A Man To Tame - Rachel Lindsay (Roberta Leigh) (20 page)

I’m sure Bill Parker will let you
take over your flat,' he had added, 'and he can always stay with me until he
finds somewhere else.'

So to this extent Kate's life was
settled. All she needed was for Joshua to release her, and she faced. Monday
with a lighter heart, convinced that his previous refusal had stemmed from
anger and would change once it cooled. As always when she thought of him she
was aghast at the schizophrenic split in �his personality. In business, she knew
from Dermot that he was punctilious in
his dealings and honest to a degree, yet in his private fife he-had
behaved in a dastardly fashion. If he loved Felicity enough to marry her, how
could he still desire another woman? Or was he marrying Felicity because she
looked like his first wife? If Joshua felt guilty over Janine's death, maybe he
could only expiate it by marrying her cousin who resembled her so closely? He
could even believe he was giving his daughter her mother again. To her, such a
notion was fantastic, but Joshua might be too blind to felicity's failings to
realise that she had no intention of stepping into a dead woman's shoes, and
that if she gave way to Joshua's wishes now, she would definitely not do so
once she wore his wedding ring. T may have been a poor judge of character where
Joshua was concerned,' she thought grimly, ‘but I'm a better judge than he is.'

Thinking of murdering someone?'
Nurse Evans inquired, coming into the surgery. ‘You're scowling like a
dervish!'

'I was wondering what to do about
Mr Johnson,’ Kate fabricated.

'Ah, the King of
Malingerers! Why not teach him a lesson
by pretending he really has something wrong with him?'

‘My conscience wouldn't let me,’
Kate confessed sadly.

‘Then how about giving him a
foul-tasting medicine? Something he has to take twice a day,’

'He'd throw it down the sink. After
all, he knows there's nothing wrong with him,’

Tell him it's a special mixture
that has to be taken within five minutes of being made. Then he'd have to come
here morning and afternoon for a dose.' Kate's eyes sparkled. 'What a super
idea!’

‘Not bad, is it?' Nurse Evans said
modestly. 'And I know just what to make up for him.'

She bustled away and Kate pushed
aside all thoughts of Joshua and Felicity and concentrated on the work in hand.
That evening Nurse Evans returned home with her to help with the surgery which
was always heavy on a Monday. A few weeks previously she had managed to
persuade one of her women patients not to leave her’ husband and had eventually
been able to persuade the husband to come and talk to her as well. It had
resulted in them both agreeing to come and talk to her about their
¹
problems,
and though only a month had gone by since they had done so, there had been no
fierce quarrels since to interrupt their peaceful domesticity. Happily the
woman had confided what had happened to one of her friends and this woman,
beset by worries too, had come to talk-them over with Kate. From this had
evolved a weekly discussion group with some half dozen women airing their
problems—domestic and personal—with her. For the most part Kate left one woman
to answer another and only occasionally directed the conversation herself. The
women were participating, did they but know it, in group therapy, and she found
herself
looking forward to these sessions more than any other. Tonight
was one such and she waited happily for the women to start arriving. The telephone
rang as the first patient came in and Kate was surprised to hear Mrs Howard's
voice.

I’m so sorry to bother you, Dr
Gibson, but I'm very worried about Janey. She's having a bad attack of asthma
and I wondered if you could come and see her?'

'It isn't possible for me to look
after another doctor's patient without that doctor's permission,' Kate
explained. I’m terribly sorry, but——-'

'Our own doctor is away and the
young man standing in for him has been taken ill. I thought you knew.'

'No, I didn’t.’

Mrs Howard gave an impatient snort. I asked Joshua to
tell you, but he obviously
forgot. I asked him to find out if you would agree to look after Janey while
you are in Llanduff.'

Kate made a wry face. It was no
wonder Joshua had diplomatically held his tongue.

'I know it's late for you to come
out,' Mrs Howard went on, ‘but if I can't get someone to come to the house, I
shall have to take Janey to the hospital. We have an oxygen cylinder, but I
don't know how to use it, and Joshua went to Bristol for the day and didn't say
what time he would be home.'

'I didn't realise Janey was ill
enough to be taken to hospital,' Kate said quickly. ‘I’ll come over at once.'

Telling Nurse Evans to warn her
patients that they might have to .wait an hour for her return, she got her car
out of the garage and speedily set off for Joshua's home. The country roads
were unlit, but it was not yet dark and the hedgerows loomed purple in the
deepening dusk. Sooner than she had anticipated the grey stone house loomed in
front of her and she brought the car to a shrieking stop and hurried up the
steps. As if on cue the door was opened by the maid and Mrs Howard called
Kate's name from the top of the stairs. Kate raced up them, but made her steps
slow as she entered Janey’s bedroom. As she had anticipated, the child was in
the middle of an asthma attack so severe that her inhaler was useless.

Without wasting words, she bent to
examine her, then prepared and gave her an injection. This will work in a
couple of minutes,' she soothed. There's nothing to be afraid of, Janey.'

I’m glad you came,' the child
wheezed. 'Every time I told Daddy to ask you if you could look after me, he
said you were too busy.'

'I think your father misunderstood
me,' Kate said in a tight voice. 'I would never refuse to look after you.'

‘Honestly?'

'Honestly.' Kate caught hold of the
small clammy hand and kept her hold on it as she perched lightly on the edge of
the bed.

'Would you care for a cup of
coffee?' Mrs Howard asked.

, Kate was on the verge of refusing
when she sensed the woman's agitation and, feeling it would lessen Janey-s own
anxiety if she were out of the bedroom, nodded and said she would like nothing
better. As soon as
the
door had closed behind Mrs Howard, she spoke to
the little girl.

Is
this the first attack you've had since the one I treated?'

'I've had lots more since then. Not
bad ones, though.'

‘Do they come at special times?'

Janey frowned. 'I had them three
times when Felicity was painting my picture. But I ‘spect that's because I didn't like sitting still for her.’

Kate kept her face blank. ‘Did you
wear the same dress each time?'

Janey nodded. 'I've worn it lots of
times and it's never made me ill.'

Kate nodded, still convinced that
the child's dislike of Felicity was capable of bringing on an attack. 'How is
the portrait coming along?' she asked.

‘Ifs all right. Daddy likes it, though. He sat with me twice while
Felicity .was painting.'

I’m sure you liked that.'

‘Liked what?'

‘Your daddy
sitting with you.'

‘No, I didn't. Felicity talked to
him the whole time and when she spoke to me, it was in a pretending voice.’

'A pretending
voice?' Kate questioned.

‘You know,' the child said. The
voice grown-ups use when they pretend to like you.'

I’m sure Felicity isn't
pretending,' Kate said firmly.

‘After all, she is your cousin and
I’m positive she liked you.’

‘If she likes me she wouldn't want
Daddy to send me away to school in Switzerland,’ Janey burst out, and agitation
fluttered the thin chest. 'I don't want Daddy to send me away. I've begged and
begged him to let me stay here, but he still won't promise. Can you help me, Dr
Gibson ? I'm sure he'll listen to you!’

Kate tried not to let herself be
swayed by the child's obvious distress. 'I'd have thought you'd love to go to
school in Switzerland. You'll be able to go boating on the fakes in the summer
and skiing on the mountains in winter. You'll be with lots of girls of your
own. age and——-'

‘I’d rather be with Daddy.'

'And I'm sure he'd rather be with
you, but he feels that being in Switzerland will help you to get stronger. The
mountain air is awfully good for anyone with a chest complaint.'

‘We've got lots of mountains in
Wales,' Janey said. ‘Daddy only wants to send me away so he can live here with
Felicity.'

Kate's heart seemed to, turn over
in her chest and she was angry with herself for still being so vulnerable to
the thought of Joshua's marriage. .

'If he lived here with you,' Janey
went on, 'I'm sure he wouldn't send me away. It's only 'cos
he knows I don't like Felicity.' Damp fingers curled tightly round Kate's hand.
'I wish he'd marry you instead of her. I know he likes you, 'cos I saw him kissing you the afternoon you were in my
bedroom.'

With an effort Kate kept her voice
calm. ‘Your father wasn't kissing me in the same way he kisses Felicity. He
was—he was just happy that I'd made you better and he—he
gave me a kiss of thanks. The way you kiss someone if you
give them a present.'

'Oh,' Janey said, 'I hadn't thought
of that. I was hoping he might marry you instead of her.’

'Well, you're hoping in vain.'

I’m still going to tell Daddy.'

'What are you going to tell Daddy?'
a deep voice asked, and woman and child looked up with a start as the tall
broad-shouldered man came into the room.

‘That I would like you to marry Dr
Gibson instead of Felicity,' Janey said before Kate could think of a way of
stopping her. Then you wouldn't send me away to Switzerland.'

‘My sending you to Switzerland has
nothing to do with my marriage. You're talking nonsense, Janey, and you know
it.'

His voice was harsh and his
daughter flushed and trembled. Kate saw it and knew she had to intervene before
anxiety negated the good that her injection had done.

'I think you should have a rest
now, Janey,' she said soothingly. ‘Your father can come up later and talk to
you.'

‘Last time I was ill and went to
sleep, you stayed with me.'

‘You aren't ill now,' Kate said. ‘Your
attack is over and you're better. But I want you to rest quietly—and alone.’
She looked at Joshua and he shrugged and smiled briefly at his daughter.

'I must also do what the doctor
orders.' He bent and kissed Janey's upturned face, then
walked over to Kate, letting her precede him into the corridor. With the
bedroom door closed behind them his expression became heavy again. This is the
third attack she's had in a week. Maybe she should go to Switzerland at once
and not wait for the spring term.’

Kate opened her mouth and then
stopped, afraid Janey might hear them. As if aware of
this Joshua led the way downstairs and into a room she had not seen before. It
was half library, half sitting room, with two walls lined with books and one
with shelves filled with sporting trophies.

'Get it off your chest,' he said
crisply, and stood in front of the empty fire-grate, arms folded, brows drawn together above his firm nose. 'I knew when I
came in and saw you that you were ready to fire on all cylinders.'

‘What I have to say isn't based on
any personal reasons,' she said quietly, 'and to be honest I'd rather not say
it at all, but—well, your mother called me in to see Janey and asked if I would
look after her while your own doctor was away.'

'She had no right to do that,' he
cut in.

‘Why not?'

His eyes glittered like jet. ‘You've
made it so clear how little you think of me that I didn't feel you would wish
to take care of my daughter.'

I’m a doctor,' Kate said in
anguished tones. 'It's my duty to help sick people. My personal feelings don't
come into it.'

'I'm glad to hear that,' he said
sarcastically, ‘but please tell me what you wish to say to me.'

'It's about your sending Janey to
Switzerland. Are you doing it because you want her to be away from home or
because you genuinely believe it will help her asthma?'

'What do you think?'

'I think you're doing it because
you know she doesn't like Felicity.' Kate saw his face darken and had she not
been pleading for Janey she would have turned on her heel and left him. 'I
don't blame you for trying to take this way out, and if Janey were a normal
healthy little girl it might do her good to be away from home. One-parent
children can often become jealously possessive of that parent and———'

'Spare me textbook psychology,' he
interrupted. 'Just say your piece and be done with it.'

'It's a very simple piece,' Kate
said crisply.
‘I
don't believe Janey's asthma will be cured by living in
Switzerland. In fact if she's sent away from home it might get worse. What she
needs is love and——-'

‘
Don't
we all,' he quipped.

‘Please,' she begged, I’m talking
about your daughter. Do you think you could try not to be clever at my
expense?'

Shamefaced, he turned away from
her. I’m sorry, Kate. I happen to fee in a foul mood and… but do go on.’

‘I’ve almost finished. I know it
won't be easy for you to have Janey living here once you're married, but if
Felicity can be patient with her, I'm sure she'll improve.'

‘You seem determined to marry me
off.' Joshua swung round to face her.

He had lost some of his ruddy
colour since she had last seen him, and though still tanned, there was a greyness about his skin that made him look older. There
were also lines running across, his forehead that she had not noticed before.

'But then perhaps you are in a
marrying mood,' he went on. 'I understand you went to London with Dermot,’

‘Yes.'