The Fortunes of Francesca Read online

  She said suddenly, ‘I’m going down to the rooms. It’s time Marc had his tea.’

  On the landing below, the waiting-room door was closed but not locked. She crossed the empty room, hesitated for a moment and then opened his consulting room door.

  The professor was sitting at his desk. It was piled with papers—patients’ notes, reports on tests, pamphlets and letters—but he was occupied with none of them; he was occupied with his thoughts. He looked up as Franny went in and got to his feet.

  ‘Franny, is something wrong?’

  She walked up to the desk, took one of the chairs set ready for patients and folded her hands tidily in her lap.

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘You came home early this morning, you wouldn’t let Crisp call me—and he had promised, you know—you had to go to St Giles’, but you’ve been here since just after twelve o’clock. Mrs Willett went home ages ago. I know you’re a busy man, but I think—no, I’m sure—that you’re avoiding me. Finn saw you this morning, and he said you were on top of the world. Has something happened while you were away?’

  She paused to study his quiet face. It took a bit of an effort to go on, and it would sound silly and childish, but it had to be said. ‘Did you meet someone—a woman—and fall in love with her? Because if you did you don’t need to worry about telling me. I’ll understand, I promise you, and it would make me very happy for you.’

  She sat back. ‘There, I’ve said it. Sometimes one simply has to say exactly what one thinks. I can say it to you because we’re friends.’

  He said quietly, ‘Why would it make you happy, Francesca?’

  ‘Well, I don’t really want to answer that question, but it might explain why I’ve said all this. You see, I love you, and I want you to be happy more than anything else in the world.’

  The professor found himself smiling. He got up, went round his desk and pulled Franny gently to her feet, her hands in his.

  ‘Shall I tell you why I was on top of the world? It was because I was coming home to you, my darling. Falling in love with you was something I had no intention of doing, and I fought hard against it. I thought that I had everything in life that I needed, and then you came into it and into my heart.’

  Franny mumbled, ‘Then why didn’t you say so...?’

  The professor put his arms around her. ‘Perhaps I am too old for you, too set in my ways. That you should love me seemed such a remote possibility that I was afraid to see you again, even though I longed to. I knew when I came home that I would have to tell you that I loved you. I was sitting here wondering how to do it.’

  ‘I’ll tell you how to do it,’ said Franny. ‘I think it might be something which gets easier as you go along, as it were.’

  ‘My dearest little love, what an adorable creature you are...’ He bent and kissed her, taking his time about it.

  ‘That was very nice,’ said Franny, and was kissed again. For someone too old for her and set in his ways, he kissed in a most satisfactory fashion. She couldn’t resist asking him, ‘You’re sure that you love me? I’m not beautiful or clever, and I talk too much.’

  He put a hand under her chin and looked down at her with tenderness. ‘You are beautiful and clever and kind, and the day you stop talking I shall die, my darling.’

  It was a reply to satisfy the most doubtful of girls. Franny reached up and put her arms round his neck. ‘We are going to be very happy—you won’t mind if our little girls talk as much as I do?’

  ‘I shall find it delightful, provided we even things up with a boy or two.’

  ‘Two of each,’ said Franny, ‘then they can make up a tennis four.’

  The professor gave a great shout of laughter. ‘At least you don’t hanker after a cricket eleven.’ He hugged the breath from her body and kissed her, a gentle kiss, setting the seal on their happiness.

  * * * * *

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  ISBN: 9781460315743

  Copyright © 1996 by Betty Neels

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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