Health had run for almost two years, a popular and light-hearted Sunday evening show—and then it had suddenly stopped, at the height of its popularity, and Adam Forrester had disappeared from view.
Louisa surreptitiously glanced around the walls of the hall they stood in. What on earth was he doing living in a place like this? It was bright enough, with pale magnolia walls, but they were bare of adornment. It was just not the kind of place you imagined a wealthy and successful doctor living—he looked to be in his mid-thirties, so why wasn’t he residing in some stone-built mansion in the countryside?
‘I don’t care that it’s Sunday evening,’ he was saying. ‘I need to speak to her now.’
It was the kind of tone which did not invite argument, and she could just imagine a flummoxed telephonist agreeing to his request.
He looked up again. ‘There’s no need for you to hang around,’ he told her. ‘I can sort this out.’
‘Oh, but I’d like to listen,’ she said sweetly. ‘If that’s all right with you?’
Clearly, it was not all right with him, but as he couldn’t actually eject her physically, especially while talking into the phone, he was forced to content himself with an exaggeratedly loud sigh.
After a couple of minutes of silence he was connected.
‘Mrs Jefferson?’ he barked. ‘It’s Adam Forrester here.’ He listened for a moment. ‘Yes, of course I realise it’s a Sunday evening,’ he exploded. ‘And if you’re trying to make a point about being disturbed, don’t bother—it’s about time you administrators sorted out a legitimate problem, instead of trying to disrupt the running of the wards!’
Louisa could hear an indignant reply.
‘I’d like to know just why I happen to have a woman doctor sharing my flat with me?’ He spat the word out as though it were poison.
The expression on his face as he listened to the reply was almost comical.
‘I see,’ he said coldly. ‘I must say that I have never heard such a load of pretentious old claptrap in my life!’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Perhaps it is too late to do anything about it this evening, but you can be sure that first thing in the morning—I want this thing sorted out!’
He slammed the receiver back into its hook, so that the whole phone shook, and turned to face Louisa.
‘It seems,’ he said heavily, ‘that some of your more eloquent predecessors are responsible for your being here.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘I’m talking about a group of female doctors who took it upon themselves to complain about being given flats in the Nurses’ Home, on the grounds of sexual discrimination. When it was pointed out to them that this might mean sharing flats with the male doctors—they apparently replied that this was how it should be. That they were not helpless maidens who needed protecting, and did not expect to be treated any differently from their male counterparts. Typical!’ he finished disgustedly.
There was a short tussle as loyalty to this radical group of females struggled to overcome the natural abhorrence she felt at living in such close quarters to a man again. And not just any man. This man! But it would simply remove any dignity she had to get into an argument with him about it. He was right, it could all be sorted out in the morning.
‘Don’t worry, Dr Forrester,’ she said haughtily. ‘I find the situation as unappealing as you obviously do. But no doubt I can tolerate it for one night.’
‘I suppose so,’ he grunted. His eyes swept over her assessingly again, as they had done in the car park, and there was something about the look which made her feel totally exposed and vulnerable.
She met his eyes defiantly, determined that he should not see how much his presence disturbed her.
‘I usually take a shower around ten. So you’d better scurry back to your room by then. Unless——’ he grinned for the first time, a roguish grin which left her in no doubt whatsoever as to his thoughts ’—unless,’ he continued, ‘you’d care to appreciate the delights of my naked body?’
She knew that his words were mocking, but she flushed scarlet, mentally trying to block out the images which came rushing into her mind at his words.
‘Not if I want my stomach to retain its contents!’ she snapped, hoping that the sharp words would detract from her discomposure.
She made as if to leave, but he caught her arm, the turquoise-blue eyes boring holes into her. ‘Oh, don’t worry,’ he whispered, emphasising each word as if to impress its meaning on her. ‘I never play this close to home.’
He released her arm. ‘By the way—do you realise that I still don’t even know your name?’
She angrily pushed a thick wave of chestnut hair back from her face. ‘And you don’t need to either. After tonight, Dr Forrester—I hope I never set eyes on you again!’
She would have loved to have stabbed the heel of her neat black court shoe into his ankle, but she contented herself with a final glower before walking back to her room and slamming the door shut very loudly behind her.
LOUISA stood in the centre of the room, still breathing heavily in anger, looking at the surroundings which such a short time ago had been her ‘home’, but which she would now almost certainly be moving out of.
What a start! And what a man! She remembered how tranquil her thoughts had been in the car this afternoon, on the long drive up from London, anticipating her first job as a qualified doctor. And now this. Not the most auspicious of beginnings.
She walked over to her desk and tapped her fingers restlessly over a medical textbook. What was it the Dean had said about her as he had handed her the coveted Bailey prize for biochemistry in her third year? That she was calm, and unflappable, and dedicated. Oh, and ambitious. She mustn’t forget the bit about ambition—Mike would certainly be disappointed if she left that bit out. It was a quality which was lauded if possessed by a man, yet seemed to be greatly despised in a woman.
Men. They stood in your way and they got under your skin with their demands for more time, more meals, more of everything, until you had precious little left for yourself.
She had come to St Dunstan’s to forget men and to begin a new life in her chosen field of medicine. She had set herself various goals, and one of them was to start work for her MRCP examination as soon as she possibly could. Membership of the Royal College of Physicians was essential if one planned to make a career in hospital medicine. It was a tough exam, and the pass rate was low, but Louisa was determined to pass first time.
She switched on the Anglepoise lamp and sat down at the desk. She was going to have to work very hard indeed to get on—women in medicine didn’t have to be as good as their male counterparts, they had to be better. She had heard from older women doctors that even when you did land a good job, there were often the snide comments, that you’d fluttered your eyelashes in the right direction, flirted with the boss. Prejudice was alive and well in the 1990s!
She
