A Mother by Nature. Caroline Anderson

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СКАЧАТЬ grinned. ‘And he’s got your name on him.’

      Anna smiled self-consciously. ‘I don’t know. I hope so. He’s got three kids and no wife.’

      ‘Oh, my God.’ Allie looked at her in horror. ‘Three kids?’

      Anna shrugged. ‘I like kids.’

      ‘You’d have to, working with them all day and going home to them at night. Maybe they’re teenagers and nearly off his hands. Maybe they live some of the time with his wife.’

      Anna laughed and pushed Allie out of the way gently. ‘I’ll tell you if I ever get a chance to find out. In the meantime, I’ve got things to do and you’re holding me up. Toby Cardew’s coming back.’

      Allie rolled her eyes. ‘Not again? Whatever this time?’

      ‘I have no idea. This attack was quite severe, I gather. His parents are going potty trying to find the trigger. Their house must be so clean! Mrs Cardew spends hours a day mopping it down.’

      ‘Maybe it’s not the house. Maybe it’s school, or something on the journey, or a kid he sits next to?’

      ‘They’ve addressed all that. Maybe one day it will fall into place—it’s probably something really obvious that they’ve overlooked.’

      The squeak of the A and E trolley alerted them to the new arrival, and Anna went to greet him. ‘Hello again, young man,’ she said with a smile of welcome, and patted his hand reassuringly. ‘Can’t stay away, can you? Must be our wit and charm that keeps you coming back.’

      The boy gave a weak grin, and his mother shot Anna a tired, slightly desperate smile. ‘Sorry to be a nuisance,’ she apologised, but Anna brushed her words aside.

      ‘Don’t be silly,’ she said briskly. ‘That’s why we’re here, and we’re always pleased to see a familiar face. Right, let’s have you in bed and make you comfortable, shall we?’

      They quickly shifted young Toby across onto the bed and settled him, then left him to rest. Allie made Mrs Cardew a cup of coffee, Anna went to give Karl his pre-med and it only seemed like five minutes before the boy was back from Theatre, his arm cast in a back slab to allow for swelling and with the hand raised.

      He wouldn’t be running around for a few days at least, Anna thought, and wondered if Adam had observed the operation. No doubt she’d find out tomorrow.

      A tiny surge of what felt like adrenaline ran through her, and she caught herself looking at her watch and counting the hours until she’d see him again …

      CHAPTER TWO

      ADAM was due to start the day with a clinic, followed by a ward round to meet the new admissions on whom he’d operate that afternoon. He’d gone back to the ward and checked the notes yesterday evening, and had been foolishly disappointed to find that Anna had gone.

      Pity. He’d wanted to tell her about his part in Karl’s operation, and discuss what they’d done.

      Strictly business, of course. Still, he’d see her today.

      That lock of hair that kept falling forward and curving round her cheek was plaguing him. He’d been having fantasies about it all night—which was crazy because he always had fantasies about dark hair spread across his pillow in a fan, and hers was short and red. Dark red, admittedly, but red for all that, and far too short to fan satisfactorily.

      Still, he wondered how it would feel sifting through his fingers …

      Like silk. It was soft, heavy hair, essentially straight, with just enough bounce to curve under and curl around the pale pearly shell of her ear …

      Damn.

      He scooped the post off the floor in the lobby and scanned through it, grinding to a halt at the telephone bill. It was the final bill for the old house, and it took his mind off Anna and her attributes very effectively.

      He opened it with grim resignation, but even his wildest expectations were exceeded by its stunning proportions. Helle must truly have spent all day, every day, on the phone to her family and friends in Denmark.

      He shook his head in despair, and ran upstairs to her room, rapping loudly on the door. ‘Helle? Get up now. I want to talk to you immediately.’

      There was a shuffling noise, and the door opened to reveal his hapless young au pair, her hair on end, her eyes blurred with sleep, dragging on a dressing-gown.

      ‘What’s the matter?’ she asked, looking puzzled.

      ‘This is the matter,’ Adam said tightly, brandishing the thing under her nose. ‘The telephone bill. It runs into four figures, Helle, and it’s not even a complete quarter. I want you downstairs dressed in five minutes, and you’d better have a damn good explanation or you’ll be packing your bags and catching the next flight home.’

      ‘Good,’ she said miserably, and burst into tears. ‘I want to go home. I hate it here.’

      You’re a sucker, he told himself as he opened his arms and comforted the young woman while she cried. She was little more than a child herself, and it was a lot of responsibility. He should have talked to her more, been kinder to her, instead of expecting so much.

      ‘Come downstairs,’ he said more gently, easing her out of his arms. ‘We’ll have a cup of tea and talk about it before the children get up.’

      She nodded and sniffed, scrubbing her nose on the sleeve of her dressing-gown. ‘I’ll get dressed.’

      ‘Good idea.’

      He ran back down, put the kettle on and glanced at his watch. It was still only six-thirty, and he wondered if Anna was up yet or if she worked nine to five to cover admissions and pre- and post-ops. If she worked shifts and was on an early she’d be on her way there now. If not, she might still be in bed, her hair tangled round her face, her lashes like crescents on her cheeks, her mouth soft with sleep—

      ‘You need a life, Bradbury,’ he growled, and banged two mugs down on the worktop just as Helle came into the room.

      She hovered apprehensively in the doorway, and he waved her in. ‘Come in, sit down, I’m not going to bite you. I just want to know what’s going on.’

      She sat but, being Helle, she couldn’t just sit. She played with the salt, she shredded a paper towel that had been left on the table, tearing it systematically into tiny strips while she waited for the axe to fall.

      ‘Talk to me. Tell me all about it,’ Adam said softly, sliding a mug across the battered old pine table, and she looked up, her eyes like huge pools filling yet again.

      ‘I’m just lonely—I want my mum. I’m homesick. I thought it would get better, but then you said we were moving and I had to say goodbye to all my friends, and I thought, how will I cope in a new place?’

      A tear fell, splashing on her hand, and she scrubbed it away and went on, ‘It was hard before, when my friend Silke was just round the corner. Now it’s impossible. I don’t know anybody, and the children are at school and there’s nothing to do, and I just СКАЧАТЬ