be meeting my needs?’
‘You are the priority...of course you are...but—’
‘I don’t like the sound of that “but”,’ Hal commented, sounding a bit more than vaguely irritated. ‘Go on.’
‘It probably wasn’t a very good idea...us getting together like, this I mean.’
‘Are you saying that you regret it?’ Now his expression was seriously perturbed.
She coloured a little. ‘Not the experience—no. It’s just that—well, it could make our day-to-day relationship rather awkward. It’s still going to be quite a while before you can get around completely unaided and, like you said, your needs have to take priority. Anything that detracts from that wouldn’t be good. Perhaps it might be best if you contacted the agency and asked for someone else to come in and help you? Someone more impartial than I’m able to be now.’
‘Stop it. Stop this nonsense right this minute.’
The scowl on his handsome face was nothing less than formidable, and Kit’s pulse skittered in alarm.
‘I promised you that whatever happened between us it wouldn’t jeopardise your job, and I meant it. If you think I’ve changed my mind then you’re crazy. Just because I desire you it doesn’t mean that I don’t need your help any more. And I don’t want someone else from the damn agency. All I want is you.’
‘That’s all well and good, Hal, but I’m just trying to think of what’s best for you. Can’t you see that?’
‘And what about you, Kit? Do you really think it’s best for you that you leave me high and dry with no new job lined up, after you’ve promised to stay with me at least until I’m mobile again?’
Hearing the sincerity in Hal’s tone, along with the fear that she might just up and leave him, Kit couldn’t deny her relief that he wanted her to stay. He was right—she’d made him a promise. And, no, she didn’t have another job lined up, and it would hurt her just as much as it would hurt him to walk out now.
Knowing she should stay if she wanted to preserve her hard-won reputation with the agency and secure another job afterwards, she resigned herself to doing just that.
As far as her relationship with Hal was concerned she wouldn’t expect anything more from him other than his thanks and respect when her job here was done, and as long as she had that, given time, she would get over this heartfelt attraction for him. If she was going to live the dependable and comfortable existence that she longed for and buy herself that little bolthole she’d been so diligently saving for, then the sooner she got over him the better she would be for it.
‘Okay. No doubt you’re right. I would be letting myself down if I didn’t see the job through—although I am disappointed in myself because I broke a cast-iron rule not to get personally involved with a client. If I’m to continue to do my job well, Hal, I can’t risk a repeat of what happened between us tonight. You know, I can’t.’
HAL STARED AT Kit in disbelief. Did she really think to draw a line under what they had just shared as if it had never happened? It looked as if she did. She was already getting out of bed and turning her back on him, her hands tugging down her pretty silk chemise as if to hide herself—almost as if she was ashamed of succumbing to their passionate union. He couldn’t bear the thought that the only reason she’d agreed to stay was to fulfil her contract with the agency, not because of any personal regard for him...
Manoeuvring himself upright, he ground out, ‘Did I delude myself that what we just shared meant something to you, Kit? I mean, other than just fulfilling a very basic need?’
She turned her head at that, and her oval face was as pale as a winter moon even in the dimmed light that streamed in from the corridor.
‘I’m not saying it didn’t mean anything. I’m just saying that it can’t happen again. You must know it can’t. I’m a realist, if nothing else, and this impetuous turning in the road that we’ve suddenly taken can only lead to a dead-end. When you’re back on your feet again you’ll realise that and be glad that we didn’t take it any further.’
‘Will I? You know that for a fact, do you?’
Her eyes were downcast for a moment. Then, as if garnering more determination to stick to her decision, Kit lifted her head. ‘Now, tell me—do you need anything before I go back to my room? I can help you into the bathroom, if you’d like?’
‘So you intend to play the coolly professional nurse from now on rather than my lover?’ Hal found it hard to prevent the anger and resentment that seeped into his tone. ‘I know which one I prefer, and it isn’t the nurse.’
Her lovely blue eyes reflected her anguish at his stinging remark.
‘My intention is to fulfil my obligation to both you and the agency.’ Her restless twisting hands confirmed that his words had hurt her. ‘I won’t say any more than that. I’d better let you rest. I’m very tired and I need to get some sleep. You must be tired too, so I’ll say goodnight.’
She stooped to collect the scrunched-up underwear she’d disposed of earlier, when Hal had enticed her into bed, and as he watched her Hal’s resentment curdled like bitter aloes in the pit of his stomach. He was so sick of being abandoned. It was becoming a soul-destroying pattern in his life. It had started with his mother, and then his father, who—no matter what Hal achieved or did—would never be proud of him. He hadn’t even been able to put his cynical judgement of his son aside to visit him in the hospital when he’d been injured. And now Kit—the woman he found himself more attracted to than any other—was turning her back on him...
Gritting his teeth and shoving his hair back from his forehead, he said scathingly, ‘I’ll be sure to call on you if I need anything. I’d keep your door open, if I were you...just in case you don’t hear me should I call out your name. It wouldn’t bode well for your exemplary record at the agency if I were to fall out of bed again and injure myself, would it?’
Her cheeks reddening, Kit said quietly, ‘I would never let anything like that happen to you. You have my word on that. And it’s not just about protecting my record with the agency. I—I care about what happens to you.’
‘Do you really?’
‘Yes, I do. Anyway, I’ll make sure to keep my door ajar so I can hear you, should you need me.’
‘I need you now, but you don’t seem to care about that. If you did then you’d stay the night with me as I asked.’
Hal caught a glimpse of what looked like regret in her bewitching blue eyes and for a moment his heart leapt with hope that she might change her mind. But instead she gracefully moved across to the door and went out, making sure to leave it slightly ajar instead of shutting it completely.
‘Damn and blast it all to hell!’ Dropping back down against his pillows, he freely gave vent to his anger and frustration...
* * *
He’d had the most diabolical night’s sleep—perhaps an hour or two at most. So when he wheeled himself into the kitchen the next morning in search of Kit and a cup of much-needed coffee Hal wasn’t exactly predisposed to be either amenable or pleasant.
Nor was he easily going to forgive her for not accepting his invitation to spend the night with him—even though he’d reflected afterwards that it was probably a good thing that she hadn’t. After all, his romantic interludes had always been on his terms, not his lover’s, and that was the way he liked it. Certainly he had never invited any of his partners to spend the night with him before. It shouldn’t be any different with Kit—no matter how much he desired her. Nor should he behave as if it remotely disturbed him that she’d refused his invitation to stay the night. If she intuited that he needed her more than he let on then that would make him vulnerable, and that