Single Dad In Her Stocking. Alison Roberts

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      The HOD of the Royal’s emergency department was making his own apartment available for his locum?

      And the HOD was Max Cunningham?

      Emma was still getting her head around both of these startling pieces of information as she followed him out of the emergency department via the automatic doors that led to the ambulance bay.

      It would probably be a swanky penthouse apartment, she decided. Very modern and luxurious and not at all to her taste but perfect for a brief stay. Unless...oh, help...could there be something really tacky like mirrors on the bedroom ceiling?

      Everybody had known what Max Cunningham was like back in the day of their junior rotations. Not that that stopped women from joining the queue. And why not? Max was drop-dead gorgeous, totally charming and knew how to make any woman feel special. He’d had a catchphrase, hadn’t he?

      Oh, yeah... Emma bit back a smile as they turned out from the hospital grounds and waited for a set of traffic lights to change so that they could cross the busy main road. She remembered it now.

       We’re here for a good time, not a long time...

      Playboys had never been remotely Emma’s type but she had understood the attraction. Felt it herself, in fact, even though she wouldn’t have touched him with a bargepole as far as a relationship went. The man had actually kissed her once, at that Christmas party and...and...good grief... How was it possible to remember a moment like that with such astonishing detail after so many years? She could feel her toes trying to curl themselves up inside her shoes so it was a relief to start walking swiftly across the road. She certainly wasn’t going to start wondering if the toe-curling was due to embarrassment or the intense desire that kiss had generated. There were decorations overhead, she noticed, trying to distract herself further by looking up. Long strings of icicle lights that would look very pretty at night.

      ‘Five minutes’ walk, that’s all,’ Max was saying. ‘And the place should be perfectly clean. My housekeeper went in a few days ago and gave it a thorough going-over and changed the linen and so on. I’ll make sure you have her number as well, in case you need anything else.’

      ‘That’s great. Thank you very much. I usually end up in a hotel or something when I’m doing a short locum like this.’

      ‘We did think of that, but a quick check told us that there was nothing available. For some reason, Cheltenham seems like a very popular destination for the festive season.’

      ‘No room at the inns, then?’ Emma caught Max’s sideways glance. ‘Quite appropriate, really.’

      His smile hadn’t changed at all. Or the way the corners of his eyes crinkled to make his appreciation appear completely genuine. Ten years had given him a few grey hairs and deepened those lines a bit but, if anything, they had just made Max even more attractive.

      ‘Here we are...’ Max keyed a code into the front door of a very modern building and led the way to an elevator. He pushed a button that wasn’t the top floor.

      ‘Not the penthouse?’ Emma murmured. ‘You surprise me, Max.’

      He shook his head. ‘Was I really that much of a plonker in those days?’

      ‘Not at all. From what I remember you were a brilliant doctor. You just had a reputation for playing as hard as you worked, I guess.’

      ‘Those days are over.’ He didn’t sound too happy about that, Emma thought, but he wasn’t about to tell her why. ‘The penthouse here is very nice, I believe,’ he added. ‘But it’s empty most of the time. The guy who owns it is something high up in a bank and has to travel a lot.’

      Emma followed him out of the elevator. She watched as he unlocked the door but then her gaze dropped.

      ‘What’s that?’

      ‘What?’

      ‘All that water.’

      The carpet outside the door was soaked. As Max lifted his foot, his shoe was dripping. ‘Oh, no...’ He pushed the door open and stepped in. The tiled entranceway to his apartment shimmered like a small lake. ‘Stay there,’ he warned Emma. ‘This doesn’t look good.’

      But she followed him in, looking over his shoulder as he checked a bathroom to see whether taps had been left on. There was a bedroom that had water dripping from the bulb in the ceiling light.

      ‘It’s coming from upstairs,’ Max muttered. ‘A burst pipe, perhaps...’ He sighed. ‘I’ve been staying with my father for the last few days or I might have noticed this happening soon enough to prevent this much damage.’

      So that was the family crisis? His father being ill? He certainly didn’t need this complication on top of other worries. Emma felt very sorry for Max but it was very clear that she wasn’t going to be able to stay here. It was the main living room that was the real disaster. Enough water had seeped into the ceiling to make the plasterwork too heavy. Large sections had fallen to cover the couches and a glass-topped coffee table.

      To give him credit, Max was very calm as he took control of the situation. ‘I’ll have to call the building manager,’ he said. ‘Give me a minute.’

      As soon as he’d made the call, he turned back to Emma. ‘You can’t stay here, obviously,’ he said. ‘We’ll find a hotel nearby—there’ll probably be somewhere we overlooked before. I’ll pay for it.’ He was focused on his phone again. ‘Let’s just see what’s available on one of those comparison sites.’

      Emma had taken out her own phone. A minute or two of silence and then they both looked up.

      ‘Not looking good, is it?’ Emma said. ‘As soon as I put the dates in there’s no availability at all.’

      ‘There’ll be something.’ Max was obviously trying to sound reassuring. ‘We might have to look a bit further afield, that’s all.’ He hesitated, glancing at his watch. ‘That could take a bit of time but don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you in the lurch. You can come with me for the moment. As I said, the place I’m staying is only twenty minutes away so, even if we can’t find you a suitable hotel room tonight, it won’t be a difficult commute tomorrow morning unless the weather turns nasty.’

      ‘I’ve got chains,’ she told him. ‘But...this is your father’s house you’re talking about, yes?’ A hotel room would be preferable. Perhaps Emma should just stay in town and keep trying to find something.

      ‘He’ll be just as concerned as I am that my locum is well looked after,’ Max said. ‘It’s a big house and there’s more than enough room СКАЧАТЬ