The Doctor's Engagement

‘That’s appalling! Debra said you spoke to them.’

‘Oh, yes, I spoke to them.’ Mark gave a humourless laugh. ‘They took her back in and operated, and fortunately they did a good job. She actually shouldn’t have any long-term problems. Not physical ones, anyway.’

‘But psychologically...’

Mark shrugged. ‘Well, I doubt whether she’ll be rushing to have another child with the memory of that so fresh in her mind, and if there is a next time she’ll have to have a section because they won’t want her to strain that scar and risk it splitting open.’

‘Poor woman.’ Holly gave a shudder. ‘It’s enough to put you off having babies for life.’

There was a long silence and Mark stared at her, his gaze curious.

‘Does it put you off?’ His eyes fixed on hers. ‘Are you scared of having children?’

‘I—Me?’ Holly stared back at him, startled. ‘I don’t know. I don’t really think about it. Why would I? To have children you need to be in love, married.’

‘And you’ve never met anyone that you loved enough to want to have children with?’

His voice was casual but his eyes were searching.

‘My love life is non-existent,’ she croaked. ‘You know that.’

‘And I’ve never been able to work out why.’ Suddenly he was very still. ‘Why, Holly? Why haven’t you ever found anyone to fall in love with?’

Because no one had matched up to Mark. She knew that now. Since the day of the rescue, the whole of her non-existent love life made sense. It was no wonder that she’d never been able to fall in love with any of the men who’d chased her. Or that she’d never felt able to go to bed with them. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with them, or her. Not at all. It was just that she was already in love, and had been for probably all of her life. With Mark.

But she couldn’t tell him that.

‘Meeting the right person doesn’t happen that easily, Mark,’ she murmured, ripping the paper from the examination couch and lobbing it into the bin. ‘You should know that.’

‘Should I?’ His guarded response made her glance up and she frowned briefly, confused by his response.

‘Well, you’ve never been in love either, have you?’

There was a heavy silence and then something flickered in the depths of his eyes.

‘Mark?’ Holly’s voice was a stunned croak and her hands dropped to her sides. ‘You—you love someone?’

Her heart thudded unbearably and suddenly she felt slightly sick.

Mark looked at her warily. ‘Holly...’

‘Who?’ Her fists clenched by her sides and she tried to keep her tone casual. ‘You never said...’

He turned away from her, his tone dismissive. ‘It isn’t important.’

Holly swallowed hard and forced herself to ask the question, no matter how much his answer would hurt.

‘Of course it’s important. You’re my best friend.’ Her face felt strangely tight and smiling was suddenly an enormous effort. ‘I can’t believe you haven’t told me before. Does—does she feel the same way?’

Even asking the question was painful. How much more painful would the answer be?

‘No.’ Mark gave a short laugh and she saw a gleam of irony in his dark eyes as he glanced at her. ‘No, Holly, she doesn’t. The truth is, she doesn’t even notice me.’

Why was he looking at her like that? With a wry smile playing around his very sexy mouth?

‘Every woman notices you, Mark.’

‘Not this one.’ Suddenly he sounded tired and he gave a low curse and shrugged broad shoulders. ‘Forget it, Holl—it isn’t your problem. I shouldn’t have mentioned it.’