The Doctor's Engagement

Without his arms around her Holly suddenly felt lost and confused. What was she meant to say after a kiss like that? What was she meant to do? Was she really expected to act as if nothing had happened? As if what they’d shared was common practice between good friends?

But Mark didn’t seem bothered—it seemed that all he could think about was Caroline, and whether their ruse had worked.

Holly stared past him, frowning slightly as she realised that there was no longer anyone on the beach. They must have walked away very quickly.

She closed her eyes briefly and wondered whether her heart rate was ever going to return to normal. Hadn’t Mark felt it, too? That overwhelming electricity that had burned through her entire body? No, obviously not, she thought miserably, or he wouldn’t have released her so quickly and wouldn’t be ignoring her now. To Mark it had just been a kiss. A kiss like any other. And she knew better than most just how many other women he’d kissed in his life.

Well, all that practice had certainly paid dividends. He was a good kisser. Lifting a hand, she brushed blonde hair away from her face and touched her lips with shaking fingers, remembering how it had felt when he’d touched her. Not just good. Incredible. Mark was an incredible kisser.

Breathing steadily to slow down her heart rate, she walked past him to the mouth of the cave, hoping that he wouldn’t notice that her legs were shaking.

Mark.

Dear God, this was Mark. Her Mark. He was her oldest and dearest friend and yet—and yet at the moment when he’d kissed her he hadn’t felt like a friend at all. He’d felt like a lover.

Only he wasn’t her lover and never would be. He’d just kissed her for the benefit of observers. It hadn’t been special to Mark.

But it had been special to her...

‘Well, that should have convinced her,’ Mark murmured as he stared across the beach. ‘We’d better be getting back, I suppose.’

His voice was calm and relaxed, giving no hint that anything had changed for him. Which it hadn’t, of course. He’d been thinking about Caroline all the time. Acting out a part.

Unlike her. She hadn’t been acting. For Holly it had been all too real.

She’d kissed her best friend and suddenly everything that had been so clear was now confused.

CHAPTER FIVE

WHAT was she going to say to Mark?

A sleepless night had done nothing to clear Holly’s head, nothing at all. And now she had to face him. She swallowed hard and paused at the bottom of the staircase, trying to pretend that the kiss they’d shared had meant nothing to her. That their relationship was exactly the same as it had always been.

But it wasn’t the same and she knew that it never would be again...

Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the kitchen door, smiling brightly at Mark who was lounging at the kitchen table, reading a newspaper.

‘Any coffee going?’ Avoiding his eyes, she walked briskly across to the coffee-machine.

‘Good morni

ng.’ Mark sounded incredibly normal and she forced herself to turn and face him.

She had to act naturally, as if her world hadn’t really been turned upside down.

‘Good morning.’ The words almost stuck in her throat as she noticed how handsome he looked first thing in the morning, his jaw dark and rough and his loose T-shirt doing nothing to disguise the powerful muscle of his chest and shoulders. Suddenly finding it difficult to breathe, Holly vowed not to make an appearance before he was fully dressed on future occasions. Her knees trembling, she turned back to the coffee-machine and paid it rather more attention than it needed.

‘So, what are your plans for today?’ Mark leaned back in his chair and pushed the newspaper to one side, running long fingers through his cropped dark hair.

‘Plans?’ She was going to spend the day trying to persuade herself that nothing had changed. That she didn’t really find him attractive. Those were her plans.

‘I thought you might fancy a walk.’ Mark poured milk over a bowl of cereal and picked up a spoon, totally calm and relaxed. Clearly he wasn’t suffering the same inner torment that she was. ‘The coast path from here leads down to some fantastic rocky bays. We could take a picnic and go for a swim.’

Spend the day with him?

It was clear that, for him at least, nothing had changed, and Holly nibbled her lip, trying to subdue a flash of disappointment. What had she expected? That he’d fall down on one knee and confess that he’d always loved her? Ridiculous!

So now what was she going to do? On the one hand, a day with Mark sounded like heaven, but on the other, could she actually be with him all day and act normally? Could she spend time with him without staring, without remembering—