by Sarah Morgan
The gleam in Sam’s eye intensified. ‘I didn’t like him.’
‘Well, I liked him a lot.’
For some reason that seemed to anger him even more. ‘Your judgement is faulty.’
‘OK, I’ve just about had enough of this!’ She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’
He glared back. ‘Nothing’s wrong with me.’
‘That’s rubbish.’ Temper blurred her vision. ‘Whatever I do, you yell at me! You’re crabby and irritable and generally bad-tempered.’
He scowled at her. ‘I am not bad-tempered.’
‘I haven’t heard you laugh for days and we clash on everything.’
‘So what’s new about that? We’ve always clashed on everything.’
‘Not since—’ She broke off and swept her hair away from her face, her colour high. Their physical relationship was something that they just didn’t talk about.
‘Since we made the stupid mistake of sleeping together? Well, you were right about that.’ He gave a crooked smile. ‘It changed everything.’
Her heart skipped a beat. ‘So is that why you don’t come near me any more? Because it was such a stupid mistake?’
To her utter mortification she burst into tears and Sam cursed fluently.
‘OK, stop that, Riggs. Don’t cry.’ He lifted his hands and for a moment she thought he was going to touch her for the first time in days. Then his hands dropped to his sides again and a muscle worked in his jaw. ‘I can’t stand it when you cry. That’s a low trick. It’s a girly trick and you don’t do girly stuff.’
She didn’t need reminding of that.
If she did more ‘girly stuff’ then he probably wouldn’t be leaving.
Anger and frustration burst free inside her. ‘I’m crying because I hate you. I hate you, McKenna.’ She sniffed loudly and scrubbed the tears away with the back of her hand. ‘I really hate you for making me feel this way.’
His hands were still by his sides but she noticed that his fists were clenched. ‘What way?’
‘Angry.’ She blew her nose hard. ‘And—and—as if I could strangle you with my bare hands. And sad.’ Her eyes filled again. ‘You make me sad.’
He was looking at her in horror. ‘Sad?’
‘Yes, sad. Because what we had was good and it couldn’t last.’ She blinked and sniffed again. ‘Oh, damn. This is all so stupid. It’s fine. I’m fine. The sooner you go, the better. At least I get to run this practice in peace, without your input. Your ideas never work anyway, McKenna. You’re always wrong.’
‘I’m never wrong.’ He frowned and raked long fingers through his hair. ‘And my ideas always work. Which one didn’t work? Name one that didn’t work.’
She dropped the tissue in the bin and swallowed, back in control. She could do this. She could watch him walk away and she could carry on her life without him. ‘Well, the teenage clinic, for one. We’ve got the entire village youth congregating here every Friday. It’s a nightmare.’
He folded his arms across his chest and looked smug. ‘So, in other words, I was right and you were wrong. I said people would come.’
‘You were not right. Half of them don’t even bother talking to the doctor or the practice nurse. We’re not supposed to be running a youth club.’
‘But they have the chance to talk to someone if they want to. And don’t underestimate the power of peer pressure. If a few of them are talking to the doctor, the others will. Admit it. I was right.’
‘They’ll stop coming as soon as winter sets in.’
‘They won’t stop coming.’
She glared at him again. ‘Well, you don’t care anyway. You won’t be here to see it. You’ll be back in your fancy television studio, advising people on ingrowing toenails.’ Except that wasn’t what he did. She knew that now. ‘I’m going to ring that guy, that Dr Hampton, and offer him the job.’
‘I’ll do it.’ He held out his hand and took the details from her. ‘That way I can co-ordinate dates with him.’
She felt the tears start again and bit them back. ‘Fine. Just as long as someone is here to do the work.’
‘Fine. I’ll arrange it.’
Sam stared at the details of the doctor.
Anna liked him.
The thought made him want to smash his fist into something.
And he was about to offer him the job. Once he picked up that phone, this guy would become a GP in a village practice. He would surf in the evenings and at the weekends, he’d eat Hilda’s beautiful seafood dishes and lemon tart and he’d join the lifeboat crew for drinks on the quay. He’d walk the cliffs, run on the sand and sail yachts. But most of all he’d work alongside Anna. They’d make decisions together, develop the practice together, plan for their patients.
Would they sleep together?
Sam’s fingers tightened on the pen he was holding and he reached for the phone.
He’d better get it over with.
‘There’s a trailer for Sam’s new series this afternoon. I’ve set the TV and video in the coffee-room,’ Glenda said happily as Anna handed her a pile of forms. ‘He and Polly have been thick as thieves all day.’
Anna gritted her teeth.
She shouldn’t mind. It shouldn’t matter to her. She and Sam were over.
‘Have you heard anything from Dr Hampton?’ She was surprised that he hadn’t been in touch with her. It was all very well for Sam to have confirmed all the details, but surely the man would still want to contact her?
‘A letter came this morning.’ Glenda handed it over, oddly hesitant.
Anna scanned it, blinked, scanned it again and then her temper exploded. ‘Where is he?’
Glenda flinched. ‘If you mean Dr McKenna, he’s just parked his car and he’s walking through the doors as we speak. But, Anna—’
Anna whirled round, lights flashing in her brain as she came face to face with him. ‘Of all the miserable, vile, small-minded b—’
‘We’ve got an audience, Riggs,’ Sam interrupted her, an answering flash of anger in his blue eyes as he faced her head on. ‘You might want to hold onto that temper of yours.’
‘I don’t care who hears this.’ She tossed her hair back, her gaze furious as she waved the letter under his nose. ‘You were supposed to offer him the job, McKenna. You were supposed to tell him that he was the one.’
‘He wasn’t the one.’ Sam tried to step past her, a muscle flickering in his jaw. ‘I didn’t think he was the right person for the job.’
‘Well, I did!’
He turned on her. ‘I’m well aware of that.’ He growled the words like a man goaded to the extremes of his tolerance. ‘You made it perfectly clear how much you liked him.’
‘And what’s wrong with that?’ She spread her hands in a gesture of disbelief. ‘I was going to work with the guy. I was supposed to like him. Or is that what this is all about?’ Her hands fell to her sides and she glared at him. ‘Is it jealousy, McKenna? Is that’s what’s wrong?’
They were both breathing rapidly, eyes locked in combat, totally indifferent to their growing audience.
Polly cleared her throat. ‘Sam, your new trailer is on air in about two minutes. Why don’t we all watch it?’
Sam sucked in a breath, his eyes still on Anna’s. ‘Fine. Let’s watch it.’
Anna had to stop herself from screaming. She didn’t want to watch his trailer. She didn’t want to see what his plans for the future were because she knew they didn’t involve her and that knowledge made her want to cry like a baby.
She stuck her chin in the air. ‘Fine. Let’s watch the trailer.’
She stalked into the staffroom where Glenda was already glued to the screen. ‘Here we go…’
‘This autumn, Medical Matters moves from London to the seaside, following the trials and tribulations of life in a busy harbour practice…’
The narrator’s voice droned on and then there was Sam, standing on the beach, his dark hair blowing
in the wind as he talked.
When he’d finished, Glenda pressed the ‘pause’ button and stared at Anna.
Anna stood in silence.
She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again.
Sam’s eyes were fixed on her face. ‘Say something.’
She swallowed. ‘You’re going to make the programme here?’
Polly grinned. ‘It was that or he was going to resign, and I’m not about to lose my best medical presenter.’
Anna stared at him. ‘You were going to resign?’ She stared at the TV. ‘It said this autumn.’
‘The trailer is for you, Riggs,’ Sam said roughly. ‘We made it just for you. The real series and trailer won’t be shown until next summer.’
Her expression was blank. ‘Sorry?’
He glared at her in exasperation. ‘It’s a message from me to you,’ he shouted, ‘but you’re so damn stupid you can’t even see it!’
‘If you stopped yelling, maybe I’d be able to concentrate,’ Anna yelled, lifting a hand to her chest. Suddenly it was difficult to breathe. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘I didn’t give the guy the job because I decided that I wanted it myself!’ Sam paced the room, his hands thrust in his pockets, his eyes stormy. ‘I decided that everything he was gaining I was losing, and I discovered that I didn’t want to lose it.’ He stopped pacing and looked at her. ‘I discovered that I wanted it for myself.’
Anna went still. ‘What did you want for yourself?’
‘The practice.’ He ran a hand over the back of his neck and swore softly. ‘And you. I wanted you. Which makes me an idiot, I know, because you’ve made it perfectly obvious that you don’t want me.’
He wanted her?
Anna struggled to speak. ‘Hold on.’ Her voice was scratchy. ‘When did I make it perfectly obvious that I didn’t want you? When?’
He shrugged. ‘When you started advertising for new partners.’
‘I was forced to look for another partner because you were leaving, McKenna!’
‘I never said I was leaving.’
‘Well, you never said you might stay.’ She lifted a shaking hand to her hair and scooped it back. ‘And—and you stopped sleeping with me.’
‘Because you’d clearly planned your life without me.’
‘Because that was how you wanted it!’
They were both shouting, emotions running high, oblivious to the fact that they had an audience. A highly entertained audience. Polly glanced at Glenda.
‘Time for us to leave, I think,’ she muttered, and Glenda grinned.
‘Can we listen at the door?’
They slipped out of the room, unnoticed.
‘Why would I have wanted it?’ He paced the floor again. ‘What we had was amazing. I’ve never had that with anyone before.’
Her heart jammed in her throat. ‘I’m not your sort of woman.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘You don’t want me. I’m not girly and I can’t cook.’
‘I don’t give a damn whether you can cook.’ He frowned, confused. ‘I can cook perfectly well myself and if I can’t be bothered then Hilda’s always standing in the wings. I don’t see what your lack of skills in the kitchen has got to do with our relationship.’
‘You want a traditional woman. I’m not who you want.’
‘Damn it, Riggs! Haven’t you heard a single word I’ve said?’ He strode towards her and grabbed her by the arms, shaking her slightly. ‘You are exactly who I want. I love you. I want to be with you. I know you don’t love me back, but I can still be a decent partner in the practice.’
‘You love me?’
His hands dropped. ‘That’s what I said.’
‘Why didn’t you say that you loved me before now?’
‘Because I’m not some sort of masochist, and you made it perfectly clear that my feelings aren’t returned. That I’m not your type—or in your plans.’
Anna shook her head, feeling slightly dizzy. ‘They are returned. I love you, too.’
‘You stride around here making plans for my replacement while I’m still in your bed, and you—’ He broke off and stared at her. ‘What did you say? That last thing—what did you say?’
‘I said I love you.’ She tried hard to breathe normally. ‘And if I talked about your replacement, it was only because you never once mentioned the fact that you were tempted to stay on.’
He was still staring. ‘I don’t think we’ve been communicating very well.’
‘Possibly not.’
‘We’re probably going to have to work on that.’
‘Probably.’
He slid a hand into his pocket. ‘This partnership. Are you willing to make it permanent?’
She stared at the box in his hand. ‘Is that what I think it is?’
‘Yes.’ He opened the box and lifted the ring out.
She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. ‘It’s stunning.’
He took her hand. ‘Will you marry me?’
She blinked back tears as he slid the ring onto her finger. ‘If you’re willing to risk the fact that I might poison you in the kitchen.’
‘You won’t be allowed in the kitchen.’ His voice was hoarse as he hauled her against him and bent his head to hers. ‘There are other rooms in the house that are going to take priority.’
Some considerable time later Anna pulled away, her heart thumping. ‘You do realise that your parents are going to be horribly smug about all this,’ she muttered against his mouth. ‘They’ll think it’s because of them.’
‘I never do anything my parents want,’ Sam reminded her, his eyes still half shut as he studied her face. ‘If we’re together, it’s in spite of them.’
‘Your mum will be knitting like mad.’
He brushed his mouth against hers. ‘Good. Given the number of pregnancies that happen in this village, I’d say that was sensible planning.’
She giggled and kissed him back. ‘I love you. Even if you are sometimes wrong about things.’
‘I love you, too.’ The corner of his mouth lifted and his eyes gleamed. ‘And I’m never wrong about anything.’
‘You drive me nuts, McKenna.’
‘Always have done, always will do.’ And he lowered his mouth to hers.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7878-7
THE CELEBRITY DOCTOR’S PROPOSAL
First North American Publication 2005
Copyright © 2005 by Sarah Morgan
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