by Lucy Clark
“You’re serious?” she queried as they stood outside their apartment doors. “You honestly don’t want to get married?”
“Correct.”
“You would make such a wonderful father, Hayden. Look at the way you bandaged my knee this morning.”
“I’m a doctor, Annie.”
“You’d be wonderful with children,” she said softly.
Hayden felt a twisting in his gut and wondered how things had escalated so fast. It was Annie. Never before had a woman got beneath his skin so quickly, and that in itself should breed caution.
“I know.” The words were all but choked out of him. “My daughter Liana died when she was four weeks old.”
“Oh, Hayden,” she whispered.
“Out of my mockery of a marriage came the most precious gift and then that, too, was taken away from me.” He shook his head and unlocked his door.
She wanted to go to him, to comfort him. She felt closer to him right this very second than she had to any other man in her life.
Dear Reader,
I was sitting down one day, talking with my friend, Rachael, when we saw a huntsman spider. Eww! Once we’d both stopped squealing and my husband had removed said spider, we started talking about using a spider to bring two people together. My friend also loved the name Hayden, so I promised her I would use the name as well as the spider together in one story…and this is it!
Annie shares my fear of the eight-legged creatures but thankfully she finds a knight in shining armor—her next-door neighbor, Hayden—to rescue her. When she realizes her sexy neighbor is also her boss, poor Annie’s heart rate goes into overtime.
I had so much fun writing Annie and Hayden’s story. I hope you enjoy it, and remember—huntsman spiders always travel in pairs. Eww!
With warmest regards,
Lucy Clark
The Registrar’s Wedding Wish
Lucy Clark
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
‘I DON’T want to sound like a cliché, Annie, but give it more time.’
Annie wrinkled her nose at her friend’s advice. ‘Time-shmime. What I need is a change.’
‘A change? Annie! Your apartment burnt down, you split up with Adam and cancelled your wedding, your dad’s company is in financial difficulty and now you’ve moved into a new apartment. Isn’t that enough change?’ Natasha asked incredulously.
She sighed. ‘It wasn’t the kind of change I was hoping for.’
‘I know,’ Natasha soothed. ‘How are you going with the boxes? Finished sorting them out yet?’
Annie looked around her new apartment and sighed into the telephone receiver. ‘No.’
‘Want me to come and help? Brenton’s just arrived home from the hospital so he can supervise the children with their homework tonight.’
‘It’s a tempting offer but I think I’ll just wade through things slowly.’ She opened a box and peered inside. Ribbons and trophies from her childhood were packed haphazardly with nursing reference books and kitchen utensils. ‘Besides, both you and Monty—’ she used the high school nickname for Natasha’s husband ‘—have gone above and beyond the call of friendship during the past few months.’
‘OK, but you call me if you need anything.’
‘I will.’ Annie rang off and replaced the receiver. Sighing again, she opened another box which contained more medical books and reached inside. ‘Ugh, this is a heavy one,’ she muttered, using both hands to lift the reference book out. She felt something soft brush the edge of her fingers and, looking down, saw an enormous brown huntsman spider about to crawl onto her hand.
‘Aagh!’ She screamed and catapulted the book across the room where it landed with a heavy thud between two more boxes. ‘Eww, eww, eww.’ Her skin was creeping and crawling and when she saw the spider climb the side of another box to hide inside, she shivered uncomfortably.
Hopping over boxes and miscellaneous items that were lying around, she headed for the door. ‘Eww, eww, eww.’ As she wrenched down on the doorhandle, she accidentally bent her thumb backwards. ‘Ow, ow, ow. Oh this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening,’ she muttered as she cradled her hand against her. Whimpering, she knocked on the door of the next apartment, hoping the person who lived there was braver than she was when it came to spiders.
Looking down at her thumb while she waited, she gently checked the range of motion. ‘Ow,’ she whimpered again. The door opened and she looked up into a pair of the bluest eyes she’d ever seen.
‘Can I help you?’ The man’s voice was gruff and impatient.
Annie’s mind went blank and her jaw sagged open as she shifted her gaze away from his eyes to briefly encompass the rest of him. He was dressed in a pair of blue surfing board-shorts, his brown chest bare.
‘Er…’ she started, and then cleared her throat. Come on brain—work! ‘Um…I’m Annie…from next door.’ She gestured to her apartment and then whimpered again as she remembered her thumb.
‘Have you hurt your hand?’
‘Oh, no. It’s OK. Just bent my thumb back.’
Without warning, he reached for her hand and peered closely at the digit in question. Annie was surprised at the contact from this handsome stranger, his touch warm and tender as he moved the thumb slightly around. ‘Doesn’t seem broken.’ He let it go as abruptly as he’d taken it. ‘Was there anything else? I was just about to take a shower.’
‘Oh!’ The image of this man standing beneath the cooling spray of a shower did nothing to help her present state of tonguetiedness. ‘Uh…well, I won’t keep you…’
‘Fine.’ He started to close his door.
‘But I have a spider in my apartment,’ she rushed on. ‘And I was kind of wondering if you wouldn’t mind…’ She shrugged. ‘You know, getting it out…for me…please?’ She raised her eyebrows hopefully.
He took a set of keys off the wall before closing his door and stalking into her apartment. ‘Where is it?’
‘Well…’ Anne could feel the creeping, crawling sensation return. ‘It was on my book but after I threw it across the room—’
‘The spider?’
‘Eww. Yuck. I threw the book with the spider on…it.’ She screwed up her nose as she pointed to where the textbook lay, the hard cover making a steeple on the ground, the white pages in the middle now slightly crumpled.
He walked over and picked up the book, making sure the pages were straight. ‘So that’s what that noise was. Sounded as though you were dropping bricks. Medical and surgical nursing, eh?’ He placed the book on top of an unopened box. ‘Where did the spider go after you’d hurled it—and your book—across the room?’
‘It…’ Annie shivered again ‘…crawled up that box.’ She pointed, keeping well away. Her dark-haired saviour opened the flap on the box.
‘Ah, there he is. Probably more scared of you—’
‘Than I am of him. Yeah, yeah, I know. I don’t have anything against him—’
‘Except that you want him out of your apartment?’
‘Exactly.’
He straightened and looked around the room. He picked up a piece of paper before walking into the kitchen and coming back with a glass. Annie grimaced, vowing to throw the glass out as soon as he’d finished.
‘Open the door to the stairwell.’
Annie rushed to do as he ordered, glad she didn’t have to watch him catch the wretched thing.
Moments later, he came out of her apartment and she shuddered as he walked past with the spider trapped between the paper and the glass. ‘Eww, eww, eww, eww, eww,’ she muttered, closing her eyes.
‘Go in front of me and open the outside door,’ he instructed. Annie opened her eyes and raced down the stairs as though her life depended on it. She opened the door, looking the other way as he passed her again and took the spider to the row of native trees which grew between their apartment building and the house next door.
She couldn’t bear to look. ‘Here you go,’ he said, holding the paper and glass, minus its occupant, out to her. Annie grimaced and shook her head. ‘Throw them away?’ he asked and at her nod he deposited them in one of the bins.
‘You probably should have recycled that glass but…I do understand.’
‘You do?’ She was surprised. They walked back up the stairs to their apartments, Annie sneaking glances at the defined muscles of his back.
‘I have three sisters and all of them react to spiders the way you do.’
Annie laughed. ‘My hero.’ Outside her apartment door she held out her hand to her neighbour. ‘Thanks again. I really do appreciate it.’ When he simply smiled but didn’t shake her hand, she frowned a little.
‘I don’t want to hurt your thumb.’
Annie looked down at the digit in question. ‘Oh, yeah. I’d forgotten.’
‘It’s obviously not hurting any more.’
‘Just aching…a little.’ She smiled shyly, unable to believe she was standing here with a relative stranger discussing her thumb. ‘Should be fine.’
‘I take it that you’re trained in the medical profession? Either that or you use heavy nursing texts instead of dumbbells.’ His words were dry but she noted the twinkle of teasing in his eyes.
‘Or maybe I use them for hurling spiders across the room.’ That got a smile from him—small though it was. Annie started to feel even more self-conscious, standing in the middle of the hallway. His shoulders were so…broad and when he smiled like that, her stomach did flips and her knees went weak. ‘Would you like to come in for a cool drink?’ The second she offered, she remembered the only thing cool she had to drink was tap water. ‘No.’ She tapped her forehead with her hand. ‘Sorry. I’ve just remembered I don’t have anything cool to drink.’
He peered around her open door. ‘You don’t have any furniture either. Planning to sleep in one of those boxes tonight?’
‘Hmm.’ She gave him a thoughtful look. ‘Now, there’s an idea. I was wondering what I was going to do.’ He raised an eyebrow at her words and she laughed. ‘I have a futon in the bedroom. My apartment burnt down a few months ago,’ she added by way of explanation.
‘But you managed to save your belongings?’ He gestured to the mound of boxes.
‘I’d…um…already packed them up and moved them…elsewhere when the fire happened.’ Annie looked down at the ground, trying to control her thoughts. Now was no time to be thinking about the past.
‘That was fortunate.’
‘Yeah.’ She bit her lower lip, hoping her emotions wouldn’t overpower her.
‘Was it a painful break-up?’ His insightful question was asked quietly and Annie brought her gaze back to his. How did he know? Unless…
‘Been there yourself?’ she enquired just as boldly.
He forced a smile. ‘Let’s not go there.’
‘My sentiments exactly. Well…thank you for rescuing me.’
‘My pleasure. Let me know when you find the other one.’
‘Other what?’
‘The other huntsman.’
‘What?’
‘Huntsmen always have a mate. Ever since the Ark—they travel in twos.’
‘Ewww.’ She squirmed again. ‘You mean there’s another one in my apartment!’
Her neighbour laughed at her expression and for a moment, she took comfort in that deep, rich sound. ‘Relax. He’ll be more frightened of you—’
‘Yeah, yeah.’ Annie impatiently waved his words away and frowned at the stack of boxes waiting to be unpacked, feeling quite ill. ‘I wonder if I can just throw all that out and buy new stuff,’ she mumbled thoughtfully.
Another rich chuckle emanated from the man beside her and she realised she really liked the sound. Her gaze flicked to his chest before quickly meeting his eyes again. ‘No need to go that far. Why don’t you leave the unpacking until you get more furniture?’
‘Can’t. The furniture is being delivered tomorrow, which is why I need to sort a lot of this stuff out tonight.’ She sighed heavily.
‘What time is it being delivered?’
‘Who knows? They said morning, which could mean anything.’ She shrugged. ‘I won’t be here anyway.’
‘I suppose you want me to keep a lookout for them?’
‘No. No. Not at all. A friend of mine has the morning off so she’s offered to come over.’ Annie shrugged, feeling a little self-conscious about telling this half-naked stranger more about her life than he probably wanted to know. ‘My shift got changed at the last minute.’
‘Nurse?’
‘No. I used to be.’
He nodded. ‘That explains the textbooks.’
‘I’m a doctor now.’
‘A doctor,’ he repeated, his dark eyebrows raised in surprise. ‘I suppose you work at Geelong General hospital.’
‘Yes.’ Annie lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders. Was there something wrong with what she did for a living? Adam had initially been intrigued by her job but then he’d come to resent it.
Hayden liked the way her dark eyes flashed with defiance and felt an unwanted twisting in his gut. Had someone dared to criticise her career choice in the past?
Annie thought back to the way her neighbour had tenderly examined her hand and she narrowed her gaze. ‘Why?’ She asked slowly. ‘Do you work there?’
‘I start on Monday.’
Annie’s jaw dropped open slightly before she grabbed hold of her senses and forced her mind to work in an orderly and rational manner. Even before she asked the question, she instinctively knew the answer. ‘Orthopaedics?’ She held her breath.
‘Yes.’
Her mouth went dry. There was only one person starting in the orthopaedic department on Monday and that was her new boss—Professor Hayden Robinson.
‘Do I presume by the pained look on your face that you work in Orthopaedics?’
Annie smiled at his words. ‘It’s not pained…just…amazed. I mean, what are the odds?’
‘True.’
They both stood, staring at each other. The moment stretched into an uncomfortable silence. Annie’s stomach churned with uncontrollable butterflies as she continued to gaze into those hypnotic blue eyes. Her brain refused to function properly and although she knew she should say something to snap them out of it, she couldn’t for the life of her think what.
‘I need to go.’ He stepped back and put the key into the lock.
‘Yeah.’ She cleared her throat and took a step in the opposite direction.
He unlocked his door and pushed it open. ‘See you on Monday, neighbour.’ His smile was one that went directly to her heart, piercing it with giddy schoolgirl laughter.
Annie choked the laugh down and forced a polite smile. She knew she should move but couldn’t. She watched him move into his apartment and close the door. The smile faded and it took another half a minute before she could force her legs to work.
Her new boss was her new neighbour!
She went back into her apartment and checked the time. It was only seven o’clock so she picked up the phone and dialled Natasha’s number.
‘You’ll never guess who my neighbour is,’ she said into the receiver a few seconds later. She told her friend about the close encounter with the spider and how her neighbour had come to her rescue. She also learnt that Brenton had found a huntsman spider when they’d been transferring the boxes to the new apartment.
‘So chances are you found the ma
te this evening.’
Annie felt a little disappointed that she wouldn’t be calling on her sexy neighbour to help her out.
‘Anyway,’ Natasha continued, ‘what’s he like?’
‘Tall, dark and very handsome,’ Annie said with a laugh. ‘Oh, but I made him throw the glass out. I’m sorry, Natasha—I’ll buy you and Monty a new set to replace the ones I borrowed, but I just couldn’t keep it. The thought of washing it…eww.’ She shuddered.
‘Who cares about the glass?’ Natasha replied. ‘Tell me more about Professor Robinson.’
Annie sat cross-legged on the floor and leaned back against the wall. ‘He has broad shoulders and a nice chest.’
‘You saw his chest!’
‘He was naked—from the waist up,’ she added quickly.
‘Why? What had he been doing?’
‘How should I know? All he was wearing were board-shorts and a light sprinkling of sand. Swimming? Running on the beach? How should I know?’ she repeated.
‘Did you count the grains of sand?’
‘No! Stop teasing.’
‘Why? He sounds like just what you need.’
‘I do not need another failed relationship. I’ve had enough of those to last me a lifetime. Besides, his tastes probably run to the gorgeous supermodel type.’
‘You don’t know that.’
‘Yeah, well, most men like that.’
‘Brenton doesn’t.’
‘Have you looked in the mirror lately, Tash? You are the gorgeous supermodel type. I’m not.’
‘Stop it. Stop it right now,’ Natasha demanded. ‘I tell you, all the guys you’ve dated in the past have done an excellent job in destroying your self-esteem. You’re a beautiful, intelligent woman, Annie, and I’m not just saying that because I’m your friend. Have you looked in the mirror lately?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what do you see?’
‘A woman with boring, uneven brown eyes, a crooked nose, a mouth that’s too big and ears that look pointed if my boring brown, out-of-control, short, curly hair doesn’t cover them. And to top it all off, I’m not exactly tall.’
‘You’re five foot four, Annie. That’s not short.’
