Summer Seaside Wedding (5 page)

He sensed her hurt. Could tell by her expression that he’d hit a nerve and wanted to kick himself for upsetting her, but Amelie wasn’t to know that he was telling himself all the time to cool it with the young French doctor, and a peck on the cheek might soon transfer itself to the lips, and could go on from there.

‘You don’t have to thank me for
anything,
Amelie,’ he
said abruptly, to bring an end to the awkward moment that had come out of nowhere. ‘It is just a matter of being polite to a stranger who feels out of things because she knows no one here… And now I’m going to say goodnight.’

She nodded, and without speaking watched him move briskly towards the apartments without a backward glance.

‘Ugh!’ she breathed when she was inside with the door locked, as Leo had instructed. For someone known as the village Romeo he had taken a dim view of that butterfly kiss on the cheek, which was all it had been. What was the matter with the man?

Hadn’t she made it clear that she wasn’t in the market for love, or any of the trappings that went with it? And even if she had been, she was way out of his league, so why had he shied away from a simple expression of gratitude?

Up in the apartment Leo was also taking stock of those embarrassing moments outside the house across the way when Amelie had tried to thank him and been repulsed.

She wasn’t to know how much she’d got through to him during the evening by just being there, and how much he’d known it would be a mistake to let those kinds of feelings take hold. The outcome of it was that it had to stop.

As from Monday morning it was going to be strictly business and nothing else between them. He’d played
his part in making her welcome. Now she was on her own, socially and at the practice.

The hire car they’d arranged for her was there, waiting to be used, so he was going to suggest to Harry that she should do some of the house calls on her own, leaving him free of the close contact with her in his car, which couldn’t be avoided.

He was as easy with women socially as he was with men, but it was all on the surface. With Amelie it wasn’t like that and he knew why. It was as he kept telling himself, she was different, natural, easy to be with, and had a special kind of charm of her own.

With regard to what
she
thought of
him
he’d had a few laughs at the Angel Gabriel description and decided she was way out there. Angelic he was not! Caring and compassionate, yes, maybe, but never that!

The curtains were still drawn at the house across the way when he got up the next morning and he wondered if Amelie really was intending going down to the beach to introduce herself to Ronnie.

When he glanced across again, after having a shower and the leisurely breakfast that was part of the pleasure of Saturdays, the curtains had been opened and he caught a glimpse of Amelie as she passed the surgery in the direction of the beach.

She was dressed for swimming with her suit on under a sarong and was carrying a towel, so was obviously a woman of her word, he thought wryly, and wished he hadn’t made the suggestion of her getting to know
Ronnie. He had to admit that he liked having her all to himself.

He was already dressed for tennis and had an hour to spare before Naomi was due to call for him. If he put on some speed he might catch Amelie before she got to the beach and persuade her to change her mind.

When he arrived at the headland he saw it was a vain hope. She was already down there, chatting to Ronnie, and there was no way he could intrude.

She looked upwards suddenly and he moved into the shadow of a nearby tree, hoping that she hadn’t spotted him skulking up there. She was a pleasure to have around, he thought, but life was becoming more complicated by the minute.

Turning quickly, he headed back to the village and a morning on the tennis courts with Naomi that he wasn’t going to enjoy as much as he usually did because each time the ball came over the net Amelie’s face would be in the way.

She
had
seen him up on the headland. The white shirt and shorts he was wearing had made him stand out amongst the rocks and shrubs above and Amelie thought surely Leo wasn’t so keen to get her off his back that he’d come to check that she was following through their discussion of the night before and having a word with Ronnie?

He was gone in a flash, most likely watching the time for his game of tennis, and she thought sombrely that he need have no further concerns on her behalf. The message had come over loud and clear the night before
and no way was he going to see sight or sound of her out of surgery hours from now on.

In fact, she would go even further than that and ask Dr Balfour if she could start doing her share of house calls on her own as she felt confident enough to do so. If he agreed, the only time she and Leo would be in contact was during the morning and afternoon surgeries when for most of the time they would be closeted with their patients.

Her feelings were a mixture of rejection and annoyance with herself for letting her attraction to Leo blind her to the fact that he was just doing the polite thing by looking after her as he had been doing, but he need exert himself no further.

From now on she would be back to her own coping self, the self that he had yet to see, and after being told by the lifeguard that he would welcome her presence on the beach in the evenings and would speak to the authorities regarding her refresher course, he’d even suggested that she join him this very evening to get a feel for the role.

She’d agreed with the suggestion promptly. It meant that what would have been a lonely weekend wasn’t going to be so bad because she would be spending most of the time with her other loves, sun, sand and the never-failing tides.

But what would it be like to be loved by the man she’d only known for such a short time, yet couldn’t stop thinking about? The same man who’d made it quite clear the night before that she was just an encumbrance,
so
he
wasn’t going to look in her direction was he? She wasn’t his type.

Still, her spirits were lifting as she walked around at the side of the lifeguard and listened to what Ronnie had to say about the organising of beach patrols and the dangers that were never far away.

There were lots of parents with children milling around and teenage lovelies out to attract young males by pouting in front of cameras, which prompted Ronnie to comment that he had a daughter their age.

‘Yes, so I believe,’ she told him. ‘You are the father of Maria, the young nurse at the surgery, aren’t you?’

He nodded. ‘That I am. Maria has mentioned you often. So what do you think of Bluebell Cove? I hear Dr Fenchurch has been showing you around.’

‘Yes, he has been most kind. As for Bluebell Cove, it’s lovely. I would like to live here.’

‘So what is there to stop you?’

Instead of answering directly, she replied, ‘I don’t know anyone here.’

‘You soon will,’ he assured her. ‘Working in the surgery and helping out down here, you’ll be known to everyone in no time.’

As they strolled around there was no cause for alarm. Everyone was behaving sensibly, and as Amelie listened to Ronnie describing the job and indicating the danger spots on the part of the coastline that he and his fellow lifeguard were in charge of the day dawdled along.

After his earlier furtive appearance on the headland Leo stayed away from the cove when the tennis was over and
made his usual Saturday afternoon trip into the town, but by the time he arrived back in the village he was feeling that he couldn’t avoid Amelie any longer.

He told himself it was to make sure she was all right after his rejection of her kiss on his cheek that she’d bestowed upon him, which was true in part, but the main reason was that he just wanted to see her, if only for a short time.

He felt that if only he would let her, she could bring a different dimension to his life, but the problem was he wasn’t ready for it. The way he’d behaved when she’d kissed him had been proof of that.

On Amelie’s part, her vulnerability was plain to see, and from the little she’d told him about her life till now it wasn’t surprising.

Now she’d come to Bluebell Cove, where he’d found himself taking her under his wing, reluctantly sometimes and at others with great pleasure.

It had to stop. She’d had enough upsets in her life. He didn’t want to be responsible for another. Added to that his own past had been far from easy, and the pain of it still clung to him, as did the dread of ever having to go through something like that again, and to avoid it he’d chosen the kind of life he’d been living ever since.

Until now he’d had no doubts about it, but along had come Amelie and everything was changing. He had to call a halt. She knew nothing of
his
past and the reason why he’d never turned to anyone else after losing Delphine.

He had never opened his heart to anyone and did not want to put his burden onto her.

She was the first person his glance rested on when he’d parked the car and was walking down the slipway. She was wearing a scarlet bathing costume that was the same colour as the dress of the night before, and once again the colour made a vivid contrast to her hair and the smooth olive skin of her face.

Ronnie was beside her as they chatted to a group of holidaymakers all in a happy mood. She looked carefree and relaxed amongst them, so much so that he turned on his heel and retraced his steps back to the car.

Leave well alone,
he told himself as he reversed out of the car park.

Amelie didn’t get a glimpse of him on that occasion. She was too engrossed with the people she was meeting down below, but Leo wasn’t out of her mind, far from it. She’d been longing to see him all day. After him telling her what
he’d
had planned for the weekend, she’d been following him in his various pursuits in her mind, and not having seen him on the causeway she reckoned that he would be somewhere either in the town or on his way back.

Yet what did it matter where he was? He could at least have rung her first thing or called at the house for them to make peace. Though why should he? Leo had explained the night before in no uncertain terms the reason for his presence in her limited social life. So instead of fretting she should be grateful that someone like him had been prepared to take the trouble.

She left the beach in the early evening with a promise from Ronnie that he would be in touch as soon as he’d
spoken to the powers that be, and windblown and sun-kissed she decided to have an early night.

That resolve was short-lived when Harry Balfour rang to invite her to supper. ‘We usually have a few friends round on Saturday nights,’ he said, ‘and thought that maybe you would like to join us.’

‘Our home, Glades Manor, is about a mile out of the village. If you don’t want to walk, the car we’ve hired for you is on the practice forecourt in readiness for Monday morning and Leo has the keys.’

‘I think I would prefer to walk,’ she told him, ‘and thank you for inviting me, Dr Balfour. I would love to come.’

Having already been told how Leo spent his Saturday evenings, she doubted he would be there, so there shouldn’t be any awkwardness to cope with from that direction, and as she showered and dressed for the occasion in the red dress once again, it felt odd.

There hadn’t been many days since coming to Bluebell Cove that Leo hadn’t been a part of, she thought, and knew that the pleasant and interesting time she’d spent with the lifeguard on the beach, and the unexpected invitation to supper, were not going to make up for it.

W
ALKING
towards Phoebe and Harry’s house in the warm summer evening was pleasant exercise and when Amelie eventually stood in front of the beautiful old building situated in a green glade that was surrounded by the fertile fields of Devon, it wasn’t hard to guess from where the name of Glades Manor came.

As she stopped at the gates, taking in the scene, Phoebe came out to greet her, glowing in the later stages of pregnancy, and as the two women shook hands Amelie said, ‘Your house is beautiful, Phoebe.’

‘Yes, it is,’ she agreed, with a smile for the young French doctor. ‘The three of us are so happy here.’ She patted her extended waistline. ‘And soon there will be four.

‘Come inside and meet the others,’ she said, leading the way into the house.

Amelie obeyed cautiously, bracing herself for the introductions that must surely follow.

An elderly woman in a wheelchair turned out to be
the
Barbara Balfour, one-time head of the practice and Harry’s aunt. The man standing beside her was her
husband, Keith. An attractive blonde with a friendly smile was introduced as Jenna, daughter of the elderly couple, and her distinguished-looking husband was Lucas Devereux, the heart surgeon.

Elderly, grey bearded and the last to be introduced of the members of the small supper party was Desmond Somerby, the local Member of Parliament.

With the exception of Barbara Balfour, who was looking her over as if she was something under a microscope, they were all pleasant and friendly towards the newcomer in their midst. There was just one thing stopping her from enjoying herself: Leo wasn’t there.

She knew why, of course. He would be somewhere in the town, hitting the night spots with his friends. When Harry had rung her she’d been relieved at the thought of not having the encumbrance label of the night before stuck on her once again, but it had been a long day without him and could be an even longer evening in spite of the good company she was with.

At one point in the evening the doctor who had made the Tides Practice her life’s work wheeled herself across to where Amelie was sitting and said, ‘They tell me at the surgery that you are doing well so far, Dr Benoir. How do you like our country and our National Health Service?’

Amelie’s wide smile flashed out. ‘I love everything about it, Dr Balfour, and feel privileged to have the opportunity of being employed in such a lovely place.’

The eyes that had looked her over speculatively when she’d arrived had lost their chill and the woman beside her was smiling as she said, ‘That is what I wanted to
hear. You have two excellent doctors to call on at the practice if need be, and our womenfolk will be happy to see someone of their own sex available to treat them. I hope that you enjoy your time with us.’

Amelie hadn’t heard a car pull up outside because of the chatter inside, but a ring on the doorbell brought a moment’s silence as Harry went to see who was there. The voice coming from the hallway was easily recognisable.

‘I’m sorry to butt in,’ she heard Leo say. ‘I’ve only just seen the email you sent to say that Amelie might need the keys for the hire car to get here tonight. I went out at five o’clock and have only just got back, so I came to make sure that she found you all right and to see that she gets home safely.’

She had listened to what he was saying with a mixture of pleasure and surprise that had overtones of embarrassment as the rest of the guests observed her curiously.

When he appeared in the doorway of the sitting room, his glance went straight to her. Not caring that he had an audience, he said, ‘I’m sorry about the car keys, Amelie. What did you do, walk or get a taxi?’

‘It was such a beautiful evening I walked here,’ she told him as the long day without his presence righted itself.

Phoebe appeared at that moment to call them in to supper, which was being served in the dining room, and with a smile for Leo said, ‘You are just in time.’

‘That is the best news I’ve heard today,’ he said laughingly. ‘I’ve had a joiner doing some work in the
apartment for me. He was using a saw and it slipped and sliced into his hand, so I had to take him to hospital, and we were in A and E for ages, waiting for him to be seen. There’d been a pile-up on the motorway and quite a few casualties had been brought in just before we got there at five o’clock this evening He was seen to eventually, they put sutures in the cut and I’ve just taken him home.’

His gaze had been on Amelie all the time he’d been speaking, taking in the glow that a day on the beach had given her and admiring once again the red dress that suited her colouring so much.

He wanted to ask her what Ronnie had said about her helping out as a temporary lifeguard, and if she’d enjoyed her time down there with him. Ronnie was a staunch family man who loved his wife and children and would see that Amelie came to no harm.

Questions like those would have to be asked in the car on the way home, he decided, and made sure that he sat beside her at the supper table, telling himself that it was just in case she was feeling out of her depth amongst strangers.

It was gone midnight and he had her to himself at last, but before he could ask her about her day Amelie had a question for him.

‘Why didn’t you come down off the headland this morning?’ she asked. ‘Were you spying on me?’

‘Spying? Of course not!’ he protested indignantly. ‘Checking up on you, yes. I wanted to make sure you were all right after last night, and from where I was
standing it seemed that you were, so I went. Does that satisfy you?’

‘Yes. I suppose so.’

‘You don’t sound so sure.’

‘Well, last night you made me feel like an encumbrance, yet you are still involved in your unnecessary “duty” of keeping an eye on me, as on the headland this morning, and tonight.’

He sighed. ‘What about tonight?’

‘You came looking for me to make sure I would get home safely and…’

Her voice was thickening and when he gave her a quick sideways glance he saw the wetness of tears on her cheeks.

‘You’re crying, Amelie. What have I done now?’

‘Nothing,’ she sobbed. ‘It’s just that you are the first person to care a damn about me in ages. I know it’s because you feel that you must under the circumstances, me being alone in your country and the rest of it, but you didn’t have to, did you, Leo? You could have left me to my own devices.’

Pulling the car up at the side of the road, he took a tissue out of a box in the glove compartment and wiped her eyes gently. As she gazed at him tearfully he reached out and took her in his arms, and as she nestled against him he patted her shoulder and said, ‘Shush, don’t cry, Amelie. If you keep saying things like that, I’ll be getting too big for my boots.’

She was smiling up at him through her tears. ‘I don’t think the Angel Gabriel ever had that problem.’

‘Yes, well, we won’t go into that,’ he said dryly. ‘I’ve
already explained that angelic I am not. Though I must admit that getting to know you is proving to be character building.’

‘Now you’re laughing at me,’ she protested.

‘No, I’m not,’ he informed her gravely, ‘but if I’m supposed to have your welfare at heart, I ought to be taking you home at the end of a long day, and while I’m doing that you can tell me what Ronnie had to say and if you are still keen on the beach patrol idea.’

He removed his arms from around her and switched on the engine, and as she settled back in her seat she told him, ‘He is all for it and is going to speak to someone about getting me retrained and starting as soon as possible.’

‘So you’re happy about that?’

‘Yes, I am, just as long as you’ll come to see me down on the beach sometimes.’

‘Of course. It goes without saying, if only to watch you swim.’

When they arrived at the house he saw her safely inside and when she would have asked him to stop for a coffee he forestalled her as he’d done before by saying, ‘Make sure you lock up securely, Amelie.’

Pushing caution to one side, she asked, ‘When will I see you again?’ And he found himself ignoring the vows he’d made not to spend so much time with her.

‘You know the Devonshire cream tea that I mentioned as part of my Sunday afternoon routine? How about I pick you up at three o’clock tomorrow and introduce you to yet another of the delights of this part of the world?’

‘Yes. I’d love that,’ she told him.

‘It has to be on a promise, though.’

‘What sort of promise?’ she asked slowly, coming back down to earth.

‘No more tears, Amelie.’

She smiled. ‘I think I can promise that.’

The smile was still there as she went upstairs to the big empty bed in the master bedroom of the house. But Leo’s expression was more sombre as he went to his own solitary bed. He hadn’t wanted to leave her. Had gone against all his promises to himself to cool it with Amelie by arranging to spend time with her tomorrow. The last thing he wanted to do was cause her more heartbreak after her experience with the French guy. He should have had more sense.

But at least he wouldn’t be as much in her orbit after tomorrow. On Monday Amelie would be on her own for home visits, and closeted away in her own small consulting room the rest of the time. If she went down to the beach in the evenings she would be fully occupied there, while he would be fretting on the sidelines, wanting her, yet not wanting her, because with commitment could come pain and hurt that knew no bounds. He accepted that what had happened to him and Delphine was likely to occur only in one in a thousand people’s lives, but it had done nothing to ease the heartache and loss that had made him what he was now.

When Leo called for Amelie the next afternoon she was ready and waiting, bluebell eyes sparkling with
the pleasure of being with him again. Dressed in white leggings and a turquoise casual top that showed off the tan that she was gradually acquiring, he could hardly believe that she was the same bedraggled woman that he’d gone to meet at the airport. It might be simpler if she was, he thought wryly, then he wouldn’t be living from one moment of seeing her to the next.

Georgina had phoned earlier to ask why he’d been missing the night before. He’d told her about taking the joiner to hospital and she’d been mildly sympathetic, then changed the subject to a cruise she’d booked and asked if he wished he was going with her.

He’d made no comment but thought there wasn’t anything he fancied less than that. Taking Amelie into the countryside was the uppermost thought in his mind and after they’d exchanged a few stilted sentences Georgina had rung off.

He took Amelie to a farm restaurant for afternoon tea, and as he watched her enjoying the food she said, ‘I skipped lunch and saved my hunger pangs for this.’

‘It would seem so,’ he replied whimsically. Leaning forward, he wiped a blob of cream off the end of her nose with a paper napkin. As she smiled across at him it all seemed so right, the two of them together, lighthearted and in tune on a summer afternoon.

When they’d finished eating he said, ‘Do you want to go for a stroll before we go back? There’s an old and empty abbey not far from here. It’s a tourist attraction now, a beautiful ancient building that brings a lot of visitors.’

She was observing him in surprise. ‘I’d love to see it,
but are you sure, Leo? I wouldn’t have thought it would be your type of thing.’

‘Really? And so what
would
you expect it to be? A casino, a club, dining at the Ritz?’ he said dryly, and it was clear that he wasn’t joking. Before she could reply he went on, ‘My looks are the bane of my life. They automatically say party person, and even my profession doesn’t totally dispel the image. Sometimes I take the easy way out and just do what is expected of me.’

It might have been a good moment to explain why he lived the kind of life he did, which was a strange mix of dedicated doctor and playboy, but the day had yet to come when he was ready to confess that to anyone, so he told her, ‘Yes, I am happy to visit the abbey. Shall we make a move in that direction? I’m not sure what time it closes on Sundays.’

She nodded and with the brightness of the afternoon dimming fell into step beside him. It was clear that her casual remark had hit a nerve where Leo was concerned. She’d better be more careful in future. Yet did she want to have to do that, watch what she said all the time?

When they arrived at the abbey and joined a party being shown around by a guide, he took her hand and said in a low voice, ‘Sorry I was snappy. It was directed at life in general, not at you.’

‘It’s all right,’ she told him, vowing to be more careful about what she said around him. Obviously she’d hit a sore spot, and she remembered when in fun she’d mentioned the angel Gabriel comparison, and he’d been quick to point out that the outside appearance of
a person was just the shell. It was what was beneath it that mattered.

He was still holding her hand as they admired the stained-glass windows of another age and the empty cloisters that the monks had occupied. When they came out of the shadowed interior into the sunlight he said, ‘Old buildings fascinate me. Take Harry’s house, for example. It has a charm that modern architecture will never capture.’

She shrugged and there was indifference in the movement. ‘My parents own a chateau.’

He was observing her in amazement. ‘What? They live in a chateau?’

‘Yes, though only rarely. They are away such a lot and are not in residence more than twice a year.’

‘And what about you, Amelie? Don’t
you
ever stay there?’

‘Not if I can help it. The chateau is beautiful from the outside but dusty and damp inside.’

‘You amaze me,’ he said as they began the walk back to the restaurant to collect the car.

‘Why is that?’

‘It is difficult to describe. You seem frail, yet you are strong. Have no false pride, and can forgive those who hurt you.’

‘Stop!’ she cried. ‘You are making me into what I am not.’

‘So how do
you
see yourself?’

‘As a very ordinary person in a beautiful foreign land.’

‘I’ll bear that in mind,’ he said laughingly. ‘You are a very ordinary person whose family own a chateau.’