Harlequin Medical Romance December 2015, Box Set 1 of 2 (33 page)

‘Yes,' he said fervently.

‘Only if I get to see you in boxers.'

‘How do you know I don't wear budgie smugglers?'

She grinned. ‘You're not that type of man. I know it.'

‘How do you know?'

‘Intuition,' she said happily, heading up the steps to the front door. ‘But it's not infallible. Will I still love you if you turn out to be a man who wears budgie smugglers? Watch this space, Dr Denver. In the fullness of time, all will be revealed.'

But he didn't follow. ‘Polly, wait.' He hesitated, not because he wanted to, but because things were suddenly moving with a speed that made him dizzy. Boundaries seemed about to be crossed, and if he was to ask Polly to step over them then honesty was required. She needed to see the things he'd railed against for the last twelve months for what they were.

She turned and smiled back at him, but her smile faded as she saw his face. ‘What? Are you about to tell me you've two wives and nineteen children in Outer Mongolia?'

‘Only Ruby.'

‘Then what's the problem?'

‘Polly, there's no ER here. We have no specialists on call. There's no three hat restaurant or even a decent curry takeaway. Everyone knows everyone and everyone knows everyone else's business. If you dive into the pool in a polka dot bikini it'll be all over the town by morning.'

‘Really?'

‘The wombat's reporting it to the grapevine this very minute.'

She didn't smile. ‘Do you hate it?' she asked and the question caught him off guard.

Did he hate it?

There'd been times in the past year when he had. There were still times when he longed for his old life, his old job, his friends. But now...

He'd learned to love this little hospital, he thought. Joe and his teasing. Barb and her incessant knitting. Mary and her worries. And his patients... He was becoming part of the lives of the Valley and he was finally starting to see why his father had worked here for so long.

But would he still escape if he could?

Not if Polly was here.

And suddenly he thought that even if she wasn't, things had changed. Polly had brought him laughter. She'd brought smiles to his little niece. She'd brought him Christmas.

But more. She'd brought him courage and, no matter what happened now, something of her would stay.

Did he hate Wombat Valley? Suddenly it was like asking: Did he hate life?

‘I did hate it,' he said slowly. ‘But I hadn't figured that all it needed was a dusting of polka dots.'

‘And flour,' she said and grinned. ‘Flour's important. And tatted angels. I'm learning fast. By next Christmas you could have tatted angels from one end of the house to the other.'

‘That sounds okay to me,' he said, and it felt okay.

Actually, it felt more than okay. It felt excellent.

‘But you?' he asked, because he had to be fair. He had to know. ‘Polly, I will not trap you.'

And in answer she walked back down the steps and she took his hands. ‘I'm not walking from one trap into another,' she said softly. ‘Eyes wide open, I'm stepping into magic.'

Christmas
was
magic, he thought, as finally they broke away and he headed inside for his board shorts. Kiss or not, decision or not, Polly was still insisting on a swim and Polly was bossy and he had the gravest forebodings of bossiness to come.

He couldn't wait.

But for now they were heading for a swim and maybe it wouldn't even be cold.

For magic happened. It was the night before Christmas and the night was full of promise of magic to come.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

H
UGO
HAD
SLEPT
for
three hours or maybe a bit less before a squeal broke the stillness of dawn.

Polly had tied a balloon to the end of Ruby's bed, with a red ribbon stretching across the floor and out of the open window. Ruby had obviously found the ribbon.

There was another squeal, longer than the first, and then a yell of pure joy.

‘Uncle Hugo! Polly! Hamster! Everyone! Santa's been and he's left a...a pool! There's sand and umbrellas and it's just like the beach. And there's presents piled up beside it and
ohhhhhh
...'

They heard a thud as she jumped out of her window and then hysterical barking as Hamster discovered the enormous intruder in his yard.

‘I'd better sneak back to my bedroom before she finds me,' Polly murmured, laughing, and he rolled over and smiled down into her dancing eyes.

‘Why would she come and find you when she has a beach?'

‘Uncle Hugo!' The yell from outside was imperative. ‘Come and see!'

He had to come and see. He had no choice, he thought, as he hauled on his pants and headed for the door, giving Polly time to work out a decorous strategy for her appearance.

He had no choice at all, he thought, as he walked through the front door and was hit by the world's biggest hug from the world's most excited seven-year-old.

‘How wonderful!' He emerged from the hug to find that somehow Polly had made it back to her bedroom and was leaning out of her window, smiling and smiling as she called to them both, ‘Happy Christmas, Hugo. Happy Christmas, Ruby. Yay for Santa.'

He had no choice at all, Hugo thought as Ruby dragged him forward to inspect every aspect of this amazing transformation of his yard.

He hadn't had a choice twelve months ago and he didn't have a choice now.

And the strange thing was, no choice at all seemed wonderful.

* * *

Polly lay on
her sunbed beside the swimming pool and thought about dozing but the world was too big, too wonderful, too full of magic.

Around her was the litter of Christmas. Ruby had woken to little-girl magic, to gifts she loved, to excitement, to fun. She was now asleep on a daybed, cuddled between Olivia and Hamster. Charles was asleep on the next bed.

Weird, wonderful, somehow fitting together...

Family.

She wouldn't run again, Polly decided. She didn't need to.

For Hugo was coming towards her, striding up the slope from the hospital. He'd gone across to check Bert Blyth for chest pain. It'd be indigestion, Polly thought. Hospitals the world over would be filling with indigestion after Christmas dinner.

‘All clear?' she asked as he reached her. She stretched languorously, deliciously, and he sat down beside her and tugged her into his arms.

‘All done.' He kissed her nose. ‘If you stay out in the sun you'll get more freckles.'

‘I have cream on.'

‘I'm not complaining. I like freckles. Polly, I don't have a gift for you.' He hesitated and then kissed her again, more deeply this time. And when he put her away his smile had faded.

‘It's okay,' she told him. ‘I don't have a gift for you either.'

‘We could take a raincheck until the roads are open. We could buy each other socks. Socks are good.'

‘I don't have a lot of time for socks.'

‘Really?' He was holding her shoulders, looking down into her eyes. ‘Then I have another suggestion.'

‘Wh... What?'

‘What about a partnership?'

Her eyes never left his face. ‘A partnership?'

‘Polly, you know the partnership I'm thinking of,' he said, and he smiled, his best doctor-reassuring-patient smile. And it worked a treat. She loved that smile.

‘But I know that's too soon,' he told her. ‘So I thought...what's not too soon is a professional partnership. Wombat Valley has only one doctor and that leaves me on call twenty-four seven. That's more than enough to keep me busy. The Valley could easily cope with a doctor and a half.'

‘A half,' she said dubiously. ‘So you're offering...'

‘Three-quarters.' He was smiling again but there was anxiety in his smile. He wasn't sure, she thought, but then, neither was she. ‘Three-quarters each,' he said softly. ‘A medical practice where we have time to care for our patients but we also have time to care for ourselves.'

‘If this is about my diabetes...'

‘It's nothing to do with your diabetes. It's everything to do with Ruby and Hamster and swimming and enjoying the Valley and making origami frogs and maybe even, in time, making a baby or two...'

‘A...what?'

‘Given time,' he said hastily. ‘If things work out. I don't want to propel things too fast.'

‘Babies! That's propelling like anything.'

‘I'm sorry,' he said hastily, but he kissed her again, lightly at first and then more deeply, making a liar of himself in the process. ‘No propelling,' he repeated as the kiss came to a reluctant end. ‘A professional partnership first and then, if things go well...maybe more?'

‘Wow,' she breathed. ‘Just...wow.'

‘What do you think?'

What did she think? ‘If we're not propelling... I'd need somewhere to live.'

‘So you would. There are a few Valley folk who could be persuaded to take in a boarder. Or,' he suggested, even more tentatively, ‘we might be able to split this house. We could put a brick wall or six between us.'

‘It wouldn't work.'

‘No?'

‘Not now I've seen you in boxers.' And without boxers, she thought, and she felt her face colour. She looked up at him and she couldn't help but blush, but she managed to smile and he smiled back.

She loved him so much. How could she love someone so fast?

How could she not?

‘So you think it's too soon?' he asked.

Define too soon
, she thought. Too soon to love this kind, gentle man who'd given up his world for his little niece? This skilled and caring surgeon who had the capacity to twist her heart?

This gorgeous, sexy man who had the capacity to make her toes curl just by smiling?

Too soon?

She forced herself to look away, around at her parents, at Ruby, at Hamster, then at the little hospital and the valley surrounding them.

Too soon?

‘It's Christmas,' she whispered. ‘Christmas is magic. Christmas is when you wave a wand and start again, a new beginning, the start of the rest of your life.'

‘Isn't that New Year?'

‘Maybe it is,' she said as the last lingering doubts dissipated to nothing. She tugged him back into her arms and felt him fold her to him. If home was where the heart was, then home was here. ‘So we have New Year to come.'

‘What could possibly happen in the New Year that could be better than right now?' he murmured into her hair, and she smiled and smiled.

‘Well,' she whispered, ‘if we sign for a professional partnership on Christmas Day, what's to stop another type of partnership occurring in the New Year?'

And it did.

EPILOGUE

Christmas, one year on. Dawn...

P
OLLY
STRETCHED
LANGUOROUSLY
in her enormous bed, and Hugo's arm came out to tug her close. Skin against skin was the best feeling in the world, she decided. She closed her eyes to savour the moment. The dawn chorus would soon wake the house. Ruby and Hamster would burst in at any minute, but for now she could just
be
...

With Hugo.

‘Happy Christmas, my love,' he murmured, and she snuggled closer.

‘Happy Christmas to you too.' But as his hold tightened and she felt the familiar rush of heat and joy, she tugged back. ‘Oi,' she said in warning. ‘Ruby and Hamster will arrive at any second.'

‘So let me announce number one of my Christmas gifts,' he told her. ‘One lock, installed last night. Eight years old is old enough to knock.'

‘Really?'

‘Really.' His arms tightened and he rolled her above him so she was looking down into his eyes. ‘So it's Happy Christmas, my love, for as long as we want.'

‘Hooray!'

But the house was stirring. There were thumps and rushing footsteps and then whoops as one small girl spotted what was under the Christmas tree. And then they heard Polly's mum's voice...

‘We've hidden a gift for Hamster in the backyard,' Olivia called. ‘Let's go help him find it. We'll give those sleepyheads a few more minutes' rest.'

‘Sleepyheads?' Polly murmured. ‘Who's she calling a sleepyhead?'

‘That would be you.' And it was true. For the last few weeks Polly had seemed to doze any time she had to herself.

The first trimester often did that. She must have fallen pregnant on the first week of their honeymoon.

It had been...that sort of honeymoon.

‘But I'll defend you,' Hugo offered. ‘If I can just hold you first...'

And who could resist a bargain like that?

It was good to hold. No, it was truly excellent, Polly decided some time later. She was curved against her husband's body, feeling cat-got-the-cream smug, nowhere near sleep.

Thinking
Christmas.

Thinking
family
.

How had she ever thought family could be a trap? It had freed them all.

It had even given Hugo back his career.

For two doctors in Wombat Valley had transformed the medical scene. No doctor had wanted to practice here, knowing it meant isolation and overwork. But, with two doctors already committed, more followed.

A couple wanting to escape the rat race of Sydney had looked at Wombat Valley six months ago with fresh eyes. Doctors Meg and Alan Cartwright had bought Doc Farr's vineyard, but the vineyard was a hobby and they needed income to support it.

That meant the Valley now had four doctors, which meant there was cover for holidays. They could go to the beach. What was more, the locals no longer had to go to Sydney for thoracic surgery. A new, stable road meant Hugo could operate twice a week at Willaura. Meg's specialty was urology so she spent a couple of days in Willaura too. The rotation of surgical medical students through Willaura had increased. Hugo could even teach.

It was all Hugo wanted.

No. It wasn't all he wanted.

He wanted Polly and Ruby and Hamster. He even wanted Polly's parents, which was just as well, as Charles and Olivia were constant visitors.

They'd backed off, though. From that first day when Hugo had set the boundaries, they'd accepted them. There was even talk of them building a ‘small granny flat', though Polly and Hugo had almost choked when Olivia had explained what she meant by ‘small'.

That was for the future, though. For now, for this Christmas, Charles and Olivia were once again staying in their house. ‘For how can we not be there on Christmas morning to share the joy?' they'd asked and who could say no? Definitely not Hugo. Definitely not Polly.

For joy was here in abundance. This morning they'd tell them about the baby. They'd already told Ruby. ‘It's a secret,' they'd told her, and Ruby was almost bursting with excitement.

‘Happy?' Hugo asked. They could hear Olivia and Charles, Hamster and Ruby, heading back to the house. Lock or no lock, their peace was about to be blasted.

‘Can you doubt it?'

‘I don't doubt it,' he murmured. ‘Not for a moment.' He kissed her deeply and then swung out of bed—and paused. Polly's Christmas outfit was hanging by the window, ready for her to slip on. Red and white polka dots. A sash with a huge crimson bow. Crimson stilettoes.

‘Wow,' he breathed. ‘I thought we'd lost the polka dots for ever.'

‘Mum had this made for me,' Polly told him. ‘Seeing the snake got the last one.'

‘And stilettoes...' He looked at the gorgeous dress with its tiny waist and then he looked at the high stilettoes. He grinned. ‘You know, Dr Hargreaves, you may need to consider slightly more staid dressing as our baby grows.'

‘Bah! Humbug!' Polly said and chuckled up at him. ‘Our baby will love polka dots. Polka dots are delicious, life's delicious and so are you.'

‘Package deal?'

‘You got it,' she said serenely. ‘I have polka dots, life and you, all tied up in one delicious Christmas package. Happy Christmas, Dr Denver. Who could ask for more?'

* * * * *