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‘So that the staff see us together? To make yourself seem familiar? To give you credibility?’ Carrie rattled off the first things that came into her mind.
‘Being seen with you would give me credibility?’ Nik repeated. His eyes swept across her disparagingly, and his disdainful expression made it all too clear what he thought of that idea.
‘I’m taking Danny home now,’ Carrie said stiffly. ‘And just to be sure you understand—you are not to come here again. In fact, I don’t want you bothering us at all.’
Carrie didn’t wait for a reply. She knew she ought to talk to Mrs Plewman properly, to make it absolutely clear that no one but her should ever collect Danny. But at that moment she simply had to get away.
She let the door swing shut as she walked through and bent to pull the buggy out of the cupboard. Suddenly Nik was beside her again, taking it out of her hand.
‘Let me,’ he said. ‘It’s rather dangerous to carry so much on the stairs at once.’
‘I’ve got it, thank you,’ Carrie snapped, reaching out for the buggy.
‘I’m here, and I can help,’ Nik said firmly. ‘What’s the point of needlessly risking your neck, and more importantly my nephew’s neck, when you don’t have to?’
‘I’m not risking anyone’s neck,’ Carrie said, but she turned and started down the stairs. The sooner she got outside, the sooner she could catch the bus home.
‘I’ll give you a lift home,’ Nik said, once they’d stepped out onto the street.
‘Are you mad?’ Carrie gasped, pulling the buggy out of his grasp and flicking it open with an angry gesture that revealed all her pent-up emotions. ‘I’m not going anywhere with you!’
‘We still have to talk,’ Nik replied. ‘You ran off before we’d finished yesterday. I know when you collect Danny, and it seemed an appropriate time and place to meet.’
‘You had no right to go into his nursery.’ Carrie hugged the one-year-old protectively. ‘And Mrs Plewman had no business letting you in!’ She knew that wasn’t exactly fair to the nursery manager. But even as she tried to reassure herself that Mrs Plewman would never have let a stranger take Danny a shiver ran down her spine. Nik had clearly been doing an excellent job of charming her. There was no way to tell what would have happened if Carrie hadn’t arrived when she had.
‘My nephew has no business being in that appalling place,’ Nik replied. ‘I wanted to see for myself what kind of care he’s been receiving, and frankly I was not impressed. He will certainly not be spending any more time in that dreadful environment. That is not the way a Kristallis child is cared for.’
‘His name may be Kristallis,’ Carrie said, bristling at his harsh judgement of the nursery she had so carefully chosen for Danny. ‘But Sophie and Leonidas didn’t want him brought up like a Kristallis.’
‘His parents are dead. He is my responsibility now,’ Nik stated, his expression hard and unreadable.
‘Now? He’s nearly one!’ Carrie exclaimed. ‘How very responsible of you to miss the first year of his life!’
She knew she had hit a nerve the second the words were out of her mouth.
A change came over Nik so profound it made her blood suddenly run cold.
‘I don’t intend to miss any more of his life,’ Nik grated. ‘Now, we need to find somewhere to talk.’
‘Danny needs to go home.’ Carrie looked at his flushed face and smoothed his hair back from his forehead. It felt uncomfortably warm. ‘It’s not fair to keep him out if he’s feeling under the weather.’
‘Then I’ll give you a lift home.’ Nik indicated a sleek black limousine that was just pulling up next to the pavement. ‘When the child is settled, we can talk.’
‘I don’t need a lift, thank you,’ Carrie said. ‘We’ll be perfectly all right on the bus, just the same as every other day.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Nik said. ‘Just because you seem to have taken an irrational dislike to me, it doesn’t mean my nephew has to suffer the unnecessary discomfort of a public bus.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with buses. Not everyone has a private limo, you know.’ She glanced down and caught sight of her reflection in the tinted window of the long black car.
Suddenly she remembered seeing Nik going in to the nursery. If he had taken Danny and put him into that car she might never have seen him again. They could have driven right past her and she’d never have known Danny was hidden from view behind that sinister dark glass. ‘I’m not getting into a car with you. I hardly know you.’
‘The child doesn’t look well,’ Nik said. ‘Don’t let your pride and petty dislike of me make you ignore what is best for Danny.’
‘He’s not sick.’ Carrie bit her lip as she studied Danny and pressed her hand against his face again. ‘Teething can make babies hot and bothered, but it doesn’t mean he’s sick.’
Just at that moment the heavens opened, and it began to pour with rain. Danny howled as the first huge drops started to splash his face, and Carrie looked around in dismay. Rush hour was in full swing, and the thought of a crowded bus or tube train full of disgruntled commuters with dripping umbrellas, jostling her and tripping over Danny’s buggy, was simply awful.
But she couldn’t accept a lift with Nik. It was true that she hardly knew him, and she was still suspicious as to his motives for going into the nursery. Then Danny began to cry more loudly, and when she touched his cheek to soothe him it felt even hotter. She really ought to get him home quickly.
