Shocked, Daniel was surprised to feel a tear prick at the corner of his eye. He and Ben never did the touchy-feely stuff.
"But?"
"But you're unbearable, Dan, you really are. Since your trip in August you've been like a bear with a sore head, barely communicating with anyone – and when you do, it's only to snap our heads off."
He stared, dumb, at Ben's pale, serious face. "I'm sorry. I've . . . been out of sorts a little."
Ben shook his head. "Not 'a little,' Daniel. A lot. We can't take it anymore."
With the surprise wearing off, Daniel moved to a defensive position. "Oh? And what are you intending to do about it?"
Ben shook his head and pointed at Daniel's chest. "It's more of a question of what you're going to do about it."
"I don't . . ."
"If you don't hunt up this Laura Matheson, then I'll do it for you and drag you to her myself."
Daniel's mouth dropped open. "How did you . . . ?"
"Natalie's not stupid. Why do you think she's hunting for another job? She knows she'll never have you because you're in love with someone else."
"Why, that little . . ."
"No. There's no blame here. We're all grateful to her for the insight. And Becky's over the moon you've finally found someone. She just wants you to sort it out before she personally strangles you."
Daniel sagged, beaten, in the chair. "Okay, okay. I like Laura, but I wouldn't say I'm in love with her. I . . ." He stopped, dumbfounded, as the truth hit him.
Ben grinned. "Yep. That's the 'aha!' moment alright. Wish I had my camera."
"Oh no." Daniel's eyes were wide with shock. "No, no. This is disastrous!"
"Only you could say being in love is disastrous. In what way is it disastrous?"
"Ben, you know I can't . . ." He stopped. No point dragging his brother off on a guilt trip.
Ben dropped his joking expression. "What? You can't have a relationship because I have one? Because I have family commitments? Because of the boys?"
He got up from his chair and came around to perch on the edge of the desk, laying a hand on Daniel's arm.
"No, Daniel. No more. Becky and I have talked about this. We felt terrible when you broke up with Fliss, but we were so caught up in things . . . and then when you were seeing Natalie, well, I guess we didn't want that one to work. You seemed happy travelling and being a bachelor. We didn't realise . . . I mean, we knew you'd been getting a little travel-weary lately, but when you came back from Portugal, we knew something was seriously wrong. When you went back out there, Natalie gave us her diagnosis."
Daniel gave a small shrug of defeat. "A diagnosis is all well and good, but I don't see a cure in the offing, do you?"
Ben stood and paced the office. "Yes, I do. We've already made progress in that direction. Becky loves the few hours she's doing here and the break from the boys. That was an inspired idea of yours."
"Actually, it was Laura's," Daniel muttered.
Ben raised an eyebrow. "I like her already. So now all we have to do is hire someone to do a sizeable proportion of your travelling."
"And that someone is going to cost money."
Ben shrugged. "Speculate to accumulate and all that. Besides, if Natalie goes, I'll need you here anyway. So that means all you have to do is find Laura and tell her you're in love with her."
"Oh, that's all, is it? You have this all figured out, don't you?"
"Yes, I do."
"And if I don't go along with it?"
"Then I'll expand the company to include somewhere remote with no communication network whatsoever, and put you in charge there."
Daniel laughed despite himself. "Have I really been that bad?"
Ben was about to answer, probably with colourful vocabulary, when there was a tentative knock at the door and Becky poked her head cautiously round it.
"Daniel? There's a call for you. He says it's important and he's not taking any excuses."
Daniel frowned. "Who is it?"
"Someone called Steve Matheson."
****
By the time school finished on Monday, Laura was exhausted. Between wondering over Steve's altered view on life and wallowing in her own misery, she'd barely slept over the weekend.
With a sigh, she tidied up after her class, a particularly riotous lot who always left an inordinate number of rulers, pens, and goodness knew what else littering the place. Lifting a tall pile of textbooks onto a top shelf, she let out a yelp as the precariously stacked pile next to it tumbled past her head onto the floor, where several landed on her feet before she could jump out of the way. Hopping on one foot to rub her ankle and cursing with unusual vigour, wearily she stooped to pick them up.
"I see you're back on form."
There was no mistaking the deep, velvet tones of the voice behind her. Holding her breath, Laura rose and turned to see his tall figure standing just inside the doorway. With several books still unnoticed in her arms, she walked slowly towards him.
"What are you doing here?"
"Welcoming as always, I see." Daniel was still smiling, but as she drew closer to him, it changed into a frown. "You've lost weight."
There was a giggle from the corridor, and Laura spun around to see two of her students watching. Crossly, she marched over and slammed the door. Only when she heard their footsteps fade did she swing back to face Daniel.
"Don't be so hard on them," he said. "Perhaps they're not used to seeing their teacher with an eligible bachelor." His expression serious again, he asked, "Why are you so thin?"
"Never mind my weight!" she snapped at him, still embarrassed by her students. "How did you know where to find me?"
"I charmed the receptionist into giving me a guest pass and telling me where your classroom is. I told her I was your long-lost cousin on a surprise visit from
