The Surgeon's Family Wish. Abigail Gordon

have taken better precautions against pregnancy. Instead of letting her longing for a child overcome common sense.

      * * *

      As Aaron drove her home Annabel was thinking that it had been a strange and unsettling evening. She’d been allowed into the warm circle of a close family, depleted though they were, and at the same time had experienced the pleasure to be had from gracious living.

      Maybe it had done her some good, seeing how other people lived. If it had lifted her out of the doldrums, Aaron would have done her a favour by inviting her to his home.

      But before leaving him she had to get one thing clear. She was certain there had been no ulterior motive when he had mentioned the problems of remarriage, but she had a strong feeling that his mother’s remarks had been aimed differently. That she had been sounding her out as a prospective candidate for the position of second wife and stepmother to Lucy.

      Grateful for the shadowy interior of the car and aware that they would be back at the flat within minutes, she said casually, ‘While you were upstairs with Lucy I got the impression that your mother was vetting me for the marriage market.’

      He groaned and, taking his eyes off the road for a moment, scrutinised her face, searching for a guide to her feelings on the matter.

      ‘I’m sorry about that, Annabel,’ he said quietly. ‘She means well, but Mum is letting her anxieties about the future take over. I invited you to dine with us as a thank you for what you did for Lucy.’

      So let’s get that straight, he seemed to be saying, and she had to admit she was just a bit disappointed. Was she so muted down and drab that he didn’t see anything attractive about her?

      When he stopped the car in front of the flats she turned to him and said softly, ‘It’s been a lovely evening, Aaron. I’ve really enjoyed it. Thank you so much for inviting me.’

      He observed her with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

      ‘What? In spite of having to listen to my problems and then having my mother follow them up with her broad hints about my solitary state? For all she knew, you might be married or already have someone in your life. Have you?’

      His tone had been apologetic, but that last question had come like a bullet from a gun, as if her answer was going to matter.

      ‘No. I haven’t,’ she told him, not knowing whether to be annoyed or amused at the question. ‘I’m not married, engaged, in a partnership or anything else. Being alone has its advantages. I’m free to do whatever I please.’

      ‘But you haven’t always been alone, have you?’ he asked, amazed how relieved he was to know she was free.

      ‘No. I haven’t. But I am now.’

      Aaron said no more. There was something in the tone of her voice that told him not to pursue it. Instead, he asked in a lighter tone. ‘Well? Are you going to ask me in?’

      She smiled. ‘No. I’m not. I know you’re bursting to see the inside of my rabbit hutch, but I don’t think it would be a good idea.’

      ‘Why not?’

      ‘Because you have some preconceived idea that it’s going to be dreadful.’

      ‘Right, then. I’d better be off. Have a nice weekend, Annabel,’ he said, adding with a boyish grin that was oddly appealing. ‘Keep taking the vitamins.’

      As she was opening the passenger door of the car he leaned across and kissed her lightly on the cheek. As she gazed at him in surprise he said, ‘Just a kiss between friends. Nothing to do with the marriage market.’ And leaving her standing beside the door of the accommodation complex he drove off.

      * * *

      She’d seen another side to Aaron tonight, Annabel told herself as she lay on her hard single bed in the flat’s bedroom. The brisk mantle of efficiency that he wore at Barnaby’s had fallen from his shoulders and he’d let her see that he had his problems just like anyone else.

      It was a terrible thing that had happened to his family. He and Mary had both suffered a double tragedy. Aaron had lost his wife and father and his mother her husband and daughter-in-law.

      They’d been taken from them in a matter of minutes and he must have wished a thousand times that he’d never gone back to the hotel. But as they were both well aware, lots of people would do lots of things differently if they could see into the future.

      If she’d known the misery she was letting herself in for when she’d been attracted by a lazy smile and an even lazier accent, she would have behaved differently. Husband-stealer she was not, and Randy had shown himself to be much less of a man than she’d thought he was when it had all come out.

      It was strange how one man could deceive his wife without batting an eyelid and another should still be grieving for a woman who had died four long years ago.

      Yet that was how it was. Aaron had made it painfully plain that he had no designs on her. To such an extent that she almost wished he had.

      She sympathised with his mother’s efforts on his behalf but he shouldn’t be put in the humiliating position of advertising for a wife. It was a cold-blooded procedure and although he had barely touched her, something told her that when Aaron took a new wife, if he ever did, there would be nothing cold-blooded about it.