The Taming of Dr. Alex Draycott (6 page)

‘I know.’ She frowned. ‘I kept thinking we’d wait until I have some time off from work, in the summer holidays. As it is, I have a mass of work to do here. I’m halfway through painting the living room, I have to do something about the blocked-up chimney in the dining room, and the kitchen cupboards need stripping down to bare wood so that they can be restored to what they once were. And that’s not counting the roof tiles that need replacing and the plumbing that needs to be fixed. I just don’t know when I’m supposed to do all this.’

‘Later,’ he said. ‘All those things can wait. You need to get your priorities sorted out.’

‘Do I?’ She made a soft sound of exasperation. ‘That’s easy for you to say, isn’t it? You’re not involved. As far as I can tell, everything’s going smoothly for you, and all you have to do is make sure your aunt is safe and secure.’

‘Maybe, but I’d like to do what I can to help you. I’m sure we can find a solution.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean how about I take a look at the plumbing, while you clear the table and get everyone ready for a trip to the coast? I know a lovely little cove not far from here, where the children can fish in the rock pools.’

‘Yes!’

‘Yes!’

Alex looked round in astonishment as James and Sarah both shouted gleefully, whooping with delight. ‘Say yes, Auntie Alex…please say yes.’ Sarah turned pleading blue eyes on Alex, and James’s face was lit up with joyful expectation.

Alex was stunned to find that they had both been listening to her conversation with Callum. She turned to him. ‘Now look what you’ve done.’

Callum’s expression was bland. ‘Who? Me? I didn’t do anything. I just offered to try and fix the taps for you. If you want me to leave it, that’s fine by me.’

‘No, no…Auntie Alex, don’t let him leave it…’ Sarah was beside herself with dismay. ‘You keep saying how you’re going to…knock that pipe into next week if it doesn’t stop playing up. Now you don’t have to. I know he can fix it for us…or at least he can try.’

‘And then we can go to the seaside,’ James finished.

‘Yeah!’ They both added the chorus.

Alex melted at the sight of the children’s eager faces. ‘I don’t see how I have any choice.’ She looked at Callum and gave a faint shake of her head. ‘There are a thousand and one jobs I should be doing, but now it looks as though I’ll be spending the afternoon by the sea.’ She gave him a mischievous look. ‘Maybe you could help out in other ways,’ she suggested with a wry smile. ‘Perhaps you’d like to come and do my laundry while you’re about it, and mop the floors?’

His mouth twisted. ‘Sorry, but I don’t do domestic. I come from a household steeped in tradition—Aunt Jane did all the homely things, and my uncle ran the show from his study. He always had lots of advice on how things should be done…but leave it to the women, he used to say.’

Her mouth curved. ‘Well, let’s hope at least you can fix the plumbing,’ she said. ‘That would be a definite bonus.’

He nodded. ‘I’ll need a carrier bag and a sponge of some sort if you have one?’

She stared at him blankly. ‘Those aren’t the usual plumbing tools, are they? I can offer you spanners, a wrench, hammers…pliers or grips…’

‘A carrier bag and sponge will be just fine, thanks…and some plastic adhesive tape if you have it.’

She frowned. ‘Okay.’ She studied him briefly. ‘Are you quite sure you know what you’re doing?’

He nodded. ‘I hope so.’

She went to fetch him what he needed, and then sent the children upstairs to get ready for their outing. ‘You’ll need a spare set of clothes in case anything gets wet,’ she told them. ‘And you’d better hunt out your swimsuit and trunks.’

‘Seaside! Yay!’ James ran up the stairs, followed swiftly by Sarah. ‘Can we take the fishing nets?’ he called back.

‘I’ll get them,’ Alex told him. She stopped to think about that for a moment or two. Last time she’d seen them, they’d been at the back of the shed, along with buckets and spades from previous years…years when they’d gone with their parents to spend time by the sea, digging in the sand and making spectacular sandcastles, with moats and drawbridges, and all sorts of embellishments made from shells and pebbles that they’d found lying about. She’d seen the photos, and heard all about it from Ross and Beth.

The memories brought sudden tears to her eyes. How could she ever hope to replace all that love and commitment, even for a short time? Would things be the same for them ever again?

‘Are you all right?’ Callum was looking at her oddly, and Alex blinked, trying to stem the tears that threatened.

‘I’m fine,’ she said, her voice a little choked. ‘I was just thinking about Ross and Beth…it caught me unawares. I suppose I’ve been a bit wound up lately, trying to work out how to deal with everything.’

He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close. ‘You’re bound to feel that way,’ he said softly. ‘So much has happened in such a short time.’ He ran his hands over her shoulders, her back, gently soothing her.

‘I’m just afraid I’ve let them down.’ Her voice faltered. ‘It’s as though I’ve been suffering from tunnel vision lately, trying to form order out of chaos. I’ve concentrated so hard on dealing with day-to-day life…it all seemed so important at the time.’

He rested his cheek against hers. ‘Perhaps it was the only way you could cope. But what really matters is that they should be happy. You can’t make up for this awful thing that has struck down their parents, but you can do something to help the children.’

She nodded. ‘You’re right. I know you’re right.’

He smiled. ‘Anyway, you could do with a break yourself. It’s time to step off the treadmill—so, if you’ll pass me the sponge and tape, I’ll get on.’

He carefully released her, easing back from her a little, and she took a moment to get used to being on her own once again. She missed his warm embrace. She missed his closeness.

But she needed to pull herself together, so she went to find the things he needed.

She handed them to him a minute or so later, and then watched curiously as he placed the sponge inside the carrier bag and taped it firmly beneath the outlet of the tap.

‘First we switch on the cold tap,’ he said, ‘then the hot. Wait for the gurgling to stop…then turn off the hot tap.’ He waited a moment or two, leaving the cold tap running, and then abruptly removed the bag and sponge. Water spurted out.

‘We’ll try that one or two times more,’ he murmured, ‘and see if it does the trick. It’s just an airlock that’s causing the trouble.’

A minute or two later, the water was running freely, and Alex watched and marvelled. ‘Thank you for that,’ she said. ‘I would never have guessed it was something so simple. I can see I’m going to have to get myself a book on how to fix things around the house…or find a decent internet site that explains everything in layman’s terms.’

‘As opposed to having a man around the place?’ He sent her an oblique glance, a smile playing around his lips. ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer your own handy-man on the premises?’

Her mouth curved. ‘Are you putting yourself forward for the job?’

‘Oh, yes.’ His glimmering gaze skimmed over her. ‘With perks, of course…’

‘Oh?’ She looked at him warily. ‘And they would be?’

‘Well, let’s see…you could pay me with tea and pizza, or maybe a slice of strawberry cream cake…’

‘That sounds reasonable enough,’ she said with a smile. ‘I think we could manage both of those.’

‘Hmm.’ He dried his hands on a tea towel and then turned to face her once more. ‘Though there are other far more interesting ways I could think of.’ His gaze lingered on the pink fullness of her mouth, and she simply stood there for a moment, lured by the sheer invitation in those incredible blue eyes and wondering what it would be like to be kissed by him. Somehow he was so close that it would only take a breath of movement, and his lips would be touching hers. She felt heady with the intensity of the moment, lulled by the spell he was weaving around her.

‘James wants to take his snorkel and flippers,’ Sarah said, coming into the kitchen at that moment. ‘I told him we’re not going swimming, but he won’t listen. And he thinks we’re going to take the dinghy and his wooden boat as well as the beach ball.’

Alex came back down to earth with a bump. She gave Callum one last, cautious glance, and saw that his mouth had curved into a resigned smile. ‘Tell him the beach ball and his wooden boat are fine,’ she said, trying to keep her voice on an even keel. ‘And we’d better get a move on if we’re to have plenty of time at the beach.’

She turned to Callum, breathing in deeply to calm herself. ‘Will your aunt be okay while we’re out? It seems like the wrong time to leave her.’

‘I’m sure she’ll be fine. Martha from across the way is coming over to visit her this afternoon, so at least she’ll have company. Anyway, she knows to ring me if there’s a problem…but I’ll go and have a word with her right now, and then we’ll set off.’ He paused a moment, then added, ‘You might want to ask Martha about looking after the children during the school holidays, if my aunt’s going to be out of action for a while. She used to foster children, so I know she’d like the opportunity.’

‘Really? That’s great. I’ll talk to her about it.’ She marvelled at his thoughtfulness. She’d been trying to work out what to do for the best, and he had come up with a solution. Having him around was turning out to be a boon.

‘Good. And as to what we were saying before…I’ll come round and give you a hand with some of the jobs you have to do around here. I’m quite handy with a paintbrush and I’m not too bad on fixing roof tiles either. Between us, we should soon have this place looking good.’

‘Oh…that’s really thoughtful of you.’ The words left her on a soft breath of surprise and, impulsively, she reached out to touch his arm. ‘That’s a wonderful offer, but you don’t need to do that. I took it on, and it’s my problem. I’m the one who should deal with it.’

‘I don’t see it as a problem. I see it as a project. I’ll be really glad of the chance to help you renovate this place on my days off. It’ll be good to have something to do that’s completely different from work at the hospital.’ He smiled as he walked towards the door. ‘And it will give us the chance to spend more time together.’

She stared at him in shock, stunned by his offer. Did he really want to spend his weekends with her?

By the time he came back from Jane’s house, they were all ready to set off. James was wearing his super-spy slimline shades, and Sarah had her favourite drinks bottle with the curly plastic straw.

Callum drove along the main road towards the coast, pointing out the various landmarks along the way. Soon, the rolling hills of the Quantocks gave way to Exmoor’s rugged landscape, with majestic headlands, towering cliffs and beautiful bays. The sea was a perfect blue.

‘I thought we’d stop at a little cove near here,’ he said, as he turned the car onto a road leading towards the sea. ‘It’s sheltered by the cliffs, so you can get some shade from the sun, and when the tide’s out, as it is now, it leaves behind lots of pools where you can find baby crabs.’

He parked the car and looked back at James. ‘Did you bring a bucket?’

James nodded, holding up a huge blue bucket, shaped like a castle. ‘For the crabs,’ he said.

‘Good. A boy after my own heart,’ Callum said. He glanced at Sarah. ‘Are you all right with crabbing? Not squeamish, are you?’

Sarah shook her head. ‘But Auntie Alex isn’t too keen. She doesn’t like their little pincers.’

He laughed. ‘I might have guessed.’ He sent Alex a sympathetic look. ‘Not to worry. You can collect shells and seaweed instead, if you like.’

‘Thank you so much,’ Alex answered, her tone dry. ‘I can’t think of anything I’d like more.’

He nodded. ‘You will, once you get the hang of this “taking things easy” exercise.’

‘Of course I will,’ she murmured. ‘I have vague memories of it, from when I was in my teens, I think.’

‘What it is to be focussed,’ he said softly. ‘Is your career really the be-all and end-all of everything?’

They climbed out of the car, unloading rubber rings, a huge beach ball, the bag with towels and a change of clothes, and another bag with camera, drinks bottles and assorted paraphernalia.

‘Do you remember good times by the sea with your parents?’ Alex asked Callum as they walked down the cliff path to the sand below.

‘Some,’ he said. ‘But mostly I went with Aunt Jane and my uncle. They’d let me bring a friend along, sometimes a couple of friends, and we had some great times.’ He looked around. ‘This was a favourite haunt.’

She nodded, looking around for a place where they could settle down when they reached the sandy beach. ‘I can see why. It has everything you could want.’

She handed out buckets and spades, and the children set to work, digging in the sand. ‘I’m going to make a fort,’ James announced, ‘with battlements and a moat.’

Alex gazed out over the sparkling waters of the Bristol Channel, and then looked back at the cliffs, layered with strata of shale, and blue, yellow and brown limestone. ‘This place is fantastic.’

‘It is,’ Callum agreed. ‘I used to hunt for fossils in those rocks. It was great fun.’

‘I can imagine.’

They spent the next hour digging in the sand and fetching water from the sea so that James and Sarah could complete their grand castle. That done, they set off to explore the cove, treading carefully over flat rocks and peering down into rocky inlets where the tide had washed up all manner of seaweed and sea creatures.

James filled his bucket with baby crabs, while Sarah collected shells, looking for perfect specimens. ‘I want to take them to the hospital to show Mum,’ she said.

Alex watched as they padded over the damp sand. Callum bent to look at James’s latest find, and the two males engaged in a deep discussion about how the creature moved and whether it could live out of water. Then Callum turned to Sarah and admired the perfectly intact cockleshell she had discovered.

He was good with both of them, Alex acknowledged. He spoke to them quietly, interested in everything they had to say, and every now and then his gentle laughter floated on the air.