Just What the Doctor Ordered

‘I’m sorry,’ she managed eventually.

‘So am I. Just have a word, could you?’

‘Of course. And please apologise to Stan for me.’

‘And risk another ear-bashing? No way! How are you settling in, by the way? I’ve been meaning to come up and see you, but I’ve been too busy.’

‘Oh, we’ve settled in well. It’s a lovely flat. I know John engineered it, but I can’t say I’m sorry. We’re very happy here.’

‘Good. I’m sorry if I seemed unwelcoming, but he’s becoming a bit obsessive about me. Wants me married off, I think.’

Cathy grinned wryly. ‘I know the feeling. My mother-in-law would like to see me settled with someone else, and she just won’t take no for an answer.’

They shared a smile rich with understanding, and Cathy’s naturally hospitable nature responded automatically.

‘Would you like to come in and have a cup of coffee? I’m afraid I haven’t got anything stronger to offer you.’

He shook his head. ‘I haven’t really got time. I’ve got some paperwork I really ought to get on with. Thank you anyway.’

‘You’re welcome—oh, before you go, I just wondered—there’s a locked door, presumably leading to the house?’

‘Yes, that’s right. These rooms used to be the butler’s quarters. The door opens on to the back stairs and comes out on the landing. Why?’

‘I just wondered—Stephen can be awfully noisy, and I didn’t want to disturb you. I—I mean, I didn’t know where you sleep …’

He grinned lazily. ‘No problem. You won’t disturb me, my room’s at the other end of the house.’

A sudden image of Max sprawled asleep across a huge four-poster bed leapt unbidden into her mind, and Cathy flushed.

‘Oh. Good. That’s fine, then.’ She struggled with a smile.

‘Why did you want to know where I sleep?’ he asked, idly tucking an escaped strand of her hair back behind her ear.

‘I—I didn’t! I wanted to be sure we didn’t disturb you.’

He chuckled softly. ‘You’ve been disturbing me since the moment I clapped eyes on you, Catherine. It’s very gratifying to know it’s mutual.’

She rallied her scattered defences and straightened away from him. ‘What are you talking about?’ she asked, flustered. ‘I’m not the least bit interested in you, Dr Armstrong. You’re not at all my type, and, even if you were, I’ve told you, that part of my life is over, finished with! I have Stephen to think about now, and dallying with you in the sunset doesn’t figure very highly in my plans!’

He cast his eyes over his shoulder, and turned back with a smile. ‘What sunset?’

The sun was still well above the horizon, and Cathy flushed. ‘You know what I mean. Please, Max!’

‘My pleasure,’ he said softly, and moved closer.

‘Well, it wouldn’t be mine,’ she retorted, desperately trying to put distance between them on the little landing. She bumped against the door-frame, and he closed the gap slightly. ‘You’re deliberately misunderstanding me! I meant what I said, you aren’t my type. I expect you’re the sort of macho guy who kisses his women until their lips bleed!’

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. ‘I have it on good authority that I’m a very gentle lover,’ he answered, quite undeterred. ‘I’d be quite happy to satisfy your curiosity.’

Cathy’s breath caught in her throat, her wilful imagination racing.

‘I’m not curious!’ she denied weakly.

‘Liar,’ he murmured, his voice gravelly and soft.

She moaned. ‘I can’t believe we’re having this conversation!’

Reaching up, he plucked a rose from above the door and held it against her cheek. ‘You’ve got beautiful skin,’ he said huskily. ‘Velvety, like the petals of a rose. It’s even the same delicate peach.’

Soft colour flooded her cheeks at his words.

‘You’re talking like a romantic fool,’ she said breathlessly, and a slow smile tilted his sensuous lips.

‘You blush like a virgin,’ he murmured, scanning her cheeks with amused fascination. ‘How can a woman who’s been married and widowed and is raising a child alone still colour up at a simple compliment? Unless she, too, is a romantic fool?’

‘Max, stop it!’ she protested feebly.

His eyes clashed with hers, the vivid blue burning with some nameless emotion she didn’t dare to define.

‘You’ve got very kissable lips,’ he said softly, so softly that if she hadn’t had her eyes fixed firmly on his own very kissable lips she would have missed it.

‘Max, no!’ she moaned as his head came down.

‘Yes,’ he murmured against her lips, and then there was nothing but the feel of his mouth against hers, draining her resistance as if it had never been.

With a sigh of surrender she leant into him, feasting on the contrast between her softness and his hard, lean frame. His hands slid down her back and urged her against him, and her body went up in flames, aching for the pleasure so long denied.

With a whimper she wriggled closer, and he made a guttural noise low in his throat as he dragged his mouth away from hers to trail hot, open-mouthed kisses over the warm skin of her throat.

Then he lifted his head, and her hands came up to pull it down again.

His fingers fastened gently over her wrists and eased her hands away.

‘Now tell me I’m not your type,’ he said softly, and released her, turning on his heel to run lightly back down the stairs, leaving her slumped against the door-frame, speechless.

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_56dfc0f0-13be-5f8c-879b-50680c79fbd0)

CATHY found it impossible to sleep that night. Every time the soft shrouds of oblivion drifted closer, her mind seemed to float free into a world of sensation that she had long dismissed, a world of murmured sighs and tender caresses, of spiralling passion and earth-shaking emotions that left her aching with frustration and loneliness.

She turned on her bedside light and tried to read, but the words failed to hold her attention and she gave up in despair, getting up to tiptoe quietly into the kitchen and make a cup of tea.

The sky was lightening, and, letting herself out silently, she crept down the steps and walked barefoot through the dewy grass. The air was blissfully cool on her overheated skin, and she lifted her face to the sky, absorbing the early morning scents and sounds of the countryside.

Her feet carried her round the side of the house on to the terrace behind it, and she found a short flight of steps leading down on to a broad swath of lawn.

She had never been round the back into the main part of the garden and she found it fascinating to sit on the steps sipping her tea and watching as the dawn lightened the sky and colour slowly seeped into the borders, turning the garden into a brilliant riot of hues all jostling for her attention.

Further down the garden she could see the duck pond, and beside it the ducks slept, their heads tucked under their wings, their coats glossy with dew, and in the field beyond she could see rabbits, the young ones already frisky even this early in the day.