Resisting Her English Doc by Annie Claydon

Author:Annie Claydon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-10-11T14:01:30+00:00

* * *

The night had been a success. Mollie Gardener hadn’t turned up but her husband had, telling anyone who would listen that she would have loved to come along but she’d been struck down with a headache. Fiona Brady, who made an extraordinarily benevolent-looking wicked witch, had mouthed in Rick’s direction that Mollie was regretting her show of malice, since no one had been much inclined to support her in it.

The decorations were judged fabulous, and all the children left with goodie bags containing comics and sweets. Salty had been loaded back onto the clinic’s patient transport vehicle, waving his cutlass as he went, and Ellie had joined a group of the other children who were going to a sleepover at the childcare center. A band of women were sweeping paper plates and cups into rubbish bags, and Fleur was standing by the doorway, bidding everyone goodbye.

Rick waited. It seemed entirely wrong to go now. He wanted her to himself, just for a few minutes. And finally, as the last of the partygoers drifted to their cars, they were alone.

“You heard about Mollie?”

“Yes, I did. Fiona told me.” Fleur’s smile told him that the information hadn’t been lost on her. The island had made its decision and chosen her over Mollie. Perhaps that would change her mind about looking at the sheriff’s file, but he wouldn’t press her tonight about it.

“Where’s Pamela?” Rick looked around.

“She was dreadfully nervous about this evening and ended up downing one too many of those purple cocktails. Her husband’s taken her off for a lie-down in the family pyramid.”

“She needn’t have worried. Tonight was amazing.” The library looked even spookier now that it was empty. Long, dark shadows, one of which seemed to be moving...

“Hey, you two. Take it home...” Fleur called out laughingly, and when Rick focused more carefully, he could make out two figures. Zombie superheroes, the tallest of whom had his cloak wrapped around the smaller one’s shoulders, were busy smudging each other’s face paint.

“Fabulous party, Fleur. Goodnight.” Maggie’s voice emanated from the smaller zombie, as she led Alex from the shadows. Rick and Alex exchanged a gruff “See you at work” and Fleur closed the library doors behind them.

“I’ll just check there’s no one else here and lock up.” Fleur flipped on the overhead lights, and suddenly the artistry of the decorations became apparent. Floating cobwebs, a few torn and painted sheets and cleverly placed lighting were all that she’d needed to turn the library into a place of shadows.

“I’ll go and check the gallery...” Rick decided to make himself useful. Maybe Fleur wouldn’t want to go up there. She’d already faced enough of her fears tonight.

“Wait... I’ll come with you.”

Rick waited for her to finish her inspection of the ground floor and then held out his arm. “May I escort you, ma’am?”

The narrow stairs didn’t allow them to walk together, and instead Rick held her hand, letting her follow him. They walked together up and down the rows of bookshelves, making sure that no one was hidden there.

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