At this time of the year—early November—the days would be hot and sunny.
‘Fancy running into you. I didn’t realise you lived round here.’
She jumped when a familiar voice suddenly spoke in her ear. She felt her heart jolt when she turned and found Nick walking alongside her. She had carefully attributed her sleeplessness to disappointment at not having made any headway in her efforts to trace her mother, but it wasn’t as easy to lie to herself when Nick was standing right there beside her. More than once she’d found her thoughts returning to him during the night and at one point, when she’d dropped off to sleep, it had been Nick she’d been dreaming about.
‘What are you doing here?’ she exclaimed, feeling herself blush. She could scarcely believe that she’d had such erotic dreams about someone who was a virtual stranger to her. She couldn’t recall ever dreaming about Michael that way.
It was an unsettling thought and she hurried on. ‘Silly question! Obviously you’re doing the same as me and catching the tube to work.’
‘Got it in one!’ Nick laughed as he stepped onto the escalator then turned to face her. ‘So, whereabout do you live, then?’
Leanne willed her racing heart to calm down, but it wasn’t easy to control it. It didn’t help that Nick was standing on the step below her so that they were on eye level. She found herself suddenly entranced by the green flecks in his velvety brown eyes, by the way his thick, black lashes cast shadows onto his cheeks. It was an effort to focus on the question he’d asked her.
‘Penkworth Street. I’m renting a flat there, well, if you can call one tiny room with a sofa bed and a cupboard for a kitchen a flat.’
‘It’s amazing what passes for a flat in London.’ He smiled ruefully. ‘I’ve not yet decided if estate agents are actually dishonest or if they suffer from rose-tinted-spectacle syndrome. Maybe it is an illness which makes them describe ten square feet of living space in such glowing terms.’
Leanne laughed. ‘I think you are being far too kind. And if you saw my flat, you would most certainly agree with me!’
‘Ditto my own less than salubrious accommodation,’ he replied easily.
The escalator reached the bottom and he paused to wait for her. Leanne shivered when he put a steadying hand under her elbow as she stepped off.
His manners were impeccable, she thought as he led the way to the next in the series of escalators which would carry them down into the bowels of the underground railway system. Michael had never bothered opening doors for her or helping her off escalators so she appreciated the small courtesies all the more, then wondered why she kept comparing the two men all the time.
Nick was just a colleague whereas Michael had been her fiancé. It was silly to keep weighing up one against the other and alarming to discover that Nick kept coming out on top.
‘So where do you live?’ she said quickly, not wanting to go any further along that avenue.
‘Sandwell Gardens.’ Once again he turned to face her and grinned. ‘And before you get the wrong idea, the name sounds far grander than the actual place is! The said gardens boil down to a scrubby bit of grass and a few pathetic trees.’
‘But at least you do have grass and trees,’ she said tartly. ‘The only thing I can see from my window are the houses across the road. The view is less than inspiring, I assure you.’
‘In other words, count my blessings, eh?’
His gaze was warm, far warmer than it should have been bearing in mind the short time they’d known one another. Yet it didn’t feel as though it had only been a matter of hours since she’d met him, she realised. It felt as though she’d known him for ever. Maybe she had in a way because Nick was the living, breathing embodiment of the man she’d always dreamed of spending her life with.
The thought shocked her so much that she gasped, and she saw his eyes darken with concern. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Yes, fine.’ She hunted for an explanation because telling him the truth was out of the question. Nick would run a mile if he found out that she’d decided he was the blueprint of the man she had always wanted to marry.
‘I just remembered that I meant to phone my father last night,’ she said, using the first excuse she could think of. ‘I promised to let him know how my first day at work had gone and it completely slipped my mind.’
‘He’s probably worried sick that you’ve been abducted by slave traders,’ Nick said lightly, but she was relieved to see that he seemed to have accepted her story.
They reached the platform and Leanne followed as he made his way through the crowds of people who were waiting for the next train to arrive. He turned to her when they reached a relatively quiet spot.
‘Why don’t you phone him from the clinic? You can always reimburse the company for the call so it isn’t a problem. I know what my dad is like when my sisters are away—he worries himself to death in case something has happened to them.’
‘No, it’s OK. I’ll do it tonight,’ she assured him, then frowned as she mulled over what he’d said. ‘I thought you had just the one sister, the one who was a nurse at your parents’ practice.’
‘I’ve a younger sister as well. Penny is the baby of the family. She’s just been accepted as a junior houseman at Bart’s. She’s also getting married in two weeks’ time, which is why I came back to England.’
‘You are lucky!’ she exclaimed wistfully. ‘I can’t imagine what it must be like, being part of a big family like that. I always longed to have brothers and sisters.’
‘It has its ups and downs. It isn’t all good.’
‘What do you mean?’ She looked at him curiously, unable to ignore the pain she had heard in his voice. Without stopping to think, she laid her hand on his arm. ‘Nick, tell me.’
She heard him take a deep breath and when he spoke she felt her eyes prickle with tears because of the sadness in his voice. ‘I had another brother as well—my twin, Matt. He died when he was twenty-six.’
‘I am so sorry! I don’t know what to say apart from that…’ She felt her throat clog up with emotion and turned away because she didn’t want him to see how much it had upset her. She couldn’t begin to imagine how it must feel to lose someone as close to you as a twin brother.
Their train arrived just then and in the scramble to squeeze into the carriage there was no chance to say anything else. Nick stood beside her as the train roared through the tunnel. They were packed so tightly together that she could feel the heat from his body all down her side, but she didn’t try to move away.
Maybe it would help to lessen his grief if he knew she was there for him, she thought wistfully. She might be reading too much into a situation she knew very little about, but she sensed that his brother’s death still affected Nick. If there was any way that she could help him, she would do so. It might be only hours since they had met but she cared about this man. She really did.
Nick was glad when the journey was over. Standing so close to Leanne in the crowded carriage had been a test of endurance he could have done without. Talking about Matt’s death always upset him, but it wasn’t only thoughts of his brother which
