href="#ulink_53c7d1ed-5f22-55f1-8621-994a0d8a386b">CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘SO YOU’VE come to Australia looking for a husband, have you?’
Kate stared indignantly at the tall man in front of her, whose dark good looks appeared to have mesmerised almost every woman in the room. She drew herself up to her full height which, infuriatingly, still only reached to his shoulders.
‘How dare you?’ she said furiously. ‘It may surprise you to realise that not all women regard marriage as the pinnacle of achievement.’
‘I’ve yet to meet one, I’m afraid,’ he said, in an exasperatingly offhand manner. ‘Although that’s what they always say.’
‘I’m not even going to dignify your prejudices by discussing them with you,’ she retorted disdainfully.
Turning on her heel, she stalked towards the drinks trolley which stood in a corner of the large airy room whose windows overlooked the Swan river. With a trembling hand she lifted a pitcher and poured herself a glass of punch.
She hadn’t even wanted to come to this party, she reflected, as she quenched her thirst. It was her young cousin Paul, a fourth year medical student at Western Australia’s busy teaching hospital, who had persuaded Kate to accompany him to his ‘end of firm’ party. This was a small affair given by Paul and the other students for the surgical team who had been teaching them for the last two months.
‘But I won’t know anyone,’ she had protested.
‘Then I’ll introduce you! You must come, Katie, you’ll enjoy yourself,’ he had insisted.
So here she was. Presumably the self-opinionated man was one of the surgical team; he certainly looked too old to be a medical student.
Such arrogance! she thought to herself, watching as he stood lounging against the wall, surveying the room slowly. Kate’s place had been quickly filled by a young woman with startling platinum blonde hair who was gazing up at him through thickly mascaraed lashes. He noticed the direction of Kate’s glance and grinned sardonically, raising his glass to her.
She hastily looked away. Heaven save her from all men, especially from men as egotistical as that one! She found herself resenting his obvious good looks—the craggy, tanned face and the coal-black curls which put her in mind of some latter-day Sir Lancelot.
He wore a loosely fitting grey linen suit, but even that could not disguise the sinewy outlines of his tall, hard body. No wonder, thought Kate, that the blonde was pressing herself against him!
She took another sip of her drink and glanced around the room for her cousin. She spotted him talking to a freckled-faced young woman with a mop of thick brown curls.
Paul was such a dear, thought Kate, although at times she felt exhausted just keeping up with the dizzy series of activities which he and his parents had organised for her.
She had been in the beautiful city of Perth for almost twelve weeks, and she had scarcely had time to draw breath. She suspected that they were trying to keep her busy in the hope that she wouldn’t have time to dwell on the reason for her hurried departure from England—the end of her romance with Ben and the unsavoury discovery that he had been unfaithful to her. She had come to Australia to get the whole ghastly business out of her system.
She had dressed carefully for the party. She made a striking vision in a simple cut dress of jade, which emphasised the cat like quality of her green eyes. The rich golden satin of her hair tumbled down around her heart-shaped face, almost to her waist.
Her look would have been quintessentially English if it had included the delicate pink-and-white which so often accompanies blonde hair, but she was able to bask in the sun at will without burning, and already she was the colour of golden syrup, after twelve weeks beneath the strong Australian sun.
The dark surgeon had sought her company uninvited. Their eyes had met across a sea of bobbing heads and Kate had seen a look of astonishment cross his features, almost as though he had seen a ghost, she thought.
She wondered what on earth had caused a stranger to make such an odd remark.
He had come towards her with a slightly bemused expression and had offered to fetch her something to drink. She had accepted gratefully, already used to the disarming friendliness of the Australians, and rather interested in this particular one since he was without question the best-looking man in the room.
It was when he heard her soft, clear English accent that she had seen his grey eyes darken and a frown appear between those dark brows. What did she do? he had wanted to know. State Registered Nurse, she had told him proudly, and it was a just pride, for Kate had trained at St. Jude’s—one of the largest and busiest teaching hospitals, with a reputation for producing some of England’s finest nurses.
She remembered her first few weeks of training when Mrs. French her tutor, had told the class of fresh-faced youngsters before her that training at St. Jude’s was a passport to any hospital in the world. And yet it had not aroused the customary respect in the face of the Australian.
‘What brings you to Australia?’ he had demanded, and she had told him simply that she had had a love affair back in England which had gone wrong.
It was then that he had made his provocative statement. Kate had at first thought that he was joking, but the grey eyes hadn’t looked particularly humorous.
She had felt flabbergasted by his insufferable conceit. The worst type of surgeon, she decided, so used to the power and prestige of the job that he imagined himself irresistible to all women!
She turned her back on the platinum blonde who now appeared to be in the process of nibbling on his ear, standing on tiptoe in order to reach.
Her cousin had noticed that she stood alone and, with his curly-haired companion, had threaded his way through the scattered couples towards her.
‘Hi there, Cousin!’ he exclaimed warmly. ‘I want you to meet Joanne, a fellow student and our hostess for this wonderful party.’ He leaned over and planted a kiss on Joanne’s nose. ‘Joanne’s folks allowed us to use their house tonight,’ he explained. ‘Fortunately that did not include letting her loose in the kitchen, and the food was provided by outside caterers!’
‘Why, you ungrateful beast!’ laughed Joanne, aiming a playful punch at him. ‘I’m very pleased to meet you, Kate. Paul has told me so much about you.’
‘All bad, of course!’ interjected Paul.
‘I hope you’re having a great holiday, so far?’ Joanne asked, in her pleasant voice.
‘It’s been wonderful,’ replied Kate. ‘Everyone has really gone out of their way to be kind to me.’ She paused. ‘Except for that man over there—he’s just been unbelievably rude!’
‘Which one?’ asked Joanne.
‘Him—the one with his back to us, over by the window.’
Joanne
