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СКАЧАТЬ pooh,’ declared Celine, and tossed her lovely head. ‘He’s just the same as any other doctor.’

      ‘Now there you’re wrong,’ declared Angela. ‘But it’s no good telling you that now, is it?’

      Celine muttered under her breath; Angela had known her all her life and sometimes forgot that she wasn’t a little girl any more. ‘I’m going to sound the gong,’ she told her companion, and marched into the hall.

      Mrs Seymour and Nicky were halfway through their meal before Dr Seymour joined them. Beyond a brief apology to both them and Celine, he gave no reason for his tardiness. She put a plate of chilled watercress soup before him with exaggerated care and served his companions with early strawberries and cream. In the kitchen she said snappily to Angela: ‘Serve that man right if I dished up his omelette now—it’d be nice and leathery by the time he’s ready for it.’

      ‘Miss Celine, I’m surprised at you—whatever next! Such a nice man, and so considerate too.’

      Celine tossed her head and snorted delicately. ‘Stuff and nonsense,’ she said crossly.

      She stayed cross for the rest of the day, for she had no time to herself at all. Several times on her way to the kitchen garden, or racing round the house, she had glimpses of Nicky stretched out on the lawn in front of the house, but there was no chance to talk to him. She served tea on the grass under the trees and took a tray up to Nurse Stevens, then went to join her parents in the sitting-room for half an hour.

      Her father glanced up as she went in. ‘Busy?’ he asked without really wanting to know. ‘I hear from Dr Seymour that Mr Seymour may be leaving us in a day or two.’ He smiled at her vaguely, one finger marking the place in the book he was reading. ‘Has any one else arrived?’

      ‘I hope not,’ said Celine, wolfing bread and butter, ‘I’ve got my hands full.’

      Her mother gave her a gently reproachful glance. ‘But, darling, you persuaded us to do this bed and breakfast thing—are you bored with it?’

      ‘I haven’t had time, Mother dear. I’ll be much easier when we just get people for a night or so…I mean, there’s Mr Seymour and the nurse…it makes it a bit busier.’

      ‘Yes, darling, I’m sure it does. All those extra rooms I have to put flowers in. But the money is most useful.’

      Her father lowered his book. ‘I must say Dr Seymour is a very fair-minded man—insists on paying the full amount for his uncle even though he is only on a fluid diet and costs us almost nothing to feed.’

      For some reason Celine felt annoyed. She felt despondent too; if Mr Seymour went, Nicky would go too and she wouldn’t see him again. She finished her tea and took the tray back to the kitchen, and while Angela and Barney had a couple of hours off, got started on the evening’s menu.

      It was much later, when she was wearily clearing the last of the dishes away and tidying the kitchen for the night, that Nicky joined her.

      ‘So this is where you hide out,’ he said, and laughed as he tucked an arm in hers. ‘No, put those plates down, I haven’t talked to you for hours.’

      ‘This morning…’ she laughed up at him from a tired face. ‘And I’m not on holiday!’

      He bent and kissed her lightly on the cheek. ‘Ah—and that’s what we must put right. I have to go to Bournemouth in a couple of weeks’ time—only for a few days, but we could have a couple of nights out—surely you can take a day or so off when you want to?’

      Celine was puzzled. ‘Well, I suppose so, but it would be awkward, Nicky—I mean, there’s no one to take over—I’m not indispensable, but I am a pair of hands. And—and…where would I stay?’

      ‘Oh, at the hotel, of course,’ he said easily. ‘I always go to the Royal Bath.’ He added softly: ‘We have to get to know each other, my sweet.’

      ‘Why?’

      He raised his brows and smiled slowly. ‘Don’t tell me you don’t feel entirely the same as I do about you. Love at first sight, you know.’

      She was breathless. ‘Oh, yes, Nicky—I never thought it was true, but it is, isn’t it? Only I can’t…’ She paused. ‘Would you wait for a while, just while I get this business going, and when it’s running smoothly, I could get someone to take over…’

      ‘No need for a couple of days, surely?’

      Celine felt her cheeks flame. ‘Oh, I thought you meant getting married.’

      It sounded so gauche, the kind of remark the heroine might make in a second-rate film, but that was exactly what she had thought.

      The arm around her shoulders tightened reassuringly. ‘My sweet, that is what I meant. Of course I’ll wait—but I do think we should see as much as we can of each other until you’re free.’

      Celine drew a deep breath, and the small doubt lying somewhere at the bottom of her excitement disappeared. ‘I’ll see what I can do. When are you leaving?’

      He shrugged. ‘Lord knows—or at least, my interfering cousin does; when he feels like it, I suppose he’ll tell us.’

      ‘Has he always been like that?’

      ‘Always. There’s not much love lost between us, but there’s no need for you to see him once he’s left here. He’s always wrapped up in his precious practice and some clinic or other he runs.’ He threw her a sidelong glance. ‘Dislikes girls, too—had some miserable affair when he was young and has no time for women, or so he says.’

      ‘Oh—he’s always been very polite…’

      ‘Well, of course—doctors always are; they cultivate a kind of veneer which doesn’t mean a thing. Don’t let’s waste time talking about him…’

      Nicky broke off as the door opened and Nurse Stevens came in. She said without preamble: ‘Dr Seymour asked me to come down and get some fresh lemonade. Will you do it, Miss Baylis?’

      Celine had pulled away from Nick, her cheeks pink. There was no reason why she should feel guilty, after all, it was her home and she was doing nothing wrong. Nurse Stevens was tiresome. She said shortly: ‘I’ll make a jug and bring it up, Nurse.’

      She noticed that Nurse Stevens looked tired and every day of her age. It was a pity, and Dr Grady couldn’t get a night nurse. She asked: ‘Have you had very disturbed nights?’

      ‘Yes, they have been rather broken, but there wasn’t a nurse available and Mrs Seymour isn’t strong enough to stay awake at night.’ She cast a look at Nick, lounging in a Windsor chair by the Aga. ‘But Dr Seymour has kindly offered to stay up tonight so that I can have a proper sleep.’ She pulled out one of the chairs at the table. ‘I’ll wait for the lemonade.’

      Long before Celine had it ready, Nicky had given up and gone sulkily away, and later, when Nurse Stevens had gone too and Celine had finished tidying up the kitchen, there was no sign of him. She went to say goodnight to her parents and then tiredly to bed.

      Two days later, Mr Seymour was judged recovered enough to make the journey home by ambulance, and in those two days СКАЧАТЬ