A Rival to Steal Her Heart

by Annie Claydon

  ‘Just great. A little taller than I thought he’d be.’

  Right. That wasn’t the information Anna was after. ‘He’s settling in?’

  ‘Oh, yes. They took him a cup of green tea and a biscuit.’

  Asking what kind of biscuit would only stoke the fires. ‘He has someone with him?’

  ‘No, he came on his own. Just a driver and he didn’t stay long. Parked on a meter, I expect.’

  So fame didn’t always guarantee companionship. It seemed a shame, though. ‘Everywhere’ had been the song that had spoken to Anna when her life had hit a rough patch, and she imagined she wasn’t alone in that. It was all about hope, about kindling a flame in the darkness, to lead the way into the light.

  ‘Okay, I’ll go and see him now. Which room...?’

  Jonny Campbell was sitting alone in his room. Dark glasses covered his eyes, and his head was nodding slightly to whatever was playing through his high-end headphones. His bag lay on the bed, unopened. One of the ward orderlies would unpack it for him if necessary, but Anna reckoned that Dr Lewis had told them to wait a short while, to see if he’d do it himself. Their patient was nominally here for assessment of burn scars on his arm and the side of his face, but Jon’s listless indifference during his assessment interview had raised the possibility of mental health problems as well. Dr Lewis had taken overall charge of his case, and Anna had been told to start treating the burns, but to be aware that there may be other issues.

  ‘Hello. I’m Anna Caulder.’

  Her words made him jump. Maybe his eyes had been closed under the glasses. Anna saw his hand shake as he removed his headphones.

  ‘Hi. Jon Campbell.’

  ‘I’m sorry if I startled you. You prefer Jon, or Jonny Campbell?’

  His lips curved in a slow smile. ‘Jonny Campbell’s my professional name. Just Jon will do. You prefer Anna or Miss Caulder?’

  ‘Anna will do.’ He seemed so different from his stage persona. And yet somehow so familiar. Anna shook off the feeling. Her job was to find out what the real Jon Campbell needed, not the rock star Jonny Campbell.

  ‘I think Dr Lewis prefers Dr Lewis. Or maybe sir...’

  Anna laughed. The dry humour that Jonny Campbell put to such good use on stage was there still.

  ‘Yes. I think he does. He’s a great doctor, though.’

  ‘I’ve no doubt of that. But he doesn’t have your beautiful blue eyes.’ Jon tilted his head towards her, and Anna blushed, fighting back the urge to tell him that she’d been to one of his concerts and loved his songs.

  ‘Well I’m here to take care of your burns.’ And to ignore compliments.

  Jon flexed his arm. ‘Yeah, that would be great. I didn’t have much time to get them looked at when they happened, I was touring. I took a handful of painkillers and was back on stage the following evening. Being on stage in front of tens of thousands of people tends to make you forget about everything else.’

  ‘And you never had a doctor look at them?’

  ‘I was in hospital for a week in America. They said that my arm had become infected and gave me a course of antibiotics.’

  ‘You went to hospital for the burns? I didn’t see anything about that in your notes.’

  ‘No, I...’ Jon shrugged. ‘I needed a break.’

  If he’d been in hospital for a week, it sounded as if there was a bit more to it than that. ‘Would it be okay if we contacted the hospital and asked them to send us through their notes?’

  ‘Sure. Knock yourself out.’

  ‘Thanks. I’ll have our administrator follow that up with you.’ Anna pulled up a seat, sitting down opposite Jon. ‘Can you tell me what happened when you burned yourself?’

  ‘One of the amps wasn’t working. I kicked it, and it burst into flames.’ Jon shook his head slowly. ‘Serves me right. I guess there’s a song there somewhere.’

  ‘I’d like to hear it.’ Anna bit her tongue. She’d resolved not to mention the songs.

  ‘I’ll sing it for you, Anna.’

  Right. Another trace of Jonny Campbell’s charm. But it was faded and worn, like a mask Jon assumed when he didn’t want to face a reality that found him alone in a hospital room.

  ‘Will someone be coming? To visit you...?’ Maybe she was overstepping her boundaries a little, but the doctors here were given the time to get to know their patients as people, and were encouraged to do so.

  ‘Didn’t you know that I’m here incognito?’

  ‘I did. That doesn’t extend to family and friends, though, does it?’

  ‘When you tour, all you have is the band. We’ve been having our differences lately. That’s privileged information, by the way...’

  ‘It’s all privileged information here.’

  ‘That’s what everyone says.’ Jon twisted his mouth. ‘Then you see it in the papers the next morning.’

  ‘It’s not the way we do things.’ Anna searched for eye contact and found none. She wished he’d take the glasses off, but guessed he wouldn’t for a while at least. ‘It’s important that you understand that everything you say to us is completely confidential.’

  Jon shrugged, as if it didn’t really matter one way or the other.

  ‘Blue-eyed Anna... It’d make a great song. Does that turn you on?’ He was retreating again behind the rock star persona, expecting her to go weak at the knees. There was nothing like meeting your heroes to inject a dose of reality.

  ‘Not particularly. Doing my job turns me on, and right now my interest in you is that you have scars that can be improved.’

  Jon laughed suddenly, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. ‘Okay, fair enough. My twin brother is just the same. Being a doctor turns him on.’

  ‘You didn’t ask for his help? With the burns?’ The back of her neck was prickling, and Anna ignored it. Two and two didn’t always make four, and the feeling that she knew Jon Campbell was just an illusion, born from his fame.

  ‘Nah. We don’t talk. Jamie and I had a falling out.’ Jon shrugged. ‘He doesn’t know I’m here, and he probably doesn’t care. The rest of the family isn’t much impressed with me either...’

  ‘It’s up to you but...sometimes families can surprise you.’

  Jon shook his head, taking his glasses off, and suddenly there was no question about it. Anna’s words dried in her throat. The jade-green eyes and ravaged face of Jonny Campbell really were familiar. His brother was Dr Jamie Campbell-Clarke.

  CHAPTER TWO

  MAYBE JON CAMPBELL had taken her wordless shock for granted, as the kind of thing that any woman would do when faced with a rock idol. Whatever. Anna couldn’t think about that right now. She couldn’t think about Jamie Campbell-Clarke either. What she could think about was her duties as a surgeon.

  She asked Jon if she could examine his burns, and he nodded his assent, rolling up his sleeve. The skin was discoloured, beginning to tighten and contort, showing that the injuries had been given very little care.

  It was odd. Whatever it was that made her heart beat a little faster when Jamie was in the room was entirely absent. Now that she’d made the connection, she could see that the brothers were very alike. Brown hair was brown hair and Jon’s was longer than Jamie’s, but they both had the same strong jaw, the same shaped face. And the eyes left no doubt, even if Jon’s seemed just an unusual colour, while Jamie’s were compelling.

  She retreated to her seat, clasping her hands together. She had to remember that Jon was her patient, and act according to his wishes and in his best interests, even though her first thought was that Jamie would be horrified to find that his own brother was in the clinic and he didn’t know it.

  ‘I think that the scars can definitely be revised and improved, particularly the ones on your brow and neck. The one on your arm is a little bigger, but there’s a lot we can do there as well.’
/>   Jon nodded. ‘Good. Thank you.’

  Anna took a breath, wondering how best to ask. ‘You said that Jonny Campbell is your professional name. Is your real name Campbell-Clarke, by any chance?’

  ‘Yes, it is.’ Jon shot her a questioning look. ‘Not many people know me as Jon Campbell-Clarke any more...’

  ‘So Dr Jamie Campbell-Clarke is your brother?’

  A flash of defensiveness. ‘Yeah. Looks a bit like me. We’re not identical twins.’

  ‘You both have the same colour eyes.’

  ‘That’ll be him then. You know him?’

  ‘I do, and I should tell you that he sometimes visits this clinic.’

  Jon nodded, pursing his lips. ‘I didn’t know that. Is that going to be a problem?’

  ‘No. It’s entirely up to you whether you want him to know you’re here or not.’ She should make that clear before she started to make the case for telling Jamie. ‘I just thought that you should know.’

  ‘Yeah. Thanks.’ Jon heaved a sigh. ‘When I said that we had a falling out... It was a pretty big one. And it was my fault, he has good reason to be angry with me.’

  ‘Do you think he might also have good reason to forgive you?’

  ‘Not particularly. Look...we were close once and now we’re not. None of us gets to change the past.’

  ‘Jamie might take issue with you there. He tries to change things for the kids he works with.’

  ‘That’s different.’ She saw a flash of anger in Jon’s face. ‘Look. Sorry, but I can’t...’

  ‘It’s okay. Just know that I’m here to help, and that I’ll do whatever you want me to do.’

  ‘Right. Well, you can tell him if you want. Or don’t tell him, it’s up to you. But I know what he’ll say, and I don’t want to hear it. Are we agreed?’

  ‘Agreed. Is there anything else I can do for you?’

  Jon heaved a sigh. ‘I don’t suppose there are any books in this place, are there? Not magazines, something I can get my teeth into.’

  ‘Yes, we have a small collection. I’ll send our activities co-ordinator in with a selection and if none of them appeal she’d be happy to go out and get you something that does.’

  ‘Activities co-ordinator.’ Jon gave a mock frown. ‘She’s not going to ask me to make raffia baskets, is she?’

  Anna chuckled. ‘Raffia baskets don’t turn you on?’

  ‘Not even a little bit. I’d like some fresh air...’

  ‘We have a small garden area on the roof. It’s secluded and the air’s about as fresh as it gets anywhere in central London.’

  ‘Sounds good to me. Jamie’s not going to find me up there, is he?’

  ‘No. He’s not expected here for the rest of the week, and after that...we’ll handle things.’

  ‘Still thinking you might engineer a reconciliation?’ Jon raised one eyebrow. ‘I can save you a bit of time there, because you won’t. Just handle it so that neither of us gets any nasty surprises.’

  ‘All right. Consider it done.’

  * * *

  Lunchtime. Anna pulled on her coat, grabbed an energy bar from her desk drawer, and hurried out of the building. She’d already thought of about a thousand reasons why she shouldn’t do this...

  Families were out of her sphere of expertise, she knew that. She was the only child of two only children, and the large, extended family she’d married into had sometimes baffled her but mostly delighted her. She’d lost them when she and Daniel had divorced...

  The clinic was her family now. Anna always did her best for the families of the patients who passed through, and now Jamie Campbell-Clarke came under that umbrella. It meant crossing the line that she’d drawn between professional and personal with him, but she couldn’t step aside and do nothing.

  He was sitting alone in the office he shared with two other doctors, the door wide open, and when he saw her he smiled. ‘You wanted to see me?’

  Why did that always sound like a challenge? Anna swallowed whatever smart retort was about to reach the tip of her tongue. Not the time for it.

  ‘Yes, I did.’ Anna sat down on the other side of his desk, keeping her coat on and clutching her handbag in her lap. ‘Can we have a private conversation?’

  Something kindled in his eyes and Anna ignored it. Jamie closed the door, sitting back down again. ‘Sure...’

  ‘We have a new patient at the clinic. He has some recent burn scars for revision, and...he has a demanding job, which has caused a great deal of emotional strain recently.

  Jamie nodded. ‘And who is this mystery patient? One of your celebrities?’

  ‘Yes.’

  He gave her a searching look. ‘So you’re not going to give me a name.’

  Not until she’d reassured Jamie that Jon’s condition was stable and he wasn’t in any danger. ‘He booked himself in earlier this morning. He’s being well looked after, and there’s no need for any concern.’

  ‘That’s always nice to know.’ Jamie shot her a puzzled look, leaning back in his seat. He’d obviously decided that she’d get to the point sooner or later, and that he’d wait.

  ‘It’s your brother. Jon.’

  Jamie’s face hardened suddenly. Whatever it was between the two brothers, it was serious. She’d never seen Jamie look so thunderously angry.

  ‘He asked you to come and see me?’

  ‘No. I... He said he had a twin brother, but that there was some bad blood between you. When I realised it was you he was talking about, I told him I knew you and said that I thought you should know he was at the clinic. He seems...alone.’

  Anna lapsed into silence. Maybe she’d got this all wrong. Maybe she should have listened to Jon when he’d told her that there was only one answer that Jamie would give to any plea for reconciliation. But Jamie never turned anyone away. It was a matter of pride that his charity would at least try to help any kid that knocked on its door.

  ‘Okay. Thank you.’

  That was it? ‘I’m sorry if this... I didn’t mean to overstep any boundaries.’

  Suddenly the boundaries that she and Jamie had drawn had changed and Anna felt crushed within them. She should probably go now, and hope that Jamie would forget this had ever happened.

  ‘That’s okay. Jon knows you’re here?’

  ‘He said that I could tell you he was at the clinic, but I wasn’t to tell him your reaction. He thinks you’ll refuse to see him.’ Right now that seemed to have been a forward-looking strategy on Jon’s part.

  ‘Right. It’s good of you to let me know. Is that all?’

  That was a clear invitation for her to leave. Anna wanted to ask what Jamie was going to do, even hint that he might tell her how he was feeling about this. But the hard mask of his face left her in no doubt that he’d just tell her to mind her own business.

  ‘Yes. I’d better be going. I have to be back at the clinic in forty-five minutes.’

  It was surprisingly hard to get up and leave. She’d come here intending to deliver a message, but now she badly wanted Jamie to let her in and allow her to help him. But he already seemed to have forgotten that she was in the room. As Anna closed the door behind her, he was staring at his hands, which were clenched into fists in front of him on the desk.

  * * *

  Jon. It had to happen sooner or later, and in truth Jamie was surprised that he hadn’t bumped into his twin brother before now. But Jon’s career only took him on flying visits to London, and hardly ever to Hastings. And in the three years since they’d argued, their family had tactfully contrived to keep them apart.

  And the first person who’d brought him news of Jon, beyond what he tried to stop himself from reading in the paper, was Anna. Jamie’s first thought had been to lock her in his office until she promised never to set eyes on Jon again. To protect her...

  He reminded him
self that Anna could look after herself. She’d proved that to him time and time again, meeting him headlong and refusing to back down when she knew she was right about something. She wasn’t going to fall for the good looks and the rock star charm.

  Jamie shook his head, trying not to think about it. Women did fall for Jon. Jamie’s own fiancée had fallen for him, and Jon had done what probably came perfectly naturally to him as a rock star, and what any brother would have found unthinkable. Jon could have had any woman he wanted, but he’d taken the one that Jamie had wanted.

  Three years. He could still feel the anger and the shock. The clawing pain that two people who he’d loved could have betrayed him like that.

  Did that outweigh the thirty-odd years that had gone before? Growing up together, doing everything together? Looking out for each other? His parents and sister had made it very clear that they wouldn’t force a reconciliation and that if Jamie didn’t want to take the first step they didn’t blame him. They probably didn’t know that Jon was in the clinic either.

  It was probably better to let sleeping dogs lie. But the childhood refrain, whenever Jon had been hurt or upset, wouldn’t stop echoing through his thoughts.

  What did you do now, little brother?

  * * *

  It was relatively normal to go for weeks without seeing Jamie Campbell-Clarke. But as luck would have it—and Anna wasn’t sure whether the luck was good or bad—he was waiting for her the following morning when she walked into the A&E department of the hospital.

  She’d been worrying all night about whether she’d done the right thing. But Jamie hadn’t come to the clinic to see his brother so she should do as she’d been asked and let it go. That was easier said than done.

  ‘Hi. Thanks for coming.’ He looked very tired.

  She’d seen Jamie tired before—his schedule was impressively busy—but today his face reminded her of Jon’s haggard features. It didn’t look as though he’d had much sleep either.

  ‘My pleasure.’ They had work to do, and she should concentrate on that.