by Miranda Lee
Richmond hesitated only briefly before taking his hand and shaking it. ‘Max Richmond,’ he replied. ‘So how is Amber? Are you sure her ankle’s broken?’
‘Not absolutely. But she can’t put any weight on it at all. I should find out for sure when I visit her at the hospital tonight.’
‘Let us know, will you? Tara’s quite worried about her.’
‘I’ll do that. And thank your wife again for me, will you?’
‘Sure thing. Bye,’ he said, a little more warmly than when he arrived.
Warwick watched Max jog off before carrying the bag inside the increasingly cold house. Cold and dark. Turning on the hall light, he closed the door and glanced up the stairs. Should he go up there and turn on the heating? Or should he just get out of here and find somewhere warm and comfortable to have a meal before going to the hospital to visit Amber?
Amber …
A bleak wave of guilt washed through Warwick as his mind returned to Amber. It was no wonder people held a bad opinion of him.
‘Shame on you,’ her aunt had said to him, only a few yards from where he was standing at this moment.
What would she have said if she’d seen the way he’d acted today? He deserved to be tarred and feathered for chasing after Amber like that. For making her afraid. For making her fall.
And now, because of him, she was in hospital, all alone.
There was no one in there with her, holding her hand. No one to reassure her that everything would be all right, no one at all.
Not that Amber wanted him in there holding her hand. He was good for nothing in her opinion. Which wasn’t totally true, Warwick thought a tad caustically. He was good for looking after her financially, if she’d let him.
By the time Warwick locked up and left the house for the drive into Gosford, he vowed to do everything in his power to persuade Amber to accept his help with her convalescence. Considering she’d been going to accept a five-million-dollar apartment, surely she’d accept a few measly thousand towards paying for a private nurse.
Warwick could not possibly have anticipated that fate would present another alternative for Amber’s convalescence, one that would tempt him anew, then test him to the nth degree …
CHAPTER TEN
WITHIN one minute of her mother having answered the phone, Amber was regretting making the call. She’d been feeling terribly low and a little frightened as she’d never been in hospital before, let alone been faced with an operation. On top of that, the evening’s visiting hours had begun, and Warwick hadn’t arrived. The other three patients in the ward, however, all had visitors, making her feel unloved and horribly alone.
It had seemed the natural thing to do to ring home and tell her parents about her broken ankle. When her mother sounded genuinely concerned and sympathetic, Amber even momentarily considered telling her that she’d split up with Warwick.
Till she realised what she would be setting herself up for.
‘I’ll be fine, Mum, honest,’ Amber said, squeezing her eyes shut in frustration. Why, oh, why hadn’t she foreseen how her mother might react to her news? ‘The doctor said the operation’s a very simple one. And that I’ll be out of hospital the day after tomorrow. There’s absolutely no need for you to drive all the way up here.’
‘But what about when you leave the hospital? How will you cope?’
‘I’ll be fine, Mum. Warwick will look after me.’
‘Hmph!’ Doreen snorted. ‘I know exactly what he’ll do. Hire some snooty nurse to stay home with you in that fancy apartment of his whilst he swans off, looking for mistress number twenty-five! No, no, my girl, you’ll be coming home here where you can be looked after properly.’
Full-on panic set in. She wasn’t going to go home, no way!
‘You are so wrong about Warwick, Mum,’ Amber defended in desperation. ‘He’s already offered to look after me personally. And not in his apartment. We’re going to be staying up here in Aunt Kate’s place.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ Doreen exclaimed. ‘That place has stairs—steep ones! You should know that since you fell down them today.’
‘I don’t need to go upstairs,’ Amber pointed out. ‘I can sleep in Aunt Kate’s bedroom. It has a bathroom attached, a TV and everything else I could possibly need.’
‘Oh, yes. I’d forgotten about that room,’ Doreen said grudgingly. ‘But what about meals? I can’t see Warwick Kincaid being able to cook.’
‘Of course he can cook. Warwick can do anything he sets his mind to,’ Amber added, sucking in sharply when she opened her eyes to find the man himself standing at the foot of her hospital bed with a frown on his handsome face.
Amber winced at the realisation that he must have overheard at least some of her outrageous lies. Still, she’d straighten everything out with him when she finally got off the phone. In the meantime she had to prevent her mother from driving up and seeing for herself that her relationship with Warwick was over.
‘What about your washing?’ Doreen kept on with relentless logic. ‘I’ll bet he’s never operated a washing machine in his life.’
‘One doesn’t have to be a genius to operate a washing machine, Mum.’
‘You don’t want my help,’ Doreen replied, sounding rather wan all of a sudden. ‘Do you? ‘
Now Amber felt guilty. ‘It’s not that, Mum. But I’m not a child any longer. I have to learn to cope with my own problems.’
Her mother sighed. ‘You will ask, if you ever need me, won’t you?’
‘Yes, yes, of course I will.’
‘It’s not that far to Wamberal, you know. I could drive up during the day and still be back by the time your father gets home from work.’
Which would be the extent of her help if I stay up here, Amber thought bitterly. No way would she offer to leave everyone down there and stay with me for the next few weeks. That would mean putting me first for once. Couldn’t do that, could you, Mum?
‘Must go, Mum,’ she said a bit abruptly. ‘Warwick’s just arrived.’
Another sigh wafted down the line.
‘I hope everything goes well tomorrow, dear,’ she said. ‘I … I’ll be in touch.’ And she hung up.
‘What was all that about my offering to look after you personally?’ Warwick asked immediately.
Amber didn’t see any point in lying. Clearly, he’d overheard everything.
‘Mum wants me to go home with her after the operation,’ she said with a weary sigh. ‘As you can imagine, I don’t want to, so I said you were going to look after me.’
‘Right down to doing all the cooking and washing?’ he said, sounding almost amused.
Amber shrugged. ‘Yes, well, she made some crack about you hiring a snooty nurse to stay with me in your fancy apartment whilst you … er … um …’ Amber broke off, suddenly realising that he couldn’t have overheard her mother’s part of the conversation. So there was no need for her to be that honest.
‘Whilst I what?’ he demanded to know in that uncompromising way he had at times.
Amber finally decided that honesty was probably best after all.
‘Whilst you were out looking for your next mistress,’ she told him bluntly.
‘Charming,’ Warwick bit out. ‘Absolutely charming.’
Amber found his condemnation of her mother’s words somewhat hypocritical. ‘You can’t blame her for thinking that.’
‘I don’t. But don’t blame me if I find everyone’s poor opinion of my character just a fraction irritating.’
‘Who’s everyone? ‘
‘Max Richmond, for starters.’
‘You met Max? How come?’
‘Only very briefly. I found his number in your aunt’s address book and rang to make some enquiries about private hospitals in this area. His wife answered and told me that they’d look after you just as well in this hospital. Not sure if I should have believed her,’ he said, glancing with disapproval around the rather crowded four-bed ward. ‘Are they looking after you? ‘
‘I have no complaints. The food isn’t so great but I’m not very hungry. Have you eaten?’
‘I had a meal of sorts at a club not far from here. The Leagues’ Club, I think it was called. I wasn’t all that hungry, either. I was too worried about you. So what did the tests show? Is your ankle broken?’
‘Yes, you were right. It’s well and truly broken. They’re going to operate first thing in the morning.’
‘And the doctor? What did you think of him?’
‘The nurses say he’s very good. A top specialist who moved up from Sydney not long ago.’
‘What’s his name? I’ll check him out.’
‘You’ll do no such thing,’ Amber said sternly. ‘Warwick, you have to stop this. I’m not your responsibility.’
‘That’s not the way I see it. I caused your accident, Amber. If it wasn’t for my chasing you up those stairs and frightening the life out of you, you would never have fallen.’
‘Please … I … I don’t want to talk about that any more. What’s done is done.’
Warwick hated seeing the vulnerability in her eyes, and the pain.
‘So when will you be getting out?’ he asked gently.
‘The day after tomorrow.’
‘Oh, I almost forgot,’ he said, and lifted a bag up onto the foot of the bed. ‘Tara Richmond sent some things for you. A couple of nighties and some toiletries. That’s how I actually met Max Richmond. He brought them to the house.’
‘That was very kind of her.’
‘She sounded like a nice lady.’
‘She is.’
‘They asked me to let them know how you were.’
‘Maybe I should give them a call,’ Amber said, and picked up her phone once more.
‘Can’t you do it later?’
‘No. No, I think I should do it now,’ she said. ‘I have their number in my phone. I was supposed to ring them anyway about seeing their solicitor. Something to do with Aunt Kate’s will.’
Max tried not to feel put out whilst Amber called the Richmonds. He wasn’t used to being less than number one with Amber. He certainly wasn’t used to her looking at him in the way she’d looked at him a moment ago—as if he was no longer a part of her life.
Which he wasn’t, of course.
Clearly it was Tara Richmond who answered Amber’s phone call. The two women made girl-talk whilst Max wandered over to stare through the window by Amber’s bed.
He wasn’t looking at the town below. He was thinking.
Finally, he turned from the window and returned to the bed, just as Amber finished her chat with Tara.
‘You didn’t tell Tara or Max that we’d broken up,’ she said straight away.
‘You didn’t tell your mother, either,’ he countered.
‘If I’d done that, she would have insisted I go home with her. This way, I can still be the boss of my own life.’
‘You won’t be able to manage on your own when you get out of hospital,’ Warwick told her. ‘I know that for a fact. You’ll need someone with you all the time till you’re properly healed.’
Amber hadn’t thought that far ahead. Till now …
‘I guess I’ll have to pay someone,’ she said.
‘Private nursing costs a small fortune, Amber. I know you said you had money but you won’t have much left in six weeks’ time.’
‘Six weeks!’
‘That’s how long it’s going to take to mend.’
‘I … I didn’t realise …’
‘Well, I do. So this is what I propose: I’ll do exactly what you told your mother I was going to do. Look after you up here at your aunt’s place till you get better. No, no, don’t say a single word till I’ve finished. Initially, I was going to offer to pay for a private nurse to stay with you, but just now I realised that, even if you agreed, your mother would eventually find out what was going on and you’d have to tolerate all sorts of recriminations and criticisms, which you do not deserve. I know you’re going to think I have a hidden agenda in making this amazingly generous offer. No doubt you’ll imagine I’m just waiting my chance to have my wicked way with you again. But I give you my solemn word that that isn’t the case. This is me doing what is right for once. This is me making amends for my totally selfish behaviour in the past. I want to look after you, Amber. Not as your lover but as a friend. There will be no sex. Then, when you’re totally better, we’ll part as friends. Not the way we parted today, in bitterness and anger. So what do you say? Will you trust me to do this for you?’
Amber just lay there, absolutely stunned. She found it difficult to know what to say. Because of course she wanted him to stay up here and look after her. It was a dream come true.
Though not quite. A dream come true would be his saying he was doing it because he loved her and could not bear to lose her. Amber knew that Warwick’s amazingly generous gesture was inspired not by love but by guilt.
‘I take it you’re not too thrilled with my offer?’ he asked.
‘I’m just … surprised, that’s all.’
Warwick’s smile was wry. ‘I can imagine. But you have only yourself to blame.’
‘Me?’
‘Yes. When I heard you telling your mother that I could do anything I set my mind to, I began thinking that maybe I could, even down to doing the cooking and washing. I admit it’s going to be a challenge. But I’m game if you are.’
Down deep, Amber knew that to agree to what Warwick was proposing was probably not a good idea. But she didn’t have the emotional—or the physical—strength to refuse. Today had been hell. Tomorrow didn’t promise to be any better. Then there was the reality of how would she cope on her own?
Not very well.
‘All right,’ she said somewhat wearily. ‘I accept your offer.’
‘That’s good. Now, before I forget, I need to know what you want me to collect for you from the apartment. I’m driving back down to Sydney tonight after I leave here. And before you tell me you don’t want anything, just remember that you will need something to wear. You can’t spend the next six weeks borrowing stuff from Tara. And you can hardly go shopping for more clothes just at the moment.’
Amber decided the time for excessive pride was not right now.
‘Okay. But I don’t want too much. Just some casual things, plus nightwear, undies and toiletries. Oh, and the towelling robe hanging on the back of the bathroom door.’
‘Will do. Look, perhaps I’d better get going. What time is your operation tomorrow?’
‘I’m one of the first in the morning. I can’t drink or eat anything after midnight.’
‘I’ll ring the hospital mid-morning to find out how things went and I’ll be back to see you after lunch. You should be ready to face visitors by then. You’re not allergic to anaesthetic or anything like that, are you?’
‘I … I don’t know,’ she said, a bit shakily. ‘Like I said, I’ve never had an operation before. I’ve always been disgustingly healthy.’
‘In that case you’ll be just fine,’ he said, and bent forward to give her a peck on the forehead. ‘Try to sleep, sweetheart. Oops. I mean, Amber.’ He smiled as he straightened. ‘Bad habits die hard. You might have to be patient with me. But I will do my level best to behave.’
‘And to keep your hands off,’ she reminded him.
He lifted his hands high into the air. ‘You already have my solemn oath.’
Amber rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, just go, for pity’s sake, before I change my mind and tell you not to come back.’
‘Methinks you won’t be doing that. Not unless you want to go home with Mummy Dearest.’
Amber grimaced. ‘Don’t remind me.’
‘I will, if you turn into one of those impossible patients who can never be pleased.’
‘Are you talking from experience here? ‘
‘I have to confess I was not the best patient in the world when my ankle was broken. I trust you will be much more … amenable. Now I really must go. I’ll s
ee you tomorrow.’
The moment Warwick disappeared from sight, Amber was besieged by doubts over her decision to accept his offer. What good could come of it? She wanted to get over the man, not fall even more in love with him. Which she might, if he showed her more of this noble side that he seemed to have suddenly acquired.
The only positive she could find about the prospect of living with Warwick as a friend rather than as a lover was maybe she would discover that, without the magic spell of his lovemaking, her so-called love for him would disappear like a puff of smoke. It was a vain hope but remotely possible. Sex had been a dominant part of their relationship up till now. It might have coloured her thinking. She’d read somewhere that it was common for young people to confuse lust and love. If that didn’t prove to be the case, and she remained hopelessly in love with him, then maybe being with her without sleeping with her would make Warwick see that there was more to her than just being his penthouse pet. Maybe he would finally fall in love with her.
Wow! She hadn’t thought of that.
For the first time since the accident Amber’s spirits lifted.
‘Now that’s much better,’ the ward nurse said when she came in to take Amber’s blood pressure.
Amber blinked up at her. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You’re almost smiling,’ the woman replied. ‘Must be because of that handsome fellow I saw by your bed just now. Is he your boyfriend?’
Amber almost told the truth, but decided a little white lie couldn’t hurt. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Yes, he is.’
‘Lucky girl.’
‘We’ve been living together for nearly a year,’ Amber found herself adding.
‘Even luckier.’
‘He’s English.’
The nurse laughed. ‘He’s a right hunk, that’s what he is.’
‘That too,’ Amber agreed, smiling.
‘I’d be hanging on to him, dear, if I were you.’
‘I intend to,’ Amber said, finally accepting it was worth the risk of more heartbreak to give her hopes and dreams of a future with Warwick one last chance.
But she had no idea, as she began actually looking forward to her convalescence, that there might be no hope of a future with Warwick Kincaid. No hope of anything but heartache and unhappiness.
