Читать книгу Daring to Date Her Boss - Joanna Neil, Joanna Neil - Страница 7

CHAPTER ONE

‘DROP IT, BOOMER. Right now. Drop it and give it back.’

Saskia turned over in bed and pulled the duvet more closely around her. What was going on? Why was there so much noise? Dimly, her sleep-befuddled brain made out eight-year-old Becky’s voice, growing shrill with urgency. Saskia blinked, and drowsily stretched her limbs before opening her eyes a fraction. She peered groggily around the unfamiliar room.

Soft sunlight filtered through the chenille curtains, highlighting the glazed, Georgian-style wardrobe doors and the wide dressing table with its plush upholstered stool. It was a lovely room, but for a moment or two Saskia stared at it, perplexed. What was she was doing here? And what on earth was all the shouting about? She was used to peaceful mornings, to gradually waking to the low sound of the radio on her bedside table. There was no such luck today.

A loud wail shocked her into sitting upright. Groaning softly, she swung her legs out from under the cosy duvet and rested her bare feet on the carpeted floor. What time was it?

She reached for the short silk robe that was draped over a nearby chair. Pulling it on over her thigh-length nightshirt, it was all starting to come back to her. Her circumstances had changed pretty dramatically over the past few days. She was here to look after the children. A small wave of panic engulfed her. In that case, what was she doing in bed while they were up and about?

‘You’re a bad dog, Boomer. I don’t like you any more. Go away.’

There was a sharp tap on the bedroom door and Saskia must have muttered acknowledgement because two seconds later the door was flung open and an irate Becky stood in front of her, angry tears staining her flushed cheeks.

‘Boomer’s chewed Milly’s bottle and now it’s ruined—look.’ The child thrust the offending object towards her, and Saskia gazed blearily at what had once been a doll’s feeding bottle. Becky was right. It was ruined, that was for sure.

Saskia put a comforting arm around her niece’s shoulders and laid her head against the child’s golden curls. ‘I’m sure we’ll manage to get another one for you next time we go to the shops. You have to keep these things out of Boomer’s way, you know. He might be two years old, but he still acts like a pup a lot of the time.’

‘Well, he’s a bad dog.’

‘Yes.’ Straightening, she glanced at the watch on her bedside table. It was ten o’clock already? Another quiver of alarm washed through her until she remembered that she didn’t have a job to go to and, anyway, it was Saturday. So...no worries there, were there? Hah. As if.

The doorbell rang a couple of minutes later as she wandered into the living room to check that all was well with Becky’s brother and sister. Boomer, the family’s exuberant springer spaniel, set up a frantic barking in response to the door chimes, and Saskia frowned. Her head was beginning to ache.

Who could that be? She really wasn’t in the mood for visitors. Besides, the place was a mess, with packing crates everywhere and half-opened boxes taking up every available surface.

Six-year-old Charlie was trailing his cars over the play mat in a corner of the room and acknowledged her with an absent ‘Hiya’ as she greeted him with a smile.

Seeing her, Boomer stopped barking and raced up to her, wagging his tail and almost knocking her over in his excitement. She patted his silky, chocolate-coloured fur as she glanced around. Caitlin was nowhere to be seen. Most likely she was still tucked up in bed, like teenagers everywhere. The thought filled her with envy.

‘Perhaps you should come in,’ she heard Becky saying cautiously. ‘My mummy isn’t here, but you can talk to my auntie if you like.’

Saskia immediately tensed and hurried out of the room and into the hallway, ready to avert disaster. She wasn’t dressed properly—how could she possibly meet up with anyone while she was in this state?

But she was already too late...a man carrying a large package, a box of some sort, was following Becky down the hallway towards the living room.

For a second or two, as she studied him, Saskia’s breath caught in her throat. He was in his mid-thirties, she guessed, and he was absolutely stunning...long, lean and incredibly fit looking, dressed in smart casuals, a dark, open-neck shirt and cream-coloured trousers. She closed her eyes briefly to savour the moment. Wow! So this was what the Isles of Scilly had to offer.

His jet-black hair was cut in a short, crisp style that perfectly suited his angular features. As to his eyes—well, his stunning blue gaze was mesmerising, except that right now it was directed at her, bringing warm colour flooding to her cheeks as she realised she’d been caught staring at him.

But he, too, seemed to have been knocked off balance by their unexpected meeting. She heard the sharp intake of his breath and saw his eyes widen as his glance moved over her in turn, taking in every softly feminine curve. He was suddenly rooted to the spot, his gaze sweeping like a lick of flame over the smooth expanse of legs that were lightly bronzed from a summer of sunshine.

A sudden arc of electric tension sparked between them, an intense, sensual intimacy that brought with it a wave of heat that raced through her body. She couldn’t move, didn’t know how to go on.

Then the stranger made a rough-edged, broken kind of sound, as though he meant to say something but instead the words seemed to choke in his throat.

Coming to her senses, Saskia tugged awkwardly at the hem of her robe, trying to cover a bit more thigh, an action that only resulted in drawing the edges of the garment further apart. Taking a deep breath, she wrapped the silk more firmly around herself and tied the belt in what she hoped was a secure knot.

‘I—uh...’ He hesitated, drawing his gaze back to her face. Like her, he seemed to be struggling to get himself back together. ‘I um...I gather you’re not Mrs Reynolds...’

‘Er, no, I’m her sister-in-law...Saskia.’

‘Ah, I see.’ He nodded acknowledgment, then pulled in a deep breath and straightened his shoulders. ‘I’m Tyler, Tyler Beckett. I have a parcel for Mrs Reynolds.’ He indicated the large box he was carrying, marked ‘Glass, Handle with Care’. ‘I’ve been hanging on to it for a couple of days, ever since the courier dropped it off next door.’

‘Oh...thanks.’ Her breathing had settled down at last to a heavy thud and now her brow furrowed. ‘My brother said something about Megan ordering a new light fitting...I guess this must be it. He said she’d checked with the landlord to make sure it would be okay to change things.’

‘Yes, I told her I’m okay with it, as long as she runs things by me first.’

He was the landlord? That came as a bit of a surprise. She went to take the box from him but he hesitated, saying, ‘Actually, this is quite heavy. Maybe it would be better if I put it down for you, somewhere safe?’

‘Oh...yes, of course.’ She studied him surreptitiously. This could be difficult. If he owned the place, how was he going to react to seeing what had happened to his once pristine property now that three children and a dog had cut a swathe through it? There was already a scuff mark on the wall where Charlie had run amok.

He was watching her expectantly and she galvanised herself into action. Fighting back a nervous quiver of apprehension, she showed him into the L-shaped living room, padding barefoot across the smooth oak floorboards to the dining area. ‘You could put it down here, if you like.’

To her shame, there were four dirty soup bowls on the table, the remnants of last night’s hastily prepared supper. She’d been too tired to clear away after the meal and, besides, she’d figured it was more important to try to sort out the childcare arrangements, or at least find out what her options were. She still had to see if there was anyone around who would be prepared to walk the dog—if she managed to find a job it would be unfair to leave Boomer cooped up at home all day.

She quickly moved the crockery out of the way, along with a jumble of household ornaments, and waved a hand towards the clear space on the large, solid wood table.

Her brother had rented the house partly furnished and she was impressed—from what she’d seen so far, his new landlord certainly had an eye for quality.

At the moment, though, he was looking around, a bewildered expression on his face as he took in the chaos. Charlie had spread his toys generously around the room—his was the first box that had been opened as he’d been desperate to be reunited with his belongings, and Saskia had been anxious to keep him occupied. Next in line had been Boomer’s collection of chew toys—a couple of facsimile bones, a rubber ring, a pull toy made of knotted strings and his favourite, a plastic, squashy ball. They, too, were strewn across the floor.

Tyler frowned, absorbing everything in that one glance, and Saskia winced. She wondered if he was familiar with the mayhem of family life. The slight bracing of his shoulders seemed a dead giveaway.

Still, he didn’t comment. ‘I was busy at work the last couple of days,’ he said, as he set down the parcel, ‘and I could see you were dealing with the removal van until late in the evening yesterday, so I didn’t like to disturb you.’

‘That was thoughtful of you,’ she murmured, leaning forward to help with the positioning of the parcel and faltering a little when she realised he was running his gaze over her once more. Heat flickered in his smoke-dark eyes as he took in the cloud of coppery curls that framed her oval face and brushed against the creamy slope of her shoulders.

Belatedly, she realised that her shoulder was indeed bare, and she quickly tugged her robe back in place. The wide neckline of her nightshirt had somehow managed to slide partway down over her arms.

‘I...um...I should apologise for being dressed like this...only you caught me unawares. I overslept. It’s not something I do regularly,’ she added hastily, ‘it’s just that...uh...’ It was just that she’d been up half the night, using her laptop to sort out the route to school and trying to find suitable day care for the children after school and a whole host of other things he didn’t need to know about. Doing it when the children were tucked up in bed had seemed like the best opportunity. ‘We did a lot of travelling on Thursday to get here. Then there were two and a half hours on the ferry and the journey from where we docked to here. And we don’t seem to have stopped since. I haven’t caught up with myself yet.’

‘It’s all right. You don’t have to explain yourself.’ His expression was wry, and she could guess what he was thinking. She’d already burned her boats on that one.

She started to move away from the table and his glance slid down to her bare feet, lingering there as though he’d only just noticed her toenails were painted a shimmering, luscious pink. He seemed intrigued, curious even, and he certainly didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave, leading her to wonder uncomfortably if she ought to offer him coffee. It would be the neighbourly thing to do, wouldn’t it?

‘Um...can I offer you—?’ She broke off as Boomer, abandoning his knotted pull toy, bounded up to her once more and joyfully nudged her hip, tipping her off balance.

Reacting swiftly, Tyler put out his arms to steady her. ‘You were saying...?’

‘Oh, yes...um...’ It was totally distracting, having him stand so close to her, and for some reason it took a real effort to unscramble her brain. His hands lightly circled her arms, sending small eddies of warmth throughout her body. While he was holding her like this she simply couldn’t think straight.

‘Coffee,’ she said at last. ‘I was going to offer you coffee.’

‘Thanks, I’d like that.’ He released her and she let out a long, silent breath of relief. ‘You can perhaps fill me in on one or two things,’ he added, ‘like what’s happening with your brother and his wife.’

She nodded, but a quiver of anguish rippled through her. That wasn’t going to be easy to recount, was it, with Sam and Megan both in hospital and neither of them likely to recover very soon? As their landlord, she supposed he had a right to know, but it was hard for her to talk about it. Coming out of the blue on a busy road, the accident had shocked all of them.

Boomer followed them into the kitchen, still nudging her gently, as though anxious that she should head in the right direction, and it dawned on her that he must be eager for his breakfast. ‘Okay, Boomer,’ she told him. ‘I’ll feed you. Just give me a minute.’

Caitlin had finally put in an appearance and was sitting at the round table in one corner of the room, her mid-brown hair falling across her cheek like a curtain as she hunched over her mobile phone. ‘He’s used to being fed at eight o’clock,’ the teenager remarked, a faint note of censure in her voice as Saskia emptied kibble into Boomer’s food bowl. The girl tossed her hair out of the way with a shake of her head. ‘You were late with his meals yesterday as well, and the day before that.’

‘Well, we’ve had a lot going on over the last few days,’ Saskia defended herself, uneasily conscious of Tyler showing an interest in the conversation. ‘I’ll be much more organised once I get the hang of things.’

‘Yeah, right. It’ll probably be better if I take over feeding him.’ Caitlin sighed and pushed a half-eaten bowl of dry cereal towards Saskia. ‘I can’t eat that. Mum always buys the proper branded version.’ She pressed her lips into a flat, disgruntled line. ‘And Charlie’s finished off all the milk again.’

‘Oh, dear.’ Saskia frowned. As well as being upset about what had happened to her parents, Caitlin, at fourteen, was going through a definite grumpy phase.

Tyler intervened. ‘Don’t worry about coffee. It doesn’t matter.’

She shook her head. ‘I have some sachets somewhere. We even have a choice—latte or cappuccino. I think you’ll like them.’ Her gaze travelled around the room, searching for the box where they were packed, and after a moment or two she realised that he was looking with her.

‘There are quite a few boxes to choose from, aren’t there?’ His gaze settled on a collection of crockery and cookery books that were spread out over the worktop and slowly his eyes half closed as he though he was trying to shut out this alien world he’d stumbled into.

‘No, it’s okay, they’re in the cupboard,’ Saskia said in triumph. ‘I remember I put them where they would be near to the kettle. Yay!’ She hurried forward to retrieve them at the same time that Boomer came and dropped his ball in front of her and then gazed at her in panting anticipation.

‘Ow, ow, ow...’ She yelped in pain as she stepped on one of his plastic chew toys and began to hop around the tiled floor, clutching her foot.

‘What’s wrong?’ Caitlin asked, getting up from her seat to come and look. Then, ‘Oh...that’s blood,’ she said in an anxious voice. ‘You’re bleeding, Sass.’ She inspected the hard nylon, bone-shaped toy. ‘It’s really rough around the edges where he’s been having a go at it. Are you going to be all right?’

Saskia pulled in a deep breath. ‘Of course I am.’ She stopped hopping and gingerly put her foot to the floor. ‘I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.’ The last thing she needed was for the children to be concerned about her. They had enough on their plates right now. Instead, she flicked the switch on the kettle and tried to ignore the stinging in her foot, busying herself adding coffee powder to a couple of mugs.

‘I don’t suppose you have a first-aid kit to hand, do you?’ Tyler asked, and Saskia thought about it then shook her head.

‘I recall seeing it somewhere.’ She frowned.

‘I’ll go and fetch mine.’

‘There’s no need, really. I’ll be fine.’

He gave her an assessing look. ‘You won’t be if you go on the way you’re doing now. Sit down and stop spreading blood over the floor. You don’t want to get an infection, do you?’

‘N-no, of course not.’

‘Good. Then sit down and wait there until I get back.’

After he’d gone, Caitlin finished making the coffees and then studied the chew toy once more. ‘I’m going to put this in the bin,’ she said. ‘Maybe Boomer should go out in the garden and get some fresh air. He has way too much energy.’

‘That’s a good idea. Perhaps Charlie would like to play with him out there? Anyway, he and Becky need to go and feed their rabbit.’

‘Yeah, I’ll tell them as soon as I’ve cleaned up the floor.’

Saskia smiled at her. ‘Thanks, Caitlin. You’re a treasure.’

Tyler was back within a couple of minutes. Noticing that Boomer was nowhere to be seen, he glanced out of the kitchen window and saw that the dog was racing around outside, having a whale of a time with the two younger children.

Hearing their laughter, Saskia guessed Becky must have forgiven Boomer for his earlier misdemeanour.

Tyler placed a fresh carton of milk in the fridge and then set out a fully equipped medical pack on the kitchen table.

‘I guess that’s the flower border done for,’ he murmured on a rueful note, glancing out of the window once more as he went over to the sink and poured warm water into a bowl.

‘I’m really sorry about all this,’ Saskia said. She waved a hand towards his coffee mug. ‘Please, help yourself.’ Perhaps a reviving drink would help him to feel better.

‘Thanks.’ He went on setting out his equipment.

Saskia bit her lip. ‘Maybe I could put some sort of decorative fencing up to keep him away from the plants.’ She frowned. ‘You’ve caught us at a bad time, but we planned on getting to grips with everything today—well, over the weekend, at least. Caitlin’s just gone to start unpacking clothes and to put things right upstairs.’

He nodded, drawing up a chair in front of her and laying a towel over the seat. ‘Rest your leg on there. I’m going to bathe your foot first to make sure there are no bits of debris in the wound.’

‘Okay...thanks.’ She watched him as he hunkered down and began to work. He was very thorough, cleaning her foot with meticulous care and then gently drying it.

‘There are several small puncture wounds,’ he commented. ‘I’ll press some gauze against it for a while until the bleeding stops.’

‘You look as though you’ve done this sort of thing before,’ she murmured, looking over his medical pack with interest.

‘I have, although I usually have to deal with rather more serious injuries than this,’ he answered soberly. ‘I’m a doctor. I work at the hospital on the island, in the emergency department, and I’m on the rota as a first attender where the paramedics need a doctor to go along and help out.’

‘Ah, that explains it,’ she said, speaking half to herself.

‘I beg your pardon?’ He glanced at her, absently resting his hand lightly on her leg before pausing to check under the gauze to see if the bleeding had stopped.

She cleared her throat. His touch was doing very strange things to her nervous system. Things she’d thought she’d long forgotten. ‘It’s just that you have that kind of air about you,’ she explained, ‘as though you’re very capable, well organised, and know exactly what has to be done. I expect seeing the state we’re in here has been a bit of a shock for you.’

He didn’t answer, but his mouth moved in a faint curve. He applied a topical antiseptic and then bound up her foot, securing the neat bandage with tape.

‘That should be a bit more comfortable for you,’ he said. Finally, he stood up, reaching for his coffee and taking a long swallow. He paused for a moment, staring at his cup in puzzlement, and she guessed he was faintly surprised to discover that he quite liked the taste. ‘So how do you fit into the picture here?’ he asked. ‘Did you decide to move over here with your brother and his family, or were you already living on the island?’

‘Uh, I came over here when my brother and his wife were...delayed.’ She still didn’t want to talk about what had happened and hoped he wouldn’t persist. ‘I have to get the children into school for the new term, and of course the removal had been planned and booked a few weeks ahead. It was important that things went smoothly.’

He nodded. ‘What do you think of our island? Have you been here before?’

She shook her head, making the silky, copper curls quiver and dance. ‘I saw it for the first time on Thursday. It’s so beautiful, it took my breath away—the lovely beaches and the clear blue water, the palm trees... It’s like a subtropical paradise.’

His mouth curved. ‘Yes, it is.’ He stood up and started to clear away his equipment just as the kitchen door burst open and Charlie came rushing in.

‘Boomer’s been sick all over the flowers,’ he announced. ‘It’s yucky. He’s brought up all of his breakfast and there’s lots of grass in it, too.’

Saskia groaned. ‘Did you let him out into the garden first thing this morning?’

‘Becky did.’

She sighed. ‘That must have been when he did it. We’ll have to stop him eating grass somehow.’ She looked at Charlie. ‘Okay, I’ll come and hose it down in a bit. Try to stop him from running around, will you, but keep him out there for a bit longer if you can until his stomach settles down?’

‘Okay.’ Charlie went outside once more and Tyler sent her a brief, sympathetic glance.

‘I’d better leave you to get on. It looks as though you have your hands full.’

She nodded, giving him a regretful look. ‘Like I said, it should all be sorted out over the weekend.’

She stood up, testing her foot against the hard floor. ‘That feels good,’ she said. ‘It must be all the padding you put in there. Thank you so much for helping me out. And thanks for the milk—I appreciate it. You’ll have earned yourself a thousand brownie points with Caitlin.’

He smiled. ‘You’re welcome.’ He left by the kitchen door, and she heard him saying goodbye to the children as he left. As she glanced out of the window, she saw him briefly pat Boomer on the head.

She looked disconsolately at the mess around her. There couldn’t have been a worse time for the landlord to pay them a visit, but that wasn’t the worst of it, was it? They shared the same profession. She was a doctor, too. How would it be if he heard about her application for a job at the hospital where he worked? She couldn’t see that going down too well.

For all that he’d been pleasant to her and he had helped her out, she suspected that he didn’t think very much of her lackadaisical ways. There was no point suggesting that she would put everything right...she had a strong feeling that, left to him, he would have organised things properly from the start, and everyone, probably even the dog, would have been given a job to do to help out.

Still, she couldn’t help wishing things had been different. After all, he was the kind of man women dreamed of, and she was by no means immune...even though she’d sworn off men. He’d made her body tingle just by being near... And when he’d rested his hand on her bare leg...phew.

She sighed. Maybe it was just as well she’d made a bad impression on him. It would nip things in the bud from the outset...because she really ought to have learned her lesson by now. After all, it was only when you got to know men that things started to go wrong.