far too little! It’s worth twice that!’
Which took them back to his original figure. They settled on a halfway point, and as she agreed to it Gavin leant back against the cushions, the tension draining from him at a stroke.
‘When do you want to move in?’ he asked after a moment. ‘You can come as soon as you like; it’s ready.’
Her poor lip was caught between those little teeth again and worried gently. ‘Tomorrow?’ she suggested. ‘If that’s not too soon…?’
His heart lurched. Too soon? No way!
‘That would be fine,’ he said casually. ‘After work?’
She shook her head. ‘I’m on a late—I could bring my things over in the morning. I haven’t got much.’
‘I’ll give you some keys now.’
‘But I haven’t got my cheque book with me. Don’t you want money up front?’
He chuckled. ‘Why? Are you going to do a runner with my immaculate furniture?’
Her smile was worth waiting for. ‘I might—you don’t know,’ she teased, and he felt a lump form in his chest and swell until it nearly choked him. Damn, she was pretty when she smiled like that …
She set her cup down on the old trunk that served as a coffee-table and got to her feet, clearly reluctant. ‘I must go—my parents will be worrying about me.’
‘Ring them.’
‘May I?’
She was very brief—too brief. He didn’t want her to go. She did, however, taking the keys and promising to see him tomorrow at the hospital with a cheque after she had moved in. He escorted her to her car, keeping a distance, and by a huge effort of restraint managed not to hug her.
As she drove off, giving a jaunty little wave, he went back into the house. Thoughtful, he lowered himself into her chair. It was still warm, and the faintest trace of her fragrance lingered on the air. His fingers meandered absently over the arm, outlining the overblown roses of the print as he looked around the room.
For the first time since he had bought it, he realised what the house needed to turn it into a home.
A woman—but not just any woman.
Laura …
She couldn’t believe her luck. The cottage was wonderful, Gavin was so easy to get on with it was unbelievable, and her first day had gone really well. Perhaps her new life wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Carrying her few things up to her pretty little bedroom, Laura unpacked her clothes and put them away, laid out her hairbrush and scant cosmetics on the chest of drawers and looked around.
The bed was made up with clean, crisp linen, a bedside table and lamp had appeared overnight, and downstairs in the kitchen was a note propped up on the table.
Help yourself to anything you fancy from the fridge. Tea and coffee on the side. See you later, Gavin.
She made a cup of coffee and took it through into his sitting-room. She had a room of her own, but for some reason she was drawn to this room, to his chair, huge and comforting.
She sat in it, tucking her feet up, and, leaning her head back, she laid her face against the back and caught an echo of his aftershave, tangy and citrusy, very clean with none of the sweet, spicy tones that she so detested.
It conjured his image, sprawled here as he had been last night, his long body, relaxed in jeans and a sweatshirt, looking comfortably familiar. Ridiculous, of course, because she didn’t know him and he wasn’t in the least familiar, but she couldn’t shake this feeling that in some way she knew him, was connected to him, and that this house was where she was meant to be.
It was so silly, because the last thing she needed was a relationship, and Gavin was the last person she would think of in that context.
He just wasn’t that sort of person, not one of the overtly sexy young doctors that seemed to cruise around hospitals in an aura of testosterone and sexual arrogance.
The thought made her chuckle. She just couldn’t imagine Gavin coming on strong to anyone. Not that he was unattractive—far from it. He had beautifully even features if one discounted the slightly crooked nose, probably a legacy of some lethal ‘sport’ like rugby, and his firm, full lips parted when he smiled to reveal perfect white teeth—well, almost perfect. One had a slight chip on the corner—the same accident? Possibly.
His shoulders weren’t enormous by any means but they were quite respectable, and there was no weight on him. If anything he was too thin, she thought critically, and vowed to cook him some decent, rib-sticking meals to fill him out. Still, his legs were solid enough. She remembered how he had looked in his jeans, and realised with a start that he probably was a very attractive man—if men attracted one.
After what had happened to her, Laura would find it hard to be attracted to any man. The consequences were just too awful, the price too high.
She got up, out of his chair that reminded her so unsettlingly of him, and put her cup back in the kitchen. She needed to change and get back to the hospital, give Gavin his cheque for the first month and be on duty by twelve-thirty. It was already after eleven. Running upstairs, she flung her jeans and jumper onto the chair, tugged her dress over her head, zipped up the front and pulled the stretchy red belt round her waist. Her tights wouldn’t go on straight, her shoelaces got in a knot and it was ages before she ran out of the door.
By the time she got to the hospital she was beginning to worry. Would she find him in time? She was getting anxious about owing him the money, and she didn’t want to upset him so early on in their relationship.
The word brought her up with a start. Did they have a relationship?
She hated that word. Business arrangement, then. Friendship. Anything but relationship. The word was too emotive.
She needn’t have worried. He was there on the ward, looking rumpled and very familiar in theatre pyjamas. She thought with a little shiver of shock that he was actually bigger than she’d realised, taller, heavier, more—masculine? Her heart thumped, and she had the sudden, terrifying feeling that she had made a dreadful mistake.
Then he turned towards her, his blue eyes lighting up as he saw her, and his face creased in a smile of friendly greeting. ‘Hi. Everything all right? Did you manage OK?’ he asked softly, and her fears dissipated like mist in the morning sun.
She handed him the cheque. ‘Fine,’ she told him, and she realised it was true.
The afternoon was busy. Gavin was around, quietly busy, tending to Oliver Henderson’s patients who had had operations the day before. She met Sue Radley, Oliver’s senior registrar and Tom Russell’s counterpart on the other firm, and found her pleasant if a little withdrawn.
That suited Laura. She didn’t want cosy little chats—not that there was time.
Ruth was going to be more of a problem. Married for six months, blissfully happy despite her promise to live with Gavin if he crooked his little finger, she was warm, nosy and a definite threat to Laura’s peace of mind.
They
