MELANIE MILBURNE – Australian Bachelors: Outback Heroes: Top-Notch Doc, Outback Bride / A Wedding in Warragurra / The Outback Doctor's Surprise Bride (страница 12)

‘What was her name?’ she found herself asking.

‘Madeleine,’ he answered after a slight pause.

‘She was very beautiful,’ Kellie said, not sure what else to say to fill the awkward silence.

‘Yes …’ He turned around to look at her, his expression showing none of the emotion she could hear in his voice. ‘Yes, she was …’

The grandfather clock timed the next silence.

Kellie breathed in the clean scent of Matt, the tantalising combination of citrus-based shampoo and soap and aftershave activating all her senses. His dark brown hair was still wet, although it looked as if he had used his fingers rather than a comb to push it into place. His jaw was cleanly shaven now but it looked as if the razor had nicked him just below his chin on his neck. She could see the pinkish graze and she felt an almost uncontrollable urge to close the small distance between their bodies and salve the tiny wound with the tip of her tongue.

She ran her tongue over her parched lips instead, more than a little shocked at how she was reacting to him. She couldn’t remember a time when she had felt so physically aware of a man. Her whole body was on high alert, her skin tingling to feel more of his touch. She could still feel the warm imprint of his hands where they had rested on her waist earlier, the nerve endings still fizzing like thousands of champagne bubbles under her skin.

‘Matt, I was—Oh, sorry,’ a gruff male voice said from the door. ‘I didn’t know you had company.’

‘It’s all right, Bob,’ Matt said, turning to face the man. ‘This is Kellie Thorne, the new GP filling in for Tim Montgomery. Kellie, this is Bob Gardner, my manager.’

Kellie smiled and took the older man’s heavily calloused hand in hers. ‘I’m very pleased to meet you, Bob,’ she said with a bright and friendly smile.

‘Nice to meet you, Dr Thorne,’ Bob said. ‘My wife Eunice would like to meet you some time. She’s away at the moment, visiting our daughter in Cairns, but when she gets back I’m sure she’ll invite you over for a meal or something.’

‘I’ll look forward to it,’ Kellie said still smiling.

‘What did you want to talk to me about, Bob?’ Matt asked.

‘That heifer we were worried about has delivered her twin calves without any dramas,’ Bob said. ‘But I thought we should still get a couple of antibiotic injections from Jim Webber just in case she comes down with milk fever.’

‘Good idea,’ Matt said. ‘I’ll drop in on my way home from the clinic, unless you’re going to town.’

‘I’ve got to see about that pump part so I can get them then,’ Bob said. He turned again to Kellie and smiled. ‘I hope you settle in quickly, Dr Thorne, and enjoy your time with us. Lord knows, Matt here could do with the back-up. He works too hard but that’s life in the bush, I guess.’

‘I’m looking forward to helping out in any way I can,’ she said. ‘In fact, the sooner the better.’

‘Well … be seeing you,’ Bob said, and, brushing off his hat, stepped out of the room.

Matt pushed back his partially dry hair with one hand. ‘Wouldn’t you like a couple more days to look around a bit first?’ he asked. ‘To settle in and find your way around?’

She shook her head, making her glossy chestnut ponytail swing from side to side. ‘No, I’ve seen enough. I more or less know what I’m in for. I’m itching to get started.’

Matt felt a tiny wry smile lift one corner of his mouth. ‘You really like diving into things boots and all, don’t you?’

She gave him one of her high-wattage smiles in return. ‘No point in living life unless you live it to the full, right?’

Matt had to force himself not to glance back at Madeleine perched on the mantel in her silver frame, but he felt her rainforest-green eyes watching him all the same. He had been promising himself he would put her away … well, not exactly in that sense. But he had come to realise recently there would always be a part of him that would think of Madeleine with deep affection. What? Not

love? That tiny voice of conscience spoke inside his head, louder than it had in years.

Matt had thought he had loved Madeleine. They had been together for so long it was hard to say when the feelings he had assumed were love had started. As a young couple together for such a long time they had sort of gradually drifted into a deeper and deeper relationship. One thing had followed another and before he’d known it they’d been having an engagement party, and then a little while after that they had started planning a wedding …

He gave an inward grimace. Perhaps it was well and truly time to send Madeleine’s photograph back to her parents. No doubt they would find a space for it among the unopened wedding presents and uncut wedding cake.

He gave himself a mental shake and reached for his keys. ‘Let’s get moving,’ he said, and led the way out to his car.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THEY had barely travelled a kilometre or two on the way into town when Matt got a call on his mobile. Because he used his hands-free device to answer while he was driving, Kellie heard every word of the exchange.

‘Matt, there’s been an incident at Coolaroo Downs,’ a female voice said. ‘Apparently one of the jackaroos had some sort of altercation with a bull. I’m not sure how serious it is. You know what Joan Dennis is like these days—she panics if someone falls off a fence. It might be just a graze for all we know. The volunteer ambos are on their way but I thought you should see what gives before we call in the flying doctor.’

‘Thanks, Trish,’ Matt said. ‘I’ll head back that way now. I have the new GP with me but rather than drop her in to the clinic I think she’d better come with me just in case this is serious. Can you let the clinic patients know I might be half an hour or so late?’

‘Sure,’ Trish said. ‘So …’ An element of feminine intrigue entered her voice. ‘What’s she like?’

Matt tried to ignore the way Kellie’s toffee-brown gaze turned towards him. He couldn’t see it but he sure as hell could feel it. ‘She’s … er … with me right now,’ he said.

‘Yes, I know, that but what is she like?’ Trish probed. ‘Is she good-looking?’

‘All right, I guess,’ he said, wincing when he felt the laser burn of Kellie’s look.

‘All right as in what?’ Trish kept on at him. ‘As in girl-next-door or model material?’

Matt mentally rolled his eyes. ‘Somewhere in between,’ he answered, chancing a glance Kellie’s way and then wishing he hadn’t. Didn’t he know enough about women to know they all wanted to be considered the most beautiful woman that ever walked the planet? Not that Kellie wasn’t beautiful or anything. She was absolutely gorgeous now that he came to think about it. She had a natural elegance about her—in fact, he reckoned she’d look as fabulous in a slinky evening gown with full make-up and exotic perfume and glittering jewellery as she did in a ripped pair of running shorts with her hair limp with perspiration and her cheeks pink from exertion.

Ever since Matt had felt the slim slide of Kellie’s body down his that morning out by the fence, he had been having some very disturbing and rather erotic thoughts about her. But he didn’t like being manipulated and it seemed to him the whole town was conspiring to hook them up as a couple. When it came time for him to think about another relationship he would do it his way, the old-fashioned way, not because everyone felt sorry for him and had brought in their version of a mail-order bride.

Trish’s voice cut through his private thoughts. ‘So do you think you might ask her on a date or something?’ she asked.

‘Trish, I’m on hands-free here and Dr Thorne is hearing every word,’ he said, wishing he’d thought to say it earlier, like about three sentences back.

‘Oh … Well, then …’ Trish quickly recovered and added, ‘Hi, there, Dr Thorne. I’m Trish, the receptionist. We’ve been looking forward to having you join us.’

‘I’ve been looking forward to being here, too,’ Kellie said. ‘In fact, so much so I’m prepared to get my hands dirty straight away. Dr McNaught has asked me to start a few days early.’

‘Well, thank the Lord for that,’ Trish said. ‘We’ve been run off our feet while Matt was away on the weekend, and my husband David is supposed to be taking it easier these days. You’re just what this place needs—a bit of new blood and young and single and female to boot.’

‘Got to go, Trish,’ Matt said curtly. ‘Keep the phone line as free as you can until we see what gives.’

‘Will do,’ Trish promised, and promptly hung up.

Matt drove a few more kilometres down the seemingly endless road before he took a right turn into a property marked as Coolaroo Downs, the car rumbling over each of the cattle grids making Kellie rock from side to side in her seat.

He frowned as the cattle yards eventually came into view. ‘This looks a little more serious than I thought,’ he said. Glancing in the rear-view mirror, he added, ‘I hope to God the ambulance isn’t too far behind us.’

Kellie felt a tight knot of panic clutch at her insides as Matt parked the car a short distance from the small cluster of people hovering around the body of a young man lying on his back, a dark stain of blood spreading from his abdomen to the dusty ground beneath him.