Marrying the Runaway Bride. Jennifer Taylor

down on him as he made his way to the office. Losing a child was always a heartbreaking experience but it had become even more difficult since Duncan and Stephanie had died. It was hard to accept that so many lives should be cut short far too soon.

      Heather was in the office; she looked up when he went in and he saw her expression change when he shook his head. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, her voice catching, and Archie had to swallow when he felt a lump come to his throat. He could tell that she’d truly meant what she’d said and that it hadn’t been just a polite expression of regret. It touched him deeply, far more deeply than it should have done, in fact.

      ‘We all are,’ he said shortly, because breaking down wasn’t an option. ‘Have the parents arrived yet?’

      ‘Yes. They’re in the relatives’ room.’ She was all business once more and Archie was suddenly sorry that he had been so short with her.

      ‘Right. I’ll have a word with them, then.’ He turned to the door, stopped, walked another step, then swung round. ‘Look, I didn’t mean to snap at you, but it always hits me hard whenever we lose a child.’

      He gave her a tight smile, wondering why he felt that he had to explain himself. He wouldn’t have done so under normal circumstances, yet for some reason he didn’t want Heather to get the wrong idea. ‘I can’t afford to get too emotional when I need to speak to Charlie’s family.’

      ‘I understand.’ Her eyes filled with compassion as she looked at him. ‘I don’t think it’s possible to do this job unless you care, but it’s hard, isn’t it, when something like this happens? It makes you remember the people you have lost, too.’

      ‘It does,’ he said quietly, then left before he was tempted to say anything else. It seemed his suspicions had been correct. However, he knew that asking Heather whom she had lost would be a mistake at the moment. It would only lead to him telling her about Duncan and he didn’t think he could cope with that right now.

      He made his way to the relatives’ room and spoke to the boy’s parents. It was every bit as bad as he had expected and he was emotionally wrung out after he finished. He made sure the parents knew that they could sit with Charlie for as long as they wanted to, then asked Marion to escort them to a side room. Charlie would be taken there from the ward so the family could have some privacy. Sorting out such details was all part and parcel of his job, but it was so much more than mere routine and he would never be able to treat it as such. Mind you, he wouldn’t have to after he returned to Scotland. Maybe that was the plus side of giving up his job?

      He tried to put a positive spin on the thought but he was all out of optimism. The cloud of gloom that had been hanging over him seemed to intensify as he went back to the ward and had a word with Mike, who was equally despondent. Archie assured him that he had done everything he could, but he knew his registrar didn’t believe him and that Mike wouldn’t have been half the doctor he was if he had done. As Heather had said, you had to care otherwise you couldn’t do this job properly.

      As though thinking about her had conjured her up, she suddenly appeared. It was just gone six a.m. and she was on her way home. Archie frowned as he watched her button up her coat as she hurried along the corridor. Was that it, then? Was she going to leave and disappear for good? He had no idea if she was booked to work at the hospital again. Some agency staff did full weeks, others preferred to do the odd session here and there, and he had no idea which category she fell into. However, the thought that she might walk out of the door and that would be the last he saw her of her was very hard to swallow.

      Archie wasn’t sure what his intentions were when he found himself following her. He wasn’t even sure if it was a good idea but that didn’t stop him. He put on a spurt when he saw her get into the lift but the doors closed before he could reach it.

      He took the stairs instead, two at a time, careering down them as though a pack of hungry hounds was snapping at his heels. Heather was already leaving the building by the time he exited the stairwell so he raced after her, then had to stop when he reached the main door to let an elderly woman pass through ahead of him. He helped the old lady manoeuvre her walking frame inside then set off again—down the steps, across the car park, out into the street…

      He ground to a halt when he spotted Heather standing at the bus stop. Quite frankly, he wasn’t sure what came next. Should he go over and tell her that he would like to see her again, maybe even ask her out? Bearing in mind recent events, did he really think she would accept?

      Archie groaned when he realised how stupid it was to imagine that Heather might be interested in seeing him again. She had just run out on her wedding and going out with him would be the last thing on her mind!

      It should have been the last thing on his mind, too. In a few weeks’ time he would be moving to Scotland and he would have enough on his plate, learning how to run the estate. He’d never taken much interest in it before—that had been Duncan’s prerogative. As the elder son, Duncan had always known that he would become Laird one day and had planned his life accordingly. Whereas some people might have felt aggrieved that they would never inherit either the title or the land, Archie had felt relieved. It had meant that he could follow his dream and become a doctor, but all that had changed on Duncan’s death. Now he was Laird and he had responsibilities to go with the title. He would be far too busy in the coming months to take on anything else.

      He was still chewing it all over when Heather suddenly glanced round and spotted him. In that instant he knew that, no matter how crazy it was, he couldn’t let her get on the bus and disappear from his life for good. He would be constantly wondering what had happened to her and he couldn’t bear it.

      He made his way over to her, feeling his insides judder when she gave him a tentative smile. Despite the busy night, she looked so beautiful as she stood there in the grey morning light that he’d have needed a heart of stone not to be aware of it. It was an effort to remember that neither of them was in a position to go looking for romance and behave accordingly.

      ‘Hi. I spotted you leaving and wondered if you fancied having breakfast with me.’ He pointed across the road. ‘The café over there does the best breakfasts in London. Can I tempt you?’