became. I thought… if I came back to see you…’ he started to gasp, fighting against the constriction in his lungs ‘…you might be all the more upset if I left you once more. You were very young.’
Katie’s expression was bleak. ‘Let’s not talk about it for the moment. You’re ill, and we should concentrate on making you more comfortable. Keep the mask over your face. Take deep breaths and try to relax.’
‘What’s going on here?’ Nick came into the room and hurried over to the bed. ‘What happened?’ He checked the monitor, and Katie could see that her father’s heart rate and respiratory rate had increased to dangerous levels.
‘It was... We were just talking. It’s my fault,’ she said in a halting tone. ‘I said some things I shouldn’t have said.’ She had berated Nick for causing her father stress, and then she had done exactly the same thing, hadn’t she?
She pressed her lips together. Wasn’t this all part of the problem she had battled with since she had come out here? There was so much resentment locked up inside her, but none of it could gain release… not when her father was so ill. It was frustrating, an ongoing dilemma that could have no end. No matter what he had done, she would have to be inhuman to ignore his condition, wouldn’t she?
‘No, no…you mustn’t blame yourself,’ her father said, cutting in on her thoughts. ‘It’s only right that you should say what’s on your mind. I let you down.’
Nick gave her a thoughtful glance. Perhaps he was curious about what was going on between them, but he said nothing. Instead he checked the monitors once more and handed her father a couple of tablets and a drinking cup. ‘Take these,’ he said. ‘They’ll bring your blood pressure down and calm your heart rate. Then you need to rest.’ He sent Katie a warning glance and her face flushed with heat.
‘It isn’t Katie’s fault,’ Jack said, after he had swallowed the tablets. ‘The old ticker isn’t what it used to be. There isn’t much more that you doctors can do for me—you know it, and I know it.’
‘I never give up on a patient,’ Nick said, his tone firm. ‘You’ll be fine if you take things easy. Lie back and give the medicine time to take effect.’
They sat with her father for several more minutes, watching as his breathing slowly became easier.
‘I feel much better now,’ he said, after a while. ‘I’ll be okay.’
‘Maybe, but you can stay where you are for a bit longer,’ Nick told him. ‘The specialist will be stopping by as soon as he’s finished dealing with a patient. He’ll sort out your medication and make sure that you’re in a good enough condition to go home.’
His pager went off and he turned to Katie. ‘I have to go and deal with an emergency that’s coming in,’ he said. ‘Maybe we could meet up some time soon for coffee or dinner? I feel there are things we need to talk about.’
He was probably thinking of her father’s illness, and she acknowledged that with a slight inclination of her head. ‘Actually, I have the test results on Mrs. Wyatt, back in my office—the lady who fell and injured herself at your hotel. She gave me permission to share them with you, although I haven’t had time to look at them properly yet. I suppose we should arrange a time to get together to talk about them.’
He nodded. ‘Would it be too much of an imposition for you to come over to my beach house with them, say, later this afternoon? I have to be there because I have some people coming to do some work in the courtyard. Just say if it’s a problem for you.’
She thought about it and then shook her head. ‘It’s not a problem. I’m off duty, and you don’t live too far from my place.’
‘That’s great. I’ll see you then.’ He glanced towards her father. ‘I’m glad you’re feeling better, Jack. Take care. I’ll see you again before too long, I expect.’
He left the room, and Jack sent Katie a questioning look. ‘There was a problem at the hotel?’
She nodded and explained what had happened. ‘I think he’s worried in case the woman or her relatives decide to take it to court. They might try to say her fall was the fault of the hotel proprietor.’
He frowned. ‘I can see how he would be worried. It won’t simply be the effect this might have on trade at the hotel—the Bellinis have always taken pride in doing the right thing. Nick’s father is ultra-traditional in that respect. Everything has to be done the proper way. He’s a very private man, and he deplores any negative publicity.’
‘I can imagine. But so far they’ve managed to keep things quiet, and anyway there’s a lot riding on the results of various tests that were carried out at the lab.’
‘And now he wants you to take the results over to the house?’ Jack sent her a thoughtful glance. ‘Do I detect more than just a professional collaboration going on here?’
Katie’s eyes widened at the question, and she gave a faint shrug of her shoulders. ‘You heard what he said. It’s just easier this way.’
She wasn’t going to say any more on that score. Her father hadn’t earned the right to intervene in her private life, had he? Besides, how could she possibly answer him when she didn’t know for sure herself what had prompted the invitation? The deed had been accomplished before she’d had time to give it much thought.
Jack was frowning. ‘I could see that he was interested in you from the outset… but you should be careful how you go, with him, Katie. I know you’re still recovering from what went on back in the UK, and I wouldn’t want to see you hurt all over again.’
He halted for a second or two to allow his lungs to recover. ‘Nick Bellini’s a law unto himself where women are concerned. They seem to fall for him readily enough, but he’s never yet settled down with any of them. Don’t go getting your heart broken over the likes of him. He’s a fine doctor—he’s kept an eye on me over the last few years, just because he was concerned for me—and he’s a great businessman, a wonderful friend and associate, but he’s lethal to the fairer sex.’
Katie frowned. He was only telling her what she’d already guessed. That newspaper headline that had been bugging her for the last few days suddenly swam into her head once more, and this time she could see it with perfect clarity. ‘Tearful heiress Shannon Draycott leaves hotel under cover of darkness. Bellini tycoon declines to comment.’ There had been more. The article had said something about a broken engagement, and there had been a lot of conjecture, along with several interviews with friends of the young woman. They all painted a picture of a tragic heiress who had been left in the lurch.
‘Well, thanks for warning me. I’ll be sure to keep it in mind.’
Was Nick a man who was afraid of commitment, flitting from one woman to another? Katie was determined not to get involved with anyone like that ever again. She had been devastated when her relationship with James had ended. She had trusted him and believed they might have had a future together, but it had all gone terribly wrong, and now she would do everything she could to steer clear of any man who might cause her pain.
She studied her father. He was an enigma. He looked gaunt, with prominent cheekbones and dark shadows under his eyes, and something in her made her want to reach out to him and wrap her arms around him. It was confusing.
All those years he had stayed away, removing himself from her life, and yet now
