mother was calm and unruffled. ‘You know I wouldn’t have told him anything, Abby. I know how important it is to you that you get away from him. I always suspected that there was something strange about him, and I didn’t want him anywhere near you once I got to know him better. I thought his obsession with you was unnatural.’
‘I’m sorry. I was just afraid that you might have let something slip, without meaning to.’
‘I didn’t. I can’t think how he could have found you so soon—and, anyway, you don’t know for sure that it was him, do you? The caller could have realised that he had made a mistake and that it was a different Abby Curtis he was looking for—someone older perhaps, and that’s why he rang off without speaking. He was probably embarrassed. Or it might have been that the nurse heard him wrong and he had asked for someone with a similar-sounding name.’
Abby might have known her mother would react like that. She was a sensible woman, whose reasoning was nearly always straightforward.
‘You’re probably right. I expect I’m making a fuss about nothing.’ Abby talked to her mother for a minute or two longer, then said goodbye and hung up.
Her mood was pensive, though. Was she simply imagining things? No matter how Abby tried to brush it off, the thought niggled that the caller might have been Richard. Given that she had told him she didn’t want anything more to do with him, he might well have been messing about, playing silly games with her.
It was a sad state of affairs, because their relationship had been good to begin with, she recalled. Richard had been sexy, appealing, persuasive, and she had found herself falling for him over the weeks that had passed.
It had only been later that she had realised there was another side to him, a part of his nature that needed to be in control, to take over, to have everything his way. That was when she had tried to break off the relationship, but her retreat had only made him more possessive, more argumentative, and when the split had finally come it had been fraught with tension. It had been worrying when he had accused her of seeing other men, falsely as it happened, and he had become steadily more resentful and threatening.
‘We belong together,’ he’d said, in a way that chilled her to the bone. ‘If you ever try to leave me, you’ll regret it. I won’t let you go, and I’ll not let any other man come near you.’
And now here she was, several months later, wondering whether even now it was still not finished with.
‘Do you think you could go and dream about your love life in your own time?’ Jordan’s voice cut tersely across her thoughts. ‘We’re running an emergency department here, not a sweethearts’ convention.’
‘I wasn’t…I mean…I was just called to the phone, that’s all. I wasn’t letting it interfere with my work.’
‘Weren’t you? While you were lost in fantasyland, patients have been lining up to be seen. If you can’t keep your mind on the job, you shouldn’t be here at all.’
‘I’m allowed to take a break,’ she said, her green eyes flashing him a cool challenge. ‘Just because I choose to take it in a phone booth instead of the doctors’ lounge doesn’t make it any less valid, and I’m still around and ready if a major emergency comes in.’
‘If you say so,’ he threw back drily. ‘Looking at you, some might have doubted that.’ He thrust a chart into her hand. ‘The woman in cubicle two has a possible migraine. She, at least, has a reasonable excuse for having a muzzy head.’
Abby took the chart without another word and went to examine the woman. Insufferable man. What was his problem? Did he think it was his life’s work to provoke his colleagues, or was it just her that he had it in for? She had only met him the previous day and already she was having to bite her tongue for fear of landing herself out of a job.
Whatever had made her think being part of his team was a rung up the professional ladder? She might as well have tried cosying up to a snarling tiger.
CHAPTER THREE
JESSICA was still not feeling too well when Abby returned home that evening.
‘Did you go and see the doctor?’ Abby asked, going into the kitchen of the house next door. Jessica nodded. She still had very little colour and looked as though she was on the verge of collapse.
‘He said it was probably a virus of some sort, but he gave me something to settle my stomach and told me to rest.’ She gave a wry smile. ‘That’ll be the day—who can rest with a four-year-old running around? Actually, though, I don’t feel as sick as I did this morning. Just this awful tiredness.’
‘I can watch Chloe for you for an hour or two if you want to go and lie down,’ Abby offered. ‘You look as though you could do with a break.’ She filled a kettle with water and set about making her neighbour a hot drink. ‘If you’ve not eaten much today, perhaps you could try a little soup. I’ll make some for you, shall I?’
‘You’re an angel. Thanks, though I’m not really hungry.’ Jessica ran a hand wearily through her dark hair. ‘You and Mrs Matthews have been so good to me today. Corinne took Chloe to nursery school and brought her home for me. I feel really bad about putting on you both like this.’
‘Nonsense. I’m sure we both want to do what we can for you. It’s not easy when you’re feeling ill and you’ve a child to care for. As soon as you’ve eaten something, you should go and rest for a while. Doctor’s orders!’
‘Bless you,’ Jessica said, closing her eyes for a moment as though her eyelids were weighted down. ‘If you’re adamant about it, I think I will. Chloe certainly seems to have taken to you.’
‘She’ll be fine with me. Don’t you worry. I’ll bring her back later and help get her ready for bed, if you like.’
‘Thanks.’
Abby waited while Jessica managed some of the soup, and then settled her into bed.
Chloe was perfectly happy to come and make pink play dough in Abby’s kitchen, and she used biscuit cutters to make shapes out of it while Abby got on with tackling a few chores.
‘Dan’el writed a letter to my mummy,’ Chloe volunteered, holding up a squidgy heart shape for Abby to admire. ‘There was kisses on it.’
‘That must have been nice for her,’ Abby commented with a smile. There had been a letter from him among her own post when she had arrived home.
‘Mmm. I think she liked it,’ the child agreed. ‘But Mummy’s eyes was wet. She said she had a cold.’
Poor Jessica. Abby could imagine how wretched she must be feeling right now, both physically and mentally, with her family keeping their distance and the man she had come to rely on half the world away. And that was without trouble from her ex-husband to give her grief.
* * *
Over the next few weeks, Abby had problems of her own to contend with at the hospital, and she was on edge a lot of the time, trying to steer a steady course through the minefield of working with Jordan.
If he thought she was the slightest bit hesitant, he would query her decisions and make her account for every test that she ordered. So far, she had managed to keep on top of things, but it hadn’t been easy.
Late one afternoon, she stopped by the desk to sign some forms for the laboratory and found herself stifling a yawn. She had been run off her feet for most of the day, and the thought of going home and soaking in a relaxing bath was uppermost in her mind.
Unhappily for her, Jordan chose that moment to sweep by, and pounced with deadly accuracy. ‘Are we keeping you up, Abby?’ he enquired in a low drawl.
She gazed up at him blankly for a moment.
His blue-grey eyes slanted down over her slender figure, noting the slight tilt of her shoulders and the negligent way she stood, one leg pressed