wryly at Vincente, adding, ‘If you can stand it,
‘Maybe
CHAPTER SIX
WHEN the doctor had left, Vincente said, ‘You were right.’
‘The doctor said it’s not so bad,’ Elise reminded him.
‘It’s worse than I wanted to admit. I should have listened to you.’ Vincente took her hand. ‘Thank you for looking after me, and I suppose I should apologise for dumping myself on you. It never occurred to me to ask first.’
‘Now why doesn’t that surprise me?’ she mused.
‘Am I being a pain in the neck?’
‘No more than usual. Luckily I have a sense of humour.’
He managed a smile and lay back, grimacing.
‘I must call my secretary,’ he said. ‘There are some files I need her to bring over first thing tomorrow.’
‘You don’t mean to work?’ she demanded.
‘I’ve had one day off, and that’s all I can afford.’
‘But you’re a sick man.’
‘Officially I’m not.’
‘To hell with officially. You can’t move without wincing.’
‘The doctor left me strong painkillers. I’ve had two and they’ll start to work at any minute,’ he protested.
‘If I gave vent to my feelings at this moment you’d
He regarded her with appreciation. ‘You have the makings of a really splendid bully,’ he said.
‘You’d better believe it.’
Vincente made his phone call, giving a string of orders to his secretary, for whom Elise felt profoundly sorry. She made him a light lunch and went to the bedroom to find him off the phone, looking weary. For a moment his pain was clear, then he saw her and immediately looked cheerful. She wasn’t deceived.
‘Is it very bad?’
‘Not really. The worst thing is feeling like a complete damned fool. What kind of idiot makes such a mess of things?’
‘You do things that no other man can do,’ she reminded him, smiling.
He grunted with laughter and gasped. ‘Please don’t make me laugh.’
‘All right. Just have something to eat.’
He gave a helpless grimace. ‘I’m going to need help sitting up properly.’
She guessed it maddened him to ask, but when she came to the bed he put his hands up around her neck and used her for support.
‘Thank you,’ he muttered.
‘Hey, it’s not the end of the world,’ she rallied him. ‘So you had to accept my help! So what?’
‘You’re being very reasonable, of course,’ he growled.
‘But to hell with reasonable!’ she said sympathetically.
‘Something like that.’
‘It’s just a pity it had to be your back,’ she said. ‘It’s one of those things that isn’t dangerous but hurts like hell. Has it ever happened before?’
‘Why do you ask?’
‘My father had a bad back. It came and went. He’d have a few good months then some silly thing would make it go again and he’d be in agony. It can strike anyone.’
‘If you mean me-nonsense!’ he said at once.
‘You mean it’s never happened before?’
‘Once or twice, yes, but-’ He stopped and sighed. ‘I guess I’m just like your father.’
‘In many ways,’ she said, amused. ‘He hated anyone knowing the truth. He thought it was a sign of weakness, which was very silly of him,’ she added significantly.
‘Not silly at all if the sharks are circling,’ he replied at once.
‘And I suppose there are plenty of sharks circling you? I wonder just how many enemies you have.’
Vincente made a wry face. ‘Enough not to want them to know I have a bad back. Did your father have many?’
‘No, he wasn’t a big tycoon. He was a sweet-natured man who raised me after my mother died. I was a sickly child and he kept having to take time off from work to look after me, and so he lost a lot of jobs.’ A fond smile overtook her face. ‘He so much wanted-’
Elise broke off as his cellphone rang. He answered it with a sound of exasperation and she slipped away.
She left him to work, going back later to collect the tray. Finding him asleep, she removed everything quietly.
When her bedtime came she sought for a demure nightie. Not finding one, she settled for an outrageous one and slipped in beside him. The bed was large enough for her to be several feet away, so propriety was observed- sort of-but she could be there to look after him.
He awoke in the small hours and she helped him to the bathroom, remade the bed, helped him back, and brought him some more painkillers.
‘Thanks,’ he growled.
‘You don’t mean thanks,’ she said cheerfully. ‘You actually hate me because you had to lean on me there and back. Shall I go away?’
His hand closed over hers. ‘Stay,’ he said briefly.
She pulled the covers up over him. ‘Go back to sleep.’
In the morning she helped him again and fed him. Then they had an argument because he refused more painkillers.
‘They send me to sleep,’ he complained. ‘My secretary’s coming this morning. I need to be alert.’
The secretary turned out to be a formidable woman, bearing files and a laptop computer. They worked together for a couple of hours, then she left, full of his instructions. Vincente got to work on the laptop and divided his afternoon between that and the telephone.
But at last there came the moment when even he had to agree that enough was enough and take some more painkillers. Even then he fretted about something he hadn’t done.
‘Forget it,’ she said firmly. ‘Go to sleep.’
‘Will you be here?’
‘Just try to get rid of me.’
A grunt was his only reply but it told her all she needed to know, and she smiled as she snuggled down.
In the early hours she awoke to find him still sleeping and went to sit by the window, watching light creep over the city. She felt peaceful for the first time since she’d arrived here.
He was awake, smiling at her from the bed, and she went straight across to sit beside him.
‘Can I get you something? How’s the pain?’
‘Better, as long as I don’t move. I don’t need pills just now. Talk to me instead.’
‘All right, let’s talk about your big meeting and how you’re going to slay everyone.’
‘No, just for once I’ll shut up and listen. Go on talking about your father. You were going to tell me about something he badly wanted, when the phone rang. What was it he wanted?’
‘I forget now-oh, yes-he wanted to make a lot of money and give me treats, but there never was any money. As though I cared when I had such a wonderful father.’
‘Tell me about him.’
