‘It was under the treadmill,’ Bella told him delightedly. ‘I spotted it when I was… when we were… Anyway, I kind of forgot but then remembered when I was swimming.’
Oliver could feel his eyebrows rising. She’d been distracted by the glint of jewellery in the middle of the most mind-blowing sex he’d ever experienced?
Bella seemed to be watching him carefully. ‘Afterwards,’ she said softly. ‘Notduring…’ Her smile widened. ‘That’s a ridiculous thing to suggest.’
* * *
She’d made him laugh.
Funnily enough, it had been that genuinely amused, appreciative sound that provided the tipping point for Bella.
You’d think it was the raw power that came from a man with his kind of intelligence and status that would have done it.
Or the sheer physical beauty, not only of his body but in the way he made love.
But no. It was a chuckle. A moment of connection that touched something so different in Bella’s soul, she knew she was lost.
Head over heels in love with Oliver Dawson.
Or should that be hopelessly in love?
Yep. That was the one because nothing could ever come of it. Bella was doomed to live with the agony of unrequited passion.
That became painfully obvious the next morning, after a sleepless night of vacillating between the pleasure of reliving every moment beside the pool to the pain of seeing Oliver looking so impossibly gorgeous in that dinner suit, heading off to spend the rest of his evening in the company of appropriate people. Appropriatewomen. Like that Monique.
He came into Lady Dorothy’s suite to say goodbye and wish his mother a good day – the way he did most mornings.
Bella was helping Lady Dorothy to apply the minimum of make-up that she deemed necessary even for a day when they wouldn’t be leaving the house. Thank goodness she was putting the lid back on the lipstick and not applying it to Lady Dorothy’s face when her hand shook that little bit.
He did speak to her as he left.
‘Have a good day, Bella,’ he had said.
The eye contact had been brief enough that the knowledge that Oliver was deliberately avoiding any kind of connection was unmistakable. Bella had primed herself to be ready for it but it was still crushing.
Unbearable.
Or was it?
Maybe she deserved the rejection because she’d done the most irresponsible thing ever. Told the biggest lie ever. Maybe Oliver knew instinctively that she wasn’t trustworthy. She could hardly reassure him now and tell him that she’d taken that morning-after pill. She hadn’t been that reassured herself when she’d noticed how far it was past its expiry date, but hey… they built in a huge safety margin, didn’t they? Bella went on with the routine of the day in an uncharacteristically subdued manner. She checked Lady Dorothy’s blood sugar levels and administered her insulin, quickly followed by a robust breakfast of scrambled eggs and parsley on toast. She made sure that she recorded everything in the notes she was keeping on her patient, adding in a few extras as well, like blood pressure, heart rate and respiration rate measurements. A neatly written paragraph about the progress Lady Dorothy was making filled up the whole page of the big diary for that day. A diary she knew that Oliver would be checking more carefully after yesterday’s hypoglycaemic episode.
A large part of the afternoon was taken up with examining a catalogue from a medical supplies firm and discussing the merits of various assistive devices with Lady Dorothy.
‘I think the easy-grip cutlery would be worth a try. And the high-lipped plates.’
‘Baby stuff.’ Lady Dorothy sniffed. ‘I’m getting better at feeding myself, aren’t I?’
‘Yes, but with that high edge on the plate you could chase your food until you caught it. You wouldn’t need me to put it on the spoon. And, you never know, that dinky little knife might mean you could cut things up yourself, too. You wouldn’t need me to do anything. Independence isn’t babyish.’ Bella threw in a trump card. ‘Nana would have loved these. She hated being fed.’
‘We could give them a try, I suppose,’ Lady Dorothy conceded. ‘And maybe you’re right about that shower chair. I’d like to be able to do that by myself too.’
‘At the rate you’re going, they’ll probably be temporary aids. Think of them like using crutches for a broken ankle or something.’
‘Hmm. In that case, let’s have another look at that modified keyboard thing. I’m missing doing my emails.’
Bella was already filling in an order form. ‘If I ring the supplier, they might be able to deliver it all by tomorrow. Later today even.’
‘Don’t forget we’re doing the spa pool again later.’
