Return of Dr Maguire (Mills & Boon Medical) (18 page)

And her heart nearly exploded with happiness. For the first time in many years the future looked wonderful. Her old friend Suzy Collins had been wrong about Lachlan!

She smiled at him. ‘Perhaps that little disagreement was a good thing—it’s made us realise how much we mean to each other. But I’m sorry I went over the top about it all.’

He stroked her cheek gently. ‘Nothing wrong with being concerned about your parents,’ he said rather sadly. ‘I should have considered my own mother much more than I did.’

Christa smiled at him. ‘She must have forgiven you. The fact that she left you Ardenleigh is proof of that,’ she commented, sipping the refreshing tea Lachlan had brought her. She looked at him from under her eyelashes, her voice teasing. ‘Supposing this scheme of yours doesn’t materialise and you’ve not enough money to restore it?’

He went to the huge windows and pulled back the curtains so that the light flooded in, and gazed out at the wonderful view of the garden and woods and the bright sea beyond.

He turned round to face her and said simply, ‘Then it may take longer than I thought, but if you’re here to help me we can do it together.’

Christa lay back on the bed for a precious minute, smiling in tender reminiscence of the wonderful loving night she’d spent with Lachlan. How sweet it had been to nestle close to him on the sheepskin rug in front of the fire he’d lit in the beautiful drawing room. His strong face had looked down at her in the half-light as he’d gently undressed her in front of the flickering flames.

‘This is what we were meant to do, sweetheart—forget the past and live our own lives!’

And later they had gone up to the bedroom with the old sagging bed and fallen asleep in each other’s arms—and now he’d told her that he wanted to be with her all the time. Life was perfect!

* * *

‘You’ve a huge backlog of patients,’ grumbled Ginny to them both as they stood like recalcitrant schoolchildren in front of the two receptionists. ‘The natives are getting restless.’

‘Apologies,’ said Lachlan with a charming smile at them both. ‘If you knew what a night we’ve had!’

Christa stifled a giggle and the girls nodded sympathetically. ‘Oh, yes—poor old Bertie Smith taken to hospital with a heart attack, wasn’t it? You’ve had an e-mail from Coronary Care at St Luke’s about him. You poor things, you must be exhausted!’

‘Just a little,’ remarked Lachlan lightly. ‘So who’s doing the clinic today?’

‘Sarah’s doing the BP clinic for the oldies, but the rep’s cancelled his appointment.’

‘Thank goodness for that,’ remarked Christa, giving them all a sparkling smile. ‘Now, let’s get started, shall we?’

Ginny stared at Christa’s retreating back. ‘Well! She looks as if she’s lost sixpence and found a pound,’ she remarked to the room. ‘I haven’t seen her looking so cheery for ages!’

Alice glanced at Lachlan astutely. ‘Are you taking anyone to the dance?’ she asked cheekily.

‘That would be telling.’ Lachlan smiled, one finger tapping his nose, as he went out of the room.

‘I’d love to know who he’s taking!’ said Alice in a stage whisper to Ginny when they were alone.

Ginny didn’t believe in gossip. ‘I’ve no idea who it is, Alice—that’s his business,’ she said loftily.

Alice took no notice. ‘I bet you anything Christa and Lachlan are up to something! I mean, they came in together this morning and I’d swear to it that Christa came across the courtyard from the house. I didn’t see her come down the road. And did you see the way Lachlan looked at her?’

‘Nonsense, Alice! Anyway, they bought separate tickets for the dance—if they were going as a couple, surely he’d have just bought two. And if she did come from the house this morning, it was probably because she’d been discussing Bertie Smith’s heart attack last night.’

Alice giggled. ‘I’m sure he wasn’t thinking of Bertie Smith’s heart—just what his own heart was doing when he was near Christa!’

‘Rubbish! What are you like?’ said Ginny dismissively, but all the same there was a thoughtful look in her eyes as she went to the desk to deal with a patient.

CHAPTER TEN

C
HRISTA
RIFFLED
THROUGH
her wardrobe and threw the limited selection of evening wear she had onto the bed. Everything looked tired and dated. It was so long since she’d been anywhere glamorous that she’d forgotten what she had to wear!

She was beginning to panic about what she should wear to the dance in two weeks. She definitely didn’t want to appear in the smart little black sheath dress she’d worn two years ago to the same event. It was the very one she’d worn the night Colin had so gallantly ditched her for someone else!

She threw it onto a pile of other clothes she had marked out for the charity shop and decided the only thing to do was to trust to luck and go shopping at the weekend in the little boutique in the village, and hope it would have something inspiring to wear. She wanted to look knock-out good for Lachlan!

* * *

Selina’s was a busy little shop—the only dress shop for miles around—and was owned by Ginny’s sister, a glamorous girl who had been a model in her younger days. She was a friend of Christa’s, although Christa hadn’t been in her shop for ages, because there’d been no occasion to dress up for.

‘Hello, stranger!’ Selina grinned. ‘Can I guess you’ve come for something for the village dance?’

‘I certainly have—the only possible thing I’ve got is two years old and I don’t like it any more.’

‘Well, long or short? I’ve some lovely maxi dresses in...’ Selina gave Christa an assessing look. ‘I think with your lovely creamy complexion and auburn hair, a soft apricot colour would suit you, and I’ve got the very thing.’

From the back room she brought out a dress and held it up to Christa. ‘Wow!’ she said. ‘Put that on immediately before someone else nabs it! It’s made for you.’

And even Christa had to admit that she looked good in it—a lovely column of the softest apricot satin that clung to her in all the right places and plunged at the back down to her waist, more modestly at the front.

‘You don’t think it looks a little...well, daring?’ suggested Christa rather nervously. ‘I mean, I’m hardly wearing anything at all at the back!’

‘Rubbish! You’re young and beautiful—wear it while you can. You’ll have every male in the place salivating!’

There was only one male that Christa wanted to impress. She gave a little giggle at the thought of Lachlan’s reaction. ‘OK, Selina—you’re a great saleswoman. I’ll have it!’

She swung out of the shop happily. Next week she’d be in Lachlan’s arms on the dance floor, and she could almost feel their bodies moving in harmony together to some impossibly romantic tune. Then she laughed to herself—it would more likely be a heavy metal number from the local group who thought they were in with a shout on
The X Factor
!

She hung the dress on the wardrobe door and flicked a duster round the living room with the radio belting out something cheery on the Saturday morning show. She hummed to the music. Lachlan was going to call for her on his way back from a run along the beach, and then they were going on a bracing walk through the woods to a local waterfall. She couldn’t have been happier.

The front doorbell rang, and as usual Titan bounded to the door, growling ferociously.

‘Don’t you know me yet, Titan?’ asked Lachlan, bending down to stroke the little dog. ‘You’re going to be seeing a lot more of me in the future!’

He had on old shorts and a battered sweatshirt round his shoulders, and as usual Christa felt that flip of excitement when she saw him.

‘I won’t kiss you.’ He grinned. ‘I need a shower first—you make some coffee at Ardenleigh while I’m making myself presentable.’

They walked back to the big house and Christa filled the kettle with water while he went upstairs. She wandered over to the table where a pile of old photographs was scattered—Lachlan had evidently been sorting things out. Christa leafed through them. Many were of Isobel and her husband with Lachlan as a little boy, and then when he was older, his arm around his mother. They looked a devoted little group, young Lachlan laughing up at them, his parents’ hands on his shoulders. It revealed a window of happiness in his life, and emphasised the poignancy of how it had all been smashed so irrevocably.

From those old snapshots it was obvious that he had adored his parents, and how doubly sad it was that he’d gone abroad, cut off all ties from those he’d loved. No wonder now that he needed to assuage his guilt by meeting Isobel’s requests—only then could he feel a sense of release from his guilt.

Then the kettle boiled and she made the coffee and poured out two mugs.

‘God, that smells good,’ said Lachlan, coming into the kitchen. His dark thick hair was slicked down across his head, and he smelled clean and fresh. ‘First things first,’ he murmured, and his mouth found hers, pressing her body to his hungrily.

Christa leant against him for a moment, loving the feel of his hard body against hers, then said gently, ‘Those are lovely photos of your family, Lachlan—I couldn’t help seeing them.’

He smiled wryly. ‘I’m glad I found them. Shows that once upon a time I had a happy family.’

‘We’re going to look forward, remember?’ she remarked. ‘Lots of good times to come!’

He leaned against the cupboards and took a sip from his mug, looking at her over the rim. ‘I can’t think of anything better,’ he murmured.

He poured himself some more coffee and said casually, ‘What makes things even more wonderful, sweetheart, is that you are just the girl my mother wanted me to marry!’

She laughed. ‘You don’t know that!’

‘I certainly do...’

‘But the last time you spoke to her I was nowhere around!’ she protested. ‘For all you know, I might be the last person she would want. I doubt very much that she—’

Lachlan put a hand up as if to stop her talking. ‘Will you listen for a second? I absolutely know that that is what she wanted—for you and I to be together...’

‘How do you know for certain?’

‘Because I have it from the horse’s mouth!’

Christa frowned. ‘I don’t believe you! Anyway, we will never know what she really wanted, will we?’

‘I can prove it to you.’

He went to the little dresser in the kitchen and opened a drawer and pulled out a letter. He unfolded it and gave it to her.

‘Read it!’ he said simply.

Christa recognised the writing immediately—a letter in Isobel’s distinctive hand. She looked up at Lachlan.

‘This is a private letter, Lachlan, from your mother—I don’t need to read it.’

‘Read it!’ he repeated.

She shrugged and scanned the closely written page, feeling her eyes welling up as Isobel’s voice came loud and clear through her writing. ‘“To my beloved son, Lachlan, I wish I could speak these words directly to you, but in case that doesn’t happen, here are a few things I wish to say...”’

Isobel went on to write how she could completely understand Lachlan’s attitude when his parents had broken up and why he’d felt he had to get away, and blaming herself entirely for everything that had gone wrong between them. She told him how she would love him to have Ardenleigh, the house he’d grown up in, and hoped he’d find happiness in it as he had when he’d been young.

‘“And I want you to get married, my darling son, and have a happy family life—and I know exactly who I would like you to get married to! Christa Lennox has worked with me for six years and I have grown to love her like a daughter. I believe she would be perfect for you. She is fun, intelligent, kind and beautiful. I think I know her very well now, and I can think of no one better than Christa to be my daughter-in-law! I would have been so happy to know she was your wife.”’

Christa stared at the paper in her hand and swallowed hard as Lachlan stood watching her.

‘Well?’ he said. ‘Do you believe me now?’

There was silence for a few seconds then she took a deep breath. ‘Of course I do,’ she said quietly. She turned the letter over in her hand rather distractedly, then put it on the table and said slowly, ‘I suppose that’s why you’re keen to keep our relationship going—to fulfil your mother’s wishes.’

Lachlan’s mouth dropped. ‘
What?
Surely you don’t really think that?’

‘It seems we are both being influenced by our mothers,’ she said in a tight little voice. ‘I thought you were going out with me on your own account, not because Isobel said you should.’

He stared at her aghast. ‘Don’t be a fool,’ he said roughly. ‘That has nothing to do with it. I’d want to be with you, whatever my mother thought.’

‘Would you?’ she said sadly.

Christa felt cold, almost sick with remorse—what a blundering idiot she was! It was staring her in the face. Lachlan Maguire might be taking her out because he fancied her, but he’d been motivated by guilt and determination to do what his mother had wanted. He didn’t really want to get married—he’d said as much once or twice, even her old friend Suzy Collins had known it—but the voice of Isobel came over powerfully in that letter. Lachlan would never have proposed marriage—if that was what it was—if his mother had not requested he do so!

Her eyes sparked with anger. ‘Frankly, I’ll be damned if I’m just going to be the means of assuaging your guilt about your mother, Lachlan—just fulfilling Isobel’s wishes. I want to be the centre of your world, not part of a list you’ve ticked off of your mother’s wishes: have the house; join the practice; marry me!’

He looked at her in disbelief. ‘Come on—this is crazy! I only wanted you to know how happy she would have been! You and she were so close...’

‘And what? Until now it’s just been a bit of fun, a happy lark, which I suppose I went along with because I wanted so much to believe that you really loved me on your own account. But I was totally wrong, wasn’t I? I’m just part of an arranged marriage—only I didn’t know about the arrangement!’

Christa had never seen Lachlan so angry. A pulse beat on his forehead and his face paled, making his blue eyes seem even bluer. ‘I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about—honey, I couldn’t love you more if I tried. What makes you think anything else?’