Free Return of Dr Maguire (Mills & Boon Medical) by Judy Campbell

manipulate his life even from the grave—how dared she suggest he marry Christa Lennox just because she’d formed a close bond with the girl? How did Isobel know the kind of girl he wanted?
    In another time and place perhaps Christa would have been the sort of girl he would have gone for. He sighed. And if she hadn’t been Angus Lennox’s niece... But that was a subject he was better off keeping to himself.
    * * *
    ‘So this guy’s on top of the roof and I’m shouting at him to come down—and guess who he turns out to be?’
    Christa and her mother, Pat, were sitting in Pat’s little bright kitchen, having a quick cup of coffee before Christa went back to afternoon surgery. Titan was lying contentedly by a radiator, half-asleep. Christa cradled her mug of coffee in her hand and her mother leaned forward, her bright, dark eyes, so like Christa’s, alive with interest.
    ‘I can’t imagine who it would be. Brad Pitt perhaps?’
    Christa laughed. ‘I wish! Of all people, he’s Isobel’s son. Lachlan Maguire!’
    Pat Lennox stared at Christa in astonishment. ‘Isobel’s son?’ she repeated. ‘Lachlan Maguire? He’s turned up, after all this time—I never thought we’d see him again!’
    ‘I know—it’s incredible, isn’t it? He didn’t know Isobel had died until after the funeral. He’s been working in Australia.’
    ‘But what was he doing on top of the roof?’
    ‘That’s what I wondered. I thought he was filching lead, but it turns out he was just inspecting the guttering. The place is very neglected, and his mother’s left it to him. You do remember him, then?’
    Pat took a sip of coffee and replaced the mug precisely on a mat on the table. ‘Yes,’ she said rather abruptly. ‘Of course I remember him—he used to run home through the village from school, and your father supplied any drugs the practice needed.’
    ‘Well, as I said in my text to you on Sunday, explaining that I wouldn’t be able to pop in and see you, there was an incident with two youths in the big barn and luckily he was there to help.’
    Pat got up from the table and went over to the coffee jug, her back to Christa. ‘Sounds as if he came in the nick of time. Another cup of coffee? I’m having one...’ Her voice was light, inconsequential, and she turned back to Christa with a bright smile. ‘Fancy him being found. Sad that he missed Isobel’s funeral, though. How long’s he going to be here?’
    ‘That’s the thing, he’s decided to leave Australia and he’s going to come back to the practice. At first I wasn’t sure about it but, actually, it’s a relief that I’ve got someone.’
    ‘You mean he’s going to be working with you?’
    ‘Well, yes. Apparently he’s been pining for Scotland.’
    ‘Did...did he say why he left, or at least stayed away for so long?’
    ‘It’s extraordinary—he told me he found out when he was just about to leave school that Isobel had had an affair when he was younger. That’s why his father left. Lachlan blamed his mother for the break-up of the family, and I guess that’s why he and she had a falling out. He didn’t go into detail.’
    Pat put her hands round her coffee mug as if to warm them, and gazed ahead of her as if looking into the past.
    ‘But that was many years ago...’ she said softly, and shook her head. ‘All this time and never a word from him.’ She focussed back on Christa. ‘You’ll be working closely with him, then, won’t you? Probably get to know him quite well.’
    A little nervous tremor passed through Christa, the doubts she was having about not allowing herself to get too involved with this man surfacing yet again.
    She shrugged, trying to appear casually indifferent. ‘Well, as colleagues we’re bound to see each other quite a lot.’ She looked at her mother more closely. ‘You OK, Mum? You look a little pale.’
    Pat Lennox stood up and moved restlessly to the window, twisting her hands together. ‘I’m fine... It’s just,