English Rose in the Outback

by Lucy Clark

  ‘I know, but the majority of the district is going to be at this event so if there’s going to be any medical emergencies, chances are they’ll happen there so we’ll be in the right place at the right time.’

  ‘So you want to go to this event together?’

  ‘Yes. And I mean “together”, as in a date.’

  ‘A date?’ Even the words caused her heart to race. Daisy pursed her lips in an effort to control the riotous sensations of unbelievable dread and excited anticipation that flooded her. ‘Oscar! We’ve spent the past week trying to ignore this chemistry which seems to exist between us and now you want to embrace it?’

  ‘Ignoring it clearly hasn’t worked that well for either of us. Don’t you think it’s worth trying to sort things out? To talk about the “what if”s’?’

  Daisy tentatively shook her head. ‘“What if”s can be dangerous. What if I tell you something that you don’t like? How will you treat me after that? What if I confide in you and you let me down and I treat you differently?’

  ‘And what if we figure out what this really is between us and sort it out? If necessary, I’ll move out of the residence.’

  She frowned at the thought of not seeing him all the time and felt a pang of regret. ‘That’ll set tongues wagging.’

  ‘So let’s discuss it later. Let’s sort it out because I’ve lived in limbo before, Daisy, and I don’t much care for it. Talking plainly, figuring things out. That’s good.’

  ‘And what if we decide to pursue this…this…’

  ‘Frighteningly natural chemistry which exists between us?’

  ‘Yes. That. What do we do then?’

  ‘We’ll figure it out. We’re two very intellectual people, Daisy.’ He raised her hand to his lips and brushed a kiss across her knuckles, just as he had every night since Darwin.

  ‘Uh-huh.’ She was completely unable to speak.

  ‘And to save us from both tearing each other’s clothes off while we discuss such a sensitive topic—’

  ‘Shh.’ Even hearing him say those words was starting to cause a warmth to flood throughout her entire body. ‘Someone might hear you.’

  ‘Tomorrow night, we’ll be able to sit near the back of the crowd, out of the way, and pretend to enjoy the movie while we sort this attraction out.’

  She stared at his lips for a long moment before slowly shaking her head in bemusement. ‘You’ve got it all sorted out, eh?’

  ‘Absolutely, mate.’ He winked at her and she momentarily found it difficult to remember to breathe. Why did he have such a devastating effect on her equilibrium?

  Daisy closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe deeply because when he looked at her like that, as though he wanted nothing more than to forget all their responsibilities and simply spend the rest of the day kissing her, her mind turned to mush.

  ‘OK.’ She kept her eyes closed as she spoke. ‘Movies. Tomorrow night. We can talk.’

  ‘Good.’ When he brushed a light finger across her cheek, her eyelids snapped open and she quickly pushed his hand away.

  ‘Someone might see.’ She looked around but the ED was still very bare. ‘Things may be relaxed and informal out here in the middle of nowhere but not for me.’

  ‘And it is for that very reason that I bid you farewell.’ He stood and affected a mock bow before turning and walking from the ED. Daisy knew she should follow, knew she had a few patients she needed to see in her afternoon pre-operative clinic, but, due to Oscar’s flirting, she was now unable to move her legs.

  ‘Darn that man,’ she mumbled. Why did he have to be so incredibly wonderful?

  Now he wanted to take her on a date? It seemed so odd to be organising a date with him when they lived in the same house. Our house. Even remembering him saying those words was enough to cause a fresh bout of tingles to flood throughout her. Why, oh, why couldn’t she control her emotions? And what was she supposed to do when he started asking difficult questions?

  Agreeing to go on this date meant she’d need to open up to him, especially as she really did want to figure out where this attraction might lead. She hadn’t expected anything like this to happen when she’d accepted the job but now that it had… She’d lived a lot of her life not knowing what was going on, not understanding why her parents argued or why she was sent out of the room, or off to boarding school or generally overlooked. Was she ready to tell him more? To tell him about her mother’s alcoholism? About how, until her mother decided to get permanent treatment, Daisy’s life would never really be her own? Would that make a difference to Oscar? Would he try and sell the story to the papers, just as her last boyfriend, Walter, had?

  What if she and Oscar started a relationship only to have it go sour? What would happen then? He’d clearly been burned before so she doubted he’d want to try that again. Was that what he wanted to talk about? Was he only interested in a short-term affair with her? Was she capable of giving him that? Would they be able to share the same house? Work alongside each other? Continue to provide expert care to their patients if things went wrong and they ended up disliking each other?

  Daisy leaned her head into her hands and whimpered. What had she done? She couldn’t go on a date with Oscar! It was ridiculous. Nice things didn’t happen to her. Nice things happened to other people and, as such, she knew she had to put a stop to the ridiculousness that there could ever be anything between herself and Oscar other than a professional working relationship.

  She’d seen it happen time and time again in the army, when colleagues had started a relationship only to have it fail and yet they’d been in the middle of a jungle, expected to work together. The tensions in the surgery tents had been hopelessly fraught and had made the working environment unbearable for everyone.

  No. She couldn’t let that happen here. Not when she’d been accepted as part of the community. No. She and Oscar would remain colleagues with a professional friendship. Nothing more.

  With that resolved, she breathed in deeply before standing and straightening her shoulders. Now that she had her priorities straight once more, now that she hadn’t let him talk her into doing something she wasn’t ready for, she could concentrate on her work. Her patients awaited and, with a firmness to her stride, she headed towards the clinic rooms next door, finally feeling more like herself.

  Oscar and the unsettling way he had made her feel were now completely behind her. Once and for all.

  CHAPTER TEN

  THAT EVENING, IN order to avoid being alone with Oscar in the house, Daisy suggested they go to the pub for dinner. She’d also planned to tell him she couldn’t go on the date to the movies with him, that she’d had second thoughts, but they’d been interrupted by a barroom brawl of epic proportions, with Bazza in the centre of it, and the two of them had spent the next three hours in Emergency, treating the foolhardy farmers who had enjoyed one too many ‘knock-off’ beers.

  On Saturday morning, Daisy had headed off early to her clinic, feeling so incredibly self-conscious about the house space she shared with Oscar. It was happening already, the strange awkwardness she knew would come if they acted upon their attraction. Surely when she told him the date was off, he would understand, as the confused tension that already filled the house seemed to be rapidly increasing.

  At the end of her clinic, she finished writing up the notes and then returned them to the filing room. Oscar had told her he had plans to computerise the entire practice but sometimes things took a lot longer to deal with out here in the middle of nowhere. The room she was in was floor-to-ceiling shelves with patient files on either side.

  When Oscar walked in to return his own case notes, she felt his presence before she saw him. Breathing in deeply, she turned around to face him.

  ‘All done?’ he asked, putting his armful of case notes on the ground.

  ‘Yes. Just have to file this last set of case notes and I’m done for the day.’

  ‘All ready for our date this evening?’ He was edging closer, his gaze dip
ping to look at her lips before returning to meet her eyes.

  ‘About that—’ she began but then realised how he was looking at her. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ she asked, trying not to look back at him, trying instead to concentrate on putting the last set of notes into place, but she was having difficulty due to the trembling that seemed to have flooded through her body at his nearness.

  ‘Let me help you with that.’ He put his hand over hers and together they slipped the file into place. The instant he touched her, she gasped and looked up at him. She licked her lips, unable to stop herself, and she was delighted when he didn’t let go of her hand but instead drew her closer. ‘I have been completely aware of you all day long, from the moment you woke up this morning until right now.’

  As he spoke he slid his arms around her waist. ‘You’re driving me crazy.’

  ‘I know,’ she whispered, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs. He shifted in the small area so that he was standing as close to her as possible and, because of the confined space, Daisy slid her hands up to rest on his chest, not sure whether she should push him away or pull him closer.

  ‘You smell so good. Your perfume drives me wild.’

  ‘Mmm-hmm,’ she responded, her senses working on overdrive as she breathed in his own glorious scent. ‘Likewise.’

  ‘My perfume…’ he started bringing his head closer to hers, his words barely above a whisper ‘…drives you wild?’

  ‘Mmm-hmm,’ she repeated, licking her lips again.

  ‘I want to kiss you, Daisy. Really kiss you as I’ve been longing to do ever since last week when we were in Darwin.’

  Even just hearing the words from him was enough to cause a thousand tingles to flood throughout her body, making her tremble with excited anticipation.

  ‘I know we’re going to talk tonight, that we’re going to figure things out—’ He bent his head and brushed a kiss to her cheek. ‘But if it turns out we decide just to be friends—’

  He slowly shifted around to the other side, his breath mingling with hers as his lips passed hers. He didn’t kiss her though; instead, he brushed a kiss to her other cheek and it was all Daisy could do not to sag completely into his arms, her body filled with a want and need that only he could satisfy.

  ‘I don’t want to miss this…opportunity.’

  No sooner had he said the last word than he gave them both what they so desperately wanted and pressed his lips to hers. Daisy gasped at the contact and then instantly slid her hands further up his chest to wrap them around his neck. Oscar was kissing her. It was what she’d been wanting all morning long, to have him really kiss her, not just the light, teasing tastes they’d shared in Darwin.

  His mouth was on hers with a gentleness that only caused more tingles and heightened her awareness of him. She opened her mouth when he nibbled at her lower lip, matching his urgency, needing him to know she wanted this as much as he did.

  There were all sorts of logical thoughts springing to her mind, such as what did this kiss mean? What would happen when it was over? What did Oscar want from her? Daisy closed her eyes tighter and pushed those thoughts away. Just because she’d been raised to always consider the logical consequences of her actions, didn’t mean she had to follow that rule now.

  The way Oscar was making her feel as he deepened the kiss, as he drew her closer to him, as he seemed to ignite every nerve ending in her body, was something she’d never felt before. Good heavens! If she’d known that kissing him was going to be like this then she would have done it that first morning after she’d woken up with thoughts of him in her head.

  Now, it was as though being close to him was a drug and one she’d become addicted to in next to no time. Her heart was pounding against her chest with such force that she was positive he could hear it. Her breathing had increased and she knew that if she didn’t ease back from the glorious sensations he was creating with his lips pressed so perfectly to her own, she would probably suffocate. At the moment, she couldn’t think of a more delicious way to go!

  Oscar moved back a bit and looked deeply into her eyes before tucking a stray wisp of hair behind her ear, his fingers both soothing and caressing her skin, causing a fresh round of tingles to spread throughout her. ‘What is it?’ he asked, looking at her with curiosity.

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘You’re frowning, Daisy.’ He brushed his fingers across her forehead, smoothing out the lines, delighted he was allowed to touch her in such a familiar way. His mind and body were still reeling from that kiss. The woman before him was so amazing, so incredible. She came across as all pompous and hoity-toity but in reality she was as vulnerable as the next person.

  ‘I am?’ She instantly smiled up at him and he couldn’t resist brushing his lips across hers, deepening the kiss for another moment before actually putting her from him and taking a few steps backwards, almost tripping over the files he’d left on the floor.

  ‘It might be better if I stand over here.’

  A cautious look immediately came into her eyes. ‘Why? Have I done something wrong?’

  ‘What? No. No.’ He shook his head instantly. ‘I want nothing more than to hold you close, to kiss you again and again, but if I do I’m not sure I’d be able to stop my urges.’

  ‘You have urges?’

  Her words were clipped, her vowels perfectly rounded and where a few weeks ago he would have thought she was making fun of him or simply being thick, he now recognised that small twinkle in her eyes, caught that minute twitch of her lips as the corners curved upwards. She was teasing him and flirting with him and he liked it—a lot. He grinned at her and raised an eyebrow.

  ‘Where you’re concerned? Absolutely.’ He crossed his arms over his chest as she slowly closed the distance between them. ‘Playing with fire, Dr Daisy?’

  ‘I like a bit of danger in my life. It allows me to feel truly alive with every fibre of my being.’

  ‘So now you’re saying I’m dangerous?’ His words were spoken softly as she now stood toe to toe with him. She was wearing flat shoes today so he was slightly taller than her but in many respects they were still almost eye to eye. He clenched his jaw as her sweet floral scent wound itself around him.

  ‘How is it possible that you can smell as fresh as a daisy all the time?’ His gaze dipped to her lips and he swallowed, wanting so badly to pull her back into his arms and kiss her with such abandon that the only conclusion would be to sweep her off her feet and carry her back to their place where they could be truly alone.

  But Daisy wasn’t ‘some woman’. No. Daisy was special. He wanted nothing more than to be with her, to get to know her better, to build a relationship with her, but what would happen when her contract was up? Six months. She’d come here for six months and while there was the possibility she could renew her contract, would she? If things went wrong between them—

  Fear suddenly gripped his heart. He’d been down this road before. It was the whole reason why they were supposed to be discussing things tonight, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself from pressing his lips to hers, from seeing whether this attraction between them really was as incredible as he thought it might be. It was…more so than he could ever have imagined.

  ‘Are we taking it in turns to frown? Because you seem incredibly lost in thought,’ she said quietly as she reached out and touched her fingers gently to his forehead, reciprocating his earlier action.

  Oscar uncrossed his arms and took her hands in his, mainly to stop her from touching him, because that one simple caress was enough to start unravelling the tight control on his emotions he was trying to maintain.

  ‘I like what’s happening between us, Daisy.’

  Her smile was instant—and delightful. ‘So do I.’ She shrugged one shoulder. ‘I was going to tell you I couldn’t go to the movies with you tonight, that deciding to spend more time together—in a personal sense—was probably a bad move and one we might end up regretting.’

  He chuckled. ‘
I think we’re both over-thinkers.’

  Daisy relaxed at this, seeing that he, too, had his concerns. ‘Oh, good.’

  Oscar chuckled again and shook his head before leaning forward to press his lips to hers, unable to resist kissing her after she’d sounded so formal, pompous and nervous all at the same time. When she started to deepen the kiss, he put his hands onto her shoulders and eased her back. ‘I really should put my files away and then go help out in the ED.’

  ‘Yes. Yes.’ She cleared her throat. ‘I really should go and start house calls.’

  ‘And I should really tell everyone what I just saw!’

  Oscar and Daisy instantly turned towards the doorway where Tori stood, gaping at them with a goofy grin on her face. ‘How long has this been going on?’ She waggled her finger at the two of them as she walked towards her desk.

  ‘About ten minutes,’ Oscar said as they both came out of the file room. He placed a protective arm around Daisy’s shoulders, pleased when she didn’t shrug him away or deny what was happening between them.

  ‘Well…I think it’s been building up for quite a few weeks,’ Daisy added, smiling at him. That one look gave Oscar courage. She was invested in…whatever this was that existed between them.

  ‘Do you think you might be able to keep it on the down-low, at least until after the movie tonight?’ he asked Tori.

  ‘Are you kidding me?’ Tori spread her arms wide. ‘The whole district has just been waiting for the two of you to realise how perfect you are for each other. In fact, Erica’s been running a betting pool on it.’

  ‘Huh.’ Oscar thought for a moment. ‘Are you in the betting pool?’

  Tori’s eyes widened as the reality of the situation dawned on her. ‘Ooh. I could make a lot of money here. Who else knows about the two of you?’

  Oscar shook his head and slipped his arm off Daisy’s shoulders, taking her hand in his. ‘Come on, Daisy. We’ll do house calls together and leave crazy Tori to take care of the ED by herself.’