‘I thought we’d agreed you could call me Hal?’
‘Do you mind if I call you Henry instead? Only using your friends’ name for you sounds a little too over-familiar.’
Seeing the lightly mocking glint in his sister’s eyes, Hal inwardly squirmed. No doubt his clever sister was thinking he’d met his match in the redoubtable Kit Blessington. But he would make it his mission to prove her wrong...see if he didn’t!
‘Well.’ Sam leant down and dropped an affectionate peck on his cheek. ‘I’ll be off now. I’ll leave you to the tender ministrations of Ms Blessington.’ Her mouth curved into a satisfied and humorous grin.
‘I’m not looking for her ministrations to be “tender”,’ he snapped. ‘A decent level of competence will be enough.’
‘A typical Hal response,’ his sister remarked cheerily, winking at the other woman as she transported a mug of fresh coffee over to her brother. ‘By the way, Kit, if you need me for anything...anything at all...you’ll find my phone numbers on the noticeboard in Hal’s study. You’ll find that just to the side of a poster of the latest scantily clad supermodel. Look after him for me, won’t you?’
‘Of course.’
Unable to suppress a grin at his sister’s amusing parting shot, Hal murmured, ‘Bye, sis. Go easy with those wounded patients of yours, won’t you?’
‘What a lovely woman,’ Kit remarked when Sam had departed.
‘She is.’ As he tunnelled his long fingers through hair that hadn’t seen a comb for more days than he cared to mention, Hal’s smile was unrestrained. ‘I agree. She’s certainly one in a million.’
Momentarily dazzled by the twinkling hazel eyes and curved masculine mouth before her, Kit shrugged off her heavy jacket and arranged it on the back of one of the shaker-style dining chairs positioned around the table. Then she curled a stray strand of copper hair round her ear and in a brisk but friendly tone asked, ‘Shall I help you get to grips with your walking aids now? We’ve got some spare time for you to practise before we leave for the hospital.’
Even though his smile had all but made her catch her breath she hadn’t missed the fact that her employer’s skin looked almost grey with tiredness, and her heart couldn’t help but go out to him. More importantly, she reminded herself, she was there to do a job and help ease his burden and she was anxious to make a start.
‘Wouldn’t you like to take your luggage to your room first and unpack?’
Touched by his unexpected thoughtfulness, Kit shook her head.
‘I can do that later. I’d rather help you first.’
Underneath what she guessed was a complexion that was far paler than usual, Hal flushed visibly.
‘Crutches it is, then. You do realise you’re going to have to let me lean on you a little while I get my balance?’
‘That won’t be a problem. I assure you that I’m much stronger than I look.’
‘Why did I know you’d say that?’
For a second time Henry Treverne’s devastating smile came very close to turning Kit’s knees to water. She fervently reminded herself to be on her guard round that killer smile. It would be extremely foolish to trust it. Once before she’d been beguiled by the smile of a handsome man and against her better judgement, had fallen into a brief affair with him. When the man in question had turned out to be married, Kit had been devastated. Not just because he had lied to her about being free, but because it had struck at the very core of her ability to trust herself. There’d been no excuse. After seeing what her mother had gone through with mendacious faithless men she ought to have known better. One thing was certain: she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice...
Assuming the best ‘head girl’ tone she could muster, she said firmly to Hal, ‘Well, I suppose we’d better get on with it, then.’
* * *
There was no disputing her new employer’s indomitable spirit, Kit mused as, with her help, Henry carefully lowered himself onto a comfortable padded seat in the plush waiting room. But neither had it been hard to detect his frustration at not being able to master the use of his walking aids as smoothly and as effortlessly as he might have wished. Once again the sweat that had broken out on his brow had illustrated the effort it had taken him to get this far. They’d only walked the short distance from the car park, but it had clearly been a struggle for Hal. It made her even more determined to help him achieve the goal of being confident with the aids.
Leaning towards him, Kit freed his hands from holding the crutches and carefully leaned them against the wall behind him.
‘You’d better go and tell the receptionist that I’m here.’
The sudden command sounded like a snarl of anger and resentment—a bit like a wounded animal. But she wasn’t about to take Hal’s surly mood personally. In her time working for the agency she’d encountered several ‘tricky’ customers and had soon learned how best to handle them. People were dealing with all kinds of challenges. Not just physical and mental ones, but also more commonplace dilemmas, like bereavement and loneliness and sometimes the heartache caused by a failed relationship.
Even though her mother had tested her patience to the nth degree, Kit was a naturally compassionate person, and it helped her more easily cope with the frayed tempers and impatience of some of the clients she cared for and not let their volatile reactions undermine her.
‘Okay, I’ll go and get you booked in. Do you have a patient card or a letter with your hospital number on?’
Hal sucked in a breath and blew it out again, as if even more exasperated. His eyes glinted, warning her that his temper was hanging by the slimmest of threads.
‘Why? Do you think they don’t know who I am?’ he snapped.
Mentally taking a deep breath of her own, Kit said calmly, ‘I’m sure the Queen herself has a patient number, and everybody knows who she is.’
‘Never mind the backchat, Ms Blessington. Just go and tell them I’m here, will you?’
Had she imagined it or had that handsome carved mouth of his twitched ever so slightly with amusement? Acutely aware of the pretty young receptionist, who was gazing across the room at Hal as though he were some sublime visitation from heaven, Kit went to the desk.
‘I’m here with Mr Henry Treverne. He has a ten o’clock appointment with his consultant Mr Shadik.’
Reluctantly withdrawing her gaze from Hal, the girl answered, ‘I’ll let him know that Mr Treverne is here right away.’
‘Thank you.’
Returning to sit beside her brooding charge, Kit proffered what she hoped was a reassuring smile. ‘Hopefully you won’t have too long to wait.’
His dark eyebrows beetling together, Hal growled, ‘However long the wait, it’s far too long for my liking.’
‘Don’t you want help to get better?’
When he turned his head towards her she was treated to the full force of his powerful gaze.
‘You may have noticed that asking for help and accepting it is not something that comes naturally to me.’
‘Then perhaps when you’re back to full strength again it might be something you could start to cultivate?’
‘Yeah—and my father might train to climb Mount Everest!’
‘I take it he’s not a keen climber like you are, then?’
‘The