A Rival To Steal Her Heart

‘Not particularly. Doing my job turns me on, and right now my interest in you is that you have scars that can be improved.’

Jon laughed suddenly, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. ‘Okay, fair enough. My twin brother is just the same. Being a doctor turns him on.’

‘You didn’t ask for his help? With the burns?’ The back of her neck was prickling, and Anna ignored it. Two and two didn’t always make four, and the feeling that she knew Jon Campbell was just an illusion, born from his fame.

‘Nah. We don’t talk. Jamie and I had a falling out.’ Jon shrugged. ‘He doesn’t know I’m here, and he probably doesn’t care. The rest of the family isn’t much impressed with me either…’

‘It’s up to you but…sometimes families can surprise you.’

Jon shook his head, taking his glasses off, and suddenly there was no question about it. Anna’s words dried in her throat. The jade-green eyes and ravaged face of Jonny Campbell really were familiar. His brother was Dr Jamie Campbell-Clarke.

CHAPTER TWO

MAYBE JON CAMPBELL had taken her wordless shock for granted, as the kind of thing that any woman would do when faced with a rock idol. Whatever. Anna couldn’t think about that right now. She couldn’t think about Jamie Campbell-Clarke either. What she could think about was her duties as a surgeon.

She asked Jon if she could examine his burns, and he nodded his assent, rolling up his sleeve. The skin was discoloured, beginning to tighten and contort, showing that the injuries had been given very little care.

It was odd. Whatever it was that made her heart beat a little faster when Jamie was in the room was entirely absent. Now that she’d made the connection, she could see that the brothers were very alike. Brown hair was brown hair and Jon’s was longer than Jamie’s, but they both had the same strong jaw, the same shaped face. And the eyes left no doubt, even if Jon’s seemed just an unusual colour, while Jamie’s were compelling.

She retreated to her seat, clasping her hands together. She had to remember that Jon was her patient, and act according to his wishes and in his best interests, even though her first thought was that Jamie would be horrified to find that his own brother was in the clinic and he didn’t know it.

‘I think that the scars can definitely be revised and improved, particularly the ones on your brow and neck. The one on your arm is a little bigger, but there’s a lot we can do there as well.’

Jon nodded. ‘Good. Thank you.’

Anna took a breath, wondering how best to ask. ‘You said that Jonny Campbell is your professional name. Is your real name Campbell-Clarke, by any chance?’

‘Yes, it is.’ Jon shot her a questioning look. ‘Not many people know me as Jon Campbell-Clarke any more…’

‘So Dr Jamie Campbell-Clarke is your brother?’

A flash of defensiveness. ‘Yeah. Looks a bit like me. We’re not identical twins.’

‘You both have the same colour eyes.’

‘That’ll be him then. You know him?’

‘I do, and I should tell you that he sometimes visits this clinic.’

Jon nodded, pursing his lips. ‘I didn’t know that. Is that going to be a problem?’

‘No. It’s entirely up to you whether you want him to know you’re here or not.’ She should make that clear before she started to make the case for telling Jamie. ‘I just thought that you should know.’

‘Yeah. Thanks.’ Jon heaved a sigh. ‘When I said that we had a falling out… It was a pretty big one. And it was my fault, he has good reason to be angry with me.’

‘Do you think he might also have good reason to forgive you?’

‘Not particularly. Look…we were close once and now we’re not. None of us gets to change the past.’

‘Jamie might take issue with you there. He tries to change things for the kids he works with.’

‘That’s different.’ She saw a flash of anger in Jon’s face. ‘Look. Sorry, but I can’t…’

‘It’s okay. Just know that I’m here to help, and that I’ll do whatever you want me to do.’

‘Right. Well, you can tell him if you want. Or don’t tell him, it’s up to you. But I know what he’ll say, and I don’t want to hear it. Are we agreed?’

‘Agreed. Is there anything else I can do for you?’

Jon heaved a sigh. ‘I don’t suppose there are any books in this place, are there? Not magazines, something I can get my teeth into.’

‘Yes, we have a small collection. I’ll send our activities co-ordinator in with a selection and if none of them appeal she’d be happy to go out and get you something that does.’

‘Activities co-ordinator.’ Jon gave a mock frown. ‘She’s not going to ask me to make raffia baskets, is she?’

Anna chuckled. ‘Raffia baskets don’t turn you on?’

‘Not even a little bit. I’d like some fresh air…’

‘We have a small garden area on the roof. It’s secluded and the air’s about as fresh as it gets anywhere in central London.’

‘Sounds good to me. Jamie’s not going to find me up there, is he?’

‘No. He’s not expected here for the rest of the week, and after that…we’ll handle things.’

‘Still thinking you might engineer a reconciliation?’ Jon raised one eyebrow. ‘I can save you a bit of time there, because you won’t. Just handle it so that neither of us gets any nasty surprises.’

‘All right. Consider it done.’

Lunchtime. Anna pulled on her coat, grabbed an energy bar from her desk drawer, and hurried out of the building. She’d already thought of about a thousand reasons why she shouldn’t do this…

Families were out of her sphere of expertise, she knew that. She was the only child of two only children, and the large, extended family she’d married into had sometimes baffled her but mostly delighted her. She’d lost them when she and Daniel had divorced…

The clinic was her family now. Anna always did her best for the families of the patients who passed through, and now Jamie Campbell-Clarke came under that umbrella. It meant crossing the line that she’d drawn between professional and personal with him, but she couldn’t step aside and do nothing.

He was sitting alone in the office he shared with two other doctors, the door wide open, and when he saw her he smiled. ‘You wanted to see me?’

Why did that always sound like a challenge? Anna swallowed whatever smart retort was about to reach the tip of her tongue. Not the time for it.

‘Yes, I did.’ Anna sat down on the other side of his desk, keeping her coat on and clutching her handbag in her lap. ‘Can we have a private conversation?’

Something kindled in his eyes and Anna ignored it. Jamie closed the door, sitting back down again. ‘Sure…’

‘We have a new patient at the clinic. He has some recent burn scars for revision, and…he has a demanding job, which has caused a great deal of emotional strain recently.

Jamie nodded. ‘And who is this mystery patient? One of your celebrities?’

‘Yes.’

He gave her a searching look. ‘So you’re not going to give me a name.’

Not until she’d reassured Jamie that Jon’s condition was stable and he wasn’t in any danger. ‘He booked himself in earlier this morning. He’s being well looked after, and there’s no need for any concern.’

‘That’s always nice to know.’ Jamie shot her a puzzled look, leaning back in his seat. He’d obviously decided that she’d get to the point sooner or later, and that he’d wait.

‘It’s your brother. Jon.’

Jamie’s face hardened suddenly. Whatever it was between the two brothers, it was serious. She’d never seen Jamie look so thunderously angry.

‘He asked you to come and see me?’

‘No. I… He said he had a twin brother, but that there was some bad blood between you. When I realised it was you he was talking about, I told him I knew you and said that I thought you should know he was at the clinic. He seems…alone.’

Anna lapsed into silence. Maybe she’d got this all wrong. Maybe she should have listened to Jon when he’d told her that there was only one answer that Jamie would give to any plea for reconciliation. But Jamie never turned anyone away. It was a matter of pride that his charity would at least try to help any kid that knocked on its door.

‘Okay. Thank you.’

That was it? ‘I’m sorry if this… I didn’t mean to overstep any boundaries.’

Suddenly the boundaries that she and Jamie had drawn had changed and Anna felt crushed within them. She should probably go now, and hope that Jamie would forget this had ever happened.

‘That’s okay. Jon knows you’re here?’

‘He said that I could tell you he was at the clinic, but I wasn’t to tell him your reaction. He thinks you’ll refuse to see him.’ Right now that seemed to have been a forward-looking strategy on Jon’s part.

‘Right. It’s good of you to let me know. Is that all?’

That was a clear invitation for her to leave. Anna wanted to ask what Jamie was going to do, even hint that he might tell her how he was feeling about this. But the hard mask of his face left her in no doubt that he’d just tell her to mind her own business.

‘Yes. I’d better be going. I have to be back at the clinic in forty-five minutes.’

It was surprisingly hard to get up and leave. She’d come here intending to deliver a message, but now she badly wanted Jamie to let her in and allow her to help him. But he already seemed to have forgotten that she was in the room. As Anna closed the door behind her, he was staring at his hands, which were clenched into fists in front of him on the desk.

Jon. It had to happen sooner or later, and in truth Jamie was surprised that he hadn’t bumped into his twin brother before now. But Jon’s career only took him on flying visits to London, and hardly ever to Hastings. And in the three years since they’d argued, their family had tactfully contrived to keep them apart.

And the first person who’d brought him news of Jon, beyond what he tried to stop himself from reading in the paper, was Anna. Jamie’s first thought had been to lock her in his office until she promised never to set eyes on Jon again. To protect her…

He reminded himself that Anna could look after herself. She’d proved that to him time and time again, meeting him headlong and refusing to back down when she knew she was right about something. She wasn’t going to fall for the good looks and the rock star charm.

Jamie shook his head, trying not to think about it. Women did fall for Jon. Jamie’s own fiancée had fallen for him, and Jon had done what probably came perfectly naturally to him as a rock star, and what any brother would have found unthinkable. Jon could have had any woman he wanted, but he’d taken the one that Jamie had wanted.

Three years. He could still feel the anger and the shock. The clawing pain that two people who he’d loved could have betrayed him like that.

Did that outweigh the thirty-odd years that had gone before? Growing up together, doing everything together? Looking out for each other? His parents and sister had made it very clear that they wouldn’t force a reconciliation and that if Jamie didn’t want to take the first step they didn’t blame him. They probably didn’t know that Jon was in the clinic either.

It was probably better to let sleeping dogs lie. But the childhood refrain, whenever Jon had been hurt or upset, wouldn’t stop echoing through his thoughts.

What did you do now, little brother?

It was relatively normal to go for weeks without seeing Jamie Campbell-Clarke. But as luck would have it—and Anna wasn’t sure whether the luck was good or bad—he was waiting for her the following morning when she walked into the A&E department of the hospital.

She’d been worrying all night about whether she’d done the right thing. But Jamie hadn’t come to the clinic to see his brother so she should do as she’d been asked and let it go. That was easier said than done.

‘Hi. Thanks for coming.’ He looked very tired.

She’d seen Jamie tired before—his schedule was impressively busy—but today his face reminded her of Jon’s haggard features. It didn’t look as though he’d had much sleep either.

‘My pleasure.’ They had work to do, and she should concentrate on that.

‘I didn’t know you had an interest in syndactyly.’ He too seemed anxious to keep this professional.

‘I studied under Sir Max Barnes in Manchester for a while.’

‘Ah. That explains it.’

It really didn’t need any explanation. The clinic made the services of its doctors available to nearby hospitals on a regular basis, as part of an ongoing partnership programme. Jamie would have consulted the list and found Anna’s name on it. That was all there was to it. Jon had had nothing to do with his call to the clinic to ask if she might give a second opinion on one of his patients. All the same, there was a formal unease about Jamie’s manner that wasn’t like him.

The best thing to do was to ignore it. She followed him to a cubicle where a nurse was sitting with a baby.

‘This little fella was brought in early this morning. He was abandoned and the police are looking for the mother.’ Jamie’s face was impassive, but his eyes reflected the same compassion that showed in the nurse’s face. In an environment where every case had a story behind it, some were still easier to deal with than others.

‘I’ve examined him, and he’s generally surprisingly healthy. But I wanted a second opinion on his hands. You’ve seen the X-rays I sent over?’

Anna nodded. ‘Yes, and it looks to be a case of simple syndactyly. The second, third and fourth fingers on both hands are fused by soft tissue, but the bones are separate. Let me take a look at him.’

The nurse lifted the baby boy from the cradle, and Anna examined his hands carefully. His fingernails were also fused, but it looked as if separating the fingers would be a relatively straightforward matter.

‘This is going to take more than one operation, isn’t it?’ Jamie was watching her intently, but there was none of their usual joking rivalry in his manner.

‘Yes, it’s not possible to operate on more than one side of the finger at a time, or there’s a risk of damaging the blood supply. When the time comes to operate he’s going to need probably four procedures.’

‘We’ll be sending him up to the ward soon—is there anything I need to ask them to look out for?’

‘I don’t see any signs of a more complex syndrome but they should be aware of the possibility. I’ll add my recommendations to his notes.’

‘Great. Thanks. Can I leave you to it for a moment? I’ll be right back…’ As usual, Jamie had more than one patient to attend to.

‘Yes, that’s fine. I’ll watch him.’

Both Jamie and the nurse hurried out of the cubicle. The little boy began to fret in his cradle, and Anna couldn’t resist picking him up to soothe him.

She wouldn’t…couldn’t have her own child. The nieces and nephews she’d gained when she’d married had never really belonged to her and, along with their parents, had just melted away again after the divorce. And this little one was only hers for a few short moments, before Jamie or the nurse returned. But he didn’t know that, all he knew was the reassurance of being held by someone.

‘Hey there, sweetheart. Everything’s going to be all right.’ She cooed the words at him, and he seemed to respond to her voice.

Everything was very far from being all right. An abandoned baby who faced painful medical procedures. It seemed such a cruel twist of fate when Anna would have done anything to have her own child. She felt tears well in her eyes, and blinked them away quickly.

She rocked the baby boy in her arms, singing to him quietly, and his eyes began to close. He was so peacefully unaware of everything that was going on around him.

She could put him back into his cradle, now, but somehow it seemed wrong to do so, as if holding him might add just a drop more love to a life that already needed all the love it could get. When Jamie returned, she was still holding the little boy, the notes untouched. He glanced at them and then looked at her.

‘Everything okay?’

‘Oh. Yes…’

Jamie finally managed a smile. ‘They smell so good, don’t they? My sister always had a battle on her hands, getting me to hand her newborns back…’

He shot her a speculative look and when Anna failed to answer he seemed to decide that he needed to delve a little further. ‘This little man tugs at the heartstrings.’

Anna’s heartstrings were close to snapping. And she’d forgotten to really take in that new baby smell. It was too late now, and it was just one more loss to contend with.

‘What’s his name?’ She asked the question before she’d really thought about it, and Jamie shook his head slowly. Of course. They didn’t know.

‘He’ll be staying here for a little while, while his foster care is arranged. I dare say the nurses upstairs will be giving him a name.’

He took the baby from her arms, and Anna tried not to notice the way his face softened. Jamie’s green eyes seemed to be cutting into her heart more painfully than usual. He put the baby back into the cradle, stopping to gently stroke his cheek with one finger.

‘I really appreciate your time, thank you.’

‘No problem. I’ll just write my recommendations up and then I’ll be on my way.’ Anna decided that everything would go a bit faster if she did them outside, where she couldn’t be distracted by either Jamie or the baby. She picked up the notes and headed for the door of the cubicle.

‘Anna…’ Jamie’s voice behind her sounded suddenly strained.

‘Yes?’

‘How is he?’

There was no need to ask who he was talking about. Jamie wasn’t as unconcerned about his brother as he seemed.

‘He’s fine, Jamie. I saw him this morning and he’s settling in well.’

Jamie nodded. ‘Thanks.’

Nothing else. No indication that Jamie would come to see his brother, and no message. But she’d done all she could and it was time to take a step back now, and let Jamie work things out. And she did have to get back to the clinic.

Anna turned, getting the distinct impression that Jamie was watching her as she walked away.

Five o’clock. She should be going home, but Jon hadn’t had a visitor all day. Anna decided to pop in and see how he was, but when she looked in his room he wasn’t there. She found him up on the roof of the building, huddled in a heavy leather jacket and a scarf. As she walked towards him, he slid the headphones he was wearing down around his neck.

‘Aren’t you cold?’ An autumn chill was beginning to set in and the evenings were drawing in.

‘Nah, I’m good. I like it up here.’ Jon tapped his finger on the book in his lap. ‘I have plenty of company.’

Music and books. They were wonderful company but didn’t replace a family. Anna wondered where Jamie was, and what he was doing.

‘You contacted him, didn’t you?’ Jon was looking at her keenly.

‘Yes, I did. I went over to the hospital yesterday and saw him.’ Anna bit her lip. Maybe she shouldn’t have let Jon know that Jamie was so close, or that it had been more than twenty-four hours since Jamie had heard that his brother was here. But Jon just nodded.

‘I’m not gonna ask you what he said.’ Jon shifted fitfully in his seat. ‘You think we’re alike?’

The question came right out of the blue, and it was a difficult one. The two brothers looked alike, but… Jamie was Jamie. He was unique.

‘You resemble each other. You seem different to me.’

Jon laughed suddenly. ‘Good answer. We used to hate it when we were kids and people reckoned we were just two versions of the same. We had this aunt who always bought identical Christmas presents for us, even when I was on the road, touring, and Jamie was at medical school.’

There was regret in Jon’s face. He obviously missed his brother, and Anna wondered again what had torn them apart. Neither of them seemed to want to talk about it, and in that they were identical.

‘I guess that’s one of the hazards of being a twin.’

‘Yeah. Jamie was always the one who said less but had more going on in his head.’

Anna smiled. ‘I can’t imagine that the person who wrote “Everywhere” doesn’t have something going on in his head.’

‘You like that song?’

‘Yes, I love it. It got me through a bit of a rocky patch in my life. It’s so…optimistic about the future.’

‘It’s a great song.’ Jon’s lip quivered. ‘Jamie wrote it, you know. I imagine he probably hasn’t told you that.’

‘No, he didn’t.’

‘Like I said. Jamie has a lot more going on in his head than I do. I generally used to write the music and he wrote the words, but “Everywhere” was all his own work.’

They must have been close once. If writing songs together wasn’t proof enough, then she had only to look at the regret in Jon’s face. Maybe she should change the subject, even if the words to ‘Everywhere’ were now running insistently through her head. The hope for the future and the determination not to give up made so much more sense now that she knew they were Jamie’s words.

‘What are you listening to?’

Jon took the headphones from around his neck, detaching the earpieces from their mounting and handing one to her. She pressed it against her ear, leaning forward so that Jon could listen through the other one, and he traced his thumb across the screen of the phone he’d taken out of his pocket.

‘Bach! Really…?’

Jon laughed. ‘Both Jamie and I had music lessons when we were kids and we played all the classics. Bach was always my favourite. Don’t you think this has a lot in common with all song structures?’

‘Now you mention it, I suppose…’ Anna put the earpiece against her ear again, and Jon began to trace the precise tempo with his finger in the air, like a conductor. When the complex strands of the melody wove together to draw the music to a close, he made a concluding flourish and Anna laughed.

‘I see it now…’ Anna looked over her shoulder as Jon’s gaze suddenly left her face. Jamie was standing by the door that led from the stairs to the roof garden, watching them.

Something about the look on Jamie’s face made her quickly give the earpiece back to Jon and lean away from him. She was just talking to a patient, wasn’t she? Maybe Jamie thought that she was taking sides, because he shot her an injured look.

‘Jon, I…’ She turned back to Jon, whose face was moulded into a look of stony shock. ‘I didn’t know he was coming.’

Jon didn’t reply. His attention was all on Jamie, who was walking towards them, and the closer his brother got, the more agitated Jon looked. This whole situation was turning into a nightmare. Something was about to explode…

‘I heard you were here.’ Jamie’s voice was quiet, his face impassive.

‘Yeah. I’m here.’

Jamie sat down, without even looking at Anna. The two brothers regarded each other steadily. It would be good to leave right now, but Anna wasn’t going anywhere until she knew that they weren’t going to start arguing as soon as she turned her back.

‘Let’s take a look at your arm, little brother.’

Jamie’s quiet words seemed familiar to Jon, and he gave a stiff smile as he pulled up the sleeve of his jacket to expose the bottom half of the burn scar. Jamie turned the edges of his mouth down.

‘Looks as if it hurt. Probably still does.’

‘Yeah. The doc says she can sort it for me.’

Jamie nodded, turning to Anna with the hint of a smile. ‘You don’t mind if I step on your toes?’