searchingly. ‘You look taken aback. Is there a problem?’
‘No…’ It came out as a sort of squeak, and she tried again. ‘No. There’s no problem at all,’ she managed weakly. ‘I think I’m just overtired and things are all becoming a bit too much for me.’
She said it, but it was not the truth. The truth was she was shocked to the core to discover that he was in charge of the A and E unit. Her heart was thumping discordantly at the news, crashing about in her chest like a mad thing. Why did it have to be him, of all people? How on earth could this be happening to her?
‘You’re right, of course.’ He pushed his cup to one side. ‘Thank you for the tea. I should leave you to get to bed. Are you sure you can manage on your own now? Do you need any help?’
A bubble of hysteria welled up in her throat and she swallowed hard to suppress it. What was he suggesting…that he put her to bed? That would be one step too far as far as she was concerned.
‘I can manage, thank you,’ she said. ‘Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I do appreciate it.’
His grey eyes studied her. ‘If you’re sure?’
‘I am.’ A sudden thought occurred to her. ‘Just give me a minute to find a robe, and I’ll let you have the blanket back.’ It came to her that she should have done that some time ago, but maybe she still wasn’t thinking clearly.
She hurried up to the bedroom and put on a towelling robe. Seeing herself in the mirror for the first time in several hours, she was horrified at her reflection. Her hair was sticking out at all angles, a tousled mass of curls that had settled in chaotic disorder to frame her face and brush her shoulders, making her look like a wild thing. Added to that, there were faint streaks of soot on her forehead and along her cheekbones, and she guessed she must have run her hands along a soot-caked banister or a piece of furniture at some point. As for the nightshirt, it didn’t bear thinking about. It revealed far too much of her slender curves.
Not wanting to see any more, she turned away from the mirror and wrapped the robe firmly around herself. She hurried downstairs.
Nick was in the hallway, surveying the wrecked plasterwork with an expression of disbelief, but as she came down the stairs he turned towards her.
‘Here’s the blanket.’ She handed it to him and then saw him to the door. ‘Thanks again for all you’ve done.’
‘You’re welcome.’ He glanced at her as he left, and she could see that he didn’t quite know what to make of her. This man, of all men, thought she was a complete oddity, a partygoer, someone who was prone to taking leave of her senses, a crazy sort of woman who had bought a property that was falling down around her ears, and this was the man who was going to be her new boss in a couple of days’ time. Could things possibly get any worse?
CHAPTER TWO
‘CAN I get you anything, Mum?’ Amber gave her mother an affectionate smile. ‘Another cup of tea, or some more toast?’ The kitchen table was littered with the remains of breakfast—cereal bowls and toast rack, along with two little pots of fruit preserves, but there was still some toast left and a portion of scrambled egg in a heated serving dish.
‘Nothing, sweetheart. I’m full to the brim, thanks.’ Her mother pushed her plate away and leaned back in her chair. ‘Besides, you don’t have to wait on me. It’s enough that you managed to get here to share breakfast with us. You ought to be thinking about yourself. You start your new job today, don’t you? And you must have an awful lot on your mind. Are you ready for it—do you have everything you need?’
Amber nodded. ‘I think so. I sorted my medical bag out last night, and I put it in the car before I came here this morning. I just hope I haven’t forgotten anything essential. I don’t want to get off to a bad start.’ Her stomach was churning at the thought of coming face to face with the consultant after all that had happened the other night, but she wasn’t going to tell her mother that. It was probably better to leave her in ignorance.
‘I’m sure you’ll get on really well. You’ve been fine everywhere else you’ve worked, and they’ve been sorry to lose you, from what I heard.’
Amber’s mouth twitched. ‘Maybe. You always see the best side of everything—I think you might be just a little bit prejudiced.’
Her mother smiled and it lit up her face. ‘I am where you’re concerned. I just want you to be happy.’
‘I will be,’ Amber said, her voice taking on a serious note, ‘just as long as you promise me that you’ll make an appointment to see the doctor today.’
She studied her mother. She looked frail, and there were lines of tension on her face, giving her a drawn appearance. Her brown hair, which had once been vibrant, was now streaked with grey, and the sheen had gone from it. It feathered her cheeks but it did nothing to disguise the weariness of her features.
‘Aunt Rose said that she would go with you,’ Amber added. ‘It’s been worrying me that you’re having so many bad headaches lately, and you know yourself that you need to get your health sorted out. You can’t go on the way that you have been doing. The other day you were so giddy that you almost fell, and that can’t be right.’
‘You worry too much. I’ll be right as rain. You just get yourself off to work and concentrate on what you have to do.’
Aunt Rose turned away from the sink where she had been refilling the kettle, and came over to the table. She began clearing away the breakfast crockery.
‘You know what your mother is like,’ she said, directing a stern glance towards Amber’s mother. ‘Julie’s as stubborn as a mule when it comes to looking after herself. I’m just glad that she finally agreed to come and live with me, where I can keep an eye on her.’
‘It’s a relief to me, too,’ Amber said.
Her mother gave them both a wry glance. ‘I’ve managed well enough up to now,’ she muttered. ‘I don’t know what all the fuss is about.’ She pushed her chair back from the table and stood up slowly. Amber noticed that she steadied herself momentarily with a hand on the table’s edge, but then she straightened up and walked towards the door that led into the hallway. ‘I’m going to tidy my bedroom,’ she said, ‘but I’ll be down to see you off to work, Amber. I think you can trust me to sort myself out.’
Amber watched her go from the room, and then sighed. ‘I just know that she’s going to try to wriggle out of it,’ she said to Aunt Rose. ‘If she doesn’t see the doctor today, I’m going to ring and make an appointment for her myself. She’s been worrying me more and more as the days go by.’
‘I don’t think the story in the newspaper helped very much,’ Rose said. ‘When she heard about the fire at the block of flats, and realised that you were there, she very nearly collapsed from the shock. I think she was terribly afraid that she might have lost you. She’s never got over losing Kyle, and I think it would have definitely been the last straw for her if anything had happened to you.’
‘She hasn’t lost Kyle. He’s still around, somewhere.’ Amber frowned. ‘I thought she was holding onto a last glimmer of hope—when your friend-of-a-friend said she’d heard that he might be down here, she insisted on coming to live in the area. It was perhaps just as well that we were thinking of moving anyway.’ She paused, thinking it through. ‘I suppose there could be some truth in it. After all, he loved this area when he was a child. Perhaps he wants to get back to his roots.’
‘She’s clutching at straws. The rumours could be way off beam, and I’d be surprised if he could remember having a home here at one time. It was a long, long time ago. But at least your mother has left notice of where she’s living now—just in case he ever turns up at the old house. They’re good people, the couple who moved into your old place. They promised that they would keep in touch, didn’t they? And I have every faith in them. Though, if you