The Rebel and the Baby Doctor

His eyes glimmered. ‘You still hover on the brink between exasperation and caring for me, don’t you? Go on, admit it.’

‘I won’t. You’re a pain in the neck, Connor. You always have been and you’ll probably stay that way for ever.’

He put an arm around her shoulders and drew her to him. ‘But despite all that you do care for me just a teensy bit, don’t you?’

‘I’m not admitting to anything. You drive me to distraction.’

‘I’ll settle for that,’ he murmured. ‘For the time being at least. Distracted is good. I like distracted.’

Slowly he lowered his head, until his cheek was just a breath away from hers, and then, before Phoebe had time to realise what he was about, he was kissing her softly, tenderly, his lips brushing hers and exploring the curving line of her mouth.

The kiss was like a lick of flame gliding along her nerve-endings. Heat built up in her, engulfing her, taking her over, so that she could think of nothing but the sheer ecstasy of that moment. Everything went out of her head.

Phoebe drew back from Connor, looking at him with bemusement in her eyes.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know.’ She was floundering, her nervous system firing off sparks as though he had inadvertently lit a fuse in her.

He smiled. ‘Shall I kiss you again and see if things come any clearer?’

P
HOEBE
pulled open the door of the kitchen cupboard and peered inside. ‘It looks as though we’re left with just cornflakes for breakfast,’ she said, studying the empty shelves. Taking down the packet, she gave it a light shake. ‘No, scrub that. It’s empty.’ She pulled a face and added in exasperation, ‘Why do you suppose anyone would put an empty packet back in the cupboard?’

‘Search me.’ Jessica flicked the switch on the kettle and began to rummage through the contents of the fridge. ‘Would you believe it, there’s no milk, either? I expect we can put that down to Alex, along with the cornflakes.’ She ran a hand raggedly through her long brown hair. ‘I must have asked him a hundred times to stop swigging it as if we keep a cow in the back garden. But does he ever listen? It’s in one ear and straight out the other.’

Phoebe made a wry smile. ‘I guess he must have had a huge thirst after the party last night. I must say I thought he looked a bit the worse for wear this morning when I passed him on the stairs.’

‘He’ll be even more so if I get my hands on him
preferably around his throat, and with a light application of pressure…’ Jessica’s mouth formed a wicked grimace of intent as she positioned her hands to demonstrate. ‘He knows I need my coffee first thing in the morning.’ She frowned. ‘So where is he now, I wonder.’

Phoebe closed the cupboard door. ‘He’s in the bathroom, I think, taking a long shower. He said he needs to clear his head for work this morning.’

‘Don’t we all?’ Jessica moved away from the fridge. ‘I was all geared up and ready to start work on Mr Kirk’s cardiac team, but now the time’s actually arrived I’m wondering if it’s going to be everything I thought it would be. I’ve heard he’s very cool, capable and efficient, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to match up to his standards. I struggled a bit with some of the cardiology lectures in med school, but I need the experience if I’m to go on to be a GP.’

‘You’ll be fine,’ Phoebe said firmly. ‘You’re only having doubts because your stomach is empty and your brain is feeling the effects of that. I wonder if there’s anything we can rustle up from the freezer? Hash browns, maybe?’ She looked doubtful. ‘Anyway,’ she added, getting to grips with the situation and swivelling around so that her blonde hair swished lightly before settling into place once more on her shoulders, ‘I suppose we could settle for black coffee. That would be better than nothing, wouldn’t it?’

She lifted down mugs from a shelf and slid them onto the worktop. ‘At least that should help to revive us a bit. It was way late when we finally sloped off to bed, last night. I can’t imagine what we were thinking, having a party the night before starting a new rotation.’

‘That was it, probably.’ Jessica grinned. ‘A final fling before it’s heads down to some serious work again…that, and the fact that we have a new tenant to celebrate.’ Her eyes rolled heavenward. ‘The landlord must have had me in mind when he sent Connor to us. He’s exactly what I would have ordered up for myself if I’d had free rein. He’s stunning. Fabulous just doesn’t say it. He’s a real hunk, don’t you think?’ Her mouth quirked briefly. ‘Long and lean and vital—and those lovely grey eyes that seem as though they see right into your soul.’ She sighed. ‘What I wouldn’t give to get to know him better. You’re so lucky, Phoebe, knowing him from way back when.’

‘Hmm. Maybe.’

‘Maybe? Are you kidding?’ Jessica’s voice rose an octave. ‘How could you possibly keep your hands off him? He’s a stud.’

Phoebe had been studying the contents of the freezer, but now she straightened up and turned to look directly at her friend. ‘He’s okay—he’s definitely all that you say, I’ll grant you that. But if you take my advice, you’ll watch your step with him. He always had something of a reputation when we lived in the same village as teenagers. Ask Alex. He was there at the same time. In fact, they’re related—they’re cousins.’

‘Oh…you’re just afraid to live dangerously,’ Jessica said with a dismissive shake of her head. ‘He can come and ring my bell any time.’

Phoebe laughed. ‘You’re a sucker for a handsome face and a winsome manner, aren’t you?’ She held out a packet of potato waffles. ‘How about these? Do we grill them or put them in the microwave?’

Jessica’s mouth turned down at the corners. ‘Neither. I don’t think I could stomach them first thing in the morning.’ She frowned, her mind diverted only briefly. ‘Where is our new housemate, anyway? I haven’t seen sight or sound of him this morning. The door to his room was open, but he wasn’t in there when I went by.’

Phoebe’s blue eyes sparkled. ‘You couldn’t resist looking, could you?’ She chuckled. ‘I’ve no idea where he might be. Connor Broughton was always a law unto himself.’

‘Do I hear someone taking my name in vain?’

The back door opened and the subject of their discussion walked in, his arms filled with packages. He elbowed his way into the kitchen, shutting the door behind him with a deft flick of his leather-clad foot.

Jessica made a quick intake of breath. ‘Is that food I smell? And coffee?’ Her nose twitched and her hazel eyes widened as Connor walked over to the table and put the packages down. ‘It is, isn’t it?’ She sniffed the air, going over to him and watching him as he shrugged off his jacket and laid it over the back of a chair.

Phoebe glanced at him. ‘We were wondering where you were,’ she murmured.

He was everything Jessica had said, and more. His long legs were encased in expensively tailored dark trousers that moulded his hips to perfection, while his immaculate linen shirt, in a deep blue that reflected the colour of his smoky grey-blue eyes, outlined the flat plane of his stomach. He was way too good looking for any woman’s peace of mind, Phoebe decided, and he
was altogether too much for her to handle this early in the morning, or at any time, come to think of it.

Distracted and unwilling to allow herself to be sucked any further into his magnetic field, Phoebe averted her gaze and busied herself in a search for plates.

Connor had always been trouble with a capital T and the very fact that he had turned up here in Devon, in this sleepy coastal town, was enough to set her nerves jangling.

‘I went out for food,’ Connor said as he began to open up the brown paper cartons. ‘I called in at the bakery down the road on the off chance they were open for business. Luckily they were, so I bought hot pasties, baguettes, croissants and apricot preserve. I wasn’t quite sure what to choose so I decided to bring a selection. The cupboards were empty when I glanced through them this morning and I couldn’t face starting the day without anything to eat.’

‘Me neither.’ Jessica’s mouth wavered a fraction as she sent him an appealing glance. ‘Were you by any chance planning on sharing any of this feast?’

‘Of course.’ Connor’s brows shot up as he returned her gaze. ‘I’m hardly going to sit here and scoff this lot all by myself, am I?’

‘Oh, I love you.’ Jessica flung her arms around him in delight. ‘I’m so hungry. You’re my salvation. I think I want to have your babies.’

Connor’s mouth curved and his eyes danced with glimmering amusement. ‘Really?’ He hugged her in return. ‘That’s not an offer I get every day, but it’s certainly one worth thinking about. How many did you have in mind?’

‘Oh, a dozen or so, I should think,’ Jessica answered, with a grin. ‘I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve eaten and my head’s back to thinking straight.’

‘Ah.’ He nodded sagely, looking glum. ‘That could put a bit of a damper on things, I expect. There’s nothing to beat a good breakfast for getting the world back to normal and allowing you to see things clearly.’

He released her with a resigned sigh, and went to hunt for crockery, but Phoebe had already beaten him to it. ‘Here you are,’ she said, handing him plates that she had heated in the microwave. ‘Take these. You’d better sit down and eat before it all gets cold. You’ve cheered us up no end by doing this, you know. We were feeling starved, and now we definitely owe you one.’

‘You’re very welcome.’ He sent her a shrewd glance. ‘It was the least I could do since I foisted myself on you with hardly any warning. I know it must have come as something of a shock to have a new tenant land among you.’

Phoebe kept her feelings to herself on that score, saying only, ‘We knew the landlord wouldn’t leave the room empty for long.’ She still hadn’t managed to work out what he was actually doing here, choosing to share a house with them.

The Connor she knew from way back in their teens would never have opted for a career in medicine, and consequently, when he’d announced that he was travelling to London to start a new life, that had fulfilled all her expectations. He was always skirting danger and living life on the edge. London was full of exciting possibilities for him.

Something had happened along the way, though, causing him to alter course, and here he was, back in their home county, a qualified doctor in his last few months of hospital training as a senior house officer. A sea change had come about, inasmuch as he was now part of a respectable profession, but Phoebe was wary of how deep that change actually went. Was he still a sleeping tiger, dangerously unpredictable and a hazard to her emotional well-being?

He pulled out a chair and seated himself beside Jessica, who was already chomping on a sausage pasty.

‘Mmm…mmm…mmm,’ Jessica said with a satisfied groan. ‘This is scrumptious—I’m in heaven. It’s so tasty, it’s wonderful.’

Connor smiled. ‘It certainly sounds as though it is.’ He inspected the selection of food, as though he was trying to decide what to choose. ‘I was a bit surprised to find the cupboards here were bare—do you have some kind of rota for doing the shopping, or is it down to everyone to fend for themselves?’

‘We do have a rota,’ Phoebe said, coming to sit down at the table opposite him. ‘It was Alex’s turn to fetch the groceries, but I think he must have been knocked sideways by the news that he didn’t get the rotation he wanted. It was all a bit last minute, and he couldn’t quite get his head around it.’

‘So the groceries were forgotten?’ Connor gave a faint smile, then picked up a breakfast baguette and bit into it. ‘Knowing Alex, I can see how that might happen. He’s always been fine with the big, important things, and you can rely on him wholeheartedly to deal with
those, but I expect anything as mundane as shopping could quite easily pass him by.’

He opened up a carton and the wonderful aroma of coffee escaped and wafted on the air, teasing Phoebe’s nostrils.

‘I thought the senior house officer posts were all decided well in advance,’ he said after a moment or two, pushing a polystyrene cup towards her. ‘Did things not go to plan?’

She accepted it gratefully and shook her head. ‘I’m not sure what happened, really. He had pinned his hopes on working in A and E, but there was a delay in getting back to him, and he was offered a post in Orthopaedics instead. The powers that be said something about another candidate pipping him to the post.’

She was saddened for a second or two, remembering. ‘He was disappointed, but I think he made up his mind that perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to accept the orthopaedic job after all. I imagine he’ll have the chance of doing a stint in Emergency later.’

‘Hmm.’ Connor watched as she began to munch thoughtfully on a cheese and bacon pasty, and then asked softly, ‘So what rotation will you be working on? As I understand things, we’ll all be based at Mount View Hospital. That’s what makes living here the perfect choice. Apart from the obvious advantage of being close to the sea, it’s only a hop and a skip to work from here.’

She glanced at him. ‘I guessed that might be why you turned up on our doorstep out of the blue. Though I was surprised you hadn’t decided to stay in London.’ She
took a sip of her coffee and savoured it for a moment. ‘I’m starting a six-month stint that covers children’s A and E and the neonatal unit.’

‘Ah…that explains a lot. I think I see it all now…’ His grey gaze meshed with hers, and he nodded, as though her answer had settled a question in his mind. ‘You were hoping that you would be working with Alex, weren’t you? You always did have a soft spot for him. I remember from years back you were always hankering after him.’ He sent her a teasing smile. ‘In fact, there was a time when you two were pretty much inseparable, weren’t you? I had the impression last night that nothing much had changed on that front.’

A warning glint came into her eyes. ‘I wouldn’t go there, if I were you. Alex was always a good friend to me, and I owe him a lot. Unlike some, he knew how to tread the straight and narrow.’

‘Ouch!’ He made an exaggerated movement, jerking back in his chair and gripping his chest as though she had pierced him with a dart. ‘That was a low blow, don’t you think? We were young then. Things were different.’

‘Were they?’ From what she had seen at the party last night, nothing much had changed from her perspective. Connor was still the devil-may-care charmer he had always been, and the girls were hanging on to his every word, trying their best to get close to him. And he certainly wasn’t putting up any resistance on that score, was he?

‘Do I sense some tension here?’ Jessica was looking from one to the other, her curiosity pricked.

‘Not at all.’ Phoebe’s expression still held the faint embers of a glower. ‘We understand each other per
fectly well, Connor and I. He lives his life in a whirl of reckless abandon and answers to no one, while I stick to the well-worn path and try to follow the rules. We get along fine, just as long as we remember who we are and what we’re about.’

‘Sounds like a mess of trouble to me,’ Jessica commented drily. ‘Still, I’m with Connor on the Alex front. I’ve a good mind to eat up everything in sight just to teach the man a lesson.’

‘What lesson would that be?’ Alex came into the kitchen in bright and breezy fashion, taking everything in at a glance. He was wearing dark trousers and a fresh-looking dove-grey shirt, and he was altogether easy on the eye. His black hair was peaked in spiky fashion, still damp from his shower. Phoebe gave him a beaming smile.

‘Hi, gorgeous.’ He dropped a light kiss on her forehead. ‘Wow, hot food. That looks good. Where did this come from? Shove over, Phoebe. Make room for a hungry man.’