. ‘With a flying pig! You remembered!’

‘You always used to say that you wanted an office with a sofa, and time to sit and talk with your patients.’

The informal seating area in his office contained four easy chairs, covered in a chocolate-coloured fabric, but for Marie he had chosen a sofa and two chairs in a lighter cappuccino colour.

‘And when you said that nothing was impossible, I told you that pigs might fly…’ It had been a joke between them. ‘Thank you, Alex.’

He seemed pleased with her reaction, but there was still a hint of reticence about his manner. The man Marie knew would have seen only exciting new opportunities, but Alex seemed burdened by his responsibilities.

He’d come round. The clinic would be opening next week, and as soon as it started to fill with people he’d respond to that. He was going to have to if this place was to reach its full potential. Alex had so much more than money to give, and it needed his creative enthusiasm to thrive.

Marie switched on the coffee machine, running her finger along the selection of different capsules. ‘I’m going to have to try all of these, you know. I’ll work from left to right.’

‘I’d expect nothing less of you.’

When she put his cup down in front of him, he nodded a thank-you and pushed a manila envelope towards her. Marie opened it, tipping the contents out onto her desk.

‘These are yours. The credit card is for any purchases you need to make, and the key card opens every door inside the clinic. Those two keys are for the main door, and the other one is the main override for the alarm system. The car keys are for the practice’s vehicles.’

Marie laid the keys and cards out in front of her on the desk. This was the start of it all…

‘The IT guy will be coming in on Monday to set up your computer. Let me know if there’s anything else you need.’ Alex got to his feet, picking up his mug. ‘I’ll leave you to settle in, if that’s okay. I have a few things to do.’

Marie had wanted to share all this. Unpacking the bag she’d brought with her and taking a tour of the clinic to see all the work that she and Alex had been discussing for the last month. But Alex was already halfway out of the door.

‘Yes, okay. Maybe we can sit down together later today to go through some things?’

‘That would be great.’ He flashed her a sudden smile. ‘You like your office?’

‘It’s better than I could have imagined. Thank you so much, Alex.’

‘My pleasure.’ He turned, closing the door behind him.

Marie leaned back in her chair, listening to the silence. There was a lot to do here. A whole community of health professionals to build. There were mountains to move, and the most stubborn of them had just walked downstairs. Alex had built his dream, and although he had a fierce determination to see it thrive, Marie sensed he couldn’t love it.

That was going to have to change.

After Saturday’s quiet solitude, most of which Alex had spent closeted in his office, the bustle of workmen and staff on Monday morning was a welcome relief. Marie spent two days with Sofia Costa, the practice manager, interviewing the shortlisted candidates for the medical support team, and on Wednesday morning picked up the flowering plant she’d brought from home and went down to Alex’s office.

She’d wondered if his subdued manner was a reaction to their kiss, part of some kind of attempt to keep things professional, but he was like that with everyone. Thoughtful, smiling, but without the spark that made him Alex. In one way it was a relief to find that it wasn’t just her, but it was clear that the change in Alex’s life and the months spent developing this place had taken their toll on him. He normally thrived on hard work, but this was different. It seemed to be draining all the life out of him.

‘The interviews went well?’ He looked up from the pile of paperwork on his desk.

‘Very well. It was difficult to decide, as they were all good candidates. But Sofia and I have chosen three who are excellent. I’ve emailed their CVs to you so you can take a look at them.’

She put the Busy Lizzie plant down on his desk and Alex picked it up, examining the bright red flowers. ‘Is this a subtle hint that my office could do with brightening up?’

‘No, I don’t do subtle. It’s more in the way of a brazen, in-your-face hint.’

Alex smiled, walking over to the windowsill and putting the pot at the centre. He moved it to one side and then the other, finding the place he wanted it.

‘I don’t suppose you have any more of these, do you?’

Marie hid her smile. The old Alex was still there—he just needed a bit of coaxing out. If he wanted more plants she’d fill his windowsill with colour.

‘I’ve got loads at home. I took some cuttings from my mum’s. I’ll bring you more tomorrow.’

‘Thanks.’

‘I’ve got an idea.’ She sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of his desk.

‘Fire away.’

His lips curved a little. Alex clearly hadn’t lost his penchant for ideas of all shapes and sizes.

‘The light wells. They’re pretty awful as they are, and I’d like to turn them into gardens. I spoke to Jim Armitage and he says that there are some brick pavers that were taken up from around the gym and he saved because they were still good. He reckons they should be fine on top of the concrete, but he needs to get out there to check everything. The key card lock disengages, but there’s an original lock still on the door. Jim was going to climb out of the window, but I persuaded him not to.’

The foreman of works was a portly man approaching retirement, and Marie had feared he’d either get stuck while climbing out or not be able to get back in again. The same thing had obviously occurred to Alex, because one of those flashes of humour that reminded Marie so painfully of the man he’d once been lit his face.

‘Good call. I might have the key somewhere…’ He opened the bottom drawer of his desk, producing a large cardboard box full of keys of all shapes and sizes.

‘So you’ll come and have a look with me?’

If Alex was going to tell her that she was quite capable of doing this alone, then she was going to have to argue with him. She was capable, but that wasn’t the point.

‘I have a few things to do…’

‘This is much more important, Alex. As your co-director, I’m telling you that you need to come.’

He grinned suddenly and stood up.

Step one accomplished. Step two might be a bit trickier…

Marie never had been much good at hiding the motives behind her actions. It was something Alex wished he hadn’t had to learn how to do. She’d decided to get him out of his office and there was no point in arguing that he had work to do when Marie was determined. And when Alex thought about it, he didn’t really want to argue.

He’d missed this. Marie had brought colour to a life that had become suffused by restful cream walls and spaces that were fit for purpose. He followed her along the corridor that ran parallel to one of the light wells, holding the box of keys.

She took her key card from her pocket, swiping it to disengage the main lock, and then started to fish around in the box for keys that looked as if they might fit the older one. It took a few tries to find one that fitted, but finally Alex heard a click as the key turned in the lock.

She rattled the handle of the door. ‘It’s still stuck…’

Alex tried the door. ‘Looks as if it’s been painted shut—no one ever goes out there. You want me to open it?’

She gave him a beatific smile. ‘Yes, please.’

He put his shoulder to the door, and there was a cracking sound as it opened. Marie picked up a plastic bag, which had been sitting on one of the windowsills, and stepped out into the courtyard.

‘Right. We need to check the height of the pavers…’ She produced a brick from the bag, wedging it under the bottom of the doorframe. ‘That looks okay to me. And Jim says there’s drainage, so we’ll be fine there…’

She pulled a folded A2 sheet from the bag, spreading it out on the stained concrete. Marie was nothing if not prepared, and Alex was getting the feeling that he’d been set up. But Marie did it so delightfully.

‘I reckon seats there…and planters in groups here and here… Perhaps a small water feature in the centre? What do you think?’

‘I think that’s great. Do we have the budget for it?’

‘Yes, if we don’t go overboard with things and we use the resources that we already have. Jim says that one of his guys will take me to the garden centre to get what we need.’

‘Fine.’ But something told Alex that his agreement to the plan wasn’t enough. Marie wanted more.

She turned to him, her eyes dancing with violet shards in the sunlight. ‘What do you say, Alex? Do you want to make a garden with me?’

Suddenly the one thing that Alex wanted was to make a garden, but there were more pressing things on his agenda.

‘Do you think that’s the best use of our time? We’re opening in six days.’

‘And the clinic’s ready. You’re not, though. You’ve been stuck in your office, working seven days a week, for months. You need a break before we open, and since I doubt you’ll go home and take one this is a good second-best.’

This. This was why he’d wanted Marie to be his co-director. For moments like now, when she glared at him and told him exactly what he was doing wrong. He’d hoped she might come up with a plan, and that it might not just be for the clinic but for him as well.

‘Well?’ She put her hands on her hips.

She was unstoppable, and Alex did need a break. Something to refill the well that felt in imminent danger of running dry.

‘Okay. I’m in your hands. What do you want me to do?’

‘I’ll go and get what we need for this courtyard, and we can store it all in the other one and start planting everything up. I’ll ask Jim exactly when he can lay the paving; he said he’d probably be able to fit it in this week.’

‘Maybe I can help with that. I could do with the exercise.’ The waistband of his trousers was slightly tighter than usual, and Alex reckoned that he really needed to get to the gym.

‘I wasn’t going to mention that.’

Her gaze fell to his stomach, and Alex instinctively sucked in a breath. He hadn’t thought he was that out of shape.

‘It’s nothing a little sunshine and activity won’t fix.’

‘What? You’re my personal trainer now?’

‘Someone has to do it, Alex. What are friends for?

This was exactly what friends were for. Crashing into your day like a shaft of light, slicing through the cobwebs. Doing something unexpected that turned an average working week into an adventure.

Alex dismissed the thought that it was also what lovers were for. He’d never had a lover who meant as much to him as his friend Marie. He doubted he ever would. He’d seen the way his father had reduced his mother to a sad, silent ghost. Alex had decided a long time ago that he would concentrate on making the best of every other aspect of his life and pass on marriage and a family.

He caught her just as she was leaving the clinic with Eammon, one of Jim Armitage’s builders. ‘Don’t worry about the budget on this. Get whatever you want. I’ll cover it.’

Marie shook her head. ‘We have the money to buy a few planters and grow things. It’s better that way.’

He’d said the wrong thing again. It would mean nothing to him to buy up a whole garden centre. It occurred to Alex that he was becoming used to throwing money at any problem that presented itself, because that meant much less to him than his time. He hadn’t realised he’d lost so much of himself.

‘Okay, well…’ He’d play it her way. ‘Let me know when you get back and I’ll help unload the van.’

‘Great. Thanks.’ She gifted him with an irrepressible smile and turned, hurrying across to the front gates, her red dress swirling around her legs.

As she climbed up into the front seat of the builder’s van that was parked outside the gates, Alex couldn’t help smiling. Marie always looked gorgeous, but somehow she seemed even more so now, rushing towards a future that held only excitement for her and looking oddly pristine in the dusty, battered vehicle.

She’d be a couple of hours at least. Alex turned back to his office, feeling suddenly that those two hours were going to drag a little, with only a desk full of paperwork to amuse him.

When Marie returned, Alex had already found the key to the other courtyard and opened it up, then changed into the jeans and work boots that he kept in the office for inspecting the works in progress with Jim.

The van pulled into the car park, and Marie climbed down from the front seat, cheeks flushed with excitement.

‘You got everything?’

‘Yes, we’ve got some small shrubs and loads of seeds, along with planters and growing compost. I came in two pounds under budget.’

‘And you didn’t buy yourself an ice cream?’ Alex walked to the back of the van, waiting for Eammon to open the doors.

‘I bought her an ice cream.’

Eammon grinned, and Alex wished suddenly that he’d volunteered to drive. He’d missed his chance to play the gentleman.

He started to haul one of the heavy bags of compost out of the back of the van, finding that it was more effort than he’d expected to throw it over his shoulder. He and Eammon stacked the bags in the courtyard while Marie unloaded the planters from the van.

‘What do you think? I was hoping that less might be more.’

She’d arranged some of the planters in a group and was surveying them thoughtfully. There was a mix of colours and styles. Some large clay pots, a few blue-glazed ones, which were obviously the most expensive, and some recycled plant tubs, which were mostly grey but contained random swirls of colour. Each brought out the best in the others.

‘They’re going to look great.’

Alex picked up two of the heavier clay pots and Eammon took the pot that Marie had picked up, telling her to bring the lighter plastic tubs through.

Another opportunity for gallantry missed. Alex had carefully avoided any such gestures, reckoning that they might be construed as being the result of the kiss that they’d both decided to ignore, but he reckoned if they were okay for Eammon then they were probably permissible for him, too.

Alex was clearly struggling with his role at the clinic. If he’d worked for this then he would have seen it as the realisation of a lifetime’s ambition, but it had all fallen so easily into his lap. The inheritance had left him without anything to strive for and it was destroying him.

Marie’s ambitions had always been small: helping her mother cope with the pressures of four young children and a job, then making a life for herself and keeping an eye on her younger brothers. But at least they were simple and relatively easily fulfilled.

After they’d unloaded the van, carrying everything through to the courtyard and stacking it neatly, Alex seemed in no particular hurry to get back to his office. Marie asked him if he wanted to help and he nodded quietly.

She set out the seed trays, filling them with compost, and Alex sorted through the packets. Then they got to work, sitting on a pair of upturned crates that Alex had fetched.

‘So…tell me again what country your great-grandfather was the king of?’

They’d worked in near silence for over an hour, and now that everyone had gone home for the evening they were alone. Marie had been regretting her reaction to Alex’s disclosure about his family, and the subject had become a bit of a no-go area between them.

Alex looked up at her questioningly. ‘It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t exist any more.’

‘I’m just curious. And… I feel sorry about giving you a hard time when you told me about it.’

‘It’s nothing.’ He puffed out breath and then relented. ‘Belkraine. My great-grandfather was Rudolf the Most Excellent and Magnificent, King of Belkraine. Modesty doesn’t run in the family.’

‘I guess if you’ve got a few squillion in cash and a palace then you don’t need to be modest…’ She paused. ‘Did he have a palace?’

‘Why stop at one when you can have several? The old Summer Palace still exists; it’s near the border between Austria and Italy.’

‘Have you ever been there?’

His lip curled slightly. ‘It was my father’s idea of a summer holiday. We’d go there every year, for a tour of what was supposed to be our birthright. It was excruciating.’

Alex sounded bitter. He wasn’t a man who held on to bad feelings, so this must be something that ran deep with him.

‘I’d be interested to see where my ancestors lived. Although I can say pretty definitely that it wasn’t in a palace.’

‘I guess it’s an interesting place. It’s been restored now, and it’s very much the way it was when my great-grandparents lived there. Unfortunately my father used to insist on pointing at everything and telling my mother and me in a very loud voice that all this was really ours and that we’d been exiled to a life of poverty.’

‘Ouch.’

Marie pulled a face and his lips twitched into something that resembled a smile.

‘Yes, ouch. Even though my great-grandfather brought a fair bit of the family’s wealth with him—and we had more than enough—my father used to reckon that he was poor because he didn’t have everything he thought he should. He had no idea what real poverty is. It was just…embarrassing.’

‘Is that why you never said anything about it?’ Marie was beginning to understand that this hadn’t been a wish to deceive, but something that had hurt him very badly.

‘That and a few hundred other things. Like having to wear a version of the Crown Prince’s military uniform at the annual party he gave on the anniversary of our family ascending the throne in 1432. After a particularly bloody series of wars, I might add. My family took the kingdom from someone else, so I never could see how having it taken from us was any cause for complaint.’

He ripped open a seed packet as if he was trying to chop its head off. Seeds scattered all over the concrete and Alex shook his head in frustration, cursing under his breath.

Marie swallowed down the temptation to tell him that it was okay, that they could pick them up again. This wasn’t about the seeds, and he’d obviously not had much chance to get it out of his system. The idea that it had been nagging at him for so many years, concealed beneath the carefree face he’d shown to the world, was unbearably sad.

She bent down, picking the seeds up one by one. ‘Good thing these aren’t begonias. We’d never be able to pick up those tiny seeds.’

He laughed, his resentment seeming to disappear suddenly. Marie would rather he held on to it. His feelings were shut away now, under lock and key, and when he’d tipped the last of the seeds back into the packet, he stood.

‘I’ve a few things that I really need to do. Do you mind if we start again in the morning?’

‘Of course not. Anything I can give you a hand with?’

‘No, stay here. We really need a garden. It will give people hope.’

Would it give him hope? Or just other people?

Marie decided not to ask, because Alex was already opening the door that led back into the building, and she doubted whether he would have answered anyway.

CHAPTER FOUR

WAS THIS REALLY what Marie wanted to know about him? That he was the great-grandson of a tyrant king? Alex decided he was overreacting, and that it was just natural curiosity. He’d be curious about the mechanics of the thing if he’d suddenly found out that Marie was a fairy princess. But then that wouldn’t come as much of a surprise—he’d always rather suspected that she was.

He waited until he heard the main doors close and then threw down his pen. The table of dependencies he’d been sketching out for Jim Armitage wasn’t working anyway, and he should probably just tell him what needed to be finished before the clinic opened, and leave him to work it out. There was such a thing as being too hands-on. And he couldn’t leave without taking a look…

Marie had moved some of the planters, obviously having changed her mind on how best to group them. The shrubs were arranged under a makeshift plastic canopy to protect them from the weather, along with the seed trays that they’d filled.

Alex sat down on the upturned crate he’d occupied earlier. It occurred to him that this was the first garden he’d ever really had a hand in. His parents’ garden had been designed to be looked at, preferably from a distance, and hadn’t really been the kind of place for a child who might disturb its well-ordered beauty. When he’d left home, the indoor plants he’d bought to brighten up his flat had generally died from neglect, and Alex had decided that his contribution to the environment was to leave them in the shop and let them go to someone who would remember to water them.

But this time the idea of creating something from scratch and tending it over time was something he very much wanted to be a part of. And so what if Marie had asked him about the one thing he always shrank from discussing? She wanted to know about the Kings of Belkraine because she wanted to know about him. If she had any questions tomorrow, he’d answer them.

When he arrived at the clinic the next morning, Marie was already sitting on her crate, wearing a T-shirt and jeans. His crate had been left in exactly the same place it had occupied last night, in mute invitation.

Alex opened the door of the courtyard and went to sit opposite her.

‘Morning.’

She gave him a bright smile. Her cheeks were still a little red from where the sun had kissed them yesterday.

Alex nodded and sat down, reaching for an empty seed tray from the pile. He filled the tray with compost and opened one of the seed packets, letting the cool quiet of the hour before everyone else arrived for work seep into him for a while before he spoke.

‘I argued with my father and he threw me out of the house when I was eighteen.’

She looked up at him, her lip quivering. ‘That’s a hard thing to have to bear, Alex.’

He shook his head. Marie knew far more about hardship than he did. ‘Your father left when you were ten.’

‘It’s not a competition, Alex. You don’t have to keep quiet about what happened to you because you think what happened to me might have been worse—it doesn’t work that way. Anyway, my father left because of what happened between my mum and him. She told us that. It’s different.’

Alex wondered how different it really was. Marie had worked so hard to help support her brothers, and he’d always had a sense that she felt somehow responsible for her father leaving.

But this wasn’t about probing her; Marie had never made any secret of her childhood. He’d hidden his past out of a wish to leave it behind. Now, for the sake of the friendship that was so precious to him, he had to put that right.

‘What did you argue about?’ Marie had clearly been waiting for him to go on, and finally she asked the question.

‘My father was an embittered man. He had everything money could buy, but he considered that our family had been deprived of its birthright. He insisted that we live as if we were royal, but I wanted more from life than that. I wanted to make my own choices. I wanted to be a doctor. He told me that if I went to medical school he’d disinherit me, and I told him to go ahead and do it.’

A faint smile hovered at Marie’s lips. ‘I wouldn’t have expected you to do anything else. Didn’t he ever see what you’d achieved and come around?’

‘No, he never accepted what I wanted to do. The money that took me through medical school was from a trust that my grandfather had set up for me. He knew what my father was like, and he locked the trust in an ironclad agreement so my father couldn’t get his hands on it.’

‘Would he have tried? It sounds as if he had enough already.’ Marie’s eyebrows shot up.

‘My father didn’t care about the money; he thought it a paltry amount. He wanted control over me. I got to do what I wanted when I was eighteen because of that trust.’

‘So being disinherited…that was a good thing in a way. Your father couldn’t force you into his mould.’

‘I felt as if I was free.’

She chuckled, picking up another seed tray. ‘Free was how you seemed then. I used to envy you for it, but I didn’t know what you’d had to go through to get your freedom. Did you never reconcile with your father?’

‘I didn’t want to. He was never a good husband; he hurt my mother very badly. I couldn’t forgive him for that.’

There was nothing like telling a story to find out which parts of it really hurt. Alex could feel his chest tightening from the pain.

‘Alex…?’

Marie was leaning forward now, concern registering on her face. Maybe she knew that this was what he really needed to say.

‘He had mistresses. Lots of them. He used to spend a couple of nights a week in London, and my mother always seemed so sad. When I was little I thought she must miss him, but by the time I was fifteen I knew what was going on. He didn’t go to much trouble to hide it.’

Marie’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘Your poor mother…’

‘She just accepted it. That was the thing that hurt the most. She grew thinner and sadder every year, until finally she just seemed to fade away. She died five years ago.’

‘And you never got to see her?’

‘I used to visit her all the time. I’d call her, and she’d tell me when my father would be out of the house and I could come. It was the only thing she ever defied him over and she used to love hearing about what I was doing as a doctor. She knew that she always had a home with me, but she’d never leave him.’

‘People…they make their own decisions. Parents included.’ Marie shot him a wry smile.

‘Yeah.’

Alex had made his decision too. However much the idea of a wife and a family might appeal to him in theory, his parents’ unhappy marriage had always made him balk at the prospect of commitment. His father’s money and title were new reasons to make him wary. Alex didn’t know how he was going to cope with that yet, and the last thing he wanted to do was inflict his own struggle on anyone else.

‘I did try to speak to my father once—at my mother’s funeral. It was a very lavish affair, and after the way he’d treated her it made me feel sick. But I decided that it was what she would have wanted, and so I went up to him to shake his hand. He turned his back on me. I’ll never know why he changed his mind about leaving me his money and I wish he hadn’t.’

Marie frowned at him suddenly. ‘It sounds as if he did the right thing, for once.’

‘What? You think I’m better as a billionaire king in exile?’

‘No, I think you’re pretty rubbish at it, actually.’

The tension in his shoulders began to dissolve and Alex grinned at her. ‘That’s one of the things I like about you. That you don’t think it’s a good thing.’

‘I didn’t say it wasn’t a good thing. I said you were rubbish at it. Look around you and tell me it’s not a good thing.’

‘Point taken. So the clinic’s a good thing and I’m a rubbish king. Is that right?’

She nodded. ‘You can write your own script, Alex. If you let the money and the title define you then maybe that’s what your father wanted. But if you define it, then you can do anything. Things ordinary people only dream of.’

As usual, Marie was right. He’d been letting the money and the title define him a little too much recently, and the idea that he could become anything he wanted lifted a weight from his shoulders. And right now he wanted to be a gardener.

Marie had finished planting three seed trays and they were lined up on one side of her. He hadn’t completed any yet. Alex picked up his tray.

‘I was wondering if you’d cover for me in the office. Today and tomorrow.’ He finished planting the tray and laid it down next to hers.

‘Yes, of course. You’re going out?’

‘No, I spoke with Jim Armitage and he’s given me the go-ahead to lay the pavers. I’ve never done anything like that before, but…’ He shrugged.

‘You can learn. I don’t think it’s that difficult.’ Marie’s sudden smile told him what she thought of the idea.

‘You don’t mind, then?’

It had been Marie’s idea for him to get involved with the garden, and now he was going one better.

‘Mind?’ Marie laughed, a clear happy sound that echoed slightly against the walls that surrounded them. ‘Do I mind you getting covered in brick dust and sand while I sit in a nice comfortable office? Nah, I don’t mind that at all.’

Marie had spent most of the morning in her office, trying to find things to do. When three-thirty came around and the stream of mothers walking past the clinic from the school began to start she fetched the printed leaflets which detailed the services the clinic had to offer from the stockroom, along with one of the chairs from the café, and went to sit out in the sun by the main gates.

It would be one thing if Alex had changed over a few years—everyone changed. But he’d always carried this burden. The pressure of inheriting the money after his father’s death had just made him less adept at hiding it.

And she’d never noticed. Caught up in her own work and looking after her family, she’d seen Alex as someone she wished she could be. A golden dream that she’d held on to, wanting to believe that work and responsibility weren’t the only things in life. But now she’d seen a new Alex, challenging and complicated, and she couldn’t help loving him better for it.

The stream of parents and kids had lessened now, and she’d given away almost all her leaflets. She’d catch the two young mums who were dawdling down the road towards her, plastic bags hanging from the arms of their pushchairs, and then she’d call it a day.

‘Hi. May I give you a leaflet, please? About what we’re doing here…’

One of them nodded, taking the leaflet and stuffing it into one of her shopping bags. The other took hers, and started to read it.

‘I was wondering what was happening with this place. I used to go to school here…’

‘Me too.’ Marie grinned. ‘Looks a lot better now.’

‘Tell me about it. It was a real dump when I came here. We transferred over to the new school after a year.’

‘We’re opening next week. You’re welcome to come and have a look around, see how it’s changed.’

‘I don’t know…’ The woman shook her head.

‘You don’t have to sign up for anything. Just look. There’s a café.’ Marie fished in her pocket for one of the printed vouchers. ‘And this is for a free coffee.’

The woman took the voucher, stowing it away in her purse. ‘Okay, thanks. What do you think, Nisha?’

Marie offered a second voucher and Nisha took it. Now that she had a conversation going, Marie decided that she should capitalise on it.

‘I don’t suppose you’d like a few extra leaflets, would you? To give to your friends? We have a range of services.’ Marie pointed to the list on the leaflet. ‘There’s going to be a gym and a swimming pool, and they’ll be open seven days a week. There’s a nominal charge for those, but we’ve tried to keep it affordable.’

‘I used to like swimming. The pool over on Stratton Road closed down, you know.’

Two pairs of eyes suddenly focussed away from her and over her left shoulder. Marie turned and saw Alex, wheeling a barrow full of bricks around the side of the building.

‘That’s the director of the clinic.’

Nisha’s eyebrows shot up and the other woman choked with laughter. ‘Really? Doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty, then?’

‘When he’s not laying bricks he’s a doctor. But we don’t just tackle specific medical problems—it’s all about living well.’

‘And what do you do here?’

‘I’m a doctor too.’

‘Neesh…?’

The other woman nudged her companion, but Nisha shook her head. A sixth sense pricked at the back of Marie’s neck. This was just the kind of thing the clinic was here for—the problems that people didn’t want to talk about.

‘Take my card.’ Marie offered one of the cards that had been printed with her name. ‘If there’s ever anything I can help with, just ask for me.’

Nisha nodded, taking the card. She looked at it, glanced at Marie, and then unzipped her handbag, putting the card inside. Maybe she’d take the offer up, but Marie knew from experience that she needed to let her think about it. Pushing now would only elicit a no.

‘My name’s Marie.’ She turned to the other woman.

‘Carol. Do you do mother-and-toddler swimming classes?’

‘Yes—you can sign up for them next week, when the clinic opens.’

‘I’ll definitely do that. We come past here every day. We might get another eyeful of that director of yours…’ Carol laughed as Nisha raised her eyebrows. ‘Only joking, Neesh.’

The toddler in Carol’s pushchair started to fret. ‘Yeah, all right, Georgie. We’ll be home soon, and then we’re going to the park. It was nice to meet you, Marie.’

‘You too. Hope I’ll see you again soon.’

The two women started to walk again, chatting companionably. Marie heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Alex, holding two glasses of lemonade. He handed her one.

‘Thanks, I could do with that. I’ve talked my head off, given out a whole handful of leaflets and also some free coffee vouchers. How are you doing?’

Alex grinned, leaning towards her as if he was about to impart something highly confidential. ‘Rather well, I think.’

‘Can I see it?’

‘No. The courtyards are my territory for the next couple of days. You can have the offices and the front gates. I’ll water the seeds for you.’

‘You won’t forget? You know how bad you are at watering plants.’ Marie shot him an imploring look.

‘That’s reassuring. I’m expecting people to put their lives in my hands, and you can’t trust me with a few seed trays.’

It was nice to see Alex teasing again. Marie had missed that, and it seemed that a little practical work had lifted some of the weight from his shoulders. He was looking a lot more like the relaxed and cheerful Alex that she’d known before all this had happened.

Alex nodded at the pavement behind her and Marie saw Carol hurrying towards them. It looked as if she had something on her mind.

‘Hey, Carol. This is Alex, our director.’

‘Pleased to meet you.’

Alex wiped his hand on his jeans and held it out. Carol shook it, nodding at him quickly, and then turned to Marie.

‘Did you mean what you said? To Nisha?’

‘About coming to see me? Of course. Is there something wrong?’

Carol nodded, tight-lipped.

‘Do you want to come inside and talk?’

Perhaps it was something Carol didn’t want to say in front of Alex.

‘No. No, that’s all right. I’ve got to get home—this one’s going to start playing up in a minute.’ She gestured down at Georgie, who was wriggling in the pushchair, clearly cross that the park was on hold for the moment.

Alex squatted down on his heels and poked his tongue out at the toddler. Their game of pulling faces seemed to be keeping them both occupied for a moment, which left Carol free to talk with Marie.

‘Is there something Nisha needs? Something we can help with?’

‘Yeah. Look, I can’t really talk about it…’

Carol was almost whispering now, and Marie lowered her voice too.

‘That’s okay. Has she been to see her GP?’

‘No, she won’t. This place looks…’ Carol shrugged. ‘She might come here. I could get her to come. But you will see her, won’t you? I don’t know that it’s a strictly medical thing.’

‘If it’s not a medical problem I’ll refer her to someone who can help her. The whole point of this place is to find whatever answer is appropriate.’

‘Right. Thanks. When are you opening? For…um…whatever… Appointments?’

‘Next week. But Nisha doesn’t need an appointment—she can come at any time. All you need to do is get her here and I’ll make time to see her.’

‘Great. Thanks.’ Carol looked down at Georgie, who was laughing and trying to reproduce the faces Alex was making. ‘I’d better get back. I told Nisha I was just popping back for something at the shops and I’d meet her in the park.’

‘All right. But, Carol…’ Marie caught Carol’s arm before she could leave. ‘This is important. If you think Nisha’s in danger in any way you must get her to call someone. Or bring her here.’

‘No, it’s nothing like that. Her husband’s a good man. It’s just…embarrassing. You know?’

‘Okay. I can do embarrassing. Get her to come and see me—you can come with her if that helps.’ She glanced down at Alex, raising her voice to catch his attention. ‘I don’t think Alex’s quite used up his stock of funny faces.’

Alex grinned up at Carol, getting to his feet. ‘He’s a great little chap.’

‘Thanks. He can be a bit of a handful.’ Carol was smiling now. ‘I’ll see you, then…?’

‘I hope so.’ Alex gave her a smile and Carol turned and hurried away.

‘What was all that about?’

Marie shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Something about the friend she was with a moment ago. She wouldn’t say.’

‘You think she’s in any danger?’ Alex’s first question was the same as Marie’s had been. It was always their first question.

‘No, Carol says it’s embarrassing.’

He nodded, tipping his glass towards hers. ‘Here’s to your first patient, then. Congratulations, you’ve pipped me to the post. I haven’t got any yet.’

‘Thank you. I dare say that’ll change, but I’m quietly triumphant over having beaten my excellent and glorious co-director.’

Marie took a sip of her lemonade and saw the corners of Alex’s mouth quirk downwards. Maybe the joke was a little too close to the mark for him.

‘All right. Never say that again.’ His face was serious for a moment, and then he smiled, knowing he’d fooled her. ‘I might consign you to the dungeons.’

‘How about Your Majesty? I suppose that’s out as well?’

He chuckled. ‘Definitely. That’s a throwing-from-the-battlements thing…’

‘Get back to work, Alex.’ Marie drained her glass, handing it back to him.

CHAPTER FIVE

MARIE HAD MADE no secret of the fact that staying away from the courtyards was driving her insane with curiosity. Alex had escorted her off the premises at five o’clock and gone back to work, sorting out the best of the bricks and discarding those that were damaged.

The second day of Alex’s practical introduction to laying pavers had involved an early start and a concentrated burst of work, but by the afternoon he was surveying the newly swept paving with Charlie, the lad Jim Armitage had sent to help him. Alex suspected Charlie had also been instructed to report back to Jim if it looked as if he was about to make a complete mess of things, and it was a matter of some pride to him that Charlie hadn’t gone to seek out his boss at any point.

‘What do you think, Charlie?’

Charlie nodded sagely. ‘Nice job. Are we going to lay out the planters now?’

‘Yes, I think so. Then we can show it to Marie.’

‘She can put her flowers in. She’ll like that.’

Charlie spoke with the certainty of all his nineteen years, and Alex smiled. The warm colours of the brick had made all the difference to the space.

‘Yes, I think she will. Thanks for all your hard work.’

Charlie nodded, obviously pleased.

They set out the planters from the chart Marie had given them, and Alex left Charlie to bring some of the shrubs through from the other courtyard while he went to find Marie.

She was sitting in the reception area, where she could keep an eye out for anyone whose curiosity had brought them to the door, staring at the screen of her laptop.

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.

‘Help yourself. Marie has had a few printed. Shall we get some more?’ Marie was already squirming in her seat, and Alex decided to embarrass her a little more.

‘Definitely. This is just the kind of fun thing we want. Something to get away from the boring medical image.’

Alex felt his eyebrows shoot up.

‘You know what I mean, Alex. Of course the medical part is the most important, but we want people to feel that you’re approachable and not a stuffy old doctor.’

‘Yes, we do.’ Marie spoke up, reddening slightly at her audacity, and Sonya nodded.

‘Now. I have the local radio interview set up—you’re on your own with that one, Alex.’

‘I can handle it.’ Alex reckoned he could talk for ten minutes about the clinic easily enough.

‘I’m sure you can. But I’m sending you a list of keywords and I want you to memorise them.’

Sonya swiped her finger across her tablet, and Alex heard a ding from the other side of the room as his desktop computer signalled that he had mail.

‘Really? Keywords?’

‘Yes, of course, darling. Think of it as like…’ Sonya waved her hand in the air, groping for the right words.

‘Like talking to a patient? Sometimes you have to emphasise what’s important without confusing them with a load of irrelevant detail,’ Marie ventured.

‘Yes, exactly.’

Sonya gave Marie a conspiratorial smile, indicating she was pleased to see that at least one of them was on track, and Marie reddened again.

‘I’m still working on the TV appearance, and there are a couple of functions that I’d like you to go to if I can get you an invitation.’ Sonya leaned forward in her seat. ‘You still have reservations about promoting the royal aspect in the media?’

Alex felt the side of his jaw twitch. ‘If by reservations you mean that I’m absolutely sure that I don’t want any of that in the media, then, yes, I’m still absolutely sure.’

‘But it’s such a good story, Alex. It would catch people’s imaginations. It doesn’t get much hotter than this—you’re a doctor, very rich, royal, and to top it off a handsome bachelor.’

Alex shook his head, and then Marie spoke. Like an angel coming to rescue him.

‘We’ve agreed a policy about this.’

‘Ah… Yes?’

Sonya turned to Marie, clearly wanting her to elaborate. And Alex wanted to know what policy he’d agreed, as well.

‘The compelling nature of Alex’s story is the problem—it could quite easily prompt a media circus. Our values are that the clinic is the one and only important thing. Once it’s a bit more established we could look at it again, but now’s not the right time.’

Nicely said. Alex shot Marie a thankful look and she received it with the quiet graciousness of a queen.

Sonya nodded. ‘Yes, that makes sense. Why didn’t you say that before, Alex?’

‘Marie sums it up a great deal better than I can.’

Sonya flashed him a look that told him she agreed entirely with the sentiment, and then moved on. ‘Now, I’m rather hoping you have something presentable to wear, Alex.’

‘I have a suit…’ Just the one. It was the suit he wore for job interviews, and he hoped it still fitted.

‘All right. I’ll send you the names of a few good tailors, just in case.’

Alex’s computer dinged again and Sonya swiped her finger across her screen, in clear indication that she’d ticked that particular item off her list.

‘I’m very pleased with the website—are you getting anything via the enquiries page?’

‘Yes, quite a few things. Sofia’s coordinating that.’

‘Good. She seems very efficient. And the mural for your reception area? There are lots of possibilities there. How ever did you find these people? I’ve had a look at their previous work and it’s stunning. Inspirational, even.’

‘That was Marie’s idea.’

‘Of course…’ Sonya’s questioning gaze swept towards Marie.

‘Oh. Yes, well… They’re a group of artists who do wall art for charities and public spaces like hospitals and libraries. They choose the organisations they want to be involved with and work for free—we just pay for their materials.’

‘And who’s in charge?’ Sonya enquired.

‘Corinne Riley’s their coordinator. She’s about as much in charge as anyone is. She’s an artist, and works part-time as an art therapist. Her husband, Tom, is head of Paediatrics at the hospital where I used to work.’

‘And would they consider a magazine article, or even a short TV piece featuring their work here?’

Marie shrugged. ‘I could ask. I know Corinne’s very interested in spreading the word about how art can change spaces and involve people.’

‘It’s fascinating…’ Sonya’s mind was obviously hard at work on the possibilities. ‘Yes, please. And I’d love an introduction if you feel that’s appropriate?’

Alex smirked, wondering if Marie was taking notice of the fact that Sonya had just asked her for an introduction. It seemed she was, because she smiled suddenly.

‘I’ll email Corinne today and get back to you. Do you have any particular time in mind?’

‘If she sends me a couple of dates which suit her I’ll fit in with them.’

Sonya swiped again, and Alex braced himself for the next item on her agenda.

‘You do have a suit, don’t you?’

Now that Sonya had left, Alex’s office seemed a little quiet. Marie had waited to ask the awkward question.

‘Somewhere. Unless I left it at the dry cleaner’s…’

Marie frowned at him. ‘It’s not that suit you bought for your job interviews, is it?’

‘What’s wrong with that one?’

‘It’s not going to fit you any more.’

Alex put his hand on his stomach, sucking it in, and Marie laughed.

‘I meant across the shoulders. You’ve lost those few extra pounds you were carrying.’

So she’d noticed. Alex couldn’t help smirking. ‘You think I’ve lost a bit of weight?’

She made a thing of eying him up and down. She was teasing, but her gaze made his stomach tighten with apprehension. When she grinned, it felt as if a warm wave was washing over him.

‘You’re in good shape, Alex. But you’ll probably need a proper suit for these functions that Sonya was talking about.’

Alex sighed. ‘Yes. Probably.’

‘How many suits did you have when you were a child?’ Marie homed in unerringly on the exact reason why Alex never wore a suit.

‘Oh, about a dozen, all told. New ones each year.’

‘That sounds excruciating.’

‘It was.’

But he was doing things on his own terms now. Marie had told him that, and she wasn’t going to underestimate him by reminding him again. In the silence he could feel her presence pushing the memories back and turning his gaze forward.

‘You’re right. I’ll order two new suits; that old one probably doesn’t fit me any more.’

She nodded. ‘You’ll be your own kind of excellent and glorious. What about some striped socks to match?’

Alex chuckled. His father would have blown a gasket at the thought of his wearing striped socks with a suit. Or with anything else, for that matter. Having to be excellent and glorious suddenly didn’t seem so bad.

‘Okay. Striped socks it is. You can choose them.’

The clinic’s first week was reassuringly busy. Marie and Alex had agreed on a ‘walking around’ approach, to see how things were going and to iron out any teething problems, and they took turns with it. One dealt with patients and any urgent paperwork, and the other simply walked around the clinic, visiting all the different departments and talking to people.

It was working well—the staff were encouraged to talk about any difficulties they had, and the clinic’s clients were beginning to know that either Marie or Alex would always be somewhere in the building if they wanted to chat.

‘Hi, Terri. How are things going?’ Marie saw a young mother with whom Alex had been working approaching her.

Terri’s older child had been born with spina bifida, and although surgery had closed the opening in her spine, the little girl had been left with weakness in her legs and needed a specialist exercise regime.

‘Good, thanks. This place is an absolute godsend.’ Terri beamed at her. ‘All that travelling we used to do to get to a hydrotherapy pool for Amy, and now we can just walk around the corner.’

‘You’re enjoying your swimming?’ Marie grinned down at Terri’s eight-year-old daughter and Amy nodded.

‘I’m going to swim too.’ Five-year-old Sam had been walking next to his sister’s wheelchair, hanging obediently onto the side of it. ‘I’m going to be a really good swimmer, and then I can help Amy.’

Terri grinned. ‘It’s great for both of them. We couldn’t afford the time to take Sam to a class as well, but the hydrotherapist says she’ll book Amy’s sessions at the same time as the junior swim class, so Sam can swim too. Usually he just has to sit with me by the pool.’

‘That’s great.’

It was exactly what the clinic was for. Helping whole families to cope. Terri was looking less tired than she had when Marie had first met her.

‘What’s that?’ Sam had left his sister’s side and was standing on his toes, peering through the window into the courtyard.

‘It’s our garden. If you’ve got time, you can come and have a look.’

Marie shot a questioning look at Terri and she nodded. Opening the door, Marie let Sam into the courtyard and he started to run around, stopping in front of each planter to look at the flowers.

Terri parked Amy’s wheelchair next to the water feature, so she could reach out to touch the plants around it. Then she sank down onto a nearby bench.

‘This is lovely. I could stay here all day.’

Sam and Amy were amusing each other, and Terri gave a satisfied smile.

‘Hello, Amy.’ A woman stopped in the corridor by the open door. ‘How are you, dear?’

‘Very well, thank you, Miss Fletcher.’ Amy sat a little straighter in her wheelchair and Marie suppressed a smile.

Jennifer Fletcher had been one of the first people through the doors when the clinic had opened. A retired primary school teacher, she seemed to know every child in the district, and had taught a number of their parents as well.

‘This is lovely.’ Jennifer craned her neck to see the garden, obviously hesitant to inspect it more closely without being asked.

‘Come and join us, Miss Fletcher.’ Terri grinned at her.

‘It’s about time you called me Jennifer.’

Miss Fletcher walked slowly across to the bench and Marie moved to make room for her.

‘What brings you here…um… Jennifer?’ Terri was clearly reticent about calling her old schoolteacher by her first name.

‘I’ve been having a few aches and pains since I retired last spring, so I decided to come along and see if I could join an exercise class. I had a full physical, and the doctors have found I have an inflammation in my right hip.’

Jennifer beamed at Marie. She’d had the distinction of being the first patient to try out the new MRI scanner, and it had shown that, instead of a touch of arthritis, the bursa in her right hip was inflamed. Jennifer had professed delight at the thought that this could be rectified, and was already seeing the clinic’s physiotherapist.

‘I’ve got a full exercise programme and I think I’m doing rather well. It’s early days, of course, but the physiotherapist here says that core strength is important as you enter your seventies.’ Jennifer looked around the garden. ‘You’ll be adding a few bedding plants?’

‘It’s a work in progress. We’ve planted some seeds, and we have some cuttings over there in the corner.’ Marie pointed to the yoghurt pots, full of water, where the cuttings were beginning to grow roots.

She saw Amy’s head turn, and the little girl leaned over to see. ‘I don’t suppose you’d like to help us plant some, would you, Amy?’

‘Mum…?’ Amy turned to Terri.

‘Of course. But we mustn’t take up Dr Davies’s time.’ Terri flashed Marie an apologetic look.

‘That’s all right. If Amy would like to help with the garden—’

‘Well, I would, too…’ Jennifer spoke up.

It seemed that the garden had just acquired its first few volunteers.

Marie brought some of the pots over, moving a table so that Jennifer and Amy could work together, planting the Busy Lizzies. Sam had taken a couple of action figures from his mother’s handbag, and he was playing with them.

‘Would you like a drink? I’ll pop over to the café.’

Everyone else was occupied and Terri deserved a break.

‘You know what…?’ Terri gave her a wry smile. ‘I’d like to just stroll over there and get something. On my own. If you or Jennifer don’t mind staying here with the kids, that is…?’

Marie knew the feeling well. Terri craved a moment to herself, so she could do something ordinary. She’d felt like that when she was a teenager. Wanting just five minutes that she could call her own, without one or other of her brothers wanting something.

‘Of course. We’ll be another half an hour with this, if you want to sit in the café?’

‘No, that’s okay. Can I get you something?’ Terri pulled her purse out of her bag. ‘My treat.’

If Marie wanted coffee, she had the lovely machine in her office. But that wasn’t the point. It was clearly important to Terri that she get it, and she should accept the offer.

‘A cup of tea would be nice. Thank you.’

Terri grinned, turning to Jennifer. ‘Would you like a drink?’

Fifteen minutes later she saw Terri strolling back towards them, chatting to Alex. He was carrying a tray with four cups and a couple of child-sized boxes of juice, and when he’d handed the drinks around and stopped to find out how Jennifer and Amy were he strolled over to Sam to deliver his drink.

‘They never quite grow up, do they?’ Terri was drinking her coffee, watching Alex and Sam. The little boy had shown Alex his action figures, and the two were now busily engaged in making them jump from one planter to another. Sam jumped his onto the water feature with a splash and Alex followed with his, and the two figures started to fight in the swirling water.

By the time Terri said that they should go home, Alex’s shirt was dappled with water. The pots were gathered up and labelled as Amy’s, so that she could watch her plants grow and transfer them to the planters when they were big enough. Sam said goodbye to Alex, promising that they would continue their fight the next time he was here, and Alex thanked him gravely.

‘I’m hoping your mother wouldn’t have minded too much…’ Marie nodded towards the water feature.

‘Mind? She’d have loved it.’ Alex grinned at her, coming to sit down on the bench.

‘Good. And of course all that splashing about was entirely for Sam’s benefit?’

It had occurred to Marie that Alex’s love of silly games was because he’d never got the chance to play them when he was a child.

‘Of course.’ Alex brushed at his shirt, as if he’d only just noticed the water. ‘I have absolutely no idea why you should think otherwise. Ooh—I had a call from Sonya.’

‘What does she want us to do now?’

Sonya’s calls generally meant smiling for one camera or another, but every time they did it Sofia Costa received a fresh wave of enquiries.

‘It’s an evening do at the Institute of Business. They throw a very select party once in a while, so their members can meet people who are doing groundbreaking work in various charitable and medical fields. Most big businesses like to have their names associated with a few good causes, and making those contacts now will help us in the future.’

Even the scale of Alex’s wealth wasn’t going to finance his dreams of creating and running a chain of clinics all over the country. This was about the future—one that Alex was going to build for himself.

‘That sounds great. Does Sonya know someone at the Institute?’

‘No, but it turns out that a couple of the Institute’s board of directors went to my school and they vaguely remember me. Sonya’s managed to swing a couple of invitations.’

‘So Sonya’s going with you?’ That would be good. She’d keep Alex in line and on message.

‘No, she’s going with her husband. The second invitation is for you.’

‘What?’ All the quiet peace of the garden suddenly evaporated. ‘Tell me you’re joking, Alex.’

‘Why would I be? You have as much to say about the clinic as me.’

He leaned forward, his eyes betraying the touch of mischief that Marie loved so much. At any other time than this.

‘And the whole point of a man’s dinner suit is to show off a woman’s dress.’

Suddenly she felt sick. ‘I can’t hobnob with the rich and famous, Alex. I don’t know how to talk with these people, or how to act.’

‘How about just the same as you always do?’

There was a trace of hurt in his voice. He was rich. And it was only a matter of time before he’d be famous. She knew Alex was under no illusions that he could keep his royal status under wraps indefinitely—he just wanted to put the moment off for as long as he could.

‘I can’t, Alex. I just…can’t.’

He thought for a moment, his face grave. ‘Okay. If you can’t do it, then you can’t. I’m not going to tell you that the clinic needs you, or that I need you, because that wouldn’t give you any choice. You’re always there for the people who need you.’

‘What do you mean?’ The lump in Marie’s throat betrayed her. She knew exactly what he meant.

‘You’ve always been there for your mother and brothers. Don’t get me wrong—that’s a fine thing, and I envy you it. I’d have done anything for my mother to need me a bit more. But I know it’s not been easy for you; it never is for people who care for the people they love.’

She’d been thinking the same about Terri, just moments ago. He was right, but Marie dismissed the thought. It was too awkward.

‘So you’re telling me I don’t have to go?’

‘Of course. You don’t have to do anything. I’d really like you to go, because I think you’re selling yourself short. And because a very wise person once told me that I needed to accept who I am and write my own script. I’d like you to accept who I am and come with me, as my friend.’

Dammit. Saying he needed her would have been easy compared to this. Alex was reaching out, asking her to step out of her comfort zone and meet him halfway.

‘So when is this reception?’

‘Next month. I could go dress-shopping with you…?’

He looked as if he’d enjoy that far too much.

‘No, that’s fine. I can handle that.’

‘Then you’re coming?’

‘Yes, all right. I’ll come.’

At least it would serve as a reminder to her that she and Alex came from different worlds. That they could be friends, but anything more was unthinkable. It had always been unthinkable, but it was doubly so now that they were working together.

He grinned. ‘Great. I’ll let Sonya know. Should I quit while I’m winning?’

She could never resist his smile. ‘Yes. Please do that, Alex.’

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