“I’m sorry. I knew how anxious you were to meet your new assistant and—”
“Go down now and bring my newspapers and my drink. I don’t want any phone calls tonight, and you can take Please-call-me-Millie Summerswith you.”
“Oh. Well in that case, um.” Mrs B fidgeted. “Oh yes, Liam, the new physiotherapist will be here before dinner, shall I ask him tocome up?”
“Just my newspapers.”
“Let me get your newspapers,” Millie said. “As soon as Mrs B shows me where you keep everything.”
He turned his eyes on her for a second, no more, but she was in no doubt he took in every little detail about her. She smiled as warmly asshe could.
“Get out of my sight.” He turned back to the window.
OceanofPDF.com
THREE
Kitchen, early evening
“Drink your tea. You’ll soon feel better.” Mrs B placed a cup on the table in front of Millie, pretending not to notice the tears on Millie’s lashes. They were back in the kitchen, and the housekeeper was doing her best to console Millie.
“He didn’t hire you; he can’t fire you,” Joanie said while checking the oven. She had a strong French accent.
Ann, the capable-looking nurse, put away her reading glasses. “He’s just a bear with a sore head. You’ll get used to him.” She came to join them in the circle of easy chairs round the warm AGA. Nurse Ann looked about fifty and had an honest tell-it-like-it-is face. “He reducesmeto tears once a fortnight. We’re used to it, and you’d better be, soon, because he’ll never change.”
Joanie scoffed from the other side of the kitchen. “He might if Millie, er, you know what.”
A look passed between Nurse Ann and Mrs B, but Millie couldn’t understand and decided not to try.
She was tired. Her day had started at 3 am. with a taxi to Waterloo station. Two trains followed by a seven-hour journey by sea. The last three days, she’d spent chasing paperwork. And the day before that, her marriagehad ended.
Five days.
They felt like five months.
She took a deep breath and a grateful sip of Earl Grey tea. Why were men sohorrible?
Unbidden, an image of the nameless stranger floated into her head. The tall man who had pulled a chair for her and whispered softly in her ear, his breath warm, his arm strong and gentle onher back.
“That’s better, you’re smiling,” NurseAnn said.
Joanie pulled a tray of chocolate-chip cookies out of the oven and arranged a few on a plate, which she placed on the table by Millie’s elbow.
“Organic dark chocolate pieces,” she said. “It does wonders for your mental health, and believe me, you’ll need it to deal with old DuMontfort.”
She pronounced his nameDu Monfohlike the French town. She was pretty in a dark, exotic way, with a silver bangle pushed all the way up her forearm to just below her elbow. Millie loved silver jewellery.The first money I earn, I’ll buy a silver bangle.
Nurse Ann reached for a biscuit. “Joanie is a marvellous chef. Wait till you try herbrownies.”
Millie shook her head. Smothering her feelings in pastries was part of the life she’d left behind. No man, no matter how awful, was going to drive her to binge on sweets anymore.
Joanie shrugged. “Watching your figure? If you want him upstairs”—Joanie flicked her eyes towards the ceiling—“to sweeten his temper, you should invest in a blond wig and some fake boobs.”
“Now, now.” Mrs B raised her eyebrows. “There is no need for disrespect.”
Joanie placed another heaped plate of cookies in the middle of the table. “Oh, come on, Mrs B, you may as well tell her the truth. She’ll find out soon enough.”
Mrs B pressed her lipstogether.
