seen make-up since she’d left Australia. Her hair was unkempt, her clothes begging to be sent to a rummage sale. Blake must be dreading what she was going to look like when he took her out to dine later.
It was as if she’d had a personality transplant. The level, uncomplicated attitude that she applied to life in general had been replaced with a zombie-like trance, and who could blame her? She’d spoken briefly with her father on the night of her arrival. It hadn’t been pleasant, and the next thing she’d known he was gone for ever.
But into the middle of her nightmare had come a stranger, a man who had taken her into his care and supported her through some of the worst hours of her life. She owed it to him to make herself presentable, and with the first lifting of her spirits since she’d arrived back in England she set about repairing the ravages.
* * *
When Helena opened the door to him that night Blake’s eyes widened. Her dress of clinging silk was the same colour as her eyes and brought out the glints in her russet hair. Carefully applied make-up gave colour to a face that was still ashen from shock and grief, and if the thought of food made her feel physically sick her smile didn’t give any inkling of it to the man who was putting his own affairs to one side on her behalf.
She’d had a couple of half-hearted relationships before she’d gone to Australia, both of them with hospital staff that she’d worked with, and had gone out with a husky Australian for a couple of months while she’d been over there, but none of them had made her heart beat as fast as it was now.
Blake had style and presence as well as a sort of rugged attractiveness, and she wondered what he’d meant when he’d said that his family weren’t around any more. Was he divorced and his wife had taken the children with her? He didn’t look like the sort of man who would neglect his family commitments.
He was returning her smile.
‘I feel I must have got the wrong house,’ he said teasingly. ‘I’m looking for Helena Harris and you don’t bear any resemblance to her.’
‘The answer to that is simple,’ she told him. ‘I spent some time in front of the mirror and what I saw was not a pretty sight.’
He took her hand, holding onto it for a fleeting second, and then tucked her arm in his.
‘Let’s go and eat,’ he said.
* * *
The moment they walked into the restaurant the proprietor, a fair-haired man in his forties, came forward to greet them with outstretched hand.
‘Dr Pemberton,’ he said warmly. ‘Good to see you…and the lady. How are things with you?’
‘Fine, Robert,’ he replied. ‘How’s that brother of yours?’
The man shrugged his shoulders.
‘All right as far as I know. I try to keep tabs on Michael, but it isn’t easy with this place to run.’
He was showing them to a table and Blake said, ‘I would think that last episode will have made him think twice about a repeat.’
‘I hope so, but he still drinks too much,’ the other man said, and handed them the menu.
‘Are you wondering what all that was about?’ he asked Helena when they’d ordered.
She nodded.
‘Robert’s younger brother was arrested on a drink-driving charge and put in the cells for the night. The police sent for me in the early hours because he’d been complaining of severe stomach pain, but when I got there the discomfort seemed to have gone and they were wishing they hadn’t been panicked into calling me out. But, of course, they can’t take any chances. When a prisoner dies in a cell all hell is let loose.
‘I wouldn’t go without examining him. They’re not the only ones who don’t take chances. There was something about him that worried me and to cut a long story short I found signs of a perforated appendix.
‘As we both know, appendicitis can be fatal and the time of greatest danger is when the agonising pain suddenly disappears. If he’d been left all night he might have died as the police would have taken no heed of his drunken mumblings, the pain having gone.’
‘And so you saved his life.’
He smiled. ‘Only partly. The hospital had something to do with it, too. He was operated on immediately.’
‘He and his family must have been grateful for your presence in the cell. I can see why his brother was so welcoming when you appeared.’
‘Yes, we’ve become firm friends, but Michael, the guy who had the appendicitis, is still drinking too much for his own good and everyone else’s.’
‘You must get a lot of job satisfaction from your police work.’
‘Yes. I do,’ he agreed. ‘Just the same as when I’ve been able to bring a patient back to good health. And with regards to the practice, how would you like to work for us?’
She stared at him in amazement. ‘In what capacity?’
‘Practice nurse, of course. We employ two, but one of them wants to leave in a hurry. As early as next week, in fact. If you are interested, I have another proposition to put to you.’
Still taken aback, she asked, ‘And what’s that?’
‘I have a small house that I rent out not far from the surgery. It was my wife’s before we were married. It’s vacant at the moment. If you took the job you might want to consider living there instead of where you are now. ‘
‘I’ve never worked in general practice,’ she explained. ‘I’ve always been hospital-based.’
‘Does that matter?’
He wasn’t going to tell her that he’d offered her the position because he wanted her near him. He wasn’t sure why, but he did. Maybe it was because she’d been left high and dry after her father’s death and he was concerned for her. Or were his motives more selfish than that? He didn’t want to get bogged down in self-analysis.
He could imagine Maxine’s reaction if Helena took the job. Fortunately he had the main say and if she didn’t like it, too bad.
‘I’d like to think about it if you don’t mind,’ Helena was saying. ‘I feel that you’ve already done enough for me.’
Suddenly he was the senior partner rather than her good Samaritan. ‘You would be expected to cope with a heavy workload and would get no special concessions from me.’
‘I wouldn’t expect any!’ she exclaimed. ‘I’m used to being treated on my own merits. What about the woman who was at your house last night? Did you say she was connected with the practice?’
‘Yes, that was Maxine Fielding. She and Darren Scott are the other two partners. By all means think about the offer. I just felt that both suggestions might solve your problems for the time being.’
So he had no thought of it being on a more permanent basis, she told herself. No need to feel flattered that Blake
