Hired: GP and Wife / The Playboy Doctor's Surprise Proposal (12 page)

She read the note slowly, hardly comprehending it at first, then reread it with mounting horror. Her mouth suddenly went very dry and her heart started to thump uncomfortably, the light-hearted happiness she’d felt a moment ago draining away from her. She put the note down and stared at it, huddled back against her chair.

‘My God,’ she whispered. ‘What on earth can I do?’

She got up and walked unsteadily over to the window, drawing aside the blind and looking out at the view of the hills and the sea beyond. She was so happy here—happier than she could ever have imagined, coming to a place that was new to her and leaving all she’d known behind. Life was interesting, the people were friendly, and, of course, above all there was Atholl, a man that she knew now that she’d fallen for, hook, line and sinker, in the few weeks she’d been here.

Was all that going to be put in jeopardy because her past had suddenly and horribly caught up with her?

S
HE
let the blind go with a snap and went back to the desk, sitting down with her head in her hands, trying to remain calm, to think about what she ought to do. She took up the piece of paper again and reread it, as if by so doing it would be different this time.

Hi, darling,

Bet you didn’t think that I’d be in touch with you! No wonder this photo caught my eye immediately—you can change your name but not your looks, even if your hair is shorter! It’s amazing how news travels fast, even when it’s from a little place like Scuola, isn’t it? Now I know where you live, I’ve come up to the area to have a little chat with you, but mostly to warn you I need some ready cash—a few thousand would help. I’d like you to get this a.s.a.p. I’ll give you four days to organise cash in used notes. Better if you keep your mouth shut about this, sweetheart. If you don’t, your nice Dr Brodie might get hurt (accidentally of course).

Be seeing you, Max.

Terry shuddered. That damn newspaper! Even though she thought she’d disguised her looks well, had convinced herself that nobody would guess where she was, and had begun to feel relaxed in her life here, Max had found her! The man she’d once thought she’d loved so much had found out where she was and was blackmailing her.

She put her head in her hands, the whole dismal scenario of what had happened to her father reeling through her mind. She’d thought she was so safe up here in Scuola—but it seemed there was to be no hiding place from the implied threats in that horrible little note. And Atholl was in as much danger as she was—she was under no illusion about what Max was capable of. Her father had paid a high price for her involvement with Max because Max didn’t care who he hurt.

What the hell could she do? She leaped up from her chair and started pacing about the room, trying to control her panic.

One thing was certain—she couldn’t put Atholl at risk by staying at his cottage any longer. In fact, it would be better altogether if they ended their relationship, she thought miserably. He mustn’t in any way be sucked into the vile and corrupt world that Max represented. She could imagine Max demanding money from Atholl, and threatening to harm her if Atholl didn’t agree.

She would have to inform the police, although it was hard to see how letting them know about this grubby little note would do any good. There weren’t many policemen on the island and they could hardly give her twenty-fourhour protection. She would have to move on.

She took the note and put it in her handbag, snapping it shut viciously. She had been naive to think that she wouldn’t be discovered—letting herself be photographed for the paper had been a careless mistake. With cold logic she realised that realistically her only option was to leave Scuola and get as far away from Atholl as she could. She could face Max herself but she was damned if Atholl was going to be mixed up in this sordid scenario.

A lump of sadness lodged somewhere in her throat. How could she leave her lovely life here? But Max was her problem, not Atholl’s, and she must make her own decisions. It had been too good to be true anyway, she mused sadly. Happiness such as she had started to experience lately could never last—the past had been bound to catch up with her. Somehow she had to be strong and tell Atholl that it was over between them and that she was leaving Scuola.

Atholl was already home when she returned to the cottage.

‘Hi, sweetheart.’ He smiled, his whole face lighting up as his eyes wandered over her. ‘Let’s get going—I’m starving! Go and put on your glad rags. Oh, by the way, we’re needed in Hersa tomorrow morning—that’s the little island I pointed out to you. There’s been a case of meningitis affecting a child who was visiting her grandparents on the mainland, and all the children who may have come into contact with her need to be given antibiotics pronto. It needs two of us again, so I’d be much obliged if you’d come with me. Sue’s already involved with doing MMR vaccinations here at the baby clinic.’

He waited expectantly for her reply. What could she say? It was an emergency after all.

‘Yes…yes, of course I’ll come,’ she said distractedly.

She closed her eyes briefly, trying to compose herself, psych herself up to tell him that their affair was over and an intimate and romantic dinner with him was not on that evening.

‘Atholl, I, er…’ She paused for a second, gathering her courage, then swallowed hard and said in a rapid voice, ‘Atholl, I can’t go out with you tonight.’

He looked at her in surprise. ‘Why not?’

She sat down at the little kitchen table and gripped her hands together. ‘Because…because I’ve something I’ve got to tell you as soon as possible. It’s very hard to say this. It…it’s about us…’

Atholl looked at her with twinkling eyes. ‘Oh, dear, you sound very serious, sweetheart. What is it about us?’

God, this was difficult! Terry twisted her hands together wretchedly. How could she put it to him that although they’d made wonderful love only the evening before, now she wanted to finish their liaison, leave her job?

‘The thing is…’ she started haltingly. ‘The thing is, I think we’ve been too hasty, Atholl. I…I’ve been thinking it over and I don’t feel I can get involved in a relationship at the moment. It’s too soon after Max…I’ve been too impetuous.’

Atholl sat down on the chair opposite her, his expression changing slowly from humour to incredulity. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’

‘I…I mean I’ve just had one intense relationship. I can’t leap into another one so quickly.’

‘You mean you think you’re on the rebound?’ He laughed and said in amusement, ‘Are you trying to say it’s over between us? Good God, we’ve only just started.’

‘I know, I know! That’s why I think it’s best to stop things before we get too…committed.’

Those amazing eyes bored into hers and she looked away hastily. ‘This seems to have come on very quickly. I didn’t notice you holding back yesterday when I kissed you in the surgery,’ he commented quietly.

‘I had time to think about it when I was clearing things out in my room for Sue. It suddenly came over me,’ Terry replied helplessly.

‘Come on, sweetheart,’ he said gently. He reached across the desk and took her hand. ‘We don’t have to break up. We can just take things a little more slowly if you feel a bit overwhelmed by it all. As a matter of fact, I also feel as if a steamroller’s gone over me—it’s been an incredible experience!’ He grinned at her. ‘Perhaps you feel that, like fine wine, we should savour what we feel, not gulp it down too greedily!’

Terry drew her hand from his and said dully. ‘No…halfmeasures are no good, Atholl.’

He frowned, then said flatly, ‘I don’t believe you. What’s brought this on?’

‘I told you—it’s too soon after my involvement with Max. I’m in a muddle about my feelings.’

‘For God’s sake…’ Atholl got up from the chair and paced up and down, looking across at her in bewilderment. ‘You said Max was a bastard, only wanting what he could get. I’d have thought he was easy enough to get out of your system.’ He stood still for a moment, gazing down at her, his eyes like two blue chips of steel lasering their way into her.

‘I…I can’t switch on and off like that,’ said Terry wretchedly. ‘I need space, Atholl. I want to move from the cottage and lead a completely separate life. In fact…’ Her voice trembled slightly. ‘I think it’s better if I leave the practice. It would be incredibly hard to work so closely with you after what’s gone on between us and then to go on as…as mere colleagues.’

He shook his head, then came round the table and put his hand under her chin and tilted her face to his. ‘What’s gone wrong, darling?’ he asked softly. ‘Only a couple of days ago you and I were in each other’s arms, making wonderful love. We had the most magical night together. I shall never forget it…’

He pulled her towards him and took her face in his hands, kissing her with tender gentleness, then putting his arms around her and holding her so close to him that she could feel his hip bones next to hers, his heart thumping against her breast. God, what she would have given to have told him everything, to have made love to him then and there!

Terry gritted her teeth. She had to be tough, no good being half-hearted about this, although it was like cutting off her right arm. She tried to pull herself away from him, but he held onto her with a grip of steel, looking down at her with his incredible eyes.

‘Don’t tell me Sunday night meant nothing to you, Terry,’ he said huskily.

‘Of course not. I enjoyed it very much Atholl.’

Atholl’s hands dropped to his sides abruptly, and he stepped back a pace.

‘Enjoyed it?’
he exploded, staring at her incredulously for a second, then he sank back into the chair, shaking his head. ‘I thought it would mean more to you than eating an ice cream.’

‘As I said, once I realised I didn’t want total commitment, I decided it was better to finish things promptly. You once mentioned that relationships between doctors didn’t work, and perhaps you’re right—better not to risk it.’

Atholl laughed shortly. ‘For God’s sake, that was a throw-away remark, a joke, sweetheart.’

‘I…I feel I’m not sure about anything at the moment. It wouldn’t be fair to lead you on like Zara did and then let you down.’ Terry’s voice was stony, unemotional. It was the only way she could do it.

‘Don’t bring Zara Grahame into this,’ he said roughly. ‘I thought you loved it here, even before we got together. You told me you loved the people, the countryside,’ he added. ‘And I thought you loved me a little too.’

Terry licked her dry lips, and said nothing. It was too dreadful: she was telling lie after lie. Of course she loved him, more than ever now, and that was why she had to cut herself off from Atholl and any danger she might put him in.

There was a long silence, then Atholl stood up again abruptly, his expression becoming cold and his mouth a grim line. ‘I see. I didn’t realise it was just to be a onenight stand…’

‘No! It wasn’t—it wasn’t anything like that!’ Terry cried. The words dragged out of her. ‘I just need time to think…without being too near you.’

‘You’ve made your mind up pretty quickly.’ His voice was grating. ‘And where do you propose to stay in the meantime before you leave the area? The flat here isn’t ready yet.’

‘I’ll go to a B and B I’ve seen down the road for the time being.’

‘Got it all planned, haven’t you?’

She looked down at the table, trying to control the telltale tears that threatened to engulf her. ‘I think it’s best, Atholl. You wouldn’t want me to be with you unless I was sure, would you?’

‘Of course not,’ he said with cold politeness. ‘You must do what you think fit. I presume you’ll take your things fairly soon, then.’

Atholl walked towards the door, turning round just before he opened it. ‘I take it you’re still working with me here for a little while to give me time to get someone else?’

‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘But the sooner the better—for both our sakes.’

There was bafflement and grief in the look he gave her, and Terry had a sudden urge to run towards him and fling herself in his arms and tell him that she loved him more than anything else in the world, but she nodded wordlessly, aware that if she said anything she would burst into tears. She heard him bang out of the house, shutting the front door with a crash and then driving down the road with a roar of acceleration.

She shook her head helplessly. She’d gone about this all the wrong way. She should have left as soon as she’d got the note, disappeared out of Atholl’s life completely and just written to him later. But she was too selfish, wasn’t she? She needed to try and give him some explanation so that he wouldn’t think too badly of her, so that he would have time to get help with the practice. As it was, he probably despised her for leading him on and then abandoning him.

She ran upstairs to the little bedroom where she’d been so happy and started stuffing her clothes into her suitcase, sobbing her heart out.

What the hell had gone wrong? Atholl changed gear savagely as he accelerated up the road and into the hills, trying to make sense of the conversation he’d just had with Terry. His thoughts flickered back to their lovemaking on the shore of the lake by The Culleens. He could swear that the passion and happiness she’d shown then with him hadn’t been made up. He could, perhaps, understand that she might want to take things slower—their attraction to each other had been like a thunderbolt, unable to keep their hands off each other. But to finish completely? To leave the practice? It just didn’t add up, he thought.

He parked the car at the top of the hill in the little glade he’d taken Terry to on her first day of work, and got out, trying to clear his head in the fresh air. Perhaps, he mused bitterly, he was just a bad judge of women, and he’d learned nothing from his experience with Zara. But deep down he was sure there was something more to this than Terry wanting to take things more slowly. How could she finish a relationship so abruptly when he just knew that what they felt for each other was so strong? His face hardened as he stared unseeingly down at the blue waters of the Scuola Sound. He wouldn’t give up on her yet, not while she still remained on the island. He had to find out what was behind this devastating change of mind.

It was such a beautiful morning as the little ferry made its way to Hersa over the calm Scuola Sound. The sea shimmered in the golden sunlight and a flock of terns skimmed over the water to the side of the boat. Terry leaned miserably against the rail and watched the island come closer, unaware of the beauty all around her, her thoughts completely taken up with the horrible situation she found herself in. It was bad enough that that bastard Max was out there somewhere, hunting her, trying to silence her. Almost worse than that was the fact that she had finished things between her and Atholl and she couldn’t explain to him the true reason why she’d done it.

Atholl was standing at the other side of the deck, his back to her, ramrod straight. He had merely nodded briefly to her when she’d arrived on the quayside. Now he was on his mobile phone and had started pacing up and down, and Terry could sense his restless energy and the anger he felt sparking off towards her.