hospital administrator.
By the time he returned, Georgina had come round from the anaesthetic.
Although still woozy she was comfortable as they wheeled her off to the
private ward that Nicholas, had arranged. The - orthopaedic surgeon
arrived a few minutes later.
'Hello, Nick, what are you doing here?' he greeted Nicholas. Royan was
surprised how many people knew him.
Then he turned his attention to Georgina. 'How are you feeling? We have
got ourselves a nice little compound fracture. Looks like confetti in
there. We've managed to put it all together again, but you're going to
be with us for ten days at the very least.'
'Right you are, young lady,' Nicholas told Royan as they left Georgina
sleeping. 'What more do you need to convince you? My housekeeper has
made up a room for you at the Hall. I am not letting you wander around
on your own any more. Otherwise, next time they try to cull you they may
have a little more luck.'
She was still too shaken and upset to argue, and she climbed meekly into
the front seat of the Range Rover and let him drive her first to have
her stitches removed and then back to Quenton Park. As soon as they
arrived, he sent her up to her bedroom.
'The cook will send dinner up to you. Make sure you take the sleeping
pill that the doc gave you. Somebody will fetch your gear from 's
cottage to Mrs. Street. In the meantime my housekeeper has set out some
nightclothes and a toothbrush in your room for you. I don't want to hear
from you again before tomorrow morning.'
It was good to have him take control of her life. For the first time
since that terrible night at the oasis she felt secure and safe. Still,
she made one last gesture of independence and self-reliance; she flushed
the Mogadon sleeping tablet down the toilet.
The nightdress that was laid on her pillow was full, length sheer silk
with finest Cambrai lace at the cuffs and It. . A robe. She had never
worn anything so luxurious and sensual against her skin before. She
realized that it must have belonged to his wife, and the knowledge
stirred mixed emotions in her. She climbed up into the four-poster bed,
but even that lonely expanse of over'soft mattress and her unfamiliar
surroundings did not keep her too long from sleep.
u the morning a young housemaid woke her with au copy of The Times and a
pot of Earl Grey tea, then returned a few minutes later with her
holdall.
'Sir Nicholas would like you to take breakfast with him in the dining
room at eight-thirty., While she showered Royan inspected her naked body
in the full-length mirror that covered one wall of -the bathroom. Apart
from the knife wound on her -arm, which was still livid and only
partially healed, there was a dark bruise on her thigh and another down
her left flank and buttock, legacies of the car crash. Her shin was
scraped raw, and gingerly she pulled a pair of socks over the injury.
She limped a little as she went down the main staircase to find the
dining room.
'Please help yourself.' Nicholas looked up from his newspaper to greet
