A few minutes later, Katie said goodbye to the boy and his mother and made her way to the door. Nick excused himself and went with her, leaving the two of them to talk about Matt’s hospital stay.
‘Would you let me know how he goes on?’ she asked, and he nodded.
‘Of course.’ He smiled. ‘I knew I could rely on you to pinpoint the essentials,’ he said as they went out into the corridor. ‘You may not have been here long, but your reputation for being an excellent doctor is already hailed throughout Paediatrics and Emergency.’
‘Is it?’ Katie was startled. ‘I’m pleased about that, of course, but I’m just doing my job, the same as everyone else.’ She sent him a fleeting glance. ‘Anyway, you do pretty well yourself. I thought you were brilliant with my father the other day. He hates fuss and feeling as though he’s putting people out, but you handled him perfectly and you had him feeling better in very quick time. I was impressed.’
He smiled. ‘We aim to please.’ Then his expression sobered and he asked, ‘How is Jack? Is he coping all right with his new medication?’
She nodded. ‘On the whole, it’s been working well, but I think he had a bit of a setback earlier today. He wasn’t feeling too good first thing, apparently.’
Katie recalled the phone conversation she’d had with her father that morning. She’d sensed he’d been holding something back, but, then, he probably kept a good deal of his thoughts hidden from her. He wouldn’t want her to know the full extent of his disability, and that saddened her. He was her father, and yet there was so much that they kept hidden from one another. How could she confide her uncertainties, and how could he share his problems with her, if no bond had built up between them over the years?
‘He didn’t sound quite right, and I could hear the breath rasping in his lungs, but he wouldn’t admit to anything more than being a bit under the weather.’ She frowned. ‘I know he’s using his oxygen every night, and sometimes in the daytime, too, and he seems more frail every time I see him. Of course, he never tells me any of his problems. He hates being vulnerable, and it’s difficult for me to reach through to him sometimes.’
‘Yes, I wondered about that.’ Nick sent her an oblique glance. ‘Are you and he getting on all right? I know it must be difficult for you. At the hospital the other day it was fairly obvious you and he still had a lot of issues to resolve.’
She wondered how much of their conversation he had overheard. ‘That’s true enough.’ She frowned. ‘To be honest, I don’t know how I feel. I’ve made a real effort to break down the barriers between us lately, and I think it’s beginning to pay off. I’ve definitely grown closer to him over these last few weeks.’ Even so, doubt clouded her eyes.
‘Learning to forgive must be the hardest thing of all.’ Nick’s gaze trailed over her features, lingering on the vulnerable curve of her mouth. ‘You’ve had to come to terms with two betrayals, haven’t you. your ex’s and your father’s? That’s why you have so much trouble contemplating any new relationship.’
‘I suppose so.’ She pressed her teeth into the fullness of her lower lip. ‘I hope I’m succeeding with both of those. At least with James I’m beginning to see that there were already cracks in our relationship. Maybe I was too ambitious, path... whereas James was more easygoing, taking life as it came. I’m wondering if he simply wasn’t the type to settle down. He had a child, but he didn’t have much contact with him.’
‘Much like your father.’ Nick’s expression was sombre. ‘No wonder your ex’s weakness hit you so hard. Your father had done exactly the same thing... followed his own path and then abandoned you.’
‘Yes.’ She was silent for a moment, mulling things over. Could any man be trusted? Could Nick? Not according to her father.
She frowned. ‘Where my father’s concerned, I still don’t really understand what goes on in his head. He treats me as though he’s very fond of me and has my welfare at heart…but after all those years of little or no contact it takes a bit of getting used to, to believe that he cares.’ And yet only yesterday he had told her how proud he was of her, how much it pleased him that his daughter was a doctor, working to save lives. ‘I needed to tell you that before I pass on,’ he’d said, and she’d put her arms around him and given him a hug.
‘Oh, Dad, please don’t say that,’ she’d implored him, her throat suddenly choked up. ‘Please don’t talk about passing on. I’m only just getting to know you.’
He’d smiled. ‘What’ll be will be.’
Nick’s brooding gaze rested on her, as though he sensed something of her troubled thoughts. ‘I’m sure he cares very deeply for you… but unhappily something went wrong and he didn’t feel able to be there for you. Perhaps distance was a problem—living out here in California meant you were so far apart that visits would be infrequent, and he might have thought it would be less painful for you if he didn’t visit at all. You would be able to settle to life without him, rather than be hurt all over again every time he went away.’
‘Then again,’ she pointed out, ‘he could have chosen to stay in England. What was more important… his family or the job?’
He seemed to hesitate. ‘That’s something you must ask him yourself. I can’t answer that one for you. But knowing him, I’m sure he had his reasons.’
‘Did he? I’ve no idea what they were. All I know is that he condemned us—me and my mother—to a lonely life.’ Her expression was bleak. ‘Some people may like being an only child, but I wasn’t one of them. I always felt there should be something more.’
He was solemn for a moment, his lips parting as though he was about to say something, but apparently he thought better of it. He laid a hand lightly on her shoulder. ‘I’m sure it will all come right for you in the end, Katie. You’ve taken a huge step, coming out here, and you’re making great headway. Just give it a little more time.’
He glanced at his watch. ‘I’m off duty in a couple of hours. I’ll come and pick you up from the apartment and we’ll drive over to the vineyard. Perhaps that will cheer you up.’
She nodded. ‘Okay. I’ll be waiting.’ A day or so had passed since he’d made the suggestion, and already she was beginning to regret agreeing to it. What had happened to her plan to avoid him at all costs, to steer clear of getting involved with him in any way? Working with him was proving to be a hazard in itself. It seemed that he was there at every turn… and it was impossible for her to get him out of her head.
She was beginning to realise that there was so much more to him than she had at first imagined. He was caring and perceptive and even though that made her want to get to know him a whole lot better, she was desperately afraid of the consequences. Little by little, though, he was drawing her into his electric force field and she was powerless to resist.
The vineyard, when they arrived there some time later, was bathed in late-afternoon sunlight. Nick helped her out of the passenger seat of his gleaming silver saloon and waited as she stepped out onto the wide, sweeping drive. Katie looked around. She couldn’t explain it, even to herself, but just the simple fact that he was there beside her made the breath catch in her throat and in spite of herself filled her with a kind of delicious expectation. He was wearing casual clothes, a deep navy shirt, open at the neck, teamed with dark trousers, and just looking at him made her heart skip a beat.
‘Let me show you round the place,’ he said. ‘From a high point in the gardens you can see for miles around.’ He slipped an arm around her waist, his hand coming to rest on the curve of her hip in a gentle act of possession that brought