Authors: Unknown
'I've been so busy that I didn't hear about the rail strike until last night,' she said. 'I—I thought you'd already gone.'
Isobel gave her tinkling laugh. 'Really! Fancy not knowing each other's travelling arrangements. Anyone would think you two had been having a lovers' tiff. Now you can have a nice cosy drive together, can't you?' She seized Katy and kissed her soundly. Just for a moment it looked as though she might bestow the same treatment on Sean, but, much to Katy's relief she thought better of it, satisfying herself by saying,
'Now off you go and don't forget to write, will you?'
Dad hugged her, Sean picked up her case and a moment later she was in the car, feeling very hot and dreading the explanation she must make in the coming minutes. They were just pulling away from the kerb when there was a shrill cry from Isobel who came running after them, waving something yellow. She caught up with the slowing car and dropped something into Katy's lap through the window. It was Arnold the battered teddy bear.
'Mustn't go without this old chap,' she puffed. 'I know how you feel about him.'
'Thanks!' Katy pushed Arnold out of sight into her zipped holdall and stole a glance at Sean's profile as he drew out into the road again. His shoulders were shaking with silent laughter.
'It's not what you're thinking,' she said grimly, without looking at him 'And this wasn't my idea.
The last thing I want is to put you to any trouble.'
'Oh but you haven't,' he said, his voice still shaking with amusement. 'I wouldn't have missed that for the world! Your face as you stood there on the stairs was an absolute
study!'
He gave a shout of laughter. 'I can't think what you can have told them about me.'
Katy winced, her cheeks burning and her hands clenched into fists in her lap. 'I told you,' she said with exaggerated patience. 'It was all a misunderstanding—well almost. The last time I went home—when I found out about Dad's engagement—I needed an excuse to get away. Isobel had seen me getting out of your car that day and she assumed that we were—' She glanced at him uncomfortably. 'She's a lady who jumps to conclusions.'
'And you did nothing to disillusion her,' he said smiling smugly.
'I didn't get the
Chance
,' she protested. 'You don't know Isobel—she isn't really interested in what other people have to say. She likes her own version best! Anyway, one day when the phone rang and it was someone with a wrong number I pretended it was you—asking me to go back.' She glared at him, hating him for his obvious enjoyment of her discomfort. 'Anyway, there you are. I owed you an explanation and that's it, for what it's worth!'
He raised an eyebrow at her. 'And do I hear "Thank you very much for coming to my rescue, Sean?" Surely you're not too embarrassed to show a little appreciation?'
'I'm only human,' she said miserably. 'You can hardly expect me to thank you for giving me the most embarrassing moment of my life! If you want to drop me off now that you've had a good laugh I can always hitch-hike up to Yorkshire.'
He frowned. 'Don't be so childish. Why don't you try laughing for a change?'
'With all that's happened lately my sense of humour seems to have been rather battered.' She sniffed, dangerously close to tears. Oh God! Surely she wasn't going to top everything else by crying in front of him again! She swallowed hard and said in a small voice, 'Thank you for giving me this lift. It isn't that I'm not grateful. It was just—just the way it came about. I'm sorry.'
'Apology accepted. Now, let's forget the whole thing, shall we?' He pressed his foot down hard on the accelerator and the car leapt forward. They drove in silence for a while, then he turned to her.
'I almost forgot, I have some news for you. Peter Daniels, our little asthma patient, and his mother are moving house shortly. They came to see me yesterday—oh, and by the way, Peter sends you his love.'
Katy looked up, her expression brightening. 'That's great news! He improved quite a lot during the few days he was in hospital. I even managed to get him playing with the other children before he left.'
'I know and his mother was very grateful to you for that—and for the skin tests we ran that proved Peter's allergy to her mother's cats. Through the social worker she has been able to get one of those new flats that have just been finished on the big new development on the outskirts of town—
and
a secretarial job at the school Peter will be going to. I hope it will mean an end to all his problems.'
'I hope Toby Underwood's case will be as easy to solve,' Katy said.
He shook his head. 'I'm afraid that's not very likely. Its cause could be one of so many factors. We've already investigated the possibility of allergy and infection, as you would imagine—only to find nothing. His asthma is obviously of the intrinsic kind and yet he doesn't strike one as an over-emotional child.'
Katy looked thoughtful. 'He has had a number of traumatic happenings in his young life from what you've told me. His mother dying—being sent away from home and now—' She looked at him meaningly. 'Now a new stepmother.'
Sean shook his head. 'I see what you mean but you can't compare his case with yours. Claire is the best thing that ever happened to Toby. He quite clearly adores her and as for school, do you know that it has been discovered through research that a great percentage of these children benefit from removal from their parents. That's why there are special schools for asthmatic children.'
'I know, I've been reading the subject up,' she
told him. 'But you can't lay down hard and fast rules with asthmatics. It has been known to work in reverse. It's a known fact that one aspect of the "asthmatic personality" if such a thing exists is to bottle up feelings. Toby might well have suffered without confiding in anyone.'
He turned to smile at her. 'You have been doing your homework, haven't you? Yes, it's a very complex subject, which is what makes it so fascinating—unless of course you happen to be the unfortunate sufferer. What I'd like you to do, Katy, is to monitor Toby very closely, but without making it too obvious. Play down the nurse part of the job and concentrate more on the "companion". I believe you're just the person to do it.'
She smiled, flushing with pleasure. 'Thank you. I'll certainly do my best.'
He glanced at his watch. 'What about lunch?'
'Let me buy yours,' she said impulsively. 'In return for the lift.'
He smiled ruefully. 'The day I let a girl pay for my lunch she'll have to owe me more than a seat in my car!'
'That's a very chauvinistic point of view,' Katy remarked.
He swung the car off the road and on to the forecourt of an attractive small pub. 'Yes, isn't it!'
The Wheatsheaf Inn was small but comfortable and served a delicious ploughman's lunch with crusty bread, cheese, pickles and a crisp salad. By the time they resumed their drive Katy felt pleasantly full, and with the warm sun on the windscreen she soon found herself nodding. Sean looked at her.
'Sleepy?'
She blinked hard. 'I had a late night. Dad and I sat up talking.'
He smiled. 'Why fight it? If you press the lever on your right the seat will recline. Why not have forty winks as my grandfather used to call it?'
When Katy opened her eyes again it was to a wide arc of clear blue sky. The car was beginning its descent of a steep hill and on all sides there was rolling moorland. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.
'Where are we?'
Sean smiled. 'Ah, so you're awake. I was just going to stop and give you a nudge. We're almost there. At the foot of this hill is the village of Belldon Cross and Bridge House is on the outskirts.'
'And your house?' she asked.
'About another couple of miles farther on,' he told her. 'I'll drop you off first. I telephoned Claire last night after your prospective stepmama had SOS'd for help to let her know when to expect us.' He turned to look at her as she took out her handbag mirror and peered anxiously into it. 'You look perfectly all right. Don't worry.'
She tugged at her hair, which as usual was escaping in wispy tendrils. 'It would have been nice to have been able to freshen up a little first,' she muttered.
He pulled the car over to the side of the road and stopped, turning to her with a smile. 'Go on then, do whatever it is you have to. I'll wait.'
Flashing him a grateful look she pulled out a comb, compact and lipstick and repaired her makeup as best she could whilst he watched with lazy amusement.
'I liked you better the way you were before,' he observed. 'All rosy and tousled with sleep—very sexy, like a newly-opened flower.' He leaned over to touch her cheek, then bent his head to kiss her lightly on the lips. She caught her breath a little and lifted her hand to his, but he drew back, misinterpreting her action.
'Ah—sorry. I was forgetting your condition for accepting this job.'
She looked at him. 'What condition?'
'Surely you can't have forgotten it, Katy?' His eyes were enigmatic. 'Our relationship is to remain purely professional—remember?'
She looked away, biting her lip. 'Of course— but—'
He leaned towards her again, his eyes twinkling. 'Of course we could always put it down to gratitude. After all, I did come to your rescue, didn't I?'
She stiffened. He was laughing at her again. 'Isn't it time we were going?' she asked.
He shook his head. 'There's no hurry. You'll find life much more leisurely up here in Yorkshire, that's one of the nice things about it.' He smiled at her. 'What was it your future stepmother said— that we'd discover a great deal about one another?
I'd like that, Katy—I'd like to know what there is under all that fierce independence. Somehow I suspect that you're really just a frightened little girl, aren't you?'
'Save the psychoanalysis for your patients!' she said hotly, acutely embarrassed by the scrutiny of his dark eyes.
He straightened his back and turned his eyes to the road again, switching on the engine and urging the car forward. He neither spoke nor glanced at her again and she sank back in her seat, swamped by dismay and disappointment. Why could she never carry off a situation like this without appearing rude and gauche? And was that really the way he saw her—'A frightened little girl'? Had his kiss merely been intended to reassure her—a boost to her confidence? Now, because of her fatally hasty tongue, she might never know.
As
Sean
had said, the village of Belldon Cross began at the foot of the hill and spread out around the ankles of the moor like a lace frill on the hem of a petticoat. Katy watched with delight as the stark beauty of the moor gave way to blossoming hawthorn and broom, and the frothy freshness of lilac and apple trees in cottage gardens. The landscape softened as the afternoon sun turned the grey stone of the cottage walls to silver, and ahead of them she glimpsed the glimmer of water through the trees.
The road dipped on, ending at the bottom in a double bend, crowned by an old stone bridge that crossed the river. On the far bank stood a low L-shaped house, built of the same stone as the cottages in the village. It had mullioned windows and a moss-covered roof. Before it, a garden rambled down to the riverbank while to its rear the moor rose steeply, divided by drystone walls. In the distance she could see sheep grazing on the rough, gorse-spangled grass. She looked enquiringly at Sean who nodded.
'Yes, that's it—Bridge House. Rather nice, isn't it?'
'Oh, it's beautiful!'
They crossed the little bridge where fast-flowing water bubbled over smooth stones and for a moment lost sight of the house as it disappeared behind a screen of tall trees. Then Sean nosed the car in through a pair of white gates on to a wide gravelled drive lined with rhododendron bushes. As they neared the house the bushes gave on to a small clearing of grass in the centre of which was a huge cedar tree. From the lowest branch hung a swing on which a small, dark-haired boy was sitting. As soon as he saw the car he jumped up and ran towards them, shouting and waving his arms excitedly.
'Uncle Sean! Uncle Sean!' The childish voice was shrill with delight.
Sean braked and stopped the car. 'Hello, Toby. You've grown so much I hardly recognised you! This is Katy Lang who I've brought with me to keep you out of mischief.'
Katy found herself looking into two enormous grave brown eyes. She smiled. 'Hello, Toby. I've been hearing so much about you and about this super place. I'm sure we're all going to have a lovely time.'
The dark eyes examined her face for a moment, solemn and serious, then they broke into a smile. 'Hello.' He caught at her hand. 'Would you like to come and try my swing? Mr Oldershaw who comes to do the garden made it for me yesterday. It can go ever so high.'
Katy laughed. 'I can't wait to have a go on it, Toby, but don't you think I'd better go and meet your parents first?'
He nodded thoughtfully. 'Oh—I s'pose so.' He touched the car's smooth yellow bonnet with an admiring finger. 'Is this the new car? Can it go very fast?'
'Like the wind. Hop in and you can ride up to the house with us,' Sean said. 'And maybe tomorrow I'll take you for a drive.'
Katy opened the door and made room for Toby beside her. He squeezed in, wriggling with excitement. 'A picnic! Let's go for a picnic—and exploring!' he asked breathlessly. 'Can we?
Can we?'
Sean laughed, pressing his foot down hard on the accelerator to speed up the last stretch of the drive. 'All right, you're on—a picnic it shall be!'
As they drew up in front of the house a woman came out on to the porch to meet them. She was in her thirties, slim and dark, her hair caught back in an elegant French pleat. She wore a blue tweed skirt and a white blouse with a blue cashmere cardigan thrown casually across her shoulders. As the car braked, throwing up a shower of gravel she laughed and came towards them.
'Sean! Will you never grow up? You're a menace to life and limb!'
'Don't be cross with him, he was showing me how fast his new car can go,' Toby defended as he scrambled out. 'And look—this is Katy Lang who's come to stay with us. Isn't she pretty?'