like a caress in itself, and although she was really mad at him, she couldn’t help smiling back. They were going to have to work together amicably, she told herself, so there was no point in maintaining a frigid atmosphere. She’d just have to be on her guard in the future. After all, wasn’t it typical of some males to take relationships as casually as picking sweets from a jar?
Then, dangerously, the thought echoed in her mind that if one kiss could practically send her into orbit, making her heart clatter in her chest and a thousand butterflies seem as if they were fluttering somewhere around in her stomach, what would it be like if they made real, proper love?
Titan whimpered and Christa bent down to ruffle the little dog’s head, grateful of the distraction to her thoughts. ‘Poor old Titan, you want your supper. In all the fuss I’d forgotten that. Come on, then—home time now.’ She turned to Lachlan and said lightly, ‘See you soon.’
As she walked home through the still night Christa’s heart beat a tattoo against her ribs, and even her legs felt slightly wobbly. It had been so long since any man had caressed her or kissed her—so long since she’d fancied anyone enough to do so. But out of the blue, out of nowhere, had come a man she didn’t know at all, sending her into a spin! She came to her front door and her hand trembled slightly as she tried to put the key in the lock.
‘What’s the matter with me, Titan?’ she asked the little dog. ‘Have I gone completely mad?’
* * *
Lachlan closed the door, leaning against the wall for a minute, and took a deep breath, reflecting on the effect two soft full lips could have on a man when they were pressed to his mouth. He hadn’t expected his body to respond so urgently, and wondered what on earth had possessed him to kiss Christa after a mere afternoon’s acquaintance. Then he grinned to himself—because she was so damned beautiful, of course, and didn’t the thought of shocking that rather prim, headmistressy personality rather appeal?
He was used to casual relationships—never commit yourself because they never lasted, was his mantra. Take your pleasure where you could. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake his parents had—get married, supposedly for life, and then destroy the family with a bitter and cruel break-up.
Perhaps he’d gone a step too far with Christa Lennox, expecting her to take his kiss as casually as he had—but life was for living and having fun, wasn’t it? Except, of course, he’d forgotten that one person he should keep at arm’s length was someone from the Lennox family. And neither had he bargained for the fierce longing he now had to kiss Christa again—and more.
* * *
‘Isobel’s son? I don’t believe it!’ Alice Smith’s large blue eyes looked at Christa in amazement, and she paused in mid-action as she pulled open a filing-cabinet drawer. ‘He’s a bit late, isn’t he? Isobel’s funeral was a week ago!’
‘Nobody knew where he was, and he only heard she’d died a few days ago,’ explained Christa.
Christa and the two receptionists, Alice Smith and Ginny Calder, were having a quick cup of coffee before the Monday morning surgery, and Christa had been regaling them with the previous day’s events in the barn. Both girls goggled in disbelief at Christa.
‘Where’s he been, then, all these years?’ asked Ginny, the elder of the two receptionists, her eyes popping with surprise behind her thick-lensed glasses.
‘He’s been working in Australia—it took a time to find out where he was.’
Alice stuffed some papers into the files and said thoughtfully, ‘It was sad, wasn’t it—to stay away as long as he did. I wonder what happened.’
‘I remember him,’ recalled Ginny. ‘He was a handsome lad, and I know he was the apple of his mother’s eye. She was so proud of him.’
‘Well, what went wrong?’ asked Alice bluntly. ‘How come she never spoke about him?’
Ginny shook her head. ‘No one knows, except that Isobel’s husband left her around the time that Lachlan went off to college—and, of course, Lachlan was never seen again. How long’s he staying?’
Christa put her cup of coffee down on the desk. ‘Actually, it’s not just a flying visit—he’s going to work here permanently. Isobel left him a letter saying that she wanted him to take over the practice. And he’s decided to do that. She’s left the house to him.’
‘What?’ Alice closed the filing-cabinet drawer with a crash and turned to her in amazement. ‘But...but I thought you would be taking over... It doesn’t seem fair.’
‘It’s OK, Alice. We’ve talked it over, and he’s coming in as an equal partner. He understands that, at least for a trial of six months. And anyway we need another doctor, that’s for sure. Even before Isobel died we were pretty stretched.’
‘Since Colin Maitland left, I suppose... I hope Lachlan’s nothing like him,’ said Ginny sharply, then watching Christa’s face she grimaced and clapped her hand over her mouth. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, love, I shouldn’t have brought up the subject. But you’re over Colin now, aren’t you?’
Christa smiled brightly. ‘Of course I’m over him,’ she said robustly. ‘I can assure you I won’t be taken in by any other con men, however charming!’
‘And is he charming, this mysterious Lachlan?’
Christa shrugged, trying to look as casual as possible. ‘He wasn’t so charming when I thought he was a burglar—he was up on the roof inspecting the gutter, and I shouted at him. I got a frosty reception, I can tell you!’
‘We want more information than that!’ protested Alice. ‘Is he single or married, good looking?’
‘Now, why do you want to know that?’ teased Christa. ‘You’ve got a lovely boyfriend. But for general information, yes, he says he’s single, and I suppose some people would say he’s not bad looking. Not that I find him attractive,’ she lied.
Of course the truth was that she’d found it difficult to get that mind-blowing kiss from the night before out of her head. To him it had been just a casual brush of flesh on flesh, but in her imagination she could still feel the imprint of that sensual mouth on hers, and the feeling of exploding stars and fireworks it had produced! She took a deep slurp of coffee, hoping the girls wouldn’t notice the blush she was sure was spreading over her cheeks.
‘Ah!’ Alice said with satisfaction, her eyes meeting Ginny’s with meaning.
‘What do you mean, “Ah”?’ Christa looked sternly at Alice and Ginny. ‘I can assure you both I’m off men for good, however eligible. I can promise you that if George Clooney were to go down on bended knee and give me a million pounds to marry him, I’d send him off with a flea in his ear! I’ve no ambition to have a wedding ring on my finger!’
A discreet cough from the doorway and they all whirled round. Lachlan was standing there, a suspicion of laughter in his startling blue eyes, but the expression on his face was impassive.
Christa’s cheeks crimsoned, and she jumped up in a flustered way, swallowing whole the biscuit she was eating. Had the darned man heard her inane comment about marriage as he’d stood there?
‘Sorry to interrupt you all,’ he said smoothly. ‘I know I’m not starting work until next week, but I just wanted to know if you’d had any word about how that young boy is from last night’s accident...’
Christa rearranged her features quickly from shock to welcome. ‘Oh, Lachlan, it’s you!’ She turned to Alice and Ginny and cleared her throat. ‘This is Lachlan Maguire—Isobel’s son. Alice and Ginny are the backbone of the practice, Lachlan. We couldn’t work without them.’
He looked like someone out of central casting for the lead in a medical drama, she thought, noting irritably how Alice goggled at him with frank admiration. He unleashed a charming smile.
‘Then I must keep on the