Why was it that every time she was halfway interested in a man, he was all over her and trying to hustle her into bed? She didn’t want a brief fling based purely on sex, she wanted something more than that—something deeper and more meaningful, a man to love her, perhaps, and care for her, and not just be obsessed by her body. But it wasn’t happening. So far, every man she’d met hadn’t been able to get past the way she looked. Even Alex, whom she’d known for some years and whom she’d thought at one time might be the one for her, had let her down and left her disappointed.
She tried to shake off those negative feelings. ‘I think Matt’s on top form lately. I get the feeling he’s really happy to be working in Paediatrics, and he doesn’t seem to be fazed by anything. One minute he’s doing chest drainage on a baby and the next he’s playing Air Attack with a ten-year-old on the ward. I wish I could be as relaxed about the job.’
Jade nodded. ‘It doesn’t help that we have clinical examinations coming up next month, does it?’
Lucy gave a slight shudder. ‘It’s definitely stressful. I’ve been trying not to think too much about them, but with them looming up ahead there’s no avoiding it any longer. I just hope I manage to keep it all together, and that my mind doesn’t go blank when the time comes.’
‘Me, too.’
‘Whose mind’s going blank?’ Matt joined them in the kitchen, casually dressed in jeans and T-shirt, the cotton fabric hugging his muscular chest and showing off strong, sun-bronzed arms that were covered with a smattering of dark hair. Lucy guessed he’d just come from the shower because his hair was damp and spiky, giving him a roguish, ready-for-anything kind of look.
‘Mine,’ she told him, and before she could add, ‘we were talking about exams,’ he started to nod.
‘That figures,’ he said, his mouth crooking at the corners.
She gave him a soft punch on the arm and he pretended to be wounded. ‘Did I say anything about you being an airhead?’ he grumbled. ‘I mean, just because you forget the groceries occasionally and the cooker still hasn’t been repaired, it doesn’t have to mean there’s nothing going on in there, does it? Anyway, you’re blonde … it goes with the territory.’
She scowled at him. ‘Don’t push it, okay? That joke is wearing a bit thin. I hear it all the time, and I’m telling you I’m not in the mood. As to the cooker, the repairman’s coming this morning.’
‘That’s good. We’ve only been waiting a week.’
‘And that was hardly my fault,’ she said in a clipped tone, staying on the defensive. ‘I rang several companies, and this was the earliest anyone could come out.’
‘Did I say it was your fault?’ Matt raised dark brows.
‘Okay, children,’ Jade interrupted, smiling, ‘I’m going to leave you to it. I have a lecture to attend this afternoon, but before that I want to spend some time in the hospital library, looking up clinical exam questions to see what sort of thing might come up.’ She glanced at Lucy. ‘Are you coming along?’
‘I’d like to, but it depends how things go here. I asked the cooker man to come early, but he’s already late. I’ll catch up with you as soon as I can.’
‘See you later, then.’ Jade left, and Lucy returned to the task of putting away the last of the packages.
Matt added coffee to the filter jug and said, ‘I could wait in for the repairman, if you like. I don’t have to be at work until lunchtime today.’
Lucy turned around to look at him, touched by his thoughtfulness. ‘Would you? That would be so helpful—I really ought to go to this lecture. It’s not quite the same, looking things up on the internet. My head’s been all over the place just lately, and a face-to-face meeting is so much better because you can ask questions and clear up niggling difficulties.’
He nodded, but just as she thought about getting ready to leave Matt glanced out of the kitchen window and said softly, ‘Well, now, it looks as though we have a visitor. I wonder what that little lad is doing here?’ He walked over to the sink to get a better look.
Lucy went to join him at the window, looking out on to the small garden.
‘He must be the little boy from next door,’ she said. Matt brushed up against her as he moved to get a better view, and for a while her concentration went to pieces as she stared distractedly at the patch of lawn and surrounding flowers and shrubs.
‘He can’t even be three years old,’ Matt mused, his voice low. ‘I wonder how he managed to get into the garden?’
Lucy didn’t answer straight away. Matt was so close that she could feel the warmth of his long body seeping into her, and as he lifted an arm to point out a small figure scrambling about in the bushes she was conscious of his biceps lightly grazing the softness of her breast. His thigh was gently pressuring hers, and a rush of heat spread through her, firing up every nerve ending and shooting her nervous system into a spiralling state of heightened awareness.
‘I … uh … I think he must have crawled in through a gap in the fence,’ she managed, her voice becoming husky.
‘Mmm.’ Matt half turned, looking at her. ‘I expect so.’ He sounded distant all at once, and he shifted slightly, so that she wondered if he, too, was overcome by this same feeling of warm intimacy that was bothering her, where her soft curves were brought into mind-shattering contact with his strong, firm body.
‘Perhaps I should go and talk to him,’ she murmured breathlessly, making an effort to get herself together. ‘His mother might be worrying about him.’
‘Yes, I think you’re right.’ He moved away from her, slowly, and it seemed as though his mind was somewhere else altogether. ‘I’ll come with you.’
They went out through the French doors into the garden, quietly, so as not to startle the little boy. By now, he was sitting on a collection of pebbles that were lit up in a patch of sunlight.
‘Hello,’ Lucy said softly, bending down to be on a level with the child. ‘Are you from next door? I don’t think we’ve met before, have we? I’m Lucy, and this is my friend, Matt.’
‘I’m Jacob,’ he told her, unperturbed by their sudden appearance. ‘I live over there.’ He waved an arm towards the fence. ‘I’ve never been here before.’ He looked around, his grey eyes bright with curiosity. ‘Is this your garden?’
‘Yes, it is.’ Lucy nodded.
‘I like it here.’ He pushed his fingers into the pebbles and laughed when the smaller ones fell through his fingers to the ground. ‘These are good. If I had my truck, I could fill it up wiv these.’
Matt nodded, kneeling down beside the boy. ‘I expect you could. That would be fun, wouldn’t it? But perhaps we should find out if your mother knows where you are. She might be worried.’
Jacob shook his head. ‘She won’t be worried. She’s bathing the baby.’ He frowned. ‘She has to,’ he added knowledgeably, ‘because she fills her nappy and gets stinky. Babies are like that, aren’t they? They’re smelly and they cry a lot.’
Matt laughed. ‘I suppose so, but they’re
