Adam's Daughter

Amen to that! she silently endorsed then realised that he had carried on speaking.

‘My problems?’ she queried, her heart turning over as she wondered what he had meant by that. Had she been right all along? Had he guessed what Claire had wanted to tell him seven years ago? The thought suddenly made her feel sick, even though she had no idea why it should matter so much.

‘Having to work with a doctor about whom you know absolutely zilch. It’s no wonder you’re on edge. You’re probably worried stiff in case I make a complete hash of things this afternoon.’

He glanced down at his crumpled clothes and grimaced. ‘I admit that I don’t look the part of a bona fide GP, but I swear that I have all the necessary certificates to prove it somewhere around!’

She laughed shakily, not sure why she felt so relieved that he wasn’t about to confess to such unscrupulous behaviour. ‘You don’t have to prove anything to me. I’m willing to take your word for it that you’re suitably qualified.’

‘Thank you. I appreciate it.’ He treated her to a smile and once again Beth felt her pulse skip a beat. It had been such a long time since she’d reacted like that to a man’s smile that it confused her, and it was a moment before she realised what Adam had said.

‘The airline lost your luggage?’ she repeated.

‘That’s right. I couldn’t get a direct flight back to the UK so I had to make a couple of stop-overs en route. Somewhere between Tangiers and Düsseldorf my cases went AWOL. Fortunately, I had a holdall with me containing a change of clothes so at least I was able to wear something clean to come here today.’

He gave a deep chuckle. ‘Aunt Mary is going to hunt out some of the stuff I left with her the last time I was in England, but I’m not sure if it will do much more to improve my image. I have never been known for my sartorial elegance, shall we say.’

He paused when the phone on the reception desk suddenly rang. ‘I expect you want to go for lunch so I’ll get that. Anything I need to know before this afternoon?’

‘No, it’s all quite straightforward—routine antenatal check-ups with, hopefully, few problems,’ she assured him.

‘Fine. I’ll see you later, then.’

Adam hurried away and a moment later Beth heard the rumble of his voice as he picked up the receiver. However, she didn’t wait around. Apart from the fact that she didn’t want to have to answer any more awkward questions, she didn’t have the time to hang around if she wanted to see Hannah before she was due back at work.

She sighed sadly.

Everything came back to Hannah. She just hadn’t realised how difficult it was going to be to tell Adam about her niece.

CHAPTER TWO (#u45153ebd-5bf6-5645-8daa-83303f8fa1fc)

‘RIGHT, Mrs Graham. If you could pop up onto the couch then I can see how junior is doing.’

Adam smiled at the young woman. ‘This baby certainly isn’t in a rush to make his appearance in the world. You’re what…three days overdue now?’

‘That’s right, Doctor,’ Elaine Graham replied as Beth helped her get comfortable.

Elaine had looked extremely tense when she’d arrived. However, Beth couldn’t help noticing how much more relaxed she now appeared to be. It was obvious that Adam’s easygoing manner had had a positive effect on Elaine, as it had had on all the other expectant mums they had seen that afternoon. Beth had to admit that she was impressed.

‘I was hoping this one would be early, unlike his brothers,’ Elaine explained. ‘My youngest is having a birthday party the day after tomorrow and I was hoping that I’d have had the baby by then.’

‘Well, there’s still time,’ Adam assured her, gently feeling the position the baby was lying in. ‘The baby’s head is engaged so in theory it should be all systems go very soon.’

‘I wish you’d tell that to the baby,’ Elaine retorted. ‘I’ve had three children so far, and each time I’ve been told that the birth is imminent and nothing has happened!’

‘We don’t get it right every time, Mrs Graham!’ he admitted ruefully. He finished his examination then helped her to sit up. ‘I just want to take your blood pressure again. The reading seemed to be a little on the high side when Sister Campbell took it earlier.’

‘Probably because I’d been rushing round,’ Elaine admitted, offering her arm so that he could wrap the cuff of the sphygmomanometer around it. ‘There’s always something that needs doing when you’ve got three lively boys.’

‘I’m sure there is.’ Adam quickly inflated the cuff then paused while he took the new reading. ‘I don’t know how you mums cope with everything. It’s no wonder that there don’t seem to be enough hours in a day. But will you promise me that you’ll try to rest more until the baby arrives? It will help to keep your blood pressure down and that’s very important at this stage.’

‘I’ll try, Dr Knight,’ Elaine agreed readily, so readily, in fact, that Beth had to hide her amazement. She knew that Dr Wright had tried—and failed!—to make Elaine see how important it was that she rested during the latter stages of her pregnancy. Obviously, Adam’s charm had garnered better results than Dr Wright’s kindly paternalism had done.

It was unsettling to realise it. The image she had built up over the years of Adam Knight just didn’t gel with what she had seen that afternoon. He had been kind and caring towards the patients, deeply sympathetic to any problems they’d had. She simply couldn’t reconcile the cold professional of her imagination with the warmly attentive man she had been working with. It struck her that she could easily grow to like him, only she wasn’t sure that would be a good thing. There wasn’t room to start worrying about his feelings when she had Hannah to consider.

The thought of her niece made her sigh and she saw Adam glance at her. She forced herself to concentrate as he saw Elaine Graham out, not wanting to give him an opening to start questioning her again. He’d made no mention of their earlier conversation but she’d noticed him watching her several times and knew that he hadn’t forgotten what had happened. Until she’d decided how she intended to handle this situation it seemed safer to err on the side of caution.

Beth set about packing up the blood samples that needed to be sent to the lab for testing. There were no more patients to be seen so once everywhere was tidy she would be free until evening surgery. Adam had come back into the room and she looked at him in surprise when he started stripping the paper sheets off the couch.

‘I’ll do that in a minute. You don’t need to bother.’

‘It’ll be quicker if we both do it.’ He bundled the sheets into a ball and shoved them into a plastic refuse sack then picked up the spray bottle of disinfectant and began wiping down the work surfaces.

Beth was more than a little startled by his actions and it must have showed.

‘Old habits die hard, I’m afraid. I’m so used to having to clear up after myself that I feel positively embarrassed by the idea of anyone else doing it for me.’ He squirted some of the disinfectant onto the couch then began vigorously rubbing the leather. ‘Just ignore me. With a bit of luck I’ll have worked it out of my system in a week or two.’

‘By that time I might have got used to you performing such lowly tasks,’ she replied, trying to inject a little levity into her voice. However, the sight of him working away like that was having the strangest effect on her.

She swallowed hard as she watched the muscles in his arms flex each time he rubbed the cloth over the couch. He had rolled up the sleeves of his shirt so that she had a perfect view of his tanned forearms. When he reached across to the far side of the couch and his shirt suddenly parted company from the waistband of his trousers to reveal a couple of inches of muscular back, she had to bite her lip. Yet why should the sight of an inch or two of exposed flesh make her feel as though her insides had turned to mush? she wondered.

‘What else needs doing? Ah, yes. Those files need to go to the office.’ He stowed the cloth away in the cupboard under the sink and turned. His eyes narrowed when he saw the guilty start she gave. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘No, of course not!’ She gave a tinkly laugh, which wouldn’t have convinced anyone that she was telling the truth, and hurried on. ‘Are you here for evening surgery?’

‘I offered to split the list with Chris but he said that he could manage. I think he was worried that I might keel over from jet lag,’ he explained, although she could tell that she hadn’t completely allayed his curiosity. ‘I’ll be in first thing in the morning, though.’

‘Chris must be very relieved. It’s been hectic here these past few days. Mind you, it’s always busy,’ she replied, keeping the conversation flowing in the hope that it would distract him.

‘So Chris was saying. From what I could gather, they were having problems keeping up even before Jonathan was taken ill,’ he said levelly.

‘Dr Wright told me that the lists have doubled since that new housing estate was built on the outskirts of town,’ Beth explained, feeling easier now that the conversation was firmly centred on the practice.

‘And that’s probably been a contributing factor to why he’s in hospital,’ Adam said darkly. ‘It appears that Jonathan has been having chest pains for some time, only he was too busy to go for a check-up. He self-diagnosed angina and has been treating himself for it.’

‘I had no idea,’ she exclaimed.

‘Nobody had. Jonathan didn’t want anyone to know because he was afraid that he might be forced to cut down the amount of work that he does. Aunt Mary only found out because he confessed to the specialist.’

He gave a deep laugh. ‘I wouldn’t like to be in his shoes when he gets out of hospital. Aunt Mary might be a gentle soul but I’m sure she’ll make him pay for his deviousness!’

‘I expect she’ll forgive him in the end. She must be so relieved that he’s going to be all right,’ Beth said firmly.

Adam shrugged. ‘I’m sure you’re right. They have a great marriage. If anyone needs any tips on how to make a relationship work, they only need to look at that pair.’

‘A good role model for you?’ she suggested, suddenly curious about the state of Adam’s own love life. He hadn’t mentioned that he was married but suddenly the thought that he might have a wife and family was strangely unpalatable, and not just because it could have repercussions on what she wanted to ask him.

‘Oh, I decided a long time ago that marriage wasn’t for me. Once bitten, twice shy, as the saying goes.’