Return of Dr Maguire (Mills & Boon Medical) (16 page)

‘And what about the leisure centre itself, with the swimming pool and gym? That will be hard to disguise surely?’

‘Same idea—a wooden structure on one floor and to the far side of the wood, so it won’t be seen from the house or the road.’

He was good at the talk, thought Christa. He made it sound as if no one would notice any difference to the place at all, and indeed it didn’t seem so very intrusive despite what she’d imagined.

She murmured, ‘I have no doubt it will be very popular with holiday people—it’s in such a beautiful area. But you haven’t quite convinced me yet.’

He grinned and bent down to kiss the nape of her neck. ‘That’s a challenge—I’ve every confidence I can win you over!’ He took her hand. ‘Now, let’s take Titan down to the beach and you can look back at it from that angle.’

They walked briskly through the furrowed fields, swinging hands, and came to the line of sand dunes that marked the edge of the beach. It spread gloriously before them, wide, empty and pearly pink, and the sun sparkled on the sea, millpond smooth but with little waves like lace ruffling the shallows. Above them mewed the seagulls, swooping and gliding before settling on the water. To the right of the firth were the hazy outlines of the Cairngorms, already white-tipped with early snow against a wintry blue sky.

‘Isn’t this perfect?’ Lachlan murmured, folding his arms and standing in mute admiration of the scene for a few minutes.

‘Better than Australia, then?’ teased Christa. ‘What made you go so far away when you love it so much here—and for so long?’

‘Good question.’ He shrugged. ‘Obviously it was an adventure, a marvellous opportunity to see the world—but would I have gone at that particular time if my mother hadn’t told me about her affair? I don’t know... All I do know is that I wanted to get as far away as I could from my family.’

‘You’d qualified by then?’ probed Christa.

‘Yes, thank God. At least I could earn my living at something. And I loved it—the people, the country and the experience. The variety of stuff I had to tackle was like
Casualty
on a grand scale—snake bites, dysentery, dehydration. It all made for a quick learning curve.’

She grinned cheekily at him. ‘I’m surprised you can contemplate coming back to work in the practice if you loved it so much.’ Then she added gently, ‘But it must have been a terrible shock when you heard Isobel had died.’

His face shadowed sadly. ‘I haven’t talked about it before, but I admit it was a hammer blow.’ He sighed and bunched his fists in his trouser pockets, staring across the firth. ‘I’m ashamed to say that I actually felt resentful, as if it was my poor mother’s fault she’d died so suddenly that I was unable to make my peace with her.’

Christa nodded. ‘That’s understandable.’

Lachlan shrugged. ‘During the time I’ve been back my feelings have changed—I feel guilty as hell that I left it so long to come home. I’d kept thinking I should return, but I suppose I was too proud to meet my mother again—apologise for what I had said to her. And now it’s too late...’

His voice died away, the sad words hanging in the air, filled with poignancy. Christa reached for his hand and squeezed it comfortingly, aware of the effort it was taking for Lachlan to admit his mistakes.

‘I’m sure she forgave you, Lachlan, probably understood only too well why you left home. I’m sure she felt guilty too, breaking up the family.’

‘Yes,’ he said softly. ‘She did forgive me—she left a letter with the solicitor that made it plain that she blamed herself for all that happened.’ He was silent for a moment then looked bleakly at Christa. ‘Now I realise that she was well aware that her time was short, and if I could only turn back the clock, I would. I regret so much not making it up with my mother. One thing I do know,’ he added fiercely, ‘is that I shall do everything I can to fulfil her wishes in that letter. At least I can do that!’

There was something heartbreaking about seeing his strong face etched with sadness and the remorse he felt about being too late to make amends with his mother. Christa put her arm around him and hugged him to her.

‘None of it was of your making. You thought you had an idyllic family life with parents who loved each other. It must have shattered you when you realised that wasn’t true.’ She hesitated before saying diffidently, ‘Did your mother’s affair end when your father left home?’

‘Her lover was killed in a crash on the motorway,’ Lachlan said simply. ‘I hoped it would mean she and my father would get back together but they didn’t and he left the area.’ He gave a short, bitter laugh. ‘So much for that ridiculous vow to be together till death did them part.’

Was that shorthand for reminding her that he did not believe in commitment for life? wondered Christa wistfully. She remembered his throwaway remark: ‘Marry in haste, repent at leisure.’ Wedding bells didn’t seem to be on his agenda!

He put his hands on her shoulders and smiled. ‘God, this is all about me, me, me! Now, let’s get comfortable and tell me about your family—your mother...’

And by ‘comfortable’ he evidently meant that they should sit together on the soft sand in the dunes, one arm around her, hugging her to him. She snuggled up to him, loving the feel of his warm body against hers.

‘Ah...Mum’s one feisty woman,’ she said. ‘She was devastated after Dad’s death, but gradually she’s developed plenty of interests—and, of course, now she has her friend Bertie, the loveliest man from the next-door flat, and they do loads of things together.’

Lachlan grinned. ‘A feisty woman, eh? You sound as if you take after her. I’d like to meet your mother. I take it your father wasn’t a medical man?’

‘No. He used to run a small business with my Uncle Angus, supplying drugs to medical practices, although sadly in later years apparently they didn’t get on. But my father was lovely, great fun and I do miss him...’

‘He was different from your wicked uncle Angus, then?’ Lachlan said lightly. ‘What happened to Angus’s wife and child after he left them?’

‘I believe she moved away down south and remarried. We never hear from her unfortunately. You said you’d met him—did he seem wicked to you?’

Lachlan hesitated for a second then said, ‘He did have a reputation with women, I suppose...’

‘How could you tell?’ she asked, smiling.

He pushed his hand through his thick hair so that it stood up in little spikes, and looked at Christa quizzically. ‘There’s rather more to your uncle’s story than you might imagine...’

She looked surprised and laughed. ‘Oh? That’s very intriguing.’

‘Could be a bit of a shock.’

‘Nothing much shocks me. Spill the beans, I’m a big girl now!’ Fleetingly, she remembered that she’d said as much to her mother a few hours earlier.

Lachlan shrugged. ‘Hell. You’ve got to know some time. Are you ready for this?’ He paused as if weighing up how to tell Christa, then said, with a trace of bitterness, ‘The fact is, the man my mother had an affair with was your uncle. Angus Lennox used to come to the surgery as a drug rep for his company—and that’s how he met my mother. The rest is history. Then he was killed in a traffic accident coming to see her one evening, but by that time her marriage was over, and so was our happy family life.’

CHAPTER NINE

T
HE
SMILE
FADED
from Christa’s face and she gazed at Lachlan in complete amazement, her mouth an O of surprise.

‘
What?
Isobel and Uncle Angus? You’re kidding!’ She pulled some long grass from the sand dune and pulled at it distractedly. ‘I can hardly believe it. Isobel and I were so close, but she never gave a hint that she’d had an affair, let alone that it was with Angus...’

‘Reopening old wounds, do you think?’ suggested Lachlan gently.

Christa nodded. ‘Perhaps... But it’s such a shock.’

She bit her lip, suddenly realising just why her mother seemed less than enthusiastic about Isobel, and a relationship developing between her daughter and Lachlan.

So
that
was what had caused the huge rift between her father and his brother—brothers who had been so close before Angus’s affair. That closeness had been severed for ever after he’d left his wife and had then died, and the unhappy memories of that time must still rankle with her mother.

She got up from beside Lachlan and walked over to the little stone breakwater at the edge of the dunes, and Lachlan stood beside her and put his arm round her. ‘I’m sorry I had to tell you, sweetheart, but surely it’s better that you know...’

‘Of course I should know,’ she said robustly. ‘I can’t imagine why Mum kept it to herself all these years—it certainly makes things a little clearer.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘I’ve always felt that she was never as, well, fond of Isobel as I was.’ She hesitated before saying in a rather embarrassed way, ‘And when I told her you were joining the practice she didn’t seem exactly keen.’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘But these things happened a long time ago, honey. Surely she’s moved on from there by now?’

She sighed. ‘Perhaps.’ She looked at Lachlan with a frown. ‘But you must have hated our family too. No wonder you seemed startled when you heard who I was—the niece of the man who had broken up your parents’ marriage working with your mother! That’s a big crumb to swallow.’

‘It was a shock at first,’ Lachlan admitted, then his deep blue eyes held hers and he said with a cheeky grin, ‘Now I don’t think that way at all, I can tell you—especially after that wonderful night we had together, sweetheart!’

He turned her round gently and tilted her face to his, then brushed her mouth with a feather touch of his lips, trailing kisses down her neck. It was unbearably sexy, sending sparks of desire through every nerve of her body, dissolving her legs to jelly, making her feel dizzy with desire—and it took every ounce of control for Christa to pull herself back from him, half laughing, half protesting.

‘Oh, Lachlan—stop it! I just want you to understand how much that quarrel between my uncle and my father affected my family. I can see why Mum would resent any connection to the Maguires.’

‘That’s ridiculous!’ The wind blew Lachlan’s hair over his eyes and he brushed it away impatiently. ‘Surely she doesn’t harbour a grudge against me. After all, it wasn’t
my
fault!’ He looked down at her with a grin. ‘Mind you, I won’t deny it was a shock to learn when I arrived back here a few weeks ago that you were Angus Lennox’s niece. I even felt a twang of jealousy that you and my mother had this terrific bond when you worked together. But it’s history now...’

Christa looked at him levelly. ‘I could never risk upsetting Mum, Lachlan. It’s just been the two of us for so long and she sacrificed such a lot to get me through med school. Can you understand that? I need to tread carefully.’

‘So what are you saying, Christa? That it affects your relationship with me?’

Lachlan’s blue eyes glowered down at her truculently, and she was silent for a moment. Did it really make a difference to her relationship with Lachlan? Would she reopen old wounds of her mother’s by going out with him? Perhaps it was better to put the brakes on a budding romance before it got too serious—on her side anyway.

‘It changes things a little...’ she said at last.

‘But surely you’re not going to be ruled by your mother all your life? Why should you be constrained by what she thinks?’ He sounded exasperated.

Christa flushed. ‘Because she
is
my mother! I just happen to care about her feelings—that’s all.’

‘I never thought of you as a mummy’s girl,’ he commented drily.

A cold wind blew across the firth and the temperature between them seemed to drop as well—what had started out as a magical day suddenly seemed dark.

Christa’s eyes flashed angrily. ‘Don’t be so ridiculous! I’m just saying that falling out with my mother is something I could never do!’

Lachlan’s expression hardened and he said tersely, ‘If that’s supposed to be a sanctimonious dig at me and my relationship with Isobel, it’s a cheap jibe!’

‘You know I didn’t mean it that way!’ Christa stared at him coldly. ‘I just want to sound the ground a bit...surely you can understand that?’

They gazed stonily at each other, their bodies tense, standing some way apart. Christa shivered, and not just because of the cold wind but because this silly quarrel seemed to have sprung out of nowhere—and it was horrible that one minute they could be so close and the next as if they were on different planets.

Lachlan bunched his fists in his pockets, appalled that the temperature between them had plummeted several degrees below freezing—and, in his view, over nothing at all! The wind had whipped Christa’s auburn hair into a tousled halo and her eyes were bright with anger—and she had never looked lovelier. Lachlan’s expression softened, and he stepped forward, putting out his arms and drawing her close to him.

‘Come here, Christa. What are we like? Of course you care what your mother thinks, and so do I. Go and talk to her—tell her about us. She might not be so against it as you thought. After all, we’re just...rather good friends, aren’t we?’

Christa swallowed. Of course they were! She was making a fuss over nothing...

He smiled at her, his periwinkle blue eyes heart-meltingly rueful. ‘I didn’t mean to be so unsympathetic. We’ll take things as slowly as you like. Am I forgiven?’

And Christa, nestled into the comfort of that warm body, shook her head, smiling remorsefully up at him. ‘Don’t be silly! It’s my fault. I guess I went over the top a bit. You’re right—who I go out with is nothing to do with my mother. But learning the truth about Angus was a tremendous shock. To think I worked all those years with Isobel and she never revealed it.’ She dimpled up at him. ‘There’s no more little secrets you’re hiding from me, are there?’

‘Only a few,’ he murmured. ‘Now let me apologise to you properly...’

And apologising took quite a long time, because his lips were on hers demandingly, his hands caressing her body tenderly, and any thoughts she’d had about upsetting her mother seemed gradually to melt away. She would have a talk with her mother some time—that would be the best thing. If Lachlan could get over his aversion to the Lennox family, surely Pat could accept Lachlan.