‘Bravo!’ Dr Cappelle said, admiration showing in his eyes. From her position in the front row she could see they were sensitive, a distinctive shade of hazel. Phew, she was glad she’d had to practise the art of being strong from an early age. Her show of pseudo-confidence was turning into the real thing, although she realised that had she known she would be the only woman on the course she might have hesitated before signing up.
Well, probably only hesitated for a short while. Looking around, she knew she could handle these young doctors, whatever they tried on. She’d learned a lot about men in the last few years. Basically, they were still boys, feeling as daunted as she was at the prospect of the exacting course they’d signed up to.
‘I’m now going to give you a tour of the operating theatres we use here at the Hopital de la Plage. Some of them will be in use and we won’t be able to go inside en masse. May I suggest you make a note of the areas you aren’t able to see today so that you can find a more suitable time to inspect them at a later date?’
Before they all filed out, the professor asked them to call him Bernard. He said that he didn’t hold with titles in a teaching situation, explaining that it was easier for him to get to know his students if there was always a warm atmosphere, especially in tutorials like today. He looked around the room as if to judge the collective reaction of his students to this unexpected statement.
There was a stunned silence. Julia felt slightly more at ease with the great man when he said that but as she glanced around the room she knew that her fellow students weren’t taken in. Bernard Cappelle somehow managed to remain aloof even while he spoke. She sensed an aura of mystery surrounding him, which made him seem distant, brooding, definitely enigmatic, approachable in a professional situation but with caution. Yes, his students would call him Bernard because he’d requested they do so but at the same time they would be wary of him. So would she but for several reasons, some of them decidedly inadvisable given her past history!
Being in the front row, she went out first and found Bernard walking beside her. He seemed very tall. She wished she’d put her heels on but hadn’t realised they were going to trek round the hospital.
‘You don’t mind if I call you Julia, do you?’
He had such a deep, sexy, mellifluous voice. She was going to have to be very firm with herself to eliminate any sign that she felt an attraction to him. There, she’d admitted it. Well, power plus charisma, plus a barely discernible twinkle in the eye, which undoubtedly accompanied a wicked sense of humour, all added up to a desirable package that she certainly wasn’t going to attempt to unwrap. Bernard could teach her his professional skills and knowledge and that was all she wanted from him.
Besides, he was probably married, bound to have a stunning wife waiting for him at home. Although married men were often ready for a fling and flings were another thing totally off her agenda.
‘Yes, you can call me Julia.’ She didn’t even smile, making it seem as if she was doing him a favour.
‘Good.’
They were now going inside one of the theatres, which Bernard had told them was not in use that afternoon. There was gleaming, bright high-tech equipment everywhere she looked. She was really going to enjoy working in a place like this.
At the end of the afternoon tour Bernard took them down to the staff cafeteria, where the conversation drifted from the equipment they’d viewed and the endless possibilities of a teaching hospital of this calibre to their previous experience and what they hoped to get out of the course that would be relevant to their future careers.
Somehow she found herself next to Bernard again. She wondered if he felt he had to protect her from the attentions of her fellow students in spite of the fact that she’d made it quite clear she wanted to be treated in the same way as all the men on the course.
‘So, do you think you’re going to enjoy working here, Julia?’
‘I don’t know whether enjoy is quite the right word.’ She took a sip of her coffee. ‘I intend to get the most out of it but I realise it’s going to be hard work.’
‘You look like the sort of person who enjoys hard work—determined, tough, doesn’t give up easily. From your CV you seem to have led a busy life both in and outside hospital. Am I right, Julia?’
She nodded. ‘I suppose so—at least, that’s what people have told me concerning my professional life. I’ve been focussed on my medical career throughout my adult life.’
‘Did that give you enough time for your private life?’
‘My private life? Well …’
She broke off. She wasn’t going to notify her teacher that she’d come to the conclusion she had a serious flaw in her personality—her inability to handle her time outside the pursuit of her career. Especially in her inability to recognise a complete and utter swine when she thought she’d picked the man of her dreams. She turned her head away from him so that he wouldn’t notice the misty, damp expression in her eyes that would give him an inkling of her intense vulnerability since the suffering Tony had inflicted on her.
Looking round the almost deserted cafeteria, she noticed that the majority of her fellow doctors were drifting out through the door, having been told that the rest of the day was theirs to orientate themselves around the hospital or do whatever they wanted.
She had been planning to escape back to the small study-bedroom she’d been assigned in the medical quarters and sort out her luggage. She felt that would be the safest option open to her now, instead of having a discussion about her least favourite subject.
She stood up. ‘If you’ll excuse me, Bernard, I’m going to make use of this free time to get my room sorted out.’
It sounded trite to her own ears but the last thing she wanted so early in the course was to be interrogated by her boss on the delicate subject of her private life.
As he rose to his full height there was an enigmatic expression on his face. ‘Of course, Julia.’
He escorted her to the door. She turned left towards the medical residents’ quarters. He turned right towards the theatre block.
She walked swiftly down the corridor. At the entrance to the door to the residents’ quarters she found one of her colleagues waiting for her. She recognised him as the one who’d had most to say for himself. Tall, dark and good looking in a rugged sort of way, very self-assured.
He smiled, displaying strong white teeth as he stretched out a hand towards her.
‘Dominic,’ he said, as he shook her hand in a firm grip.
She reclaimed her hand. ‘Julia.’
‘I know. Some of us are having an impromptu meeting at the bar round the corner and we’d like you to join us if you could spare the time.’
‘Well, my room needs sorting and—’
‘Julia, we’ve all got things to do but …’ He broke off and began speaking in English. ‘All work and no play isn’t good for you.’
She smiled at him. She needed to stop taking herself so seriously and it would be good to get to know her colleagues.
‘OK. I’ll come but I mustn’t stay too long.’
‘Don’t worry. We’re all in the same boat.’
‘Ah, it’s good to be outside in the fresh air.’ Julia revelled in the warm early evening sunshine as they walked out through the hospital gates.
Across the road there were still families on the beach, children running into the sea, which she knew would still be a little chilly in the spring.
‘Café Maurice Chevalier,’ she read from the sign outside the café restaurant Dominic took her to.
She could see some of her fellow students