Czytaj książkę: «The Playboy of Harley Street»

CHAPTER ONE

KATIE SIMPSON looked around the luxury interior of the private jet and wanted to pinch herself. Dr Cavendish, the senior partner at the practice, had told her at her interview that she’d be expected to fly all over the world, but he hadn’t said anything about private jets.

Katie jiggled her legs impatiently. Where was Dr Lineham? They had boarded the small plane ten minutes ago and there was no sign of her colleague. Opposite her, their patient was playing a game on her games console, looking completely unfazed by her surroundings.

Lucy Hargreaves was eight years old and suffering from cystic fibrosis. Katie and Dr Lineham were accompanying her to Monaco so that she could watch her father, a British racing champion, in a prestigious racing tournament.

Katie swivelled round in her seat at the sound of footsteps clattering up the aluminium steps.

Dr Lineham at last—and not before time. For the second time that day, Katie was taken aback. Instead of the older man she’d envisaged, Dr Lineham was lean, with thick, tousled dark hair that curled over his collar, olive skin, high cheekbones and a wide, full mouth. His tall, broad-shouldered frame filled the doorway as he paused to finish adjusting his tie and do up the top button of his shirt. He looked more like a film star than a doctor.

‘Damn London traffic,’ he muttered, before coming forward. He stopped next to Lucy and ruffled her hair. ‘Hi, Luce. You okay?’

Lucy glanced up, her eyes crinkled in a smile. ‘Hey, Dr Fabio. Where’ve you been? Late night out again?’

Fabio held a finger to his lips and pretended to frown. ‘Luce, don’t give away my secrets. For all you know, I’ve been in the hospital all night.’

He winked at the little girl and she giggled.

Oh, please, Katie thought. Couldn’t he at least pretend to be more professional?

Deep green eyes swept over Katie. She was aware of him taking in her dark suit and sensible shoes and shifted uncomfortably under his appraising look. She hadn’t known what to wear so had settled on the same outfit she had worn to her interview. Not that Dr Lineham had been there. Apparently he’d been away with a patient in Mauritius or some other exotic island.

‘And is this our new physio, Lucy?’ His voice was as smooth as warm chocolate with just a trace of an accent Katie didn’t recognise.

‘She says I can call her Katie,’ Lucy replied. ‘She’s been here for ages already. She knows how to play games on my console. I think she’s cool.’

‘I’m pleased to meet you, Dr Lineham,’ Katie responded, trying to keep the disapproval from her voice. Despite being told at her interview that the practice was friendly and informal, it had been emphasised that all the staff took their duty towards their patients seriously. Katie expected nothing less, but now she wondered if one of her colleagues didn’t share that ethos. Imagine coming directly to work after being out all night! What was he thinking? He should have left home earlier if he didn’t want to be late. Like she had. An hour and a half before she’d had to, and if it had meant she’d had to hang around the airport for quite a while, at least she’d been on time.

And didn’t Dr Lineham need to check Lucy over or something? Katie was far from reassured by his casual approach. Between them, they had total responsibility for their patient.

Dr Lineham held out his hand and as Katie shook it, she was aware of the hardness of his skin, which didn’t quite fit with his groomed exterior. ‘And I am pleased to meet you too, Katie Simpson, but, please, call me Fabio.’

The way he said her name in an accent she still couldn’t quite place sent an unexpected frisson up her spine.

‘You have to strap yourself in,’ Lucy reminded Katie, as Fabio settled himself into the seat opposite. ‘Just for take-off.’

Lucy was pale and underweight for her age but with a wisdom in her indigo-coloured eyes that belied her years. Dr Cavendish, the senior partner, had briefed Katie the day before about the little girl’s condition.

‘Her CF is under control most of the time, but unfortunately she has had one or two bad chest infections and there is some scarring.’

‘Should she be travelling?’ Katie had asked.

‘It makes her happy. And after all the trip is only for two days and as long as she gets regular physio and Fabio is there with her, there’s no reason to think she won’t be absolutely fine. Our clinic is set up so that we can allow our patients to carry on with their normal lives as much as possible.

‘For those patients that can manage it, naturally we see them at the practice, otherwise we attend them in their own homes or wherever they may be. Sometimes a patient may need us to travel with them and we do that too. We aim to be as flexible as possible.

‘Mrs Hargreaves—Amelia—wouldn’t be letting Lucy go if she didn’t have medical support for her and absolute faith in us,’ Dr Cavendish continued. ‘Dr Lineham has been looking after Lucy for the last two years—a year before he joined us—and her parents have complete and justified confidence in him.’ He smiled. ‘Lucy has never seen her father race—at least, not apart from on television—so she’s adamant she wants to go. As you’ll learn, she’s quite a determined child.’

As the plane gathered speed for take-off, Katie gripped the armrests of her seat. Fabio, on the other hand, was casually flicking through a magazine as if he didn’t have a care in the world. His legs were stretched out in front of him and Katie couldn’t help but notice how the material of his suit trousers clung to his thighs, emphasising the defined muscles. He had loosened his tie and discarded his jacket and looked very much at home. Something about him sent a shiver of disquiet through her.

‘Don’t be scared,’ Lucy said, placing one of her small hands on top of Katie’s.

Not good. The child comforting the adult. Katie forced herself to unpick the fingers of her right hand from the armrests and relax.

‘I’ll be fine. Keep it between you and me, Lucy, but I’ve never flown in a plane this size before. It doesn’t even feel like a plane. I guess it just takes getting used to.’

Lucy had given her a quick tour before they’d prepared for take-off. There were twelve seats in groups of four with a table between them, a bar with fruit juice and snacks, and shelves with books and magazines. It reminded her more of a lobby of a hotel than a plane. The co-pilot, a slim, attractive woman who looked far too young to be flying planes, doubled up as the stewardess and had introduced herself simply as Fern.

As soon as they were airborne and the seat-belt lights switched off, Lucy put down her games console and showed Katie how one of the seats at the rear of the cabin could be made into a bed. ‘That way I can lie down while you do my physio.’

‘Have you been to Monaco before?’ Lucy asked, as Katie worked on her.

Katie smiled. ‘I’ve spent three weeks in Europe and I’ve just returned from working in Ireland, but that’s about the limit of my travels, I’m afraid.’

‘I haven’t been to Monaco either. But I have stayed on the yacht we’re staying on before when we’ve been on holiday. I like staying on yachts. Do you?’

‘I did a trip on a riverboat with my parents when I was a little girl. It was wonderful. I loved it. It was so much fun. I remember my brother and I had to keep getting on and off to open the locks.’

At the memory, a stab of pain shot through her and her eyes filled. She was glad Lucy was lying on her stomach and wouldn’t see the tears threatening to spill. Would she ever be able to think of Richard without wanting to howl? She doubted it. She breathed deeply, trying to keep her voice level.

‘Okay, that’s you.’ Katie helped Lucy sit up.

‘That was quick,’ Lucy said. ‘You’re much better than the person who normally does my physio.’

Kate smiled. ‘Maybe because I’ve had lots of practice. My young cousin has cystic fibrosis too. I used to do her physio when they lived near me.’

‘Want another shot at my game?’ Lucy asked when they were seated again. ‘I don’t mind sharing.’

She really was an extremely likeable little girl. ‘No, thanks, sweetheart, but it’s kind of you to offer. I think I’ll read for a little while.’

Katie tried to concentrate on the magazine she’d bought in Departures, but somehow her eyes kept on straying over towards her colleague as he chatted to Lucy. Dr Fabio Lineham was the most extraordinarily gorgeous man she’d ever set eyes on. And she bet he knew it too. No doubt he had a phone full of women’s phone numbers. She started guiltily when he caught her flicking a glance at him and she made a show of being deeply engrossed in reading an article. Until she noticed the title—'How to Entice Your Man into Your Heart and Between the Sheets'. She slapped the pages shut when Fabio left Lucy playing her game and sat down beside her.

‘So, Katie, I think we should get to know each other, seeing as we’ll be working together.’

He smelled divine. A mixture of spice and lemons. Her heart gave a little run of beats and for some reason she felt the air had been sucked from the atmosphere, leaving her feeling breathless.

‘What would you like to know?’ Katie asked, relieved that her voice didn’t give her odd reaction away.

‘Everything.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘We’ve a couple of hours to go yet.’

‘There’s not much to tell, really.’ At least, there wasn’t much she wanted to tell him. She liked to keep her professional and personal lives separate.

‘I’ve been working as a physio for four years. I specialised in sports injuries before moving to paediatrics.’ There. Keep it to work. That was safe ground.

‘I know that. It was all on your pretty impressive CV. By the way, well done on that paper you contributed to the British Medical Journal.’

The paper wasn’t listed on her CV and she was surprised he knew about it.

‘I enjoyed reading about bioethics and physiotherapy. It’s not something I knew much about.’

So, he hadn’t just glanced at it but read it. She looked at him more closely. Perhaps she shouldn’t make up her mind so quickly? Didn’t she hate it when other people did that? Just because he was good looking—strike that, amazing looking—it didn’t mean he wasn’t a good doctor. She relaxed a little.

‘I’d like to know about you,’ he added. ‘Not just your professional résumé.’

She stiffened. Perhaps she should trust her instincts after all? She was right about one thing. He was the kind of man who couldn’t bear to pass up a chance to flirt with anyone of the opposite sex. He was gorgeous and knew it. She distrusted men like that. Not that she had any experience of his kind of man.

‘Not much to tell, really,’ she said.

‘Ah, I’m sure there is. What do you like to do in your spare time?’

Katie looked at him out of the corner of her eye. ‘I exercise when I can. Swimming mostly. And I go out occasionally.’

‘No boyfriend?’

It was none of his business. This was taking polite interest a step too far.

‘No,’ she replied shortly. ‘Tell me about you.’ It was a safe ploy. Men like him liked nothing better than to talk about themselves.

To her surprise, he shook his head. ‘Oh, no, you don’t. I asked first.’ He smiled and her pulse did another little run of beats. ‘Tell me about the swimming. Do you go often? What else do you do to keep fit?’

The approval as his dark green eyes swept across her body brought a flush to her cheeks. Really, if she hadn’t just met him, and he wasn’t her boss, she’d be tempted to … What? Tell him to stop looking at her? It wasn’t necessarily his fault her body was behaving in this disconcerting, alien manner.

‘I swim almost every day. It’s a habit I got into as a child and have somehow managed to keep up. I find it relaxing. Nothing to do except think about finishing the lengths. No noise. Just mindless rhythm.’ At least, that was how it used to be. These days any silence was filled with memories of Richard and terrible, overwhelming pain, loss and guilt. No matter how hard she pushed herself, no matter how many times she pounded up and down the length of the pool, she could never exhaust herself enough to sleep without having stomach-churning, terrifying nightmares.

She forced herself to concentrate on the present. ‘What about you?’ This was more like it. Two colleagues exchanging polite small talk. ‘I take it you’re into the party scene?’ She couldn’t resist it.

Fabio leant over, his warm breath fanning her neck. It took every ounce of her willpower not to instinctively pull away from him as sparks danced down her spine. ‘Don’t tell Lucy—she likes to think I lead an exciting life of parties and balls, but …’ he dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper ‘… actually, I had to attend a formal dinner last night but was called out in the middle of it to attend to a patient. I had to admit her to hospital and we were there most of the night. I didn’t have time to go home and change.’

‘Oh.’ So she had got him all wrong. She felt a tell-tale flush colour her cheeks.

He resumed his normal tone. ‘But to answer your initial question, I love all sports.’

‘He goes BASE jumping,’ Lucy interjected from across the way. She’d obviously been listening to their conversation while playing her game. ‘It’s how he met my dad. Dad used to do it too but Mum made him give it up. She said it was too dangerous and that it was bad enough him being a racing driver without that as well.’

What could be more dangerous than driving a racing car?

‘What’s BASE jumping?’ Katie asked. ‘I can’t say I’ve ever heard of it.’

‘It stands for Buildings Antenna Spans and Earth. I looked it up in a book,’ Lucy replied.

Katie was none the wiser.

‘Earth actually stands for cliffs,’ Fabio said. ‘You find a cliff with sheer sides and jump off it.’

‘You jump off cliffs?’ Katie couldn’t keep the incredulity from her voice.

Fabio shrugged. ‘It’s not as dangerous as it sounds. I do wear a parachute.’

‘I couldn’t imagine in my wildest dreams throwing myself off a mountain with nothing but a flimsy bit of material strapped to my back.’ Katie shivered. ‘Bit of an extreme way to get a high, isn’t it?’

‘Some people get their thrills from a bottle. I guess I get mine at the top of a mountain.’

It was the way he said it that made Katie look more closely at him. There was a far-away look in his eyes, a sudden seriousness that intrigued her. Suddenly she wanted to know what attracted him to such a dangerous sport.

Fabio seemed to give himself a mental shake.

‘But we were talking about you. Where do you live? And what about your family? Are they nearby?’

Katie swallowed. ‘I stay in North London, not far from where I was brought up. Dad was an accountant. Mum used to work as a nurse in the local hospital.’

‘Used to?’ Fabio looked at her sharply.

Oh, God, she always dreaded this question. It made people embarrassingly uncomfortable and they usually quickly moved the conversation to safer ground. Not that she could blame them—what was there to say? ‘They died in a plane crash when I was thirteen.’

There was no disguising the shock and genuine sympathy in his dark green eyes. ‘I am so sorry. That must have been hard, losing both of them.’ Fabio touched her hand lightly.

‘It was.’ Her heart thumped against her chest. She guessed what was coming next.

‘What about brothers? Sisters?’

Katie flinched and shook her head. He’d already elicited much more information than she was comfortable with—and what could she say to this virtual stranger about her brother? Especially when she was still so raw she could barely acknowledge the truth herself?

‘No. It’s just me.’ Even as she said it, she hated that she couldn’t yet bring herself to mention her brother. But she couldn’t. Not without wanting to cry.

She needed to turn the conversation back to safe ground. Anywhere but on her family life. Forcing a smile, Katie turned to him. ‘And you? Where are you from? Not England, I’m guessing.’

‘So where do you think, then?’ he asked with a crooked smile.

She leaned her head back and made a show of thinking. ‘Portugal.’

Fabio wiggled his hand in a side-to-side gesture. ‘Hmm, not quite. Brazil.’

Brazeel. The way he said it made it sound so exotic.

‘That’s a long way from your family.’

‘My mother lives in Brazil most of the time, it’s where most of her work is. My father died when I was in my teens.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Kate said simply.

‘His mother is a film star,’ Lucy piped up again. The child had remarkable hearing.

‘Hey, don’t you give all my secrets away, Luce,’ Fabio protested.

Katie sneaked a sideways look at Fabio. It made sense he’d have an actress as a mother. That was probably where he got his stunning good looks. She raised an eyebrow, inviting him to elaborate.

‘You might have heard of her. The actress Camilla Salvatore?’ The way he said his mother’s name, rolling the consonants around his tongue, his Brazilian accent becoming stronger, made Katie’s toes curl, even as she wondered what had caused the bleak look in his eyes.

Camilla Salvatore—who hadn’t heard of her? If Katie remembered rightly, she had been a model before becoming an actress, the wife of the equally famous Tom Lineham, who had been huge in the 1980s and whose hits were still popular even now.

Tom Lineham! God. That made Fabio his son.

Fabio must have read the dawning realisation in her face. ‘Yes. ‘Fraid so. They’re my folks.’

Katie’s head was spinning. The couple had been international celebrities. She remembered reading somewhere that Tom Lineham had died and that there had been some mystery surrounding the circumstances, but wasn’t that always the case with celebrities? It was hardly something she could quiz his son about. It wasn’t surprising she hadn’t made the connection, between Dr Fabio Lineham and Tom Lineham. It had never crossed her mind that two famous people would have a son who had become a doctor. Why had he anyway? It seemed an unusual choice for the child of extremely wealthy parents.

‘Yet you became a doctor,’ she said.

He looked amused. ‘As opposed to what? Being in the movies? A singer? Lolling about, living off my parents’ money?’ He smiled wryly. No doubt he was used to this reaction. ‘I’m a lousy actor and my voice is worse.’

‘So all this …’ she waved a hand around the interior of the plane ‘… is pretty much old hat to you.’

‘’Fraid so,’ he said again. ‘I didn’t even know there were commercial aircraft until I was thirteen or so.’

Poor little rich boy.

A flicker of a smile crossed his face. ‘That didn’t come out too well, did it? But I’m not going to apologise for the way I was brought up. There was money, yes. But as for …’ He stopped suddenly but not before Katie thought a flash of pain in his eyes. Almost immediately it was gone and the mask was back in place. ‘One thing I’ve learned, Katie Simpson. Never apologise for who you are. Or what you were. Never look back. It’s the here and now that matters.’

What did he mean by that? For a second she wondered if he knew about Richard. But that was impossible. She hadn’t told anyone. She was beginning to get the unsettling sensation he could see inside her head.

‘And, before you ask, no brothers, no sisters—only a cousin who lives in California.’ Maybe he could read her mind.

‘So what made you choose physiotherapy?’ Fabio said, before she could question him further.

‘My young cousin has CF. Like all sufferers, she has to get physio regularly. She’s one of the lucky ones, though.’

Her cousin had escaped the relentless round of chest infections that most CF patients were susceptible to throughout their lives.

‘What about you? Why did you become a doctor?’ Katie tried to turn the conversation back to him. She was reluctant to share any more details of her life with this man. He already knew more about her than she wanted him to know.

‘Pretty much the same reason as you—personal experience. I was ill as a child—nothing too serious. I found it really interesting what everyone was doing around me and decided I’d like to be on the right end of a needle.’ His words trailed off and Katie thought something shifted in his eyes before his mouth widened in a smile. ‘Seems we have more in common than just being colleagues.’

Katie was pretty sure they didn’t have much in common. Apart from the fact they had both lost their fathers, his upbringing couldn’t have been more different from hers. He was rich, sophisticated and probably used to socialising with the kind of people she’d only read about. Furthermore, the way he looked, the confidence that seemed to ooze from every pore, made her feel gauche and unsophisticated. He had no right to make her feel like that.

‘I doubt that.’ As soon as the words were out of her mouth she realised how abrupt she sounded. ‘I’m sorry, that didn’t come out the way I intended.’

‘That’s okay,’ He gave her a puzzled look. He was probably wondering why she was so prickly. She wasn’t sure herself. Ever since he’d stepped on board, she’d felt flustered.

She picked up her magazine again, making it obvious she preferred to read than chat.

Fabio gave her a long look before settling himself back in his seat and closing his eyes. He opened one briefly to look at Katie. ‘Give me a nudge when we’re about to land, would you? It was a hell of a late night last night.’

Before Katie could reply, the rhythm of his breathing changed and within seconds he was sound asleep.