Medical Duo - Dr Chandler's Sleeping Beauty & Christmas with Dr Delicious

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  Robbie looked worried. ‘You’re not going to get mad at her, are you?’ he asked.

  ‘Get mad?’ Jake asked clenching his jaw. ‘I am mad. I’m furious with her.’

  ‘You can’t stop me from moving out,’ Robbie said. ‘Anyway, I think she’s right. You take on too much, Jake. You’ve been a substitute parent for so long you don’t know how to be a brother any more.’

  Jake felt a strange ache in the middle of his chest. How long since he had been simply a brother? It seemed like decades.

  It was decades.

  ‘Where are you going to stay?’ he asked, glancing at Robbie’s bag.

  ‘A mate of mine’s got a place in Glebe,’ Robbie said. ‘It’ll be close to uni. I’ll be able to walk since I’m not allowed to drive just yet.’

  ‘I’m not happy about this,’ Jake said with a concerned frown, his gut churning with the pain of letting go. Was this some sort of crazy empty nest syndrome he was feeling? How was he supposed to stop worrying? How could he trust that Robbie would be all right? ‘It’s still early days. You shouldn’t be taking any risks at this stage.’

  ‘I’m fine, Jake,’ Robbie said, reaching for his bag. ‘I want to get my life back. You need to get yours back as well.’

  ‘My life is fine just the way it is,’ Jake said. Or at least it was until a little English rose came along and poked her uptilted nose where it doesn’t belong.

  Robbie put out his hand. ‘Thanks for everything.’

  Jake pushed Robbie’s hand out of the way and gathered him in a big brother hug. ‘Take care of yourself, Robbie,’ he said gruffly.

  Kitty had not long got back from orchestra rehearsal when she saw Jake stalking across the courtyard to her town house. She had tried to give him as much space as he and Robbie needed, but it had been so hard to keep away. Each time he looked at her she felt a thousand delicious sensations wash over her. At work they had been nothing but professional, but still when he locked gazes with her she felt the electric current of their connection pass through her entire body.

  She opened the door before he pressed the doorbell. ‘I was going to call you,’ she said, smiling brightly. ‘I made some pancakes earlier. I thought you and Robbie might like some for supper.’

  His expression was as dark as thunder. ‘Robbie’s gone.’

  ‘Gone?’

  ‘Don’t play the innocent with me,’ he said, frowning at her savagely. ‘You know damn well he’s packed up and left. You were the one who bloody suggested it.’

  Kitty felt a little rattle of unease move down her spine. She had never seen Jake so angry. She could feel the menacing waves of it crackling through the air towards her. She refused to be intimidated, however.

  ‘Robbie is an adult,’ she said. ‘You can’t keep him and your sisters chained to your side in case something goes wrong in their lives. You can’t always be there to pick up the pieces. How are they ever going to learn to take care of themselves if all they ever have to do is call you and you fix things for them?’

  His frown was a deep V between his brows. ‘What the hell would you know about what it takes to be a family?’ he asked. ‘You with your crackpot parents who haven’t even got the guts to commit to each other full-time.’

  Kitty lifted one of her brows. ‘Isn’t that a little bit rich, coming from you?’

  ‘What do you mean by that?’

  She rolled her eyes in disdain. ‘Jake, you’re the biggest commitment-phobe I’ve ever met—and the biggest hypocrite. You criticise my parents and yet they’ve always been there for me, even if they haven’t always been there for each other. You have no right to pass judgement. You don’t even know what commitment is. You just like control.’

  ‘If you’re not happy with how things are between us then all you have to do is say so,’ he said, still with that frown carving deep into his forehead, his dark blue eyes as hard as black ice. ‘I told you what I could offer. I didn’t lie to you. I made no promises. You came into this with your eyes wide open.’

  Kitty should have backed away from the topic, but some inner demon demanded she push him regardless of the fall-out. She was tired of pretending she was OK with their arrangement. She wanted more. She wanted him to love her the way she had come to love him.

  How could she not love him? She hadn’t stood a chance right from the start. He had rocked her world the first time he had looked at her and smiled that dazzlingly sexy smile. What she had felt for Charles was nothing compared to what she felt for Jake. She was ashamed she had thought herself in love with her ex. It horrified her to think she would have married him and settled for such an insipid relationship. If what Sophie felt for Charles was even half of what she felt for Jake it was no wonder she had fallen into his arms the way she had. But, as much as she loved him, she didn’t want to short-change herself in putting up with a relationship that was so out of balance. She would be a fool to think that in a few weeks there would be a tender, heart-warming airport scene where he would beg her to stay with him and marry him and have his babies.

  No, he would probably wave her goodbye and then on his way home call up one of his ‘friends with benefits’.

  ‘I’m not as happy as I could be,’ she said. ‘And neither are you.’

  He gave a harsh laugh. ‘You think you know me so well, do you? Well, let me tell you I’m fine with my life right the way it is.’

  ‘I think you want more out of life, but you’re frightened of needing someone the way others need you,’ she said. ‘You’ve ruled out love because you don’t want to be left like your mother was left, like you were left. You never got a chance to say goodbye to your father, did you? He just upped and left. You won’t let that happen again. No one is going to tear your heart out again. No one. That’s why it’s always you who ends your relationships. You always get in first.’

  A muscle moved like a hammer beneath the skin at the corner of his mouth. ‘So,’ he said, nailing her with his gaze, ‘are you going to relieve me of the responsibility of calling it quits? Feel free. You’d be doing me a favour. This relationship has just about run its course.’

  Kitty held his glittering gaze as pain at his cruel rejection moved through her body like a devastating poison. Her very bones ached with its toxicity. She had thought finding Sophie in Charles’s arms had been crucifying, but it was nothing compared to this. How could he stand there and talk of their time together as if it meant absolutely nothing to him? Was she no more important than any other of his shallow hook-ups? She had foolishly thought she would win his heart. The last couple of weeks had given her hope that he was developing feelings for her. But she could see now his heart was never going to be available.

  ‘It’s over, Jake,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry but I can’t be with you on your terms. I need more.’

  ‘Still hankering after the boyfriend at home?’ he said with a curl of his lip. ‘I notice you’re still wearing the ring. He’s not going to come back to you. The sooner you accept that the better.’

  She curled her fingers into her palm. ‘I don’t want him to come back to me,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t take him back. I know now what I want. I know what I need. I’m not going to settle for second best.’

  He held her gaze for a tense moment. A battle seemed to be going on behind his stone-like mask. She could see the micro-expressions on his face: a flicker of a pulse, the twitch of a muscle, the hardening of his eyes, and the hairpin-thinness of his lips.

  ‘I guess that’s it, then,’ he said. ‘I’ll let you get on with your evening. I’ll see you at work.’

  Kitty’s shoulders went down when the door clicked shut behind him. The sound seemed so much more than a lock slipping into place.

  It was heartbreakingly, gut-wrenchingly final.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  KITTY wasn’t sure how she did it, but she got through the next couple of weeks with a courage she’d had no idea she possessed. She went to work and faced the speculation of the staff about her relationship
with Jake with a poise she wouldn’t have believed possible even a few weeks ago.

  If Jake was upset by the termination of their brief affair he showed little sign of it. He was nothing but professional at work, although perhaps a little brusque on occasion, but Kitty kept her cool and continued to get through each day without letting him see how torn up she was. She had a particularly bad moment when she heard a rumour that he was interested in one of the nurses on the urology ward. But she never saw him bring anyone back to his place. He seemed to be working longer than normal hours, but then management had been putting a lot of pressure on keeping waiting times in A&E down.

  As the date of Charles and Sophie’s wedding approached, the ache Kitty had been so used to feeling about them gradually faded to a tiny pang for her fractured friendship rather than the stinging betrayal she had felt previously.

  There was a bitter irony that it was Jake who had made her see the error of her ways. He had helped her to see how running away and feeling sorry for herself was not going to do anything but make her even more miserable, and how Charles’s and Sophie’s happiness would not be ruined by her dog-in-the-manger attitude.

  He had called her selfish and immature, and yet what was he being?

  She bit her lip to stop the tears from falling, as they were wont to do when she let her thoughts drift to him in unguarded moments.

  She missed everything about him: his touch, his smell, his lazy smile and smouldering looks. She missed the closeness she had felt with him over the last few weeks.

  Was she destined to be unhappy in love? Was there something horribly wrong with her that no man would love her the way she needed to be loved?

  The trouble was she didn’t want any other man but Jake. How could she ever be with anyone else after all she had experienced with him? Her body ached for him. If she so much as caught a glimpse of him at work her flesh would contract and pulse with such intense longing it took her breath away.

  Kitty looked at the pretty wedding invitation that had come in the post weeks ago. She picked it up and tapped it against her lips as she looked at the calendar on the fridge. She was rostered off for five days, which would give her just enough time to fly home and attend the service without compromising her commitment to the hospital.

  She would support Charles and Sophie in their love for each other. She would be happy for them. She would celebrate with them—for she knew how precious it was to find a love that surpassed all others.

  As Kitty was packing her bag the evening before her flight she looked down at her promise ring. She must have lost weight in the last few days, for she could now turn it around on her finger. She went to the bathroom and soaped up her finger. It took an almighty effort, and her knuckle was probably going to be bruised and swollen as a result, but she finally got the ring off. She went back to the bedroom and slipped it inside the velvet lining of her jewellery case and gently closed the lid.

  ‘What do you mean she’s gone back to London?’ Jake said to Gwen when he arrived at work on Wednesday morning. ‘Why didn’t she tell me she was leaving before her time was up?’

  ‘Cool down, Jake,’ Gwen said. ‘She’s coming back. She’s only gone for a friend’s wedding. She’s rostered off for almost a week.’

  Jake clenched his jaw. ‘She should’ve told me she was leaving the country.’

  ‘Why should she, Jake?’ Gwen said. ‘She’s just another staff member. None of us have to tell you what we do in our private life. She could fly to Timbuktu on her days off and you couldn’t do a thing about it.’

  ‘I bet she doesn’t come back,’ he said, scowling at her furiously. ‘She’ll get over there and want to stay. You see if I’m not right.’

  ‘And that would be a problem why, exactly?’ Gwen asked with a raised-brow look.

  Jake glowered at her. ‘I’ll be in my office if anyone wants me,’ he said, and strode off down the corridor.

  He sat brooding for an hour over paperwork. His concentration was shot. He couldn’t believe Kitty had left the country without telling him. He’d only seen her the night before. Not that she had seen him. He had felt a bit like a MI5 spy or a sicko stalker, hiding behind the curtain in his kitchen, but how else was he to indulge his need to see her without her noticing his hangdog look?

  It was pathetic, that was what it was. He was turning out like some sort of lovesick fool.

  He was over her.

  It was time to move on. Start dating again. Have some fun.

  He reached for his phone and scrolled through his contacts. There were at least seven women he could call for a drink. Tasha from Urology had cornered him in the cafeteria a week or so ago and he still hadn’t got back to her. Maybe it was time to get back out there. He looked at Tasha’s number. His finger hovered over the call button for a moment, but instead of pressing it he pressed delete.

  He put his phone down on the desk but it rang almost immediately. He snatched it up and barked, ‘Yes?’

  ‘Whoa, no need to bite my head off,’ said Rosie. ‘Have I caught you at a bad time?’

  He leaned back in his chair with a sigh. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I’m just trawling through some paperwork that was meant to be done yesterday.’

  ‘You don’t sound happy,’ Rosie said. ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘You don’t sound fine. You sound grumpy.’

  ‘Yeah, well, I have a lot on my mind right now.’

  ‘This is about Kitty, isn’t it?’ Rosie asked. ‘Why did you guys call it quits? I thought she was perfect for you. To tell you the truth, Jake, she’s the first girl you’ve dated that Jen and I have really liked. She’d make a fabulous sister-in-law. She’s not a bimbo, for one thing. And don’t forget she saved Robbie’s life.’

  ‘She’s the one who broke it off,’ he said, almost snapping the pen he’d picked up.

  ‘So get back with her,’ Rosie said. ‘Tell her you want a second chance. Tell her you love her.’

  He tossed the pen to one side. ‘I’m not in love with her.’

  Rosie laughed. ‘Yeah, and I haven’t got stretch marks. Come on, Jake. When have you been this smitten?’

  ‘Smitten?’ He recoiled at the term. ‘I am not smitten.’

  ‘You coughed up a thousand bucks for her,’ Rosie said. ‘You’re smitten all right.’

  Jake felt like throwing his phone at the wall. ‘Did you have a reason for calling other than to rub my nose in the fact that I’ve been dumped?’

  ‘I was hoping you could take Nathan for a couple of days,’ Rosie said. ‘You mentioned the other day at Robbie’s that you’ve got this weekend off. It’ll take your mind off things. I’ve got the chance to go to a health spa with a girlfriend. Should be fun.’

  Jake drew in a breath and slowly exhaled. ‘I was kind of hoping to have some time to myself this weekend.’

  ‘You’ve been spending too much time by yourself lately,’ Rosie said. ‘Come on, Jake, it’ll do you good to spend some quality time with Nathan. You’ve got nothing better to do, have you?’

  Jake drummed his fingers on the desk for a moment. He could think of at least a hundred things he could do that would get him off the hook with his sister, but not one of them seemed important enough to justify spoiling her plans in order to indulge herself with a bit of R&R. The trouble was he was always putting other people’s needs and wants before his own.

  And Kitty’s.

  Yeah, that’s right, you great big bozo, he thought in self-recrimination. Isn’t it time you thought of what she wants and needs?

  Kitty was being brave enough to travel all that way to support her friends, to put her bitterness aside. Who would support her? Who would hand her tissue after tissue during the soppy bits of the service?

  Who would tell her he loved her and couldn’t bear to spend another day without her in his life?

  Jake shoved back his chair and stood up. ‘Actually, I do have something on,’ he said. ‘I’m flying to London for the weekend.�
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  ‘You’re what?’ Rosie gasped. ‘Did you say London? London as in England? London as in Buckingham Palace and Big Ben and the Queen and Harrods?’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘Are you out of your cotton-picking mind? Rosie asked. ‘Who on earth flies to London for a weekend?’

  Jake felt a smile spread over his face. ‘A man head over heels in love does,’ he said, and hung up the phone.

  ‘You look beautiful,’ Kitty said as she adjusted Sophie’s veil outside the church. ‘I’m so happy for you.’

  Sophie gripped Kitty’s hands in both of hers. ‘I’m so glad you came,’ she said with tears in her eyes. ‘It means so much to Charles and me. We could never be happy together unless we felt you were happy for us.’

  ‘I am happy for you,’ Kitty said. ‘I’m sorry for being such a cow about things. I can’t believe I was so childish. You two belong together. Anyone can see that.’

  Sophie beamed. ‘Here’s our cue,’ she said as the organ started to play. ‘Shall we get this show on the road?’

  ‘Let’s do it.’ Kitty smiled even though a part of her ached that Jake wasn’t here to see how brave she was being. She missed him more now there were so many miles between them.

  But then he had always been far away—if not physically then emotionally.

  Jake’s flight was late landing, and then there was a delay coming through Customs. He had to wait ages for a taxi, and to top it all off there was an accident a kilometre or so from the church where the wedding was taking place. He had sourced that information via Gwen, who had let slip that Kitty’s best friend was being married in her home village just outside of London.

  The service was well under way by the time he trudged through the snow, having paid off the taxi driver who had had no choice but to stick it out until the tow trucks cleared everything away.

  It was freezing.

  How did anyone survive this climate? His face felt as if it was being burned with the cold. The sun was like a rheumy eye behind moody clouds. Why would anyone get married on a day like this? Why not wait until spring or summer, when there was at least the faint possibility of the sun breaking through the mattress-thick clouds?