Hired: GP and Wife / The Playboy Doctor's Surprise Proposal (2 page)

‘Oh, no, you won’t.’ The biker tried to push in front of her. ‘It’s up to me—it’s too damn dangerous.’

‘And you’re too damn big to get through,’ retorted Terry angrily. ‘I thought you said there’s no time to waste. Don’t let’s argue about it.’

Their eyes sparked across at each other aggressively for a second then reluctantly he gave way, allowing her to push herself into the small opening.

‘You win,’ he muttered. ‘I’ll try and force this door a bit more.’

By squeezing herself sideways, she managed to wriggle her body to the squashed rear of the car. Stretching forward with every sinew, she reached the baby and fumbled with the child’s safety harness. It seemed terribly difficult to undo but behind her she could hear the distinctive deep voice of the biker.

‘You’re doing well. Press the button in the middle of the harness firmly and squeeze the two sides together…sometimes they’re quite stiff.’

There was something reassuring about that measured voice and when Amy began to scream as this unfamiliar person tried to extricate her from her seat, Terry concentrated on what the biker was telling her and did her best to ignore the smell of petrol that seemed to get stronger every second.

‘It’s all right, darling—don’t cry. You’ll soon be with your mummy,’ she murmured in her most soothing tones whilst still struggling desperately with the catch on the harness. Suddenly the spring release worked and the belt came apart.

‘Ah…gotcha!’ she said triumphantly.

She pulled the child towards her, hugging her to her chest and backing out as quickly as she could. Waiting hands took the crying baby to the side of the car park near to where her mother was lying, and Terry toppled back as someone’s arms caught her and prevented her falling to the ground.

‘Well done,’ said the biker’s familiar voice gruffly. ‘You did a good job there.’ His arms held her close to him as he helped her across to the side of the car park. ‘Come on, now—let’s get you away from this vehicle.’

Her legs felt like jelly but he took her weight easily, almost carrying her to one of the benches by the dock railings. He took off his leather jacket and put it round Terry’s shoulders and she gave a shaky laugh. ‘You seem to make a habit of helping me.’

He leaned forward and brushed away a piece of mud that was on her cheek. ‘Sure you’re OK?’ he asked, smiling at her, his face so close to hers that she could see the beginnings of evening stubble on his chin and the dark flecks in his extraordinarily blue eyes.

His breath was on her cheek as he looked at her and unexpectedly she felt a funny little shock of attraction ripple through her body. She took a sharp intake of breath and got up hastily from the bench, stepping back from him unsteadily. What the hell was happening? Not so long ago her life had been ruined by a man and she’d vowed it would be a long time before she’d look at the opposite sex again. Here she was only fifteen minutes into her new life and behaving like a schoolgirl who’d just seen a pop star! Her goal when she came to Scuola was to devote her life to medicine and put romance behind her—and that was what she was going to do!

‘I…I’m perfectly fine,’ she said in a measured tone.

His eyes held hers for a second, his expression contrite. ‘I’m afraid I was a bit abrupt with you back then. I just didn’t want you putting yourself in danger.’

‘We both had cross words—all in the line of duty,’ she replied. Quickly she went to kneel beside Maisie and her baby, who was in the arms of one of the men who had been helping, and pushed this hunky guy to the back of her thoughts.

‘You’ll soon be in good hands,’ she comforted the young girl. ‘And little Amy looks very lively.’

‘Thank you,’ whispered Maisie. ‘Thank you for getting Amy out. I thought she’d be trapped.’

A few minutes later a police car sped into the car park, followed by an old-fashioned ambulance.

‘That car reeks of petrol,’ the biker doctor said to the officer who got out of the car. ‘I’ve turned off the ignition, but I’m frightened it might ignite.’

Without a word the officer pulled a fire extinguisher out of his car and started to douse the back of the crashed vehicle with foam, then he shouted to the onlookers, ‘Can you clear this area please? This car’s not safe to be near and we need room for the ambulance.’

Two paramedics jumped out of the ambulance, one with a medical bag, and the doctor went up to them and explained in his concise and brisk manner the circumstances of the accident. Terry kept up a comforting commentary to Maisie until they came over, noting how she had begun to relax slightly now she was out of the vehicle and her baby was safe.

The paramedics swiftly assessed Maisie’s condition, then put a brace round her neck and lifted her onto a board to support her back before placing her on a carrying stretcher. Then she was put in the ambulance with Amy, and Terry and the biker watched as it disappeared up the hill.

Terry sat down on the bench and leaned back, closing her eyes, a mixture of relief and tiredness flooding through her.

The doctor chuckled. ‘What you need is a wee dram—that’ll put new life in you!’

She opened her eyes to see the doctor bending down beside her, a grin on his mud-bespattered face, blood still oozing from his chin.

Terry shook her head and smiled. ‘I’m fine, thanks. In fact, it’s quite exhilarating when you get a good result after a bit of drama.’ She felt in the front pocket of her knapsack and pulled out a compact, grimacing at her reflection in the mirror. ‘What a wreck I look,’ she murmured to herself.

‘Just a bit mud-spattered,’ he said. ‘Nothing a good wash won’t remove!’

Terry watched as the man picked up his helmet and searched in his pockets for the key to his bike. She realised just what she owed to this stranger, and reflected that her little flicker of attraction to him a few seconds before was probably because of the emotional rebound that often happened after a traumatic event.

‘I have such a lot to thank you for. If you hadn’t had such lightning reactions I wouldn’t be here now,’ she said to him. ‘I was paralysed when I saw the car coming towards me—I couldn’t move. You saved my life, no doubt.’

‘Think nothing of it. You didn’t do so badly yourself, getting that baby out. The whole thing could have gone up in flames any second.’

Terry shivered. ‘It was the same for you getting Maisie out—a nightmare scenario,’ she murmured. She looked at the cut on his chin. ‘You know, you ought to have that graze cleaned—it’s quite deep and got a lot of dirt in it.’

‘Oh, I’ll see to it when I get back,’ he said carelessly, then looked at her with interest. ‘Is this your first visit to Scuola?’

‘Yes…not quite the start I wanted,’ admitted Terry. She glanced at the smashed car. ‘I did promise Maisie that I’d get the papers in her car delivered to that newsagent’s over the road.’

‘No problem. I’ll do that afterwards.’

‘Thank you.’ She started to take off the leather jacket he’d put over her in the car park. ‘You’d better have this back.’

He looked at his watch. ‘No, you hang onto it for a while, it’s getting very cold. Perhaps I could give you a lift now,’ he offered. ‘I can’t hang around here any longer and it seems as if your chap’s forgotten to come and mine must have missed some connection.’

Terry looked nervously at the large machine he was proposing to give her a lift on—not her favourite form of transport. ‘Er…that’s very kind of you. The trouble is, I’ve got no helmet.’

Amused eyes twinkled at her as if he guessed her anxiety. ‘Don’t worry—I bought a spare with me. Where are you going?’

‘Not very far. A place called The Sycamores—it’s the medical centre on the island, and I believe it’s off the main street.’

The man straightened up suddenly from getting out the spare helmet from the bike’s holdall and stared at her in surprise. ‘You’re going to the medical centre?’

‘I’m going to start a new job there,’ explained Terry simply.

The man pushed his fingers through his hair so that it stood up in ruffled spikes round his forehead. ‘So you’re not on holiday, then? I thought you were a tourist.’

Terry shook her head. ‘Far from it.’

‘Who were you expecting to meet you?’ he said slowly.

‘Dr Euan Brodie. Do you know him?’

He gave a short laugh. ‘I ought to—he’s my uncle. I’m Atholl Brodie and I’ve come to meet a Terry Younger who’s taking over from a locum at our practice. Unfortunately my uncle had a major heart attack three days ago and is in hospital on the mainland. I’m sorry I didn’t get round to telling the agency that it would be me meeting you and not Uncle Euan. I’m his partner in the practice.’

Terry felt a funny thrill of excitement—could this really be the guy she was going to work with? ‘We…we’ve found each other, then. I’m Terry Younger.’ She held out her hand and he shook it rather abstractedly.

‘So I gather,’ he replied with a wry smile. ‘I have to admit this is, er…rather a surprise.’

‘Oh? Why is that?’

‘Because I thought you’d be a man,’ he said simply. ‘It didn’t occur to me that Terry could be a girl’s name as well.’

‘Well, I hope it’s not too much of a let-down,’ Terry said.

‘No…no, of course not. But do you know that on top of GP duties to cover the two islands here, we at the practice help a friend of mine doing an outward bound course for four deprived teenagers from Glasgow for a few weeks? I was hoping that the new doctor—’

‘Would be six foot four and sixteen stone,’ finished Terry impishly. ‘As a matter of fact, I did know your requirements,’ she added, smiling. ‘The agency told me you wanted help with the course.’

Atholl’s eyes swept over her slight five-foot-four-inch frame and he shook his head dismissively. ‘These lads are large, rough and aggressive. I need someone who’s physically tough and can abseil down cliffs, lead hikes on mountain trails, keep discipline—ideally someone who’s had a course in Outward Bound activities…’

‘And why shouldn’t I be able to fulfil all those criteria?’ demanded Terry. Suddenly his looks seemed to diminish—he was a more unreasonable man than she’d thought, obviously dismissing females as pathetic creatures who couldn’t do anything physically demanding.

She added firmly, ‘It so happens I have done a threeday course in hiking and kayaking—the only thing I’ve not done is abseiling. Anyway, if you think I’m getting back on that ferry today you’ve got another think coming. I’ve been offered a job here and I’ve accepted it, and it’s taken since the crack of dawn to get here.’

A cold wind had blown up suddenly and a stinging rain was starting to drive in from the hills. Terry pulled the helmet over her head and stared at him stubbornly. The man may have just saved her life, but she was damned if she’d go meekly trotting back to London just because he’d been expecting a man. Not, she thought wanly, that returning would be an option anyway—she could never return to London.

Atholl shrugged and then picked up Terry’s case and rucksack.

‘I guess we’ll sort it all out later,’ he said. ‘We’ll leave your case at the ferry office and I’ll come back for it shortly, after we’ve talked at the surgery.’ He looked down at her with a sudden laugh that made his strong face look younger, softer. ‘And I thought Terry was a man’s name…is it short for something?’

‘No,’ said Terry with deliberate emphasis. ‘It’s just Terry.’

She clambered on the back of his motorbike, and bit her lip. It wasn’t just her name—that was who she’d become now, Terry Younger, looking different and feeling different from a few days ago, cut off from the family and friends of her old life, with a whole new persona.

She was on her own, and it was vitally important to her that her job worked out here. She was as far away from London as she could reasonably get and still be in the British Isles—she wasn’t about to go anywhere else in a hurry.

‘P
UT
your arms round me,’ shouted Atholl through the wind, ‘and lean with the bike!’

He was one powerfully built man—muscles like steel bars, thought Terry as she clung to him nervously, wrapping her arms round him like a vice. She gave a surprised giggle. What girl wouldn’t choose to be in her situation? Hugging a man who looked as if he did a daily workout in the gym as close to her body as she could!

Then she closed her eyes in fright as he roared along the winding road out of the little bay and up the hill beyond the colourful cottages on the seafront, the bike leaning frighteningly at an angle when they turned corners. There was probably no need to worry about the job, she decided resignedly. She’d be killed on this bike before she got to the surgery.

They pulled up sharply in the drive of a graciouslooking stone-built house covered with scaffolding. Terry dismounted carefully, wondering if Atholl had deliberately driven the blessed machine at the speed of light to test her nerve or if it just seemed that way.

‘You OK?’ he asked.

‘Of course. I found it exhilarating,’ Terry retorted as she removed her helmet. She was damned if she’d let him believe she was a wimp!

She turned to look around at the view—or as much as she could see in the driving rain. It was spectacular, dramatic and gloomy with black clouds looming over the Sound of Scuola. The mainland over the water was just a dark line on the horizon at the moment.

‘When the sky’s clear and there’s sunshine it’s a completely different picture—the sea is as blue as a periwinkle. And believe me,’ he added with a grin, ‘it does stop raining sometimes! Now, come in and get dry and perhaps we can discuss arrangements over coffee and some biscuits.’

It was warm inside—the large hall did duty as a waiting room, and another room with half the wall cut out formed the reception area, with a severe-looking grey-haired woman behind the desk. She looked up as they came in.

‘You’ve taken your time, Atholl,’ she remarked sternly. ‘You’ve several calls to do before we finish tonight.’ She peered at his face. ‘And what have you done to your chin—fallen off your bike? I told you that machine was lethal…and your uncle hates you riding it.’

‘Nothing to do with the bike—just a fall, Isobel,’ he said lightly.

‘And what about this Dr Younger—where is he? You said you were going to meet him.’

He put his hand behind Terry’s shoulder and drew her forward, saying drily, ‘This is Dr Younger—she just travelled up from London today. Terry, this is Isobel Nash, one of our receptionists.’

Isobel stared back at Terry with surprise, taking in her bedraggled appearance wearing a leather jacket several sizes too big for her, and said bluntly, ‘But she’s a woman. We thought from the name that they were sending a man.’

Terry sighed and looked from Atholl to Isobel. There seemed to be a general prejudice against females here!

Atholl saw her expression and explained, ‘Apart from having to deal with the teenage lads I told you about, I thought a man might fit more easily into this job for, er, various reasons.’

His glance flicked across to Isobel, who looked grimmer than ever and pursed her lips, saying, ‘It’s not only that—where’s the poor lass to sleep?’

Terry put down her dripping rucksack. ‘Look, I’m sorry I’m not who you both thought I was, but do you mind if I get dry while you discuss this?’

‘Ah, yes, of course…’ Atholl’s expression was faintly embarrassed, as if he realised how rude he’d been. ‘Isobel, can you rustle up some tea and biscuits for us? We’ll go into my room, Terry, and you can dry out a bit. I’ll take the leather jacket.’

Terry followed him feeling slightly deflated, her excitement in coming to the island rather dashed by the mixed welcome she’d received. It had been a long day’s journey from London and coupled with the drama at the quayside she felt emotionally drained and now worried that she’d come all this way for nothing. How easy would it be to work with someone who had been expecting to engage a man? She gave an inward shrug. She’d just have to show him that she was as good if not better than anyone else would have been.

She took off the damp cardigan she’d been wearing under the borrowed coat, and handed it to Atholl, who draped it over a radiator. She rubbed her hair with the towel he offered and while she was drying herself he walked over to a filing cabinet, took out a file and started to read it. Terry looked at him covertly through the folds of the towel. He really had the rugged good looks and powerful physique of a man used to the outdoors—and she had reason to be grateful that he was pretty strong, she reflected, strong enough to lift her bodily off the ground with seconds to spare when a car was heading towards them.

She suspected that his brisk manner indicated he was the type of person who liked things done his way and was fairly outspoken when put out about something—like getting a woman as a locum when he expected a man! It was such an old-fashioned attitude, she thought irritably. He was probably married to a little mousy woman who wouldn’t say boo to a goose.

Atholl glanced up when he’d perused the file and flicked an assessing eye over her as she finished rubbing her hair dry, running her fingers through her short curls so that they formed a crisp halo round her face. He wasn’t at all sure that she was the right sort of person to take on this particular job. He would always be worried about her ability to cope with some of the tearaways that he and Pete had taken on—but even more to the point, and most importantly, his experience with the last locum had convinced him that there were too many pitfalls where women colleagues in a small practice were concerned. Especially, he thought with sudden awareness, when the woman was as attractive as Terry Younger! Not, of course, from his point of view—he was damn well finished with women and relationships for a long, long time—more from the aspect of his patients and friends who were all longing to fix him up with the next single woman who came into his orbit.

He sighed and sat down in the chair, leaning forward with his elbows on the desk. If they were going to work together, he ought to find out more about her.

‘So you’ve come up from London today—that’s quite a long journey.’

‘That’s right. I started at the crack of dawn. The agency sent all my particulars a few days ago, except obviously to state that I was a woman,’ Terry said drily.

He gave a rather abashed smile. ‘I’ve got the file here. I can’t have read it properly,’ he admitted. ‘It does indeed say you’re female—I’m afraid I just looked at your name, Terry Younger, and assumed they’d sent me a man.’

‘Well, they haven’t pulled the wool over your eyes, have they? Anyway, here I am!’

He blinked at her forthright attitude, and his mouth twitched with amusement. ‘You are indeed! Sit down for a moment.’ He put the file down on the desk and looked at her curiously. ‘You’ve got some excellent references and it seemed you had a good job in London. What made you want to leave?’

Terry had been expecting that question and even though she’d rehearsed her reply many times, she felt her throat constrict and to her ears her voice sounded rushed and breathless.

She swallowed, trying to let the half-lies she was telling seem light and matter-of-fact. ‘I…I felt it was time for a change. I’ve been living in London since I qualified. I love the outdoor life and it’s been a dream of mine to work in Scotland in a rural area for a long time.’

‘Can’t be easy, leaving friends and family in the South…they’ll surely miss you,’ he remarked, his clear eyes flicking over her searchingly. Her heart began to thump. Did he suspect that there’d been something amiss in her past?

She forced a smile. ‘Oh, I’ve not got much family down there now, although of course I shall miss some things,’ she said. ‘But it’s good to have a change, and I like the idea of being in a small community.’

‘A small
remote
community. Why choose Scuola—why not the mainland?’

‘When the agency mentioned the job and I looked the place up on the internet, it looked so beautiful—such a contrast to London. And remote sounds rather good to me.’

‘You didn’t want a permanent position?’

‘I thought it would be nice to experience a few jobs and get around a bit, having worked in the same place for a some years.’ And the fact, she thought bleakly, that she had to resist putting down roots, uneasy that the past might catch up with her some time.

He nodded, seemingly satisfied with this explanation. ‘And do you come from a medical family? Are either of your parents doctors?’

She knew the question was casual, a polite enquiry to show that he was interested in her background, but she wasn’t prepared for the tight little knot of distress that formed in her throat or the way her cheeks flamed. She’d developed a kind of protective amnesia where her father was concerned but when something jolted her into thinking about him a powerful image of that terrible day when her world had stopped leapt into her mind—and the knowledge that she could never live again in London without the fear of danger always at her shoulder.

‘No, my mother was a homemaker until she passed away while I was in my teens. And my father had nothing to do with medicine…nothing at all. He was in the financial world,’ she stumbled.

Atholl said very gently, ‘Has your father died too?’

Terry nodded and swallowed, pushing back the memories. ‘Yes…he had a heart attack a few weeks ago.’

‘I’m sorry. It must be a very difficult time for you.’

Difficult enough for her to leave her roots in London, Atholl surmised. He could imagine her background—affluent and comfortable, a girl who probably went to a private school and lived in a pleasant residential area of London. A city girl…just like Zara had been, he reflected bitterly.

He was prevented from asking further questions by the door opening and Isobel coming in bearing a tray with two mugs, a teapot and a plate with some scones, butter and jam on it.

‘Here’s your tea,’ she said brusquely, putting it down on the desk. She looked in her dour way at Terry. ‘You’re not from these parts, then?’

Terry sighed. It seemed that people wanted to know a lot about her, and she wanted to tell them as little as possible!

‘No, I’m not. But it looks a beautiful place—even when it’s pouring with rain!’

Isobel’s stern face softened slightly and she said, ‘Well, I hope you’ll be happy.’ She looked sternly at Atholl. ‘Now, make sure yon lass eats these home-made scones. I’ve heated them up and she must be starving after coming all that way from London.’

Isobel nodded curtly at them both and then went out to answer the phone that was ringing shrilly in Reception.

‘I suspect Isobel’s bark is worse than her bite,’ remarked Terry.

Atholl chuckled. ‘She’s as soft as butter inside, but she’s bullied and bossed Uncle Euan around for thirty years now—she thinks she runs the practice.’

‘And is your uncle very ill?’

‘He’s making good progress.’Atholl sighed. ‘The truth is I think he’ll retire now. He was on half-time before, winding down a bit.’

‘And that’s why you needed someone else to help? Was my predecessor here long?’

A slight tightening of the lips and Atholl’s expression changed. ‘Not very long,’ he replied briefly. He got up from his seat and went over to the table. ‘Now, let’s have this tea, and perhaps we can sort a few things out.’

He handed her a cup and the plate of scones whose lovely warm smell had been wafting tantalisingly across to Terry. Suddenly she realised how very hungry and thirsty she was—it had been many hours since she’d had anything to eat. She took a huge gulp of the hot strong liquid and its warmth surged comfortingly through her, then she bit into the warm scone covered with melting butter and thickly coated with raspberry jam. No doubt about it, Isobel was a wonderful cook.

He smiled as he watched her face. ‘Ready for that, were you?’

‘I’m starving,’ she admitted. ‘I don’t care how many calories were in it!’

The blue eyes flicked over her for a second. ‘I don’t think there’s any need for you to worry,’ he observed shortly.

She noted his brief comment wryly—it was so different from the flowery response she’d have expected from Max, who had scattered compliments about like confetti—especially when he’d wanted something. How he’d loved to flatter. It made her embarrassed to remember how taken in she’d been by his patronising and glib remarks. But she’d learned her lesson now—she’d never be duped by that kind of gushing sentiment again.

She pushed unwelcome thoughts about Max to the back of her mind and put the plate down. ‘Right,’ she said crisply. ‘You wanted to sort a few things out, so fire away!’

He leaned back and folded his arms. ‘Did you mean it when you said you liked the outdoor life? To be frank, you’d be asked to do a lot of things that you wouldn’t do in London. To start with there’s the mountain rescue team that we are part of. You could be called out day or night, winter or summer—it’s not just a hike up the hillside.’

‘Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.’ Terry looked at him challengingly. ‘The agency warned me there would be outside duties and I’m prepared for that—it sounds interesting. Anyway, I bet I wouldn’t be the only woman on that team. Surely they aren’t all men?’

‘As a matter of fact they are,’ he said. ‘And we can’t afford to have a weak link in the chain.’

A flash of irritation whipped through her and she sprang up from her chair. ‘Look, I wouldn’t let you down but, hey, if you can’t face working with a woman here please tell me now and I’ll take the next ferry back to the mainland and find a job somewhere else. Let’s not waste each other’s time.’

He looked slightly taken aback at her petite, feisty figure standing rather pugnaciously opposite him, then his face relaxed and he hid a broad grin behind his hand as he stroked his chin reflectively. Terry Younger didn’t mind saying what she felt, although he had a gut feeling that there was more to her story about the real reason she’d left London. She’d seemed vaguely uncomfortable when answering some of his questions.

He knew only too well from his own experience that it was often a seismic event in one’s life that made one up sticks and move to a another location. But it took guts to come up all this way north without knowing anyone and leaving one’s friends behind, and hadn’t she just proved she was no slouch in an emergency? Perhaps, he pondered, she wouldn’t be such a bad choice after all—and where was he going to get another doctor at short notice, just as the tourist season on Scuola was starting? He couldn’t afford to be too choosy, and he’d just have to put up with having a woman to work with, however wary he was after his experience with Zara Grahame, his previous locum.