you get into the wheelchair and we’ll go and get you some breakfast before the nurse arrives?’
At the table, Kit poured him a large mug of coffee and then sat opposite him to sip the cup of tea she’d made for herself.
‘I’m so relieved to hear that you slept well last night,’ she told him. ‘I was worried that your fall might have given you a few extra aches and pains to keep you awake.’
‘Well, it didn’t. Like I said, I slept like a baby. By the way, what time is the nurse due?’
‘I checked in the diary and she’ll be here in about an hour. That gives me plenty of time to get you your breakfast. What can I get for you?’
‘A couple of slices of wholemeal toast with marmalade will suffice. I rarely have much more than that.’
‘Well...’ Her rosy cheeks dimpled disarmingly. ‘One of these mornings I’m hoping you’ll let me cook you the full English. It’s one of my specialties.’
Fielding another bolt of disturbing heat, because he’d realised how more and more attractive she was becoming to him, Hal leveled her a deliberately flirtatious smile. ‘How could I refuse such an irresistible invitation? You certainly know how to tempt a man when he’s down, Ms Blessington...especially when he’s literally been knocked off his feet.’
His companion’s even white teeth worried delicately at her fulsome lower lip.
‘Are you saying that you’re more susceptible to temptation when you’re feeling low?’
Hal responded with a short, ironic laugh. ‘I hardly need a reason to be more susceptible to temptation than I am already.’ His voice had turned unwittingly husky and Kit’s rosy cheeks turned even rosier, he noticed.
‘Well...’ Seizing the chance to free herself from his undoubtedly disconcerting examination, she got hurriedly to her feet. ‘I’d better get on with making you that toast.’
‘Don’t forget to do some for yourself.’
‘All I need in the morning is a cup of tea.’
His gaze swept pointedly up and down her figure. ‘You’ll fade away. You’re not on some ridiculous diet, I hope?’
‘No, I’m not.’ Her expression was painfully affronted. ‘Do you think I’d be on a diet at the expense of my health? I trust I have more common sense than that. In any case I’m a high-energy person and I don’t easily put on weight. The more I do, the more I just burn it off.’
‘Well, don’t get too skinny.’ Hal grinned, absentmindedly stirring another teaspoon of sugar into his coffee. ‘I like my women to have a decent amount of flesh on their bones.’
‘Well...how fortunate that I’m not one of your women, then,’ Kit returned smartly, delphinium-blue eyes flashing. ‘In any case, according to the press, you certainly have plenty to choose from.’
So she had read those tiresome reports of his so-called salacious conduct in the newspapers. It seemed he wasn’t going to get off lightly in her eyes...broken leg or no broken leg. She wouldn’t be in a hurry to grant him any kind of dispensation. He silently balked at the idea that what she’d read about him might have already sullied her opinion.
‘It may or may not interest you to know, but I haven’t had a date in over six months now—and you really should be a bit more discerning about what you read in the tabloids, Kit. Maybe it’s time you changed to a better class of newspaper?’
The flush on her face was akin to the shade of fresh beetroot, and Hal instantly regretted the biting comment. But it was too late to retract it.
‘You’re entitled to your opinion, of course. Would you like some more coffee with your toast, Mr Treverne?’
Moving over to the shiny stainless steel toaster on the counter, Kit had obviously decided not to get into a debate about the issue, and although he secretly craved her forgiveness for being so cutting Hal was undeniably relieved. But he still wasn’t able to let her have the last word...
‘So we’re back to the more formal address now, are we? I told you I’d prefer it if you didn’t call me that. Anyway...’
She turned just in time to see him raise a mocking eyebrow, his gaze unwavering and direct.
‘...don’t you think it’s rather ridiculous when you’ve seen me buck naked in the bath?’
‘You had a towel wrapped round you, as I recall.’ Kit crossed her arms over her shirt and her glance was formidably fierce.
‘A ridiculously small towel that left very little to the imagination, I’m sure.’
‘Are you forgetting that I helped you into your robe afterwards?’
‘No, I hadn’t forgotten. I was merely being a gentleman and not mentioning it.’
With a bemused look, Kit sighed. ‘At any rate, don’t you think I have anything better to do than spend my time dwelling on what you look like naked?’
‘No doubt you do. But don’t bruise my already fragile ego by denying me the very healthy male fantasy of you lusting after my body in your spare time.’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake...you’re impossible!’
‘I’ve been called worse things in my time.’
‘I think we should just call a halt to this inane conversation right now and concentrate on having our breakfast, don’t you?’
Once again Hal lifted a sardonic brow. ‘You just told me that you don’t eat breakfast.’
With a frustrated groan, Kit pushed back the tendril of auburn hair that had drifted onto her forehead and exasperatedly rolled her eyes. ‘Well, I might just be driven to it to help me keep up my strength if you persist in trying to wind me up all day!’
It was perverse, but Hal privately admitted to a strange delight in knowing he could get to her—even if her reaction wasn’t the usual smitten one he’d grown used to receiving from women.
Taking a couple of satisfying sips of his coffee, he gave her a disarming grin. ‘I’ll do my best not to aggravate you, sweetheart, really I will. But you surely can’t deny a poor invalid these only too brief opportunities to brighten up his day? That is not unless you have a heart of stone?’
‘So it’s a “poor invalid” you are now, is it?’
‘What else could I be when I’m stuck here in this wheelchair?’ Suddenly, out of the blue, his mood turning on a sixpence, Hal’s frustration at his immobility got the better of him. ‘Trust me, angel. If I wasn’t so incapacitated by this blasted broken leg I’d be chasing you round the room until I caught you and stole a long, satisfying kiss!’ The very idea at being able to carry out such a threat instantly restored his good humour. ‘Although I know one could never possibly be enough.’
‘Don’t you remember you already stole one yesterday?’
‘You told me you’d forgotten about that. Maybe it left more of an impression than you admitted? Perhaps I should take a chance and steal another one to remind you how good it was?’
‘I don’t agree. Although I won’t deny you your harmless little fantasy if it helps to keep your spirits up. Anything that aids your recovery is fine by me, because once you’re up and about again, and you can get back to your busy life and the no doubt infinite number of women who find you so irresistible, you’ll be a lot happier and my job here will be done.’
Just before she turned away to slot some bread into the toaster Hal saw her lips wrestle with the most maddening grin and he couldn’t help scowling because—unbelievably—she had bettered him by finally getting the last word...
* * *
Having pronounced him better than she’d hoped, the cheerful nurse from the private