how much contact he would want.
Access was the least she owed him; it was a debt she could not begin to pay. During the last weeks of uncertainty, her entire focus had been on her daughter’s...their daughter’s recovery. Lily had not even begun to think about what happened next, once Emmy was out of danger.
‘Slowly.’
She did so, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. They were in a curtained cubicle in an empty bay of beds. As she got up he pulled aside the curtain with a swish of fabric.
‘You all right?’
She lowered the hand she had lifted to her head. ‘Fine,’ she lied, fighting a wave of nausea.
‘Drink the tea.’ He wheeled the trolley closer and pointed at it.
‘Is that an order?’ His attitude made her want to grind her teeth and do the exact opposite, but she was awfully thirsty so it probably wasn’t worth making a fuss.
‘Don’t shoot the messenger.’
His ironic comment brought her eyes to his face, seeing for the first time the lines of strain etched around his spectacular eyes. Over the last couple of weeks she had rarely given much thought to how he was feeling.
‘This stoic stuff is admirable, to a point,’ he continued, ‘and then it just gets irritating. I know it goes against the grain for you to agree with anything I say and you have established the fact that my opinion counts for nothing. But none of those points are my idea. They are the doctor’s orders. Emily Rose,’ he said, enjoying giving her her full title, ‘is asleep. And you will be of little use to her if you end up as a patient here yourself.’
‘All right.’
His brows lifted at the ready capitulation. ‘Common sense? Will wonders never cease?’
She acknowledged the rueful comment with a twitch of her nose and admitted, ‘I know I need sleep, but I haven’t been able to switch off for weeks. I think I’ve forgotten how.’
She gave a yawn and a stretch and, his eyes on the smooth section of midriff it revealed, he found himself thinking of several interesting methods of helping her switch off... He on the other hand felt very switched on!
She lowered her arms, but the damage was done; all he could think about was kissing a path up the soft curve of her belly...or down and—
‘Besides, I couldn’t bear for her to wake up and be alone.’
The plaintive admission made him feel like a total bastard, when all he could think about was getting her clothes off.
‘She’s not going to be alone when she wakes up,’ he soothed, the colour scoring his cheekbones the only remaining evidence of the frustration that burned in his veins. ‘Your mother will be there and the nurses who, let’s face it, she has managed to wrap around her little finger.’
Lily grinned then yawned again, her hand patting her mouth. If this didn’t stop soon she’d dislocate her jaw. ‘She really is a charmer, isn’t she?’ she agreed with pride. ‘You’re right.’
‘Now that hardly hurt at all, did it?’
She shot him a look. ‘I do need some sleep. Could you give me a lift to the B & B?’ Did that sound pushy? ‘Or if you’re busy I could get a cab. Oh, could you ask Mum for the room card?’ Though Lily had only been to the small B & B once or twice, her mum had been sleeping there—except on the couple of occasions she had taken advantage of Ben’s offer of his helicopter and flown back home.
On the last occasion she had come back that same evening admitting that she could get very used to that form of transport. Then she had broken the news to Lily that her secret was no longer a secret.
News travelled fast in a small rural community and everyone now knew the identity of Emmy’s father.
Lily hadn’t really expected the news to spread so quickly. She had half anticipated that Ben’s grandfather might have wanted to bury the truth but he hadn’t and Lily found, rather to her own surprise, that she was not particularly concerned.
The only person she hadn’t wanted to know was Ben and now that he did, other people gossiping didn’t really matter to her.
‘Not walk?’ he mocked.
‘Actually I could, couldn’t I?’ She realised, missing the irony totally, the small B & B where her mum had taken a room was literally just round the corner from the hospital.
The initial idea had been for them to take turns sleeping there, but Lily had found it much less stressful to sleep in a chair by her daughter’s bed.
He looked at her for a moment and shook his head. ‘No, you couldn’t. I will take you, though obviously I will expect petrol money.’
The comment drew a reluctant smile from Lily. It was so much easier to smile now that the crushing weight of fear she hadn’t even been conscious of carrying had been lifted. It was there but no longer oppressive. It wouldn’t be gone until they were home.
‘Thank you.’ She took a sip of the tea and grimaced before calling after him. ‘It’s incredible, isn’t it?’
Framed in the open doorway, he turned. She was sitting there on the bed cross-legged, her face framed by wild curls. Smiling, she looked too young to be a mother. The effort of not crossing the room and pulling her under him on the bed was hard enough to bring beads of sweat to his upper lip.
She was incredible, so sweet and brave. Of course, she was also stubborn enough to drive a man insane, but he imagined most men would consider it a privilege.
‘It is, yes.’
Until he spoke Lily hadn’t been aware that she was holding her breath. As he vanished she released it, conscious of a gnawing sense of anticlimax. Had she imagined the tension in the air, the heavy throb of sexual awareness...?
Ten minutes later, her blood pressure had been checked and she had been discharged by a junior doctor who, in Ben’s opinion, had a hell of a lot to learn about professional distance. Now they made their way to the main entrance.
Lily read out loud the sign above the space near the main entrance where Ben had parked his long sleek silver car.
‘Reserved for the Chief Administrative Officer.’
‘What can I say? I’m a rebel.’ Torn between irritation and amusement, because she seemed genuinely outraged at the rule infringement, he made a placatory gesture. ‘Trust me, you’re more likely to see a flock of pigs fly past than see an administrator at work on a Saturday.’
Lily had forgotten it was the weekend, slightly alarming, but she wouldn’t let it go without making her point. ‘What would happen if we all went around breaking the rules?’
‘You think a bit of illegal parking is going to trigger the downfall of society?’
She gave a sudden grin. ‘No, but it’s fun winding you up.’
