The Doctor's Society Sweetheart (16 page)

Dart flicked off the television and headed to the door. ‘I didn’t order any—’ he started to say as he opened the door, but in came a waiter, wheeling a small table with silver food covers. Dart stopped talking, waiting for the waiter to do his job of setting things up, a curious glint in the young man’s eyes as he personally handed Dart a morning tabloid paper.

‘Have a good breakfast, Dr Freeman,’ the waiter said before disappearing.

Dart threw the paper down on the bed, barely glancing at it, but a second later he did a double-take, eyes widening as the photograph on the front page caught his attention. The phone on the desk started to ring but he ignored it.

The words ‘Emmy’s Love Triangle’ were blazoned across the front of the paper. Below were two pictures. One was of Emmy and himself as they’d exited the Italian restaurant and the other was of Emmy sitting at a flashy Sydney bar, drink in her hand, smiling engagingly at another man.

E
MERSON
thanked the woman at the airport check-in desk before hitching her bag more firmly onto her shoulder. She was clutching her boarding pass. She walked to the boarding gate and sat down in a chair, not seeing anyone around her, not caring. Two full days had passed since she’d dropped Dart off at his hotel and she hadn’t heard one word from him.

When she’d contacted the hotel the following morning after their date, she’d been informed by the manager himself that Dr Freeman had checked out. Emerson had been shocked and without asking anything else had disconnected the call. Where was he? Why hadn’t he said anything to her? She didn’t know if Dart had a cellphone or not. She didn’t know where he lived in Brisbane or how to contact him other than through PMA. They’d been so wrapped up in each other they hadn’t even exchanged basic information.

So she’d called PMA, only to be told that Dr Freeman had cancelled his appointments for the next few days and had headed back to Brisbane. Even though Emerson had received clearance from PMA to work in Tarparnii and even though she was a well-known celebrity, PMA weren’t legally able to pass on Dart’s contact information. They could, however, pass on a message for him to call her.

After she’d put down the phone, completely perplexed, confused and very hurt about Dart’s sudden departure from
Sydney, she’d picked up the morning tabloid and had nearly hyperventilated from the shock at what was splattered across the front page.

‘“Emmy’s love triangle”?’ She didn’t even bother to scan the article, the pictures told her enough. Dart had probably taken one look at that and all but sprinted to the airport. Not only was he on the front page of the paper, the picture of her with Felix looked as though she’d gone from one man to the next.

Emmy had called PMA, had been assured that a message had been sent through to Dr Freeman. She’d received no call in return. She’d called three teaching hospitals in the Brisbane area and had finally found the one where Dart was a consultant. Thinking she’d hit the jackpot, she’d been told that Dr Freeman was unable to take her calls and that a message would be passed to him.

That was two whole days ago and now Emmy had had enough of him not returning her calls and was taking matters into her own hands. She was going to Brisbane, to sit stubbornly in the hospital until Dart agreed to talk to her.

‘Miss Jofille?’

Emmy looked up at the flight attendant, bringing her thoughts back to the present. ‘Yes?’

‘Are you all right?’ The woman held out a tissue to Emmy and it was only then that she realised she had tears rolling down her cheeks.

‘Uh…’ Emmy accepted the tissue and dabbed at her eyes. ‘Thank you. Sorry. Just thinking.’

‘They don’t seem to have been happy thoughts.’ The woman’s tone was sympathetic and Emmy knew she didn’t have to say anything. Her life, or her life according to the media, had been a hot topic for the gossips for the past few days.‘Here,’ the woman said. ‘Come with me.’ She led Emmy to a small room with a little kitchenette. ‘You can sit in here and wait,
if you like. I’ll come and get you once the plane is ready for boarding.’

‘You’re very kind. Thank you.’

‘My pleasure. Help yourself to tea and coffee.’ The woman smiled before closing the door and leaving Emmy alone.

Emmy sat down, feeling drained, desolated and depressed. How could Dart have left just like that? Why hadn’t he given her the opportunity to at least explain the picture in the paper? Why hadn’t he trusted her? Why hadn’t he told her that he loved her?

A fresh bout of tears started to prick behind her eyes and she quickly sniffed them away. She’d cried enough during the past few days but had found that if she kept busy, she could keep the tears at bay. Standing, she headed to the sink and made herself a cup of tea. She’d just taken a sip when the door opened and she realised her plan to enjoy a relaxing drink in order to steady her nerves before she confronted Dart was lost.

‘If you’d just like to wait in here,’ Emmy could hear the same flight attendant saying. ‘I’ll go make sure you have a paparazzi-free path to the front of the airport.’

‘I don’t really care about that,’ a deep male voice said. Emmy looked at the doorway, her hands starting to tremble, her breath catching in her throat, her heart trembling with a mixture of fear and excitement as she recognised that gorgeous, wonderful, sexy voice. She quickly set the cup on the sink so she didn’t scald herself and turned to face Dart.

‘I need to get—’ Dart stopped speaking as he came further into the room and saw her standing there. ‘Emmy! What are you doing here?’

‘Me? What are
you
doing here?’ she countered, her anger and annoyance, due to his departure, coming to the fore.

‘I’ve come back to see you.’ He frowned. ‘How did you know I’d be here? I didn’t tell anyone I was leaving.’

‘Seems to be a habit of yours.’

‘You’re angry.’ Dart slowly lowered his carry-on luggage to the floor and took a step closer, not even realising the flight attendant had left the room, quietly closing the door behind her. All he was conscious of was the way Emmy looked. So good. So incredible. So…
his
Emmy.

‘You’re darned right I’m angry. How could you just disappear like that? How could you put me through the pain of not knowing where you were?’ Tears started to well rapidly in her eyes and she dabbed at them with the tissue, angry at herself for not being cool, calm and collected. ‘I called the hotel only to be told that you’d checked out. PMA wouldn’t pass along your details and I had no way of contacting you and…’ She stopped, hiccupping over her words as she tried desperately to control the tears. She failed. Covering her face with her hands, the floodgates opened.

‘Em. Oh, my Emmy.’ Dart gathered her into his arms, ignoring the way she half-heartedly tried to push him away. ‘You’re mad at me. I get it and I’m sorry I haven’t been able to return any of your phone calls.’

‘Oh, so you got them,’ she retorted, her words slightly muffled against his chest. She sniffed and tried to push him away but Dart refused to let her go.

‘I did, but I also left word with your TV network to let them know I was called back to Brisbane. I asked them to pass the information on to you because I didn’t have your cellphone number or even have a clue where you lived, apart from the fact that you have a great view of Sydney Harbour.’

‘You told me you were leaving?’

‘I left you a message, yes.’

‘Why did you leave?’ She’d at least managed to stop crying now and breathed him in, unable to believe just how much she’d missed him during the past few long and lonely days.

‘I was called back to Brisbane to consult on an urgent case.

The patient, a young girl of six, presented with a tropical disease that is quite common in certain parts of Tarparnii. I had it years ago so I was the perfect person to care for her. I only came out of isolation earlier this morning. The girl’s fever finally broke and now she’s on the mend but it’s been touch and go for the past forty-eight hours.’ Emmy was staring at him as though he’d hung the moon, her eyes shining brightly although slightly red from where she’d been crying.

‘You left because of a medical case?’

‘Yes. Why else would I leave?’

‘Well…because of the photograph in the paper the other morning.’ She felt his arms tighten imperceptibly about her.

‘The one about Emmy’s love triangle?’

‘Yes.’

‘You thought I was mad and that I left because you were photographed looking longingly into another man’s eyes, probably a few hours after you’d dropped me at my hotel?’

‘Yes.’

‘Would you mind telling me who he is?’

‘My accountant.’

‘And you usually do business in a flashy club?’ Dart tried to keep his questions fair but even he heard the slight accusatory note in his tone.

‘He’s part-owner in the wine bar and I wanted to see him straight away. Felix is my accountant, Dart. Has been for years. Nothing more.’ Her words were urgent.

Dart absorbed this, needing more than anything to believe her. Her hands were resting on his chest, her face tipped up to look at him, and as he looked down, he knew she spoke the truth. ‘Your business was that urgent that you needed to see him at the club? It couldn’t wait until morning?’

‘No. It couldn’t, and if you must know, I was organising a present for you.’ Emmy eased out of his arms, confused and annoyed and generally exhausted.

‘A present?’ He relaxed his hold and let her go. ‘You don’t need to get me a present, Emerson. I don’t care about your money. I don’t want any of it.’

‘It’s not that sort of present, Dart. Give me a little more credit for knowing the man I’m in love with.’

His breath caught at her words. ‘You still love me?’

‘Of course I do, you dolt. I’ve told you a thousand times before, the love I have for you is going to last for ever. There is only one man for me—you.’ She jabbed a finger in his direction. ‘I’m not so frivolous that I fall in and out of love that easily, Dartagnan Free—’

In a split second Dart had stepped close to her again and hauled her into his arms, effectively silencing her rant by pressing his mouth to hers. She tasted so good, so right, so perfect. As his mouth moved hungrily over hers, as he unleashed the pain and impatience and frustration he’d been living with for the past few days, wondering whether there was any truth to the newspaper headline, Dart was overcome by pure possessiveness.

‘You taste so sweet, so good, so lovely, my Emmy,’ he breathed as he pressed hot kisses to her mouth, her nose, her forehead and her eyes, before returning to plunder her mouth once more. His heart was full to bursting with the love he’d kept locked away for so long but now he could share it, he could show her, he could become whole again.

‘You’re my saving grace, Emmy. I never thought I could ever love again, that I would ever be able to open my heart, to let someone into my life, to trust them so completely, but I did—I have.’ Dart eased back, her hands loosening at his neck to slide down his chest, her fingers splayed as though she simply couldn’t get enough of him either.

‘I love you, Emmy. So very much.’

Emmy couldn’t help but giggle. ‘It’s about time you said those three little words.’

‘You’ve been very patient.’

‘I knew it couldn’t be easy for you. The past can be a tricky thing to let go of, to take that chance and move forward into the future.’

‘I couldn’t have moved forward without you. There will always be a place for Marta in my heart but you, my elegant Emerson-Rose, are my world.’

‘I am?’

‘Yes. If you want me to move to Sydney, I will.’

‘Really?’ Emmy eased back a little to look at him more carefully to ensure he really did mean what he said.

‘You don’t seem to understand, Em. The past few days, being back in Australia, being without you…’ He shook his head. ‘Being stuck in isolation at the hospital with no means of contacting you almost killed me. Where I thought I’d been lonely before, I was almost panicking at the thought that I’d lost you. I was determined to come here, to tell you my true feelings, to let you know I was willing to put up with the paparazzi, to make sacrifices, so long as I could be with you for the rest of my life.’

Emmy was stunned by the power of his words. ‘For the rest of your life?’ she whispered.

‘Yes.’

‘But that means…’

‘Yes.’ Without letting her go, needing to keep her close, Dart slipped his hand into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a small, old-fashioned ring box.

‘Oh,’ Emmy gasped, and covered her mouth with one hand.

‘Open it,’ he instructed softly, and bent to place a quick kiss on her lips. She tried to take it but her hands were shaking so much that Dart had to reluctantly release her in order to help her. ‘It was my grandmother’s. She and my grandfather were married for sixty-three years.’

‘Wow.’ Emmy’s vision was blurred with tears of happiness.

‘I think that’s a good start for us.’ He carefully removed the old-fashioned ring with a white-gold band, filigree work on the sides and one solitaire diamond in the centre of a white-gold rose. ‘I hope you like it. I can get you something different if you—’

‘Don’t you dare,’ she said quickly. ‘It’s perfect. It’s family history. It’s personal.’

‘It is.’ Dart slid the ring onto her finger and looked lovingly into her eyes. ‘I love you, Em. Please marry me? Be with me for ever because without you, the void in my life is impossible to fill. I need you.’

‘Dart. Oh, my glorious man.’ She pressed her mouth to his. ‘Yes,’ she murmured against his lips. ‘I’ll marry you. I love you so completely. No one else makes me feel the way you do.
No one
.’

Dart couldn’t believe how incredibly happy he felt. An enormous weight had been lifted off his shoulders and his heart felt light after being closed for so long. And it was all thanks to his gorgeous Emmy, his gorgeous Emmy with the most delectable mouth…

‘There are still a few things we need to discuss,’ he said a while later as he continued to hold her close against him. ‘I’m happy to move to Sydney.’

‘It’s a nice place to live,’ she agreed. ‘But I have no qualms about moving either.’

‘You’re very good at what you do,’ Dart said. ‘What about your job with the studio?’

‘It’s just a job, Dart. Sure, showing the public Tarparnii, as well as the needs of other developing countries, is important but I’m not the only person who can do the job.’ She looked up at him. ‘Home is where the heart is…and you have my heart.’

Dart looked down at the woman he loved. ‘Are you saying you’ll quit your job and move to Brisbane?’

‘I’ll change jobs and move anywhere you are. Brisbane, the country, the outback, Tarparnii. I know how to adapt, Dart. Years of training with my mother has at least taught me that much.’

He nodded. ‘You most certainly do know how to adapt. You’re truly gifted in that area while I…’ He exhaled harshly. ‘I don’t have a clue where I fit. I feel disjointed wherever I am, except when I’m standing still with you in my arms.’ He smiled at her and pressed a kiss to her lips. ‘I work for six months at a hospital in Brisbane, all the while counting the days until I can return to Tarparnii.’