Free To Please the Doctor by Marjorie Moore Page A

he really cared for any girl, and instinctively she recalled his expression as he had leaned over Mary Miles, lying obviously in pain in her tumbled bed; that tender smile, those gentle hands with their reassuring touch; she saw again the sudden look of confidence in the child ’ s expression, the relief in her tremulous smile...
    “ Ah ... here comes Harriet. ” Duncan McRey rose to his feet and pulled forward a chair. “ Fahr catch his train all right? ”
    “ Yes. ” Harriet sat down and began to pull off her driving gloves. “ You two having coffee—and a drink? ” She laughed. “ You seem to be making the most of my absence. ” She shook her head as he beckoned the waiter. “ No, Duncan, not for me—really not. Don ’ t forget I ’ ve got a longish drive and a couple of visits on the way. ” She turned to Jill. “ You don ’ t mind if I get the bill now, do you? ”
    “ No, of course not, but I think I ’ d like to walk back, the exercise will do me good—that is, if it isn ’ t raining again. ”
    “ It ’ s cold, but it ’ s a lovely night. ” Harriet reached in her bag as the waiter handed her the bill neatly folded on a plate. “ Goodness! what a fool I am, I must have left my money at home. ”
    Jill couldn ’ t resist a malicious smile in Duncan McRey ’ s direction. “ Surely a bad memory isn ’ t one of Harriet ’ s failings? ” She spoke softly so that Harriet, still searching in her bag, scarcely heard the remark, but it was obviously not lost on him. Quickly drawing out her notecase, Jill paid the waiter, forestalling Duncan McRey ’ s intention as he withdrew his wallet from a n inner pocket.
    “ Thanks Jill. I ’ ll settle with you tomorrow. Coming? ” Harriet had risen to her feet and was again pulling on her fur-lined gauntlets. “ Sure you want to walk? ” she asked Jill as, emerging through the swing doors, a cold wind whipped their faces.
    “ Yes, really ... good night, Harriet, see you some time tomorrow. ”
    Harriet, already half-seated in her car, turned to address Duncan. “ So l ong—I ’ ll be in early in the morning and we can get those bronchograms done before the clinic. ” Easing herself back into the driving seat, she slammed the door. “ You can escort Jill ba ck to hospital, ” she called through the open window as she waved good-bye. As the car disappeared into the darkness Jill found herself standing with Duncan McRey by her side on the wet pavement outside the Marine Hotel. When she ’ d offered to walk back it hadn ’ t even entered her mind that Duncan McRey would be her companion. After a day in a centrally heated atmosphere she had longed to feel the salt wind in her face and hear the even beat of the waves on the dark, lonely shore. All she had wanted had been fresh air—and solitude.

 
    CHAPTER FIVE
    Jill rolled up the collar of her coat, then dug her chin into the soft fur as she leaned forward against the wind. It was certainly cold, but there was an exhilarating quality about its salty tang as it blew against her face and lifted the soft tendrils of her hair, blowing it in curling wisps across her forehead. She should have brought a hat or a scarf, but then she hadn ’ t considered the possibility of walking. Still, she didn ’ t regret her decision, and even Duncan McRey, striding at her side, could not detract from the pleasure this welcome exercise was affording her. Brought up as a child in the country, she had never lost her joy in walking and riding; every form of exercise appealed to her and, Jill had to admit, Sunsand Bay with all its faults had far more to offer in that respect than the restricting limits of town.
    “ Shall we cut up through the back, it will be more sheltered there? ” Duncan McRey suggested as, turning along the front they were met by the full force of the gale blowing across the wide stretch of ocean.
    “ Oh, no, I love this, ” Jill protested. “ That is if you don ’ t mind, ” she amended