Marion Lennox: Storm Haven

‘Well, well, well.’ He whistled soundlessly as he neared them. ‘A veritable transformation…’

‘You should talk,’ Nikki said abruptly, and then flushed. Her eyes fell away. She didn’t know how to react to this man.

He grinned. ‘Didn’t you like my coating of prawns, bait and blood?’ he smiled. He looked up to the pilot. ‘Thanks for bringing her back.’

It was as if he were a parent thanking the air hostess for looking after a child. Nikki’s flush deepened and she felt anger mounting within her.

‘Couldn’t Beattie come to collect me?’ she asked ungraciously.

‘You don’t approve of the substitute?’ he demanded, his eyes still laughing. He motioned down to the parcel in his arms. ‘Beattie and Amy are involved in a most important function at Amy’s kindergarten. They said they’d meet you at home. Speaking of Beattie, she asked me to send this down to Cairns.’ He handed it over to the pilot. ‘Can I leave it with you? The address is on the label.’ Then he turned back to Nikki. ‘Shall we go?’

‘Fine.’ Nikki turned away but the pilot stopped her.

‘You’ve forgotten your parcel, Doc,’ he said apologetically, looking down at the bulky package still at Nikki’s feet. He looked from Luke to Nikki, obviously relishing the undercurrents he was sensing.

‘Leave it here until next week,’ Nikki snapped. ‘I don’t want it.’

‘I’m not doing that,’ the pilot said definitely. ‘This building is open to heaven knows who. You’ll have to take it.’ He turned to Luke. ‘Can you take it for Doc Russell?’

Luke nodded and held out his hands to accept it. ‘I get rid of one and I’m given another. What is it?’ he asked curiously.

‘I gather our Doc Russell went shopping yesterday,’ the pilot grinned.

‘As per instructions.’ Luke Marriott smiled and the smile made Nikki’s heart give a sickening lurch. ‘Very good, Dr Russell. I’m glad to see you can follow orders.’

‘Excuse me,’ Nikki said icily. ‘I thought I was the general practitioner and you were the locum. Or was I mistaken? Since when has the locum given orders to his employer?’

Luke’s smile only deepened. ‘For three weeks, you said, I was the general practitioner and you were out of work,’ he told her. ‘And that’s the way it’s going to be.’

‘Over my dead body,’ Nikki said savagely; and then wished she hadn’t. Both Luke and the pilot obviously found it enormously amusing.

‘Come on, Nikki Russell,’ Luke Marriott said kindly, in the voice of one humouring a fractious child. ‘Let’s take you home.’

‘Dr Marriott…’

‘It’s Mr Marriott,’ Luke told her. ‘I thought your friends in Cairns would have told you that. But you can call me Luke if you like.’

Nikki stood almost speechless. The ground was being swept from beneath her feet. She felt as if every foundation she possessed was cracking. ‘Luke Marriott, I don’t know what the hell you’re playing at…’ she started.

‘I’m not playing at all.’ Luke raised his free hand in acknowledgement and farewell to the pilot, tucked Nikki’s parcel under his arm and started walking towards the hangars. In the distance Nikki saw her car parked, waiting. He glanced at his watch. ‘In fact, I’m late.’

‘Late?’

‘For afternoon surgery,’ he informed her blandly. ‘I have patients booked.’

‘My patients!’

‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘They’re mine. You’re not wanted for three weeks, Dr Russell. You can take yourself off to your texts or sleep by the swimming-pool for all I care. But you’re not working.’

‘But-’

‘Beattie has explained things to me,’ Luke went on blandly. ‘She tells me you’re set on passing this exam and it’s my responsibility to see that you do. And I’m one to take my responsibilities very seriously.’

‘I’m not your responsibility…’

‘No. But your practice is. For the next three weeks, Dr Russell, you are not wanted.’

‘WELL, we think he’s lovely.’

Nikki’s housekeeper and her small daughter were smitten. Beattie stood at the big wooden table, mechanically mixing her dough, her eyes far-away. Amy was fixed on her mother’s lap, her small fingers fingering the soft fabric of Nikki’s dress in blatant admiration. ‘Oh, Nikki, he’s just the best thing…’ Beattie continued dreamily.

‘Since sliced bread,’ Nikki snapped. She was perched on the stool as she held her daughter, sipping tea and feeling stranger and stranger. It was mid-afternoon. Her surgery was crowded, she knew, and she wasn’t even welcome there, much less wanted.

‘If you come near the place then I’ll pick you up and deposit you outside on your very neat bottom,’ Luke Marriott had said sternly, and by the look in his eyes Nikki wasn’t going to test the truth of his statement. She had the feeling that Luke Marriott didn’t make idle threats.

‘But what’s he doing here?’ Nikki asked for the fiftieth time. ‘He’s a surgeon, for heaven’s sake. What’s he doing acting as temporary locum in Eurong?’

‘I have no idea,’ Beattie said, giving her dough a sound pummelling. ‘All I know is that’s he’s an answer to a prayer, Nikki Russell, and you don’t ask questions when fate plays you lucky.’

‘He might be the answer to your prayers,’ Nikki said bitterly, ‘but he’s not the answer to mine. A more autocratic, overbearing…’

‘I know,’ Beattie sighed. ‘Isn’t it lovely?’

‘Beattie!’

‘I don’t mean he’s rude,’ Beattie said, shocked by Nikki’s tone. ‘He just knows what has to be done.’ She looked down at her pastry. ‘And he really likes my cooking.’ She cast a look of disapproval at her employer. ‘No just picking around the edges. I asked him what he’d like for dinner tonight and he said, “The same as last night-only more!” I won’t give it to him, of course. Last night I made a chicken casserole but tonight I’ll do a standing rib roast with Yorkshire pudding-and have apple pie to follow. Eh, but it’s good to cook for a man again. I haven’t since my John died.’

‘But he’s not staying here,’ Nikki said, frowning. ‘Isn’t he supposed to be staying at the hospital? I’d arranged it.’

‘I know.’ Beattie eyed her employer doubtfully. The thing is, Matron rang while you were in Cairns and asked if we could have him stay on for a while longer. Cook’s done the cylinder-head on her car and it’ll be a week or more before they can get the part. Meanwhile she’ll have to stay at the hospital-and Matron doesn’t want to use a ward.’ Beattie took a deep breath and her dubious look intensified. ‘So…so I told her of course we’d have him here.’

‘Beattie!’

‘We’ve plenty of room,’ her housekeeper told her severely. ‘For heaven’s sake, Nikki, there are three spare bedrooms. You hardly have to see the man apart from mealtimes.’

‘I’ll have my meals in my study,’ Nikki said angrily and Beattie smiled. ‘With Amy.’

‘Mummy, why don’t you like him?’ Amy had been intent on her drink and biscuits. Finished with the serious business of life, she turned to her mother. We think he’s nice. And he makes us laugh.’ She frowned direfully at her mother. ‘I’m not eating in the study if Dr Luke’s in the dining-room.’

‘Dr Luke!’ Nikki frowned back down at her daughter. ‘Mr Marriott to you.’

‘He said I could call him Dr Luke,’ Amy announced. ‘I said no one would think he was proper if we called him Mister, and he thanked me for the advice. And he agrees. And I showed him the swimming-pool this morning and he said he’d teach me to dog-paddle. Starting tomorrow. So he has to stay here.’