Doctor on Loan by Marion Lennox

Author:Marion Lennox
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-09-24T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

TWO aspirins and a cup of tea couldn’t help Don Parker.

‘He’s dead.’ Emily, Don’s daughter, was almost hysterical on the other end of the line. ‘Christie, my dad’s dead.’

‘Oh, Em…’

‘Dear God, it’s my fault.’ Emily was sobbing so hard that Christie could hardly make out what she was saying. ‘I always come. Every night I come. But tonight I didn’t because he told me my cooking was dreadful and I should be ashamed. He’s been in such a bad mood! And I was so upset…So I didn’t come and now…I phoned to say good-night and he didn’t answer. I thought he must be punishing me but I couldn’t relax so I came over, and he’s dead. He must have been upset when I didn’t come and—’

‘Hey, Emily, don’t do this to yourself.’ Christie’s voice was soft and calming, but Hugo, listening, said a mental farewell to his lovely evening. Her voice said, yes, this was serious. ‘Wait until I come before you figure what’s happened,’ she was saying. ‘Are you sure he’s dead?’ She’d had instances before when she’d been called to a corpse and had ended up tucking them into bed for the night.

‘I…’ Emily swallowed and caught herself. ‘I’m sure. He’s…he’s just…his eyes…He’s dead. I know he is.’

‘OK. Is anyone with you?’

‘No.’

‘Ring Mrs Whitten. Your dad has her number on the pad above his phone. She’s just next door, Emily, and I know she’s home. Have her come over and stay with you. And ring your husband. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.’

‘Twenty minutes…’ There was a long gulping breath at the end of the line and then a tearful sob. ‘Oh, Dr Flemming, I so hoped…but they said at the hospital that you wouldn’t be available until morning.’

‘I’m always available,’ Christie said, and there was a note of resignation in her voice that she could only hope the woman didn’t hear.

But she couldn’t suppress it.

‘We’ll both go.’

‘You don’t need to.’ They were rowing back across the estuary. Christie’s experience in a rowing boat matched Hugo’s strength, so they took an oar apiece, rowing silently back to the boatshed and to duty beyond. ‘Don’s place is just past the hospital. I’ll drop you at our cottage on the way.’

‘I’m coming,’ he said softly, watching her as she rowed. Her face was set and grim. It was as if she’d been expecting this all evening. Expecting an end to pleasure.

She worked so hard, he thought as he watched her. She’d so wanted to go prawning, and now this! Hell, more and more he was wanting to do something for this woman. Lighten her load a little.

While she’d been catching prawns she’d dropped years from her age, he’d thought. She was still a girl underneath this load of responsibility she’d shouldered—a lovely, laughing girl who’d felt like…

Whoa…

Slow down, he told himself. That way is deep water.

But the thought refused to go away. The ache was becoming a need.

She shouldn’t let him come. She should insist that he stay at

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