Sheltered by Her Top-Notch Boss Read online

  ‘I realise it must be difficult for him. I have to remind myself that he’s ill and I need to make allowances.’

  He laid the report down in the wire basket. ‘Let’s go to my office,’ he suggested.

  She went with him along the corridor to a room that looked out over a large quadrangle, decorated with tubs of colourful flowers, pretty fuchsias and scarlet geraniums.

  His office was furnished with a large, polished mahogany table and three comfortable leather-backed chairs, and on the walls were a couple of watercolour paintings showing peaceful country landscapes. It was a restful room, and Ellie imagined that patients and their relatives would soon begin to feel at their ease in here.

  James poured coffee from a machine at the side of the room and handed her a cup. ‘Help yourself to cream and sugar,’ he said. ‘It might be a good idea to eat something, too.’ He took a packet of biscuits down from a wall cupboard and tipped some of them out onto a plate. ‘Food might calm your nerves.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She didn’t feel like eating, but it was thoughtful of him to offer.

  ‘How are your parents these days?’ he asked, coming to sit down opposite her, and she had the feeling he was trying to divert her thoughts from the meeting ahead.

  ‘My father is working as an estate manager again,’ she told him. ‘It’s nowhere near as large as the Birchenall estate, but he seems happy there.’ She paused, swallowing her coffee. ‘I see him often—he comes over to the house for dinner with me and Noah and vice versa.’

  ‘And your mother?’ he prompted.

  ‘I haven’t seen her for some time,’ she murmured. ‘She went into a deep depression when we had to leave the lodge, but after a while she was admitted to hospital and had some treatment that seemed to help. Then, when she was back on her feet, she moved away from Cheshire to a small village in Wales. We didn’t have much contact with her after that. I don’t think she could handle the responsibility of a family.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’ He was quiet for a moment, deep in thought. ‘Perhaps that’s why you went off the rails for a while? It must have been really hard to bear when your mother left.’

  Her cheeks flushed with heat. ‘It was, though she gave Noah and me a choice. We could have gone with her, but she had never seemed to have our interests at heart. Whereas my father has always been a loving man, despite his problems, so we both decided to stay with him. It’s something I don’t like to think about too much. And I did behave badly afterwards, I admit. I rebelled against everything. Your father was quite right when he pointed it out.’

  Perhaps the biggest legacy of that time was her feeling that no one was to be trusted with her heart. It had been shattered by her mother, the one person who should have cared most of all, so how could she rely on anyone else to cherish her?

  And back then, filled with feelings of rejection and despair, she’d responded by running amok and getting into as much trouble as she possibly could.

  James gave a faint shrug. ‘My father didn’t look for reasons back then, and I don’t recall too many of the details. Like I said, I went away round about that time. Wasn’t it something to do with drink and wild stunts? Late-night partying and that sort of thing?’

  ‘Something like that,’ she murmured. She shuddered, thinking of a couple of times when her exploits had been featured in the local paper.

  He frowned. ‘It must have been difficult for you. I know something of what it’s like to lose a mother, but I had my father and Harriet to help me through the bad times. Does your mother still not keep in touch?’

  ‘No, not really. An occasional note and maybe a card at Christmas.’

  Just then there was a knock at the door and a nurse showed Amelia Holt into the room.

  She seemed tense, obviously uptight, and though Ellie stood up and went to greet her, Amelia didn’t make eye contact. Her black hair was cut in a tidy, layered bob, and she wore a dark blue suit with a jacket nipped in at the waist. She looked neat and businesslike.

  James did his best to put her at ease. ‘We’re here to try to understand the nature of your complaint and see what we can do to sort things out,’ he said, after inviting her to sit down and offering her a cup of coffee. ‘I’m hoping that we might be able to resolve the situation to everyone’s satisfaction.’

  They talked at length, but it soon became clear that Amelia was adamant in going ahead with her complaint. ‘I know that if more had been done for my aunt, she would be alive now. I accept that she was very ill but if Dr Saunders had acted sooner, things would have turned out very differently.’

  James frowned. ‘I’ve read through the medical notes that were made that day,’ he said, taking out Grace Holt’s file and skimming through its contents, ‘and I have to say I feel that Dr Saunders acted in the best interests of your aunt. She worked very quickly to diagnose the nature of the problem and then followed all the treatment protocols. I’m very sorry—we’re both sorry—that your aunt is no longer with us, but I don’t believe Dr Saunders could have done anything more to save her.’

  ‘I’m not satisfied,’ Amelia said, pressing her lips together. ‘I want to take this further. I want the matter to be dealt with by somebody who is completely independent.’

  ‘That is your prerogative, of course.’

  Ellie felt a wave of nausea rise in her stomach. This business could go on for months, and all that time she would be under a cloud. Would her colleagues begin to talk among themselves and start to ask what it was that she’d done wrong?

  ‘It’s what I want,’ Amelia insisted. She stood up, preparing to leave. ‘You’ll let me know when the next hearing is to take place?’

  James and Ellie stood up. ‘I will,’ James said. He showed Amelia to the door and she left without looking back.

  Ellie curled her fingers into a tight ball in her lap. Her one-time friend hadn’t once looked at her.

  James shut the door and came back to her. ‘Well, that could have gone better,’ he said in a rueful voice.

  Ellie nodded, but couldn’t bring herself to say anything just then. She bent her head as though that would shut out all that had just happened, and her chestnut curls momentarily fell across her cheeks and hid her face. She was glad James could not see her desperation. In the back of her mind she’d hoped that by talking things through with them Mel would come to see sense, but without a doubt that wasn’t going to happen, now or in the future.

  ‘I can see you’re upset,’ James said. He laid an arm around her shoulders, and she lifted her head, raising a shaky hand to brush the hair back from her cheeks. ‘I’m sure it’s not nearly as bad as it seems,’ he went on. ‘No one in the medical profession is going to decide in her favour. You did everything you could to save Mrs Holt.’ He gave her an encouraging smile. ‘Why don’t we go and have lunch and see if we can’t talk this through?’

  ‘Mel seemed so determined,’ she said quietly. ‘It seems hard to believe that we were once friends, that we went to school together. We used to confide in one another and she’d comfort me whenever I was in trouble.’

  ‘It’s the shock of losing a loved one.’ He reached for her hand. ‘Lunch?’ he said again.

  ‘I’d like that but I can’t,’ she said, suddenly remembering that she’d arranged to meet Lewis. She was disappointed. She wanted to go with James, so that they could spend some more time together. He seemed to understand her and was there for her, and that made her feel good inside.

  ‘I’m supposed to be meeting Lewis,’ she said, conscious of his hand engulfing hers. ‘He said he wants to hear how the meeting went, and I’m hoping he’ll be able to give me news about one of his patients...my neighbour. I’ve been really worried about her. She was admitted with pre-eclampsia and I think he might be doing a Caesarean soon.’

  James frowned. ‘Are you sure it’s wise for him to do that?’<
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  ‘A Caesarean?’

  ‘To discuss a patient’s details.’

  ‘Oh, I see.’ She shook her head. ‘It’ll be all right. He won’t tell me any confidential details.’

  He studied her, his expression brooding. ‘You see a lot of Lewis, don’t you? He seems to be a good friend.’

  She nodded. ‘He is. We’ve known each other for a long time.’ She studied him closely. ‘Is that a problem for you?’

  ‘I’m not sure. Do you think he might be getting a little too fond of you?’

  She stared at him. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, he seems to be very familiar with you.’ His gaze meshed with hers. ‘Perhaps you don’t notice it.’

  ‘No, I don’t. I haven’t.’ Her brows met in a worried line.

  ‘Hmm.’ He sounded as though he didn’t believe her. ‘You know his marriage is in trouble, don’t you?’

  Her mouth dropped open a little. There had been rumours, but she’d taken no notice of them. If Lewis had any problems, she was sure he would manage to sort them out somehow. ‘I imagine all couples have their ups and downs. You’re adding two and two together and making five.’

  ‘I don’t think so. I’m simply telling you what I see, and I’m asking you to steer clear of getting too deeply involved with him. He’s my cousin, and I care for him like a brother—I don’t want to see him get hurt. He’s vulnerable right now, and if you give him half a chance, he might do something he’ll come to regret.’

  She gave a small gasp, pulling her hand away from his as though she’d been scalded. ‘You’re warning me off? How can you say such things to me? Do you really think I would get involved with a married man?’

  ‘I was just offering some friendly advice,’ he said quietly. His eyes scanned her face. ‘I’m concerned about him. The grapevine is already buzzing with rumours about you and him being together—I wouldn’t want either of you to be hurt, that’s all.’

  There were rumours going around? She stiffened. ‘Thank you for your concern, but I’m quite capable of conducting my own relationships without any help from you—and so is Lewis. Whatever we do, it’s certainly no business of yours—cousin or no cousin.’

  She wrenched open the door and went out into the corridor. How could he even suggest that she was involved with Lewis in that way?

  She was still angry when she walked into the cafeteria a few minutes later, but she made a supreme effort to calm down as she picked up a tray and loaded it with various items of food. She’d been a fool to allow herself to be pulled into James’s web of charm. She might have known it would come back to hit her in the face.

  ‘Hi, Ellie.’ Lewis put his tray down on the table and came to sit opposite her. ‘I’ve had a really difficult morning. My placenta praevia patient had another bleed and I had to take her to Theatre straight away. It was either that or risk losing the baby.’

  ‘Phoebe? What happened?’ She was shocked. ‘Are they both all right?’

  He nodded. ‘Thankfully, yes. Phoebe needed a transfusion, but she seems to be rallying now. The baby’s fine. A bit of a concern to us at first, but he’s okay now.’

  She smiled. ‘That’s good to hear.’ She dipped a fork into her lasagne. ‘Is there any news on Lily? I don’t like to ask her too much when I visit, especially with Jayden listening in.’

  He grimaced. ‘I’d prefer it if I could say she was completely free of symptoms, but she still needs to be closely monitored for the usual things: blood pressure and protein in the urine. It’s still a tad too early for us to elect to deliver the baby, so we’re being very careful with her.’

  ‘She hasn’t had any more seizures, though?’

  ‘No. We have her on medication to try and prevent those.’

  She talked to Lewis for a while longer, and all the time she was asking herself if what James had said could possibly be true. Was Lewis being over-familiar with her? She couldn’t see any evidence of it, though, and made up her mind to dismiss it from her thoughts.

  ‘I should go,’ she said, glancing at her watch. ‘I’m due back in A and E.’

  Lewis smiled. ‘It wouldn’t do for you to be tardy and have your new boss put a black mark against your name, would it?’

  She gave a wry smile. It was a bit too late for her to worry about that, wasn’t it? James must have tacked her outburst onto the list of reasons why she was a difficult person to have on his team. He already had a number of items on that list! In the short time he’d been here he’d learned that a complaint had been made against her, she’d upset his father, and he’d discovered she was subject to quick bursts of temper.

  She didn’t see James for the rest of the afternoon. He and the senior house officer were dealing with a crush injury, leaving her to tend to a girl who had broken her ankle.

  She left for home at the end of her shift feeling weary and out of sorts, and when Noah rang just as she arrived home he picked up on her mood. ‘Are things not going well?’ he asked.

  ‘You could say that.’ She told him what had happened.

  ‘Do you think you might be reading too much into what he says? After all, you’ve a lot on your plate just now, what with looking after Jayden and the TV work, and so on—maybe you’re a bit stressed?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  They talked for a while longer, and when she finally cut the call she was at least reassured that his career was on the up and up. ‘I’m getting lots of commissions now,’ he’d told her. ‘The tide seems to have turned in my favour.’

  She set about her chores in the kitchen while Jayden sat at the table, happily sticking tissue and coloured paper shapes to small pieces of card.

  ‘Look what I did,’ he said, after a while. ‘It’s a card for Mummy.’

  ‘Let me see.’ She looked at the collection of white tissue-paper flowers he’d carefully stuck down onto a folded piece of blue card. ‘Well, that’s just lovely,’ she told him. ‘Shall we put a yellow middle on the flower?’

  He nodded eagerly. ‘She likes daisies,’ he said.

  ‘Good. I’m sure she’ll love it. You can give it to her when we go to the hospital next time.’

  ‘Yeah. I’ve putted lots of kisses, see?’

  ‘Oh, yes.’ She smiled. Half the page was filled with pencilled crosses.

  He finished off the card and a little while later she sent him to the bathroom to get ready for bed while she made him a drink of hot chocolate.

  ‘I’m not tired,’ he complained, as she tucked the bedcovers around him a few minutes later. ‘I don’t go to bed this early...ever.’ Again, there was that wide-eyed look of innocence that she was coming to recognise.

  ‘Well, you don’t have to go to sleep. We’ll just look at the storybook together for a while, shall we?’ And as usual he fell asleep within minutes.

  Leaving his door slightly ajar, she went quietly downstairs and started to tidy up.

  The doorbell sounded as she finished washing dishes and she went to answer it, wondering who would be calling on her at this time of the evening.

  ‘I hope you don’t mind?’ James said, giving her a quizzical look. ‘I’ve just finished work at the hospital and was passing by on my way home. I thought it might be good if we could talk.’

  She opened the door for him to enter. ‘You’d better come in.’

  She showed him into the sitting room. ‘Have a seat,’ she said, whisking a couple of toy cars from the settee and waving him to the space she’d cleared.

  James glanced around the homely room and then sat down. ‘I suppose Jayden must be in bed by now?’

  She nodded. ‘He always complains that he has to go to bed too early, and yet he’s asleep within minutes every time.’ All the time she was talking she was busy scooping up magazines and a newspaper, which she dropped carefully
into a wooden rack.

  ‘I guess you have your hands full, with work at the hospital, your TV programmes and looking after a child, as well.’ James watched her as she moved around the room. ‘You do all this on your own?’

  ‘I’m sure lots of women do it all the time.’ She picked up a cushion and plumped it up just so that she could keep busy...anything rather than sit down and talk to him face to face.

  ‘I expect so.’ He hesitated, and then asked, ‘Might I ask—is his father around?’

  ‘He’s in Switzerland, sorting out some major problems with his business—financial troubles and difficulties with the workforce, that sort of thing. He’s managed to get back a few times over the last couple of weeks.’

  ‘Oh, I see.’

  ‘I don’t think you do.’ She stopped tidying up and came to sit opposite him, in one of the armchairs. ‘Jayden is my neighbour’s little boy. She’s in hospital, suffering from pre-eclampsia.’

  ‘Ah.’ He gave a rueful smile. ‘I had it all wrong. That will teach me not to jump to conclusions.’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘How’s it going with the boy? Are you coping all right?’

  ‘I’m not sure. I think so—he seems happy enough, though he’s upset about his mother having a baby. He thinks she should give it away.’

  He laughed. ‘Well, that’s not good.’

  ‘No.’ She was silent for a moment then said, ‘Actually, I’ve been racking my brains for a way around the problem. I don’t like to see him upset, and his mother has enough to contend with right now.’

  ‘Hmm.’ He thought for a while. ‘I suppose there must be storybooks about children having to face up to a new child in the family. There must be one out there that will help him see the situation in a new light.’

  She exhaled as though a small weight had been lifted from her. ‘You’re right. Why didn’t I think of that? I’ll go along to the bookshop and see if I can find one or two.’ She sent him a quick glance, beginning to feel a little better about having him there.