The Rebel Surgeon's Proposal (6 page)

The talk moved on, the girls giggling as they discussed how lucky Gina was to have won the heart of her rich and sexy Italian doctor. Seb Adriani had fallen so in love with Gina he had left his home country to come to Strathlochan to work alongside her at the drop-in centre.

‘Well, I’m pleased for her,’ Holly said, ever loyal in her support. ‘Seb is a really nice guy and they are so in love.’

‘She deserves her happiness,’ Francesca agreed, knowing how Gina had devoted so much of herself to care for her elderly grandparents. Her grandmother was still alive and Seb had embraced the older lady, insisting she be part of their family after their marriage.

She shared a smile with Holly, seeing the sadness behind the other girl’s eyes, knowing from Annie how much Holly was in love with A and E doctor Gus Buchanan. It was a difficult situation because Holly’s devious, manipulative sister Julia had all but stolen Gus from under Holly’s nose, getting pregnant and trapping him into an unhappy marriage.

‘Do you remember your first kiss?’

The question from one of the other nurses startled Francesca from her reverie. ‘Um, yes. Do you?’

‘I’ll say.’ Carolyn giggled, leaning forward to share her confidence. ‘It was foul! But most people say that, don’t they?’

The others joined in and they all laughed over their stories
and memories of their first kisses. ‘How about you, Francesca?’ Carolyn asked.

‘Me?’ A flush warmed her cheeks. She seldom found herself in this sort of situation and hated to talk about herself, but memories of that first kiss were so vibrant in her mind she found herself replying. ‘It was…nice.’

Nice? Who was she kidding? It had been perfect, wonderful. And even though they had both been so young and she had been so inexperienced, nothing had really lived up to it since. Which was ridiculous, but true all the same.

‘Well, go on, then!’ the girls teased.

‘What?’

‘You seem to be the only one of us who enjoyed their first kiss! Mine was wet and sloppy and revolting and I vowed never to do it again.’ Holly giggled shyly.

‘Mine was gross, too, but I’ve made up for it since!’ another joked. ‘Come on, Francesca.’

‘There’s not much to tell,’ she lied, silent for several moments as she relived that unforgettable day in her mind…

It had been exam time near the end of the school year. She had been sixteen, surrounded in the school playground by the gang of girls who had tormented and teased her for as long as Francesca could remember. Luke had come outside and the girls had jostled her, pushing her forward, bumping her into Luke and daring her to kiss him. She had been mortified as they had stood back to giggle and make catcalls. Tears had stung her eyes as she had forced herself to look up at Luke—eighteen, so handsome, her hero. He had looked past her to the group of girls, had realised what was going on, and the expression in his green eyes had gentled.

‘Are they making you do this?’

She’d nodded, too shy and humiliated to speak.

‘Well, let’s give them a show they won’t forget.’

‘What?’ Her eyes had widened, round and scared. ‘You don’t have to.’

He’d smiled then, the sinful, bad-boy smile that still made her melt. ‘I know. But I want to kiss you,’ he had confided, shocking her anew.

‘Y-you do?’ she’d managed, scarcely able to breathe.

‘Very much.’

‘But…’

He’d looked down at her, considering. ‘Have you been kissed before?’

A tide of embarrassed colour had washed her cheeks as she shook her head in denial.

‘Do you trust me?’

‘Yes.’

The affirmation was immediate. She had always trusted him, despite the things they had said about him and his beastly family. Instinctively, she had always known that Luke and his mother were good people, and for years Luke had been her silent protector, always in the background but there if she’d needed help. Her skin tingled unbearably as he raised a hand, his fingers gliding along her cheek before sliding back into the untamable fall of hair, drawing her towards him.

‘Just relax and follow my lead,’ he whispered. ‘I’ll look after you.’

Drawing in a ragged breath, she nodded, eyes drifting shut at the feel of his lips as they pressed gently and firmly against hers. He was wonderful. She could hear the taunts and whistles from the girls but all she could focus on was him. He pulled away slightly and she experienced a crushing sense of disappointment that it was over, but he didn’t let her go. Eyes sultry with something she didn’t recognise, he brushed the pad of his thumb over her lips.

‘Open your mouth for me, Chessie,’ he instructed softly, using the name only he called her.

‘W-what?’

He smiled, amused but kind. ‘I want to do this right.’

A bit bemused, she nevertheless did what he said, her lips parting as he tilted her head and his mouth took possession of hers once more. There was no other way to describe it. Gently, firmly but thoroughly, he possessed her, teaching her what kissing was like. The world ceased to exist beyond their own space as his lips caressed hers. Then she started in shock as his tongue teased her lips before sliding inside her mouth. Even more shocking, she found she liked it. More than liked it. And she kissed him back, tentatively touching her tongue to his, gasping as he kissed her more deeply, more strongly, drinking her in, tasting and savouring her as if unable to get enough.

‘Devlin!’ His name, bellowed across the yard, made them jerk apart.

Dazed, she stared up at Luke as his hands dropped away from her, his expression a mix of desire, sorrow, anger and resignation as the teacher came up and shoved him.

‘Get your hands off her.’ The order had been unnecessary as they had no longer been touching. ‘The headmaster’s office. Now.’

As Luke was marched off like a criminal, Francesca had followed behind, determined he would not be punished just because of who he was, because of his awful father and brothers. Her anger had flared at the unfairness. It wasn’t right, she wouldn’t let it happen. By the time she had caught up with them, ignoring the secretary and stepping into the office, Luke was already being lambasted.

‘Excuse me,’ she interrupted, unsure where her courage was coming from.

Three pairs of eyes watched her, one shocked and concerned, two hostile.

‘There’s no need for you to be involved here,’ the head told her.

‘But there is. Luke’s done nothing wrong, sir.
I
kissed
him.
I walked up to him and asked if I could kiss him. He did nothing to me. He didn’t hurt me, or do anything against my will. It’s not fair to blame him or treat him like this.’

Silence followed her impassioned speech.

‘Why would you do such a stupid thing?’ the head growled at her. ‘He’s not the sort of person you should be associating with. What would your mother say? He’s bad news.’

‘I don’t believe that, sir. Luke’s not responsible for his family. You can’t do this. You can’t blame him when it wasn’t his fault. If you want to punish someone, it should be me.’

Her gaze met Luke’s then and she saw his shock, his admiration, then he shook his head, trying to tell her to back off, to leave him, but she wouldn’t, she was too angry at the injustice of it….

The clatter of a tray being dropped on the canteen floor snapped Francesca back to the present.

She didn’t know to this day what all the fuss had been about over the kiss, but she had been dismissed and all but frogmarched back to her classroom. She had no idea what had happened after that as she had only seen Luke a few times in the distance, but never alone. She had never been able to talk to him, to do more than exchange lingering eye contact. A couple of weeks later he had sat his final exam, and then he had gone and she had never seen him again—until ten days ago.

But she had never forgotten him or that kiss. She’d been kissed since then but nothing had compared to that first time.
Which she knew was silly as she’d had no idea what she’d been doing and Luke had been scarcely more than a boy at the time, however much more experienced than her. But a connection had flowed between them, one she couldn’t explain.

‘It was enjoyable,’ she said now with classic understatement, censoring her story, the girls agog as they listened. ‘He was kind,’ she continued, refusing to give them his name. ‘He made it good, special.’

‘Wow!’ Holly breathed.

‘Yeah,’ Carolyn agreed. ‘I wish my first kiss had been like that.’

‘We need a male opinion,’ one of the other nurses declared. ‘Here’s our hunky new surgeon, we’ll ask him.’

Francesca smothered a groan as she turned her head in time to see Luke enter the room. Still dressed in scrubs, he looked tired and rumbled. He hesitated as the nurse called his name and beckoned for him to join them, but then Francesca’s breath hitched as his gaze met hers and he headed in their direction with deceptively lazy strides.

‘Ladies,’ he greeted them.

Holly smiled in welcome. ‘Hi, Luke.’

‘We were talking about first kisses and we want a man’s opinion,’ Carolyn explained.

‘Oh?’

Francesca kept her head down, unable to meet his gaze, wondering if he remembered, sure that he didn’t.

‘What was your first kiss like, Luke?’ the nurse who had called him over asked.

‘I don’t remember my first ever kiss, but I remember one in particular.’

Francesca’s breath lodged in her throat at Luke’s words. Glancing up from beneath her lashes, her gaze clashed with his intense green one.

‘Tell us,’ Carolyn encouraged, almost bouncing on her chair with excitement.

‘I kissed a girl at school,’ Luke admitted, his voice husky. ‘It was good, special.’

He’d unwittingly echoed her own words, Francesca realised, her cheeks warming again. She hoped none of the girls had noticed and that they wouldn’t make the connection between her account and his. With a last lingering look in her direction, Luke excused himself. His parting words, that he was getting a quick coffee to go before changing and heading home, seemed to hold a silent message for her alone.

She finished up her breakfast, nerves fluttering inside her as she said a casual goodbye to her companions and headed out of the canteen. She took the stairs down to the ground floor and went outside, unsurprised when Luke, dressed now in jeans, jumper and his leather jacket, caught her up several minutes later as she wheeled her bicycle across from the covered shed. The hospital car park was filling up quickly as staff arrived for their day shifts and patients came for appointments or to book into wards for scheduled procedures and longer stays.

They walked down the hill in silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable but it
was
charged. Francesca felt tired after three hectic night shifts on duty, but inside she was buzzing. She couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss ten years ago…or help wondering what it would be like to kiss Luke now. Did he really remember what had happened between them or had his words just been a coincidence, something neutral to say in response to a group of women’s nosy questions?

‘How did the surgery go?’ she finally asked, needing normalcy to get her back on an even keel.

‘It went well.’ Luke’s voice, warmly husky, sent tingles through her, and she tried to concentrate as he continued. ‘Pro
vided the wounds heal well and he doesn’t get an infection, he’ll be up on crutches within a few days, but he won’t be able to weight-bear on the leg for five or six weeks in case the plates warp. He could need some physiotherapy to strengthen his muscles, but in time he should make a good recovery.’

Francesca smiled, proud of his skill and achievement, knowing from the X-rays she had taken in A and E that repairing the fractures would have been challenging. ‘That’s great.’

‘Let’s hope the hit-and-run driver who left him like that is caught.’

‘Indeed.’ She wasn’t sure how likely it was, though. ‘Were there any witnesses?’

Luke shrugged, but the casualness of the gesture belied his concerned expression. ‘I don’t know. I hope we’ll get feedback from the police soon.’

The conversation ended as they reached her front door. Francesca opened it and wheeled her bicycle inside the wide hallway before leaning it against the wall. Turning she discovered Luke had waited on the doorstep. She knew it was best that he didn’t linger now—they both needed their sleep—but the sense of disappointment was still strong. Squaring her shoulders and mustering her resolve to keep more distance between them, she walked back to the door to say goodbye.

‘Get some rest,’ he advised before she could speak. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Chessie.’

‘I—’

Her words of denial and her determination to tell him she had other plans were lost as Luke bent his head and brushed her mouth with his. She froze, her stomach tightening with the painful thrill of awareness and desire. As he drew back a scant centimetre, she saw mischief sparkling in his green eyes.

‘Open your mouth, Chessie,’ he whispered.

She gasped. ‘You
do
remember!’

‘Of course.’ His eyes darkened. ‘I’ve never forgotten. Have you?’

‘No,’ she breathed, unconsciously moistening dry lips with the tip of her tongue.

‘Care to try it again?’

She stared at him, heat coursing through her veins. ‘We shouldn’t. I…’ Her half-hearted protest trailed off.

‘Chessie?’

All common sense was lost at the uncertainty, the need in his voice. ‘Yes.’

A small smile, a mix of relief and triumph, curved his mouth at her surrender. Then his lips were on hers once more, soft, teasing, tempting. Her own parted for him, her hands rising of their own accord so she could sink her fingers into the thick, surprisingly soft strands of hair at the back of his head, urging him to stop playing and to kiss her properly. And he did. Oh, how he did!

She had fantasised about this and now it was happening. A whimper escaped as she sank into him, losing herself in the kiss. It was all heat and fire and passion, stirring things that had never been stirred before, making her want as she had never wanted before. Her knees felt unable to support her as Luke sucked on her tongue, drawing her into the warm, moist cavern of his mouth, and she pressed herself closer, alarmed at the terrible ache squeezing inside her, desperate for him to alleviate it.