‘Yes … I’m okay.’ She rested her fingers against her chest, on the soft cotton of her top, as though that might somehow calm the staccato beat of her heart. Where had he come from? She couldn’t think straight while he was so close, with his hand spreading fire along her skin, sending heated ripples of sensation to spread through her hips and along the length of her spine. ‘What … what are you doing here? Where did you come from?’
‘I was on my way home from the hospital and I decided to stop and pick up something to snack on from the village shop. Then I saw you standing here.’
‘Oh, I see.’ She frowned. ‘I thought this was your weekend off.’
He removed his hand and stepped closer to the rail, turning so that he could look at her properly. That ought to have made things easier for her, but instead her mind went blank for a moment or two as she unexpectedly felt the loss of his warm, intimate touch. Perversely, she wanted him to go on holding her.
‘Yes, it is, but one of the junior doctors was anxious about a patient and phoned me to ask what he should do. Apparently the consultant in charge was busy dealing with another emergency.’
‘Were you all right with that?’ She’d watched him work hard all week, putting in long hours, staying on to make sure his patients pulled through and were definitely stabilised or on the road to recovery before he would leave. He seemed reluctant to hand over responsibility until he had done everything humanly possible to make sure they were safe. It must have taken a toll on him, but it didn’t show. Despite all that supreme effort, he still managed to look fit and energetic, on top form.
Weekends were precious for everyone, but some senior medical staff guarded them as sacrosanct, a time to recuperate and recharge their batteries, something they’d earned after years of study and acquiring specialist qualifications. From what she’d heard, one or two consultants took a very dim view of things if juniors called them in to work out of hours. Of course, things tended to operate differently in the emergency department.
‘I was fine with it,’ James said. ‘I’d sooner I was there to see a patient if there are any worries about his or her condition. Junior doctors do their best, but they need support, and I try to give it as much as possible. Sometimes you can do it over the phone, but other times there’s nothing for it but to go in.’
‘Yes, of course.’ She had finished her foundation years, but she wasn’t much more than a junior doctor herself—James was far more experienced than she was. He’d started his training while she’d been about to begin her worrisome teens, and he’d always put his heart and soul into medicine. ‘What was the problem with the patient?’ She might be in the same boat herself one day, in a quandary as to whether she should call him out, and it would be helpful to know what kind of things she ought to bring to his attention.
‘A woman collapsed while she was being treated for an abdominal injury. The doctor followed all the protocols but she wasn’t responding, so in the end he called me to ask for advice. The senior staff were all too busy with other emergencies. There was obviously something more going on than the problems with her injury, but her medical records weren’t available. Her liver was damaged, nothing too major—at least, not enough to cause her total collapse. I’ve ordered a batch of tests, so we’ll know better what’s going on as soon as they come back from the lab. She’s being given supportive treatment in the meantime.’
His glance wandered over her, taking in the pale-coloured cotton top that faithfully followed her curves, and the gently flowing skirt that skimmed her hips, drifting and settling around her calves as she moved. His grey eyes seemed to glimmer as he studied her, though of course it might simply have been a trick of the light. ‘You’re looking very summery … just right for this warm sunshine,’ he said.
A wave of heat surged through her. She hadn’t expected him to comment or even notice how she looked, but perhaps it was the contrast between how she looked now and the way she dressed at work that had sparked his interest. One day a week when she went out with the air ambulance, when she wore a flight suit, and the rest of the time at work she dressed in scrubs, the basic A and E outfit.
She gave a wry smile. ‘It beats wearing scrubs, anyway, or even jeans. Just lately, when I’m at home I’ve been trying to get on with some decorating any chance I get, so it makes a change to be out of jeans for a while.’
‘Ah … of course, you only moved back here a couple of weeks ago, didn’t you? I imagine there’s a lot to do, settling into a new place.’
‘Yes, you’re right there. My back certainly knows all about it.’ She laughed, rubbing a hand over muscles that had only recently made themselves known to her.
‘Perhaps it’s just as well you’re having the afternoon off, then. Are you taking some time off from the decorating to explore the village? I expect you want to get to know the place all over again.’ He leaned back against the rail, at ease, his long body thoroughly relaxed as he watched her.
‘Yes, I thought I’d wander around for a while. Though, like you, I need to get some supplies from the store. I did a big shop when we arrived but now I’m running out of a few things.’
She glanced at him. He was smartly dressed, in dark, clean-cut trousers and a deep blue shirt, the kind of thing he usually wore for work in the emergency unit when he wasn’t in scrubs. Perhaps he’d left his jacket in his car, along with his tie. His shirt was open at the neck, exposing an area of smooth, suntanned throat. She looked away. ‘Did you park up somewhere around here?’ she asked.
He nodded. ‘By the quayside. I don’t live too far away from here, but it’s more than a short walk and it’s uphill all the way.’ He pointed to the steps that were built into the hillside, with a protective rail to help along the way.
Sarah glanced at the steep, green slopes, covered with a rich array of grasses and shrubs. At intervals there were houses dotted about, overlooking the sea. ‘Do you live in one of those?’ she asked.
‘No. You can’t see my house from here. It’s further back, about a mile inland. I walk to the village sometimes to stretch my legs and take in the scenery.’
‘It must be a big change for you after all those years of living on your parents’ country estate.’
‘Yes, it is. But I like having my own space.’ He looked out to sea for a while, and they both watched a sailing vessel move across the horizon. ‘I wondered if you’d ever come back to Cornwall,’ he said. ‘You were in Devon for several years, weren’t you? Did you stay with your father there? He’d remarried before you left here, hadn’t he?’
‘Yes, he had … and Sam was already a year old by then. I did stay with my father in Devon for a short time.’ She moved restlessly, uncomfortable with memories that crowded her brain, and he followed as she began to walk along the cliff path.
‘But then …?’
‘I began to wonder if I might be in the way. What newly married couple wants a teenager around?’ She pulled a face. ‘Anyway, it wasn’t long before I went away to medical school, and I was glad to be independent. And it was easier to rent my own place, once I found friends to share with me.’
‘How did your father feel about that? After all, you and he had quite a few years here in Cornwall when it was just the two of you together.’
She shrugged awkwardly. ‘It was never all that comfortable for either of us once we were left on our own. He was withdrawn a lot of the time, and he preferred to be by himself. He’d have cut himself off from everyone and everything if it had been possible, but instead he had to go out to work to keep a roof over our heads. Then he met Tracy and everything changed.’
He frowned, looking at her with an intent expression. ‘That must have been hard on you after all that time of being out in the cold, so to speak.’
She pressed her lips together