‘It sounds ideal,’ Lindsay replied. ‘Could solve a few problems.’
‘Why not wait and speak to Aidan first?’ Henry still looked unhappy as if these new arrangements weren’t what he’d originally intended at all. ‘But whatever happens, you’ll be here for the time being. When you’ve finished your tea I’ll take you up to your room.’
The bedroom which had been prepared for her was pretty in a chintzy sort of way but with an oriental theme with prints of Japanese geishas and pagodas. The window overlooked a corner of the garden with a glimpse of the mountains to one side. It was a pleasant room but Lindsay couldn’t help but wonder if the new arrangement might not prove to be better in the long term.
The one aspect of the whole venture which had bothered her slightly had been that she was to live with the Llewellyns as their house guest for the duration of her stay. Much as she liked them, she’d seen very little of them in the past and she feared that such conditions might not only put a strain on relationships but at the same time would infringe on her own privacy. Since moving out of her father’s house in Chelsea and into her Fulham flat, she’d enjoyed a measure of independence and freedom she wouldn’t have dreamed possible.
After she’d showered, changed and unpacked, she decided to go downstairs and see if she could help Henry prepare the meal. She had no sooner stepped onto the landing, however, than she met Henry coming out of another bedroom.
‘Ah, Lindsay,’ he said as he caught sight of her, ‘Megan’s awake now. She won’t, unfortunately, be joining us for dinner but she’d like to see you.’ He held the door open behind him. ‘Megan, darling—here’s Lindsay now.’
Lindsay wasn’t sure quite what she’d been expecting—all she knew was a sense of shock as she saw the woman lying on the bed. The last time she’d seen Megan Llewellyn, which admittedly had been several years ago, had left her the image she carried in her mind. She’d been a vivacious woman—attractive, with dark hair, large expressive eyes and boundless energy. The woman before her bore little resemblance to that image. The most apparent difference was the amount of weight she’d lost. Although never fat, or even plump, Megan had been what Lindsay’s father would have termed as well rounded. Now she appeared thin and gaunt, the dark hair greying and the eyes without their lustre. Only her smile was a semblance of what it had once been.
‘Lindsay. How lovely to see you again.’ She stretched up to receive the kiss Lindsay placed on her cheek. She smelt of some light floral scent as fragile as herself.
‘Megan. It’s good to see you as well. But I’m sorry to find you feeling so poorly.’
‘I wish I’d been able to greet you properly,’ Megan replied, and there was no mistaking the wistful sadness in her voice, as if not being able to greet Lindsay wasn’t the only thing she regretted not being able to do.
‘I’ll leave you girls to chat for a while,’ said Henry from the doorway. ‘I’ll go down and get on with the dinner. Will you try a little meat tonight, Megan?’
‘I don’t think so. I’ll just have the soup.’
‘Don’t you have much appetite?’ asked Lindsay, taking a seat beside the bed as, without another word, Henry left the room.
‘None at all.’ Megan shook her head and it was almost as if the effort of that was too much for her. Clearly exhausted, she lay back against her pillows. ‘It worries Henry sick, I know, but I can’t help it. I simply can’t eat.’
‘Henry tells me this goes back to a bout of flu you had.’
‘Yes. Did he tell you they suspect ME? I’d heard of ME but, I have to admit, I was sceptical about it. I know differently now.’ Megan sighed. ‘It’s the tiredness that gets me the most. The slightest effort and I’m absolutely exhausted. Most everyday activities are quite simply out of the question. But…’ she faltered slightly ‘…it’s Henry I feel sorry for. It’s put so much onto him…’
‘You mustn’t lose heart, Megan.’ Lindsay leaned forward and covered the older woman’s hand. ‘ME is becoming much more recognised now and I’m sure research will bring up something new very soon by way of treatment.’ She stood up and, looking down at Megan who’d closed her eyes, she said, ‘I’ve tired you. I’m going down now to see if I can give Henry a hand. I understand his partner is coming over for dinner. I’ll see you later, Megan.’
She doubted Megan even heard her, and as she stole from the room and quietly closed the door behind her her heart went out to the woman whose pale shadow was all that had been there on the bed.
As she hurried down the stairs Lindsay heard the sound of voices and imagined that Henry’s partner must have already arrived. But as she approached the kitchen all was silent within, and when she pushed the door open she found that Henry wasn’t there. Instead, a man stood with his back to her, looking out of the window to where Henry could be seen outside on the lawn with his dogs.
‘Hello,’ she said. ‘I thought I heard voices. You must be…’ But that was as far as she got for at the sound of her voice the man turned, and as she caught sight of his face the words died on her lips. Before her stood the farmer she’d first seen in the village shop and later at the scene of the accident. He looked different now—the checked shirt and jeans had been replaced by a roll-necked cotton shirt and olive green chinos—but there was no mistaking him. The dark, reddish-brown curly hair was the same, the bright blue eyes were the same and the unsmiling countenance was the same.
‘Oh,’ she said, recovering sufficiently to say, ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you again today.’
‘Really?’ Still no smile, just raised eyebrows.
‘Are you a friend of Henry Llewellyn?’
‘A friend?’ He paused. ‘Well, I suppose you could say that, yes. I would say we are friends. Don’t always see eye to eye, but friends? Yes.’
Lindsay frowned. If he was a friend of Henry’s why the hell hadn’t he spoken up in the village shop when she’d been asking the way to his house? She had no time to ponder further for at that moment the back door opened and Henry himself appeared, kicking off his muddy boots and thrusting his feet into a pair of old leather slippers.
‘Ah!’ he said, catching sight of Lindsay, ‘Good, I see you two have met. I gather introductions are unnecessary, then?’
‘Actually, I’ve only just come down,’ Lindsay replied.
‘Well, in that case…’ Henry looked from one to the other ‘…Aidan, I’d like you to meet Lindsay Henderson. Lindsay, my dear—this is my partner, Aidan Lennox.’
‘Y-your p-partner?’ stammered Lindsay. ‘But…but…I thought…’
She stared at him and from the expression in those penetrating blue eyes she knew immediately that he’d known who she was—had known all along. Desperately she attempted to pull herself together, forcing herself to take his outstretched hand.
‘Pleased to meet you at last,’ he said, and his voice held a slightly mocking note.
Damn him, she thought. Damn the man. Even if he hadn’t come to her rescue in the shop, he could have established the fact at the scene of the accident that he also was a doctor. As it was, he’d allowed her to make a fool of herself in front of him. She wanted to challenge him with it—indeed, opened her mouth to do so—but Henry spoke first.
‘I do hope you two are going to get along,’ he said, looking from one to the other again, ‘especially as you’re going to be working so closely.’
It was neither the time nor the place to challenge him. To have done so would have simply been discourteous to Henry, so instead she simply nodded and said, ‘Pleased to meet you, too, Dr Lennox.’ Inwardly, however, she promised herself that she would confront him with his surly behaviour when the time was right. But a little later, when they went through to the dining room and Henry poured drinks, it gradually dawned on her that if this man had simply been a friend of Henry’s it would have been easy to cope with as she would hardly have to see him, but as it was he was her trainer, and they would be in each other’s company a great deal. As the full implication
set in, her spirits sank even further.
Dinner was a difficult meal, and if Henry was oblivious to an undercurrent both Lindsay and Aidan Lennox were only too aware of it. Conversation centred for a time on Lindsay’s life in London, and she could feel Aidan’s air of disapproval of the apparent privileges of her lifestyle as if it were some tangible thing.
At the end of the meal Henry leaned back in his chair. ‘Lindsay was saying she thought it would be more practical if she was to live elsewhere during her year with us,’ he said. ‘I suggested the surgery flat—how do you feel about that, Aidan?’
‘Makes no difference to me.’ Aidan shrugged.
‘You found it quite adequate, didn’t you, whilst you were there?’ Henry persisted.
Aidan nodded. ‘Yes, but my tastes are very simple—I doubt the Tregadfan surgery flat measures up to a Chelsea town house.’
Lindsay felt the colour flood her face but, keeping perfectly calm, she replied, ‘The Chelsea house is my father’s—I have my own flat in Fulham.’
‘Just as comfortable, I would imagine?’ Aidan raised his eyebrows again in that maddening way he had.
‘Oh, I’m sure it is,’ Henry replied innocently, totally oblivious to any undercurrent. ‘Didn’t Richard buy it for you, Lindsay, for your twenty-first birthday?’
‘Er, yes,’ she admitted reluctantly.
‘There can’t be too many SHO’s living in such luxury,’ observed Aidan. ‘My own hospital days were a far cry from that. In fact, I’m surprised you’ve deigned to join us in our humble little corner of the world. I would have thought something in Harley Street would have been more in your line.’
‘Actually,’ Lindsay retorted, stung into a reply by his tone, ‘I was offered Harley Street, but I turned it down.’
‘You wanted something in the real world, didn’t you, Lindsay?’ said Henry with a laugh.
‘Well, you’ll certainly get that here.’ Aidan’s retort was cryptic. ‘And while we’re on the subject, you’ll have to do something about that car of yours.’
‘My car?’ Lindsay looked up sharply. ‘What’s wrong with my car?’
‘There’s nothing wrong with your car,’ replied Henry hastily. ‘In London, that is. I think what Aidan means is that it may not be practical for some of our roads around here.’
‘Henry drives a Jeep and I drive a Land Rover,’ said Aidan.
‘I know,’ Lindsay replied coolly. ‘I thought you were a farmer instead of a doctor.’
‘And what’s wrong with being a farmer?’ His tone was as cold as his eyes.
‘Nothing…’
‘There are plenty of them about in this community, and if you’re going to stay here you’ll have to get used to them.’
‘Whoa, wait a minute.’ Henry broke in as this rapid exchange of fire looked as if it could be about to escalate into a full-scale spat. ‘Have you two met before?’ He looked from one to the other in bewilderment.
‘Yes,’ said Lindsay shortly. ‘At least, we’ve seen each other. In the village shop when I stopped to ask the way…and…’
‘Later at a little pile-up further up the road,’ Aidan continued smoothly, ‘when you rushed to volunteer your professional services.’
‘Well!’ said Henry, shaking his head. ‘Well, I never. You should have said.’ He stood up, still looking baffled. ‘You’ll have to excuse me. I must go up to Megan but I’m sure the two of you will find plenty to talk about.’ With that he walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him and, to Lindsay’s dismay, leaving her alone with the insufferable Aidan Lennox.
CHAPTER THREE
THEY sat in silence for a few moments then Lindsay, deciding this was as good a time as any, took a deep breath. ‘Why didn’t you say who you were?’ she asked abruptly.
Aidan appeared to be staring at something through the window behind her as if he were lost in a world of his own and hadn’t even heard what she’d said. In growing irritation she was about to repeat the question when he refocused and looked at her. ‘What do you mean?’ His answer was equally abrupt.
‘In the shop,’ she went on. ‘You must have realised who I was when I asked for directions.’
‘Why should I? Tourists are always asking for directions.’
‘You thought I was a tourist?’ When he gave a slight shrug, she added, ‘Do many tourists ask for Henry Llewellyn?’
‘Tourists are always asking for doctors.’
‘All right. So you may have thought at that point I was just another tourist. But what about afterwards, at the accident, when you heard me say I was a doctor? You must have known then but you said nothing and allowed me to make a fool of myself.’
‘Did you?’ A faint frown creased his forehead. ‘I wasn’t aware you’d made a fool of yourself.’
‘Those people knew you were a doctor—they didn’t need another one at that point. If you’d only said who you were, I would have…’
‘Would have what?’ he asked coolly.
‘Well, I would have…Oh, I don’t know, but I certainly wouldn’t have gone blundering in where I wasn’t wanted.’
‘If I remember rightly, you went blundering in, as you put it, before I had the chance even to speak.’
‘You still could have said…’
‘You were so intent on doing good—’
‘But you must have realised then who I was.’
‘Yes, I suppose so.’ Aidan shrugged and there was little enthusiasm about the gesture.
‘So why didn’t you say anything then?’ Lindsay demanded.
‘If I remember rightly, the ambulance arrived and you were asked to move your car.’
She didn’t answer. It was true. Everything he’d said was true. So why was she still left with the uncomfortable feeling that he’d known who she was from the beginning and had deliberately avoided revealing his own identity?
‘You’re here now,’ he said at last, ‘and, really, all this is irrelevant so we might as well forget it.’
‘Maybe.’ She nodded. ‘But I feel we’ve got off to a bad start—and for no good reason.’
‘And was it important to you that we should have got off to a good start?’ he asked smoothly.
Lindsay stared at him, noticing as she did so a small triangular scar on the side of his left cheek. Probably where some exasperated woman had landed him one for being so infuriating, she thought. ‘Well, it might have helped,’ she replied at last. ‘Especially now I’ve been told that you’re to be my trainer.’
‘Ah, yes.’ Briefly his nostrils flared as he inhaled sharply. ‘And did it bother you when you found that out?’
She took a deep breath. ‘Actually, yes, it did if you must know—’
But that was as far as she got for at that moment the door opened and Henry appeared again. ‘Sorry about that,’ he said.
‘Megan all right?’ asked Aidan.
‘About the same,’ Henry replied with a sigh.
‘I’ll go up and see her before I go.’
Henry must have seen Lindsay’s look of surprise. ‘Aidan is our GP,’ he explained.
‘Really?’ Lindsay couldn’t understand why Henry and Megan should want this exasperating man anywhere near them, especially when they were ill, even if he was Henry’s partner.
‘I’m sure you two found plenty to talk about,’ said Henry as he carried the coffee percolator to the table. ‘I’ve spoken briefly to Lindsay about you taking over as her trainer, Aidan.’
‘So I gather.’ Aidan nodded.
‘I know it isn’t what any of us had planned,’ Henry went on as he poured the coffee, ‘but there was no knowing that Megan was going to be as ill as this.’
‘I still think this is an added and unnecessary burden for you at this time, Henry,’ said Lindsay as she took the cup and saucer that Henry handed to her. ‘And I happen to think the best thing would be for me to go back to London.’ Suddenly that prospect had its attractions. Probably anything would be preferable to working with the
objectionable Dr Aidan Lennox.
Henry, it seemed, was of a different opinion. ‘Nonsense,’ he said briskly. ‘There’s no reason why you shouldn’t stay, especially as Aidan has agreed to take you on. Besides, with the way things are here, we could do with another pair of hands.’
‘But won’t I just be a liability?’ Lindsay frowned and at the same time carefully avoided Aidan’s eye.
‘Not at all. You’re only a trainee GP, for heaven’s sake,’ Henry replied. ‘It might have been a different matter if you were a trainee doctor. But you’re fully qualified and I can only see that as being an asset to us in our present circumstances.’
‘Really?’ she said doubtfully. She was only too aware that Aidan had remained absolutely silent and was sitting as still as stone.
‘Yes, really,’ Henry replied firmly. ‘I’m quite limited with what I can do at the moment. It will be such a relief to have someone else around who can share the burden. Take night duty, for instance—there have been times recently when I’ve been reluctant to leave Megan when I’ve been on call, but I’ve had no choice because I could hardly call on Aidan when I knew he’d been up all the previous night. Besides, I can’t have you going home, Lindsay. You’ve given up your job and turned your life upside down to come here for a year. Whatever would your father think?’
‘I’m sure he’d understand—’
‘No.’ Henry stood up and began clearing the table. ‘I won’t hear another word on the matter. I’ve already made two concessions in that Aidan will take over as your trainer and that you will live in the flat, and that is as far as I’m prepared to go.’
‘Well, if you put it like that…’ She trailed off with a helpless little shrug, still avoiding Aidan’s eye. ‘When would you like me to start?’
‘Just as soon as you like.’ The relief in Henry’s voice was only too apparent. ‘I suggest you come down to the surgery with me tomorrow morning and familiarise yourself with the place and then Bronwen can show you the flat.’
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