His Summer Bride: Becoming Dr Bellini's Bride / Summer Seaside Wedding / Wedding in Darling Downs

‘Wrong place,’ he said in a roughened tone, as though that explained things. ‘I can think of better places where I can show you how much I care.’

Katie stared at him, blankly, her lips parting, a tingle of delicious sensation still running through her from head to toe.

He sent her an oblique glance in return, his mouth twisting a little. ‘Did I go too far again?’ he asked. ‘I hope not, because I really wanted to do that. In fact, it’s on my mind every time I see you—and even sometimes when we’re apart.’

She didn’t answer, still lost in that haze of delirious excitement. He’d kissed her…he cared about her… All at once the world was bright and new. Was this love?

Nick pulled in a deep breath, as though to steady himself. He held open the passenger door for her and she slid dazedly into the air-conditioned comfort of his car. Then he went around to the driver’s side, coming to sit beside her.

He turned the key in the ignition, starting up the car. ‘I need to get my head right,’ he said. ‘Perhaps we should talk about everyday kind of things for a while—like work, for instance.’

She blinked and closed her mouth, trying her utmost to bring her thoughts back down to a level plane, and he went on cautiously, ‘I thought you might like to know—I checked up on Darren Mayfield this afternoon.’

‘You did?’ She finally found her voice. ‘Oh, I’m glad of that. I haven’t had time to ring the unit yet today. How’s he doing? I know they were thinking of moving him from Intensive Care.’

He nodded. ‘That’s right. I know you’ve been keeping tabs on his condition over the last week or so. Anyway, he’s on the main ward now and he seems on course to make a full recovery. There’s some weakness in his limbs apparently, but the physiotherapist is going to be working with him and he looks set to be back to normal within a few weeks.’

Her face lit up. ‘Oh, that’s wonderful news… the best.’

He nodded. ‘I knew you’d be pleased.’ He set the car in motion and turned his attention to the road, leaving her to gaze out at the passing landscape.

‘You said you’d been to see your father’s vineyard,’ Nick remarked as he turned the car on to the valley road. ‘Of course, he doesn’t live on the property—his manager is the one who stays on the premises. I expect you’ll have met him when you went over there.’

Katie nodded. ‘Yes, I’ve been introduced to Toby. He seems a very friendly and approachable man. At least he was willing to answer all my naïve questions. Like I said, I’ve been fascinated with the whole process of growing vines and turning the fruit into wine ever since I came over here and learned what my father was doing.’

Nick frowned. ‘You could always ask me anything you want to know… anytime. I’d be only too glad to tell you. We could even combine it with dinner out or supper at one of the ocean view restaurants around here, if you like. Or a stroll along the beach if that takes your fancy more.’

Her mouth curved. ‘I’ll definitely think about it. They all sound good to me.’

He relaxed, a look of satisfaction crossing his face. ‘Wow! I think I’m actually winning for a change! Wake me up, I think I might be dreaming!’

‘I seriously hope not,’ she said with a laugh, ‘or any minute now you’ll be crashing the car into my father’s gatepost.’

They had reached her father’s property, a stone-built house set in a secluded area some short distance from the coastal stretch where Nick had his home. They approached it along a sweeping drive that cut through well-kept lawns, bordered in part by mature trees and flowering shrubs.

The house was a solid, rectangular building on two storeys, with the ground-floor windows placed symmetrically either side of a wide doorway.

Katie frowned as Nick drew the car to a halt. ‘It looks as though my father has a visitor,’ she said. ‘I don’t recognise that four by four, do you?’

‘It’s the doctor’s car. Dr Weissman—I’ve known him for some years now.’

‘Oh, yes.’ Katie collected her thoughts. ‘I think I’ve bumped into him once or twice.’ Her gaze was troubled. ‘I wonder if my father’s taken a turn for the worse?’

Nick was already sliding out of the car, and she hurried to join him on the gravelled forecourt. It was a fresh, warm summer’s day, but the sun went behind a cloud just then and a sudden sense of foreboding rippled through her. She walked quickly towards the oak front door and rang the bell.

Libby, the housekeeper, came to answer it, looking unusually flustered. ‘Oh, Katie, there you are.’ She pulled open the door and ushered them inside. ‘I was just about to call you,’ she said, pulling at a wayward strand of soft brown hair. ‘The doctor and Steve are with your father now. Jack’s been having a bad time of it all day. It’s his heart, I think. At least, that’s what the doctor said.’

‘I need to go and see him,’ Katie said, a thread of unease edging her words. The feeling of dread that clutched at her midriff since she’d arrived at the house was intensifying by the minute.

‘I understand how you must be feeling,’ Libby answered, worry lines creasing her brow, ‘but the doctor said he would come and let us know as soon as there was any news.’

Katie frowned. ‘But I’m his daughter. I want to be with him. I want to know what’s going on.’

The housekeeper’s face seemed to crumple, and she made a helpless, fluttering gesture with her hands, as though this was all getting too much for her, and Katie said quickly, ‘It will be all right, Libby, I promise. We made up our differences a while ago, my father and I… he’ll want me to be there with him. I know he will.’

Libby was still fraught with indecision. ‘I should have rung you earlier, I know I should, but I had to ring for an ambulance and try to contact the others and that took up so much time. It’s been such an awful day, one way and another. And the ambulance still hasn’t arrived.’

Katie frowned. What others? What was Libby talking about? But perhaps she had tried to phone Jack’s friends, the people who knew him best… along with the doctor, of course. Katie might be his daughter, but she had only been in town for a couple of months at most.

Nick took hold of her arm, as though to add a helping hand, and she turned to him in gratitude. ‘Thanks for bringing me here. It looks as though things are much more serious than I thought. Otherwise why would Dr Weissman have wanted an ambulance?’

‘It does sound as though he’s concerned,’ Nick admitted, ‘but let’s wait and hear what he has to say.’

‘I must go to my father,’ she said again. She knew the way to Jack’s room from the first time she had been there, when her father had shown her around, and despite Libby’s distressed expression she made an instant decision and began to head in that direction.

Nick went with her, but as they came to the first floor and walked along the corridor, the door of her father’s room opened and Steve walked out.

He stopped as soon as he saw them and pulled in a deep, calming breath. ‘Katie,’ he greeted her. ‘I don’t think you should go in there just yet. Let me talk to you for a while. Shall we find somewhere to sitdown?’ He glanced at Nick, and an odd look passed between them. Katie didn’t understand it. Hadn’t that same mysterious kind of glance occurred when she and her father had had dinner together and she’d met Nick for the first time?

She allowed Nick to lead her away, following Steve along the corridor and back down the stairs to the sitting room.

‘Please, sit down, Katie.’ Steve indicated a comfortable sofa and then turned to Nick. ‘You, too, Nick,’ he said.

Katie did as he suggested, feeling for the settee with the back of her legs and not once taking her gaze off Steve. Nick sat down beside her, and the nurse took the armchair opposite.

She was more bewildered than ever. Something was going on here and she had no idea what it could be. Right now, though, she wanted more than anything to know what was happening with her father.

‘Katie,’ Steve began quietly, ‘I’m really sorry to be the one to tell you this… but I’m afraid your father passed away a few minutes ago. In the end his heart simply gave out.’

‘No…’ Katie’s mind refused to take it in. ‘That can’t be… I only spoke to him on the phone this morning. How can this be happening?’ For all her training as a doctor, coming face to face with the death of a loved one was turning out to be every bit as difficult for her as it was for her patients. She had no idea it could be so hard to accept.

Nick put his arm around her and held her tight. ‘I’m so sorry, Katie. It’s a shock—in fact, it’s a shock for both of us.’

Steve pressed his lips together in a fleeting moment of sadness. ‘Dr Weissman did everything he could to try to resuscitate him, but in the end it was impossible. There was nothing more he could do.’

Katie was bewildered. ‘I just can’t take it in. I came here thinking he was just having one of those bad days. He always seemed so stoical, so determined to get the best out of life.’

‘And I’m sure he did, Katie.’ Nick leant his cheek against hers. ‘He was over the moon because you had come out here to see him. These last few weeks he was always talking about you, saying how well you’d done for yourself.’

‘Was he?’ Tears began to trickle slowly down her face. ‘It seems such a waste. All these years I’ve waited, wanting to get to know him but always holding back because I was afraid of what I might find. It took me such a long time to forgive him for walking out on my mother and me. It was such a strange sort of life… as if it was somehow off key. And now he’s gone.’

He held her close, letting her weep for what might have been, and all the time he stroked her hair, comforting her just by being there for her when she needed him most.

Libby brought in a tray of tea and quietly set it down on the coffee table. ‘The doctor’s gone into the kitchen to fill in his forms. He’s very sad. They were good friends—your father always spoke highly of him.’

Katie glanced up at Libby. The woman was ashen-faced, struggling to keep her emotions in check.

‘Perhaps you should sit down and give yourself some time,’ Katie suggested softly, still shaken but subdued. ‘You must be as upset as the rest of us. More so, perhaps… my father told me you’d been with him for years.’

Libby put a tissue to her face. ‘I have, yes, that’s true.’ She wrung her hands. ‘I ought to go and.’ She turned distractedly, as though to go out of the door, and then changed her mind and came to sit down on one of the straight-backed chairs by a polished mahogany desk. ‘I don’t know what to do,’ she said in a broken voice.

‘Don’t do anything. Just sit for a while and I’ll get you some tea.’ Katie moved as though to go and pour a cup, but Nick gently pressured her back into the sofa.

‘I’ll do it,’ he said. ‘You stay there.’

Steve looked towards the sitting-room door while Nick poured tea and handed it around. ‘I should go and have a word with the doctor,’ he murmured. ‘He’ll need someone to see him out… and I’d better call the paramedics and tell them what’s happened.’

He walked over to the door and opened it, walking out into the hallway. The sound of voices coming from there alerted Katie and made her sit up and take notice. Had the paramedics arrived already?

‘We just want to talk to Libby for a minute or two,’ a male voice said. ‘There will be things to arrange.’

Steve said quietly, ‘Perhaps it can wait for a while. Libby’s in shock, as we all are. Do you want to go and talk to the doctor instead, in the kitchen?’

‘Not just yet.’ The sound of the man’s voice drew nearer, and Katie looked across the room as the door opened. A young man walked in, followed by a slender girl who looked to be slightly older than him, about twenty-three or twenty-four years old. She was pretty, with auburn hair that fell in bright curls about her shoulders, but right now her features were taut, as though she was doing her best to hold herself together.

Katie stood up, dragging her thoughts away from all that had happened and making an effort to behave in the way that Jack would have expected. He would want her to politely greet his guests and make them welcome, even now.

‘Hello,’ she said, going over to them. ‘I don’t think we’ve met before, have we? I’m Katie. For a moment there I thought you were the paramedics.’

The young man shook his head. ‘I think the doctor rang and told them there was no urgency.’

‘Yes, that would be the sensible thing to do.’ Katie studied him briefly. He had black hair and hazel eyes, and she had the impression he was struggling to keep his emotions under control, his face showing signs of stress, with dark shadows under his eyes and a gaunt, hollowed-out appearance to his cheeks.

‘I’m Tom Logan,’ he said, ‘and this is my sister, Natasha.’ He put an arm around the girl’s shoulders. ‘You’ve caught us at a bad time. I expect you’ve heard that our father has just died. Did you know him? Were you a friend of his?’

Katie almost reeled back in shock. She stared at him. Their father? Surely there had to be some mistake? She felt as though all the breath had been knocked out of her and for a moment or two she simply stood there and tried to absorb his words.

‘I didn’t realise…’ she began after a while, but broke off. There couldn’t be any mistake, could there? Logan, he had said. How much clearer could he have made it?

‘Are you all right?’ Tom was frowning, looking perplexed, and his sister pulled in a shaky breath and tried to show her concern, too.

It wasn’t fitting that she should be here, Katie decided suddenly. These were Jack’s children, and they had the right to grieve in peace. She had to get out of here. ‘Yes, I…’ She swallowed hard. ‘I have to go… I need to get some air…’ This wasn’t the time or the place to explain who she was and where she had come from, was it? They’d obviously had no idea that she existed before this.

She swivelled round, desperate to get out of there, away from all these people. All at once she felt as though she was part of a topsy-turvy world where nothing made sense any more. She needed to be alone, to try to take it all in.

‘Katie’s upset,’ she heard Nick saying. ‘This has all been a bit too much for her. Excuse us, please. I think I’d better take her home.’

Katie was already out of the front door, standing on the drive, when she realised that she didn’t have her own car there. But perhaps that was just as well. She was probably in no state to drive.

Was it too far away for her to walk home? She could always get a taxi, couldn’t she? But for now she just needed to keep moving, to get away from there, to get her head straight.

‘Katie, wait, please.’ Nick dropped into step beside her.

‘Why would I do that?’ She shot the words at him through gritted teeth. ‘I really don’t have anything to say to you.’ She kept on walking. Hadn’t he known all along?

‘But we need to talk this through,’ he said. ‘You’ve had a shock—a double shock, given what’s happened to Jack.’

‘Yes, I’ve had a shock—and whose fault is that, precisely?’ The words came out flint sharp. ‘Did you really think you could hide it from me for ever? Why would you want to do that?’ She clamped her lips together. ‘No, don’t answer that. I don’t want to hear it. You colluded with him, let me go on thinking I was the daughter he loved and cared about, when all the time he…’ She couldn’t get the words out. Her anger was rising in a tide of blood that rushed to her head. It made her feel dizzy, and it thumped inside her skull like the stroke of a relentless mallet.

‘It wasn’t the way you think…believe me…’

‘Believe you?’ She gave a harsh laugh. ‘Why should I believe you?’ She looked at him, her green eyes glinting with barely suppressed fury. ‘Why should I listen to anything you have to say? I was foolish enough to think that you had some integrity, that you were different to the others… that you could be honest with me. Well, I was wrong.’ She was still walking, her footsteps taking her out through the large wrought-iron gates, flanked on either side by stone-built gateposts.

‘Katie, this is madness. At least stop and talk to me. Let me explain.’

‘There’s nothing to explain, is there? I know exactly how it went. You knew all along that my father had another family, a family he didn’t want me to know about… or my mother, for that matter. How old is Natasha, do you imagine? Twenty-four? That means she was born while he was still married to my mother. How do you think I feel about that? Can you imagine? And yet I still would have wanted to know that they existed. Don’t you think I had a right to know?’

‘Of course you did. And he would have told you, given time. It’s just that he wanted to pick his moment. You were getting along so well together. He didn’t want to spoil that.’

He frowned. ‘Katie, you’ve only just discovered that he’s passed on. You’re bound to be upset and not thinking clearly about things. You’re emotional and overwrought, and you should give yourself time to get used to the idea that he’s gone before you start dissecting his behaviour and giving yourself grief over it. You’ll have a much more balanced outlook in a day or so’s time.’

‘Will I? I think I have a pretty firm handle on the situation right now. I might even forgive my father for his deception…after all, I’ve been there before. He left us back in England and eventually I managed to come to terms with what he had done. I know what kind of man he is…’ her voice lowered to a whisper. ‘Was.’

She stopped walking and faced him head on. ‘It’s you I have a problem with. You’re the one who kept the pretence going. You banded together to keep me in the dark about it, about my family—my brother and sister, for heaven’s sake.’

She shook her head as though to throw out all the debris of broken dreams that had gathered there. ‘You knew how lonely I was through all those years after he left us,’ she said, her eyes blurred with tears. ‘You knew how much it hurt me to be rejected and how desperately I needed to know the reason for that. You should have told me the truth… that he had another family out here, one that he was prepared to stand by, to love and protect. It would have helped me to understand. I wouldn’t have kept my hopes up that my relationship with my father could have been something more than it was.’

Her gaze locked with his. ‘Instead, you let me flounder and lose my way. You made it so that I stumbled across his children at the worst possible moment. You could have stopped all that, and yet you did nothing.’

‘Katie, I had to keep it from you. Jack made me promise. He wanted to tell you himself when the time was right.’

‘Well, you should never have made that promise,’ she told him flatly. ‘Because of it, all my illusions are shattered. I thought I knew you... I thought I could trust you but I was wrong.’ She took in a shuddery breath. ‘You should go back to the house, Nick. I need to be alone.’

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘IF THERE’S anything at all that I can do to help you through these next few weeks, Dr Logan, please be sure to give me a call…at any time.’ The lawyer handed Katie his embossed card. ‘I know this must be a particularly difficult time for you.’

‘Thank you.’ Katie accepted the card and slipped it into her bag. She was still numb from everything that had happened over the last couple of weeks. Her father had died, the will had been read and now she had to try to pick up the pieces and go on with her life.

How was she to do that? Nick had betrayed her. The one man she’d thought she could trust had let her down, with devastating consequences. He’d once told her that she was special and that she’d shaken him to the core, and yet those had been empty words. It seemed those feelings were fragile, and he was easily diverted.

His duplicity left her feeling utterly lost and alone and she couldn’t see how she was ever going to recover from this.

Even now, Nick was watching her from across the room. It was bad enough that he was there at all, but there was nothing she could do about that. She could feel his dark gaze homing in on her, piercing like a laser, but she was determined to ignore him. She wanted to avoid him at all costs. He’d known all along about Tom and Natasha, but he had said nothing. How could he have left her to find out about them that way? If he had cared anything for her, wouldn’t he have told her?

‘It can’t have been easy for you, discovering that you had a family out here in California,’ the lawyer commented.

‘No,’ she confessed. She’d had two long weeks to think about that awful day at her father’s house, and now she was here with her half-brother and-sister, gathered together under the same roof once more, and it was every bit as unsettling now as it had been then. ‘I’m finding it all a bit of a strain, I must admit. I’m still struggling to take it all in. It hadn’t occurred to me that my father would leave the vineyard, the house—everything, in fact—to the three of us.’ She frowned. ‘I’m not sure what I expected, really… after all, I hadn’t been part of his life for some twenty years.’

‘The terms of the will were very precise.’ His brows drew together in a dark line. ‘After his second wife died, he stipulated that the property and the land should go to his children, and he named each one of you specifically. It wasn’t an afterthought. He had the will drawn up several years ago. Other bequests were added later—like the monetary gifts to his housekeeper and manager.’

‘And the collection of rare books that went to Nick Bellini.’ That was the reason for him being there, wasn’t it, on a day when she’d thought she would be safe?

He nodded. ‘Jack knew that he had a special interest in them, and he wanted to thank him for his help over the years. He said Nick had always been there to advise him about matters to do with the vineyard, and lately he had looked out for him when he was ill.’

‘It sounds as though you knew my father very well.’ Her mouth softened. ‘He must have talked to you quite a bit about these things.’

‘That’s true. I often had occasion to meet with him, so we got to know one another on a friendly as well as a professional basis. I had a lot of respect for your father.’

Katie’s mouth made a faint downward curve. It was a pity she couldn’t share that opinion. Her world had been turned upside down when she had discovered her father’s secret. Now she would remember him as a weak man who hadn’t had the courage to admit to his shortcomings. How much grief would he have spared his family if he had done that? Even her mother had echoed those thoughts at his funeral.

For Katie’s part, she wanted to weep. What was it about her that made people treat her this way? As a child, for a long time after her father left she had felt that she was unlovable… worthless… and now those feelings of rejection and isolation were intensified.

Was there anyone she could rely on? Her ex had cheated on her, and her own father had left her so that he could be with his other family. And now Nick had hurt her deeply by keeping her in the dark about her brother and sister. If he’d cared about her at all, wouldn’t he have confided in her, tried to smooth her path and let her know about something so significant as a family that was being hidden from her?

‘How are you bearing up?’ Nick came to join them, and the lawyer discreetly excused himself to go and talk to her new siblings. ‘If there’s anything I can do—’

‘You could stay away,’ she said, slanting him a brief, cool stare.

‘I’m sorry you feel that way.’ His gaze flicked over her, taking in the silky sheen of her chestnut hair, the troubled curve of her mouth, and then shifted downwards over the slender lines of her dove-grey suit. The jacket nipped in at the waist, emphasising the flare of her hips, while the slim skirt finished at the knee, showing off an expanse of silk-smooth legs. ‘I was hoping by now you’d have had time to think things through… and maybe come to the conclusion that I’d acted with the best of intentions.’