A Surgeon with a Secret Page 12

  ‘It fits,’ Flick murmured. ‘Your mother was right when she said I was the same size she used to be when she danced in competitions. She won something big wearing this dress.’

  Okay...more distraction was needed. Lachlan hurriedly pulled on his jeans. He put his shirt on but couldn’t waste time doing up any buttons.

  ‘Come with me.’ He took hold of Flick’s hand without allowing her any time to protest but she didn’t seem to mind. Both barefoot, they tiptoed along the hallway that went past his mother’s bedroom and then raced silently down the stairs. When they reached the ballroom, Lachlan put on only as many of the small, side lights as it took to lift the darkness to a point where he could see the shimmer of the sparkles in Flick’s dress and he put his phone in his pocket, so that only they would be able to hear the soft music.

  And then they danced. Barefoot. Flick’s hair was a tumble of classic ‘bed hair’ ruffled waves and he couldn’t forget that she was naked beneath a dress that was even more gorgeously sparkly in this soft light. Lachlan was half-naked himself with his shirt unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled up. He was tired enough for this to feel as if it was part of a dream. Maybe that was why Flick felt so light in his arms and how she responded to his lead as if she’d been dancing her whole life.

  They circled the parquet floor once and then again. There was no stepping on toes but, rather, a feeling of connection that was almost a continuation of their lovemaking.

  It felt like flying.

  It felt like falling at the same time.

  Falling in love...?

  The music ended almost as he had that thought and Lachlan could only stare at Flick, stunned by what had just hit him completely unexpectedly.

  He saw the lines of concern appear on her face. ‘You look so tired,’ she whispered. ‘You need to sleep.’

  He did. Maybe, by some miracle, things would look different in the morning. He would have come back to his senses. But he couldn’t go upstairs to his own room without saying something.

  ‘You’ve learned to dance.’ His words were soft. ‘You are an amazing woman, Felicity Stephens. I hope you know that.’

  There was a smile on her lips as she stood on tiptoe to place a soft kiss on his.

  ‘I think it was the dress that made the difference. Only I need to take it off. This bodice is tight enough to be really uncomfortable.’

  Lachlan couldn’t help letting his gaze drop to the swell of her breasts over that beaded bodice but it only made him want Flick all over again. Made him want to somehow keep what they had for ever.

  He swallowed hard. This was the kind of dangerous territory he’d always kept very well clear of.

  ‘Goodnight, Flick,’ he murmured. ‘Sleep well.’

  CHAPTER TEN

  ‘I THINK WE’RE good to go.’ Lachlan tapped the paper in front of him. ‘I’m happy with these results of the repeat nerve function electrical test. It sets us up to use the classic approach to repairing the brachial plexus network.’

  Josh looked up from the detailed result sheets they’d both been studying. ‘That’s where you use the distal branches of the spinal accessory nerve to neurotise the suprascapular nerve?’

  ‘It is. I’ll find the donor nerve first because that’s easier than locating the suprascapular notch and nerve.’

  ‘I’m looking forward to watching. You’re not bothered that the gallery’s going to be packed?’

  ‘I’m getting used to things like that. I’ve been in London today, filming a follow-up appointment with a boy that’s part of a medical documentary. I did a masseteric nerve transfer surgery to treat his facial paralysis a few weeks ago. It’ll take months to get the full benefit but he’s putting everything he has into retraining his muscles. We’re just beginning to see the first signs and he’s so excited. It’s the kind of thing I love most about my job.’

  ‘It can’t be easy flitting back and forth like that and then having a late night like this. No wonder you look done in.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Lachlan rubbed the back of his neck. ‘I think I’ll just crash in town tonight.’

  ‘Come home with me?’

  ‘Thanks, but I rather fancy a nice hotel with room service. Close enough to walk in and get some fresh air before the surgery tomorrow. I’m not getting enough exercise at the moment. My joints are making me feeling twice as old as I am.’

  ‘As we are.’ Josh smiled. ‘I feel like that sometimes. I’m getting older way too fast.’ His smile faded. ‘Are things no better with your mother, then? Is that part of why you don’t want to go home tonight?’

  Lachlan shrugged. ‘Maybe. I’m still trying to get my head around it all, you know?’

  He didn’t want to share the new information he had about Josephine McKendry with Josh yet. Not until he was sure about how he felt about it and he was too exhausted to go there right now. Or to think about how he was feeling about Flick, for that matter. He owed it to his small patient to be in the best possible form tomorrow morning and that meant pushing anything personal aside.

  ‘There’s a great hotel just a block or so away. I’ll walk out with you and point you in the right direction.’

  ‘Thanks, mate.’

  A cleaner who was mopping the floor outside the ground floor pharmacy did a double-take of the two identical men walking past him but neither Lachlan nor Josh were bothered. They were getting used to it, now. Getting used to the idea of being related, too.

  Family.

  One of the ‘F’ words that Lachlan had long considered against the rules, along with ‘Full time’ and ‘Future’. The opposite of the acceptable ‘Fun’.

  Good Lord...had he really been that shallow such a short time ago?

  He paused as the brothers stood outside the hospital but he wasn’t taking any notice of the direction Josh was pointing in.

  ‘Do you think it made it easier?’ he asked. ‘Knowing all along that you’d been adopted?’

  ‘I think it made it worse,’ Josh told him. ‘I knew I was different. That I didn’t belong, somehow, but I didn’t know why until a “real” son came along and I wasn’t wanted any more.’

  Lachlan shook his head. ‘I never knew and I think that was worse because I didn’t belong either but I never knew why. Until I met you.’

  And the truth had finally come out. How much worse would it have been if Flick hadn’t been there at the start of all this? How much harder would it be when she’d moved on, possibly in the not so distant future? At least Lachlan could be thankful that he hadn’t said anything about how he was feeling about her in the ballroom last night. If he had, she might have packed her bags already. She’d made it very clear why she lived a nomadic kind of life.

  ‘I’ve never wanted to stop because I might get caught by something. Or someone...’

  ‘I could never survive loving and losing like that again...’

  ‘Real life is never a fairy tale...’

  Josh’s glance suggested he could guess that Lachlan’s thoughts were straying. ‘Life’s got a bit crazy, hasn’t it? For both of us.’

  ‘You’re not wrong there. I’ve got too many things changing too fast and I’ve never liked feeling that I’m not in control.’ Lachlan let his breath out in a sigh. ‘Ah, well...tomorrow’s another day, huh? Show me again where the hotel is?’

  * * *

  Being taken out by Lachlan to have dinner with his brother and friend at one of the most prestigious, Michelin-starred restaurants in the area felt very much like they were on a double date. As if their secret, temporary relationship had just been elevated to a new level. Nothing with any promise of permanence, of course, but the way Lachlan’s hands shaped Flick’s shoulders as he helped her to shrug off her coat made her realise just how comfortable they were as a couple now. How easy it was to communicate with simply a touch or a glance.

  Which was why Lachla
n probably knew how startled she was to find herself with another version of him. For a while, she felt as awkward as Lachlan had clearly been the night before, when he’d finally agreed to join his mother for dinner in what seemed to be a first, tentative step on both their parts to move forward. Not that they’d discussed anything personal but Flick, who’d also been invited to join them, had felt like the polite conversation was a cautious attempt to find common ground that could be built on later.

  Being introduced to Josh and his friend Stevie as ‘Felicity’ made things even more awkward.

  ‘Call me Flick,’ she’d told them. ‘I’ve only ever been called Felicity by the taxman or the police.’

  ‘What were the police after you for?’ Lachlan was smiling as he caught her gaze. ‘No, don’t tell me... I think I’d rather leave that to my imagination for a while.’

  Oh...that smile. That rather intimate innuendo that came with his words made it seem like they’d been doing this for ever. Dating. Being out in public as a real couple.

  And it felt so right that Flick found herself relaxing as drinks were ordered and menus perused. It didn’t surprise her at all that both she and Lachlan chose the same starter of hay-smoked scallops.

  ‘How’s that lad doing?’ Lachlan asked Josh. ‘From the brachial plexus repair?’

  ‘Very well...’

  ‘I’ve been trying to get back to see him again but it’s been full on.’ Lachlan put down his fork although he’d barely tasted his food. ‘Lectures here, surgeries there and I’ve had to dash up to London a couple of times as well.’

  ‘Sounds stressful.’ Josh sounded sympathetic.

  ‘At least I don’t have to worry about anything on the home front.’ He raised his glass in Flick’s direction. ‘You’re doing a fabulous job,’ he told her. ‘I’m not at all surprised that London Locums considers you to be one of their very best nurses. I will be grateful to you for ever. For everything...’

  Flick had to break that eye contact—before Lachlan could see just how much his praise and appreciation was melting her. How much she loved him... She stared at her plate, even closing her eyes for a heartbeat to try and regain control.

  Josh’s question about how long she’d been a locum nurse was a welcome direction to take her thoughts.

  ‘Oh, years...’ Flick found a smile for Lachlan’s brother. ‘I love the excitement of everything being new. Meeting new people, getting to know a new place. A new challenge...’

  She stopped talking, her gaze shifting instantly to Lachlan as he made an odd sound of discomfort.

  ‘It’s a bit warm in here, isn’t it?’ Flick watched, concerned, as he rubbed his forehead in a familiar gesture that indicated stress. Then he pushed back his chair. ‘Excuse me for a moment. I just need a bit of fresh air.’

  Concern became a flash of alarm as Flick watched Lachlan head for a set of French doors near their table that led to a pretty courtyard garden with manicured hedges and strings of fairy lights. She pushed her plate away and had her hands on the table ready to push herself to her feet and go after Lachlan but Josh had moved first.

  ‘I’ll go,’ he said.

  She was still watching as Josh joined his brother outside and started talking to him. This was good. Josh was a doctor and, if Lachlan was unwell in any way, he would be able to help better than Flick could. What was really worrying her, however, was the level of her concern.

  She knew she had fallen in love with Lachlan McKendry. She hadn’t quite realised until now just how profound her feelings were, though, had she? This wasn’t just concern that someone she cared about might be unwell. This was a twinge of a fear that she’d had to face before—that the person she couldn’t live without might be in danger...

  Oh, boy...she might be in a bit of trouble here.

  Catching a glance from Stevie only strengthened the instant connection she’d felt for this friend of Lachlan’s brother with her gorgeously wild, red hair and big, genuine smile.

  She wasn’t the only one who was in love with a twin, was she?

  Not that either of them wanted to say anything aloud. There was a note in that glance that was one of understanding. They both knew how the childhoods of these twins who’d been separated had shaped a remarkably similar attitude to whether they wanted a permanent relationship in their own lives. Flick could recognise things in Stevie’s eyes that she was feeling herself. Like hope. And fear.

  It was that fear that made her look outside again and then it suddenly became infinitely worse because she saw the moment when Lachlan became unsteady on his feet and then crumpled, clearly having lost consciousness. Josh caught his brother in time to stop him hitting his head on the flagstone terrace and Flick could see him crouching to see if Lachlan was breathing by the time she’d run from the table and pushed open the French doors, Stevie on her heels.

  ‘What can I do?’ It was Stevie who spoke first as they got to the two men.

  Flick’s brain was frozen. With her experience in emergency departments, she should know exactly what to do but the fear was paralysing her now.

  ‘Oh, my God...’ she whispered, dropping to her knees beside Lachlan. She could actually feel the blood draining from her face. ‘No...’

  She touched Lachlan’s hand. Curled her own fingers around it and held it tightly, as if she could somehow share some of her own strength. Above her, Josh’s words seemed faint—as if they were coming from a long way away.

  ‘He’s breathing. And he’s got a good, steady pulse. He may have just fainted for whatever reason but I think we’d better call an ambulance.’

  Flick was still clinging to Lachlan’s hand as he regained consciousness before help arrived but he still seemed drowsy and his speech was slurred enough for the paramedics to be concerned. They helped him into the back of the ambulance to take an ECG and check vital signs like his blood pressure, blood glucose level and oxygen saturation. One of them asked how much alcohol he’d had but Josh was insistent that there was something more going on here and that scared Flick even more.

  What was going on and how serious could it be?

  Lachlan had picked up on a note in his brother’s voice and he was trying to sit up. ‘Gotta go home...’ he said. ‘It’s my mother...she’s the one who’s sick...’

  ‘She’s all right,’ Flick reassured him. ‘I just rang Mrs Tillman to tell her that I would be going to the hospital with you so I might be later than expected.’

  But Lachlan was shaking his head. ‘No need. I’m fine. And it’s my mother you’re employed to care for...not me... I don’t need it... Can look after myself...’

  He was pushing her away. Like she had feared he might when she’d been avoiding telling him what she’d learned about his mother’s story. She knew how badly she didn’t want to be pushed out of his life. How much it could hurt. But she’d had no idea, had she? This was hurting far more than Flick had ever imagined it could.

  Especially now. When Lachlan was sick. Possibly afraid. When he most needed someone who cared to be by his side. And that person should be her but then Josh spoke.

  ‘I’ll go with Lachlan,’ he said.

  His gaze told her that he understood. That she wasn’t to worry because he wasn’t about to leave his brother alone even if Lachlan was so sure he could cope without anybody. And Josh had more right to be with Lachlan at a time like this, didn’t he? He was family. Not just someone who’d been employed to care for his mother. Lachlan had said he didn’t need her.

  Perhaps he didn’t want her, either...

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  THERE’D BEEN A few things in Lachlan McKendry’s thirty-six years on earth that had scared him enough to be memorable but this particular moment made every other occasion instantly insignificant.

  ‘I’m sorry to have to give you this result, but it’s AML.’ David, the consultant and head of the haematology departmen
t, clearly knew he didn’t have to elaborate on the diagnosis to the two other doctors in the room but perhaps he didn’t realise that the third person present had medical knowledge. ‘Acute myeloid leukaemia,’ he added quietly, his gaze shifting to Flick.

  Lachlan closed his eyes as he shifted in the bed, trying to find a more comfortable position. The local anaesthetic in his hip had worn off some time ago and a dull ache was making sure he didn’t forget the bone marrow biopsy he’d had first thing this morning. Or why it had been necessary.

  He heard Josh clear his throat. ‘We kind of guessed it might be, last night,’ he told David. ‘When we added up his symptoms after that first blood count had come through.’ He was standing close to the bed. ‘But I was still hoping we could be wrong.’

  Lachlan could see a reflection of his own fear in Josh’s eyes and he didn’t want that, any more than he’d wanted his brother to stay with him after that first, worrying test result last night. He wasn’t used to having someone who genuinely cared about what was happening to him because he’d never let anyone that close and...it made things harder. You had to worry about them, as well as yourself.

  ‘A normal level of blasts—the immature white blood cells—should be less than five percent,’ David said, breaking the sombre silence in the room. ‘Yours are over twenty percent, Lachlan.’

  Lachlan didn’t want to look at Flick to see how she was taking the news. Because he was afraid she would look like Josh did? Or more afraid that she wouldn’t—that she was only here out of politeness or perhaps, at best, friendship?

  ‘Is there a genetic component?’ he asked. ‘Because, if there is, maybe Josh is at risk and he’d better get himself tested as well.’

  ‘I did read about a case of identical twins getting diagnosed with AML a few days apart,’ Josh said. ‘Probably because I was up half the night, reading.’ He offered Lachlan an apologetic smile. ‘Concordant AML, it’s called, but the good news is that they had a sibling who was an HLA match and they got a stem cell transplant, which has apparently cured them. They didn’t even get any graft versus host disease.’