The Surgeon's Family Wish (16 page)

‘It's beautiful, Aaron,' she'd said huskily, ‘and will be perfect with the dress I intend to wear for the party tonight.'

It
had
been perfect with the gold dress and now he wondered if he would ever again see her wear his first gift to her.

* * *

The snow had gone and it was a clear cold night as those staff not on duty filed into the conference room which had been changed into a party venue for the occasion.

The men were in evening dress and the women attired accordingly. Needless to say, Aaron stood out among his companions and there were some present who thought that he had it all—except for a woman in his life.

There had been rumours on the hospital grapevine that he and the new surgeon had something going, but there were no obvious signs of it so far. Looking just as impressive as he, she'd turned up in a long black dress that showed off her smooth shoulders and the rise of her breasts beneath a plunging neckline, but Annabel was keeping a low profile.

She was glad that she'd come. This was better than letting in the New Year on her own, but she wished that it could have been without the constraint between Aaron and herself. The moment midnight struck she would be off. Away from all the frustrated hopes and dreams that lay in fragments around her.

During the meal Annabel had Mark on one side of her and a young physiotherapist on the other, and as she watched him exchange languishing glances with one of the nurses she thought wryly that their love affair, at least, seemed to be on track.

Aaron was seated directly opposite her, which made it difficult to avoid his direct, dark gaze. Every time she looked up it was on her, but it wasn't giving any clue to his thoughts.

Maybe he was expecting her to make a play for someone before the night was out and was surmising who it was going to be, she thought. It would be in keeping with his opinion of her. He would have a surprise if it turned out to be him.

If she used her new-found attractions to light the fire between them again and then disappeared at midnight like the pantomime heroine, would he come the next day to seek her out? She doubted it.

There was a small dance floor at the other end of the room and when the meal was over those present seated themselves around it or disappeared into the bar.

After allowing Mark to lumber round the floor with her in an ungainly waltz, and following it with a much more skilful rock and roll with a young porter, she was beginning to enjoy herself.

Aaron was deep in conversation with the head of the hospital trust and she was free to watch him unobserved.
Until he turned suddenly and with a farewell shake of his superior's hand moved to her side.

When he spoke it was the last thing she was expecting him to say. ‘I thought you might have been wearing the gold dress—and the necklace.'

‘And what is that supposed to mean?' she asked coolly. ‘That you don't approve of what I
am
wearing?'

‘No. Of course not. It's just that you looked so lovely in it.'

‘Really. But aren't you forgetting that was before I was cast aside? Maybe I don't want to be reminded of that time. And as for the necklace, you will be receiving it back shortly in the post. It's already packed and waiting to be sent off.'

‘I don't want it back. It was a gift.'

‘So was my love. But you didn't think twice about throwing it back at me, did you?'

He took her hand and raised her to her feet. ‘Let's dance, before we have an audience. We're not here to entertain other people with our affairs.'

She eyed him mutinously, making no move towards the dance floor, and he said in a low voice, ‘Either you dance with me, or I pick you up and carry you out.'

Both prospects were appealing but she wasn't going to let Aaron see that. Instead, she conceded regally, ‘I'll dance with you, if you insist.'

When his arms went round her Annabel closed her eyes. This was the medicine she needed, but without the bitter aftertaste. Because there would be one, of that she had no doubt.

Their steps matched perfectly, she thought. Their bodies were moulded together as if they were one, but it was in their minds that the fault lay. She had paid the
price of a bad error of judgement, twice over. So why was Aaron so determined she should pay a third time?

It was heaven to have Annabel in his arms again, Aaron thought, even though it was only for a matter of minutes.

He was a fool to have hurt her like he had. But his angry incredulity hadn't diminished. Had she thought so little of him that she couldn't tell him the truth? he'd asked himself countless times.

His mother had suggested that she probably hadn't known the man had been married. But how careless could one be? To give one's affections and loyalty to someone whose background was unknown.

He knew she loved children, wanted babies of her own, and was desolate that she'd lost a child. He would have given her babies. He loved them as much as she did. But now the chances of that were nil as long as they stayed in the limbo of disapproval.

The music was dying away and the dancers returning to their seats, but he didn't loosen his hold.

‘I want to talk to you somewhere private,' he said quietly.

She wasn't encouraging. ‘What about?'

‘Us.'

‘There's nothing to say.'

‘I don't agree. If you won't come outside, I'll say it in front of everyone.'

‘You're making a lot of threats,' she said laughingly, ‘but as you are being so demanding, I'll do as you ask.'

‘We'll go into my office,' he said. ‘We shouldn't be disturbed there.'

‘Tell me something,' Annabel said when they'd closed the door behind them a little later, ‘what is it
that's so urgent tonight, when we've been around each other workwise ever since Christmas?'

‘I have something to tell you that I only found out today. My mother wants to get married again, to Thomas.'

Her face lit up. ‘That's wonderful.'

‘Yes, it is,' he agreed with a quirky smile. ‘I'm really happy for her. Tom Parbold is a good man who will make her happy. The only fly in the ointment is that she's refusing to commit herself because of Lucy. She's concerned about who will look after her while I'm working and won't name a date. Then there's the Canada job, but I've told her that I'm not going. All that I care about is here.'

Her heart had warmed to hear that, but Annabel was listening to him in perplexity.

‘Is this leading somewhere, Aaron?'

‘Yes. Can I tell her that our romance is back on and we're going to get married, so that she'll start making her own plans with an easy mind?'

There was silence in the room as what he was asking of her sank in.

‘That's rich, coming from someone who can't stand people who don't tell the truth,' she said in a voice that she barely recognised as her own.

‘Yes, but it's in a good cause.'

‘For whom?'

‘My mother, of course. She deserves some happiness before it's too late.'

‘And how is she going to feel when she finds out it isn't true?'

‘She'll be married to Tom by then, and I will sort something at my end that is safe and secure for Lucy.'

‘Why not ask Nicola to be your stand-in wife? She
would jump at the chance, especially if there was a view to permanency.'

‘Because I prefer to ask you.'

Her heart was racing but she shrugged her shoulders and said casually, ‘It's nice to know I'm useful for something. I'll do it. But it will be for your mother's sake, not yours.'

‘Thanks, Annabel,' he said sombrely. ‘I don't expect any favours from you. Maybe I don't deserve them. I don't know. But I appreciate you agreeing to fall in with the idea.'

‘And what is going to happen once your mother and Tom are married? Do we stage a quarrel? It shouldn't be difficult.'

She watched him flinch.

‘We'll worry about that when the time comes,' he said levelly. ‘Is it all right if I tell her tomorrow?'

‘Of course. What better way to start the New Year than with a falsehood?'

‘Look, Annabel, if you don't want to do it, say so now.'

She'd already decided that it was better to be a pretend wife than none at all.

‘I've said I'll do it and I will. But remember that it's just a charade.'

His eyes had been on her mouth and the swift rise and fall of her breasts in the low-cut dress, but he let his hands fall away at that and said, ‘All right. You can make the rules as long as I call the shots.'

‘And the first of those is to be?'

‘That you come to the house tomorrow and we tell her then. Mum won't believe it if you aren't there.'

‘And after that?'

‘It should be easy enough to convince her that we're still madly in love.'

‘And how will we do that?'

‘Like this,' he said, taking hold of her again. His mouth came down on to hers, caressingly, bone-meltingly.

For the first few moments Annabel gave herself up to pleasure of it, but then she drew away from him. It would be so easy to accept this play-acting and the perks that went with it, but if Aaron thought she was going to be succumbing in his arms at frequent intervals and then discarded like an old shoe once the wedding was over, he had another think coming.

‘I've just reminded you that it's a charade you're planning. No need to start practising beforehand. That sort of thing doesn't come into the curriculum when your mother isn't around.'

‘Then we'd better get back to the party,' he said, unperturbed, and went to open the door.

For the remainder of the evening they mixed with the rest of the staff and gave no inclination that on the following day an engagement would be announced. When ‘Auld Lang Syne' was sung they were on opposite sides of the room, and the first person to wish her a happy new year with a lingering kiss was the porter that Annabel had danced with.

When it was Aaron's turn he smiled. ‘So I'm allowed
this
, am I? You don't see it as part of the charade?' He kissed her gently this time and when he released her said in a low voice, ‘You won't have to suffer me for long. Once Mum is happy about us, her wedding will only be a matter of weeks.'

* * *

So he really was just using her, Annabel thought as she undressed in the cramped bedroom of the flat. She was
involved in a farce that sprang from Aaron's love for his mother. The fact that he was involving her seemed to bother him little, as he intended that she would be dispensed with for a second time once Mary was married.

He'd made it quite clear so she had no excuse to feel used. Yet that was what he was doing, using her, and like a fool she was going to allow it, because she was fond of Aaron's mother. She also adored his daughter and, much as she understood him not wanting to interfere in his mother's happiness, she wanted to make certain that Lucy wasn't going to suffer if her grandmother got married.

The obvious way to make sure of that was to carry the plot through to its conclusion. For herself to be there always for the little girl. If it was as a wife in name only, it would be as a
mother
in every sense of the word.

The idea might appeal to Aaron as he'd made it clear that he saw her as being there to be used, and it would be an ideal arrangement for Lucy because they were already very fond of each other. But it wouldn't be good for herself. Not good at all, being in his life and yet not counting.

But nothing might come of any of it—that was her last thought as she drifted into sleep. She couldn't see Mary believing that Aaron and herself had resolved their differences so quickly. And a false engagement would be like walking on eggshells in front of all those that knew them.

* * *

She was to discover that she'd been mistaken about that. When she arrived at Aaron's house on New Year's Day his mother greeted her with open arms and kissed her soundly when she opened the door to her.

‘This is wonderful news, Annabel,' she said. ‘Especially for Lucy. You will be so good for her. She loves you already.'

‘Thank you,' she croaked guiltily. ‘It's very nice of you to say so. I believe that you also have congratulations due. I do hope that you and Tom will be very happy.'

‘I know that we will.' She beamed.

This is awful, Annabel was thinking. How dare Aaron ask me to be involved in this? It has to stop immediately. Where is he?

As if reading her thoughts, his mother said, ‘Aaron is upstairs. You'll find him in Lucy's room.'

She went up the stairs two at a time. Voices were coming from Lucy's play room and when she stood on the threshold they were there, father and daughter, snuggled together in one of the chairs while he listened to her reading from one of her school books.

Annabel's resolve was weakening. He was doing it for those he loved, she thought chokingly. Doing what he thought was best for his mother and Lucy. If what was best for
her
didn't come into it, too bad.

‘Hello, there,' she said, and imagined that his eyes lit up when he saw her.

He put Lucy gently to one side, got to his feet and came towards her.

‘How long have you been here?' he asked, hugging her to him.

‘Just a few minutes, but long enough to know that your mum is happy about us,' she said with false heartiness.

‘Yes. Tom is on his way over at this moment and they're going to sort out a wedding date. He's bought a
very nice apartment on the strength of Mum saying yes and now all they have to do is get married.'

‘Isn't it exciting, Grandma getting married?' Lucy cried.

‘It certainly is,' he said buoyantly, and Annabel eyed him stonily from within the circle of his arms.

W
HAT
Aaron had said to Annabel the night before, when he'd persuaded her to leave the party for the privacy of his office, had been basically true. His mother
had
refused to set a date for marrying Tom Parbold because of her concerns for Lucy and, because he loved them both dearly and would never do anything to upset either of them, he had been keen to find a solution to the problem.