she could see the chill in his grey eyes. He strode towards her and his face was like thunder when he stopped in front of her.
‘There is a waiting-room full of people out there. I suggest you attend to what you’re being paid for, Ms Tremayne. And, to my knowledge, that doesn’t include sitting here, drinking coffee.’
His tone was icy with contempt and Rose flushed. She didn’t say a word as she got up, took her mug to the sink and emptied the coffee down the drain. Nobody said anything as she left the staffroom but she could feel the other nurses watching her and it was galling to know what they must be thinking.
They probably thought she wasn’t pulling her weight after what Owen Gallagher had said, and the unfairness of being labelled as lazy was very hard to take. She did a good job wherever she worked and put one hundred per cent effort into it, too. That was why she’d been offered so many permanent posts—every hospital she’d worked at had asked her if she would like to join their staff, but she’d had to refuse.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like the idea of working in one place, because she would have loved to do so. It was the fact that she wouldn’t earn her current salary that stopped her. As her father had sunk deeper into the grip of Alzheimer’s disease she’d had to move him into a nursing-home, and the fees were extortionate. Agency work paid far more than she could earn by working for the NHS, plus she could top up her income by working nights if the nursing-home’s fees increased. Maybe she should have explained all that to Owen—only what would have been the point? He wasn’t interested in her problems, he was only interested in keeping her away from Daniel.
Rose went back to the unit and took a fresh file out of the tray, determined that she wouldn’t give him the opportunity to accuse her of wasting time again. The waiting-room was packed and she had to shout to make herself heard above the din.
‘Vicky Smith.’
A girl in her twenties stood up, clutching her left hand. Rose grimaced when she saw the state of her ring finger. ‘That looks very nasty,’ she said, leading the young woman to a cubicle. ‘How did it happen?’
‘I was bringing my horse in from the field when he tried to bolt. The lead rope must have got wrapped around my finger somehow because I heard it make this horrible popping sound.’ Vicky sat down on the bed, looking very pale as she studied her swollen hand. ‘Do you think it’s broken?’
‘It could be, but I’ll have to get one of the doctors to take a look at it before we can be sure.’ Rose smiled at her. ‘It will probably need X-raying so there’ll be a bit of wait. Did you come here on your own or did someone bring you?’
‘I came on my own.’ Vicky looked close to tears. ‘I was going to phone my boyfriend but Oliver—that’s my horse—trampled on my mobile phone and broke it.’
‘I can phone him for you,’ Rose assured her. She jotted down the boyfriend’s phone number then went to find Suzanne and asked her to take a look at the girl’s hand. As she had predicted, Suzanne wanted X-rays to be done so Rose ushered the young woman to the radiology unit and left her there while she made the telephone call. Angie was using the phone on the desk, so rather than waste time waiting until it was free Rose found some change in her pocket and used the public phone in the foyer. She was just hanging up after telling Vicky’s boyfriend what had happened when Owen Gallagher came out of the department and he stopped dead when he saw her.
‘I’ve warned you once today about getting on with your work, Ms Tremayne, and I don’t intend to warn you again about flagrantly wasting time. You’re paid to work, not to organise your social life.’
‘Do you always speak to staff this way or have you singled me out for special treatment because of Daniel?’ Rose was incensed. She had never been spoken to in such a fashion before and she refused to stand there and meekly accept it.
‘This has nothing to do with my son!’ Gallagher glared at her. ‘I will not tolerate incompetence in any way, shape or form.’
‘Of course it has to do with your son!’ Rose spat the accusation back at him. ‘You’ve got it into your head that I am a threat to Daniel’s well-being and that’s why you are behaving this way.’
‘And can you blame me?’ He took a step towards her so that, instinctively, she tried to retreat. However, with the wall at her back there was nowhere to go. Her heart began to pound as he bent and stared into her eyes. She had never seen such dislike on anyone’s face before. It was all she could do to stand there as he continued in the same relentless tone when what she wanted to do was to run away and hide.
‘I don’t know what kind of a game you’re playing, Ms Tremayne, but one thing I do know: it won’t work. I won’t let you ruin Daniel’s life.’
‘I have no intention of ruining his life,’ she protested.
‘No? Then what are you doing here? What exactly do you hope to achieve by harassing me?’
‘I didn’t know that you worked here! I was just as shocked as you were when I saw you this morning.’
‘And you really expect me to believe that?’ He laughed shortly, his deep voice devoid of humour. ‘I’m sorry but I don’t believe in coincidences, so you’ll have to come up with a better story than that.’
‘It’s the truth! I’m here because the agency I work for sent me here. That’s it. There’s no other reason.’
Just for a moment a flicker of uncertainty showed in his eyes before he shook his head. ‘No, it’s just too convenient. You turn up in my department and expect me to believe that you didn’t plan this—’
‘Plan what? What possible good could it do me to come here?’
‘I don’t know. That’s the whole point, isn’t it? I have no idea what you’re up to. You, Ms Tremayne, are an unknown quantity. And until I find out what you want, I am not going to be foolish enough to believe a single word you say.’
With that, he walked away. Rose took a shaky breath but her heart was hammering after the bitter attack. What made it worse was that she could sympathise with his fears. He didn’t know her, so he had no idea what kind of person she was. Oh, she could tell him that she meant Daniel no harm but why should he believe her? She was a threat in Owen Gallagher’s eyes and he was going to do everything in his power to keep her out of Daniel’s life.
The thought was more painful than it should have been in view of the fact that she’d had over a week to get used to the idea. Rose wasn’t sure why it upset her so much. Obviously, if there was a chance that she could get to know Daniel then she wouldn’t allow anything to stop her, yet it hurt to know that Owen would hate her all the more if she flouted his wishes. She couldn’t help wishing they could put aside their differences for Daniel’s sake, but the likelihood of that happening was nil.
The one thing Owen Gallagher didn’t want from her was friendship!
IT WAS the longest day of Owen’s life, and he couldn’t wait for it to end. Although he tried to avoid any further contact with Rose, it wasn’t possible to escape from her completely. Several times he found himself working alongside her, and each time it was all he could do to hide his animosity.
The sooner she
