Bargaining With The Boss (Harlequin Romance)

by George, Catherine

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ELERI parked her car in Chester Gardens at fifteen minutes past seven the following evening, frowning as she got out. James’s Discovery was parked in the drive alongside the building, but there were no other cars around. Surely she wasn’t the first to arrive? She drew the collar of her coat closer against the cold and rang the bell. She waited, then rang the bell again, seized with sudden doubt. Could she have mistaken the date? She was on the point of leaving when the door opened and she stared in horror at the sight of James in a dressing gown, red-eyed and shivering, his face deathly pale.

  ‘Eleri?’ he croaked, astonished. ‘Didn’t you get my message?’

  ‘James! You look terrible.’ She eyed him in consternation. ‘What’s this about a message?’

  He beckoned her in, closing the door behind her. ‘I woke up with a temperature this morning, so I rang round to cancel. I’ve got flu or something.’

  There’s nothing quite so embarrassing, thought Eleri, as arriving dressed to kill for a cancelled party. ‘Get back to bed,’ she said decisively. ‘I’m sorry about this. When you rang me who took the message?’

  ‘Someone young and male.’

  ‘Nico—I’ll kill him!’ Eleri looked at James searchingly. ‘Have you taken anything?’

  He shook his head, swaying on his feet. ‘Couldn’t find anything to take.’

  Eleri sighed. ‘James, where’s your bedroom?’

  ‘Downstairs,’ he said, shivering convulsively. ‘And I’d better get back there. Sorry about this, Eleri.’

  She hesitated for a moment, then seized his arm. ‘Come on, I think I’d better see you safely back to bed.’

  To her surprise, James made only a token protest as she accompanied him down the stairs. Eleri’s concern deepened as the feverish heat from his body penetrated right through the heavy wool of her coat. He waved a hand towards a door which opened into a large, lamplit room, and she steered James towards a vast, velvet armchair and pushed him down into it, then turned her attention to the tangled chaos of the bed.

  ‘Where do you keep your bedlinen?’ she asked, and he stared at her uncomprehendingly. ‘James,’ she said patiently, ‘your bed’s like a rats’ nest. So tell me where you keep your sheets, then have a hot shower while I change your bed. You’ll feel better afterwards.’

  ‘I can’t possibly let you do this!’ he protested hoarsely.

  ‘No “letting” about it,’ she said inexorably. ‘Come on—don’t argue.’

  His eyes lit with a fleeting gleam of amusement. ‘Shrew!’ He broke off to cough, waving an arm towards the door. ‘Airing cupboard—hall,’ he wheezed.

  Eleri stood over him while he dragged himself out of the chair and made his way unsteadily towards a door in the corner of the room. Outside in the small passageway, after opening a couple of wrong doors, she found an airing cupboard with neatly stacked Egyptian cotton sheets, spare blankets and, best of all, a quilt.

  This wasn’t how she’d anticipated spending the evening, she thought wryly as she stripped James’s bed. She remade it with crisp, fresh sheets, added an extra blanket and the quilt, plumped up the newly covered pillows, then gathered up the discarded linen and took it out into the hall to dispose of later. When she went back into James’s room he was leaning in his bathroom doorway, shivering.

  ‘I’m cold. I think I’d better wear pyjamas,’ he croaked through chattering teeth.

  ‘Where are they?’

  ‘In the chest. Third or fourth drawer down. Haven’t seen them for a while.’ He tried to smile, and Eleri wondered if she ought to call a doctor. She found the pyjamas, handed them to him, then told him to get himself to bed while she made him a hot drink.

  ‘Have you had anything to eat today?’ she asked, and he shook his head.

  ‘Not hungry.’

  Eleri went upstairs to the kitchen to find that James, unlike Toby, was obviously in the habit of catering for himself. He had plentiful supplies of basic necessities in the refrigerator, and a large pottery bowl on the kitchen table was piled high with fruit, including, she saw with satisfaction, some limes and lemons—ready, presumably, for the drinks at the cancelled party. When a brief search through well-stocked cupboards yielded up a can of beef consommé, Eleri decanted it into a large china beaker and put it in James’s microwave. While it was heating she went along the hall to a sitting room where, as she’d anticipated, she found a table with a tray of decanters and bottles. Eleri took a swift, covetous look at deep, comfortable chairs and heavy, striped linen curtains, sighing as she eyed a vivid seascape over the fireplace. Yet another flat she’d give her eye-teeth for.

  Back in the kitchen, she made a pot of tea, toasted a slice of wholemeal bread and buttered it sparsely, doctored the soup with a generous helping of sherry, found a large bottle of mineral water and put everything on a tray to take down to James.

  He was propped up in bed, pale, hollow-eyed, and obviously feeling wretched. ‘Eleri,’ he rasped in consternation, as she set the tray down on a table beside him, ‘You shouldn’t have done all this. A damn nuisance you never got my message.’

  ‘Perhaps it’s just as well. At least it means I’ve been able to sort you out a bit.’ She thrust extra pillows behind him. ‘There, sit up a little and drink this soup. The fever’s depressing your appetite, but you need liquid. Try to eat some toast, though. And could I have your. front door key, please? I need to pop out to get some medication for you.’

  He eyed her blankly. ‘Medication?’ He breathed in sharply, then began to cough, and Eleri dived to relieve him of the tray until the spasm was over.

  ‘I’d better leave this on the table. I don’t know where you keep your napkins, so I just brought you some kitchen paper. And don’t forget to drink your tea.’

  ‘Lord, you’re bossy,’ he wheezed.

  ‘Efficient, not bossy! Shan’t be long.’

  ‘Keys on the dressing table,’ he said, and drank some of the soup, then smiled. ‘This is good.’

  ‘Drink all of it,’ she ordered. ‘I’ll be about fifteen minutes.’

  James looked at her as though he were seeing her for the first time. ‘Great dress, Eleri.’

  ‘A bit inappropriate in the circumstances,’ she said dryly.

  Eleri drove back home, relieved to find it still deserted, then collected whatever she could find by way of flu remedies. Armed with painkillers and decongestant capsules, she collected a large box of tissues from her bedroom, then drove back to Chester Gardens, smiling to herself as she unlocked James’s door. Camilla Tennent would probably be mad as fire if she knew someone else was ministering to him. Not that Eleri could picture the decorative Camilla changing sheets and knocking up nourishing snacks.

  When Eleri hurried down into James’s room, to her deep dismay he sat bolt upright, staring at her with glassy, uncomprehending eyes.

  ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he demanded, his voice so hoarse it was almost unrecognisable.

  Eleri marched purposefully to the bed. ‘Sorry to leave you alone. I just went home for some pills.’

  ‘Eleri? Is Bruce there? Call a meeting of the block managers—’ He broke off, coughing.

  She put a hand on his forehead and bit her lip. He was burning up. She stacked the pillows tidily and urged him back down against them, then pulled up the covers. ‘I’m just going upstairs to get you a cold drink.’ She touched his hand, wincing at the heat of it. ‘Try to lie still.’

  Eleri went from the room swiftly and raced upstairs to the telephone in the hall. She rang the emergency number of the family doctor and told the answering service that Mr James Kincaid of Flat One, 3 Chester Gardens, needed medical attention. She described his symptoms, stressed the delirium, and put the phone down.

  When she got back James was shivering, with red patches of colour along his cheekbones, but this time, to her relief, he looked at her with recognition.

  ‘I’ve called a doctor,’ she said militantly. ‘And no protests,
please.’

  ‘I wouldn’t dare,’ he croaked, and swallowed with difficulty. ‘I’m very thirsty.’

  ‘Right. Have some mineral water. I’ll make you a fruit drink later on.’ She filled a glass and handed it to him. ‘James, is there someone I could ring to come and look after you?’

  James drained the glass, then subsided, shaking his head. ‘Absolutely not. I’ve got a cold and a bit of a cough, that’s all—nothing to make a fuss about. In any case, my parents live in France and my sister’s got three children under ten.’

  Eleri bit her lip, frowning. ‘I could ring Miss Tennent, perhaps.’

  ‘Camilla?’ He laughed, but it quickly changed to a bout of coughing. ‘Mention flu and she’d run a mile.’

  ‘Who, then? You really shouldn’t be alone in the state you’re in,’ said Eleri, worried.

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ he assured her.

  Unconvinced, Eleri took the used sheets upstairs and put them in the washing machine she found in the small room leading off the kitchen. Afterwards she squeezed lemons and limes to make a drink to leave for James overnight. When she took it down to him he was dozing, his breathing so stertorous her concern deepened. She drew a chair up to the bed and sat down, more and more convinced she should stay the night to look after him.

  Eleri was very glad to let the doctor in soon afterwards. He was young, wearily cheerful, and reassuring. ‘You’ve got a dose of good old-fashioned influenza, Mr Kincaid, plus a respiratory infection, which is rocketing your temperature,’ he announced after a very thorough examination of the invalid. ‘But normally you’re obviously very fit, so you’ll soon throw it off. I’ll give your wife a prescription for some antibiotics for the chest infection.’ He smiled at Eleri, told her which pharmacy stayed open late on Sundays, congratulated her on her common sense in providing painkillers and fruit drinks, and emphasised the importance of taking the antibiotics at regular intervals, including through the night for the preliminary doses. Eleri saw him out, then went back downstairs.

  ‘So much for your bit of a cold!’ she said grimly to James. ‘Be good for a few minutes, please. I’m just going down to the town to get your prescription.’

  ‘You shouldn’t be wearing yourself out with all this,’ he said bitterly.

  ‘Nonsense. It’s a good thing I’m here.’

  ‘From my point of view it’s wonderful—madam wife!’

  Eleri smiled. ‘Now try to sleep. I’ll be back as soon as I can.’

  She drove down to the chemist for the medication, and arrived back to find James on his way back to bed from the bathroom. She straightened the sheets quickly, plumped up the pillows and pulled the covers over James when he stretched out thankfully.

  ‘I had to get out,’ he said with mock contrition. ‘Some things you can’t do for me.’

  ‘True.’ Unembarrassed, she handed him the first dose of pills and a glass of water. ‘But this I can. Swallow the pills and every drop of this water to safeguard your kidneys.’

  James eyed her balefully over the rim of the glass. ‘A beautiful woman in my bedroom and she discusses my kidneys! I must be losing my touch.’

  Eleri grinned, and looked at her watch.

  ‘Are you going?’ he said in alarm.

  She shook her head. ‘I was just checking the time. It’s nine-fifteen.’

  ‘Is that all? It feels like midnight.’

  ‘Your next dose is due at one-fifteen.’ She came to a decision. ‘James, could I use your phone?’

  ‘You can do anything you want,’ he said hoarsely, his bloodshot eyes gleaming suddenly. ‘I was mad to let you go.’

  ‘You’re rambling again,’ she said prosaically. ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’

  Eleri ran upstairs and rang home. ‘Nico? Is Ma home?’

  ‘No, not yet.’

  ‘Right. Now listen carefully. Give her a message—and don’t forget it like the one you forgot to give me today, you monster.’

  He said something Catrin would have boxed his ears for. ‘Sorry, El. Mr Kincaid rang the house this morning, only I was on my way out and I forgot—’ He groaned. ‘Are you very mad at me?’

  ‘Do I ever stay mad at you? I could have strangled you earlier on, though. Take this number down, and ask Ma to ring me as soon as she can. It’s very important, love.’

  He promised faithfully to tell his mother the moment she came through the door. ‘Would you rather I asked her on her own, El?’

  Eleri chuckled. ‘It might be a good idea at that.’

  ‘Not in any bother, are you?’ he demanded. ‘Just say the word.’

  ‘No, no. Nothing wrong—I’m fine,’ she assured him, touched. ‘Just tell Ma to ring.’

  When she got back to him James frowned at her in disapproval. ‘You should be going home,’ he said hoarsely.

  ‘It’s early yet.’ She smiled. ‘Though I am rather hungry. If you don’t mind I’ll just pop upstairs and make myself a sandwich.’

  ‘Hell, yes,’ he said in remorse. ‘I should have thought—’

  ‘You’re not well enough to think,’ she said cheerfully. ‘How do you feel?’

  His mouth twisted. ‘Manly pride prompts me to say I’m fine. But to be honest, Eleri, I feel grim.’

  Not that he needed to tell her. His deep-set eyes were over-bright, and his skin still burned to the touch when she laid her hand on his forehead.

  ‘Once the medication gets to work you should begin to feel better,’ she said soothingly. ‘Have a rest now. I’ll be back down once I’ve eaten something. And don’t try to answer your phone when it rings; I’m waiting for a phone-call from my mother.’

  Eleri had eaten a cheese sandwich and was making herself a cup of coffee when her mother finally rang.

  ‘Eleri? Is that you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What number is this? Where are you? Nico says the party you were going to was cancelled—’

  ‘It was. James Kincaid’s gone down with a bad dose of flu. I’m at his flat.’ Eleri explained the situation swiftly and succinctly, including the lack of immediate relations to help. ‘I don’t know what to do, Mamma. James is really quite ill—even delirious at times. Someone should be on hand to give him his medication through the night.’

  ‘There’s no one else at all?’ demanded her mother. ‘No girlfriend, even?’

  ‘Oh, yes. But in London, not here—and not too keen where germs are involved, I gather.’

  ‘And you’re on hand.’ Catrin sighed. ‘All this means you feel obliged to stay with him, I suppose.’

  ‘I do, really, Ma. He’s got a raging temperature.’

  There was silence on the line for a moment. ‘Eleri, I know you won’t rest if you leave the poor man alone in that state. And it was very sweet of you to consult with me first. You don’t need permission at your age. I’ll send Nico over with your things. He can stay the night with you.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Calm down. I know you don’t need a chaperon, girl. But if Mr Kincaid gets delirious again you might be glad of a man to help you.’ There was a pause. ‘Humour me. Nico can sleep on a sofa, and get off to school straight from there in the morning.’

  Eleri knew her mother was talking sense. ‘Oh, all right. But for pity’s sake feed Nico first, please,’ she implored.

  ‘Of course I will. And I’ll take over at the coffee-shop for you tomorrow too,’ added her mother. ‘You’ll be too tired.’

  ‘I hadn’t even thought that far! Bless you,’ said Eleri fervently. ‘This all came as a surprise. If Nico had given me the message I’d never have known James was ill.’

  ‘Is he very bad, cared?’

  ‘It’s a nasty dose of flu—with a bad chest, aches and pains, the lot. He looks ghastly, but normally he’s pretty fit. Once the antibiotics start to work he’ll improve fast enough.’

  ‘In which case get back to your own bed tomorrow and rest. You probably won’t sleep much tonight.’

  ‘Thanks again, Mamma.
You’re an angel.’

  James woke some time later, to find Eleri curled up in his huge crimson velvet armchair reading, the light from the lamp falling on her face.

  ‘Study in velvet—by Raphael, possibly.’ He smiled at her startled look. ‘I thought you’d be gone by now. What time is it?’

  ‘Half ten.’ She braced herself. ‘James, I’m going to stay here tonight, to make sure you take your pills.’

  He looked stunned. ‘But I can’t let you do that—’

  ‘Don’t worry. Your reputation’s safe. I hope you don’t object, but Nico’s coming round to spend the night in your spare bed.’

  James grinned. ‘In case I get out of hand? At the moment I’m no danger to your virtue, Eleri—much as I’d like to be,’ he added, starting to cough. ‘And of course I don’t object.’

  ‘You were delirious earlier on,’ she said matter-of-factly. ‘If you start ranting again I might need help.’

  ‘I would never hurt you!’ he panted, shocked.

  ‘I know. But you’re bigger than me. If you need helping back to bed I might be glad of Nico’s muscles.’ Eleri looked up at the sound of a bell. ‘That must be him now.’

  She went upstairs and let Nico in, telling him to stow his bicycle in the hallway, preferably without marking the wall.

  He looked round with a whistle of appreciation. ‘Not bad!’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Are you all right, El? You look done in.’

  ‘The bedrooms are downstairs; I’ve been running up and down quite a bit. Sorry about all this, love.’

  ‘I don’t mind defending your honour!’ he assured her, grinning.

  Eleri shook her head, laughing. ‘Are those Ma’s instructions?’

  ‘No, Pop’s. Not in so many words, but I got the drift.’ His eyes gleamed wickedly. ‘If you don’t want your honour defended I’ll keep out of the way.’

  ‘The question doesn’t arise. But if I do I can cope very well without help!’ she said tartly, and relieved him of a large overnight bag. ‘I hope Ma put something practical in here. For a ministering angel I’m a tad overdressed.’