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PROLOGUE
HE WASN’T THERE.
Thea Coleman surveyed the sea of heads bobbing in front of her. No reason to panic. There were walkways, coffee shops, seating areas to check out… It had been a nice fantasy, stepping out of a taxi and bumping into Lucas almost straight away. Seeing his face light up when he saw her, holding his hand as they walked together into the airport to embark on the biggest adventure of their lives. But fantasy was a forgiving and flexible thing, and there was another one that would do just as well. Finding him at the last minute, just as he was about to board the plane. Pushing through the crowds to fling herself into his arms, and flying off into the sunset with him.
She checked her luggage in, went through passport control, and scanned the passenger lounge anxiously. It looked as if fantasy number three was going to be the one. She’d find him on the plane. Lucas would have given up all hope that she might change her mind and come with him by then.
She knew that he was on this flight; the tickets had been propped up in front of the mirror in his bedroom for over a month. Every night she’d offered up the silent hope that he might change his mind. That he’d ask her to put her career on hold and go with him. Or that he’d decide that the opportunity of working as a doctor in Bangladesh was a dream he could postpone until she had completed her two years’ foundation training and could apply to work alongside him.
Every morning the tickets had still been there and there was one less day to count before he used them. It would be sensible to wave him goodbye and get on with her life. Only love didn’t listen to sense.
As soon as the seat-belt light dinged off, she squeezed past the man sitting next to her and walked up and down the aisles of the plane. Slipped into business class, in case he’d got an upgrade, and managed to ascertain that he wasn’t there before she was politely asked to leave by one of the flight attendants. When the plane landed in Dhaka, she had no more fantasies left to rely on.
She tried not to cry as she went through passport control and claimed her baggage. Covering her long, fair hair with a scarf, she walked out of the airport alone into the unforgiving heat of an unknown city.
CHAPTER ONE
Seven years later—Day One
THERE WAS NOTHING especially urgent about the manner in which the phone rang, but context was everything. Not many people called at seven o’clock on a Monday morning for an idle chat. And it was one of the laws of the universe that you could come into wo
rk early, hoping for a couple of quiet hours before the switchboard opened at nine, and something would happen.
Thea reached for the phone. ‘Dr Coleman.’
‘Good. Glad you’re here…’
‘What is it, Jake?’ She surveyed the carefully ordered pile of paperwork in front of her. In comparison to the sometimes chaotic disorder of the Central London A and E department downstairs, it suddenly seemed like a poor shadow of reality.
‘I’ve got a thirty-four-year-old male that I want a second opinion on. Will you come and have a look?’
‘I’ll be right down.’ Paperwork might be a necessity, but it didn’t put a smile on her face when she got out of bed in the morning. And Thea was smiling as she put the phone down.
* * *
‘Where is everybody?’
Jake Turner was a great guy and a good doctor, but he generally didn’t have much of an appreciation of time. A busy shift in A and E could do that to you.
‘It’s seven in the morning, Jake. Anyone with any sense is still thinking about getting out of bed.’
‘Ah. No wonder I had to ring around.’
‘You mean you didn’t call me first? I’m devastated.’
Jake snorted with laughter. ‘I tried Michael Freeman. I thought he’d want to know about this.’
Michael was Head of Respiratory Medicine at the hospital. ‘So what have you got that warranted the attention of our beloved leader? I don’t see any holes in the walls or visiting dignitaries.’
