‘I DON’T know whether I want to go back or not,’ Helena said into the silence that had followed Blake’s question. ‘There was nothing to keep me there and now there’s nothing to keep me here.’
It wasn’t the moment to mention that there was a vacancy at the practice, but he would bring it up while they were eating tonight, he decided. It would give Helena the chance to be thinking about it while she waited for the funeral to take place.
He had another suggestion that he was going to tag onto it and felt that it might influence whatever decision she came to, but that could wait until that evening, too.
And so he sidetracked the issue by saying, ‘There’ll be time to worry about that when you’ve laid your father to rest. And with regard to tonight, you are welcome to use my spare room again if you don’t want to be on your own in this place.
‘Or, if you want, I’ll come and sleep on the sofa here. But, Helena, do remember that no one, apart from those involved in the witness protection scheme, knows where your father had been moved to. There are no details of where he was living in the piece in the paper, so you should be quite safe here until you decide what to do.’
She nodded, turning away from him again as she did so, and he hoped she wasn’t thinking that he was implying she was making too much of the situation she found herself in.
‘Yes. I know, Blake,’ she said flatly. ‘I’m not usually so reliant on others. It’s just that I can’t seem to gather my wits after finding out from my father what’s been happening while I’ve been away, and then you bringing me the news of his death so soon afterwards. Of course I’ll be all right here. I’ve intruded into your life enough as it is.’
He was wishing that he hadn’t said anything now. In trying to reassure her he’d put her on the defensive. Made Helena feel she was letting everything get out of proportion. He was going to have to tread more carefully. The last thing he wanted was to alienate her at such a time.
‘You haven’t done anything of the kind,’ he assured her and changing the subject, he went on, ‘I’ll pick you up at seven o’clock if that’s all right. There’s a small restaurant not far from here where I dine when I want something special. The food is good and so is the service.’
Blake found he was holding his breath. He sensed that she’d gone into her shell. Was she going to say she’d changed her mind?
‘Yes, all right,’ she agreed listlessly. ‘I’ll see if I can find something decent to wear.’
She was dressed in old jeans, a sloppy coarse-knit jumper and had taken her hair off her face with a rubber band. It would be nice to see her in something else, he thought. Yet he knew that beneath the nondescript outfit were slim hips, firm breasts and skin that had been soft and fragrant to the touch when he’d held her close.
Helena Harris had been propelled into his life and he didn’t want her to disappear from it as suddenly as she had come. She was the first woman he’d really looked at in a long time, but he was pretty sure that she saw him as if through a fog. In her present state, he didn’t think it would register with her if he were seven foot tall and wore a leopardskin.
* * *
When he’d gone on his rounds Helena went to the mirror and looked at herself. Her face was drained of colour. It hadn’t seen make-up since she’d left Australia. Her hair was unkempt, her clothes begging to be sent to a rummage sale. Blake must be dreading what she was going to look like when he took her out to dine later.
It was as if she’d had a personality transplant. The level, uncomplicated attitude that she applied to life in general had been replaced with a zombie-like trance, and who could blame her? She’d spoken briefly with her father on the night of her arrival. It hadn’t been pleasant, and the next thing she’d known he was gone for ever.
But into the middle of her nightmare had come a stranger, a man who had taken her into his care and supported her through some of the worst hours of her life. She owed it to him to make herself presentable, and with the first lifting of her spirits since she’d arrived back in England she set about repairing the ravages.
* * *
When Helena opened the door to him that night Blake’s eyes widened. Her dress of clinging silk was the same colour as her eyes and brought out the glints in her russet hair. Carefully applied make-up gave colour to a face that was still ashen from shock and grief, and if the thought of food made her feel physically sick her smile didn’t give any inkling of it to the man who was putting his own affairs to one side on her behalf.
She’d had a couple of half-hearted relationships before she’d gone to Australia, both of them with hospital staff that she’d worked with, and had gone out with a husky Australian for a couple of months while she’d been over there, but none of them had made her heart beat as fast as it was now.
Blake had style and presence as well as a sort of rugged attractiveness, and she wondered what he’d meant when he’d said that his family weren’t around any more. Was he divorced and his wife had taken the children with her? He didn’t look like the sort of man who would neglect his family commitments.
He was returning her smile.
‘I feel I must have got the wrong house,’ he said teasingly. ‘I’m looking for Helena Harris and you don’t bear any resemblance to her.’
‘The answer to that is simple,’ she told him. ‘I spent some time in front of the mirror and what I saw was not a pretty sight.’
He took her hand, holding onto it for a fleeting second, and then tucked her arm in his.
‘Let’s go and eat,’ he said.
* * *
The moment they walked into the restaurant the proprietor, a fair-haired man in his forties, came forward to greet them with outstretched hand.
‘Dr Pemberton,’ he said warmly. ‘Good to see you…and the lady. How are things with you?’
‘Fine, Robert,’ he replied. ‘How’s that brother of yours?’
The man shrugged his shoulders.
‘All right as far as I know. I try to keep tabs on Michael, but it isn’t easy with this place to run.’
He was showing them to a table and Blake said, ‘I would think that last episode will have made him think twice about a repeat.’
‘I hope so, but he still drinks too much,’ the other man said, and handed them the menu.
‘Are you wondering what all that was about?’ he asked Helena when they’d ordered.
She nodded.
‘Robert’s younger brother was arrested on a drink-driving charge and put in the cells for the night. The police sent for me in the early hours because he’d been complaining of severe stomach pain, but when I got there the discomfort seemed to have gone and they were wishing they hadn’t been panicked into calling me out. But, of course, they can’t take any chances. When a prisoner dies in a cell all hell is let loose.
‘I wouldn’t go without examining him. They’re not the only ones who don’t take chances. There was something about him that worried me and to cut a long story short I found signs of a perforated appendix.
‘As we both know, appendicitis can be fatal and the time of greatest danger is when the agonising pain suddenly disappears. If he’d been left all night he might have died as the police would have taken no heed of his drunken mumblings, the pain having gone.’
‘And so you saved his life.’
He smiled. ‘Only partly. The hospital had something to do with it, too. He was operated on immediately.’
‘He and his family must have been grateful for your presence in the cell. I can see why his brother was so welcoming when you appeared.’
‘Yes, we’ve become firm friends, but Michael, the guy who had the appendicitis, is still drinking too much for his own good and everyone else’s.’
‘You must get a lot of job satisfaction from your police work.’
‘Yes. I do,’ he agreed. ‘Just the same as when I’ve been able to bring a patient back to good health. And with regards to the practice, how would you like to work for us?’
She stared at him in amazement. ‘In what capacity?’
‘Practice nurse, of course. We employ two, but one of them wants to leave in a hurry. As early as next week, in fact. If you are interested, I have another proposition to put to you.’
Still taken aback, she asked, ‘And what’s that?’
‘I have a small house that I rent out not far from the surgery. It was my wife’s before we were married. It’s vacant at the moment. If you took the job you might want to consider living there instead of where you are now. ‘
‘I’ve never worked in general practice,’ she explained. ‘I’ve always been hospital-based.’
‘Does that matter?’
He wasn’t going to tell her that he’d offered her the position because he wanted her near him. He wasn’t sure why, but he did. Maybe it was because she’d been left high and dry after her father’s death and he was concerned for her. Or were his motives more selfish than that? He didn’t want to get bogged down in self-analysis.
He could imagine Maxine’s reaction if Helena took the job. Fortunately he had the main say and if she didn’t like it, too bad.
‘I’d like to think about it if you don’t mind,’ Helena was saying. ‘I feel that you’ve already done enough for me.’
Suddenly he was the senior partner rather than her good Samaritan. ‘You would be expected to cope with a heavy workload and would get no special concessions from me.’
‘I wouldn’t expect any!’ she exclaimed. ‘I’m used to being treated on my own merits. What about the woman who was at your house last night? Did you say she was connected with the practice?’
‘Yes, that was Maxine Fielding. She and Darren Scott are the other two partners. By all means think about the offer. I just felt that both suggestions might solve your problems for the time being.’
So he had no thought of it being on a more permanent basis, she told herself. No need to feel flattered that Blake was keen to employ her. Once again he was merely trying to be supportive at a time when she needed someone. He was anticipating that once she’d got herself sorted she would move on.
Yet what had she expected? They’d only known each other a couple of days. It was incredible that he was making her such an offer in so short a time. The suggestions he’d made were like a lifeline in her present situation and even if they hadn’t been, there was a feeling of rightness about them that she couldn’t ignore.
‘Tell me about yourself,’ he said as they ate a leisurely meal. ‘How long have you been in nursing?’
‘Ever since I left school. My mother was a nurse and I always wanted to be the same.’
‘So you find it fulfilling.’
She was smiling and he thought how different she looked. She ought to do it more often, but he reminded himself that since they’d met she’d had very little to smile about.
‘Yes, I do. Fulfilling…and tiring,’ she told him, adding on a sudden impulse that she knew she might have cause to regret, ‘You already know quite a bit about me, but I know nothing about you, except that you’re a GP who is also involved in police work. You said that your family weren’t around. Dare I ask why?’
She watched his expression change and wished she’d contained her curiosity. It was as if a cloud had settled on his face, but his voice was pleasant enough as he told her, ‘You can ask, but I’m not sure whether I want to answer. If I do it will bring painful memories into a pleasant evening.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said contritely. ‘I presume something awful must have happened.’
‘It did,’ he agreed heavily. ‘My wife, Anna, and our seven-year-old son, Jason, were killed in a car crash three years ago.’
‘Oh, you poor man!’ she said softly. ‘You must think I’m making a big thing out of what has happened to me. No way does it compare with that.’
‘I don’t think anything of the kind,’ he told her. ‘I’m only too sorry that you came home to what you did, but I think a change of subject is called for.’
Helena nodded her agreement and said, ‘So tell me about the practice.’
He launched into an account of a visit he’d made that afternoon to elderly twin sisters who were always ill simultaneously with the same complaint, and how, garrulous and hyperactive, they vied for his attention.
She was laughing as he described their antics and Blake thought that it was incredible that this green-eyed woman was fancy-free. Or was she? She hadn’t said so. There might be someone in Australia anxiously awaiting her return.
Though if that were the case, she wouldn’t be hesitating about going back, would she? And if she’d left some guy behind when she’d gone out there, he would have been the one she’d turned to rather than himself.
‘If you’ll excuse me for asking, how old are you, Helena?’ he asked.
‘I’m twenty-five.’
‘And commitments?’
It was one way of asking if she was unattached, though it misfired somewhat.
‘You know that I haven’t. I’ve already told you I was an only child.’
‘I was referring to relationships.’
‘Oh, I see. Would it matter if I was in one?’
‘No. Of course not,’ he said smoothly. ‘But again it’s the sort of thing you might be asked about by the other two partners.’
‘But not by you?’
‘No. Not by me. I’m offering you the job because of what’s happened.’
‘Because you’re sorry for me, you mean?’
‘Yes. Partly. And also because you came back to a raw deal. I admire your father for what he did. There are lots of folk who won’t risk life and limb in the cause of justice, but he did. Thankfully no one got to him, which is not surprising as the witness protection service allows for no margin of error. So your father died the way the rest of us hope to go…naturally.’
He wasn’t offering the job because he was attracted to her, then, she thought wryly. She’d been a fool to think he might be. Blake Pemberton, senior partner, police surgeon…and childless widower…must have them queueing up for the chance to take his dead wife’s place.
Blake had allayed her fears about going back to the house but Helena was in no hurry to return. As they lingered over coffee at the end of the meal he said, ‘So are you happy to go back to the house? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.’
‘No. I’m fine,’ she told him. ‘I’m not afraid any more. And, Blake, I will take the job at the practice if you’re sure you want me. And I’ll rent the house, too. You’ve solved all my problems for me.’
She meant it, but couldn’t help feeling that with the sorting of one lot of problems others might appear, focused around a one-sided attraction.
‘Good,’ he said. ‘I’m glad you’ve decided to accept. Maybe you could call at the practice some time tomorrow to meet the rest of the staff and have a chat with the practice manager. Would you be able to start the day after the funeral? That’s when the nurse employed at present wants to leave.’
‘I’d be glad to,’ she told him. ‘As then, more than ever, I will need to be occupied.’
When he pulled up outside their two houses Helena said, ‘Thanks for your time…and the meal, Blake. I can’t help but feel that I’m being something of a nuisance.’
He smiled and in the shadowed interior of the car she experienced the same feeling of familiarity that she’d felt earlier. Theirs was a very new relationship but it didn’t feel like it. She felt safe in this man’s company. Maybe it was because he knew so much about her in such a short space of time.
‘The only time you’re likely to be a nuisance is if you keep insisting that you are one,’ he was saying easily. ‘If you feel I’m being too intrusive, you have only to say so. Otherwise, I’ve promised myself that until you’re over this awful thing that has happened to you, I’m going to be around. And if you’re coming to work at the practice, we’re likely to be in each other’s company for some time to come.’
Why did her heart lift at the thought of that? she wondered. She had only to observe him and the answer was there. Blake Pemberton made every other man she’d met seem insignificant, but there was nothing to say that she was having the same effect on him. If what he’d just said was correct, she was more in the waifs-and-strays category than that of the desirable woman.
When he’d seen her safely inside the house, Blake said, ‘Shall we say midday tomorrow for you to meet the team at the Priory Practice?’
‘Yes,’ she agreed, adding as the memory of cold grey eyes came to mind, ‘Are you sure they won’t object to me joining them sideways, so to speak?’
‘My partners respect my judgement and will be only too relieved that we’re not going to be without a practice nurse for any length of time,’ he assured her. ‘The only problem would be if you weren’t up to the job, and somehow I don’t see that particular difficulty arising. You have references, of course?’
‘Yes. Though the ones from Australia might take some time to reach you. Unless you ask that they email them.’
‘No problem. We’ll sort that out. Lock up after I’ve gone. I can assure you again that you are safe here…and once you move into that house of mine you’ll feel even safer. It’s available as soon as you feel like making the transfer.’
‘Tomorrow?’ she suggested, wasting no time in taking him up on the offer.
‘Yes, if you like…tomorrow. I had it contract-cleaned after the last tenant, so it’s ready for you to move into any time.’ He was looking around him. ‘It’s furnished, by the way. Do I take it that the stuff in this place goes with the house?’
‘Yes. My father said that he’d put our furniture in storage, so I might as well leave it there.’
She couldn’t believe it was happening. Earlier in the day she hadn’t been able to see where she was going to go from here, and now she had a job and a new place to live. Would she ever be out of his debt?
But it seemed that Blake was still out to make her realise that he wasn’t expecting it to be permanent as he said, ‘Yes, leave it where it is. Then whenever you decide to leave us it will be there waiting.’
So it was only the waif-and-stray treatment she was getting, Helena thought wryly. Within his pledge to protect the living while in police care and help bring justice for those who had met their ends through foul play, he was doing his best for another lost sheep…herself. And she wasn’t sure that was how she wanted it to be. He was seeing her at her worst. Lost, weepy and floundering.
When this was over she would have to show him that there was another side to her. That she was her own person, independent, resilient and a good nurse. Suddenly it was vital that Blake should have a good opinion of her, and he was offering her the chance to do something towards that end by taking her on at the practice.
With spirits lifting at the thought, she watched him go down the drive. When he reached his own front door he turned and waved, and as she waved back Helena knew she wanted him to be more than just someone who had befriended her in a time of trouble.
* * *
When Blake announced at the beginning of surgery the next morning that he’d found a replacement for the practice nurse who was leaving, Darren said, ‘Great stuff. What’s she like? Nice-looking, I hope.’
Blake didn’t reply. His glance was on Maxine and he knew what was coming next.
‘And where have you so conveniently found a nurse at such short notice?’ she wanted to know.
‘You’ve already met her briefly,’ he said with bland pleasantness. ‘The woman who has just lost her father, Helena Harris. You saw her the other night when you called.’ Before she could interrupt he went on, ‘She’s been nursing in Australia for the last twelve months and had no sooner come home than her father died.’
‘Then it was obviously her lucky day when she met you, Blake,’ Maxine said frostily. ‘Don’t you think you’re rather overdoing the good-neighbour bit? First of all you have her staying with you and then you’re suggesting bringing her into the practice.’
‘None of us know when we may need a friend,’ he told her, without raising his voice. ‘It might happen to you one day, Maxine.’
‘That could be a bit tricky,’ Darren said, and found her cold gaze transferred to himself.
‘Helena is coming in to meet everyone at the end of morning surgery, so you’ll both be able to have a chat with her then. In the meantime, we have patients waiting to be seen,’ Blake said, ignoring the ever-present sparring between the two.
He’d anticipated a cool reception when Maxine heard of his plans and that Darren would be his usual flippant self. But he wasn’t all that bothered about either of their reactions. If he discovered he’d made a mistake by offering Helena a job at the practice, he would take the blame.
He had other concerns regarding her and the main one was that after going out of his way to befriend her, he’d sent out conflicting signals the night before by inferring that he wasn’t expecting anything permanent to come of their acquaintance when all the time she was never out of his thoughts.
Was he so out of touch with the chemistry between the sexes that he felt the need to put up fences when it appeared from an unexpected source? he’d asked himself during a restless night.
As someone who never did anything by halves, his love for Anna had been deep and strong. In the three years since her death he’d had no yearnings towards any other woman. Certainly not Maxine.
Then out of the blue had come a young nurse with beautiful green eyes and russet hair. She was getting to him as no other woman had, and what was he doing? Encouraging the relationship one moment and the next stepping back from it.
But the folks in the waiting room had their problems, too, and he was about to be confronted by them.
Amongst them was a middle-aged woman suffering from blackouts for no apparent reason. Being the kind of patient loth to bring her concerns into the open, she’d been slow to seek a consultation, but after having hurt herself quite badly from the last fall she’d been persuaded to seek help.
There were no signs of high blood pressure. It was rather low if anything. An examination of her eyes indicated no problems there. She wasn’t suffering from headaches. In every way she seemed to be in good health, though obviously she wasn’t. Blackouts were not something to be ignored and he referred her to the neurology department at the hospital.
A woman in her twenties followed her into his consulting room. She had digestive problems that he’d felt were cause for alarm and he’d sent her to hospital for tests. The results were now back.
They weren’t exactly life-threatening but they were not good. Dark eyes in a thin face were watching him apprehensively from the other side of the desk and, always reluctant to put the blight on the lives of the young, he gave her a sympathetic smile.
‘It is what I thought it might be, Samantha,’ he told her. ‘Coeliac disease or gluten enteropathy as it’s sometimes known. The type of biopsy they gave you at the hospital shows that you have a gluten problem. A failure to absorb the nutrients from wheat, rye, and other cereals.
‘All the unpleasant things that have been happening to you are the result of the illness. The anaemia, skin problems, poor bowel functioning and the rest should gradually disappear once you’re on a gluten-free diet.
‘With all other foods you should have no problem, but it will be essential to keep off wheat products. Other tests will follow to make sure that the diet is working, but I think that very soon you’re going to feel much better.’
‘So I’m not going to die?’ she breathed, with the beginning of a smile.
‘No, you’re not,’ he said gently. ‘You’ve had a worrying and distressing time but we’re going to put you on the right track. The nurse will give you diet sheets and will answer any questions you might have regarding food.’
She was getting to her feet and as he observed her pallor and weight loss Blake thought, poor girl. She was so frail. Hopefully by the next time he saw her she might have filled out a little and have some colour in her cheeks.
* * *
As Helena hesitated beside Reception at twelve o’clock, a cool voice said from behind her, ‘And you are?’
When she swung round the woman who’d called at Blake’s house the other night was observing her as if she were something best seen under a microscope.
‘I’m Helena Harris,’ she said levelly. ‘Dr Pemberton is expecting me. He’s offered me the position of practice nurse and invited me to come in to meet the staff.’
‘Really. Well, he must have forgotten as Dr Pemberton is not on the premises.’
‘Has he been called out perhaps?’ Helena asked in the same even tone.
‘I’m sure I don’t know. You’ll have to come back some other time,’ she was told.
‘Yes. I can do that,’ she agreed equably. ‘Time is something that I have in abundance at the moment.’
‘I think there’s been a mistake, Dr Fielding,’ another voice said at that moment, and Helena saw a fair-haired man, younger than Blake, eyeing her appreciatively from the doorway.
‘Dr Pemberton received a call from the police station just as surgery was finishing,’ he said with a winning smile that showed a lot of white teeth. ‘He left a message to say that he would be back as soon as possible and for you to make yourself at home while you’re waiting. My name is Darren Scott. I’m the junior partner here and I volunteered to look after you until he gets back.’
‘And in the meantime everything goes to pot, does it?’ the unwelcoming Maxine said.
‘Surely, not with you around, Dr Fielding,’ he said, and Helena knew what Blake had meant when he’d said that these two weren’t the best of friends.
‘There is no need for you to look after me,’ she told him. ‘As Dr Fielding has suggested, I can come back another time.’
She was beginning to wish she hadn’t come at all. The last thing she’d expected was that Blake wouldn’t be there. Obviously it had been unavoidable, but five minutes with Maxine Fielding had damped her enthusiasm somewhat.
‘Dr Pemberton wouldn’t like that,’ Darren insisted. ‘He was most emphatic that you were made welcome. If you’d like to come this way I’ll introduce you to Jane Benyon, the other practice nurse. She’s been here for years and will be only too happy to show you the ropes. She’s the person you’ll be working with most. Then there’s the practice manager, Beverley, who keeps us all in order and tells us off if we prescribe drugs that are too expensive.’
This was better, Helena thought as she met the rest of the staff. Jane Benyon looked as if she was climbing up to retiring age. She had a kind smile and twinkly blue eyes. Beverley Martin, in her late forties, was a smart type in a suit, with dark hair in a short stylish cut and a brisk manner that indicated a person who got things done. The three receptionists were all friendly and by the time they’d done the rounds Maxine’s hostility was fading.
* * *
When the call had come through from the police Blake had given an exasperated sigh. It had been the worst possible moment. Helena had been due to arrive any time, but he hadn’t been able to refuse.
A prisoner had been brought into the station with facial cuts and bruises and showing signs of concussion. There was some concern as to how his injuries had occurred, but that was for the authorities to sort out. They needed him there to determine the seriousness of his condition and to advise if hospital treatment was required.
On examining the man, he decided that it was. He was confused. His pupils were dilated and his head was beginning to swell. It seemed that he had attacked someone in the street and had either got more than he’d bargained for or had received rough handling from those who’d arrested him.
Blake was impatient to get back to the practice and when the ambulance had taken the injured man to Accident and Emergency he avoided the chat that the station sergeant would have liked to have had by excusing himself with the explanation that he had someone waiting to see him.
As he drove back to the practice he was hoping that he wasn’t being too presumptuous, that Helena wouldn’t have been offended by his absence and would be there, waiting.