Читать книгу New Year, New Man - Laura Iding - Страница 16

SARAH woke to the sound of a phone ringing. For a split-second she had no idea where she was. But the feel of Nick’s naked body pressed up against hers swiftly cleared the haze in her head, everything coming back in a rapid series of flashbacks.

Her, coming to his bedroom wearing that outrageous teddy.

Him, carrying her to the bed.

Her, lying back against these satin pillows.

Him, making love to her.

But then came another memory: she’d called him darling afterwards.

When the phone continued to ring, Nick sighed then rolled over to reach for it.

No, don’t, was her instinctive reaction.

But his hand had already swept the receiver up to his ear.

‘Yes?’ he said rather abruptly.

Sarah clutched the sheet up over her breasts as she sat up, pushing her hair back off her face at the same time. Who on earth could it be?

Not Chloe, she hoped, trying to worm her way back into Nick’s life with a million apologies.

‘For how long?’ Nick asked in concerned tones. ‘How bad are they?’

She had no idea whom he was talking to or what it was about. But it didn’t sound like Chloe.

‘No, I think you’re right, Jim. Don’t listen to her. She has to go to hospital. Now.’

Sarah sucked in sharply. Something was wrong with Flora!

‘I don’t think we should wait for an ambulance,’ Nick told Jim quite firmly. ‘Get her into the back of the Rolls and I’ll drive you straight to St Vincent’s. I’ll just throw some clothes on.’

Slamming down the phone, he tossed back the sheet and jumped up.

‘Flora’s having chest pains,’ he threw over his shoulder as he strode across the floor towards his walk-in wardrobe. ‘I’m taking her to the hospital.’

‘Can I come too?’ Sarah asked, her heart racing with alarm.

‘No, it’ll take you too long to dress,’ he said as he returned to the bedroom, jeans already on, a blue striped shirt in his hands.

‘But I—’

‘Let’s not argue about this, Sarah.’ He shoved his arms into the shirt’s sleeves and drew it up over his shoulders. ‘I’ll call you from the hospital.’

‘You haven’t got any shoes on,’ she pointed out when he headed for the door, shirt flapping open. ‘You can’t go to a hospital without shoes!’

He grumblingly went back for some trainers, then flew out of the door. Sarah heard him running down the stairs. Then she heard nothing.

A shiver ran down her spine, nausea swirling in her stomach at the possibility that Flora could be having a heart attack. She might even die!

The thought brought back all those horrible feelings she’d had when her father had been struck down by a coronary. Aside from the emotional trauma of losing her last parent, she’d been besieged with regret that she hadn’t even been able to say goodbye to him, or tell him that she loved him.

Flora might not be a parent but Sarah loved her dearly. It pained her that Nick hadn’t let her go with him, even though he was probably right—she would have taken longer to dress than him. He’d taken all of thirty seconds!

But that doesn’t stop you from dressing now and following him to the hospital in your own car, does it?

Sarah was out of the bed in a flash, dashing for her room.

She didn’t dress as fast as Nick, but she managed to make herself respectable in under ten minutes. Getting out of the house, however, took her another few minutes, because she had to lock up. Then she had difficulty finding the hospital, not having been there since her mother fell ill all those years ago. At last she located the right street, along with a parking spot not far from the emergency section.

She’d just made it to the ER waiting room when her mobile rang.

It had to be Nick, she reasoned as she retrieved it from her handbag.

‘Nick?’ she answered straight away.

‘Where in hell are you?’ he grumbled down the line. ‘I tried the home number and you didn’t answer.’

‘I couldn’t just sit there, Nick. So I got dressed and drove myself to the hospital. I’ve just arrived at the emergency waiting room. How’s Flora?’

‘Not too bad. They whipped her in and gave her some medication to thin her blood straight away. Then they hooked her up to some kind of heart-monitoring machine that does ECGs and other things. The doctor thinks it might just be angina.’

‘But that’s still not good, is it? I mean, angina can lead to a heart attack.’

‘It can. But at least we’ve got her where she can have some further tests, and proper treatment. You know Flora. She doesn’t like going to doctors, or hospitals. I’m going to make sure she stays in for a couple of days till we get a full picture of her condition. I’ve rung a colleague whose uncle is a top cardiac specialist here. We’re going to transfer her to a private room after the doctor in ER is finished with her, and he’ll come in in the morning and take over.’

Sarah felt the tension begin to drain out of her. ‘That’s wonderful, Nick. How’s Jim doing?’

‘To be honest, I’ve never seen him so distressed,’ Nick whispered. ‘He’s sitting by Flora’s bed as white as a sheet himself. I’m going to try to persuade him to come with me for a cup of tea and a piece of cake. I think he’s in shock. Look, just sit down where you are and I’ll be with you shortly. Then we can all go together. There has to be a cafeteria somewhere in here.’

‘Couldn’t I see Flora myself before we do that? I need to see her, Nick.’ To tell her old friend that she loved her. Also that she was coming home to live. Permanently. She would put in for a transfer to a nearer school. No, she’d resign and find work in one of the many local preschools. They were always crying out for experienced infant teachers.

‘She’s not going to die, Sarah,’ Nick said gently.

‘You don’t know that. What if she took a bad turn while I was sitting near by, having a cup of tea? I’d never forgive myself.’

‘Fine. Stay where you are and I’ll come and get you. I’ll just tell Jim where I’m going.’

Sarah sat down in an empty chair against the wall, only then absorbing her surroundings. The place was very busy, with people rushing to and fro, and lots of people just sitting and waiting to be treated, several of them dishevelled young men with cuts and bruises over their faces. There were half a dozen mothers with crying children, and wailing babies. They all looked poor and wretched. Some of them even smelt.

She dropped her eyes away, upset by this brutal confrontation with the cold, cruel world. Not that she hadn’t come across neglected children before. Just not on Christmas Day.

‘Sarah? You OK?’

Sarah jumped up from the plastic chair. ‘Oh, Nick, I’m so glad you’re here.’ She grabbed his arm and steered him away to one side.

‘Did any of those louts bother you?’ he asked.

‘No, no, nothing like that. I just…Oh, Nick, the world’s a horrible place, isn’t it?’

‘It can be,’ he agreed soberly.

‘We are so lucky to be healthy. And rich.’

His smile was wry. ‘You’re right there, sweetheart. Healthy and wealthy are the daily double. Come on, I’ll take you to Flora.’

The sight of Flora’s dull eyes and pale face alarmed Sarah. But she tried not to show it. ‘What a scare you gave us,’ she said lightly as she bent and kissed Flora on the cheek.

‘It’s just indigestion,’ Flora protested. ‘But no one believes me.’

The attending nurse surreptitiously rolled her eyes at Sarah, indicating that it certainly wasn’t indigestion.

Sarah pulled up a chair by Flora’s bed and picked up her hand. It felt oddly cold, which was another worry.

‘Best we make sure, now that you’re here,’ she said.

Flora pressed her lips together. ‘That’s what Nick and Jim say but, truly, I’d much rather go home to my own bed. All I need is a rest.’

‘Now, Flora, love,’ an ashen-faced Jim began before his voice trailed weakly away. He’d never worn the trousers in the family and it looked as if he wasn’t about to now.

‘You’ll do as you’re told, madam,’ Nick intervened firmly. ‘Now I’m taking Jim for a cuppa. Sarah’s going to sit with you for a while.’

Sarah flashed him an admiring smile. Truly, Nick’s command of this situation had been wonderful from the word go. He hadn’t panicked, he’d acted decisively and quickly—and possibly saved Flora’s life in the process.

‘See you soon,’ he said to her, then turned and shepherded Jim away.

Sarah’s gaze followed him for a while before returning to Flora.

‘Have you something to confess, missie?’ Flora said softly, but in a very knowing fashion.

Sarah had no intention of letting herself be railroaded into any admissions about Nick. She would not hear the end of it if she told Flora that she and Nick were having an affair.

‘I just wanted to say I love you dearly, Flora, and I’ve been a selfish cow, staying away from home as much I have. Things are going to change from now on, I assure you. I’m going to get a job near by so that I can be there, in person, to make sure you take it much easier, as well as look after your diet. I’ve become a very good cook of low-fat meals this past year, and you, madam, need to lose a few pounds. If you must work, then you can help Jim in the garden. And you’re going to start walking. Every morning.’

‘Goodness, you’re sounding just like Nick.’

‘Who has your best interests at heart as well. So I don’t want to hear any more nonsense about your coming home just yet. Nick has organised a specialist to come in tomorrow to do some tests and you’re going to have them.’

‘Heavens to Betsy, is this my sweet little Sarah talking?’

‘No, it’s your grown-up Sarah.’

‘I can see that. And so does Nick. He couldn’t take his eyes off you today, Sarah. Or tonight, for that matter.’

Sarah eyed Flora sternly. ‘Don’t start matchmaking, Flora. You and I both know Nick is not a marrying man.’

‘If anyone could make him change his mind about that, it’s you, love.’

Sarah bit her tongue, lest she give the game away. But there was a part of her that agreed with Flora.

Nick hadn’t just ‘had sex’ with her tonight. He’d made love to her, with tenderness and caring.

Who knew? Maybe there was a chance of a real relationship between them, no matter what Nick said.

‘You’re in love with him, aren’t you?’ Flora said.

Sarah could not bring herself to lie any longer. ‘Yes,’ she admitted.

‘Then go after him, girl.’

‘That’s what I am doing.’

‘And?’

Sarah felt a betraying smile tug at her lips. ‘Let’s just say it’s a work in progress.’

‘Ooooh, I like the sound of that.’

‘Well, I don’t,’ the nurse interrupted firmly. ‘Your blood pressure is on the rise again. Sorry,’ she said to Sarah. ‘I think it would be better if my patient rests quietly for a while. Perhaps you could join her other visitors in the coffee lounge for the next half-hour at least. It’s thatta way.’

Sarah went reluctantly, with the solemn promise to return. She followed the direction of the nurse’s finger, but still had to ask for more directions before she found the cafeteria.

Jim and Nick glanced up with questioning eyes at her arrival, Jim looking particularly anxious. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she’d raised his wife’s blood pressure, saying instead that the nurse wanted Flora to rest quietly and they weren’t to go back to her bedside for half an hour at least.

‘If you want anything, you have to order at the counter,’ Nick informed her.

Sarah shook her head. ‘I don’t want anything.’

‘Don’t be silly. I’ll get you some coffee and cake. You have to be hungry. I know I was.’

Jim said nothing during the time it took Nick to return with the coffee and piece of carrot cake. He just kept staring blankly into space.

‘You haven’t eaten your cake, Jim,’ Nick said as he sat back down.

Jim turned his head towards Nick, his eyes remaining vacant. ‘What did you say?’

‘Your cake,’ Nick said, nodding towards the untouched plate.

He shook his head. ‘I can’t eat it.’

‘She’s not going to die, Jim.’

‘But what if she does?’ he said plaintively. ‘I can’t live without her. She’s all I have.’

‘I know, Jim.’ Sarah reached over to press a gentle hand on his arm. ‘But you won’t have to live without her. Not yet, anyway. We’ve caught this in time. We’ll look after her together and make her better.’

His eyes filled with tears, shocking Sarah. She’d only ever seen a man cry once before in her life—her father, at her mother’s funeral. Jim’s crying propelled her back there, to her mother’s graveside and the awful sound of her father’s broken sobs as they lowered her coffin into the ground.

‘I’m just so worried,’ Jim choked out.

‘We all are, Jim,’ Nick said gently.

‘I never thought I’d get married, you know,’ Jim went on, his voice cracking some more. ‘At forty, I was a crusty old bachelor. Not ugly exactly, but not the kind of chap women went for. Flora used to shop in the same supermarket as I did. Not sure why she took a liking to me but she did. Before I knew it, we were hitched.’

A huge lump filled Sarah’s throat as she watched the tears run down Jim’s sun-weathered cheeks.

‘Best thing I ever did,’ he finished up, pulling a hankie from his pocket.

An emotion-charged silence descended on their table. They all fell to drinking and eating, no one saying a word. Sarah noted that the people at the other tables weren’t saying much either.

Cafeterias in hospitals, she decided, were not places of joy, especially late at night.

When her eyes returned to their table, she found Nick staring at her.

What are you thinking? she longed to ask.

But she said nothing, her eyes dropping back to her coffee.

Nick could not believe the crazy thoughts going through his head at that moment. Jim’s touching little story about his romance with Flora must have totally unhinged him. Because, suddenly, he was thinking that that was what he should do: get married…to Sarah.

An incredibly bad idea. Even worse than giving in to his lust and sleeping with her. An affair with a scoundrel could have the beneficial side-effect of educating and protecting her, in a perverse kind of way. But marriage to the same scoundrel had nothing going for Sarah at all. Because such a union would not give her the one thing she wanted most in life: children.

This last thought steeled Nick’s strangely wobbly heart, reaffirming his resolve to keep their affair strictly sexual. That way, when it was over, Sarah wouldn’t be too hurt.

Meanwhile, it would be kinder of him if their affair didn’t last too long. Best it be over by the time she turned twenty-five. Which gave him what time with her?

Six short weeks. Not long to burn out a lust that had been growing for years, and which he now had little control over. Despite all that had happened tonight, he could not wait to get her home, to bed. Which underlined just what type of man he was; not fit to marry a lovely girl like Sarah, that was for sure.

‘I think we should go back to the ward now. See what they’ve discovered.’

Nick’s abrupt suggestion jerked Sarah back to the moment at hand.

‘The nurse didn’t seem keen on Flora having too many visitors,’ she told him. ‘I think it would be best if I went home to bed. I’ll come back and visit Flora tomorrow morning, bring her some things she might need.’

‘That sounds like a good idea,’ Nick agreed.

‘I’m not going home,’ Jim said somewhat stubbornly. ‘I’m going to stay with my wife. They said I could.’

‘Of course,’ Nick soothed. ‘I’ll stay till I find out the doctor’s verdict, then I’ll go home too. I’ll come back with Sarah in the morning.’

Nick stood up first, coming round to hold the back of Sarah’s chair as she rose.

‘My bed,’ he whispered. ‘Not yours.’

Shock held her rigid. How could he possibly be thinking about sex at this moment? It was the last thing on her mind.

But by the time she unlocked the front door and made her way upstairs, the thought of being with Nick again was slowly corrupting her. She kept telling herself that she was as wicked as he was; that she should be consumed with worry for Flora, not desire for him.

Nick’s brief phone call from the hospital informing her that it had just been angina, and not a heart attack, did soothe her conscience somewhat, though her emotions were still very mixed as she showered and perfumed her body, then slipped, naked, back between those black satin sheets.

She’d heard about people having wildly tasteless sex at wakes, just to prove that they were still alive. Maybe this was something like that.

But she suspected not.

Sarah wanted to believe that it was love behind her behaviour. But she was beginning to wonder if it was more a matter of lust. She’d never experienced the kind of sexual pleasure that she’d had earlier that evening. And she wanted more.

By the time she heard the Rolls throttle down in the driveway, Sarah was beside herself with excitement. When Nick strode into the room already stripping off as he went, desire had rendered her totally mindless.

This time he did not speak and neither did she. Their coupling was fast and furious, a raw, animalistic mating that sent them both hurtling over the edge in seconds. Afterwards, they clung to each other, their skin pearled in sweat, their bodies stuck together.

‘I didn’t use a condom,’ he muttered into her hair.

‘I know,’ she rasped.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be,’ she shocked herself by saying. ‘I liked it.’

Oh, what an understatement. She’d gloried in his hard, unprotected flesh surging into hers, wallowed in his flooding her womb.

His head lifted, dark eyes gleaming. ‘But you’re not safe. You’ve just opened the dungeon door, Sarah, big time.’

Her sex-glazed eyes searched his. ‘What dungeon is that?’

‘The one I’ve kept my X-rated fantasies about you imprisoned in all these years.’

Sarah’s eyes widened at the rather menacing metaphor.

‘Don’t ever imagine I’m in love with you,’ he snarled. ‘Love doesn’t live in a dungeon. Now, go to sleep. I’ve had enough for one night and I’m bloody exhausted.’