by Lucy Clark
Wrapped in the big, fluffy towel she’d given him, Sebastian walked out. Danny knew she was openly gaping at him but she didn’t seem to have any control over her body.
He stopped dead when he saw the two of them standing there, looking at him. It was then Danny remembered about Bob and she quickly shoved her jaw back into its rightful position and turned to the cop.
Placing her arm around his shoulders, she tried to quickly usher him out. ‘Thanks a lot, Bob. I’m sure Mac will appreciate having his own clothes to change into but right now I think we should give the guy a bit of privacy.’ With that, she opened the screen door and all but pushed Bob through onto the verandah.
‘So you’re not going to tell me what happened.’ Bob feigned sadness and shook his head.
‘We’ve got nits, Bob.’
‘Yeah, but that’s not all. It’s not what Beth said.’
‘I don’t care what Beth said.’
‘It appears that you do.’
‘No, I don’t, Bob. Right now I’m tired, hungry and I have nits in my hair. How do you think I’d be feeling?’
‘All right. All right. Don’t get ya knickers in a knot.’
She looked at her friend and sighed apologetically. ‘Sorry, Bob.’
‘Nah, don’t mention it. I’d best get back to the pub. Maisy’s waitin’ for me.’
‘Now, there’s a piece of town gossip just waiting to happen,’ she said with a smile. Bob smiled back and raised his eyebrows suggestively before heading off down the street.
When she went back inside, it was to find Sebastian pulling a clean T-shirt over his head and a pair of shorts on his legs. ‘Everything under control?’
She stopped and looked at him for a second before nodding her head and walking off to the bathroom. She needed to have a shower and clear her head—both literally and figuratively.
‘We need to talk,’ he called. His answer was a closed bathroom door. He prowled around her house, feeling uncomfortable. He kept the wet towel about his shoulders so he was ready for the combing session. Were the grubby little parasites dead? He scratched his head again, wondering whether he should wash with the awful-smelling shampoo once more.
When Dannyella came out of the bathroom, she too was wrapped in a towel. He caught sight of her hurrying across the hallway to her bedroom and her bare legs were enough to cause his body to instantly stir with desire. He shook his head, trying to recall if any other woman had caused his hormones to react like those of a teenager. The answer was no. Only Dannyella affected him this way, which was something of a problem. He turned away and stared out the back window, determined to concentrate on the view.
The scenery before him was sweeping orangy-red dirt, with specs of green from trees scattered in a completely random pattern. The land and sky met on the horizon in a blurred line, the stars just starting to twinkle their bright lights. He felt peaceful and relaxed out here—more so than where he lived with the rolling green hills.
And the people. Back home they were everywhere and he was beginning to realise he’d had enough of people. He’d had enough of being a country doctor but didn’t have a clue what else to do. He loved medicine…he just couldn’t remember what it felt like, which was why he’d decided to do his Ph.D. in the first place. At least the research side of things was different. He didn’t have to rely on anyone but himself and his deadline to have it done and the feeling had been refreshing.
Yet out here, although there were still people, they weren’t right in your face. He couldn’t sneeze back in his village without everyone knowing about it. If he’d kissed Dannyella back there instead of here, he would have been hounded by the local paper and probably the television station as well. He knew he was considered one of the most eligible bachelors in the Lake District and a local paper had even done an article on such a theme.
Then there was his mother. How he wished she’d just leave him alone. Sebastian walked out onto Dannyella’s back verandah and shook his head. His mother had been parading debutantes in front of him ever since he’d graduated from med school. She’d insisted a doctor needed a wife and although he’d held her at bay for quite a few years, she now had a bee in her bonnet about continuing the family line.
‘It is your prime responsibility, Sebastian. You are the heir to this family and it is important that you, in turn, marry a woman of good breeding and produce an heir of your own.’
He shuddered just thinking about his mother and massaged his temples with his fingers. How would she react to Dannyella? A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He knew the answer. His mother would hit the roof.
Was that why he was attracted to Dannyella? Because his mother wouldn’t approve?
‘Whatcha thinking?’ She came out onto the verandah.
He turned and watched her as she walked over to his side. She was wearing a pair of bright red shorts and a white top, the towel slung over her shoulders. No, he decided. He wasn’t attracted to her merely because she was the type of woman his mother wouldn’t approve of. He was attracted to her because she was beautiful and intelligent…and had legs he would covet until the end of time.
He frowned, realising she was waiting for an answer. ‘Pardon?’
‘You were looking so…pensive. Lost in thought.’
He looked back at the night sky. ‘It’s marvellous here.’ He slapped away a mozzie as he spoke and she realised he was now doing it quite unconsciously.
‘So you’ve said. Ready to get the combing under way?’
‘Of course.’
‘Good.’ She pointed inside where she’d set up a stool and a bright lamp for them to work by.
‘Let’s get started, then,’ he said, and motioned for her to sit down. ‘Ladies first.’
Danny shrugged her shoulders and sat. Sebastian walked around behind her and picked up the comb. The warmth radiating from him seemed to envelop her. Where he’d previously smelled sensually sweaty, he now stank from the medicated shampoo which smelt just like gherkins. The only upside to that was that she did as well.
His fingers brushed the nape of her neck as he gathered her hair, and she jumped at the touch.
‘Sorry.’
He was silent for a moment before saying, ‘I’ll try to be a little more careful.’
‘You didn’t hurt me, Mac. It was just your…touch against my—’
‘I know,’ he interrupted. ‘I’ll try to be a little more careful. I know a simple touch from me can send you off into a hyper-vortex of quivering emotions.’
‘Oh, the ego.’ She laughed. ‘Save me from the ego!’
‘Keep still,’ he chided as he began to comb. They kept up a steady stream of banter, light-hearted and mostly non-personal as Sebastian followed her directions and applied conditioner to her hair.
‘It makes it easier to comb the dead eggs out,’ she added before he started combing.
‘I find it interesting that you have some glorious country areas in Australia which young GPs simply couldn’t care less about. We have to struggle, back in England, to get young doctors out to rural areas, but nothing as bad as here.’
‘I guess because our country is bigger than yours. That might have something to do with it. I mean, just take a look around. What would a young GP just starting out hope to find out here?’
‘A lot of dirt?’
She laughed. ‘Exactly. Most of them need to socialise in an atmosphere acceptable to their upbringing and, let’s face it, you don’t find many kids leaving areas such as this and returning.’
‘You did.’
‘Yeah, but I’m unique. Most teenagers can’t wait to get away from the isolation of a small rural or outback town.’
‘We have that problem, too.’
‘What prompted you to do your Ph.D.? And why this topic?’
‘Well, the topic is easy. It affected me directly. As a country GP, I found numerous hardships which city doctors don’t face at all. Coming out to Australia has been an added bonus. You’re r
ight about the size of your country, though, especially if the doctor came from one of the big cities. They’d have to travel just to see family and vice versa. That would feel quite restrictive.’
‘Or they come out here to run away from something or, heaven forbid, they have romantic notions about how glorious outback life is.’
‘Isn’t it romantic and glorious?’
Danny answered carefully. ‘It depends on your point of view and your reason for being out here in the first place.’
‘What are your reasons?’
‘This is my home.’
‘You don’t want to experience life somewhere else?’
‘Why? I have everything I need right here.’
‘So where these young city GPs say they don’t want to come here, it’s just the same as you saying you don’t want to go there.’
‘I guess, but the point is, there’s a congestion of city doctors and an overwhelming need for more rural ones.’
‘Interesting.’
‘What happens once you’ve finished your Ph.D.? Move to London and marry a hand-picked debutante?’
He groaned. ‘Definitely not.’
Danny felt herself relax a little.
‘No,’ he said thoughtfully after a short pause. ‘I might do more academic work.’
‘Lecturing?’
‘Yes. I like the idea of getting a programme up and running where doctors in training can have more experience in rural areas.’
‘But don’t they already do a portion of their training in rural areas?’
‘They have the option but a lot choose not to. The ones who go out there have it down as their first choice, which, as you’ve said, is rather rare. Then there are those who have missed out on their other preferences and are stuck with it.’
‘So their attitude is not always the best.’
‘Exactly.’
‘What about yours?’
‘My what?’
‘Your attitude. It seems to me you’ve been feeling rather…dissatisfied with being a rural GP.’
‘Perhaps it’s a midlife crisis,’ he replied lightly.
Sebastian’s answer told her she’d probed enough for one night and she smiled. ‘I’d hardly call thirty-three “midlife”.’
‘How did you know my age?’
‘Your résumé.’
‘Ah. Of course.’ He pulled the comb through her hair one last time. ‘I’m finished,’ he said. ‘I think I’ve managed to get all of them out.’
‘Thanks. Yours won’t take nearly as long as mine.’ They swapped and Danny started applying the conditioner to his head.
‘Thank goodness.’ He smothered a yawn.
‘Keeping you up, Mac?’
‘Something like that.’ He could feel the atmosphere between them thickening as she slowly began to massage the conditioner into his hair. He closed his eyes, trying hard not to concentrate on the closeness of her body. He had to control his thoughts because, regardless how Dannyella made him feel, the situation needed to be brought back on a more even keel.
‘I said before, we need to talk.’ He opened his eyes and stared straight ahead.
‘Hmm. I’m listening.’
‘We need to tone things down, Dannyella.’
She stopped rubbing in the conditioner and when he didn’t feel the comb go onto his head, he turned to see what she was doing. She quickly turned his face back around and started to comb.
‘In what way?’ She hoped any and all of the emotion were out of her tone, displaying an easy nonchalance at what he was saying.
‘You know what I’m talking about. I’m attracted to you and I don’t think it’s a good idea if we take it any further than the couple of kisses we’ve already shared.’
‘What if I told you it was too late?’ she retorted, wanting to shock him out of his British sensibilities. She didn’t want to analyse what they’d shared. It was too personal. Too special. She needed the untainted memories preserved in mint condition—not analysed to death. She continued to pull the comb through his hair.
‘Pardon?’
Good. She’d shocked him. ‘What if I told you—?’
‘Yes, yes. I heard you,’ he said quickly.
He was quiet—thinking.
She was quiet—combing.
‘Is it? Uh…too late, I mean. You haven’t gone and…well, you know…fallen in…’ He cut himself off and slowly closed his eyes again. He was being rather inarticulate, which wasn’t like him at all. That’s what he got, he thought, when he stepped outside his comfort zone. Right now, he would give anything to be safely back inside it, completely sure of what was going to happen next in his life. Instead, he was left to wonder whether Dannyella was in love with him or whether she was taking the mickey—again!
He decided on the latter and thought he’d teach her a lesson. ‘So. You’ve fallen in love with me? Is that what you’re saying?’ He reached for her hands, stilling them in his hair and swivelled to look at her. The way her eyebrows hit her hairline in surprise made him feel more confident that she’d been teasing him again.
When she appeared unable to answer, he continued. ‘That’s all right. I don’t mind if you’ve fallen in love with me. In fact, I think it’s quite beneficial actually. My mother has been on at me for quite some time to settle down so why don’t you come back to England with me so she can give you her stamp of approval?’
His words astounded her. ‘Do you need your mother’s approval?’ Teasing or not, it was a question she needed to ask. From what he’d said about his mother so far, she was intrigued that he felt the need to win her approval.
‘It would make my life easier in the long run. After all, she intends to have a large say in the upbringing of my children—or her grandchildren as she constantly refers to them.’
‘So you’re supposed to produce more than one, hey?’ She turned his head back around and started combing again. His piercing blue eyes were playing havoc with her equilibrium and she’d rather not look at them right now.
‘Only if the first child isn’t a boy. Well, at least, that’s how it’s been for the past few generations.’
‘And do you want to get married and have a child or children?’ They were getting mighty personal here, yet it seemed vital that she find out the answers to these questions.
‘I have no strenuous objections but it isn’t a high priority on my list.’ He paused for a moment before continuing in a determined tone. ‘I do know that when I marry, it will be for ever. I want to spend time with my wife and family. Not the way my parents were. They hardly saw each other, hardly saw me and we lived our separate lives. It’s no way to live.’
‘I see.’
‘What about you?’
‘Me? Well, I’m not sure.’
‘About which? Marriage or children?’
‘I don’t want children without marriage. That may sound old-fashioned to you but I was raised in a one-parent family. Oh, sure, I had Maisy and the rest of the town as standins and my dad did a great job, even if I do say so myself…’ She laughed a little. ‘But it’s not the same.’
‘Where’s your mother?’
‘I don’t know and I have no desire to find out. She left me.’ Danny shrugged. ‘It’s her problem, not mine. It affected my dad in a way I don’t think I’ll ever be able to comprehend, and even now he’ll sit staring into space, a beer in his hand, and I can see him trying to figure out what went wrong. Even though they were married, Mum still walked out but it hasn’t put me off the institution. Looking at Ted and Ruth proves that things can work out, even though they came from two very different backgrounds.’
‘Interesting. So you wouldn’t leave here?’
‘No way. Even if I wanted to, I can’t. I’m the only doctor for this community. There aren’t any new city GPs willing to come out here to live, as we’ve already discussed. They’ll go to rural areas if it will help their bigger plans to climb the medical ladder, but out here? It’s Buckley’s and no hope.’
‘I take it that means no chance whatsoever.’
‘You got it, mate.’ She ran the comb through his hair once more.
‘But what about holidays? You deserve a break, Dannyella. The people here can’t expect you to be on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for the entire year.’
‘Why not? Besides, I don’t have anywhere I want to go.’ She thought for a moment. ‘Well, not really. Not urgently.’
‘So you’ve never been on holiday?’
‘Of course I’ve been on holiday. Last year, I went on a two-week walkabout. Wished it was longer, though.’
‘See. There you go. You had a break and that’s what I’m talking about. The people did without you for those two weeks.’
‘Well, if you call delivering three babies, dragging a tourist from a wrecked car and patching them up, as well as diagnosing a case of chickenpox which spread throughout two of the stations I happened to pass, doing without me, then, yeah, I guess you could be right.’
She’d stopped combing and he turned to look at her. ‘Do you go looking for patients?’
‘No.’ She smiled at him. ‘But somehow they find me and it’s always just in the nick of time. You know, “Lucky you were just passing by, Doc,” that type of thing.’ She shrugged. Sebastian stood and the smile slowly slid from her face. While he’d been sitting down, she hadn’t realised how close they’d been. Now he was standing, the space between them was enough only for the stool he’d vacated.
The atmosphere turned from one of relaxed comraderie to one of charged awareness. Sebastian shook his head. ‘This is what I was talking about, Dannyella.’ His voice was soft and intimate and he raised a hand to caress her cheek. ‘I don’t seem to be able to get within half a mile of you and all I can think about is pressing my lips to yours once more.’
Her breathing increased and her lips parted at his words. She swallowed, knowing she needed to keep her wits about her. ‘I know. I feel the same.’
He shook his head again and dropped his hand. ‘It won’t work. We’re too different and we live on opposite sides of the globe.’