Free Doctor Knows Best by Ann Jennings Page A

backwards, which was just as well, she reflected later, because she felt so unnerved by the sight of him sitting in the front row that her brain refused to function.
    While she was changing for her second sketch Megan mentally reprimanded herself. You knew he would probably come to the revue, she told herself. Be honest, you’ve been hoping he would come. Yes, but not with his daughter, her inner voice wailed in despair. Oh, be sensible, Megan told herself fiercely. You suspected he was married! You’ve wondered about it—well now you needn’t wonder any more; now you know! He is married, and he has brought his daughter along to prove it…
    There wasn’t much more time to think before she was due on, this time in her scanty bikini to do the sketch with whichever consultant the boys at the front of house dragged up from the audience. She’d seen the Dean of the medical school also sitting in the front row and guessed it would be him; the students usually involved the Dean on the last night. So it was with surprised horror that she saw it was not the Dean, but Giles Elliott who was being dragged up on to the stage.
    Her expression must have shown on her face although Megan thought she was doing a good job of disguising her feelings, for when he got near her Giles whispered, “ I’m the one supposed to look horrified and reluctant, not you!”
    â€œI…I thought it would be the Dean,” Megan whispered back.
    â€œSorry to disappoint you,” came the crisp aside.
    The sketch commenced and Giles Elliott joined in with an enthusiasm that surprised and disconcerted Megan. All the week she had let her hair down and had enjoyed teasing the consultants, but not when the consultant was Giles Elliott. She felt shy and embarrassed, her cheeks were burning and she was sure her face must be the colour of a beetroot. Gritting her teeth she did the best she could and breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief when the sketch was over and she made her escape off stage.
    Richard was waiting in the wings. “You were a bit off tonight, Sis,” he remarked. “I thought you would have given it all you’ve got on the last night.”
    â€œI did the best I could—I’m not out to win an Oscar!” snapped Megan as she scurried past.
    Richard raised his eyebrows in surprise at his sister’s unusual display of bad temper. Megan, for her part, was sorry she had snapped at him, but her nerves were distinctly frayed at the edges to say the least. All the time the same words were constantly running through her mind, repeating over and over again with a monotonous insistence. He’s married, he’s married… Try as she might, she couldn’t banish those words from her mind.
    When the evening finally finished and the curtain went down on the revue for the last time, Megan would have given anything to have gone back to her flat and to have drowned her sorrows alone. But it was not to be; she was duty-bound to go to the after show party, but she determined not to stay too long.
    With her face scrubbed of stage make-up and wearing a pair of jeans and a sweater, she was standing rather miserably in a corner with a glass of wine in her hand when Johnny Cox spied her.
    He came zooming over in his usual enthusiastic way. “Say girl, what are you doing in this corner all by yourself? Where have you been all my life?”
    â€œYou know where I’ve been, Johnny,” erupted Megan irritably. She really didn’t feel like coping with Johnny’s extrovert behaviour at that point in time. Johnny, however, totally ignored the fact that her greeting was less than enthusiastic and propelled her vigorously across the room towards a group of people.
    â€œSay, everyone, I have here one of the most ravishing nurses who appeared in the show tonight,” he announced to all and sundry. “Miss Megan Jones, tara!” He blew an imaginary trumpet fanfares with his