Loe raamatut: «Hired: GP and Wife»

CHAPTER ONE

THE little ferry edged towards the dock and the deckhand expertly threw the rope round the bollard and tightened it. The gangway slapped down between the land and the boat and everyone began to disembark. Terry Younger stopped for a second and looked around the little bay with the seagulls mewing above the brightly painted cottages across the road and their backdrop of wooded hills.

She took a deep breath of the tangy fresh air and it hit her throat like champagne, invigorating and bracing. The cool wind whipped her short fair hair across her eyes and she brushed it away impatiently, and stepped ashore. Then, hoisting her rucksack more securely on her back, she tugged her case behind her over the rough terrain, a frisson of excitement mixed with apprehension shivering through her for a second. She stopped and looked across the quayside: steep hills rose quickly behind the little village of shops and cottages fringing the bay and beyond them the vague purple outline of mountains. The Isle of Scuola on the west coast of Scotland couldn’t be more different to the leafy suburbs of London that she’d left behind—this was it, then, a fresh start, a future that was hers to make of what she would, and find a measure of the peace she craved after the turmoil of a terrible year.

Dumping her baggage by the wall of the dock, Terry looked around at the small group of people waiting to meet the passengers from the ferry. She’d been informed that her new colleague, Dr Brodie, senior partner in the Scuola medical practice, would be picking her up—according to the woman in the medical agency, he was a large, elderly man with white hair. There didn’t seem to be anyone of that description here yet—he must be running late, but, no matter, she would sit on her case until he arrived.

After five minutes the ferry had turned round and begun to chug back to the mainland and there was no one left by the quayside except a man in biking leathers sitting astride a motorbike and talking on a mobile. Terry stood up impatiently—she liked to be punctual herself and the later Dr Brodie was the more nervous she was becoming about her new job.

Another ten minutes went by and the man who’d been on the bike was now pacing irritably up and down the quay and looking at his watch. His leathers gave him a tough streetwise appearance and emphasised his tall muscular figure as he strode impatiently in front of Terry. For a second she was cruelly reminded of Max—damn his memory. Wasn’t there a hint in the appearance of this man on the quayside of the bad-boy image Max had liked to project? She shut her eyes as if trying to block out a picture of Max swaggering towards her—sexy, arrogant, sure of her love and supremely selfish. She shuddered—she wanted nothing more to do with that sort of man. She snapped open her eyes again and set her mouth grimly. She hadn’t come to Scuola to remember him or anything that had happened to her because of him…she had to push all that to the back of her mind.

The biker stopped for a moment in front of her to pull off his helmet, revealing ruffled dark hair, and gazed dourly back at the mainland. Terry flicked a closer look at him—he was quite a striking man, and someone with rather a short fuse, she guessed, full of pent-up energy. As he turned to resume his frustrated pacing, a pen dropped out of his pocket and Terry bent down to pick it up.

‘We both seem to have been left in the lurch,’ she said, handing it to him.

He turned, looking at her with startling blue eyes, as blue as sapphires, Terry thought suddenly—and of course she realised that he was nothing like Max at all. Max’s eyes, although sexy, had often been calculating, as if assessing just what he could gain from you. This man’s face had an engaging, open look. His eyes swept over her, taking in her petite figure and resting for an intense moment on her face. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled with a sudden flash of self-consciousness under his scrutiny.

‘Ah, thank you,’ he said, taking the pen from her, then he added brusquely, ‘I think the person I’m meeting must be on the next ferry—if he isn’t on this one I’ll have to go. Damn nuisance but I can’t wait.’ He had an attractive voice, fairly deep and with a definite Scottish lilt. He leant against a stone wall that jutted out onto the jetty, long legs crossed in front of him. ‘You’ve been stood up too?’ he enquired.

His thick dark hair was a little too long at the front and flopped over onto his forehead—it made him look rather boyish, but there was something tough and determined in his demeanour. He wouldn’t suffer fools gladly, thought Terry. She smiled to herself. When it came to men, she couldn’t trust herself to interpret character through appearances—her track record was pretty poor on that!

‘The man meeting me has either forgotten or had an accident,’ she said. ‘I’d better get a taxi.’

‘Maybe he thinks you’ll be on the next ferry too and is coming to meet this one—I can see it in the distance now,’ suggested the biker. He pushed himself away from the wall and went to the water’s edge, staring across the bay at the approaching vessel.

Terry wondered if he was a tourist who’d come to the island for the fishing or walking. She could well imagine him striding over the hill paths, getting rid of some of his angst with exercise, or roaring over the mountain roads on his motorbike.

They both watched the ferry draw up and disgorge its next lot of passengers, but it was soon apparent that the man’s friend had not appeared, and there was still no sign of Dr Brodie. The two of them waited as the three cars on the ferry made their way slowly after the foot passengers down the ramp to shore. The last one was a small two-door car, which stalled and then rolled back onto the ship, and the driver, a young woman, looked anxiously out of the window.

‘Give it more stick, miss,’ advised the deckhand in charge of the vehicles. ‘You need to accelerate to get over the humps on the ramp.’

The girl nodded and tried again, revving the engine hard, and this time the car shot forward and skidded over the ramp. It took half a second for Terry to realise with horror that it was arrowing straight across the space between them like a missile fixed on a target. Her feet seemed to be paralysed, be stuck in thick clay—she could see the car careering for them but she couldn’t move her body or even cry out. Then, at the last moment when the car seemed almost on top of her, two arms flung themselves tightly round her and she felt herself being lifted away from the danger and dropped not too gently on the ground, underneath her rescuer.

For a second she was winded—unable to breathe or speak—but she was aware that in the background there was the nasty sound of a heavy crash, metal being crushed and breaking glass, then a shocked silence. The body on top of hers scrambled off, allowing her to see the car embedded in the wall of the dock.

‘Bloody hell,’ said a voice over her head. ‘That was a bit too close for comfort!’

She blinked in a dazed way, and found herself gazing into the intensely bright blue eyes she’d just been looking at a few minutes before.

‘You OK?’ asked the biker. A large graze covered with grit on his chin oozed blood and his thick hair was plastered on his forehead. ‘Here, let me help you up.’

‘Yes…yes, I’m fine,’ she replied, using the strong grip of his hand to get up slowly and shakily to her feet. Her trousers and parka were covered with dirt, but she was alive—thanks to the man.

He looked at her closely then nodded. ‘Good. Then I’ll see what’s happened to the driver.’

Terry watched, stunned, as he sprinted over to the car and peered through the driver’s window then tried to pull open the door. She couldn’t believe how rapid his reactions had been as the car had hurtled towards them, or how quickly he’d recovered himself to think of the other people involved.

She scrambled up from the ground herself and ran after him to the car, where he was already trying to force the driver’s door open. It was a horrific sight, the front stoved in and as crumpled as a piece of crushed foil. The girl in the driving seat turned towards them, looking utterly shocked. An egg-shaped bruise on her forehead was rapidly enlarging and a gash above her eye was pouring blood. She put a shaking hand up to her forehead and started to whimper.

‘Wh-what happened there? I…I just touched the accelerator and it took off…’

The biker pushed his hand through the door and turned off the ignition. ‘Sometimes these automatic gear changes are quite fierce,’ he said gently. He tilted her chin towards the light and examined her forehead as he talked to her. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Maisie…Maisie Lockart,’ the girl whispered. Then her eyes widened as she remembered something and she started to scream, trying to turn round in the seat to look at the back. ‘Oh, my God…the baby…Amy…she’s in the back. Is she all right? Get her out please…get her out!’

Terry looked aghast at the concertinaed front of the car and the way the passenger seat was pushed back right against the rear. There wasn’t going to be much room for even a child sitting in the back. She heard the man swear as he gave a desperate tug on the driver’s door again and managed to open it another precious half-foot. He peered in the back then gave a little whoop of relief.

‘Yes! She’s OK. You won’t believe this, but she appears to be smiling at me!’ He pulled back and said gently to the girl, ‘Don’t worry—she looks fine, kicking her legs. From here everything looks in working order.’

The girl closed her eyes and put her head back against the back of the seat. ‘Thank God,’ she whispered. ‘Can you get hold of her?’

Terry tapped the man’s back. ‘Perhaps I could help?’ she said. ‘I’m a doctor.’

The biker whipped his head round and looked at her with raised brows of surprise. ‘Well, well, that’s a bit of a coincidence—I’m a doctor too! I must say it’s nice to have some support.’ He turned back to the girl in the car and commented with gentle humour, ‘Funny, isn’t it? You can wait all day for a doctor and then two come along at once!’

The girl gave a watery smile. ‘We’re in good hands, then, aren’t we?’

The man turned to Terry and said in a low voice, ‘As you can see, she’s had a terrific crack to her head and I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s not got a whiplash injury to her neck. I think you’ll agree she needs a check-up and an X-ray. I’ll ring for an ambulance if you take over here for a second. Better not to move her at this stage.’

‘What about the baby?’ said Terry, peering into the back of the vehicle. ‘We can’t leave her on the back seat. On the other hand, I agree it’s risky to move Maisie. We could disturb a fractured vertebrae or a subluxation.’

‘Yep. We’ve got to be cautious if she’s displaced a joint,’ he agreed.

For a second they looked at each other, trying to weigh up the pros and cons of the problem, then Terry said with decision, ‘The little one does seem reasonably happy. I’ll watch them and try and stop this bleed above Maisie’s eye while you get help.’

‘OK. It should only be a matter of minutes…’

Terry scrabbled in her rucksack until she found a packet of tissues, which she pressed firmly against the wound. Maisie had started to shake and tears rolled down her cheeks.

‘I’m sorry…I don’t mean to make a fuss, but I can’t go to hospital—I’ve got papers to deliver. And what about the baby?’

Terry laid her hand reassuringly over Maisie’s, recognising the signs of shock in the girl. ‘Don’t worry about the papers—they’ll get sorted. Just tell me the baby’s name.’

‘Amy—she’s only four months. And…and she’ll need a bottle soon.’

‘Look, Maisie, you both must go and be checked over and however well Amy looks it’s best to make sure she has no hidden injury. They’ll want to observe her for a few hours and if she needs feeding, the hospital will make sure she’s looked after. And I’ll see the papers are delivered if you’ll tell me where they’re to go to.’

‘Thank you,’ whispered the girl. ‘They go to the newsagent’s, Mathesons, just across the road from here.’ She sighed bleakly, ‘I don’t know how I’ll tell my boyfriend. It’s his car and he’ll be furious I’ve crashed it.’

‘He’ll just be glad you’re both OK,’ reassured Terry.

Terry’s eyes followed the doctor pacing about the car park as he spoke on his mobile. She might have guessed he’d be a doctor, a policeman or a fireman—someone who was used to dealing with emergencies. He had the confidence of knowing what he was doing, and it showed—he was someone you could trust, she thought wistfully. Then she shrugged irritably, cross with herself for thinking that. Just because he was a doctor, it didn’t mean he’d be any more reliable than anyone else. Didn’t she know only too well that even the most credible of people could let you down and ruin your life?

The biker doctor came back, stuffing his mobile in his pocket.

‘It’ll be here very soon…’ He halted, his expression suddenly changing to one of alarm as he sniffed the air. ‘Hell! We’ve got to get them out, pronto,’ he yelled. ‘Can’t you smell the petrol? There must be a leak. The damn thing could go up in flames any second. Let me undo that safety belt.’

He turned to the small crowd of onlookers gathered a short distance from them. ‘We need a man here to help us,’ he shouted.

Two or three men ran forward. ‘Tell us what you want us to do,’ said one of them.

‘Help me slide Maisie out and lift her carefully, supporting her neck, and if two others could take her legs. Then we need to get that baby out of the back.’

For a moment Terry felt herself back in Casualty, forming part of a team in an emergency where splitsecond decisions had to be taken. This man was right, of course. The risk of fire was imminent, and they had no choice but to get the people out as quickly as possible. She helped to hold Maisie’s back as they edged her out, her neck being supported by the doctor, who shouted out instructions to the others, then they laid her on Terry’s jacket which she’d put on the ground.

Terry squeezed Maisie’s hand comfortingly. It was vital that the girl, already in shock, was kept as calm as possible. ‘Now it’s Amy’s turn,’ she said.

The aperture to the back of the car was very small, constrained by the buckling of the car’s chassis. No way could a large man get through it.

‘I’m doing this,’ said Terry firmly. ‘I can get through that space.’

‘Oh, no, you won’t.’ The biker tried to push in front of her. ‘It’s up to me—it’s too damn dangerous.’

‘And you’re too damn big to get through,’ retorted Terry angrily. ‘I thought you said there’s no time to waste. Don’t let’s argue about it.’

Their eyes sparked across at each other aggressively for a second then reluctantly he gave way, allowing her to push herself into the small opening.

‘You win,’ he muttered. ‘I’ll try and force this door a bit more.’

By squeezing herself sideways, she managed to wriggle her body to the squashed rear of the car. Stretching forward with every sinew, she reached the baby and fumbled with the child’s safety harness. It seemed terribly difficult to undo but behind her she could hear the distinctive deep voice of the biker.

‘You’re doing well. Press the button in the middle of the harness firmly and squeeze the two sides together…sometimes they’re quite stiff.’

There was something reassuring about that measured voice and when Amy began to scream as this unfamiliar person tried to extricate her from her seat, Terry concentrated on what the biker was telling her and did her best to ignore the smell of petrol that seemed to get stronger every second.

‘It’s all right, darling—don’t cry. You’ll soon be with your mummy,’ she murmured in her most soothing tones whilst still struggling desperately with the catch on the harness. Suddenly the spring release worked and the belt came apart.

‘Ah…gotcha!’ she said triumphantly.

She pulled the child towards her, hugging her to her chest and backing out as quickly as she could. Waiting hands took the crying baby to the side of the car park near to where her mother was lying, and Terry toppled back as someone’s arms caught her and prevented her falling to the ground.

‘Well done,’ said the biker’s familiar voice gruffly. ‘You did a good job there.’ His arms held her close to him as he helped her across to the side of the car park. ‘Come on, now—let’s get you away from this vehicle.’

Her legs felt like jelly but he took her weight easily, almost carrying her to one of the benches by the dock railings. He took off his leather jacket and put it round Terry’s shoulders and she gave a shaky laugh. ‘You seem to make a habit of helping me.’

He leaned forward and brushed away a piece of mud that was on her cheek. ‘Sure you’re OK?’ he asked, smiling at her, his face so close to hers that she could see the beginnings of evening stubble on his chin and the dark flecks in his extraordinarily blue eyes.

His breath was on her cheek as he looked at her and unexpectedly she felt a funny little shock of attraction ripple through her body. She took a sharp intake of breath and got up hastily from the bench, stepping back from him unsteadily. What the hell was happening? Not so long ago her life had been ruined by a man and she’d vowed it would be a long time before she’d look at the opposite sex again. Here she was only fifteen minutes into her new life and behaving like a schoolgirl who’d just seen a pop star! Her goal when she came to Scuola was to devote her life to medicine and put romance behind her—and that was what she was going to do!

‘I…I’m perfectly fine,’ she said in a measured tone.

His eyes held hers for a second, his expression contrite. ‘I’m afraid I was a bit abrupt with you back then. I just didn’t want you putting yourself in danger.’

‘We both had cross words—all in the line of duty,’ she replied. Quickly she went to kneel beside Maisie and her baby, who was in the arms of one of the men who had been helping, and pushed this hunky guy to the back of her thoughts.

‘You’ll soon be in good hands,’ she comforted the young girl. ‘And little Amy looks very lively.’

‘Thank you,’ whispered Maisie. ‘Thank you for getting Amy out. I thought she’d be trapped.’

A few minutes later a police car sped into the car park, followed by an old-fashioned ambulance.

‘That car reeks of petrol,’ the biker doctor said to the officer who got out of the car. ‘I’ve turned off the ignition, but I’m frightened it might ignite.’

Without a word the officer pulled a fire extinguisher out of his car and started to douse the back of the crashed vehicle with foam, then he shouted to the onlookers, ‘Can you clear this area please? This car’s not safe to be near and we need room for the ambulance.’

Two paramedics jumped out of the ambulance, one with a medical bag, and the doctor went up to them and explained in his concise and brisk manner the circumstances of the accident. Terry kept up a comforting commentary to Maisie until they came over, noting how she had begun to relax slightly now she was out of the vehicle and her baby was safe.

The paramedics swiftly assessed Maisie’s condition, then put a brace round her neck and lifted her onto a board to support her back before placing her on a carrying stretcher. Then she was put in the ambulance with Amy, and Terry and the biker watched as it disappeared up the hill.

Terry sat down on the bench and leaned back, closing her eyes, a mixture of relief and tiredness flooding through her.

The doctor chuckled. ‘What you need is a wee dram—that’ll put new life in you!’

She opened her eyes to see the doctor bending down beside her, a grin on his mud-bespattered face, blood still oozing from his chin.

Terry shook her head and smiled. ‘I’m fine, thanks. In fact, it’s quite exhilarating when you get a good result after a bit of drama.’ She felt in the front pocket of her knapsack and pulled out a compact, grimacing at her reflection in the mirror. ‘What a wreck I look,’ she murmured to herself.

‘Just a bit mud-spattered,’ he said. ‘Nothing a good wash won’t remove!’

Terry watched as the man picked up his helmet and searched in his pockets for the key to his bike. She realised just what she owed to this stranger, and reflected that her little flicker of attraction to him a few seconds before was probably because of the emotional rebound that often happened after a traumatic event.

‘I have such a lot to thank you for. If you hadn’t had such lightning reactions I wouldn’t be here now,’ she said to him. ‘I was paralysed when I saw the car coming towards me—I couldn’t move. You saved my life, no doubt.’

‘Think nothing of it. You didn’t do so badly yourself, getting that baby out. The whole thing could have gone up in flames any second.’

Terry shivered. ‘It was the same for you getting Maisie out—a nightmare scenario,’ she murmured. She looked at the cut on his chin. ‘You know, you ought to have that graze cleaned—it’s quite deep and got a lot of dirt in it.’

‘Oh, I’ll see to it when I get back,’ he said carelessly, then looked at her with interest. ‘Is this your first visit to Scuola?’

‘Yes…not quite the start I wanted,’ admitted Terry. She glanced at the smashed car. ‘I did promise Maisie that I’d get the papers in her car delivered to that newsagent’s over the road.’

‘No problem. I’ll do that afterwards.’

‘Thank you.’ She started to take off the leather jacket he’d put over her in the car park. ‘You’d better have this back.’

He looked at his watch. ‘No, you hang onto it for a while, it’s getting very cold. Perhaps I could give you a lift now,’ he offered. ‘I can’t hang around here any longer and it seems as if your chap’s forgotten to come and mine must have missed some connection.’

Terry looked nervously at the large machine he was proposing to give her a lift on—not her favourite form of transport. ‘Er…that’s very kind of you. The trouble is, I’ve got no helmet.’

Amused eyes twinkled at her as if he guessed her anxiety. ‘Don’t worry—I bought a spare with me. Where are you going?’

‘Not very far. A place called The Sycamores—it’s the medical centre on the island, and I believe it’s off the main street.’

The man straightened up suddenly from getting out the spare helmet from the bike’s holdall and stared at her in surprise. ‘You’re going to the medical centre?’

‘I’m going to start a new job there,’ explained Terry simply.

The man pushed his fingers through his hair so that it stood up in ruffled spikes round his forehead. ‘So you’re not on holiday, then? I thought you were a tourist.’

Terry shook her head. ‘Far from it.’

‘Who were you expecting to meet you?’ he said slowly.

‘Dr Euan Brodie. Do you know him?’

He gave a short laugh. ‘I ought to—he’s my uncle. I’m Atholl Brodie and I’ve come to meet a Terry Younger who’s taking over from a locum at our practice. Unfortunately my uncle had a major heart attack three days ago and is in hospital on the mainland. I’m sorry I didn’t get round to telling the agency that it would be me meeting you and not Uncle Euan. I’m his partner in the practice.’

Terry felt a funny thrill of excitement—could this really be the guy she was going to work with? ‘We…we’ve found each other, then. I’m Terry Younger.’ She held out her hand and he shook it rather abstractedly.

‘So I gather,’ he replied with a wry smile. ‘I have to admit this is, er…rather a surprise.’

‘Oh? Why is that?’

‘Because I thought you’d be a man,’ he said simply. ‘It didn’t occur to me that Terry could be a girl’s name as well.’

‘Well, I hope it’s not too much of a let-down,’ Terry said.

‘No…no, of course not. But do you know that on top of GP duties to cover the two islands here, we at the practice help a friend of mine doing an outward bound course for four deprived teenagers from Glasgow for a few weeks? I was hoping that the new doctor—’

‘Would be six foot four and sixteen stone,’ finished Terry impishly. ‘As a matter of fact, I did know your requirements,’ she added, smiling. ‘The agency told me you wanted help with the course.’

Atholl’s eyes swept over her slight five-foot-four-inch frame and he shook his head dismissively. ‘These lads are large, rough and aggressive. I need someone who’s physically tough and can abseil down cliffs, lead hikes on mountain trails, keep discipline—ideally someone who’s had a course in Outward Bound activities…’

‘And why shouldn’t I be able to fulfil all those criteria?’ demanded Terry. Suddenly his looks seemed to diminish—he was a more unreasonable man than she’d thought, obviously dismissing females as pathetic creatures who couldn’t do anything physically demanding.

She added firmly, ‘It so happens I have done a threeday course in hiking and kayaking—the only thing I’ve not done is abseiling. Anyway, if you think I’m getting back on that ferry today you’ve got another think coming. I’ve been offered a job here and I’ve accepted it, and it’s taken since the crack of dawn to get here.’

A cold wind had blown up suddenly and a stinging rain was starting to drive in from the hills. Terry pulled the helmet over her head and stared at him stubbornly. The man may have just saved her life, but she was damned if she’d go meekly trotting back to London just because he’d been expecting a man. Not, she thought wanly, that returning would be an option anyway—she could never return to London.

Atholl shrugged and then picked up Terry’s case and rucksack.

‘I guess we’ll sort it all out later,’ he said. ‘We’ll leave your case at the ferry office and I’ll come back for it shortly, after we’ve talked at the surgery.’ He looked down at her with a sudden laugh that made his strong face look younger, softer. ‘And I thought Terry was a man’s name…is it short for something?’

‘No,’ said Terry with deliberate emphasis. ‘It’s just Terry.’

She clambered on the back of his motorbike, and bit her lip. It wasn’t just her name—that was who she’d become now, Terry Younger, looking different and feeling different from a few days ago, cut off from the family and friends of her old life, with a whole new persona.

She was on her own, and it was vitally important to her that her job worked out here. She was as far away from London as she could reasonably get and still be in the British Isles—she wasn’t about to go anywhere else in a hurry.