The Rebel Surgeon's Proposal. Margaret McDonagh
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People are probably shocked to see me here with you.’
Luke’s expression hardened. ‘Because I’m a Devlin?’
‘Of course not,’ she corrected him, displaying a hint of the inner steel it had been necessary for her to develop long ago to survive. ‘I doubt they would even know, Luke, much less care. It’s not you, it’s me.’
‘Why would that be?’
Francesca found herself captured by the expression in his magnetic green eyes—protective, sultry, intense. As if he was interested in her and what she had to say. As if she mattered. Clearing her throat of the sudden lump that seemed to have lodged there, and trying to clear her mind of her foolish fancies, she focused on her lunch as she answered his question.
‘I’m known as the Ice Maiden around here.’
She had strived for a self-mocking tone, one that would signify that she didn’t care a scrap what anyone said about her. That she hadn’t quite pulled it off was obvious from the tiny pulse along Luke’s tensed jawline and the narrowing of green eyes that flared with annoyance and the same kind of defensive gleam she remembered from their schooldays when he had been her self-appointed guardian.
‘Are you, now?’ He took a forkful of food, his gaze straying round the room, the challenge in them unmistakable to anyone who looked at him. ‘I doubt they’ll be calling you that much longer.’
It felt good to know that Luke’s instinctive reaction was still to take her side without question. But she was an adult now, used to fighting her own battles. Besides, he was just visiting, passing through. She couldn’t allow herself to get used to seeing him again, or to come to rely on him being her buffer against the difficult and hurtful things that sometimes happened.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop looking at him, searching out all that was familiar, learning all the changes maturity had brought to his far-too-handsome features. The dark blond hair was streaked by natural highlights and the sun. A couple of stray locks tumbled in reckless disarray across his forehead, adding to his rakish appeal. His face was masculine, strong, compelling, his nose straight, his cheeks lean, his clean-shaven jaw determined. She forced herself not to linger any longer on the temptation of his mouth, disturbed that she, who was always so cool and so uninterested in men, felt such a buzz of sexual awareness whenever she was near Luke.
The next moment she was looking into mesmerising green eyes, eyes that held a hint of mischief that stole her breath and a darkly sensual intent that shocked her and made her tingle all over. All manner of questions chased one another through her mind. Why was Luke in Strathlochan? What coincidence had brought them together in the hospital corridor at that moment in time? Where had he been these last ten years? What had he done with his life? Was he single? The last crashed her back to reality and fired a warning through her. It was no business of hers what he did and who he was with. Luke was a forbidden fantasy from her past. That was all. It would be wise for her to remember that rather than let her imagination, and this surprise meeting, run away with her.
‘How is your mother, Luke?’ she asked, seeking safer territory as they finished their meal. ‘I saw her recently when she came in after breaking her arm.’
‘I know, and I’ve been wanting to thank you. Ma told me how wonderful you were with her.’
His genuine gratitude, and his obvious care for his mother, warmed her. ‘I was pleased to help. Has she recovered now?’
‘She had the cast off two weeks ago and is fine. She came down to stay with me in London for a while but was glad to get back home.’ He pushed his empty plate aside and leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table, the action somehow making him feel much closer. Green eyes watched her intently. ‘It was thanks to Ma that I knew you were back in Strathlochan.’
‘I see.’
Francesca didn’t see at all. The remains of her lunch forgotten, she struggled to draw air into lungs that suddenly seemed compressed, and her heart thudded beneath her ribs as she tried to make sense of Luke’s words. She wasn’t aware he had ever known she had left Strathlochan and she found it hard to believe he had thought of her at all these last ten years. Conscious that her hands were shaking, she hid them under the table, clasping them in her lap, not at all sure what was going on here. And why couldn’t she break the spell Luke seemed to hold over her? Despite being in a room crowded with people and filled with noisy chatter, being with Luke felt incredibly intimate, everyone and everything else fading to the background.
‘So, have you been in London since you left town?’ she asked, struggling for a nonchalance she was far from feeling.
‘Yeah. I worked the first weeks at a hotel which had the benefit of giving me a roof over my head and food in my belly.’ The quick smile was wry and did curious things to her insides. ‘I’d applied to several medical schools and was delighted to get the results I needed in my Advanced Highers to take up the place I really wanted.’
The import of his words sank in. ‘You’re a doctor. That’s great.’
‘You’re not surprised?’ he asked, his expression curiously blank.
‘Why would I be?’
This time the smile had a harder edge and no humour. ‘I’m a Devlin, remember? We never amount to much.’
‘Don’t say that, Luke.’ Her protest was swift, her anger rising that people who knew nothing about him could pass judgement, but also that he should ever believe the ignorant gossips. She managed to resist the urge to reach out to him, instead clenching the hand that had moved so instinctively into a fist on top of the table. ‘You were the brightest, cleverest person I knew, not to mention the most thoughtful. And you worked hard. You were never going to be like them, were always going to make something of your life.’
One eyebrow, several shades darker than his hair, rose questioningly. ‘You thought that?’
‘Of course.’
‘I wish I’d had the same belief!’ His teasing faded, the expression in his watchful green eyes sober once more. ‘You were always different, weren’t you, Chessie? And I don’t mean that,’ he interjected as she stiffened involuntarily, accurately judging her train of thought, knowing of her past when she had been growing up. He moved, one fingertip resting lightly on the back of her tensed hand. Even that simple touch scalded her skin. ‘I mean, in the way you saw me as a human being rather than an extension of a bad family,’ he clarified, his finger brushing softly back and forth, sending a tremor right through her. Green eyes turned darker with an emotion she couldn’t identify and his voice was serious and almost wistful when he spoke again. ‘I’ve never forgotten the faith and trust you always granted me, or the way you stood up for me.’
Francesca had no idea what to say. She wanted to remove her hand from his caress and her gaze from his, but her body refused to obey her. ‘Are you here to see your mother?’ she asked as, shaken, she struggled to gather her composure, keen to put away the emotional memories yet unable to resist the temptation to discover more about the man he was now.
‘That’s one benefit of it.’
The cryptic response roused her interest but also made her edgy and left her feeling there was more he had to tell her, something important she had yet to grasp. ‘One benefit of what?’ she whispered, all too conscious that she sounded less like the confident, independent woman she had become and more the breathless, tongue-tied teenager of old.
For the longest moment, the very air seemed to still as she waited for Luke’s answer. His hand enclosed hers, warm and strong yet exquisitely gentle as he linked their fingers together. Francesca thought she might go up in flames, not only from the contact but from the smouldering way he looked at her—as if no one else mattered, as if he saw her alone. Finally, he spoke.
‘Fate. Timing. Three vital things falling into place at once. One was Ma. One was the job…’
Again Luke paused, and