The Seduction Challenge Page 5

  She looked at him and he sensed her reluctance, but suddenly she gave him a fleeting smile.

  ‘All right.’

  Joel watched that smile, fascinated by the movement of her mouth and it occurred to him that he couldn’t remember when a woman had last been so shy with him.

  Was he really that scary?

  ‘How about three o’clock? After your clinic.’

  ‘I can’t do that,’ she said immediately, her dark hair shining under the lights as she shook her head. ‘I finish work at three o’clock.’

  He frowned. ‘It would only take twenty minutes or so, and—’

  ‘I can’t.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘I can’t stay late, Dr Whittaker. Ever.’ She stared him straight in the eye and he held her gaze, his mind working overtime, trying to work out what was going on. His father hadn’t mentioned that she worked part time.

  Why did she have to leave at three o’clock? He resisted the urge to ask her. He didn’t want to push his luck.

  ‘We can meet tomorrow morning,’ she suggested finally, ‘after your surgery and before you go out on calls.’

  ‘Sounds good to me,’ he said casually, carefully concealing all the questions that were running through his mind. ‘Tomorrow it is, then.’

  He made a mental note to ask his father why Lucy had to leave at three o’clock and then remembered that Michael had been in the middle of saying something when Ros had disturbed them.

  What had Michael been about to tell him?

  Joel frowned and tried to remember the conversation word for word.

  Something about Lucy having…having…

  Having what? He frowned and made a mental note to ask Michael over dinner.

  ‘Did you have to have your hair cut quite so short? You look like a hit man.’ Elizabeth Whittaker put her hands on her hips, the smile in her eyes belying her words as she frowned up at her youngest son.

  ‘Great to see you too, Mum.’ Joel grinned and swept her off her feet into a bear hug. ‘And while we’re at it, yes, I’ve still got the motorbike, no, I’m not planning on getting married and, yes, I’ve brought a ton of washing home. Anything else you want to nag me about while we’re at it?’

  ‘Cheeky boy.’ Elizabeth stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek and cast another regretful look at his cropped dark hair. ‘You look like a thug. It’s no wonder you’re not married. I should think most women are terrified of you—’

  ‘As if.’ Nick strolled into the room, holding a glass in his hand, closely followed by his wife Tina, who went straight over to Joel’s side and gave him a hug.

  ‘Hello, handsome. Good to see you again.’

  Nick rolled his eyes and looked at his mother. ‘What were you saying about terrified?’

  ‘Joel’s not scary, and anyway women secretly love a tough man.’ Tina stretched out a hand and ruffled Joel’s hair. ‘It looks sexy short. Goes with the biceps.’

  Joel grinned smugly at his brother. ‘You see? One member of the family appreciates me.’

  ‘Just as long as you remember that it is only the one member,’ Nick drawled, but the twinkle in his eyes took the sting out of his words.

  Joel smiled at Tina. ‘So how’s the boutique? Still shocking the locals with your daring dresses?’

  ‘Er—yes.’ Tina’s eyes twinkled and Nick slipped an arm round her.

  ‘She always creates a stir does my Tina. It would help if she remembered that what works in London doesn’t always work in deepest Cornwall.’

  ‘Living in Cornwall doesn’t mean that we all have to dress in waders all the time,’ Tina protested, and Elizabeth raised her voice to make herself heard over the laughter.

  ‘Come on, everyone, dinner’s ready.’ She waved them all towards the huge conservatory at the back of the house which they used as a dining room. ‘Joel, put those biceps to good use and give me a hand to bring things through.’

  Joel obediently picked up a tray laden with soup plates and hot crusty rolls, and sniffed appreciatively.

  ‘It’s good to be home.’

  ‘It’s good to have you.’ His mother gave a contented smile. ‘I can’t believe we’ve finally lured you back. I thought you might be seduced by your own PR and let yourself be persuaded to start a career in television.’

  He’d had offers, and his mother was well aware of it, but she was also aware that he’d never seriously considered any of them.

  Joel balanced the tray carefully. ‘I love Cornwall, Mum, you know I do. And I love medicine. I was always going to come back. I never intended to stay in London for ever.’

  Tina walked across the room and looked at Elizabeth. ‘What can I do?’

  ‘Turn the beans down, please; they’re boiling their heads off.’ Elizabeth quickly checked the meat in the oven and then whipped off her apron. ‘Come on, let’s eat this soup before it gets cold.’

  They settled down at the table and everyone raised their glasses.

  ‘To Joel.’

  ‘The film star.’

  Joel grinned and took a slug of his drink. ‘Thanks. Not sure about the film-star bit, though.’

  They all tucked into their soup and immediately the talk turned to practice business.

  ‘Lucy said that the new fridge has arrived,’ Michael told them as he reached for a bread roll, ‘so our little problem with vaccines should now be solved.’

  ‘That’s good.’ Richard glanced across the table to Joel and waved his spoon at him. ‘Your first job is to get our immunisation rate up. It’s giving me headaches at the moment.’

  Joel frowned. ‘Are we going to miss our targets?’

  ‘I don’t give a damn about the targets,’ his father replied. ‘I just don’t want to see another measles epidemic. You lot are too young to remember just what a serious illness it can be.’

  Nick suppressed a yawn. ‘It would help if the newspapers would stop printing scare stories.’

  Joel looked at them expectantly. ‘Any ideas? What have you done so far?’

  His father gave a philosophical shrug. ‘It’s all down to education, of course. But how we get that message out—well, I leave that to you to come up with some suggestions. Lucy’s a bright girl—you can see what ideas she has on the subject.’

  Michael leaned back in his chair, his eyes alight with humour. ‘Maybe he could auction himself. If people complete the full immunisation schedule they’re entered into a prize draw for a date with Joel.’

  Nick choked on his drink. ‘I thought we were planning to increase uptake?’

  Tina laughed. ‘I think it’s a great idea. They’d flock!’

  ‘I was hoping for something a little more conservative,’ Richard said mildly, observing his sons with amusement. ‘Joel, this is your baby. You and Lucy need to put your heads together.’

  Put their heads together?

  Now, that was an idea worth pursuing.

  Joel’s mind ran riot and he had a disturbingly clear vision of sliding his hands into her gorgeous dark hair and lowering his mouth to hers…

  He blanked his expression.

  Or at least he thought he had.

  ‘Joel!’ His mother’s voice was unusually sharp. ‘I need help with the second course, please.’

  Oops.

  Obviously his face hadn’t been as inscrutable as he’d thought.

  Knowing exactly why she wanted him in the kitchen, Joel gave a good-natured grin and followed his mother out of the conservatory.

  ‘You want help with the gravy?’ He folded his arms across his broad chest and leaned against the kitchen door, watching while his mother bent down and carefully lifted the meat out of the oven.

  ‘You know why I want you here, Joel.’ His mother straightened up, her face flushed. ‘And it has nothing to do with the gravy. I’ve known you for thirty-three years and I can read your mind.’

  Joel grinned. ‘I sincerely hope not.’

  His thoughts about Lucy were definitely something he wasn’t prepar
ed to share with his mother.

  ‘Joel.’ She put the meat on the kitchen table and looked him straight in the eye. ‘I know she’s pretty, but I want you to stay away from Lucy.’

  ‘You and the rest of the world, it would seem.’ Joel hooked his fingers into the pockets of his trousers and looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Everyone seems to be falling over themselves to keep me away from Lucy. Am I such an evil character all of a sudden?’

  His mother sighed. ‘You know you’re not, and I know I shouldn’t interfere…’

  ‘Feel free,’ Joel said, his tone deceptively mild. ‘Everyone else has spent the entire afternoon listing all the reasons why I mustn’t corrupt Lucy with my wicked ways. It would be awful if you missed out.’

  Elizabeth sensed something in his tone and her face softened. ‘Let’s get one thing straight here. I don’t think you’re wicked,’ she said quietly, draining the vegetables and tipping them into various bowls. ‘But I do think you’re totally wrong for Lucy. I know you don’t want to settle down, Joel, and that’s fine, but Lucy isn’t the sort of woman you can seduce and then discard.’

  Joel’s smile faded. ‘I can assure you that I’ve never “seduced” anyone in my life,’ he said coldly. ‘All my relationships have been completely mutual.’

  Elizabeth looked at her youngest son and gave a lopsided smile. ‘Now I’ve made you angry, and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to overstep the mark. Your trouble is you don’t even know your own charm. You break hearts without knowing you’re doing it, Joel, and you always have. There’s something about you that women can’t say no to, and if you—’

  ‘Mum.’ Joel lifted a hand and interrupted her, his tone slightly impatient. ‘I’m not going to hurt Lucy.’

  ‘But—’

  His gaze was steady on hers. ‘Trust me, OK?’

  Elizabeth stared at him for a long moment and gave a regretful shake of her head. ‘You’ve dated more women than I care to think about, Joel. When are you going to settle down with one of them?’

  Joel gave his mother a tired smile. ‘Don’t let’s start on the subject of marriage so early in the evening, hmm? Truth is, I don’t believe in mediocre marriages and I’ve never met anyone that I want to wake up next to every morning for the rest of my life.’

  In fact, he was beginning to wonder whether there was something wrong with him. He was used to deflecting his brothers’ teasing remarks about his inability to commit, but deep down they rankled.

  Why couldn’t he find someone he wanted to settle down with?

  Was he too choosy?

  Did he expect too much?

  He breathed out heavily. Well, if he was there was nothing he could do about it. He certainly didn’t intend to lower his expectations.

  ‘Let’s talk about something else, shall we?’

  His mother looked at him guiltily. ‘You’re telling me I’m out of line.’

  ‘Yes, but I’m trying to do it nicely.’ He gave her a gentle smile and picked up a pile of plates. ‘I tolerate your interference because you’re my mother and I adore you. I let you go further than most, but I still have limits.’

  Elizabeth picked up the meat and followed him across the kitchen. ‘Just as long as you promise to leave Lucy alone.’

  Joel stopped dead and looked at his mother with a steady gaze. ‘I can’t do that.’

  No way would he make a promise he knew he couldn’t keep.

  His mother stared at him in exasperation. ‘But—’

  ‘I promised not to hurt her, and I won’t,’ Joel said, his soft tone a warning to her to stop interfering. ‘Now, change the subject Mum.’

  It was only when dinner was over and he was back in his penthouse apartment overlooking the harbour that he suddenly remembered he’d forgotten to ask Michael about Lucy.

  He still didn’t know why she needed to leave work at three o’clock.

  CHAPTER THREE

  ON THE way to work the next morning, Lucy called in to see Ivy Williams.

  ‘I was wondering how you were,’ she said quietly, moving past the old lady into the hallway and waiting while she shut the door. Despite the freezing weather, Ivy’s house was warm and snug and she was clearly looking after herself.

  ‘Well, it’s hard,’ Ivy confessed, her face lined and tired. ‘Did you know that we’d only been together for ten years?’

  Lucy shook her head. ‘No. No, I didn’t know that.’

  ‘When you lose a partner in your seventies, people assume that you’ve been together for ever, but it wasn’t like that for Bert and me,’ Ivy told her quietly. ‘I was married to someone else before Bert, you know. And I suppose I was happy enough. At least, I thought I was. I never knew any differently until he died. Then I met Bert and I realised what I’d been missing for all those years. What I had with Bert was—’ She broke off, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. ‘Well, let’s just say it was the fairy tale. And you don’t imagine that you’re going to find that when you’re sixty.’

  Lucy bit her lip and felt a lump building in her throat. ‘It must be so hard for you. And you didn’t have that long together.’

  Ivy gave a wistful smile. ‘I would rather have lived one day with a man I truly loved than a lifetime in a lesser relationship. And we had ten years together.’ Ivy sniffed and made a visible effort to pull herself together. ‘Some people go through life and never know what true love and passion is. At least I wasn’t one of those. But it’s hard, being without him. I see him everywhere. In the garden, in the living room…’

  Lucy slipped an arm around her shoulders. ‘Has your daughter been to see you?’

  ‘Oh, yes, she’s very good.’ Ivy sighed and managed a smile. ‘She wants me to go and live with them.’

  ‘And will you?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Ivy said slowly. ‘Maybe. I’m not sure. They have young children, so I can’t believe they’d really want me there. And I’m not sure if I want to leave the house. The memories are everywhere, and it hurts, but I’m not sure that I want to be without it.’

  Lucy nodded. ‘Well, don’t make any sudden decisions.’

  ‘No.’ Ivy shook her head and looked at Lucy. ‘You’re a kind girl, coming to visit an old thing like me when I know you’re busy.’

  ‘I’m not busy,’ Lucy lied, ‘and I was going to come yesterday but I was caught up helping with an accident on the coast road.’

  ‘I can imagine that the roads are lethal at the moment,’ Ivy observed. ‘Was anyone hurt?’

  Lucy gave a little shudder as she remembered the events of the day before.

  ‘A motorcyclist, but hopefully he’ll be all right. Dr Whittaker’s youngest son happened to be passing, fortunately, so he was well cared for.’

  ‘Young Joel?’ Ivy’s face softened. ‘He’s a lad, that one. More girlfriends than I’ve had hot dinners, and no sign of settling down with any of them. He gives his mother grey hairs. But he’s a nice boy.’

  Boy?

  There was nothing boyish about Joel Whittaker, Lucy reflected ruefully when she finally picked her way along the icy pavement to her car.

  He was all man. Every handsome inch of him.

  And it came as no surprise to learn that he was lousy at commitment. In her limited experience, all men were.

  She made her way back to the surgery and was soon involved with her patients, checking blood pressures, taking bloods and offering a variety of health-related advice.

  It was early afternoon and Lucy had just finished syringing an old lady’s ear when Joel tapped on her door and strolled in.

  ‘I just called the hospital about Millie Gordon. Your diagnosis was spot on. Kawasaki disease. Frankly, I’m impressed.’

  ‘Oh.’ Lucy blushed, flustered by the look of admiration in his blue eyes.

  He was a doctor, she reminded herself firmly. No different from Nick or Michael.

  Which was utter nonsense, of course. Joel was about as different as it was possible to be.

  Since she’d me
t him she hadn’t been able to get him out of her mind, and the effect he was having on her worried and puzzled her. Today he was wearing a pair of dark, well-cut trousers and a midnight-blue roll-neck jumper which brushed his dark jawline.

  Was it just because he was so good-looking?

  Millie’s mother had said that he was the nation’s heartthrob. Was she just suffering from a normal female reaction?

  Lucy licked her lips and tried to keep her mind on work. ‘So is she very poorly?’

  Joel dropped into one of her chairs and hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his trousers. ‘I spoke to the paediatric registrar and she said that Millie’s doing OK, considering. It was lucky that she asked to see you rather than wait for an appointment with one of us doctors.’ He breathed out heavily. ‘If she hadn’t done that and there’d been a delay…’

  ‘Well, there wasn’t,’ Lucy pointed out, and Joel nodded.

  ‘At the next practice meeting we need to talk about this case.’ Joel was clearly worried about it. ‘If she’d gone home and waited for the next available appointment then it would have been a different story. We caught it early because of you.’

  ‘All the doctors here are good about seeing children, no matter how busy they are,’ Lucy informed him quietly. ‘If she’d insisted, she would have been slotted in. She didn’t insist because she’d seen Michael a few days before.’

  Joel nodded. ‘And he didn’t do anything wrong. In the beginning there’s nothing to distinguish it from any other viral illness. According to the notes, he asked her to come back in forty-eight hours if the temperature hadn’t come down or if she was worried.’

  ‘But she didn’t want to bother him,’ Lucy said softly. ‘It’s a common problem, don’t you find? The patients that really need to see you never like to insist.’

  ‘Whereas the ones that could very well survive without seeing a doctor virtually live here,’ Joel agreed, getting to his feet and pacing across her room to look out of the window. ‘Well, anyway, I’ve told Michael all about it because technically Millie is his patient. She’s obviously going to be in hospital for a while yet.’

  Lucy nodded. ‘I hope she’s going to be all right.’