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She might not have had much experience with men in her life, but she could see at a glance that he was way out of her league.
Jerking her hand away, she stooped to pick up her bag.
‘I’d better be going. The time of the accident was 12.30. That’s all I know. I didn’t see anything at all. Nothing. So I’d be no use to the police.’ Gabbling in her haste to get away from him, she fumbled in her pocket for her car keys, but his strong fingers closed over her arm, holding her trapped.
‘Slow down.’ His voice was incredibly gentle. ‘Why are you running away from me?’
Her breath was coming in gasps. ‘I’m not running.’
‘Liar.’
‘—I’m going to be late,’ she stammered, finally retrieving the keys and freeing herself from his grasp.
He reached out a hand and took the keys from her, unlocking the car and opening the door so that she could slip inside.
‘So why the big secret?’
She glanced at him warily. ‘Secret?’
A smile touched his mouth. A slow, sexy smile that made her heart stop and her breath catch in her throat.
‘Go on, give me a clue.’ Joel’s voice teased her senses. ‘Just the first letter? E for Esmerelda? L for Lucretia?’
‘L for Lucy.’ The minute she’d said it she could have bitten her tongue off. She’d had no intention of telling him, but the way he was looking at her made her feel—made her feel…
‘Lucy…’ He repeated her name slowly and thoughtfully, not even pretending to disguise his blatant interest in her. He wanted her and he wasn’t afraid to show it.
For one fleeting moment she wondered what it would be like to go out with a man like him and then she dismissed the thought quickly. It would be scary. There would be nothing safe or tame about him. He was one hundred per cent hot-blooded male and she had absolutely no experience of men like him. The strength of attraction between them was so powerful it warmed the freezing air around them.
‘May I have my keys?’ She reached out a hand, her cheeks burning as he held her gaze steadily for several seconds more before slowly handing them over.
‘Look…’ He hesitated, clearly searching for the right words. ‘I can see I’ve made you nervous, and I know that this isn’t exactly a conventional place to meet, but I’d really like to see you again.’
She felt as though someone had squeezed all the breath from her body. ‘I can’t.’
‘Why not?’ He shrugged his broad shoulders. ‘Don’t you believe in love at first sight?’
She looked at him, and her smile was filled with sadness and all the pain of the last twelve months.
‘I don’t believe in love at all,’ she said quietly, turning the key in the ignition and driving away from him before her hormones made her do something she knew she’d regret.
CHAPTER TWO
IT WAS her.
The nurse from the car accident.
Completely amazed by his good fortune, Joel stopped dead in the doorway of the waiting room. Without the covering of her thick wool coat he was able to get a good look at her, and he ran an appreciative eye over her long legs, her ridiculously slim waist and her incredible curves.
She was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen.
His eyes narrowed and his insides clenched as he watched her face, noting the huge green eyes and the soft pink mouth. She was completely and utterly feminine and every male bone in his body reacted to her.
As he watched, she bent down to retrieve a toy from the floor and he had to stop himself groaning aloud.
She had a bottom straight out of a bad boy’s dreams. A perfect, rounded curve. He’d never been able to understand why women thought thin was attractive. Personally, he hated thin. As far as he was concerned, a woman was meant to have curves. And, boy, did this one have curves…
He remembered her wistful comment about not believing in love and wondered what had happened to make her look so sad and vulnerable. After she’d made that announcement he’d let her go, all his experience with women telling him that it would be a mistake to persist.
But he’d had every intention of seeing her again.
All the way to the surgery he’d been racking his brains for a way of tracking her down, but now here she was, in his father’s waiting room. He couldn’t believe his luck.
He was about to throw a lifetime of commitment phobia to the wind and propose to her on the spot when he heard his name.
‘Dr Whittaker. Dr Whittaker!’
He blinked, shook himself and reluctantly dragged his eyes away from Lucy, focusing instead on the woman smiling up at him.
‘Er—hello, Ros.’ He bent to kiss her cheek, genuinely fond of the woman who had been his father’s receptionist since he was a child. ‘You look gorgeous. Nice jumper.’
He always noticed what women wore. In fact he always noticed women, full stop.
Especially when they looked like Lucy.
‘Go on with you!’ The receptionist blushed and lifted a hand to her hair, visibly flustered by his attention. ‘You’re late, Dr Whittaker. Your father and brothers were expecting you this morning.’
‘Something came up.’ Joel gave her a saucy wink, knowing that she’d think the worst of him, because people always did and it amused him to wind them up.
With a last regretful glance towards the nurse with the curves, who still hadn’t noticed him, he followed Ros through the waiting room, along the corridor that ran past the consulting rooms and up the stairs to the staff sitting room.
‘I saw you on the television, Dr Whittaker.’ Ros grabbed the handrail, slightly out of breath as she negotiated the stairs. ‘In fact, I have to admit I didn’t miss a single episode of Helicopter Doctor. You were fantastic. So cool and calm and wonderfully in charge of every crisis. I could hardly believe I once changed your nappy.’
‘Thanks for that reminder, Ros.’ Joel’s tone was dry but his eyes gleamed with humour. ‘Just as long as you don’t sell any photos of me in the buff to the press…’
Ros laughed. ‘What was it like, trying to work with a camera on you all the time?’
‘Actually, I hardly noticed them,’ Joel said truthfully. ‘I just got on with the job and they hovered in the background. When you’ve got a patient lying in pieces after a road accident you don’t exactly care who’s watching.’
‘But now you’re giving it all up to be a GP. Do you think you’ll miss all the drama?’ Ros paused at the top of the stairs and Joel gave a careless shrug.
‘I don’t think so. Six months with the air ambulance was long enough, really. I’m ready to join the family firm.’
Particularly now he’d seen the nurse that his father had employed.
The job was looking up by the minute.
Ros smiled. ‘It’s your father’s dream, you know. All three of his sons in practice with him.’
‘Yeah, I know. We spoil him.’ Joel gave her a friendly wink and then went ahead of her and pushed open the door of the staffroom.
His father and older brother had practised in an old converted house until four years before, when they’d moved into this purpose-built, architect-designed medical centre built around an impressive glass atrium, which allowed plenty of light into the building. His father, who believed in the importance of pleasant working conditions, had also insisted on a spacious, well-equipped staffroom which had stunning views over the Cornish coastline.
Both his older brothers were in the staffroom now, deep in conversation with their father.
Joel sauntered in and slung his bag down on the floor. ‘I thought GPs were supposed to be having a hard life at the moment. Since when did life get this relaxed? And there was I thinking you were desperate for some help from a decent doctor…’
‘Well, well—it’s the prodigal son.’ Richard rose to his feet, strode across the room and clapped Joel on the back. ‘Better late than never. We expected you earlier. What kept you?’
Joel cleared his throat. ‘Well, actually—’
‘Don’t you mean who kept him? It’s bound to have been a woman. It always is.’ His older brother Michael gave him a wry smile from the comfort of his chair and gestured to the coffee-pot. ‘Are you in need of caffeine?’
Joel nodded. ‘Yes, please, but I’ll have you know I was—’
‘If you’re seriously joining the family firm, you’re going to have to curb your social life.’ His other brother Nick interrupted his attempt at an explanation, his expression mocking. ‘You don’t get special treatment here. You can’t bunk off just because you’re a film star.’
Joel’s eyes gleamed with humour and he rose to the bait. He was well used to responding to his brothers’ banter. He’d had thirty-three years of constant practice. He gave Nick a sympathetic look, designed to drive him mad. ‘I didn’t realise you’d be so jealous.’
‘Me? Jealous of you?’ Nick gave a disgusted snort. ‘Don’t be soft. As if I’d want to spend six months practising medicine with a film crew stuck up my—’
‘Thank you, Nick, this is a family show.’ Michael’s tone was dry as he cut in and handed Joel the coffee. ‘You did a good job, Joel. It was an interesting series. You almost made medicine look exciting and you’ve definitely got the proudest mum in Cornwall.’
‘You’ve also got the biggest mailbag,’ his father commented. ‘You’re certainly not going to be short of adoring women to choose from after all the exposure you’ve had.’
‘As if he ever was. Unfortunately, most of the female sex can’t see further than his pretty face.’ Nick yawned, and Joel leaned broad shoulders against the wall and looked at him innocently.
‘If you like, you can help me answer my mailbag.’
Nick gave him a withering look and then grinned. ‘Any naughty ones?’
‘Dozens.’ Joel’s smile was wicked. ‘You just don’t want to know what some women would like to do with my underwear.’
Nick gave an exaggerated shudder. ‘Please! Spare us the details.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Enough of this idle banter. I’ve got calls to make, so I’ll catch up with you later.’
His father lifted his eyebrow. ‘Are you and Tina joining us for supper at the house?’
Joel brightened at the prospect of a family gathering. ‘Has Mum killed the fatted calf?’
‘Yes, although I can’t think why.’ Nick stood up and gave his brother a wink to take the sting out of his words. He bent down and picked up his jacket and his bag. ‘Yes, we’ll be there, Dad. Tina can’t wait to see Joel. Seems to think that if he’s living here she can calm him down and find him a nice girl who’ll cure him of his wicked ways.’
‘Who says I want to be cured?’ Joel’s eyes gleamed. ‘And I don’t need Tina to find me anyone. The girl of my dreams is standing in your waiting room at this very moment.’
There was a moment’s silence while they all digested this piece of information and then Michael cleared his throat.
‘No way is any girl who features in your dreams, which are undoubtedly pornographic, sitting in our surgery,’ he said mildly, delving into the fridge for something to eat. ‘Oh, for crying out loud—no more milk. Didn’t anyone remember to shop this morning? Whose turn was it?’
Nick looked sheepish. ‘Er—I think maybe mine, but I had an urgent house call…’
Michael picked up the empty carton with a sigh and threw it in the bin. ‘OK, so who’s volunteering to go across the road to the shop?’
There was a sudden chorus of excuses and Joel rolled his eyes.
‘How do you lot manage to stay so undomesticated and not starve? You’re useless!’ He folded his arms across his broad chest and shook his head. ‘I’ll go, on condition that you tell me everything I need to know about my dream woman. I’ve already met her once this morning and—’
There was a collective groan and then Michael spoke for all of them.
‘So that’s why you were late! We knew it! It was bound to be a woman.’
Joel tilted his head back and swore under his breath. ‘I hope your listening skills are slightly more advanced than this when you’re with patients.’
His father put a hand on his shoulder and gave his older sons a disapproving frown. ‘We’re listening, Joel.’
‘There was an accident on the coast road,’ Joel explained. ‘A nasty one. I stopped to help, which is why I was late.’
Michael shook his head in total disbelief. ‘What is it with you and accidents? The rest of us seem to go through life only ever seeing boils and rashes, but drama is your middle name. You attract accidents like a magnet.’ He leaned back in his chair and lifted an eyebrow. ‘So how did the girl of your dreams fit into this?’
‘She stopped to help. In fact, she was first on the scene.’ Joel’s voice was soft. ‘She’s a nurse. Your nurse. Although I didn’t know that at the time.’
The room fell silent and his brothers exchanged glances.
‘Our nurse?’ His father cleared his throat. ‘You mean Lucy? The woman you’re talking about is our Lucy?’
‘Yes.’ Joel glanced between them, his gaze questioning. ‘What’s wrong with that?’
‘Forget it. She’s not your type,’ Nick said slowly, his expression serious for once. ‘In fact, she’s definitely not your type.’
‘I disagree,’ Joel drawled, a strange gleam in his eye as he looked at his brother. ‘From what I’ve seen, she’s definitely my type. She’s gorgeous.’
‘I didn’t say she wasn’t gorgeous.’ Nick’s mouth tightened. ‘She is gorgeous. But she’s also sweet and gentle and definitely not able to cope with someone like you.’
‘Surely that’s up to her to decide.’
Nick shook his head. ‘Don’t even go there, Joel, don’t even think about it.’
Unfortunately it wasn’t that simple.
He’d thought about little else since he’d seen her bending over the injured motorcyclist, her cheeks pink in the frozen air and her expression troubled.
‘She came here for some peace and quiet and to escape some hassle she was having,’ Michael told him, his face as serious as Nick’s, ‘so she doesn’t need any more from you.’
‘Whoa! Dismount from your charger, will you?’ Joel lifted a hand and looked at them curiously. He’d never seen his brothers quite so protective of anyone before. ‘I don’t want to give her hassle.’
‘No. We know exactly what you want to give her,’ Nick said shortly, walking across the room and pausing with his hand on the door, ‘and you can forget it, buster. You lay one hand on her—just one finger—and I’ll knock you out cold.’
Joel’s eyes gleamed and his fists tightened by his sides. ‘You mean you’ll try.’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, grow up!’ Richard Whittaker looked at his sons impatiently. ‘Haven’t the three of you got anything better to do than regress to boyhood? Nick, get on with your calls.’
