Prince Charming of Harley Street

Rose was aware her mouth had fallen open. She quickly closed it.

‘But you’re young,’ she protested, feeling her cheeks grow warm. What an imbecilic thing to say.

He looked puzzled. ‘Twenty-seven, since you ask. How old are you?’ He leaned towards her and lazy eyes swept over her. ‘No, don’t tell me. Twenty-five?’

‘Twenty-six, actually,’ Rose conceded reluctantly. He was laughing at her, making her flustered. And she didn’t do flustered. ‘My name’s Rose Taylor. The agency sent me over. To fill in until your usual receptionist returns.’

‘Where did you say Mrs Smythe Jones was? I’m sure she didn’t say anything about going on holiday.’

‘I don’t think it was a holiday.’ Didn’t this man know anything about the woman who worked for him? ‘She had an emergency to do with her sister apparently. She called the agency on Friday, to ask for a temp.’

Jonathan frowned. ‘I knew her sister hadn’t been well. I was away this weekend, skiing. Couldn’t get a signal on my phone—you know how it is.’ He pulled his mobile out of his pocket. ‘Still no message. I’ll phone her later, after I’ve seen my patients.’ He snapped the phone shut.

‘Okay, so now we’ve that sorted, let’s move on. Who’s the first patient?’

Rose was still reeling from the discovery that this man was the doctor. Where was the elderly silver-haired man of her imagination? She was rapidly trying to process this new information. But it wasn’t making any kind of sense.

As if he’d read her mind, Jonathan said, ‘There is another Dr Cavendish, my uncle. But he retired last year. I took over the practice from him.’

Still confused, Rose studied the list in front of her. ‘You have three patients this morning.’ Only three! And each of them had been given half-hour slots. Half-hour slots! In the practice where she normally worked, the patients were lucky to get ten minutes with the overworked and harassed medical team. Either Dr Cavendish wasn’t very good and no one wanted to come and see him, or he didn’t like to work too hard. But it was none of her business how he ran his practice. ‘And then you have a couple of home visits this afternoon. That’s all Mrs Smythe Jones has marked down for you, unless there’s another list somewhere?’ Come to think of it, perhaps that was the answer?

She glanced around the desk. No, apart from this ornate leather-bound appointment book there was nothing else with information on it. Her eyes came to rest on the computer. That was it. There must be a computerised patient list. She stopped herself from smacking her head at her stupidity. Of course there would be a full list on the computer! The patients Mrs Smythe Jones had marked down in her neat hand must be additions.

Rose smiled apologetically at Jonathan, who was waiting patiently for a response, and booted up the hard drive. There had to be a password here somewhere.

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ she apologised as the computer hummed into life. ‘That must be the add-on list. As soon as I can get into the clinic on the computer, I’ll be able to tell you who else is down for your clinic.’

The half-smile was back. ‘You won’t find anything on there. Mrs Smythe Jones doesn’t believe in computers, I’m afraid. She uses it for letters, but that’s it. The list you have in front of you is it.’ He stood and straightened his already immaculately tied tie. ‘Three patients sounds about right.’ He held out his hand for the book. ‘When the first patient arrives, just press this buzzer here.’ He leaned back over the desk and Rose caught the scent of expensive aftershave. He straightened and pointed to a set of oak filing cabinets. ‘Notes are in there. Now, if you’ll excuse me. Vicki, my nurse, should be in shortly—she’ll keep you right.’ Without waiting for a reply, he retreated into the consulting room and closed the door behind him.

The first patient wasn’t due to arrive for another half an hour. The cleaner came in and picked up the tray from the desk.

‘His Lordship in, then? I’m Gladys by the way,’ she said.

It was getting more confusing by the minute. His Lordship? Who the hell was she referring to? Did she mean Jonathan? In which case, it wasn’t a very respectable way to speak about her boss.

Gladys chuckled. ‘You haven’t a clue what I’m talking about, dearie. Do you? His Lordship? Jonathan? The Honourable Jonathan Cavendish?’

Oh, my word. She was working for aristocracy.

Speechless, Rose could only indicate the closed door of the consulting room with a tip of her head.

‘That’s me, then, luvvie,’ Gladys was shrugging into her coat. ‘I’ll get myself away home. Nurse will be in in a minute. I’ll see you tomorrow. Ta-ra.’

Rose sat at the desk, completely stupefied. When a harassed staff member from the agency had rung her late on Friday afternoon, she’d been only too glad to get a job for the next few weeks. She hadn’t stopped to ask about the practice, and even if she had wanted to, the voice on the other end of the line had made it clear she was in a rush.

‘It’s a minimum of four weeks, more likely five. Harley Street. Please say you can do it. They’re new clients and we really want to keep them on our books. It involves the usual medical secretary work, plus manning the reception with possibly a bit of chaperoning thrown in. It’ll be a piece of cake for someone with your experience.’

It had sounded right up Rose’s street. Ever since Dad had had a stroke she’d known she would have to put her job in Edinburgh on hold and go and help her mother. Her parents hadn’t wanted her to come home to London, but to Rose there had been no choice. Happily the practice she worked for as a practice nurse had been sympathetic and agreed to give her five weeks’ leave, more if she needed it. The next few weeks would give her time to assess the situation at home and decide whether she should return to London permanently.

Harley Street was a couple of tube journeys away from her parents’ house and meant an hour’s commute at either end of the day, but it was a job and Rose had snatched the opportunity with both hands. Now she was wondering if she’d done the right thing. Then again, she hadn’t much choice. There weren’t that many temping jobs and she needed the money. Whatever reservations she might have about her new boss, the job was perfect.

She sighed and helped herself to another chocolate in the bowl on the desk. She let the rich flavours roll around her mouth. Delicious.

The door opened and an older woman with neatly coiffed hair and a small dog tucked under her arm swept into the room. Rose glanced at her sheet. Could this be L. S. Hilton?

‘Such a naughty boy,’ Mrs Hilton clucked. ‘Snapping at that poor man’s ankles. If you do that again, Mummy will get really angry with you.’ Before Rose could react, she thrust the dog into Rose’s arms. He was wearing a little coat that covered his legs and a scarlet ribbon in the hair on his head. ‘Could you find him some chocolates? He always gets grumpy when his blood sugar gets low.’ Then she peered at Rose over her spectacles. ‘Oh, I don’t think we’ve met, dear. Where is Tiggy?’ She glanced around the room as if she might find her hiding somewhere.

‘She’s had to go away for a bit,’ Rose said. The dog looked up at her with a distinctly unimpressed air. Rose was worried that he’d take a snap at her and she looked him firmly in the eye. She was used to dogs. Her parents had always had one when she had been growing up. You had to show them who was boss straight away. The dog whimpered and relaxed in her arms. She looked over to the desk for the chocolates. Her cheeks burned as she realised that she’d scoffed the lot. She should have known better than to leave the bowl in a place where her fingers could wander of their own accord. To her huge relief, Mrs Hilton didn’t seem to notice the now empty bowl.

‘Mr Chips likes you,’ Mrs Hilton said approvingly. ‘He doesn’t usually take to strangers. And certainly not when he’s grumpy.’

‘If you could just take a seat, Mrs Hilton, I’ll let the doctor know you’re here. Then I’ll see what I can find for Mr Chips. Can I get you something? A cup of tea, coffee?’

Mrs Hilton sat down on one of the chairs and picked up a magazine. ‘No, thank you. Too much caffeine isn’t good for my arthritis and…’ she eyed Rose severely ‘…don’t you know it’s terribly bad for the skin? Like chocolates.’ Her eyes flickered to the empty bowl and Rose felt her cheeks grow warmer. ‘Although it seems you have good skin. Good girl. Most girls don’t think about their skin until they reach my age and by then it’s far too late to do anything about it. At least—’ her eyes twinkled ‘—without the expertise of a good surgeon.’

Rose couldn’t work out whether she was annoyed or flattered by Mrs Hilton’s personal comments. But the gleam in older woman’s eye made her go with the latter. She meant no harm.

Rose buzzed through to Jonathan to let him know Mrs Hilton had arrived.

‘It’s Lady Hilton,’ he corrected mildly. ‘I’ll come out.’

The door opened almost before Rose had time to replace the handset. Jonathan paused in the door way and his mouth twitched as he noticed Rose trying to juggle Mr Chips with one arm while she searched for Mrs Hilton’s notes with the other.

‘Sophia,’ he said, striding towards the older woman. ‘How lovely to see you.’

Lady Hilton raised her face to his and Jonathan kissed her on both cheeks.

‘You know I would have come to the house to see you? It would have saved you a journey into town,’ he said.

‘I had to come in anyway. I needed to do some shopping. And I wanted to talk to you about Giles—away from the house. He doesn’t know I’ve been feeling poorly. And…’ she looked at Jonathan sternly ‘…he’s not to know.’

‘Sophia, everything that you tell me is always in complete confidence,’ Jonathan said firmly. He placed an arm under her elbow and without appearing to add any pressure, eased her to her feet. Despite the look of resolve on the older woman’s face, Rose could tell the movement caused her some discomfort. Probably arthritis. Or something like it.

‘Do you mind awfully keeping Mr Chips while I’m in with the doctor? He gets so restless if I don’t pay him my full attention,’ Lady Hilton asked Rose.

It wasn’t really a question. Dog-sitting hadn’t been in the job description. But, hey, it wasn’t as if she was overrun with work, and he seemed to have gone to sleep in her arms.

Rose smiled. ‘Don’t worry. He’ll be fine with me. If he wakes up and starts looking for you, I’ll bring him in.’

While Rose waited for the next patient to arrive, she looked around for something to do. She liked to keep busy. Not that she could do much with a dog asleep in her arms. Spotting her discarded cardigan hanging on the back of the chair, she used one hand to form it into a little bed on the floor under her desk. She placed the sleeping dog on top. He looked at her with one eye, then gave a contented sigh and settled back down to sleep. Okay, what next? Perhaps she should ask Jonathan whether he would mind if she brought in some textbooks and did some revision in between patients? She couldn’t see why he’d object. Unless she had more to occupy her, she’d go mad with boredom.

Her glance fell on the pile of magazines Lady Hilton had picked up in the short time she’d been in the waiting room. They were a mix of high-fashion glossies and society-gossip magazines, the type Rose never ever looked through—or at least never bought. She had to admit taking a sneaky look once or twice when she was at the hairdressers, but that wasn’t the same as buying them. Other people’s lives didn’t really interest her, not unless they were doing something remarkable, like climbing Everest or walking unaccompanied to the South Pole. Now, those were people with intriguing lives, not folk who were famous, well, because they were married to a footballer or had a rich father.

Casually she flicked through the first magazine she picked up, curious despite herself. She came to a few pages near the middle, which had photographs of celebrities out on the town. Suddenly she stopped. Staring out at her, his arm around the waist of a woman with long wavy red hair, a figure to die for and a dress that would have cost Rose a year’s salary, was Jonathan. He was dressed in a dinner jacket and a white shirt and appeared relaxed and at ease. Rose peered closer. Although he was smiling, there was something in his eyes that suggested he wasn’t best pleased to be photographed. The caption underneath read ‘The Honourable Jonathan Cavendish and his girlfriend, actress Jessamine Goldsmith, at the premiere of her film One Night In Heaven.’

Rose was having a hard time getting her head around it. He was an honourable, the son of a lord, his girlfriend was a movie star. And he was her boss. A GP. She felt her lips curl in disapproval. That wasn’t the kind of doctor she approved of. People should go into medicine to help others, not to finance some gad-about lifestyle. However, it was nothing to do with her. She was here to do a job and as long as her new boss didn’t actually go around killing his patients with his incompetence, who was she to judge?

The door swished open and she dropped the magazine as if it were a hot potato.