The Temptation Test by Meredith Webber

Author:Meredith Webber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-09-08T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

NOAH was nowhere in sight when Jena, satisfied that a new hoist had been found and work could continue the following day, was finally ready to leave the hospital. The receptionist had gone, but an older woman was manning the front desk.

‘A note for you? Carpenter?’ she said, looking vaguely around.

‘Carla, one of the patients, was going to leave it,’ Jena explained. ‘With directions how to get to the house where she’s living.’

‘Oh, Noah’s house,’ the woman said. ‘I’ll tell you where it is.’

‘Is it close enough to walk?’ Jena asked, anxious about distance as the mechanic hadn’t finished with her car though he’d promised to deliver it to the hospital by six-thirty at the latest.

‘No distance at all,’ the woman said.

She proceeded to explain, the directions so good that Jena found her way without needing the note, which had turned up under the telephone directory.

She smiled to herself as she saw the house. Not exactly the home she’d have expected a bachelor doctor to inhabit, but ideal for a group of young people. Set on a huge block, it nestled back amid trees and shrubs, wide verandahs stretching across the front and down each side. Behind, Jena could see the high fence of a tennis court, while to one side the blue of a pool beckoned invitingly.

Carla greeted her at the front door.

‘I’m the only one at home. The others aren’t back from work yet. Come on in.’

She led Jena through a wide hall with bedrooms off each side and into a huge room which obviously ran the width of the house. It was a combination sitting and dining room, with a kitchen separated off by a high bar. Cane stools, their cushions covered with a teal and terracotta print, lined the bar while similarly covered cane armchairs nestled in a group at the far end of the room.

In between was a dining table, cane-based and glass-topped, the chairs echoing the prints with covers of either terracotta or teal.

Jena felt a woman’s presence in the colour scheme, and the question of Noah’s marital status occurred to her again.

Perhaps he was separated.

‘We know we’re only here temporarily so we’re trying to keep the place as clean and tidy as possible,’ Carla said, ushering her through the room and out to a back verandah, where a barbecue area had been built beside the tennis court. ‘Great house, isn’t it? It’s nearly as good an inspiration for me as meeting the backpackers. This is where I’m headed. I want a house like this.’

Jena looked around.

‘I think it would be more affordable in a country town than a similar property in the city.’

Carla grinned at her.

‘Then I guess I’ll have to get used to living in the country.’

They settled on casual canvas chairs grouped together under a gazebo and Jena, more to take her mind off the zillion questions about Noah this house had thrown up, spoke first.

‘OK. Tell me what you plan to do—what ideas you’ve had already.’

Now Carla looked hesitant.

‘If only we knew!’ she sighed.

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