They encouraged the children to get up and use the playroom, rather than sitting on their beds, and Bev had lost no time in spending some of the money that they'd raised at the auction.
Poppy shifted awkwardly on the bed. 'I don't really know anyone … '
'You know me,' Libby said cheerfully, filling in her chart. 'I'll be there.'
Poppy smiled. 'Oh, well, in that case … '
Making a mental note to take Poppy to the playroom later, Libby moved on to her next little patient.
Rachel Miller was back in for some tests. The baby was sitting in her cot cooing happily and playing with a stuffed toy.
Alison smiled when she saw Libby. 'She's fine now, but Dr Christakos wanted her to have those tests and they couldn't do them when she was in a few weeks ago.'
Libby nodded. 'They shouldn't take long.' Libby leaned into the cot and pulled faces at Rachel, who chuckled happily and reached to grab her. 'She's gorgeous, Alison. You're very lucky.'
'I know.' Alison smiled proudly at her daughter. 'We wanted a baby so badly and we tried for so long to have her. I still have to pinch myself.'
Libby looked at the little girl wistfully, feeling a sick empty feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She knew all about wanting a baby badly. There were days when she positively ached for a child of her own. But she was rapidly coming to the conclusion that it was never going to happen.
Part of her envied women who happily went ahead and produced babies without the support of a partner and she was aware that it was happening more and more frequently as women made decisions about their lives without the involvement of a man.
But she wasn't like that.
She was old-fashioned enough to believe that a baby was a miracle that should be shared with someone you loved. That a baby was part of the person you loved.
Libby sighed and straightened.
She really must stop being so soppy and romantic. Real life just wasn't like that any more. People got divorced. People had babies without partners. And people had one-night stands. It was a fact of life. It was just that she didn't want it to be a fact of her life.
She'd always wanted so much more than that, but it seemed that love and fidelity was an endangered species.
With that thought in her head she went through to the treatment room to fetch something-and came face to face with Andreas.
Libby felt the blood drain out of her cheeks and looked round for a suitable means of escape.
'Well, hello, there. Remember me?' His voice was a lazy drawl and he planted himself firmly in front of the door so that her exit was blocked. 'We were at a ball together and then suddenly you vanished.'
And given the chance, she'd vanish again.
'I went to the ladies.'
He lifted an eyebrow. 'You spent the night there?'
She flushed. 'I don't want to talk about this now.'
'Well, I do,' he said pleasantly, and she glared at him.
'What are you doing here anyway?'
Those dark eyes mocked her. 'I work here.'
'But it's Sunday,' she muttered, screwing her fingers into her palms and trying to stop her knees trembling. She was fast discovering that it was impossible to look at him without remembering what he'd made her feel. 'I wasn't expecting to see you on a Sunday.'
In fact, she'd been banking on it.
He gave a faint smile. 'Avoiding me, Libby?'
'No.' She managed a casual shrug, wondering just how fast a heart could beat before it exploded. 'Why would you think that?'
'Well, it could be something to do with the fact that you vanished in the middle of the evening,' he said, and she looked away from him.
It had been a pretty dreadful thing to do.
Suddenly feeling guilty for the way she'd behaved, she looked at him uncertainly. 'I'm sorry if I damaged your ego.'
He studied her with brooding concentration. 'My ego is totally bombproof, agape mou. But I do want to know what made you run.'
Him.
Her feelings.
'I didn't run.'
'You escaped to the ladies and never returned,' he reminded her softly, a hint of a smile playing around his firm mouth. 'I assumed your name must be Cinderella and I searched everywhere for white mice and pumpkins but there was nothing in sight. Not even a stray shoe. All I could see was a cloud of dust as you vanished into the distance.'
'I didn't run. I just thought-I … ' Her excuses faltered under his dark scrutiny. 'Well, I thought that was it so I might as well go home.'
Before she'd started fantasising about fairy-tale endings.
She absolutely didn't love him.
'You thought that was it?' He lifted a dark eyebrow. 'Excuse me?'
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and tried to look casual. 'We had sex, Andreas. No big deal.'
'''No big deal''.' Andreas repeated her words slowly. 'So, if it was no big deal, Libby, why did you run away?'
Oh, why couldn't he just drop it?
'Look … ' Libby closed her eyes briefly, wishing he wasn't quite so astute or persistent. 'It was just a one-night stand. Plenty of people have them.'
Just not her.
Andreas looked at her thoughtfully. 'You poor thing. You really are scared, aren't you?'
'Scared?' Libby stiffened defensively. 'What am I supposed to be scared of?'
Andreas shrugged. 'At a guess-letting go. Trusting someone.' He moved closer to her. 'Obviously what we shared last night scared you so much that you panicked and couldn't face me again.'
'That's not true,' she lied, and he gave a wry smile.
'Libby, you know it is true.'
'Stop making it into something it wasn't,' she said frantically. 'It was just a one-night stand. It was just sex.'
'''Just sex''.' He repeated her words slowly, and his expression was suddenly serious. 'Libby, are you taking the Pill?'
She stared at him, thrown by his question. Then she shook her head.
'Right.' His voice was unbelievably gentle. 'So, if what happened between us last night was ''just sex'', how come neither of us thought to use contraception?'
She paled and took a step backwards.
Contraception hadn't even entered her head, either before or afterwards.
And obviously it hadn't entered his either.
Oh, help.
Andreas rubbed a hand over his dark jaw. 'The reason neither of us thought about contraception,' he said finally, his Greek accent suddenly very pronounced, 'is because it wasn't ''just sex''. It was a hell of a lot more than that, as we both know. Neither of us planned it-it just happened-but, looking back on it, it was inevitable. It's been there since the first moment we laid eyes on each other.'
Libby was still staring at him, stunned by the revelation that they hadn't used contraception.
Why hadn't it occurred to her before? She might be relatively inexperienced, but she wasn't naïve. Why hadn't she thought of contraception?
Because she hadn't been thinking about practical things. In fact, she hadn't been thinking at all. All she'd done had been to feel and react.
And now she could be pregnant.
Without thinking, she placed a hand on her abdomen. Andreas, sharp-eyed as ever, caught the movement and his eyes narrowed.
'I am truly sorry for having failed to protect you,' he said softly, sliding his hands around her face and forcing her to look at him. 'There is no excuse and I have to confess that it is the first time in my life that I've ever lost control.'
She could well believe it. Andreas Christakos was the original Mr Cool.
So what was he saying? That she was special? Different?
Did he really expect her to believe that?
Trapped by that dark gaze, Libby was severely tempted.
No, no, no!
She was doing it again.
Losing herself in the fairy-tale when she should know better.
Gentle words were just part of the standard male seduction technique, she reminded herself firmly. Andreas wasn't any different. Except perhaps that he was more skilled at it than the average male.
Any minute now he'd produce the wife or start the 'I don't do commitment' speech.
'It was my fault as much as yours,' she said finally, still unable to understand what had happened. She'd totally lost control and that had never happened to her before. She had never lost control with a man. Never felt remotely like ripping off all her clothes and making love by a lake with a couple of hundred people only metres away.
His voice was gentle. 'We need to talk about what you want to do.'
Do?
Libby looked at him, startled, and noticed that he seemed strangely tense.
'Do you want to take the morning-after pill? I could give you a prescription.'
Trying not to mind that he was so keen for her to sort the matter out, still shell-shocked by the revelation that she could be pregnant, Libby shook her head.
'I-I'll sort something out,' she mumbled evasively, totally confused by her feelings.
She was a single woman with no partner. She ought to be rushing to the chemist to get the morning-after pill.
So why were her legs glued to the spot?