by Sarah Morgan
‘Riggs…’ His voice was sexier than a man’s voice had a right to be. ‘At the moment, I’m not thinking about conversation. I’m just thinking about your body in my bed. And more of what we just sampled.’
His words made her stomach flip. Her body in his bed. His body tangled with her body.
His shirt was half undone where she’d dragged at the bottom and she saw the haze of dark hair on his chest. He was a man designed to tempt a woman from the straight and narrow.
And she was tempted. So tempted.
‘We’d regret it in the morning.’
‘I never regret anything I do. It’s a waste of emotion.’
‘Look…’ She scooped her hair away from her face and licked her lips, struggling to be rational. ‘Let’s just admit this was a mistake. We had a nice evening and that’s rare for us. We both drank a bit too much.’
‘I’m stone-cold sober.’
‘We’re going to forget it happened.’ She ignored his soft statement and backed through the door, holding onto the wall for support. Ever since he’d kissed her, her legs didn’t seem to be working that well.
‘Riggs.’ His voice stopped her before she made it to the stairs. ‘What if we can’t forget it happened?’
She paused, her hand curled tightly round the banister for safety. ‘We will.’
They had to.
Otherwise they were in big trouble.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE following morning the surgery was crowded with patients and Anna was relieved that there was no sign of Sam. She couldn’t face him at the moment. Not until she’d managed to wipe out all memories of that incredible kiss.
Chemistry.
Damn. Who would have thought it? It just went to prove that the mind and the body were totally incomprehensible.
‘Glenda rang.’ Hannah, the other receptionist, looked at Anna searchingly, clearly wondering what was wrong with her usually sharp-minded boss. ‘She’s been caught up at home but she’ll be in as soon as possible.’
Anna frowned. Caught up with what? ‘Fine. Do you know what’s wrong, Hannah? Did she say anything?’
Hannah shook her head. ‘No.’ The young girl looked thoughtful. ‘But she didn’t sound herself. And she hung up in a hurry.’
‘OK. Any sign of Dr McKenna?’
‘He phoned just before you arrived to say that he was making one call on his way in and to explain to his patients.’
‘Oh.’ For a moment Anna was annoyed that he hadn’t thought to call her on her mobile and tell her his plans. Then she remembered that she’d gone out of her way to avoid him that morning. She’d showered early, skipped breakfast and sneaked out of the house before she’d heard sounds from his bedroom. Presumably he’d taken the same approach and that was why he hadn’t called her.
Which proved that her plan was the right one. Ignore the whole thing. Pretend it had never happened. They should never have indulged in that kiss and the sooner they both put it behind them and started to act normally again, the better for both of them.
‘OK, Hannah, I’ll get on with my surgery. Let me know when Dr McKenna arrives. If he’s horribly delayed I’ll tuck his patients in between mine.’
Her first patient was Katy, a seventeen-year-old who walked in with her mother. Anna took one look at the teenager’s face and knew this was going to be a difficult consultation.
Sam was right. They needed a clinic for teenagers.
‘Hello, Katy.’ She offered the girl the seat closest to her and gave her mother a brief smile. ‘Hello, Mrs Walker.’
‘She doesn’t want to be here,’ Mrs Walker said briskly, ‘but I’ve told her that if she doesn’t come, I’ll cut off her allowance.’
Anna winced mentally and glanced at Katy, gauging her reaction. The girl looked sullen and uncooperative but that was hardly surprising given the circumstances.
‘She doesn’t eat and she spends her life in the gym,’ Mrs Walker began, her mouth tightening in disapproval as she looked at her daughter.
‘At least I don’t sit on the couch playing computer games,’ Katy muttered, scowling at her mother. ‘And there’s nothing wrong with going to the gym. It’s healthy.’
Anna thought for a moment and then smiled at Mrs Walker. ‘Would you mind if I spoke to Katy alone?’ She rose and walked to the door, leaving the mother no choice but to stand up and walk through it. ‘If you take a seat in the waiting room, Katy and I will just have a chat and we’ll be with you shortly.’
Anna closed the door firmly and then turned back to her patient. ‘Would you have come if it hadn’t been for your mother?’
‘No.’ The girl stared at her. ‘There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m perfectly healthy. Mum’s just a nag.’
Anna sat back down and started to talk to Katy, asking questions about her eating history and questioning her on her attitude to her weight. ‘How often do you go to the gym, Katy?’
The girl shrugged. ‘Dunno. Most days, I suppose. For about two hours.’
Anna nodded. ‘That’s quite a lot. It’s great to exercise, you’re right about that, but we probably need to reduce it slightly and look at your eating patterns.’
She spent some time discussing normal eating, diet and exercise, as well as the physical consequences of an eating disorder.
‘I want you to try and eat three meals a day, and would you keep a food diary for me and come and see me again?’
She knew that eating disorders could be extremely difficult to treat but she sensed that in Katy’s case the problem was relatively new, which meant that she might be successful in preventing the problem becoming entrenched.
Katy shrugged. ‘I suppose so. As long as Mum doesn’t come, too. She thinks she understands me.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘It’s tragic.’
Anna suppressed a smile. Far be it from adults to understand teenagers. A sudden inspiration struck. ‘Katy, you know everyone in the village…’
The girl shrugged. ‘I’ve lived here all my life,’ she said gloomily, ‘so I certainly should do.’
‘Dr McKenna and I are thinking of setting up a clinic for teenagers, and some input from you as to what would work and what wouldn’t would be really helpful.’ Anna gave a small smile. ‘We’d hate to be seen as “tragic”.’
Katy stared at her and a ghost of a smile crossed her face. ‘If Dr McKenna is involved, it might be cool.’
Anna ground her teeth. Great. The man was going to be proved right again. If she hadn’t been so convinced that the teenage clinic was the right thing for the practice, she might have buried the idea.
As it was, her encounter with Katy made her determined to get the clinic off the ground.
She made a mental note to herself to sort it out at the earliest opportunity and carried on with her surgery.
She’d just seen her third patient when there was a tap on her door and Sam entered.
Her heart skipped in her chest.
Annoyance and another emotion which she chose not to examine made her voice cooler than she’d intended. ‘For future reference I’d like to know if you intend to be late for surgery.’
‘I took an emergency call this morning. A fact I would have shared with you if you hadn’t been so desperate to avoid me.’
‘I wasn’t desperate.’
He gave a humourless laugh and closed her door firmly behind him. ‘Then you’re the lucky one. I was so desperate after last night that my body refused to go to sleep.’
Her heart hit her ribcage. ‘I don’t want to talk about last night.’
‘Fine. We’ll try it your way to start with. Pretend it didn’t happen. If that doesn’t work then we’ll try it my way. Agreed?’
She stared at him. ‘What’s your way?’
‘We’re trying it your way first. When that fails to work, I’ll tell you mine.’
Her heat skipped a beat. ‘You’ve got patients piling up outside your surgery, McKenna. You may want to do something about it.’
‘In a momen
t. I’m just checking you’re free at lunch-time.’
She glared at him. ‘I’ve already told you, I don’t take a lunch-break. And I certainly don’t go on dates at lunch-time.’
He strolled across the room, planted both hands on her desk and locked his gaze with hers. ‘Firstly, I didn’t mention taking a break and, secondly, I didn’t say anything about a date.’
‘But you—’
‘I want to talk to you about Glenda. She has problems we need to help her with. Big problems.’
Anna stared at him. ‘Tell me.’
He straightened. ‘In case you’ve forgotten, we’ve got patients piling up outside the door, Riggs. Let’s clear the decks and then we can concentrate on Glenda.’
* * *
‘She called me this morning in a state.’ Sam nursed a coffee, trying not to notice Anna’s hair. He loved the sleekness of it. The smoothness. The darkness against her perfect white blouse. It was all he could do to keep his fingers out of it. And away from the rest of her. He just wanted to reach out, grab and help himself. Just as he had the night before.
Damn, he should never have touched her. Then he wouldn’t have known that she tasted like a dream.
‘A state about what?’
He struggled to keep his mind on the job. ‘How much do you know about her mother?’
Anna sat back in her chair. ‘Not much, I suppose. Just to say hello to her in passing. She’s your father’s patient. I don’t think she’s consulted me at all in the time that I’ve been here. I only know her as Glenda’s mum. You think there’s something wrong with her?’
‘It would seem so. Glenda rang me this morning because she was afraid to leave her on her own in the house.’ Sam ran a hand over his face, trying to keep his mind on the job in hand. Concentration had never been so difficult. ‘Basically, she’s been trying to ignore the problem. Pretend it isn’t happening. But yesterday she lost her mother when they were out shopping.’
‘She lost her?’
‘She wandered off. Glenda panicked. Apparently that was the final straw that made her call me.’
Anna stared at him. ‘You’re suggesting that her mother has a form of dementia?’
‘I think it’s highly probable. We need to refer her to a specialist mental health service for assessment.’
‘There’s an excellent memory clinic at the hospital.’ Anna closed her eyes and breathed out. ‘Oh, help. Poor thing. And poor Glenda. What a thing to cope with. And she’s an only child, isn’t she? No other siblings to help?’
‘That’s right. And she’s really been struggling. Afraid to leave her mother on her own for any length of time, desperate to do her job here and not let us down…’
‘She needn’t worry about the job,’ Anna said immediately. ‘We’ll make whatever arrangements are necessary to cover her if she needs to be at home, but her job is here for as long as she wants it.’
Sam felt something shift inside him. The woman might be tough on the outside but she was marshmallow on the inside. Loyal and giving. And maybe a part of him had always known that. After all, hadn’t she been the one to stay and help his father while he’d chosen a different path? ‘It won’t be easy.’
‘It’s Glenda that matters, not the practice. Hannah can do extra time and I’ll rack my brains to think of who might be able to help her.’ Anna frowned and drummed her fingers on the desk, her neat fingernails tapping a rhythm while she thought. Her brow cleared. ‘I know. We’ll ask Fiona.’
‘She retired a year ago.’
‘But she was the most efficient receptionist we ever had and she taught Glenda everything she knew,’ Anna reminded him, flicking through a box on her desk and pulling out a card. ‘I’ve got her number here. Once we’ve spoken to Glenda, we can give her a ring if necessary. But the more important question is how to help Glenda and her mother.’
‘I went round there this morning,’ Sam told her, a drawn look on his face as he recalled the visit. ‘Frankly, I can’t begin to imagine how Glenda has coped without help up until now. It’s no wonder she’s been so stressed. I’m amazed she’s been making it to work at all. Her mother was really agitated and aggressive. And she clearly forgets everything, which drives Glenda up the wall.’
Anna groaned. ‘I just wish she’d said something sooner. This is all my fault.’ She scooped her hair away from her face in a gesture that made him want to groan aloud. ‘I should have noticed sooner that something was very wrong. She hasn’t been herself for ages. And now I see why. And I see why she’s always dashing off at lunch-time and arriving late in the mornings.’
With a determined effort Sam shifted his gaze away from her, trying to remind himself just how badly they clashed. ‘She’s been checking on her mother—afraid to leave her for too long,’ he agreed, ‘but don’t blame yourself, Riggs. You’ve been propping up this place virtually single-handed for too long. And that brings us to another subject we’re going to have to tackle. You should have told Dad he was no longer up to the job a long time ago.’
Anna bit her lip. ‘That isn’t true.’
‘It’s true,’ Sam said heavily. ‘You’ve been covering for him, picking up his workload. The sabbatical idea was genius. It enabled you to get some help without telling him outright he needed to retire. Hopefully he’ll get the message himself when he’s away.’
Her eyes slid away from his. ‘Your dad is a brilliant doctor.’
‘But his health has been getting worse and you need to be on full power for this job,’ Sam said steadily, ignoring the ache inside him. ‘It’s hard to acknowledge that he’s getting old, but that’s the truth. There are things Dad should have been doing that he hasn’t.’
‘That reminds me.’ She looked him straight in the eye. ‘I want to talk to you about your ideas for that teenage clinic. I want to try it.’
He nodded. ‘Good. What changed your mind?’
‘I always thought it was a good idea.’ Her mouth tilted slightly at the corners and she angled her head. ‘It’s just that I had to get my head round the fact that it came from you.’
He laughed with appreciation. ‘Well, that’s honest.’
‘I had a girl in here this morning…’
He listened while she told him about Katy and about her plan to involve some of the teenagers in setting up the clinic. It was a great idea.
‘I have to hand it to you, Riggs, when you go with an idea, you don’t hang around.’
‘Now’s the time to get them,’ she said briskly. ‘Long, hot summer evenings are the time when they get carried away. A significant number of our teenage mothers give birth in March.’
‘So let’s get started. Set up your meeting. What’s the problem?’
She breathed in and looked slightly pink. ‘You have to be there. Apparently you’re “cool”.’
He grinned. ‘And doesn’t that just bug you, Riggs?’
‘Actually, no.’ She sat back in her chair and surveyed him with those amazing brown eyes. ‘If you get the teenagers here, I don’t care what tactics you employ. Use your movie-star status if it helps.’
He smiled. ‘Any time you want my autograph, Riggs…’
‘I’ll try and survive without it. But let’s get on with this clinic.’
‘I thought you hated change.’
‘Only when it’s done for the sake of change. I can see the benefit of the clinic.’
‘My father couldn’t. It’s one of the reasons I know he should retire. He’s stopped seeing what his patients need.’
He saw her eyes cloud, saw the evidence of her very real affection for his father.
‘I don’t want him to retire.’ Anna’s chin lifted. ‘Changing a few clinics won’t matter to him. We can explain why we did it. Things are still the same in the practice.’
‘Things never stay the same,’ Sam said flatly, rising to his feet in a fluid movement. ‘Time moves on and we need to move with it. Let’s get through the summer and then we’ll sort out what the practice needs
, what Dad needs…’ He hesitated. ‘And what you need.’
He saw her stiffen defensively. ‘What do you mean, what I need? I don’t need anything.’
He gave a slow smile and watched with satisfaction while her colour rose. ‘No? Then it must be just me. Catch you later, Riggs.’
He left the room, ignoring the throb in his loins and the kick of his heart. Who would have thought it? Usually he liked his women gentle and compliant. Everything that Anna wasn’t. Anna was stubborn and had a tongue like a whiplash, but he respected her. And that respect was growing, the more he saw of her.
And the fact that the chemistry between them so clearly didn’t fit into her plans made the situation even more interesting.
CHAPTER SIX
‘MUM’S got an appointment at the memory clinic.’ Glenda dropped her bag and removed her cardigan. ‘I never thought it would be that quick.’
Aware that Sam had pulled several strings and had had several conversations with the consultant over the past week, Anna merely smiled. ‘I’m pleased. When is it?’
‘End of the week.’ Glenda pulled a face and settled in her chair behind Reception. ‘Do you mind if I take a few hours off in the afternoon to go with her?’
‘Of course not.’ Anna put down the pile of journals she was carrying. ‘I wish you’d told me about your mum sooner, Glenda. I feel dreadful, knowing that you were struggling with that on your own.’
Glenda fiddled with her hair. ‘Well, to be honest, I don’t think I was willing to admit it even to myself.’ She flicked on the computer and gave Anna a rueful smile. ‘These things happen to other people, don’t they? For ages I managed to convince myself she was just a bit forgetful, a bit crotchety. I didn’t want to admit it might be anything worse. But lately she’s been dreadful. Can’t remember a thing.’
‘There are things you can do that might help with that.’ Anna sat down on the corner of the desk. ‘Like keeping everything in the same place and having a routine. Put telephone numbers by the phone and label cupboards to help her remember where things live in the house. I’ve got a leaflet somewhere with practical tips—I’ll look it out for you although I’m sure the clinic will be able to give you something, too.’
