Free Night in Eden by Candice Proctor Page A

me, don't you?" He kept talking in that same low, soothing voice as he loosened the baby's clothes, his exploring hands gentle, until Simon quieted and lay staring up at the doctor with wide, guileless green eyes.
    Bryony stood back from the table, her arms crossed at her chest, watching the doctor in silence. But as her respect for him grew, she stepped closer. "Is he all right?" she asked. "He seems so small for four months."
    "He was born early." Dr. Redfern glanced up at her. "That accounts for part of it. But then his mother was an unusually tiny woman. Simon here may well take after Laura."
    Laura. For the first time, Hayden St. John's golden-haired wife had a name.
    "Were you there when... when Simon was born?" She'd almost said, when Laura St. John died.
    "No." He rolled the baby gently over onto his stomach. "The Captain had intended to bring her into Sydney, but there wasn't time." He paused a moment as if considering something, then said, "Laura St. John was an unusually beautiful, gentle woman. A true lady, in every sense of the word. I think her death affected all of us who knew her. But the Captain, he... well, it changed him somehow." He looked up and met her eyes. "I'm telling you this for a reason, you see. Hayden St. John has always been a hard man, but since Laura died... Let's just say it wouldn't do to cross him. Especially not where Simon is concerned."
    Bryony remembered the feel of Hayden St. John's hands around her neck, threatening to throttle her.
    Dr. Redfern straightened up and smiled. "Sure Simon's looking much better. When I saw him a few days ago, I wouldn't have given much for his chances of surviving another forty-eight hours. You've obviously taken good care of him."
    "He was just hungry."
    "Yes. But I can tell you also keep him clean. It makes a difference." He began to refasten the baby's wrappings.
    "It's easy to keep a baby clean when you have fresh clothes for him. And water to wash him with," she added bitterly.
    The doctor's hands stilled for a moment. He glanced up at her, his gray eyes gentle and caring. "I'm sorry about your own babe," he said softly. She knew he meant it, and it touched her so much that sudden tears stung her eyes and she had to blink them away.
    Picking Simon up, Dr. Redfern carried him over to the cradle and laid him down. Then he turned. "Now, let's have a look at you, shall we?"
    He peered in her eyes and her ears, and then had her open her mouth so that he could look at her teeth.
    "No sign of scurvy," he said approvingly. "You must have had an honest ship's captain. When I was sent out, half the men on my ship were shark bait before we'd even rounded the Cape. But sure the captain made a good profit when he got to Sydney and was able to sell all those leftover supplies we were never allowed to eat."
    Bryony stared at him. "You were transported?"
    He gave her an odd smile. "When you're a doctor, and you're Irish, you need to be very selective about whose broken bodies you try to mend."
    "But... you're not still a convict, are you?"
    "Oh, no. I'm a free man now." He turned away to reach for something in his bag.
    "Then, why... why are you still here?" For Bryony, obsessed as she was with the idea of making it back to Cornwall and Madeline, the thought of someone willingly choosing to stay here was incomprehensible. "Is your pardon conditional?"
    "No, I could go back if I wanted to. But I like it here. It's..." He searched for the word, then grinned. "Freer. Besides, I'm needed here. And now," he said, his voice becoming professional again, "I'll have to ask you to take off your dress. You can keep on your shift."
    He turned his back politely so she wouldn't have to disrobe with him watching her, although she didn't know what difference it made since he was going to see her when he turned around anyway.
    She suffered his examination of her breasts. But when he asked her to lie down, she balked.
    "I'm not a prostitute!"
    "I'm not suggesting you are," he said