The Surgeon's Family Wish Read Free Page B

a shower and a change of clothes, and at the moment all is quiet with Lucy so, yes, Dr Swain, I’ll take your advice.’
    â€˜The name is Annabel,’ she told him.
    Again he was aware of her in a strange sort of way.
    â€˜Suits you,’ he commented briefly. ‘At least it would if...’
    His voice had trailed away and with a wry smile she finished the sentence for him, ‘I wasn’t such a washed-out mess?’
    For the first time in ages she was bothered about what someone thought of her.
    It was Aaron’s turn to smile.
    â€˜That isn’t how I would describe you. It would be more along the lines of someone who looks as if they need plenty of rest and vitamins. Have you been ill recently?’
    â€˜No,’ she said, not sure if a painful miscarriage came into that category.
    â€˜So it must just be due to the strains and stresses of health care that get to us all at one time or another,’ he commented, and with nothing further to say she nodded.
    * * *
    When Annabel had gone, Aaron did as she’d suggested and drove the short distance to the house that he and Eloise had bought when they’d married. She’d loved the rambling red-brick place and coming back to it without her after that disastrous holiday had been dreadful, but, as his mother had said, life had to go on and, as Lucy was growing older, his mother’s stoic calm and his daughter’s laughter had made it into a home again.
    The luxury in which he lived was a far cry from Annabel Swain’s living quarters, he thought as he puthis key in the lock. What was a woman like her doing in hospital accommodation, for heaven’s sake?
    His mother was in bed but not asleep, and the moment she heard his step on the landing she came out to ask about Lucy.
    â€˜So far so good,’ he told her. ‘She’s rational, as you saw when she awoke, and the surgery that Annabel Swain performed was spot on from the looks of it.’
    Mary nodded.
    â€˜We owe that lady a lot, Aaron. I know that she was only doing the job she’s paid to do, but I liked her the moment I saw her. She’d barely had time to get her foot over the doorstep at Barnaby’s and she was operating on our precious girl. When Lucy comes home, why don’t we invite her over for a meal?’
    â€˜I agree with all you say,’ he told her, ‘but she might think an invitation to dinner a bit over the top.’
    â€˜Nonsense!’ his mother exclaimed. ‘Annabel Swain looks as if she could do with some tender loving care herself. She’s too thin and pale.’
    Aaron was smiling. ‘And you’d like to turn her into a buxom wench?’
    â€˜Not exactly. I wouldn’t have thought that ‘‘buxom wenches’’ were quite your type.’
    â€˜What has it got to do with me?’ he asked with dark brows rising. ‘You’re not going to try and marry me off again, are you? Because it won’t work.’
    â€˜You can’t mourn Eloise for ever,’ she said gently.
    â€˜It has nothing to do with that. I accepted long ago that she’s gone and won’t be coming back. But if and when I decide to marry again, I’ll do the choosing.’
    She laughed. ‘All right. I get the message, but I’m not getting any younger, you know. Lucy needs a younger woman in her life.’
    â€˜Yes, I know,’ he agreed, ‘and when the time is right I’ll do something about it.’
    He felt vaguely irritated that his mother was taking such an interest in a woman that he’d only just met. Yet he had to admit that he’d been drawn to her for some reason and there hadn’t been many women he could say that about since he’d lost Eloise.
    But reason said it was because she’d saved his daughter’s life. It certainly wasn’t because he’d been bowled over by her looks. Like a lot of other overworked doctors he’d met, she was