Dr. Mathieson's Daughter by Maggie Kingsley

Author:Maggie Kingsley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

‘NICOLE, Stephanie’s mother will be here in five minutes to pick you up and drive you to school, and if you’re not ready both you and Stephanie will be late!’

‘I know, Jane,’ came the shouted reply from the bathroom, ‘but I can’t find my history book, or my white T-shirt for games!’

‘Try the floor behind the sofa in the sitting room for your history book, and your bedroom for your T-shirt!’

For a second there was silence, then the resounding clatter of running feet, followed by the bang of a bedroom door, and Jane winced as she sat down at the kitchen table.

‘Overindulged a little on the vino with Richard last night, did we?’ Elliot observed, lowering his newspaper to gaze over the top of it at her speculatively, his blue eyes cool.

Actually, she had the mother and father of all headaches this morning, which had a lot more to do with the fact that she hadn’t been able to get rid of Richard until two o’clock, but she had absolutely no intention of telling Elliot that.

‘Lack of sleep, actually,’ she couldn’t resist replying, and was gratified to see a flash of anger appear in his blue eyes before he disappeared behind his newspaper again with a furious rustle.

Well, so what if her reply had suggested she’d spent a night of unbridled passion with Richard Connery? she thought waspishly. After Elliot’s performance last night—implying she was cradle-snatching, going off to bed in a huff—she was damned if she was going to tell him the truth. That the only passion which had occurred in her bedroom had been Richard’s enthusiastic recounting of his family history dating back to when his great-great-grandfather had been a doctor in Leeds.

‘Nicole said she’d like chicken for her dinner tonight,’ she observed, quickly slipping a paracetamol into her mouth and swallowing it down with some coffee. ‘Would that suit you? If it doesn’t I could pick up something else on my way home—’

‘Actually, I won’t be home for dinner,’ Elliot interrupted, lowering his newspaper again, but this time he looked awkward, uncomfortable.

‘I thought you had tonight off?’ She frowned, then groaned. ‘It’s not one of those admin meetings again, is it? Honestly, the amount of time they spend discussing budgets—’

‘It’s not a meeting,’ Elliot interrupted. ‘I…I’ve got a date. With Gussie.’

There, it was out. He’d said it, and he waited, half expecting Jane to round on him, to tell him he’d got a nerve, expecting her to look after his daughter while he swanned off with Gussie Granton, but she didn’t.

‘Oh…Right…I see,’ was all she said.

‘The thing is, Gussie and I haven’t been out for a while,’ he said hurriedly as Jane began collecting the dirty breakfast dishes and carrying them over to the sink.

‘Elliot, you don’t have to explain,’ she interrupted, her voice carefully neutral. ‘You’re going out with Gussie. Fine. End of story.’

And it should have been, he told himself. Dammit, they’d agreed that neither of them would give up their social lives, that

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