‘By her grandfather.’
Oliver’s mouth twisted into a wry smile. ‘Comes from a good family, then?’
‘Don’t be a snob, Oliver. She can’t help her family any more than any of us can. And she made me laugh.’
‘That’s wonderful,’ Oliver said, and meant it. He screwed up the big paper bag and went to put it in the rubbish bin. There was something large and bright pink filling the metal bucket. He peered closer and then lifted the item out to see what it was.
His mother giggled.
* * *
Bella sneaked through the hospital corridors very carefully on her way to the geriatric ward at 7.30p.m., a box in her arms. ‘Shh…’ she said occasionally. ‘If we get caught, we’re going to be inbigtrouble, Bib.’
Amazingly, she made it to the ward without meeting anybody. The planned treat of letting Lady Dorothy play with a kitten for a few minutes could go ahead. It didn’t matter how frozen and sore her hands were right now. She would still be able to feel the softness of this fluffy kitten’s fur and have the pleasure of hearing the tiny animal purr.
She tapped softly at the closed door and then let herself in without waiting for a response.
‘Surprise,’ she whispered gleefully.
Except the surprise was hers. Perched on the end of Lady Dorothy’s bed, stuffing a hamburger into his mouth, was Oliver Dawson.
3
‘Bella!’ Lady Dorothy sounded delighted. ‘You’ve come to visit me? What a lovely surprise.’
‘You’reBella?’ Oliver Dawson sounded distinctly less delighted. In fact, he used the hand that wasn’t holding the hamburger to cover his eyes as he rubbed his temples with his thumb and middle finger.
‘Have you got a headache, darling?’ Lady Dorothy asked.
‘No.’ The word was a growl.
Bella was still staring, dumbfounded. Oliver Dawson was sitting on a patient’s bed eating a cheeseburger. A patient who had called him ‘darling’, no less.
A ripped-open packet of very unhealthy French fries was lying on the bed beside him, the contents well depleted. What’s more, he had loosened his tie, undone the top button of his shirt and rolled the sleeves up. Even his hair looked slightly dishevelled. He looked…
Human.
And gorgeous. Gorgeous enough to make Bella’s heart skip a beat.
And then another. Uh-oh! She recognised that symptom a little too well. It was closely followed, as usual, by that melting sensation deep in her belly that ended with a delicious tingle. The fact that it was Mr Oliver Dawson she was feeling attracted to was disturbing to say the least.
‘This is my son, Oliver,’ Lady Dorothy said. ‘Oliver, this is Bella. I was telling you about her, remember?’
When he took his hand off his eyes, Oliver nodded wearily. He also looked straight at Bella and she could swear his colour had heightened and he had a haunted look in his eyes. He was quite obviously excruciatingly embarrassed. Well, of course he was. Caught out looking human and eating junk food!
Ha! Finally, she had the advantage.
Sadly, the feeling of one-upmanship lasted precisely five seconds, at which point a scratching noise could be clearly heard coming from the box in her arms. Scratching that was followed by a very plaintive miaow.
Lady Dorothy’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, my goodness… Did you bring Bib in to visit me?’
‘Um…’ Bella’s gaze slid away from Oliver’s, but there was no getting out of this. A tiny paw had appeared in the centre hole where the flaps of the box didn’t quite meet, as though the kitten was putting her hand up to be noticed. ‘Yes.’
‘Show me.’ Lady Dorothy tried to shift the bag of French fries she had on her lap, but she couldn’t hold it and it fell, spilling fries onto the floor. Before either her fumbled movement or the mess could even be commented on, Bella lifted the fluffy grey and white kitten from the box and deposited her on Lady Dorothy’s lap.
Bib, bless her, took one look at the old lady and stood up on her hind legs, stretching so that she could rub her head on Lady Dorothy’s jawbone. They could all hear the purring that filled the sudden silence in the room like a miniature chainsaw.
‘Oh…oh…’ Lady Dorothy’s voice had a noticeable wobble. ‘What a wee darling.’
