An Unexpected Proposal

‘Conventional medicine doesn’t seem to have done her much good.’

Madeline halted and whipped around, cheeks flushed and eyes glittering. ‘Don’t you dare preach to me, Doctor. You know nothing about this case. It just so happens that conventional methods only work if you follow your doctor’s advice! Mrs Sanders is notoriously uncompliant.’

Madeline’s chest heaved, a fact not missed by Marcus. But unfortunately she didn’t give him that long to appreciate it before she stormed ahead again.

Madeline was dismayed to find that some idiot had parked her in. Her dismay grew to anger when she realised it was Marcus’s MG. She gritted her teeth. She was going to need thousands of dollars’ worth of dental work done in the not too distant future if this kept up!

She kicked one of his car’s tyres out of pure pique and leant impatiently against her boot, foot tapping. She watched his lazy swagger as he approached. Even his strut was sexy.

‘I hope you’re better at your hocus-pocus than you are at parking.’

He laughed and she shivered despite the thirty-degree day. ‘Someone got out of bed on the wrong side. Look I’m sorry, OK? I think we got off on the wrong foot this morning.’

‘Just shift your car, Dr Hunt. I have no desire to speak with you.’ She just wanted to go. Get out of his radius. His presence was too unsettling.

‘Maddy,’ he said, coming nearer, ‘I thought we’d called a truce last night? I’m really a great guy when you get to know me.’

He was too close for her sanity. She found it hard to remember to breathe around this man. He made her inexplicably want to throw caution to the wind and hop on the back of his skateboard and roll off into the sunset.

‘Your car,’ she repeated.

Marcus gave a frustrated sigh at her stonewalling. He’d never had to work this hard in his life. And it just made him more intrigued. More fascinated. More sorry about the diamond rock on Madeline Harrington’s left hand.

He gave her a long, hard look then moved away from her. He put the key in his door and decided she looked just as good in profile. ‘Why don’t we go and have a coffee or something? Get to know each other a little?’ he asked her.

‘Are you still here?’ she said, ignoring his question.

He laughed. ‘OK, OK. I guess I’ll see you later.’

‘Don’t hold your breath,’ she replied, and was pleased with just the right amounts of indifference and ice she’d injected into her voice.

Marcus gunned the engine and gave her another confident grin. ‘It may be sooner than you think.’ His laughter reached out and touched her even after he’d accelerated away.

The muscles of her neck ached and she didn’t have to be a chiropractor to know the cause. Stress. Also known as Marcus Hunt. He made her wary. Tense. On guard. She massaged them one-handed as she drove out to George and Mary’s acreage property for lunch.

Mary handed her a nice cold Chardonnay as soon as she arrived and they sat out on the back deck in squatters’ chairs, looking out over the gorgeous mountain view. George joined them and she filled them in on London and the events of the previous day.

‘So you’ve met Marcus,’ George said.

Madeline rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, I have. Did you know he was a homeopath when you leased the premises to him?’

‘Of course,’ he said.

‘What were you thinking, George?’

He looked at her calmly. ‘I thought you might have a problem with it.’

‘I threatened to have him evicted,’ she said bluntly.

Mary gasped and held her hand to her mouth. ‘Oh, no, dear! I’ve invited him to lunch.’

‘What?’ demanded Madeline, staring at Mary like she’d just grown another head.

‘He’ll be here any time soon.’

Oh, great, she thought. Was it too late to leave? Then she became annoyed. Why should she have to? George and Mary had been nothing but wonderful since her parents had died and she hadn’t seen them for six weeks.

‘Why on earth would you threaten to evict him?’ asked a shocked George.

‘Because I expected you to be as outraged as me. I thought you’d been hoodwinked by the estate agents and were oblivious to the identity of the new leaseholder.’

‘Why would you think that?’

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ she said sarcastically. ‘How about all the botched-up patients we’ve seen? How about Abby?’

George looked at Madeline over the top of his glasses. She looked so much like her father. But Paul Harrington’s daughter had been through a lot over the years and it had made her much tougher than the gentle soul who had been his dearest friend. She had been emotionally guarded since high school and Simon breaking off the engagement had made her even more wary.

He sighed and took his glasses off. ‘I know she’s your sister and you know how much we cared for her, but Abby was a grown woman who made her own decisions about her health care, Madeline,’ he reminded her gently. ‘Yes, she was foolish but ultimately it was her choice who she consulted that day. You can’t brand the entire industry because of a few bad eggs. Abby must also share some of that responsibility.’

Madeline knew he was right but Abby had paid such a high price for her stupidity. ‘I know that. I’m just surprised that suddenly we appear to be endorsing this stuff,’ Madeline said.

‘Madeline,’ George sighed, getting up and moving closer, ‘Marcus is one of Melbourne’s top people in alternative medicine. He’s even worked with elite athletes, helping them find alternative medicines to treat their ailments because so much conventional stuff is on the banned list. We had him thoroughly checked out. He holds a bona fide medical degree. He’s not some radical quack. Just a good doctor offering people choices based on sound medical and homoeopathic principles. The best of both worlds.’

She knew George was making sense but an image of Marcus’s dimpled smile was stuck in her brain and she wanted it gone. ‘Why wasn’t I consulted?’

‘You’ve been away for six weeks.’

‘There are such things as telephones.’

‘It wasn’t a decision we made lightly, Madeline. We all discussed it and agreed that it would be good for the practice to promote holistic care. You’re not the only one keen to make changes so we can attract new clients. You opened the box and you’ve really helped revive the practice, but we have ideas, too. So many people come in these days wanting alternatives to pills and intrusive medical procedures. At least we can refer them to someone with an impeccable reputation.’

‘You mean you’re actually going to refer patients to him?’

‘If I feel it’s warranted. If it’s what they want—yes.’ He shrugged.

‘I don’t know, George. It’s one thing to tolerate him but to legitimise him by passing work his way is another thing entirely. You know we have to strive for best practice. And that has to be evidence-based.’

‘Come on, Madeline, so much of modern medicine and pharmacology is based on old remedies.’

She nodded thoughtfully. ‘Maybe. But that’s the problem with all this alternative nonsense, isn’t it? There’s no written studies to back up their claims. If it isn’t written somewhere, proven in some double-blind study somewhere, I don’t think I’ll be referring any of my patients.’

And she wanted as little to do with him as possible. There was something strange that happened inside her when she was around him. It was confusing and she didn’t need it in her life. As it was, she was going to have sit through lunch with him. Him and his blue eyes and wicked dimples.

‘You will be nice to him, won’t you, dear?’ said Mary.

Manners were very important to Mary. ‘Of course, Mary. I’m always polite,’ she said, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice. Since when had she ever not done the right thing?

The phone rang, interrupting their conversation. Madeline hoped it was Marcus cancelling lunch but when George didn’t come back from answering it she assumed it was for him. Mary went to check on lunch, ordering Madeline to stay where she was and relax.