Mummy, Nurse...Duchess?

‘Off and on. It depends if it’s a slow news day—but they’re rather more interested in the Duke than in the doctor.’ He paused. ‘Is that why you said about a castle yesterday?’

‘Castle?’ She frowned for a moment, and then her expression cleared. ‘It’s what all the staff call the hospital, because of the turrets.’

‘Oh.’

She stared at him, looking slightly shocked. ‘Hang on. You thought I was having a dig about you being a duke?’

‘We didn’t exactly get off on the right foot together yesterday,’ he pointed out.

‘No—and I guess I was a bit rude to you. Sorry.’

He appreciated the apology, though he noticed she didn’t give him any explanation about why she’d been so abrupt with him.

‘For the record,’ he said, ‘I did grow up in a castle. And I can tell you it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. For starters, castles tend to be draughty and full of damp.’

‘And full of suits of armour?’

He smiled. ‘We do have an armoury, yes. And I have been thinking about opening the place to the public.’ Which might give his mother something more immediate to concentrate on, instead of when her son was going to make a suitable marriage and produce an heir to the dukedom.

‘But I really don’t understand,’ she said, ‘why a duke would want to be a doctor. I mean, don’t you have to do loads of stuff for the dukedom?’

‘I delegate a fair bit of it,’ he said, ‘and I have good staff.’

‘Which again makes you different from any other doctor I’ve met.’

He wondered: was that different good, or different bad?

‘I don’t know anyone who has staff,’ she said. ‘Anyone at all. In fact, I don’t even know anyone who hires a cleaner.’

‘Guilty there, too,’ he said. ‘Obviously I know how to use a vacuum cleaner, but there are a lot of other things I’d much rather do with my free time.’

She said nothing.

‘I want to be a doctor,’ he said softly, ‘because I want to make a real difference in the world.’

‘Can’t you do that as a duke?’

‘Not in the same way. I don’t want to just throw money at things. It’s not enough. I want to make the difference myself.’

‘From the way you talk,’ she said, ‘anyone would think you don’t actually like being a duke.’

He didn’t.

‘Let’s just say it’s not what everyone thinks it would be like—and plenty of people see the title first and not the man.’

She reached out and squeezed his hand in a gesture of sympathy. His hand tingled where her skin touched his, shocking him; he was used to being attracted to women, but he wasn’t used to having such a strong reaction to someone and he wasn’t quite sure how to deal with it.

She looked as shocked as he felt, as if she’d experienced the same unexpected pull. ‘Sorry. I didn’t...’ Her words trailed off.

Didn’t what? Didn’t mean to touch him? Or didn’t expect to feel that strong a physical reaction?

He had the feeling that she’d find an excuse to run if he called her on it. ‘No need to apologise. It’s nice that you understand,’ he said. ‘So have you been working at this castle very long?’

‘For nearly a year,’ she said.

‘Where were you before?’

‘The other side of London, where I trained.’

He noticed that she hadn’t actually said where. Why was so she cagey about her past?

He’d back off, for now. Until he’d got his head round this weird reaction to her and had made sense of it. And then maybe he’d be able to work out what he wanted to do about it. About her.

* * *

On Wednesday lunchtime, Rosie disappeared, and Leo remembered what Kathleen had said to him: Rosie read to Penny every other day, when she was in. Not quite able to keep himself away, he found himself in the corridor outside Penny’s room. Rosie’s voice was clear and measured as she read the story, and every so often he could hear a soft giggle of delight from Penny.

‘Rosie’s so lovely with her,’ a voice said beside him.

He looked round; the woman standing next to him looked so much like Penny that there was only one person she could be. ‘You’re Penny’s mum, yes?’

‘Julia.’

‘Dr Marchetti,’ he said, holding out his hand to shake hers. ‘Although your daughter isn’t one of my patients because I’m not a heart specialist, I work with Rosie, and Rosie told me all about Penny.’

‘Rosie’s such a lovely woman. So patient. And it’s so kind of her to read to Penny in her lunch break.’

‘I think you’d probably have a queue of staff there, if you asked,’ Leo said. ‘From what I hear, Penny’s a firm favourite. And her kitten pictures are pinned up in the staff room—they’re adorable.’

‘Aren’t they just?’ But behind her smile Julia’s eyes were sad. ‘I’m sorry, I’m probably keeping you from a patient.’

‘It’s fine,’ Leo reassured her. ‘But if there’s anything you need?’

‘Rosie’s there,’ Julia said. ‘But thank you.’

‘I’ll let you get on.’ He smiled at her, and headed back to his office to prepare for his next clinic. But all the same he couldn’t get Rosie out of his head.

* * *

Thomas propped himself against the desk where Rosie was sitting. ‘Obviously I’ve read the file, but you’ve seen Penny more than anyone else this week. How do you feel she’s doing?’

Rosie grimaced. ‘There doesn’t seem to be any change in her condition this week, even though we’ve been juggling her meds as you asked us to do.’

‘So it’s not working. I’m beginning to think that the only way forward for her now is a transplant.’ He sighed. ‘Julia’s in today, isn’t she? I’ll ask her to get Peter to come in as well, so I can talk to them together.’

It wasn’t going to be an easy conversation, Rosie knew. ‘Do you want me to be there when you talk to them?’

He shook his head. ‘Thanks for the offer. I know you’ve been brilliant with them, but this is my responsibility. It’s going to come as a shock to them.’