‘I’ve already called her,’ she told him. ‘She’s on her way over. I asked her who your emergency contact is but she wasn’t sure. Apparently she hasn’t been working for you for long.’
‘No. My regular PA has just had a baby.’
‘It’s not yours, is it?’ she quipped, then regretted it when she saw a look of panic flash across his face.
‘I’m just joking, Caleb. Sorry, that was tasteless of me considering your state of mind at the moment.’ She squeezed her eyes shut and wrinkled her nose. ‘I’m still a little shaken up after what just happened.’
But, instead of giving her a piece of his mind, he gave her a slow, wry smile instead, like the ones he used to give her back when they were friends. It was such an incredible sight and something she’d not seen for such a long time it stopped her in her tracks.
‘I’ll...er...go and find a doctor,’ she said hurriedly, swallowing down the lump that had formed in her throat.
Turning away, she strode out of the room on rather shaky legs, relieved to be able to get away from his befuddling presence for a moment so she could figure out how the heck she was going to handle this situation from this point on.
Just as she reached the nurses’ station Caleb’s PA hurried around the corner and, spotting her, gave a little wave of recognition.
‘Benita, thank you for coming,’ Elena said as the woman came to a breathless halt in front of her. ‘Caleb’s okay, but he’s banged his head and is having trouble remembering which friend to call to come and look after him. Has he mentioned anyone to you that he’s close to?’ she asked.
Benita shook her head, biting her lip and looking a little anxious. ‘I’ve only been working for him for a few days and he never talks about anything of a personal nature. I checked his computer and his work mobile—which he’d left on his desk,’ she added a little defensively, as if Elena might accuse her of snooping, ‘but there was no one obvious I should call.’ Turning away, she began rifling through her bag, her movements becoming increasingly desperate as she failed to locate what she was looking for. ‘Caramba! I forgot to put his phone in here.’
Elena put a steadying hand onto the woman’s arm. ‘It’s okay. He’s in no state to be using his phone right now anyway. In fact, it’s probably better if he doesn’t have it right away. Less stress.’
She nodded, though the expression in her eyes reflected her worry. ‘I’ll drop it round to his apartment later.’
‘I’m sure that would be fine,’ Elena said in an attempt to soothe the poor woman.
Sighing, Benita shook her head. ‘Carla would never have forgotten it.’
That gave Elena an idea. ‘Hey, would Carla know of a friend of his to contact?’ she asked hopefully.
Benita shook her head again. ‘I called her but she said the same thing. He never gave away much personal information about himself. He had a few girlfriends over the time she worked for him but she never met any of them and he’s not seeing anyone now, as far as she knows. He doesn’t have any family left either, now his mother’s passed away.’
Elena experienced a pang of sorrow on his behalf. She knew from their time at university that he’d always been a bit of a loner and that his mother had been his only family, not that they’d been particularly close. He’d been angry with her for continuing to have a long-term relationship with a married man. He didn’t know who his father was either; his mother had refused to tell him, saying he was just a man she’d met in a bar one night. Unfortunately for Caleb, that had been a well chewed over piece of gossip in the town where he’d grown up, which had followed him round like a bad smell.
It was really no wonder he was so keen to keep his private life private these days.
‘When did his mother pass away?’ she asked.
‘About six months ago, I think. Carla mentioned something about it because he’d actually taken some time off work for once to be with her in the hospice. It was cancer, apparently, that took her.’
The two women stood quietly for a moment, reflecting on this.
‘Well, I’d better get back to the office now I know he’s okay,’ Benita said suddenly, smiling, as if Elena’s presence there had released her from her own duties to Caleb. ‘I’ll let the other managers know what’s happened and that he won’t be in work for the rest of the week. Please tell him everything’s under control. I know he’ll worry otherwise.’
‘Don’t you want to go in and see him?’ Elena asked, a little shocked by the woman’s intention to withdraw without even saying hello to Caleb.
Benita shook her head, taking a step backwards. ‘No, no. Just tell him I hope he feels better soon.’
‘Well, perhaps someone else from work could come over and sort out who can look after him—’ Elena said rather desperately, but Benita was backing away now, clearly keen to get out of there and return to the sanctuary of a Caleb-free office.
‘I doubt anyone there will know any more than me,’ she said, giving one last tight smile, then turning and rushing away.
Sighing, Elena rubbed a hand over her face, her insides sinking with a mixture of sadness for Caleb at his apparent lack of close friendships and nerves about exactly what she’d got herself into here.
The sad fact was, it looked as though the only person available to take care of him right now was her.
As she thought about this a crazy idea began to form in her head and her stomach gave a nervous little flip. Maybe if she could show him she was happy to be here for him, and prepared to help in any way she could, it might go some way towards rebuilding their friendship—without the prejudice and anger he seemed to be holding on to from the past getting in the way—and help her reconnect with the man she knew was in there, hiding behind that hard shell she’d seen earlier. Otherwise, once his memory came back she might never have the opportunity to speak to him again, especially when he remembered why he’d been crossing that road, but if she could be a good friend to him now and prove how much she cared about him, perhaps he’d think twice before pushing her away again.
It was worth a try.
Anything was worth a try at this point.
But if she did stay to look after him there would be no more kissing, she told herself firmly, setting back her shoulders and heading towards the desk to ask the staff there to contact his doctor.
Definitely not.
CHAPTER THREE
THE MEMORY OF Elena’s captivating ice-blue eyes and her long slender legs with their dirty, scuffed up knees remained stubbornly imprinted in Caleb’s mind as he lay back in bed and waited impatiently for her to return.
Just friends, huh? What on earth had stopped him from pursuing more than friendship with her? He’d very much like to know that. He found her intensely attractive and she was clearly a smart, compassionate person—qualities he valued highly.
An English rose.
The phrase floated into his mind. Yes, that summed her up perfectly.
A moment later the door opened and she strode back into the room with a tall dark-haired woman following closely behind her.
‘Sorry I was away for so long; I bumped into your PA out there—she said to tell you she hopes you feel better soon and that she’s got everything under control at work so you can rest without worrying—and then it took me a while to locate your doctor.’ She gestured towards the woman she’d entered with.
‘Señor Araya,’ the doctor said, walking over to his bed and picking up the clipboard that hung at the end of it, ‘how are you feeling?’ She scanned the paperwork quickly before replacing the clipboard.
‘I feel fine,’ he said confidently. He didn’t want to give her any reason to keep him here unnecessarily. He was uncomfortable with being in hospital; it made him feel vulnerable and edgy for some reason. He’d be much better off in his own home with his things around him. May
be then his memory would come back.
The doctor pressed her lips together. ‘So it seems you have a cracked rib and a bump on your head, but apart from that you got off pretty lightly, considering you were hit by a motorbike travelling at speed.’
‘Can you speak English so Elena can understand?’ he snapped, riled by the doctor’s officious manner and not wanting Elena to feel ignored when she’d been good enough to stay and check on him. Unlike his PA.
‘Yes, of course,’ the doctor said, switching easily to English and giving Elena an indulgent smile before turning back to fix her scrutinising gaze on him again.
‘I’d like you to stay here tonight. Head injuries can be serious and I’d like to keep you under observation for a while longer to make sure you’re okay.’
The thought of staying here any longer filled him with a sinking dread. ‘No,’ he stated firmly. ‘I want to go home. Now.’
‘I don’t think that’s advisable—’ the doctor began, a concerned frown pinching her brow.
‘I feel fine. I don’t want to take up a bed unnecessarily when someone who’s really sick could use it. I’ll be okay at home,’ Caleb said gruffly. He wasn’t used to people telling him what he could and couldn’t do and it rankled.
‘I really don’t think—’
‘I don’t care what you think. I’m going home,’ he said, levering himself up and readying himself to swing his legs out of bed.
The only way he was staying here was if they called Security and tied him down.
The doctor sighed as if she’d seen this scenario before and knew there was no way to stop someone like this once they’d made up their mind.
‘I can’t prevent you from leaving, Señor Araya, but I must insist you don’t go home on your own,’ she said sternly. ‘You’ll need someone responsible there to keep an eye on you in case there are any after-effects from the head injury. The CAT scan we gave you didn’t show up anything worrying, but it’s better to be safe.’
Frustration rattled through him. He just wanted to be at home now, without people fussing over him any more.
‘I’ll be fine. I can call my GP if I start to feel ill,’ he bit out.
The doctor shook her head. ‘That’s not good enough. You need someone there with you full-time for the next forty-eight hours at least.’
Elena must have sensed his unease because she stepped forwards and said, ‘I can stay with him, at his home.’
The doctor studied her for a moment. ‘Are you his partner?’
There was an infinitesimal pause before Elena said, ‘Yes.’
He glanced at her in surprise but she didn’t turn to catch his eye, just kept her steady, confident gaze trained on the doctor.
The doctor nodded, seeming to decide that Elena was a sensible and trustworthy sort of person.
He could see why. She certainly gave that impression. Caleb really liked that about her. She was no-nonsense, just the kind of person he liked to have around. He couldn’t do with women who simpered and flapped about ineffectually. Having her at home with him for a short while would be fine by him. It might even give him more time to try and figure out the real state of their relationship. He was positive there had to be more to it than ‘just friends’, as she’d claimed.
Turning back to Caleb now and fixing him with a steely stare, the doctor asked, ‘Have you been sick since you woke up or had any dizziness? Any memory loss?’
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Elena stiffen and waited for her to tell the doctor about his elusive memory, preparing himself for a fight, but when he turned to look directly at her she just gazed back at him with those bright, intelligent eyes of hers, her mouth firmly shut. A strange kind of unspoken agreement seemed to pass between them and he realised she was letting him know that she was on his side.
She wasn’t going to give him up.
Well, that proved something at least; she must care about him if she was willing to twist the truth to help him get out of here. The thought warmed him.
‘No, I feel fine,’ he said, tearing his gaze away from her to look at the doctor again, feeling the weight of anxiety begin to lift from his chest.
The doctor nodded, apparently convinced that he was telling the truth. ‘Okay then, I’ll go and fill out the paperwork. You’ll need to come in next week for further tests though, Señor Araya, to make sure we haven’t missed anything.’
Caleb nodded but didn’t say anything. He’d deal with all that later. He just wanted to get out of here now.
‘I’ll let you get dressed then. Your clothes and personal effects will be in the cupboard at the side of your bed,’ the doctor said, moving towards the door. ‘You might need a bit of help getting dressed because of the pain in your rib. I can call a nurse if you like,’ she said, turning back with an expectant look on her face.
‘I don’t need a nurse,’ he said dismissively.
‘I can help him if he needs me to,’ Elena chimed in, throwing him a chiding look.
The doctor just nodded briskly.
‘Thank you, Doctor,’ Elena added, giving the woman a warm smile.
Once the doctor had left the room, Elena busied herself by pulling all his things out of the bedside cabinet and laying them out on the bed. Picking up his shirt, she looked at it with her nose wrinkled. ‘I’m afraid there’s some blood on this from where you cut your head.’
‘I don’t care about that. Pass it to me, will you,’ he said, reaching out for the clothing and wincing as his cracked rib made itself known.
She batted his hand away, frowning. ‘I’ll do it. If you can just sit up a bit more—’
Ignoring his huff of frustration, she put one hand carefully behind each shoulder and pulled gently, forcing him to sit up enough so she could slip the shirt around his back and hold it out for him to slide his arms into the sleeves.
Her hands had been cool and the sensation of her skin on his hot flesh lingered there while she leant in to do the buttons up for him.
Her nearness made him want to pull her in for another kiss but, despite his still rather woolly-headed state, he was aware that it would be a highly inappropriate thing to do.
He growled with irritation, hating how weak and vulnerable he must appear to her right now. ‘This is ridiculous. I’m not a child. I can do my own buttons up!’
A small smile lifted the corners of her mouth and she raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Stop being so proud and let me help. If you won’t let me take care of you I’m going to have to tell the doctor that I can’t go home with you after all and you’ll have to stay in the hospital with the nurses fussing around you instead.’
He let out a harrumphing noise, but let her do the rest of the buttons up. Despite feeling annoyed that she was using his injuries against him, he was impressed that she hadn’t been upset by his shortness and obviously wasn’t about to let it put her off coming home with him.
Most women would have let him have his way and backed off, but it seemed that Elena wasn’t most women.
He drew the line though when she tried to help him get out of bed and firmly batted her outstretched hand away as he swung his legs out. He pulled on his suit trousers over the boxers he was mercifully still wearing, managing after a moment or two of pained fumbling to pull the zip up and hook the fastener, then sat for a moment to catch his breath.
‘Is this your address?’ Elena asked as he slowly levered himself up off the bed, fighting back a wave of nausea as he stood up and felt a heavy weight of darkness pressing down on his head.
He must have moved too quickly.
Blinking hard to clear his vision, he stared at the driving licence she was holding up, which was sandwiched behind a clear plastic window in his wallet.
‘That’s it,’ he said, taking a long breath to steady himself.
‘O
kay, I’ll go and arrange for a taxi to take us home,’ she said, giving him a pointed glance that said, Take it easy until I get back.
He got the distinct feeling that this was only the beginning of his time being ordered around by this woman.
To his surprise, he found he didn’t entirely hate the idea.
* * *
The cab drew up in front of the building where Caleb lived and Elena swallowed hard, her stomach doing a slow somersault now they’d reached their destination.
It had been fine in the hospital while she was distracted by the practical aspects of getting Caleb home, but now they were finally here, and were going to be totally alone for the first time since the disastrous meeting this morning—where she’d had a worrying amount of trouble keeping her emotions under wraps—she was beginning to regret her rash promise to look after him for the next couple of days.
She was determined to follow it through though—because she owed him. If it hadn’t been for her he never would have had the accident in the first place.
The moment she’d sensed how determined he was to get out of hospital she’d made a snap decision. Not calling out his lie to the doctor about his memory being sound had almost been a step too far for her, but she’d told herself that if she stuck with him around the clock she’d be able to alert the doctors the moment he seemed to be even vaguely struggling. In the busy hospital he could have been left alone for long periods of time, but here in his house she’d be there to keep an eye on him every second of the day.
Unless he suddenly remembered that he hated her and sent her away, of course.
Her stomach did another sickening flip.
If that happened he’d be left alone in his apartment without anyone there to look out for him. And what if he passed out or fell and hurt himself once she’d gone?
She took a steadying breath then blew it out towards the sky, imagining it was her fears she was expelling as they exploded into a million pieces in her mind.
No. She wasn’t going to worry about that right now. Hopefully, if he did remember what had happened between them, the fact that she’d helped bail him out of hospital and offered to stick around to take care of him would at least make him pause before chucking her out. If she was really lucky, her presence here might even prove to him that she was genuinely sorry for what had happened in the past and that she was serious about wanting to make amends for hurting him.
The Unforgettable Spanish Tycoon Page 4
