The Elusive Doctor Read online

  He pulled up outside the surgery. Turning to her, he said, ‘Here are the keys to the flat, Nina. Will you unlock the door while I park the car?’

  There had been no need for him to issue an invitation. They both knew they were going to make love. Rob hadn’t touched her all evening, but it hadn’t mattered because she’d known what was to come.

  When he took her in his arms the moment the door had closed behind them, she gladly gave herself up to the inevitability of the moment.

  He undressed her with swift gentleness and then stood back to adore her slender nakedness. And after she had taken off his clothes with hands that trembled, Nina knew that her feelings for this man with the supple grace of the unclothed, attractive male were the most important thing in her life.

  And later, much later, as he slept beside her, his face tranquil, his broad chest moving gently up and down and one arm thrown across the covers, the memory of how they’d come together in a mixture of desire and tenderness made her tremble all over again.

  Lying contentedly in the hollow of his back, the thought of the days to come with Rob beside her and Eloise gradually getting back her strength was pleasurable beyond description, and with a smile on her face she slid into sleep.

  Nina awoke to find herself alone in a room full of pale sunlight. There was a note on the bedside table and as she reached out for it sleepily the words on it seemed to leap out at her.

  Last night was wonderful, but it was a mistake. I should have known better. With Eloise on the way to recovery you’re now free to take up your own pursuits, Nina. You’ve made it clear all along that you can’t wait to get away from this place, and I don’t want to be the one that you blame in later years for blighting your career.

  I thought that I’d managed to put all the difficulties to one side, but this is something that has only come up since we heard the good news yesterday. I can’t be responsible for keeping you here, and I’m ashamed that I put my longing for you before what will be best for you in the long run.

  Maybe in a few years’ time we might try again, but in the meantime the matter isn’t up for discussion. I’ve made up my mind.

  In case you’re wondering where I’ve disappeared to, it’s my turn for Saturday surgery.

  Love, Rob.

  After the first few painful moments anger swept over her. How could Rob make a decision of such magnitude without consulting her? Who was he to decide what was best for her? If she were given the chance to travel the world over, from one continent to another, it would mean nothing without him.

  The matter wasn’t up for discussion, he’d written. Well, so be it. If he thought that he’d made the big gesture he had another think coming. Nothing would budge her from Stepping Dearsley as long as he was there. She couldn’t exist if he wasn’t near her, but this time he’d fobbed her off one time too many.

  She wasn’t going to beg. The next move, if any, had to come from him and having made that decision, she flung on her clothes from the night before and left the building without going anywhere near the surgery.

  It was the Saturday night of the practice Christmas party at the hotel. Nina hadn’t been sure whether she would be going until the last minute as Eloise had been confined to bed with a heavy cold for most of the day.

  But in the early evening her stepmother came downstairs, and when she saw that Nina was making no attempt to get ready for the party she tried to shoo her up to her room with the request that she put on her most glamourous outfit and sally forth.

  ‘I’m feeling much better,’ she said convincingly, ‘and Rob is going to be disappointed if you aren’t there.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Nina said flatly. ‘My absence would probably be greeted with relief.’

  ‘I can’t believe that,’ Eloise protested laughingly. ‘He’s accepted your invitation to share Christmas Day with us, hasn’t he?’

  ‘Yes, he has, but I’ll believe he’s coming when I actually see him here.’

  ‘So matters aren’t going well between you?’

  Nina sighed. ‘We’d just got over the aftermath of the Bettine business when we heard your good news, and now Rob won’t have anything to do with me because he doesn’t want to stand in the way of me doing what I’ve always wanted to do.’

  ‘Going abroad, you mean?’

  ‘Yes. He’s heard me say so often that I didn’t like being cooped up here that he now expects me to spread my wings and fly.’

  ‘Well, there is nothing to stop you now, is there?’ Eloise said gently. ‘You wouldn’t have been brought here in the first place if I’d had my way.’

  ‘Yes, I know that,’ Nina said huskily, ‘but I couldn’t have been anywhere else, knowing what you were facing. Dad was right to ask me to come back home…and now that I’ve got the chance to do my own thing, I don’t want to go. Because I’m in love with Rob.’

  ‘Have you talked it through?’

  ‘No, because he says the subject isn’t up for discussion.’

  Eloise sighed. ‘He’s a good man and I can see his point of view, but he ought to give you the chance to put yours forward. I’m relieved to hear that he’s got over his hang-ups with the Bettine business, but it seems a shame that no sooner is one problem sorted out than another presents itself. When is her baby due?’

  Nina shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. Some time in January, or maybe early February, I would imagine. We don’t see much of her these days. Since her father-in-law died she’s hardly ever around. We’ve been doing her surgeries between the four of us.’

  ‘And what’s her excuse?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. Pregnancy? Family commitments? I think she’ll leave the practice soon.’

  ‘And how will you feel about that?’

  ‘Delighted. Although I don’t think it will make Rob any more likely to want to plight his troth with another of the partners. But with regard to that I think he’s expecting me to depart for war-torn parts at any second.’

  ‘And you’re not going to do that?’

  ‘Not unless I’m convinced that there’s absolutely no hope of us getting together.’

  Eloise gave her a gentle push towards the stairs. ‘Go and get ready and don’t come down again until you are.’

  The season’s first covering of snow had been falling in silent white flakes since the early afternoon and by the time Nina was ready to leave for the party the village was a glistening winter wonderland.

  Unaccustomed to the countryside at this time of year, she caught her breath as she stepped outside. The scene was like something from a Christmas card. What a pity that today wasn’t the day. There were still two weeks to go until Christmas, and unless a very cold winter was on its way the soft white carpet would be long gone by then.

  Her father had followed her outside and as she exclaimed at the beauty of the scene he said dourly, ‘Aye. It looks all right, but with a fall such as this all the roads over the Pennines will be blocked. Folks have been known to freeze to death when they’ve been caught up on the tops in this sort of weather.’

  ‘Dad!’ she exclaimed. ‘Don’t spoil it with that sort of grim foreboding. Can’t you look on the bright side for once? Think how much fun the children are going to have.’

  She could hear shouting and laughter already from young voices farther down the road, and if she hadn’t been dressed to kill she would have been tempted to join them. But an elegant, dark green trouser suit with the palest of lemon blouses was hardly the attire for snowballing.

  Added to that, she had other plans for the evening that concerned a certain senior partner whom she was determined should be totally aware of her at the gathering of the practice staff.

  ‘Robert Carslake won’t be able to resist you tonight,’ Eloise had said fondly when Nina had gone to give her a twirl before setting off.

  ‘Don’t underestimate the man,’ Nina had said wryly. ‘He’s the sort who won’t be sidetracked when he decides to do something.’

  ‘He’s also a man o
f honour,’ Eloise had pointed out. ‘There aren’t many who would pass up the chance of marrying a beautiful girl like yourself for the reasons Rob has given.

  ‘I know that coming back home was the last thing you’d envisaged doing and, as I’ve been anxious to point out, it wasn’t at my insistence,’ she said gently. ‘But it’s up to Rob to help you decide whether these last months have been just a blip in your life or a significant pause.’

  ‘I’ve changed,’ Nina said dreamily. ‘The countryside has cast a spell over me. When I go to town these days I can’t wait to get back.’

  ‘Are you sure it’s the countryside that holds you in thrall?’ Eloise asked.

  ‘You mean that it’s Rob who’s keeping me here? It’s both, really. A bit of one and a lot of the other. But I could live in the Burmese jungle or at the North Pole if he were there.’

  And now it looked as if she was, indeed, in the polar regions as frost glittered on the window-panes and snow crunched beneath the heavy winter boots that went oddly with her party clothes, but which would be discarded the moment she arrived at the Royal Venison.

  CHAPTER NINE

  BY THE time Nina reached the hotel it was snowing heavily again, and she remembered her father’s comments. Down here in the village it was a delightful scene, but there could be danger for those travelling among the peaks if it kept up.

  But once she was inside, with her boots discarded for a pair of high-heeled sandals and the festive warmth of the place reaching out to her, she forgot the snow and prepared to enjoy herself.

  They were all there—Kitty Kelsall the cleaner, the receptionists, the two nurses, the practice manager and three of the four partners, along with all the rest of those who kept the village practice running smoothly.

  Bettine was the only missing member and Nina couldn’t help but feel relieved that Rob’s ex-fiancée wasn’t going to be eyeing them both with her cool stare.

  It seemed fitting somehow that if Bettine couldn’t turn up for the surgeries she shouldn’t be at the Christmas party. But when Rob was questioned about her absence he said that she was intending to be there with them as her last appearance before bowing out of the practice.

  ‘So you’ll be looking for another partner,’ Nina said after he’d made the announcement.

  He’d nearly been late himself and his smile had been rueful when a cheer had gone up at his arrival.

  ‘Sorry I’m late, folks,’ he’d told them. ‘I was called out to our first case caused by the snow. One of the old folks at The Laurels who’s inclined to wander was tempted outside into the gardens and slipped. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot I could do. It was almost certainly a fracture of the femur and just a case of waiting for the ambulance.’

  While he’d been speaking his glance had been on Nina, young, slender and elegant, standing amongst them with a glass in her hand. As if drawn by a magnet, he’d gone to her side, only to be surrounded by enquiries about Bettine’s non-arrival.

  It was after his news about Bettine’s impending departure that Nina had wanted to know if he would be replacing her, and with his pulse quickening at her nearness he said, ‘Yes, I will…and I think that next time I’ll stay with my own sex.’

  ‘Why?’ she asked in surprise.

  ‘Less hassle.’

  He watched the light die out of her eyes.

  ‘So you still have reservations about me?’

  ‘Yes, I do, but not as a doctor. You’re coming along nicely. It’s my peace of mind that I have reservations about.’

  Nina rolled her eyes heavenwards. ‘Oh, please! Spare me the entrapment angle. I never go where I’m not wanted.’

  ‘Who said you weren’t wanted?’ Rob parried, and added with sudden seriousness, ‘It’s possible to want something too much in this life, Nina.’

  Before she could answer that thought-provoking comment the call went up that the meal was about to be served, and her pleasure at being with Rob increased when she found herself sitting next to him at the table.

  Nina sensed that it wasn’t accidental. Someone had taken the trouble to put place names out and had seated them next to each other. As she eyed the cards in front of them she saw amusement in Rob’s dark gaze and asked, ‘Who did the seating arrangements?’

  ‘Not me,’ he said with a smile. ‘The hotel management asked for someone to call round this afternoon to sort out who was sitting where. The practice manager offered and here we are. As if I don’t see enough of you as it is.’

  She knew he was teasing but it hurt. Maybe deep down that was how he felt, that she was too often in his sight. Yet he’d just said that she had the makings of a good doctor. But that wasn’t what he’d been referring to, was it?

  With an answering smile she gave him a gentle push. Tonight, for a few brief hours, she was going to throw off the fraught mantle of misery that had been weighing her down ever since she’d awoken to find him gone.

  If Rob was weary of the sight of her, it wasn’t true on her side. He didn’t accompany her on home visits now. She’d proved that she could be left to cope on her own and he’d wasted no time in letting her get on with it. That was gratifying in one way, but it meant that they spent less time together.

  Of course, they saw plenty of each other at the practice—at meetings, between surgeries, in the various clinics, and coming and going generally as each day came and went. But the time they spent together there was nothing compared to sitting close beside him as they ate a festive meal.

  When they got up from the table there was a cabaret and again they sat together, oblivious of the curious stares from some of the practice members.

  How long Rob’s preference for her company was going to last Nina didn’t know, but tonight she was on a high. For just a short time she was secure inside a happy bubble of contentment and nothing was going to burst it.

  There was still no sign of Bettine. The curiosity over her absence had died down and no further comments were made about her non-appearance.

  But as the evening progressed and the party spirit throbbed among them, Rob glanced towards the door a few times. Nina wasn’t sure whether he was watching out for Bettine or whether he was tuning in to the various telephone calls coming through to Reception.

  The receptionist had seen him eyeing her through the open door of the restaurant and she came across. ‘The roads over the Pennines are blocked,’ she said worriedly. ‘A coach party from Sheffield have cancelled their booking. It’s still snowing heavily outside and traffic in the village is moving very slowly.’

  Rob had been frowning as he’d listened to the impromptu weather forecast, and Nina thought they’d just been given the reason for Bettine’s non-appearance. Yet it was only a short distance from the hall. Surely the roads weren’t that bad.

  The phone rang again and as the girl hurried to answer it Nina’s reasoning proved wrong. ‘It’s for you, Dr Carslake,’ she called across.

  As Rob got to his feet and moved swiftly to the reception desk, Nina’s precious bubble burst. And when he turned to her with a face from which all pleasure had been wiped clean, she knew that it wasn’t good news that he had for her.

  ‘It isn’t the weather that’s prevented Bettine from getting here,’ he said when he came back to her. ‘Complications have developed with the pregnancy. That was her husband on the phone. He’s tried to get an ambulance but they can’t get through. The drifts are too deep upon the tops.’

  ‘She’s at the farm!’ Nina exclaimed as the evening disintegrated before her eyes.

  ‘Yes. Unfortunately. And it doesn’t sound good, but I can’t tell what’s wrong from just a phone call. I’ll have to drive as far as I can and then, if the road is blocked, I’ll do the rest on foot.’

  Nina’s jaw dropped. ‘You’re not going up there, surely?’

  ‘I’m amazed to hear you say that,’ he said abruptly. ‘Of course I am!’

  ‘But why does it have to be you?’ she asked angrily as once again her father’s grim
predictions came to mind.

  ‘Because it’s me that she’s asking for,’ he said, becoming more aloof by the minute. ‘I’m going home to change into some warm clothes and then I’ll be off.’

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Gavin asked as Rob went striding off into the winter night. ‘Not an emergency, is it? Tonight of all nights.’

  Nina nodded glumly. ‘Yes. It’s Bettine. Something’s gone wrong with the pregnancy. They’ve called Rob out to the farm.’

  Gavin shuddered. ‘Rather him than me. It’s cold enough to freeze a brass monkey out there. But you know what they say.’

  ‘No, what do they say?’

  ‘Old habits die hard. Remember they were engaged once.’

  Her spirits sank even lower. ‘You’re not saying that he still cares, surely?’

  He shrugged. ‘Who’s to say? Rob isn’t the type to flit from bird to bird.’

  Tell me about it, she wanted to say, but Gavin would zoom in on a comment of that nature and wouldn’t rest until she’d explained what she’d meant.

  ‘It’s to be hoped he’s got some good, strong boots handy,’ he was saying, ‘and a flask or, better still, a St Bernard.’

  The mention of boots had given birth to an idea. Nina had the pair in the cloakroom and there was a warm jacket in her car.

  Admittedly, she would be wearing the flimsy trouser suit underneath, but she’d be protected enough on top to go with him. She couldn’t let him go alone. Eloise’s problems were sorting themselves out, but if she lost Rob, what would there be to live for?

  When he came dashing downstairs from the flat she was waiting for him, an incongruous figure with silk trousers tucked into boots and a bulky waterproof jacket that made the top half of her look twice as wide as the bottom.

  ‘Nina!’ he exclaimed. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I’m coming with you.’

  His face darkened. ‘Oh, no, you’re not!’