Her comment made him smile again, the dryness hiding undertones he couldn’t identify, but there was a subtle flush of colour to her cheeks and her wide eyes searched his face as if seeking a hint of what had passed between them during the last few frozen moments.
Despite his urge to throw himself out of the lift to safety, Zafar stretched his hand across the doors to allow her to precede him. ‘My apologies for my weakness earlier.’
She assessed him with a clinical scrutiny he wasn’t used to getting from a woman and strangled back a half-laugh. ‘I doubt you’re a weak man so I’m sure you’ve good reason.’
He inclined his head.
She glanced around. ‘And I should have got out at level six.’ She turned swiftly out to the left of the lift and pulled open the door of the fire escape to go down a flight before he was fully out of the lift himself.
He started to hum. The day was not as bad as it had started out.
Carmen moved quickly to reach the door to the stairwell but she could almost feel the eyes of the man in the lift on her back.
What had just happened? Her lips tingled as if still waiting and she could detect the unusual spicy aftershave from his skin so close to hers. And what a mouth! Sinful was too tame a word. She couldn’t pretend she hadn’t been tempted.
Not the sort of encounter she’d expected today and she wasn’t entirely sure she’d behaved properly. Hopefully she wouldn’t see him again.
When the fire-escape door shut with an echoing clang she breathed a sigh of relief as she leant back against it. Cold metal against her back was lovely to counter the heat everywhere else in her body. She glanced around.
Appropriate name. Fire escape.
She definitely felt a bit singed on the edges—like a ragged sleeve too close to a candle—ragged and breathless. She touched her lips. Burnt and hot without even touching him.
She glanced around again, reassured in a dark stairwell with unpainted concrete stairs and the echo of empty walls, but there was no doubt she was glad of the sanctuary afforded her.
One would have thought she’d learnt her lesson from her ex-husband about smooth-talking men in expensive suits who seduced you and then destroyed your life.
Still. One almost slip didn’t make a disaster. She hoped.
Eighteen hours later Carmen O’Shannessy admired the gifts Mother Nature had bestowed on her at five that morning with a soft smile. She knew there was a reason she loved night duty, apart from the fact it allowed her to do two jobs.
Twins. Dark-haired cherubs with skin like dusky rosebuds. Her patient, Fadia Smith, rested back in the armchair like Madonna with her sons poking out under her arms like tiny bundled wings. It had taken a little juggling, a few attempts, and almost an hour of patience, but with both boys feeding well this moment was a very satisfying end to a drama-filled morning.
It had been a long time since Carmen had seen twins born with so little fuss but, then, Fadia hadn’t left them with much choice. Her cumbersome arrival alone and a bare five minutes before her first son appeared had left Carmen literally catching the baby. By the time the obstetrician and his entourage had arrived, number two had also decided to greet the outside world and Dr Bennett had waved her on with an incredulous smile.
To continue their no-fuss arrival, both wee boys had cried and then settled on their mother’s skin. While they appeared small, there were no signs of prematurity or respiratory distress.
That would be unlike the breathless-from-running neonatal staff, who’d drifted back to their unit unneeded shortly afterwards. Carmen still smiled over their shock when she’d rung for help.
Two hours later Carmen should’ve been feeling ready to hand Fadia over to the day staff and go home. ‘You sure I can’t phone someone for you?’ Something niggled.
Fadia seemed very sad. On cue with the question, Fadia jumped in the chair and the two babies stopped their sucking with startled eyes before resettling to their feed.
Their mother forced herself to relax. ‘No, no. My babies are fine. I really don’t have anyone else to call. I’m a widow and there’s just a friend of my husband who’s been helping me until my relatives arrive.’
Fadia seemed determined nothing was wrong and hurried on. ‘We’re all safe.’ It seemed a strange thing to say.
‘Well, your boys weren’t waiting for anyone.’ She leaned over and stroked a tiny hand that rested on his mother’s neck. ‘You’re amazing, Fadia. Congratulations. Tilly will be looking after you today. I have to go home to my bed, and I’ll see you when you move to the baby hotel in a day or two. Have you decided on names?’
‘Harrison and Bailey. My husband’s names.’
‘Lovely. I’m sure he would have loved that.’
‘He didn’t even know I was pregnant when he was killed.’
Was killed? Not died. How horrible but not the time to ask. ‘I’m sorry. But I’m sure, somewhere, he knows. Do try and get some sleep as soon as they do.’
‘Thanks, Carmen. You’ve given me so much strength in all of this. It means so much that you weren’t cross with me for leaving it so late.’
‘You were always strong, Fadia. So amazing. And we know babies come when they want.’ Carmen grinned. ‘You must have a guardian angel. And that makes sense. Thank you for a lovely end to my night.’ She waved and almost bumped into Tilly, the day midwife, passing the door.
‘Finally going home?’ Tilly glanced at her watch.
Carmen knew she was nearly an hour late getting away already. ‘At last.’
‘You working this afternoon as well?’
‘Doing the one p.m. at the hotel till seven. I get to sleep in my bed tonight.’
Tilly shook her head. ‘Don’t know how you do it. I’d be dead doing those hours as well as night duty.’
‘I get around four hours’ sleep.’ Carmen shrugged. ‘It’s short term. But I’m starting to come down from the night’s euphoria. But I am tired now.’ She did not want to talk about this or the reason she was almost killing herself. She’d never taken help from anyone and she wasn’t going to start now.
Thankfully Tilly wasn’t slow on nuances because she changed the subject back to Fadia. ‘Well done, you, with this morning. Lucky duck. Catching twins is hard to do without a cast of thousands trying to help these days.’
‘And your Marcus didn’t push me out of the way.’
Tilly’s cheeks went pink and Carmen felt a tug of wistfulness at her friend’s happiness. A fleeting picture of the man in the lift intruded again before she pushed him away.
She hadn’t given him a thought for hours. Been far too busy. Which was a good thing. ‘It must be great to have everything in your life going well.’
Tilly said, ‘I’m fostering Marcus’s faith in midwives. I think it’s working.’ They smiled
