by Lucy Clark
Joe stopped as he came into the waiting room and saw Rachael
“Uh…hi.” Then he looked at the person by her side. Rachael dropped her arm from around Declan’s waist and clenched her hands tightly in an effort to control the feeling of dread which swamped her.
Rachael watched as Joe looked the boy up and down before slowly shaking his head. “Er…Joe.” She cleared her throat and forced the words out. “I’d like you to meet Declan. My son.”
“Joe?” Declan asked, and Rachael turned to look up at him. She nodded. “The Joe?”
Rachael nodded again.
“My dad—Joe?”
Rachael glanced at her son, then Joe. “Yes.”
Dear Reader,
Dr. Cusack’s Secret Son is a very special book for me. It’s my twenty-fifth Medical Romance™ for Harlequin® and a personal milestone for myself. To this end, I chose the characters and the setting very carefully. I’m a mad movie buff and the idea of my characters being involved with the moviemaking process was exciting for me. Australia’s Gold Coast was the obvious setting for this book, as a lot of movies are made there. It is also one of my favorite places to visit, with its perfect weather and adventure at every turn.
Joe and Rachael became very dear to me and I loved the way these two people, who were meant to be together from the very beginning, managed to sort out their past and find true happiness, along with their son, Declan. I also wanted to show how very real childhood anxiety is nowadays, especially in teenagers. It’s not easy on the child or the parents, but with help it can be overcome as Rachael, Joe and Declan show us.
I sincerely hope you enjoy Dr. Cusack’s Secret Son.
With warmest regards,
Lucy Clark
Dr. Cusack’s Secret Son
Lucy Clark
To my sister Claire,
Here is your Joseph.
I hope you love him as much as I do.
1 John 1:9
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ONE
‘YOU’RE late—again!’
Joe grinned at his practice manager. ‘Good morning, Helen.’ He leaned over the receptionist’s counter and gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘What’s the good in owning a practice if I can’t set my own hours?’
Helen pretended to consider this. ‘Hmm, is it because you have patients waiting for you?’
Joe turned and scanned the empty waiting room. ‘Are they hiding?’
‘No. Mrs Taub called to say she was running late and I bet you’ve forgotten the other reason I asked you to be early today.’
Joe frowned, thinking hard. ‘You’re right. I’ve forgotten.’
‘Honestly, Joe. You’ve a brain like a sieve some days.’
‘I’m going to take that as a compliment.’ He picked up his patient files and started up the corridor. Helen stopped him.
‘The new locum starts today.’
‘We have a new locum?’
‘Joseph,’ she said in that reprimanding voice of hers which never failed to bring a smile to his face. ‘You knew Alison was going on maternity leave. Don’t tell me you didn’t realise the doctor who’s worked here for the past two years was pregnant?’
‘No.’ He headed into his consulting room, Helen hard on his heels. ‘Hey, that means I missed her going-away party. Oops.’
‘You were on set. It’s all right. Alison understands but she’s expecting you to visit her once she’s had the baby.’
Joe shuddered. ‘Do I have to? I’ll send a gift but you know how babies make me feel.’
‘Just because you don’t want to have any children, Joe Silvermark, that’s no reason not to be nice to those who do.’
Joe was instantly contrite, remembering Helen had no children of her own…which was where he’d come in. ‘You’re right. I apologise. When the baby’s born, I will visit her. Put it in my diary and bug me until I do it.’
Helen grinned. ‘Already done.’
‘Good. So, I have a new locum to break in, eh? Male or female?’
‘Female.’
‘Is she good-looking?’
‘She wears a wedding ring so it looks as though you’re out of luck there but, yes, she’s attractive. She also has brilliant credentials and came highly recommended from a colleague of mine. We were lucky to get her at the last minute, especially as the previous locum I had lined up pulled out without warning.’
‘She was probably pregnant as well,’ Joe muttered. ‘Call the water board and make sure there’s nothing in the water,’ he joked.
‘See, now, I thought she might have pulled out because she’d heard you’re hardly here to do any work and would be leaving it all up to her.’
He shrugged. ‘So? I own the practice, which means I can employ people to do the work for me. That leaves me free to pursue my own interests in the moviemaking business.’
Helen shook her head. ‘Whatever am I going to do with you, Dr Hollywood?’
‘Nothing.’ He grinned again. ‘Where’s the new recruit?’
‘Either in her consulting room or the kitchen.’ The bell over the front door jingled. ‘Ah, there’s my cue. You only have four patients this morning and then you can get back on set.’
‘Right.’ Both of them walked out of his consulting room—Helen towards the reception area and Joe to the back of the old converted house he’d bought almost five years ago. He checked the other consulting room but found it empty. He breathed in deeply. ‘Ah, must be coffee time.’ He headed to the kitchen and stopped in the doorway when he saw a woman dressed in a navy skirt and light blue shirt with one long, dark braid hanging down her back standing at the sink, her back to him.
Joe felt an immediate tightening in his gut. It always happened when he saw a woman with hair that colour. Black, as black as the darkest night. Not many women naturally had hair that was jet black but this one did and she instantly reminded him of Rachael—the woman who’d plagued his subconscious for the past fifteen years.
Joe let out a slow breath, waiting for the tightening to disappear, but this time it didn’t. He glanced at the woman’s legs and shook his head. Her legs were incredible. Rachael’s legs had been equally as gorgeous and the sensitive depths of her blue eyes had always been able to bring a response from him. Too bad this woman was married because she appeared to be just his type.
Joe shrugged and pushed all thoughts of Rachael back into the box where they belonged. He cleared his throat and his new colleague turned.
It was simultaneous.
The colour drained out of both their faces and they each clutched at something for support—Joe the doorframe, Rachael the sink.
Rachael’s knees started to buckle and she found it hard to breathe, to concentrate, to do anything. The cup she’d been holding slipped from her hands and shattered at her feet. Thankfully, she hadn’t yet filled the cup with anything but her one sugar.
She opened her mouth to speak but found it impossible to form any words. Her heart was pounding fiercely against her ribs, her head was getting lighter by the second due to lack of oxygen, and she felt the dizziness start to claim her.
Her knees gave way and she started to slide down the cupboards. ‘No.’ She shook her head and finally managed to tear her gaze away from him, her eyes screwed tight. ‘No.’ She hugged her knees to her chest, trying desperately to get control of her emotions.
This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t possible. How could she have been so careless? Why, oh, w
hy hadn’t she done more research, asked more questions, done her homework before starting work at this particular medical practice? Why had she blindly let her friend and colleague, Lance, set this up for her?
Her next thought was, how could she get out of it? Was it possible to renege on the contract on her first day? She knew it was highly unprofessional but she honestly didn’t think she’d be able to work here for the next six months, regardless of how perfect the job had seemed to her.
Feeling her breathing begin to calm, Rachael opened her eyes and was surprised to find no one standing in the doorway. Had she imagined it? She glanced across at the shattered cup beside her. Had she hallucinated? Had she somehow conjured up the image of the man who’d shredded her soul fifteen years ago? The man she’d thought about every day since?
Slowly rising to her feet, Rachael forced herself to concentrate. She found a dustpan and brush and had just finished sweeping the mess up when Helen came into the room.
‘Is everything all right?’
Rachael turned to look at her, hoping she was able to keep the look of total panic from her face. ‘I broke a cup. Sorry. I’ll replace it.’
‘Who cares about the cup? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost…’ Helen paused. ‘And so does Joe.’
Rachael closed her eyes. ‘So it was him.’ The words were barely a whisper.
‘You two know each other?’ Helen’s tone was incredulous.
Rachael looked at the other woman. ‘You could say that.’ Anger…anger she’d thought she’d dealt with years ago began to surface. ‘He broke my heart when I was eighteen.’
It was Helen’s turn to pale. ‘You’re that Rachael?’
‘You know about me?’ Now it was Rachael’s turn to be surprised.
‘I’ve known Joe since he was a boy and the deal back then was that we didn’t keep secrets. He told me about you when he finally returned from America.’ Helen shrugged. ‘Not all the details but that you’d been married and had had it annulled.’
Rachael swallowed over the hurt at hearing those words. She smoothed a hand down her skirt. ‘Look, Helen, I’m sorry but I can’t work here with…with…Joe.’ She forced herself to say his name out loud. ‘I know that means leaving the patients in the lurch and it’s highly unprofessional but I just can’t.’
When Helen remained silent, Rachael continued. ‘I’ve never done anything like this in my life. I’ve always been the dependable one. Dependable Rachael, that’s me, but right now I don’t even think I can depend on myself.’
‘Joe’s already left.’
‘He walked out?’ Rachael snorted as anger began to fill her once more. ‘Typical. I can see he hasn’t changed much in fifteen years.’
‘He’ll be back in about five minutes. He just needs to get his head around this, just like you do.’ Helen pulled out chairs for both of them. ‘Sit down a moment.’ Rachael did as she was asked. ‘Look, I realise this has come as a shock for both of you but perhaps it’s for the best. Perhaps this is your opportunity to work through what happened so you can both get closure.’
‘I got closure, Helen, when I signed our annulment papers.’
‘Really?’ Helen raised her eyebrows disbelievingly. ‘Then why are you so angry now?’ The question hung in the air for a second before she continued. ‘Look, Rachael, you were both young and—’
‘Stop. I’ll stay for today and do the clinic but after that I’m not coming back.’
‘You’ll be breaking your contract.’
‘Feel free to take me to court. I’d rather pay the penalties than stay here.’
‘You hate him that much?’ Helen asked softly.
Rachael closed her eyes, knowing her emotions for Joe were so jumbled she doubted she could pick just one to describe how she felt. ‘It’s…complicated, Helen.’
‘At least give me until the end of the week to find a replacement. Joe’s busy on the set at the moment and he’s not scheduled to finish the movie for another two months. Either way, I desperately need someone here to pick up the slack.’
‘So now you want me to stay for two months?’
‘Your contract is for six months, Rachael,’ she pointed out.
‘How about two weeks?’
Helen looked at her and Rachael silently hoped the other woman would concede. ‘Two weeks.’ She nodded. ‘Both you and Joe will hardly see each other if that’s what you want. I’ll schedule different lunchbreaks and, besides, he’ll be on set for at least half of every day so he won’t even be here.’
‘What does that mean? On set?’
‘It means,’ said a deep voice from the doorway, ‘that he’s the medical officer at the movie production studio which is a few blocks away.’
‘I call him Dr Hollywood,’ Helen teased, then quickly wiped the smile off her face when they both glared at her. ‘It’s a theme park but they also shoot movies there,’ Helen added as she stood. ‘Some are quite big budget ones, not just the independent films.’ She glanced from one to the other, sensing the atmosphere. ‘I’ll give you some privacy.’
Rachael couldn’t look at him. If she did, she thought she might crumble into an unprofessional heap again and that would never do. Joe walked over and pulled out a chair at the other end of the table.
‘Are you staying?’
It was amazing. He’d known she would want to leave. She shook her head, bemused by the situation for a moment. Could they still read each other’s minds? ‘For two weeks until Helen can get someone else.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Don’t patronise me, Joe.’
‘I wasn’t.’ He raised his hands in defence, waited a beat and then said softly, ‘You look good, Rach.’
She closed her eyes, desperate to control her heart rate. One nice word from him and she could feel her body turning to mush, although this time it wasn’t from shock but from memories of another time when he’d spoken to her in that quiet, caring tone.
Slowly, she forced herself to breathe and opened her eyes again. ‘You look good, too, Joe.’ Understatement of the year! He looked…incredible. He looked better than her fifteen-year-old memory recalled. Ruggedly handsome with that rebel-without-a-cause attitude which had attracted her to him in the first place. He was also dead sexy.
Instead of the tight denim jeans and leather jacket which had been his standard wardrobe back then, he now wore a crisp cotton shirt, opened to the neck, and a pair of trousers. Still casual but more…grown up. His dark brown hair was more under control than the messy way he’d worn it back then and there was a hint of grey at his temples, which lent him a distinguished air. Joe? Distinguished? She smiled at the thought and shook her head. People didn’t change that much.
‘That’s funny?’
‘What?’
‘That I look good.’ He had that teasing tone to his voice and she admitted to herself that she’d missed his humour. He’d always been able to make her laugh.
Her smile started to fade. ‘That’s not what made me smile. I guess we’d better see to our patients.’ She prayed, as she pushed to her feet, that her legs would support her. Thankfully, they did but she didn’t let go of the table until she was perfectly sure.
‘I’ll have Helen bring you in a cup of coffee once you’re settled.’
‘Thank you.’ My, oh, my, weren’t they the polite ones?
‘Still milk and two sugars?’
‘Uh…’ Rachael faltered. He remembered how she’d taken her coffee? Was that right? Was he supposed to remember things like that after fifteen years? She cleared her throat, feeling her earlier strength leave her, and reached for the chair to steady herself. ‘Uh…no. Actually, I have it black with one sugar.’
Joe clenched his jaw but nodded as she walked from the room. Black with one sugar. That was how he took his coffee and he was the one who’d forced her to try it without milk. Had she changed after that experience? He shook his head as the image of them both wearing matching hotel robes, sitting in the middle of a b
ed tasting each other’s coffee, flooded his mind. Their two days of heaven. Two days of being shut away from the world in a small hotel room in Las Vegas. Two days of wedded bliss where Joe had thought his life had changed for ever because of the love he’d found with Rachael.
‘Reality bites.’ He shoved the memory away. Now that he’d recovered from the shock of seeing her, here, in the Gold Coast—at his medical practice—Joe began to realise that one memory after another would continue to intrude.
Maybe it was time. Time to face up to what had happened between them all those years ago. She’d agreed to stay for two weeks so maybe, just maybe, he might be able to get some closure. He had regrets and had always secretly hoped for the opportunity to set the record straight, and now he had his chance. He made a mental note to himself not to blow it, not this time.
Joe went to the waiting room, asked Helen to take Rachael a cup of coffee and, seeing that Mrs Taub had arrived, called her through. He’d heard Helen telling Rachael she wouldn’t have to see him and, although he knew Rachael would prefer to hightail it out of here as soon as possible, Joe wasn’t going to knock this opportunity back. Rachael Cusack was unfinished business as far as he was concerned, and he was determined in the next two weeks to finish that business once and for all.
Rachael looked down at her patient list. Two more to go. Thank goodness. She sat at her desk for a moment and placed her head in her hands, resting her elbows on the desk. She was mentally and physically exhausted. Never had keeping up the pretence of being OK been so hard in her life. Then again, it wasn’t every day a woman ran into the man of her dreams.
And that’s exactly what Joe Silvermark had been, she told herself sternly. Just a dream. A fantasy that had gone horribly wrong. It had taken her a long time to come to grips with what had happened all those years ago but finally, eventually she’d managed to get on with her life. She’d thought she was over Joe.
Rachael lifted her head and sighed. Who was she trying to kid? After the first initial shock, an amazing surge of desire had spread through her entire body like wildfire. She was not only still attracted to the man but wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life. After all, she remembered exactly how Joe could make her feel.
