Free The Surgeon's Family Wish by Abigail Gordon

someone else’s husband, albeit unknowingly.
    There was a question in his eyes now and she realised that he must be puzzled by the intensity of her gaze. Hewasn’t to know that it was as if she was seeing him for the first time...
    She’d been aware of his attractions and his dedication to the children in his care before, but now she was seeing him as the man she loved, and after the happenings of recent months it was as if a bright light had broken into her darkness.
    â€˜What’s wrong?’ he asked in a low voice above the heads of their small visitors.
    â€˜Nothing,’ she mouthed back, and it would have been true if she could have taken him to one side and told him how much she cared for him, but there was something else he needed to know first and that was the problem.
    The tour was over. Lucy’s prestige was intact amongst her school friends and the children were being served light refreshments in the restaurant before their teacher took them back to school.
    It seemed that they’d enjoyed the novelty of it and so had Nicola Edwards if her expression was anything to go by. But Annabel had a feeling that it was the doctor rather than his young patients that had put the smile on Nicola’s face.
    Within minutes of them leaving she was in Theatre and Aaron was preparing for his afternoon clinic. The visit from the school children had taken a slice out of their busy day and now they must make up for it.
    In Annabel’s case a child had been brought in with a suspected haematoma after a sign had fallen on him in a shopping mall. X-rays had shown that there was indeed bleeding inside the skull and surgery had been needed.
    For Aaron the clinic was the usual run of sick and suffering children and when the door had closed behindthe last one he let his thoughts go back to those moments on the ward.
    He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Annabel. Why, he wasn’t sure. Maybe it was because today had brought back memories of their first meeting and the circumstances of it. Or maybe it was just the case that every time he saw her it felt right.
    He knew that Lucy’s teacher was interested in him. They’d met on several occasions at school functions and when he’d suggested today’s visit she’d been only too willing to fit it into the curriculum.
    He knew what was in his mother’s mind. She thought that Nicola’s resemblance to Eloise might kindle some interest in him. So it looked as if she’d given up on Annabel, but he hadn’t.
    It was strange, almost as if her disinterested attitude was making him feel challenged. Yet he knew it wasn’t that. He admired everything about her. Her acceptance of the solitariness that surrounded her. Her absorption in the job, and the way she was so good with Lucy. The only thing he wasn’t too happy about was the way she was treating him.
    Back there on the ward there’d been something in the atmosphere. He didn’t know what, but she’d observed him with such a fixed stare that he’d felt as if she’d been trying to tell him something. But after the children and their teacher had gone and they’d had a moment to themselves, she’d had nothing to say, even though that same look had been there in her eyes.
    He shook his head. Why after all this time did he have to be attracted to an enigma such as Annabel Swain? The little teacher was an uncomplicated soul. Why couldn’t he fancy her instead of a leggy brunette, whowas as closed as a clam when it came to what went on in her life?
    But there were patients’ notes to be written up from the clinic, various appointments for surgery to be made and a last round of the two wards before he went home. With Annabel in Theatre he doubted that he would see her again today.
    But he was wrong about that. He hadn’t been home long when the doorbell rang, and when he went to answer it she was on the doorstep, looking serious and