Marriage By Arrangement. Sally Wentworth

very clever’

      She gave him a look but merely said, ‘What happened to the nurse?’

      ‘I had to let her go—for now. But I’m quite sure she’ll be back when Felicia realises how inadequate you are,’ he said nastily.

      Picking up the tray, Red gave a small smile as she carried it through to the sitting room, Linus following her closely.

      ‘Linus, I won’t have you bullying Red,’ Felicia said querulously. ‘Leave her alone.’

      ‘That’s OK; I’m tough enough to fight my own battles,’ Red said calmly.

      ‘Thick-skinned more like,’ Linus cut in as he sat in a chair near the ornate fire-surround.

      ‘Possibly,’ she admitted, putting just a dash of cream into a cup of coffee and handing it to Felicia.

      ‘You know how I like it,’ the older woman said in surprise.

      ‘I’ve watched you make it during my lessons.’

      ‘You’re very observant,’ Felicia said with gratitude.

      Red had brought three cups; she poured one for herself and then sat down. If Linus wanted one he could help himself; she wasn’t his servant. Recognising this small defiance for what it was, Linus gave a grim smile as he rose to pour himself a cup.

      For his mother’s sake, he controlled his anger, while Felicia chatted to Red, saying that they must make out a shopping list and let her students know that she wouldn’t be available for a couple of days.

      ‘You need to rest for longer than that,’ Linus cut in, adding, ‘Please, Mother, promise me that you’ll take at least a week off.’

      ‘Oh dear, if you call me Mother, you must be serious. I’ll see.’

      Linus looked as if he was about to argue, then closed his mouth firmly.

      Red got to her feet, putting her cup on the tray and taking Felicia’s from her. ‘Have you practised going up and down stairs with your crutches yet? Maybe it might be an idea to try now while Linus is here, so that he can supply some muscle if you need it.’

      ‘Catch me if I fall, you mean.’ Felicia smiled. ‘Yes, I suppose it might be an idea; they wheeled me out to the taxi in a wheelchair at the hospital. I felt perfectly ridiculous!’

      But she let Linus help her up from the chair and, though she tried to hide it, was obviously quite glad to have him there while she made her slow way up the stairs using only one crutch and the banister rail. Red followed with the other crutch and the small case that Felicia had brought home with her.

      ‘Where are all the rugs?’ Linus asked, glancing at the landing and then down at the hall.

      ‘I was afraid Felicia might trip on them so I moved them out of the way.’

      Linus’s eyebrows rose a little but he merely gave a brief nod.

      Climbing the stairs had exhausted her, and Felicia made only a token protest when Red said, ‘How about a rest till lunchtime?’

      She got to her room under her own steam but then was glad to let Red help her undress and get into bed. Red closed the curtains against the morning sunlight and went out, quietly closing the door behind her.

      Linus was pacing the hall downstairs. Turning, he walked into the kitchen so that their voices wouldn’t carry upstairs. ‘She’s worn out,’ he said roughly.

      ‘I’m not surprised, if you’ve been arguing with her all morning.’

      He gave her a glare, but said, ‘When she wouldn’t have the nurse I tried to get her to go into a convalescent home for a while, but she wouldn’t have that either. I know she’ll try and do too much too soon. I want you to call each of her students and tell them that she won’t be available for at least a couple of weeks.’

      ‘I already did.’

      ‘What?’

      ‘Well, I told them she wouldn’t be available for a week at least. I didn’t think she’d let me get away with two weeks.’

      A glint of surprised approval came into his grey eyes for a moment, but his voice was still curt when he said, ‘Have you any nursing experience?’

      ‘I haven’t had any training, if that’s what you mean. But I helped to look after my mother when she was ill.’

      ‘How long for?’

      She dug her fingers into her palms, not wanting to remember that terrible time when her mother had fought so hard against the cancer that had eventually killed her, and managed to say matter-of-factly, ‘Several months’