The Doctor's Diamond Proposal. Annie Claydon

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      The ghost of a smile flickered around his lips. ‘Lady Grey it is.’ He looked up at the waiter. ‘A pot for two, please.’

      ‘Sandwiches or cakes, sir?’ The waiter’s gaze turned to Alex as Leo deflected the question her way.

      ‘No, thank you. Not for me.’ Dealing with Leo was taking all of her concentration. She wasn’t sure she could manage cake crumbs as well.

      Leo was shuffling through the papers in front of him on the table. ‘Right. So your charity is called Together Our Way?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘No acronyms? Something a bit more snappy?’

      ‘No.’ Defiance bloomed suddenly in her chest. If they were going to do this, she was going to have to learn to stand up to Leo’s steamroller tactics. ‘We like to be referred to by our full name because it’s the way we do things.’

      ‘Yeah, I got that. And you’re...’ He caught a sheet from the pile which Alex recognised as her own CV. ‘A qualified physiotherapist, and you founded Together Our Way to help young people with disabilities participate in sport.’

      ‘Yes. I’ve brought some photographs with me that I think best show...’

      ‘Later, maybe. I’d like to ask a bit about how the charity’s run first.’ He didn’t even look at the pile of photos that Alex had pulled from her bag. ‘From what I can see here, you’re managing on a shoestring. You work three days a week as a physiotherapist and you don’t take a salary from the charity. And you just have one part-time paid employee, who called me back yesterday to arrange this meeting. From what Rhona says, she seems to be doing rather more than I’d normally expect from a part-timer.’

      ‘When people give us money, they want to see it spent on our core aims, not our running costs. We have an arrangement with Rhona that suits us both—she has family commitments and we give her very flexible working hours, and in return she’s very committed to us. And we have a network of very enthusiastic supporters.’ Alex had photographs of them as well, but she doubted that Leo would want to see them.

      He nodded. ‘And you have your own office?’

      ‘Yes. It’s a loft room. The law firm that owns the building wasn’t using it and they let us have it free of charge.’

      ‘That’s good of them. And what do you do for them in return?’ His eyes seemed to bore into her, both tempting and cajoling at the same time.

      ‘The senior partner’s son takes part in one of our training programmes.’

      ‘And this boy—he fulfils your standard criteria for this service?’

      Anger seized hold of her. Alex knew the exact position of the photograph in the pile, and she snatched it out, dropping it onto the table in front of Leo. ‘He was born without the lower part of both legs. Like most five-year-olds, he loves running and playing football. His name is Sam.’

      Leo glanced down at the photograph, his face suddenly softening. As he reached out to touch it with his fingertips, Alex saw the melting blue eyes of the young man she’d once met.

      ‘It looks as if Sam’s pretty good with that ball.’

      ‘He is. What he doesn’t have in speed, he makes up for with tactics.’

      ‘Well, I hope I’ll get a chance to see him play.’ It was just a glimpse of compassion—a brief acknowledgement that Leo really did understand what Together Our Way was all about. But it was enough to stop Alex from giving up on him completely and putting her involvement in this project up for review.

      And then the moment was gone. The tea arrived, and Leo took that as a cue to resume his questioning. The way the charity was run. Exactly what they spent their money on. How many volunteers they had, how they dealt with Health and Safety. He was nothing if not thorough and, although Alex struggled to keep up with him, he seemed content with her answers.

      ‘And now that I know all about you—’ his smile became melting again ‘—it brings me to the question of 2KZ’s planned involvement.’

      * * *

      Maybe he’d been a little hard on her. There was actually no maybe about it, but Alex hadn’t let him walk all over her and Leo respected that. And the delicious surprise of seeing her again...

      Had been shockingly tempered when he realised that she had been through so much in the last ten years. An accident, losing her leg. But she’d turned that around. And, out of respect for her, he’d concentrated on her achievements.

      If it had been anyone else, he would have allowed the personal to oil the wheels of the professional. But Alex clearly didn’t want to put their relationship on that level. She hadn’t called him back ten years ago. And even though she’d known it was him, she’d left it to her assistant to call him and arrange this meeting. Leo wasn’t prone to holding grudges, but that looked like a pretty definite expression of intent.

      He’d reacted like an iceman, shrinking from a flame. Ill-prepared, because of an emergency with one of the patients at his GP’s surgery, he’d asked the questions he needed to ask and kept his feelings to himself.

      And his feelings weren’t a part of this equation. If Together Our Way was slightly amateurish in its approach, its heart was quite definitely in the right place. It was an organisation that his show could make a big difference to, and Leo seldom turned down a challenge.

      ‘As I said, the spotlight we’re proposing is a little different from the one first offered.’ This was the sticking point. ‘The intention now is that I’ll be hosting a representative from Together Our Way as a guest on my medical phone-in show, once a week during the whole of February. I’m assuming that it will be you?’

      Panic flared in her eyes, and Leo felt another little piece of him melt in response. Clearly the idea that she’d be talking live on the radio hadn’t registered with Alex the first time he’d mentioned it.

      But she rallied beautifully. ‘Yes. It’ll be me.’

      ‘I’m trying to get some ten or fifteen minute slots on our Community Affairs programme in addition to that. That’ll involve me spending some time with you, and seeing your work first-hand. I assume you have no objections to that?’

      ‘We’d welcome it. What do you have in mind?’

      ‘I’ll be making reports, and probably writing a few articles for our website. And there’ll be an outside broadcast...’ He fell silent. He could see from her face that Alex had an issue with that, and he waited for her to put it into words.

      ‘Would you be happy to fit in with our way of doing things? Our first priority is the young people we serve, and if we needed to change that emphasis to accommodate you we’d have some difficulty.’

      She’d have no difficulty in changing; she just wasn’t prepared to do it. Good for her. ‘We’d be there to observe. Low-profile isn’t my usual approach, so I’ll be giving those muscles a little much-needed exercise.’

      Her pursed lips reminded him of a severe version of a kiss. ‘That’s part of what we do. Help exercise under-used muscles.’

      ‘We’ll СКАЧАТЬ