The Woman He's Been Waiting For

by Jennifer Taylor

  Harry cleared the child’s nose and mouth of all the mucus then rubbed his back to encourage him to breathe. Grace could feel herself holding her own breath. It had been a difficult birth and so many things could have gone wrong…

  The baby gave a gasping cry and Harry grinned. ‘Well done, little fellow. I knew you could do it.’ He passed him over to Grace. ‘Can you clean some of the gunk off him while I cut the cord?’

  ‘My pleasure.’

  Grace smiled at him, knowing he could see a lot more in her expression than mere relief at such a happy outcome. He leant over and kissed her on the cheek, and his eyes were filled with tenderness.

  ‘I’m glad you’re here.’

  He didn’t say anything else but he didn’t need to. Those few words were more than enough to tell her how he felt. Grace’s heart felt as though it was going to explode with happiness as she gently dried the baby with a clean towel then wrapped him in a blanket. She placed him in his mother’s arms.

  ‘You have a beautiful baby boy, Lucy. Congratulations.’

  ‘Is he all right?’ Lucy peeled back the blanket so she could count his tiny fingers and toes.

  Grace laughed. ‘He’s perfect. Have you decided what you’re going to call him?’

  ‘Gideon.’ Lucy dropped a kiss on the baby’s downy head. ‘It’s perfect for him, isn’t it?’

  ‘It is.’ Grace smiled at her. ‘A beautiful name for a beautiful baby boy.’

  She let Lucy admire her son while she went to see if Harry needed any help. There was just the placenta to deliver now and it came away without any trouble. They cleared everything up then decided that Lucy would be more comfortable in a proper bed. One of them would have to go and phone for an ambulance, and it could take a while for it to get to the farm so there was no point leaving her lying on the floor.

  Grace went upstairs and made the bed with fresh sheets and blankets then she carried baby Gideon upstairs while Harry carried Lucy. There was a lovely old wooden cradle beside the bed so she popped the infant into it and covered him up to make sure he was warm enough.

  ‘Try and rest for a while, Lucy,’ Harry advised the young mum. ‘I’m going to phone for an ambulance to take you to the maternity unit. I know you said you didn’t want any medical intervention but I think it would be silly to put yourself and Gideon at any further risk.’

  ‘You’re right.’ Lucy flushed. ‘It was a stupid thing to do. I should have gone to the hospital to be checked over.’

  ‘You should. But there’s no point worrying about that now.’ Harry patted her hand then followed Grace out of the room. They made their way down the stairs and back into the sitting room. Harry sank down onto the sofa with a weary groan.

  ‘I hope I never have to face a situation like that again.’

  ‘Too much for you, was it?’ Grace chuckled as she added another log to the fire.

  ‘Way too much.’ He looked up at her and smiled wryly. ‘You must have nerves of steel if this is an example of the surprises that get thrown at you in the course of a working day.’

  ‘The life of a rural GP is not as quiet as you might think, although, to be fair, I’ve usually had a bit of advance warning before I’ve been confronted with a situation like this.’

  His eyebrows shot up into his hairline. ‘You mean this wasn’t a first for you?’

  ‘Oh, no, I’ve delivered five babies since we opened the practice.’

  Harry shook his head. ‘As I said, you must have nerves of steel. Right, who’s going to phone for the ambulance? Shall we toss a coin for it?’

  ‘I’ll do it. You sit here and get your breath back.’ She smiled as she walked towards the door. ‘You city types have more delicate sensibilities than us hardy rural folk.’

  ‘Is that a fact?’ He grabbed her hand as she passed him and hauled her down beside him. ‘So you don’t think I could cut it if I worked in the sticks?’

  ‘Not a chance,’ she scoffed, her heart beating like a mad thing because of the way he was looking at her. ‘City living makes you soft—everyone knows that.’

  ‘Do they indeed?’ There was the faintest hint of threat in his deep voice and she shivered.

  ‘Now who’s the softie?’ he taunted. ‘You’re not afraid, are you, Grace?’

  ‘What’s there to be afraid of?’ she retorted, her eyes locked to his so that she saw the shimmer of heat that flared in them. ‘There’s nothing you can do that would scare me, Harry Shaw.’

  ‘Really? So it doesn’t worry you when I do this?’ He ran his finger down her cheek then trailed it deliberately across her mouth.

  ‘No,’ she said, her voice sounding as though it was being put through a wringer.

  ‘How about this?’ He kissed her nose then her eyelids then the corner of her lips.

  ‘I…um…’

  He chuckled wickedly. ‘Is that a yes or a no? You seem to be having difficulty making yourself understood. Maybe this will help.’

  His head dipped and he kissed her on the mouth, a kiss that was filled with both tenderness and passion so that she was clinging to him by the time it ended. It was a second or two before she was able to gather her wits.

  ‘I’d better sort out that ambulance,’ she said hoarsely, standing up.

  ‘Good idea.’ Harry lay back against the cushion with a contented smile on his face. ‘We can continue this discussion later, can’t we?’

  ‘If you want to,’ she said, aiming for nonchalance and missing it by a mile.

  ‘Oh, I want to all right. You can be absolutely sure about that.’

  He gave her another of those breathtaking smiles but this time she didn’t make the mistake of lingering. She hurried out to her car and drove down the lane until she reached a spot where she could receive a signal for her phone. She dialled the emergency services and requested an ambulance then let Janet know what was happening before she drove back to Parson’s Farm—back to Harry.

  She knew they had reached a milestone tonight but she was no longer afraid. A broken heart wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to her—it was losing Harry. If there was a chance they could be together then there was no risk she wouldn’t take to make it happen. Fear had stunted her life up till now but she refused to let it rob her of the future.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  IT WAS gone seven by the time Lucy Norris was driven away to hospital in an ambulance. Harry locked the farmhouse door and slipped the key under a plant pot as Lucy had asked him to do. He turned to Grace, feeling his heart lift when he saw the happiness on her face. She looked so young and so beautiful that he couldn’t resist kissing her.

  ‘What was that for?’ she asked, smiling up at him.

  ‘Because you’re beautiful.’ He kissed her again then grinned. ‘And because I enjoy kissing you.’

  ‘Oh, I see. That explains it, then.’ Reaching up, she kissed him this time. ‘Ditto.’

  Harry laughed as he put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his side. ‘I don’t think anyone’s ever called me beautiful before.’

  ‘That’s their mistake. You are beautiful, Harry, inside and out. I just wish I’d realised it sooner.’

  ‘Thank you.’ He could barely speak for the lump in his throat. It was almost too much that Grace now thought of him as someone she could admire after the years they had spent trading insults. He led her over to the hire car and opened the door. ‘I’ll follow you back to the village. I need to write up my report so I’ll head straight to the surgery.’

  ‘You don’t have to do it tonight. Leave it until the morning.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ he asked, not wanting her to think that he was shirking his job.

  ‘Of course I’m sure. You’ve done more than your fair share tonight, Harry. You get off home and get ready for your night out.’

  ‘Only if you’ll come with me,’ he said impulsively, taking her hand. ‘I know you said that you had loads of things to do but won’t you reconsider and come with me?’

 
; ‘I’d love to come,’ she said simply.

  ‘Great.’ He kissed her lightly on the mouth then dragged himself away before he got too carried away. ‘I tell you what—why don’t you follow me back to my hotel? I can get changed then we can call at your house on the way so you can get changed as well. I’ll drive so you can leave your car at home.’

  ‘That would be lovely,’ she agreed, climbing behind the wheel.

  Harry closed the door then strode over to his car. It didn’t take them very long to get to his hotel. Grace parked in the car park and wound down her window when he came over to her.

  ‘Why don’t you wait inside while I’m getting ready? There’s no point sitting out here in the cold.’

  ‘If you’re sure you don’t mind,’ she began, then laughed when he rolled his eyes. ‘All right, I will.’

  She followed him through Reception to the lift. His room was on the third floor and it only took a couple of minutes to reach it. Harry unlocked the door and switched on the lights.

  ‘There’s a mini-bar over there if you fancy a drink.’ He pointed it out then headed for the bathroom. ‘I’ll just take a quick shower and be right back.’

  Grace went over to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of fruit juice. She poured some into a glass then sat down to wait. She could hear the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, followed by the sound of Harry singing, and smiled to herself. He sounded so happy and carefree, and it was exactly how she felt, too.

  He reappeared a short time later, wrapped in a thick towelling robe with his black hair glistening with water. ‘I feel better after that.’

  Grace put the glass on the table as her hand began to tremble. She knew she should say something but her mouth refused to obey the signals that were coming from her brain. He looked so gorgeously male as he stood there that she could barely think, let alone string any words together. The front of his robe was gaping open and she could see droplets caught in the dark hair that covered his chest. Her hands clenched because the desire to touch that warm, damp flesh was overwhelming.

  Her eyes rose to his face and she saw the exact moment when he recognised what she was thinking. She was already rising to her feet when he strode across the room and hauled her into his arms. His mouth was hungry as it claimed hers but her response was every bit as greedy. She wanted this kiss—wanted Harry—just as much as he wanted her.

  He picked her up and laid her on the bed then lay beside her, holding her so that she could feel his body pulsing with need. ‘I want you, Grace,’ he said, staring into her eyes.

  ‘I know.’ Lifting her hand, she smoothed the lines of tension between his brows. ‘I want you, too, Harry. Just as much.’

  He groaned as he bent and plundered her mouth again and she clung to him, needing to feel his strong arms around her. She had taken off her coat and he quickly dispensed with the rest of her clothing, his hands gentle and almost reverent as he traced the curve of her breast, the hollow of her waist, the flare of her hips. She knew that he was storing up the memory of how she looked tonight and her heart overflowed with happiness. This wasn’t just some casual affair—it really meant something to him.

  The thought unlocked the very last bit of her heart, the bit she had guarded so fiercely over the years. As she pulled him to her and kissed him hungrily, Grace knew there would be no turning back. She had given Harry her heart and her love, and he could do with them as he chose.

  They made love with an urgency that left them both breathless. When Harry cradled her in his arms and pressed a gentle kiss on the top of her head, she could feel him trembling.

  ‘Wow, that was amazing, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Mmm,’ she replied dreamily, snuggling against him.

  ‘Obviously a woman of few words,’ he said, his voice tinged with laughter.

  ‘You don’t need me to tell you that you’re a fantastic lover, Harry.’

  ‘Actually, I do.’ He drew back so that he could look into her eyes and she realised how serious he was. ‘I don’t care what anyone else has said in the past, Grace. Their opinion doesn’t matter, but yours does.’ He touched her cheek. ‘I want to make you happy, darling.’

  She was so touched that it was a moment before she could speak. ‘You do make me happy, Harry. I can’t remember ever feeling this happy in the whole of my life.’

  ‘I’m glad.’ He bent and kissed her then pulled her to him again. ‘I’ve never felt this happy either.’

  Grace sighed. Maybe he hadn’t said he loved her in so many words but she knew it was what he had meant. Neither of them could have felt this way if they didn’t love each other. They must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing she knew, the phone was ringing.

  Harry groaned as he eased himself away from her and reached over to the bedside table. ‘Harry Shaw…Miles! What time is it? Damn…No, you two go ahead and eat. We’ll join you later. Yes, Grace has decided to come with us.’

  Grace grinned as he replaced the receiver. ‘I take it that was Miles, wanting to know where you’d got to.’

  ‘It was.’ He pulled her to him and kissed her. ‘I forgot all about the time because I was too busy thinking about other things.’

  ‘Very remiss of you, Dr Shaw.’

  ‘It is, not that I’m solely to blame. You have a very distracting effect on me, Dr Kennedy.’

  ‘Do I indeed?’ She grinned up at him. ‘What a pity that you told Miles we’d be joining them. I could have tested that theory.’

  She didn’t get the chance to finish before Harry whipped the phone off its rest. He punched in the number of the restaurant and asked to speak to Miles. Grace lay back on the pillow, stifling her laughter as he explained that something had cropped up and they wouldn’t be able to make it after all. He hung up and smiled wolfishly at her.

  ‘Now, what were you saying about testing out a theory?’

  They spent the night sleeping in one another’s arms. When Harry awoke the next morning, he knew he would treasure the memory of this night for the rest of his life. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that he wanted to spend all the rest of his nights and his days with Grace, too. He loved her and he believed that she felt the same way about him. However, before he asked her to share his life, he wanted to make sure she knew he was serious about making such a commitment. It would be a big step for both of them and he didn’t want anything to go wrong, so he would wait until he had put everything in place before he declared himself.

  As soon as he returned to London, he would hand in his notice and set about finding himself a job closer to Ferndale. There were a number of excellent hospitals in the region and it would be good to take on a fresh challenge, although if anyone had suggested it a few weeks ago, he would have laughed. However, he’d discovered that there were more important things than a glittering career and the accolades that came with it. There was Grace: she was all he needed.

  It was hard to keep his plan a secret from her but Harry was determined to prove to her just how committed he was. He didn’t say a word to her that day or the one that followed. Fortunately, they were so busy at work there wasn’t time to talk about anything very much, and when it came to the nights, well, they had other things on their minds. By the end of the week, he knew he had found what had been missing all his life. He had found Grace, his soul mate.

  Friday arrived and Miles called into the surgery to see them. He looked a lot better and was obviously keen to return to work. It was agreed that he would start the following Monday, which meant that Harry would no longer be needed. Miles and Penny invited him and Grace to dinner at their house on Saturday night as a small thank you for what he’d done, but Harry politely declined. He wanted to spend his last evening in Ferndale with Grace and nobody else.

  They decided to eat in the hotel so he booked a table for them in the dining room. There was a function on that evening so the place was packed. Harry was in the lobby, waiting for Grace to arrive, when he spotted a GP he’d interviewed a few wee
ks earlier for his health service report. The man had been scathing about the benefits of the committee’s work so it had been a frosty encounter. He nodded curtly when he saw Harry but didn’t stop to speak to him.

  Harry was grateful for that. Grace had arrived and he was very much aware that he still hadn’t told her about the report. Although he was sure she would understand, he didn’t want anything to spoil their last evening together.

  ‘You look gorgeous,’ he said as he went to meet her. His eyes moved hungrily over the curves so beautifully displayed by the soft rose chiffon dress and she laughed.

  ‘Naughty, naughty,’ she admonished, wagging her finger at him. ‘I am not on the menu.’

  He captured her hand and placed a kiss in the centre of her palm. ‘Not yet you aren’t.’

  He led her straight into the dining room, not wanting to waste time by having a drink in the bar because he could think of better ways to spend the evening. Grace sat down and looked around.

  ‘It’s busy in here tonight. Is there some kind of a function on?’

  ‘So I believe.’ Harry glanced up when the waiter appeared with the menus, trying to curb his impatience as the man described the various dishes on offer in lengthy detail.

  Grace sighed when the waiter finally retreated. ‘I thought he would never go, didn’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’ Harry leant across the table and captured her hand. ‘I’m not really interested in food at the moment.’

  ‘Neither am I.’ She placed her menu on the table and stood up. ‘Why don’t we order room service later?’

  Harry followed her out of the dining room, pausing en route to tell the waiter that they had changed their minds. A generous tip soon quietened the man’s protests and they were free to leave. He put his hand under Grace’s arm as they walked to the lift, thinking about what was going to happen. Would he be able to hold back and not declare how he felt when he loved her so much?

  ‘I see you’ve found yourself another stooge.’

  Harry stopped as the GP he’d interviewed a few weeks earlier came out of the bar and stood right in their path. The man had obviously had a couple of drinks because he was unsteady on his feet. Harry smiled politely, although his heart had sunk. The fellow was obviously out to make trouble.