Worlds Apart (10 page)

“How can I help you?” Roo whispered back.

“I think my husband’s cheating on me.”

“What makes you think that?”

Roo gulped as water poured through the flood gates. Receipts for hotel rooms, late nights at the office, an unfamiliar scent, leaving the room to answer a call on his mobile. And after Alice had detailed all that, she went through it again, making excuses. Her husband was covering for a colleague over the hotel room, he had a huge deal he was brokering—hence the late nights, the scent was some trigger-happy sales woman in a department store, and he hadn’t wanted to disturb her TV program by taking a call in the room.

“Do you think he’s cheating?” Alice asked.

Roo swallowed hard. “Do you? Deep down is that what you think?”

“Yes.”

“Then he probably is.”

“No, no.” More wailing. “I need to know for sure. Will you follow him?”

“Do you have kids?” Roo asked.

“No.”

“You don’t work together?”

“No.”

“Give me your details and I’ll ask my boss when he comes back. Is there a number he can call or do you want to call back this afternoon?”

Roo picked up a sheet of paper and wrote everything down.

Niall came into the room while she was still speaking. He mimed drinking a cup of coffee and Roo wanted to kiss him. Well, she would have wanted to kiss him whether he was miming that or not, but she nodded her thanks. He leaned against the doorframe watching her.

“Have you actually asked him directly if he’s cheating on you?” Roo posed the question more to prove she was actually talking to a client and not some distant relative in Australia. Not that she had any relations in Australia.

“No,” said Alice. “I just couldn’t.”

“Is he violent?”

“James would never hit me.”

“Then maybe you should outright ask him—are you cheating on me? He might confess and you’d save yourself some money.”
Oh shit.
Roo didn’t dare look at Niall.

“But if he isn’t, I’d have wrecked everything. I’ll call back this afternoon. Thanks for listening.”

“You’re welcome.” Roo put down the phone and looked up at Niall. “Was that wrong?”

“Not my business. Come in the kitchen,” Niall said.

Roo pushed herself up and followed him. “They should talk though, right? They might able to sort things out. I think people don’t talk nearly enough and I blame television.”

She sighed with pleasure when she walked into the room. A large red stove dominated one wall and the storage cupboards were constructed of old oak. A long wooden table sat in the middle of the kitchen, and there was an overstuffed crimson couch pushed against the back wall next to French doors that looked out onto a garden bursting with color. This looked so cozy and comfortable and homely, and so much like the kitchen Roo dreamed of having but knew she never would, that a lump rose into her throat.

Niall poured two mugs of coffee. “Milk, sugar?”

“Neither, thank you. Would it be terribly rude if I asked for a slice of toast?”

He laughed. “Terribly. One slice?”

“Four would be better.” Roo slammed a hand to her mouth. “Sorry.”

Niall pulled out a chair. “Sit down.”

“This is lovely,” she said.
You’re lovely.

Niall lifted the lids off the hot plates and put two—
darn it
—slices of bread between a couple of large wire disks.

“How are you getting on?” he asked.

“Fine. You don’t work with Taylor then?”

Niall carried a butter dish to the table, together with a plate and a knife.

“No, though I did a job with him last night.” He turned the toaster over and Roo’s stomach rumbled at the smell of bread crisping.

“What did you do?” she asked.

“Decoy work.”

“Like a wooden duck?”

Niall smiled. “We went to a club in Leeds and taped a woman who was prepared to cheat on her husband.”

“Ah, so you flirted with her. Made like a drake to attract a…hen.”

Niall put the slices of toast on a plate, pushed it in front of her and sat opposite. “I danced with her.”

Roo wondered how anyone could resist him. Didn’t seem fair. Good thing she wasn’t married. “Definitely entrapment.”
Bother. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.

Niall cocked his head on one side. “You’ve never seen me dance.”

He could have moved with the grace of a duck on ice and Roo would have danced with him if he’d asked. Not that he’d ask.

The butter melted on the toast and Roo could barely stand to waste time spreading it before she bit off a corner. She let out a moan. “Oh God, that is so good.”

Niall laughed. “It’s just toast.”

Made by a handsome man.

“So what do you do?” Roo buttered the other slice while she ate the first.

“Take care of the garden. This house belongs to Taylor’s parents. They’ve moved to Spain and they’ve let me live here rent free for the last few months in return for maintaining the grounds. The place is for sale but there doesn’t seem to have been much interest so far.”

“I didn’t see a
For Sale
board.”

“No point. There’s no way out of this end of Thorpe Lane so no one’s going to be driving past to entice with a board.”

“How many bedrooms?”

“Seven.”

“Whoa, that’s a lot.”

“Big garden too. Would you like me to show you outside?”

“I’d love to see the garden, but I better not. I’ll take the coffee back into the office and get on with sorting stuff out before Taylor comes back with his whip.”
God, rip out my tongue now.

Niall edged closer. “It won’t take long. The grounds look delightful first thing in the morning. Come and take a walk with me.”

“That woman never stood a chance.” Roo grabbed the coffee and fled.

Chapter Seven

Roo launched herself at the piles of paperwork and within minutes wondered what the hell Taylor’s last PA had done all day. Nothing seemed to be in order. The wrong papers in files, everything jumbled inside them. She’d been right about one thing, doing this gave her a broad knowledge of ICU. The depressing side of the business, revealing cheats and fraudsters, by far overwhelmed the happier side, locating missing people and reuniting them with their families. No wonder Taylor was grumpy and disillusioned with life.

Over the course of the morning Roo took several phone calls and carefully logged and detailed each one. When she tired of staring at a blank wall, she turned her desk so it stood sideways to the window, then shifted Taylor’s desk so it did the same. She tidied until there wasn’t anything left to tidy and cursed herself for not getting the computer password before Taylor left.

At noon, Roo nipped into the kitchen to fill her water bottle. She put it back in her bag and bent to stow it under her desk.

“That looks good,” Niall said.

Roo spun round and bumped her head. That guy had feet of air, and something about him had every cell in her body jumping up and down in excitement.

“My bum or the office?” Roo asked.

“Not sure. Want to bend over again?”

Roo raised her eyebrows. “That was a test.”

“Office?”

She raised her eyebrows even higher.

“Office,” he said in a firm voice.

Roo smiled.

“Going to break for lunch?” Niall asked.

“I forgot to bring sandwiches. I’ll just keep working.”

He walked across the room and it was all Roo could do to stand her ground. She’d flirted and was asking for trouble, but while part of her wanted to throw herself into Niall’s arms, the other part of her wanted to run. She ignored both voices and didn’t move.

Niall stopped a foot or so away and frowned. “What are you frightened of?”

Roo bristled. “I’m not frightened of anything.” She chewed her lip. “Well, I’m not keen on great white sharks. I think if I found myself in the water with one, I’d be scared sh—witless. And I don’t like snakes that can launch themselves across a room, though I’ve only seen that happen in a horror film. And I’m really not keen on vultures because I can’t help thinking that if I tripped over and hit my head, they might think I was dead, and I think I’d be scared if…I…saw…a…dragon.”

A finger moving toward her lips slowed her down and then shut her up. Niall’s mouth twitched. “I’ve made you a sandwich. Come and sit in the garden. A lot of dragons out there, but I promise to protect you.”

“Thanks.”

“And I don’t bite,” Niall said. “Not unless requested.”

Roo let out a strangled whimper. “Neither do I unless something looks tasty.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Join me?”

It seemed churlish to refuse and food was food. “Okay.”

He gave her a slow smile and she melted. Not completely, but mostly. Niall went into the kitchen and emerged with two small paper bags and bottles of water.

“Picnic,” he said.

Roo followed him over a perfectly striped lawn to a central door in a high stone wall that ran across the whole garden. Niall held it open and Roo went through.

“Oh wow,” she whispered. “Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.”

As she stepped forward, the sun came out and Roo could almost sense the flowers turning their faces to the light. It was a riot of color everywhere she looked. Niall plucked a bud from the nearest plant and squeezed the neck. The flower opened as if it had a hinged jaw.

He smiled. “Quite safe to put your finger in the mouth of a snapdragon.”

Roo put her little finger into the flower and Niall let it go. It closed on her and she laughed in delight. He pressed the neck to open it and then stuck the flower in Roo’s hair. Niall walked around telling her the names of everything, none of which Roo remembered. It wasn’t that she had a bad memory, but she worked better with written notes. In all directions there was something different to see. A tree house, a hot tub, lines of vegetables, fruit trees, and lots and lots of flowers. She loved the fact that the garden was enclosed by walls, as if it were some secret magical place.

“Nothing ripe yet, but these are apple, pear and cherry trees,” Niall said. “That’s a mulberry bush. We could sit here under the walnut tree.” Niall dropped to the grass.

Roo sat opposite and stretched out her legs next to his.

“What’s your favorite sandwich?” Niall asked.

“Lettuce, camembert and cranberry.”

He gave an astonished laugh. “You’re joking.”

Roo shook her head and when she looked in the bag, saw what appeared to be a lettuce, camembert and cranberry sandwich. “I’m a bit spooked now.”
A lot spooked.

But it didn’t diminish her appetite.

When Roo licked her fingers and savored the last tasty mouthful, she glanced across at Niall to see he was only halfway through eating his.
He’ll think I’m a pig.

“Hungry? Even after that toast?” he asked.

“Well, I did ask for four slices and disappointingly you only gave me two.”

He chuckled. “I thought you were joking.”

Roo looked in the bag. “Cake as well?”

“A chocolate brownie. I made it.”

“Oh yum. Don’t watch me,” Roo begged. “I’m such a monster with chocolate. Close your eyes and count to ten…no, three, and you can open them again.”

Niall frowned. “You can’t eat that in three seconds.”

“Want a bet?”

“Go on then, but I have to watch.”

Roo sniffed. “You think I’m going to cheat?” Actually, she
had
intended to cheat. She wanted to take it back and eat it in the tent tonight to compensate for cold SpaghettiOs.

“What do I get if I can do it?” Roo asked.

“What do you want?” He stared straight at her and Roo’s organs liquefied.
I could ask for a kiss. We’re flirting after all.

“Your brownie,” she said.

He laughed. “Go for it.”

Roo broke hers in half inside the bag as she pulled it out and held it in such a way that Niall couldn’t tell. Staring him straight in the eyes, which she hoped would distract him from looking too closely at her hand, she pushed the whole thing in her mouth and chewed frantically.

“One elephant, two elephants, three elephants,” Niall said.

“Gone,” Roo spluttered and swallowed the last crumbs.

Niall narrowed his eyes. “Fibber.”

Roo ran her tongue over her teeth and opened her mouth. “Not. See?”

His gaze dropped to the paper bag at her side.

“Better get back to work,” Roo said and rose to her feet, the bag clutched in her hand.

Niall was up and in her face before she could take a step. “Show me.”

“Show you what?” Roo took a step backward.

“You know what I do to little girls who tell fibs?”

She took another step backward, though she wasn’t frightened. “Pin them out for vultures?”