never heard your call,’ she told him with a slight frown. ‘What time is it now?’
Charlie looked at his watch. ‘Nearly ten-thirty.’
‘Really? That means we slept for twelve hours.’
‘I’ve been watching TV, Mummy.’
Juliet looked down at her daughter, who had cleverly managed to slip on her sling, and then turn on the cartoon channel on the television.
‘I can’t believe I slept in that long. You must be hungry, darling.’
‘A little.’
Charlie smiled. Bea was adorable and he was beginning to feel that there might be a slim chance Juliet might be just as lovely if he got to know her better. He admired the fact she told him exactly how she felt. She didn’t tiptoe around him like everyone else who felt sorry for the widower. He could see it in their faces and hear it in their voices. He had attended the hospital fundraiser in the hope the staff would see him as something other than a recluse. Charlie liked that Juliet was unaware of his wife’s death and he assumed that was why she was able to stand up to him. She was the first person to do that in two years. Being around her made him realise he missed being challenged and being held accountable.
And her conviction in her treatment plan for Georgina Abbiati made him feel slightly less concerned about the surgical intervention although he still did not agree.
‘What if I take you two ladies out for brunch?’ He wanted to spend more time with the beautiful woman with the messy hair and the gorgeous smile who was still dressed in her robe. He couldn’t explain it to himself—it was as if he had known Juliet and Bea for more than one day. His attraction was more than skin deep and it defied logic and his promise to himself that he would never get involved with anyone. But standing so close to Juliet, he felt that promise fading and the desire to know her increasing.
‘Is this a brunch to break good news or bad?’ she asked without a smile. ‘Are you here to brag of your victory and tell me that the Abbiatis have chosen your conservative treatment option? Is that the reason you’ve come in person?’
Charlie was taken aback. He had not seen that reaction coming. His agenda had been very different. He just felt a pull to be with Juliet, to learn more about her away from the hospital, and against his better judgement he had decided to act upon it. Now he knew that was a stupid idea. Reckless in fact. He barely knew Juliet and, for some ridiculous reason, he wanted to spend his free time with her. And with Bea. Suddenly he was grateful she had given him the perspective he needed. He had no business being at her hotel. He should have left a message and waited until she had arrived at the hospital. He was better off alone.
It was the way he liked it.
And the way it should be.
‘You’re right, it was a bad idea,’ he said as he stepped back and opened the hotel-room door. ‘I’ll leave you ladies to enjoy your late breakfast alone. And by the way, Juliet, the Abbiatis decided on the fetoscopic placental laser surgery. I guess I was just the gracious loser in a professional differing of opinion...offering to share a meal.’
With that he closed the door on Juliet.
And to stirrings he knew he had no right to act upon.
‘CHARLIE, PLEASE WAIT,’ Juliet called down the passageway. She couldn’t follow him dressed in only her robe. ‘I’m sorry, I was rude and ungracious.’
Charlie stopped long enough to turn and see her in the doorway. Her messy hair, the spattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, and her pretty amber eyes that looked genuinely remorseful. He was grateful that she had sent him walking. It was for the best. She was too close to exactly what he didn’t have room for in his life. And definitely didn’t deserve. A pretty, intelligent woman with a fighting spirit. And a daughter who was cute as a button.
‘Apology accepted. I’ll see you at the hospital later, then. I’ve an opening at one-thirty if you would like to meet. We need to schedule in the surgery, brief the theatre team and then book another pre-op consultation as soon as possible.’
His tone was brusque and he didn’t wait for a reply as Juliet watched him disappear out of sight. She closed her bedroom door and raced to the window with Bea in tow. Pulling back the heavy damask curtains to see him emerge from the building and climb onto the shiny black bike that he had parked in the small guest car park. He pulled down his helmet, and turned his head. Nervously she dropped the curtains before he saw her watching him. It appeared Dr Charlie Warren, intentionally or unintentionally, was going to make her second day in the Cotswolds as confusing as the first.
* * *
Charlie rode away but not before he noticed Juliet looking from her window. He saw in his rear-view mirror that she had closed the curtains as quickly as she had opened them. While he had accepted her apology he couldn’t help but wonder as he headed along the leafy streets on his way to Teddy’s what had made the Australian specialist so quickly think the worst of him.
Admittedly, the previous day he had been the one to jump to conclusions, and perhaps had not been his professional best at the consultation, but he had apologised for both. And to make amends and let her know that he would not challenge the Abbiatis’ decision he had driven over to tell her in person. But once he’d known that neither Bea nor Juliet had eaten, it had felt natural to offer a shared brunch.
As he rounded the next corner, he told himself that it was his olive branch. But there was more to it and, as he righted himself on the large motorbike before the next curve, he silently accepted that Juliet had broken through his tough exterior shell. She had made him think of more than work. More than the mothers and the babies and the families he was helping to create. In twenty-four hours she and Bea had reminded him of all those things he’d wanted and dreamed of before the accident. Before the loss of his wife made him lose hope in the future.
But her reaction to his reaching out was unexpected. Shooting him down by questioning his motives.
Was it jet lag or was Juliet Turner always on the defensive? He wasn’t sure but, with his hand on the throttle, he rode a little faster than usual. Although Charlie had grown up in the stunning Cotswolds countryside, he appreciated the architecture and landscape that defined the part of England he called home, but not that day. Instead of noticing the Regency town houses and their intricate ironwork balconies and painted stucco façades or the rolling green hills that were blanketed in pristine snow, he could only picture Juliet’s face as he travelled back to work. Equally confused about what made Juliet so quick to judge...and what had really driven him to deliver the news in person.
* * *
Juliet knocked on the door. The brass plate read Dr Charlie Warren, OBGYN. She was in the right place.
‘Come in.’
Juliet opened the door and entered with mixed emotions. She was thrilled that the surgery would take place and the quads would in her opinion have the best chance of survival, but her behaviour at the hotel a few hours earlier still bothered her. And underneath she knew that was because Charlie Warren was affecting her and she was confused and scared.
But despite those feelings unnerving her, the fact the obstinate but handsome OBGYN had reached
