‘I hope you won’t mind walking down again, there isn’t room for us all on the chopper. I’ll be with you.’
‘At least it will be all downhill.’
Within minutes, Leon had been examined, pronounced stable and strapped to a stretcher.
Darcie followed after them to slip a leash on Georgie, whose jaws were firmly attached to one of the struts as if to prevent the aircraft flying away now he’d caught it.
‘Drop it, Georgie.’
Georgie gave her a dirty sideways look, but exchanged the helicopter for half a ham sandwich with a bit of coaxing.
She used the last of the water to wash her face, ate the remaining apple, cleared up the camp site and followed Jeff down to the hotel, where she treated him to breakfast.
‘I’ll need a statement sometime, Darcie,’ he said as he left. ‘There’s no hurry though. Get some rest, you look all in.’
She didn’t have time to rest. After answering the questions of the staff, she took a shower and drove to the small hospital in town.
A skinny looking nurse in emergency was in the process of pulling a pale blue knitted cardigan round her shoulders when she walked in, an exact copy of one Darcie had bought herself last Christmas. It even had an odd button on the front - like the one she’d replaced a lost one with, and in exactly the same place.
How curious,
she thought, and began to wonder where her own clothes were.
‘
They’ve taken your husband to Perth, Mrs Price.’
Alarm zipped through her, and a vision of a pack of masked surgeons in green scrubs waving bloody scalpels over Leon’s head flashed into her mind.
‘Why, what’s wrong with him?’
‘Nothing for you to worry about, my dear.’
‘Nevertheless, I am worrying,’ she snapped. ’I’m his wife. I’m supposed to worry, it’s part of my job. Now, kindly stop patronizing me and tell me what’s wrong with my husband, else I’ll scream blue murder.’
The nurse gave her a wary look as she snatched up the phone. ‘If you’ll take a seat I’ll ask doctor to come and talk to you. Would you like a sedative to calm your nerves?’
‘My nerves are perfectly all right, thank you.’ She was lying. They weren’t perfectly all right. She was as jittery as a cat standing on a hot barbecue. ‘Nice cardigan, Where did you get it from?’
‘Why, thank you, dear.’ The woman’s voice was placatory, as if she was intent on trying to calm a lunatic. ‘I bought it at the charity shop. It was a bargain.’
Suspicion took up residence in here brain.
Colin surely wouldn’t have ... ?
‘Did you sew the odd button on yourself?’
‘Why, no, it was on there.’
‘I think it’s mine.’
The nurse gave a relieved smile when the doctor swept in.
The doctor suspected Leon’s skull was fractured. ‘Sending him straight on to Perth is only a precaution, Mrs Price, especially as he’s been without proper medical attention for several hours.’
Everything in Darcie deflated like a punctured balloon. ‘Will he die?’
‘Goodness, no, you needn’t worry about that.’ The doctor patted her hand reassuringly. ‘All his signs are good, and he’s strong. It shouldn’t be too long before he comes round - and he’ll want to see you.’ He smiled as he stood up and glanced at his watch. ‘He called out for you several times. Sarah ... tell Sarah.’
Darcie inhaled a long, deep, steadying breath and held her counsel. After all, it hadn’t been her face the doctor had stitched, and she supposed one bum must resemble any other.
‘Thank you, doctor. I’ll go to Perth as soon as I’m able.’
The nurse rushed after her as she hurried towards the door and pressed something in her hand. ‘Here’s your button dear. It doesn’t match the others, anyway.’
She backed away when Darcie gave way to slightly hysterical squeal of laughter.
Four hours later she hurried into the Perth City hospital, only to find Leon was in surgery. There was an anxious wait before a doctor approached her. ‘We’ve taken out a couple of bone fragments and removed the pressure on his brain.’
Darcie paled. ‘Will he be all right?’
‘There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be. It was quite straight-forward.’ The man’s brisk, matter-of-fact attitude reassured Darcie to some extent. ‘Sister will take you to see him in a little while, but he’ll be quite groggy, so don’t expect too much.’
Leon looked ashen when she finally got to see him. Dark shadows smudged under his eyes. There was a bandage on his head and a drip attached to his arm. He looked so totally helpless she had to swallow hard to stop herself from bursting into tears as she kissed him gently on the cheek and took his limp hand in hers.
‘I’m sorry I called you a two-timing rat. In fact, I take back every mean thing I’ve ever said to you, and every mean thought I ever thought about you. I want you to be happy. If you love Sarah and she loves you –’
Isn’t that going a bit too far - why should you hand him over to this Sarah when you could make him just as happy as she could?
For once, she was grateful for the advice of her inner voice. Do you mean, try and make Leon fall for me?
Do I have to spell it out, bird-brain? What does this man want most in the world?
Her eyes flew open in shock. ‘You think I should conceive a baby in cold blood? Deliberately become preg –’
A slight squeeze on the hand stopped her in mid-mutter. Leon’s eyes had fluttered open. There was something distant about them, the gray going off into a misty infinity.
Hopefully, she leaned forward into his line of vision. ‘Leon, it’s me?’
‘Sarah?’ he whispered.
Grrrr! She experienced a swift surge of annoyance before guilt took over. Sarah must be someone really special to him otherwise she wouldn’t be on his mind.
But she might as well help him get his priorities right. After all, Leon was married to her. And if we conceived a child I’m sure there would be nothing cold-blooded about the act. Quite the opposite. She’d make it as hot as blazes!
‘It’s Darcie, your wife.’
His smile was almost a shadow. ‘My head hurts ...’
‘I’m not surprised,’ she said, all sympathy. ‘You bounced down a hill on it.’
His eyes began to focus on her. ‘Ah ... I think I remember something.’
Besides the mysterious Sarah, she hoped.
‘A helicopter came.’
‘That’s right, it brought you to hospital in Perth,’ she told him, now she had his attention.
‘Hospital ... Perth?’
The nurse came bustling over, laying claim to her patient with a finger on his pulse and an eye on her watch. ‘We’ve had an operation, Mister Price, but you needn’t worry. We’re going to be just fine.’
Darcie resented the nurse butting in on their conversation, and presuming to share her husband’s experience
.
Leon didn’t seem to mind at all. ‘Did we? Fine ... that’s nice.’ His hand relaxed and his eyes drifted shut.
The sister gazed pointedly at her. ‘We don’t want to tire him, do we, Mrs Price? Come back tomorrow during visiting hours. He’ll have shaken off the anaesthetic then and will be feeling more like himself. You look as though you could do with some sleep, too.’
That’s because she’d climbed a mountain in the dark and stayed awake all night trying to keep her husband alive.
Stop playing the heroine. It was a small hill and you went to sleep.
Get lost! I’m establishing my rights. All the nurse has to do is feel his pulse, plump his pillows and straighten his sheets.
She kissed Leon good-bye, whispered reinforcing words of love in his ear then left before the ward sister hauled her up by the collar and frog-marched her to the exit.
The day seemed to have slipped by without notice, and by the time she arrived back at the house she was totally exhausted.
Anna had left her some dinner to warm in the oven. She picked at it, then showered and sat in front of the fire, staring into the flames with Georgie pressed against her side.
There were people she should tell. Leon’s lawyer, Jennifer, Gary Morgan, and ... she worried at her bottom lip ... Sarah. There was bound to be a phone number somewhere.
She rushed through to Leon’s study and rummaged through the pages of his appointment book. Nothing! She’d tried and could now safely ignore her.
What about his address book?
What about it?
Too tired to think straight she conveniently forgot about it, and after pushing Georgie into the kitchen crawled into bed and snuggled into Leon’s pillow, feeling lost and alone.
* * * *
Leon winced as he watched Darcie’s attempts to park the car. Finally she managed it, but much too close to its neighbor. Slim as she was, he could almost see her suck in her breath as she slid through the small gap the door allowed her.
He left the window and slid back into bed. She always tiptoed into the ward and kissed his cheek if she thought he was asleep.
He was bored after a week in the hospital, and today he intended to surprise her. A few moments later, when her lips softly brushed against his cheek he grabbed her and pulled her onto the bed.
The muted scream she gave was delicious, but quickly smothered by his mouth. He could feel laughter shaking through her, and her eyes were bright with it when the kiss came to a mutually satisfying completion.
‘You’re too frisky for an invalid. You must be feeling better.’
His hand slipped under the white ribbed sweater she was wearing and caressed the satiny swell of her breast.
‘
You’re
feeling better, I’m just feeling deprived,’ he growled. ‘They’re letting me out tomorrow, so watch out.’
She removed her hand and sat crossed-legged on the end of his bed. The incandescent laughter in her face made his breath catch in his throat. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined he’d end up with a woman like this. She was sensational.
‘I’d better make sure your blood pressure doesn’t go up, then. Can we go straight back to the inn?’
‘After a few days.’ He smiled to himself. ‘I have to get the final all clear when I have the stitches taken out. I think we might indulge in a second honeymoon.’
Her eyes engaged his, blue and flirtatious. ‘The doctor might advise no physical activity.’
‘I’ll insist he be struck off the medical register for quackery, if he does.’
Over the following few days Darcie discovered that Leon’s accident hadn’t impaired his physical stamina, and their lovemaking was as ferociously consuming as it was before.
Apart from a shaved patch surrounding the stitches in his head, Leon appeared to have suffered no ill effects from the accident, and when they finally left Perth he insisted on doing the driving himself.
* * * *
There was a pile of mail waiting when they got back to the inn.
Colin had left her a letter saying her furniture was in the storage facilities in town. There was also an account for two months rental of the same.
‘Odd,’ she said, turning her frown on it. ‘It’s got your name on it.’
‘Mmmm.’ Leon gave an odd, twisted sort of smile. ‘Someone must have told them we were married.’
Darcie only had a moment to wonder who before Leon exclaimed in annoyance. ‘What the hell! There’s an account for repairs to the house slab.’
‘Uh ... really,’ she mumbled, turning pink. The accident had driven it out of her mind.
Leon waved it in the air. ‘It’s got your name on it.’
Think fast, Darcie!
I’m thinking, I’m thinking!
‘
Somebody vandalized it so I got it repaired.’
‘Vandalized? Did you tell the police?’
What, and have myself arrested?
She made her eyes as innocent as possible. ‘Uh, no, I didn’t see any point.’
Leon’s eyes narrowed a fraction as he stared at her. ‘How did this ... vandalism happen?’
‘Somebody drove a bobcat over it with the bucket down.’
His eyes nearly disappeared into his hairline. ‘A bob cat? How did you find out about it?’
Does he have to subject me to an inquisition? ‘Remember the day that Colin called, and ... and I, um, ... went for a walk?’
The suspicion in his eyes was lightened by a growing amusement. ‘The day we had the argument over the land and you threw a tantrum? The day you promised to tear the house down brick by brick and throw it in the sea, before you stormed off?’
He knows, damn it! She calmly nodded, staring at the storage bill in her hand with a puzzled frown. Something was definitely odd about this.
‘Let me help you out,’ he said silkily.
He’s closing in for the kill! Let him have his moment of triumph. It was a stupid thing to do and she deserve it.
‘Are you saying you saw the block had been vandalized, arranged for it to be repaired - and forgot to tell me?’
‘
Leaping lizards!’
She glanced up from the account with a smile on her face as everything clicked into place, meeting his challenge square on. ‘Did you want to challenge my version of events?’ She waved the paper in the air. ‘Look at this, Leon. It’s strange how the initial date on this account coincides with Colin’s holiday. Do you think it could have been sloppy accounting?’
‘Could be. What does it matter? It was only a load of old furniture.’
Two pairs of eyes collided, Leon’s wryly surprised, Darcie’s openly smug.
Sprung!
he thought ruefully.
‘Old furniture? They’re antiques for the most part. I hope it suits the house you’re going to build for us, because I absolutely
refuse
to part with it - by the way, you wouldn’t happen to know what happened to my clothes would you? I thought Colin might have got rid of them, but he said he didn’t touch them.’
He studied one of the bills in his hand. ‘Mmmm. Does it ... really matter? You can buy all the clothes you need now.’
‘I suppose it’s not all that important. No doubt they’ll turn up from time to time.’
Although Leon’s expression was slightly alarmed, all in all the situation was handled with admirable aplomb. Casually shoving the contractor’s account into a folder he took the storage bill from her hand, placed it on top, then turned and kissed her on the nose.