New Surgeon at Ashvale A&E (14 page)

‘Will do,’ he said.

He made his short speech, bringing chuckles from the crowd as he outlined the pitfalls of spending too long in the refreshments tent, or the hazards involved in shepherding children by every ice cream van on site. ‘Don’t get me wrong,’ he said. ‘I’d love it if you do that…but then again, I’m not the one driving home with youngsters full of fizzy pop and ice cream in the back of the car. Have fun,’ he told them, ‘enjoy the shows and please give generously. Your A&E needs you.’

He stepped down from the bandstand and showed her where there was an exhibition of country crafts. ‘Your ladies from the village institute have done us proud,’ he told Ruby. ‘I took a peek earlier at some of the items on display. There are some lovely stained glass vases and bowls for sale. I noticed you have one or two on shelves at the farmhouse—and I guessed you like them because you have one on your desk there too.’

She nodded. ‘I do have a bit of a thing for them—I’d like someday to have a collection of glass in the bathroom—high up on a beautiful bamboo shelving unit where Becky can’t get hold of them.’

They wandered around the crafts tent for a while, and Ruby made a few purchases, adding a lovely bead bag to her selection. ‘It’s so pretty,’ she said. ‘It’s for if and when I ever get to go anywhere glamorous and fashionable…unlikely, I know, but I can dream, can’t I?’

Sam laughed. ‘It may not be a dream,’ he said. ‘Who knows? Maybe I’ll whisk you away somewhere.’

‘Oh, yes? The hospital restaurant is the most glamorous place I’ll ever get to, on past experience.’ She said it with a glimmer of humour in her eyes, and he purposefully moved her on to the compound where the dog show was being held.

‘You know you can rely on me to show you a good time,’ he said. ‘Dogs and puppies…what more could you want?’

She chuckled and went to find a clear place on the grass where she could release Becky from the restriction of the pushchair for a while. She lifted the baby out and set her down on a small blanket, placing her favourite toys beside her.

‘Doh, doh, doh…’ Becky said, stretching out her arm and indicating the dogs that paraded around the enclosed ring.

‘ Yes, you’re right…they’re doggies. Clever girl.’ Ruby sent her an admiring glance. ‘Well done.’

‘You’re not trying to tell me that she said “doggy”, are you?’ Sam remarked, sending her an amused look. ‘That was no way a proper word.’

‘Was too,’ Ruby said with a defiant lift of her chin. ‘Stop trying to burst my bubble. It was definitely “dog” that she said. I won’t hear you say otherwise.’

He laughed and turned his attention to the show. Craig was there, inspecting all the competitors, a motley assortment of pedigree, mongrel and mixed breeds, all barking, tail wagging and generally having a wonderful time and basking in the attention of the assembled crowd.

‘The winner of the small dog category is…Cup Cake, the west highland terrier,’ Craig announced. ‘He may be short, but he has a big personality.’ Cup Cake jumped up in excitement and did a funny sort of pirouette, falling over his back legs, rolling over, and then wriggling to a standing position once more, tangling his lead around his owner’s legs in the process and delighting everyone who looked on.

‘Doh…doh…’ Becky said again, holding out her arm and pointing towards the dogs as though she would gather them up.

‘See,’ Ruby hissed under her breath. ‘Told you so.’

‘Nah. It was nothing like “dog”,’ Sam declared.

Craig came over to them a few minutes later. ‘Hi, you two.
Hi, Becky.’ He smiled at Ruby. ‘I thought you might like to see this new addition to the veterinary household…Becky too.’

He squatted down beside them and revealed, in the crook of his arm, a brown and white sleepy puppy, covered in downy fur.

‘Oh, Craig…isn’t he beautiful? Can I hold him? He’s a boxer, isn’t he?’ Ruby was overcome with pleasure at the sight of the small animal. ‘How old is he? Is it all right for him to be out here with us?’

‘Yes, he’s a boxer, and of course you can hold him.’ Craig gently lowered the pup into her arms. ‘We’ve been breeding boxers at the kennels next door to the veterinary surgery. He’s twelve weeks old, so he’s been vaccinated, and it’s okay for him to be here. It’ll be good for him to meet up with people and dogs.’

Becky broke into an excited babble of chatter, her eyes growing wide, her arms moving to touch the puppy.

‘I’ll hold you,’ Sam said gently to her, ‘so that you can lightly pat him…all right?’ He looked at the infant as though expecting a response. ‘I’ll hold your arm, and together we’ll touch him ever so carefully. We don’t want to batter him, do we? He might not like it if you’re too heavy-handed.’ Again he watched the baby guardedly, and she looked back at him with a glance that said, ‘Can I touch him? I want to do it now…let me do it now.’

Ruby cradled the puppy in her arms, stroking him lightly and showing Becky his beautiful colouring. Becky’s fingers trailed over his silky fur.

He had a streak of white down the front of his face, a white chest, and the rest of him was a golden-brown colour…except for his socks. ‘Look,’ Ruby said in wonder, ‘he has four perfect white socks.’

She looked at Craig. ‘Oh, I’m done for now. I want him. I want to take him home with me. What have you done? I’ll be a lost soul without him.’

Craig chuckled. ‘And how would you cope with a puppy? You won’t be at home to look after him, will you?’

‘I could take him with me to work and sneak him into the treatment room. He’ll be perfectly all right there, and Sam won’t mind at all, will you, Sam?’

Sam’s eyes widened in amusement. ‘And how am I supposed to answer that? Why would you want to put me in the role of the evil one who denies the princess her dreams?’

‘Oh, but he’s so lovely,’ she murmured, nestling her cheek against the puppy’s silky head. ‘I’m wrecked now that I’ve seen him. I can’t bear to part with him.’

‘She’s broody,’ Sam told Craig, as though that explained everything. ‘You’d have thought looking after Becky would have put an end to all that, wouldn’t you?’

‘Who can tell with women?’ Craig answered. ‘I just knew she’d love to see him.’

‘You see,’ Sam said, looking at Ruby. ‘It’s all his fault. Blame it on him.’

‘No. I won’t. He did the right thing. He knew exactly how I would react.’ She gave a soft sigh, offering Becky the chance of one more stroke of the soft fur, and then she reluctantly handed the puppy back to Craig.

Craig stood up. ‘I have to go and judge the next category,’ he said, ‘so I’ll catch up with you folks later.’ He looked back at Sam. ‘You have a good crowd here today. It’s all going really well.’

Sam nodded. He let go of Becky’s arm and allowed her to settle back on the blanket. She began to rub her eyes.

‘It looks as though she’s ready for a nap,’ Ruby said. ‘Perhaps I should take her back to the house and settle her down for a while?’

‘That’s okay by me.’ Sam started to gather up their belongings. ‘We’ll have some lunch, and then I’ll show you the rest of the place.’

They walked back across the field, with Becky once more in the pushchair. When they reached the house, Sam showed
her up to the bathroom where she could change the baby’s nappy and make her comfortable, ready for a sleep.

The bathroom was sparkling with glass fixtures and gold fittings, with ample room for Ruby to tend to the baby. There was even a chair where she could sit and rock her in her arms when she was done.

‘Will she be all right in the pushchair?’ Sam asked, coming to find her a while later. ‘I could probably find her a crib of some sort if need be.’

‘She’ll be fine in the pushchair. I’ll settle her down in the dining room if I may. I brought the baby monitor with me, so I’ll be able to listen out for her.’

He nodded. ‘That sounds like a good idea. We’ll help ourselves to something to eat in the kitchen, and then I’ll show you around the rest of the house and gardens.’

They had a leisurely lunch, enjoying the appetising food that Sarah had laid out, and washing it down with a bottle of light, sparkling wine. Ruby felt comfortably replete and leaned back in her chair to gaze around her.

‘I can’t imagine how it must feel to come back here every day,’ she said in a musing tone. ‘I suppose you can completely relax, knowing that you have all these people to see to everything for you. I don’t know how your parents can bear to stay away.’

‘They’re very busy with all their international concerns,’ Sam said. ‘They have a house in Switzerland, which is where they stay most of the time, and there’s a smaller house in the Lake District near to one of their companies.’

‘Are they planning on coming home any time soon?’

He nodded. ‘They’ll probably be coming back in a couple of weeks. I doubt they’ll stay for long, maybe three weeks here and another three in Scotland, and then they’ll be home for Christmas and New Year. They seem to like that lifestyle.’

‘Hmm.’ She frowned. ‘I don’t think it would suit me at all.’

‘No, but then you’re a home-loving kind of woman, aren’t you?’ He stood up and came around the table, holding out a hand to her. ‘Let me show you around.’

She placed her palm in his, and he helped her to her feet. They went upstairs, and as he showed her all the rooms she’d missed, he draped an arm lightly around her shoulders. ‘It’s mostly bedrooms up here, and bathrooms, but there are also a couple more studies, and then there are the dormer rooms in the attic space.’

‘Are they more bedrooms?’ What she had seen so far was opulence, calm, understated elegance and quality furnishings.

He shook his head. ‘One’s a games room, another’s a sauna and the third one is a small gymnasium.’

‘Good heavens…how the other half live.’

He laughed and went on with the tour, finally showing her into a study that overlooked the courtyard. Again, there were glazed doors opening out on to a small balcony bounded by a wrought iron balustrade.

She stepped out onto the balcony and saw horses being led out by grooms, who walked the magnificent animals across the cobbled yard, through an arched entrance and out towards the fields. ‘Are they the horses that will give the rides around the field?’ she asked, and Sam nodded.

‘They’ll go out for an hour or so, and then they’ll rest while other horses take over. These are the non-thoroughbreds we lease out to a riding school, so they’re well used to being ridden by novices.’

She moved back inside the room, gazing around at the glass-fronted wall cabinets and the bookshelves, all in pale-coloured wood that matched the desk and storage cupboards. Again, there were armchairs and a standard lamp, which changed the focus of the room from businesslike to leisurely and comfortable.

‘I’m overwhelmed…again,’ she said, looking up at Sam
with a smile. ‘This has been such an experience, seeing the way you live. I’m so glad that you asked me to come here.’

He reached for her, placing his arms lightly around her waist. ‘I’m glad that you came along,’ he said. ‘I wanted to know what you would think of it, and it’s good that you like this place…but your reaction to the puppy beats everything, hands down.’ He smiled, his gaze travelling over her in gleaming appreciation. ‘You loved him so much, and you took him to your heart as though you would hold him there for ever. I have to say, I was intensely jealous back there.’

‘You were?’ Her eyes widened. Did he want her to hold him and love him and keep him in her heart for ever? She wouldn’t have any difficulty at all in doing that. He had grown on her, worked his way into her heart and soul, and all she wanted was for him to love her in return. Was that possible?

Probably not…she answered the question herself. Wasn’t she in danger of falling into the trap of loving him, losing her heart to him, only to have him move on as he had done in the past? This was a man who was wary of letting his feelings take control…and maybe his family background was to blame in some way for that.

Even so, temptation had the better of her, and she ran a hand lightly over his chest, loving the feel of him, wanting to draw him closer, to feel the brush of his lips on hers. Perhaps he sensed what was in her mind because he lowered his head towards her and kissed her tenderly, running his hands along the length of her spine and holding her against his long body, so that she was stunningly aware of every hard muscle and sinew.

Her body responded in delicious exultation at the way his hands caressed her. He stroked her back, the gentle curve of her hips, and trailed his fingers over her arms, leaving off to glide once more over the soft line of hip and thigh.

‘I don’t think you have any idea of what you do to me,’ he murmured raggedly, his breath warm against her temple. ‘I try
to concentrate on whatever I’m doing, here, or at work, and you’re always on my mind, luring me into a world I’ve never known before. I want you. I need you. You’ve bewitched me, taken over all my senses, so that I’m not in control any more.’

His words brought with them a heady rush of power so vibrant that it left her dizzy with sensation. Was it possible that she could have this effect on him? Was it true that this man, who was so in control of every aspect of his life, was laid waste by his need of her? A warm tide of desire flooded her veins. It was an intoxicating feeling to know that he wanted her this way.

His fingers shifted to slide over the soft swell of her breast, and she moved against him, longing to feel the touch of his hands over the whole length of her body. Her breathing was as ragged as his by now, her heart rate quickening, the thunderous rhythm rising to a crescendo of chaotic, frantic beats that threatened to overwhelm her.

His kisses had a passionate intensity that took her breath away, and all she could think of was that his thighs were pressuring hers with intimate, thrilling heat, and she wanted more, much more. Her arms circled his rib cage, and she revelled in the strength of his male body next to hers, wanting this moment to go on and on.

Only, a noise filtered into the air, disturbing their solitude and tugging them back into the real world once more.

‘What is that?’ Sam said with a frown, his eyes closing briefly in recognition that the moment had been torn from them.