Her Consultant Boss

‘One of my neighbour’s little boys fell over a ladder that had been left out.’ The fact that the child had been hurt made her angry, just thinking about it. Even if Sam was her boss as well as her landlord, it was only right that he should have the truth spelt out to him. ‘It should never have been there in the first place. I really think you should tell your workmen that they need to make sure that they put their equipment away at the end of each day.’

He frowned. ‘They’re supposed to do that. There’s a brick-built store to one side of the balcony where they can put away their ladders and tools at the end of the day.’ His expression became serious. ‘So, tell me—what happened to the boy? How badly was he hurt? Mrs Carter wasn’t specific about what has been going on.’

‘Jamie, the little boy from the flat next door, hurt his ankle. He was in a lot of pain.’

‘And is he all right now?’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Does he need to go to the hospital for an X-ray?’

Megan threw him a sharp glance. ‘No—if that had been called for, I would have seen to it, wouldn’t I? As it was, I had a look at him and I’m sure nothing was broken. I bound the ankle up for him so that he would feel more comfortable. I’ve also advised his mother what she should do for him to make him feel better.’

‘Lucky for Jamie, then, that you were around.’

‘That’s as maybe,’ she remarked tautly. ‘The point is, it could have turned out to be a far more serious incident, with an altogether more devastating outcome. It isn’t right that the children were allowed to get themselves into that kind of situation. I think you should deal with it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.’

He sent her a sharp glance. ‘And you should know that it goes without saying that I will look into this. That’s why I’m here.’

She frowned at him in return. ‘Well, I’m glad to hear it. Although I must say that I hadn’t really expected you to come along today—after all, it’s out of working hours now and you can hardly get in touch with the workmen until Monday. Still, I suppose the fact that you’ve been able to decide that something needs doing is a start.’

His mouth twisted. ‘You have a very sharp tongue, Dr Llewellyn,’ he said with a bite. ‘Perhaps you should be careful that it doesn’t get you into trouble one of these days.’

His rebuke made her think twice about what she had said. Had she gone too far? She winced inwardly. Probably. This kind of thing was always happening to her. She often said what she thought when sometimes it would have been better to hold back and dial her brain first.

‘It’s been a long day,’ she murmured, backpedalling. ‘I’ve only just moved in here, and I’ve had a lot to do to get things straight. I expect we should both take time to calm down. Besides,’ she added on a defensive note, ‘you have me at a disadvantage. I’m not used to talking to people when I’m half-dressed. It doesn’t do much for my powers of concentration.’

Unexpectedly, he laughed at that, his eyes crinkling attractively. ‘I can’t say that it does an awful lot for mine either.’ He tossed her a flame-filled glance. ‘Perhaps I should leave you for a while so that you can get yourself together.’

He turned towards the door. ‘I think I’ll go and look in on young Jamie and see for myself how he’s doing.’

Megan watched him go, annoyed with herself for getting into this situation. And it wasn’t over yet, was it? He had said he was leaving her for a while—didn’t that mean that he would be back?

Knowing him, he wouldn’t leave things as they were. He would deal with everything, down to the smallest detail, just as he did at work. And that being the case, she would have to get a move on and get herself organised.

Hurrying into her bedroom, Megan riffled through the clothes in her wardrobe and grabbed the first item that came to hand, a pale blue shift dress. She quickly slid it over her head and then smoothed it carefully down over her hips. Viewing the result in the mirror, she decided it didn’t look too bad. The material was a soft wool and the colour brought out the highlights in her hair.

Belatedly, she wondered whether it was wise to draw attention to those vibrant, wayward curls. Dragging a comb through them seemed to make little difference. Still, it was too late to change things now. She had the feeling that he would be back at any moment, and she was determined that this time she would be properly dressed.

Sam’s knock on the door came as she was brewing up a fresh pot of coffee. Hurrying to answer the summons, she remembered to pull the door wide open and invite him in this time.

‘I thought you might come back,’ she said, leading the way into the small kitchen. ‘I’ve just made coffee. Would you like some?’

‘Thanks, yes, I would.’ His glance travelled over her, making her suddenly conscious of the way the dress clung to her curves.

‘You didn’t need to get changed on my account,’ he murmured, and she wondered whether she detected a note of amusement in his tone.

Her head went up, and she said evenly, ‘I thought it was for the best.’

‘As you please.’

Megan cleared her throat. ‘Is Jamie OK?’

‘He appears to be.’ He pulled up a barstool and leaned negligently by the breakfast bar, one foot hooked around the leg of the stool. His legs were disturbingly long, Megan thought, distracted. He seemed to fill the small kitchen.

She took a couple of mugs down from the shelf, and tried to concentrate on what he was saying.

‘When I arrived there, he was making the most of the attention, sitting on the settee with his leg up on a cushion and watching his favourite video.’

‘That’s good.’ She pushed a mug of coffee towards him. ‘Help yourself to cream and sugar.’

He looked at her thoughtfully as he stirred his coffee. ‘I am sure he deserves some sympathy,’ he murmured, ‘but how much he should receive depends on your viewpoint, of course.’

Megan frowned. ‘I’m not sure that I know what you mean.’

He added cream to the cup. ‘Since he probably brought the injury upon himself, maybe he doesn’t deserve all the fuss he’s getting.’

Her eyes widened. ‘How can you say such a thing?’ she demanded crossly. ‘That poor child is a victim of your workmen’s carelessness. How can you possibly suggest that he shouldn’t get all the sympathy due to him?’

‘You’re right, in part,’ he said with cool deliberation. ‘To some extent the men were careless. After all, they forgot to lock up the storage shed after they cleared away.’

Puzzled, she stared at him. ‘I’m afraid you’re not making any sense to me,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘The ladder was propped up against the wall, for all to see, and yet you’re telling me that the men put it away. It simply doesn’t add up.’

‘It won’t, put like that.’ He made a faint smile. ‘You forget that we’re dealing with children, here…with young boys, in fact. They do tend to get themselves into trouble from time to time, doing things that they’re not supposed to.’

‘Such as?’

‘Such as going through the store to see what they could find. They thought it would be a good game to get the ladder out and see if they could reach the roof. Fortunately, as it turned out, they weren’t able to do that.’

‘Oh, my!’ She looked at him, her blue eyes stunned. ‘I had no idea.’

‘So I gather. Actually, it isn’t the first time they’ve raided the store. Despite your experience of working with young children, perhaps you have little idea of what they’re like in their home environment.’

His tone was clipped, and she remembered the accusations she had made. Had she really lectured him on his responsibilities as a landlord? She swallowed hard. ‘I seem to have… I, er… I didn’t know that the boys had brought this on themselves.’

‘No.’

She hunted around for a way to apologise. ‘I was wrong. I thought that they had suffered because of someone else’s negligence.’ She thought about that for a moment, then said slowly, ‘Of course, you do realise that they shouldn’t have been able to get into the store in the first place.’

He nodded. ‘I certainly do, and that’s why I shall be having a word with the men on Monday. In the meantime, I’ve called in a locksmith to come and fit a padlock. The lock has been changed once before, but one or both of the boys seems to have learned how to get into places by using a hairpin.’ He grimaced. ‘They’ve come unstuck this time. I’m going to have an alarm fitted to make sure nothing like this can happen again.’

Megan winced. ‘I’m really sorry that I dragged you down here for nothing. If I’d known that the boys had been messing about, I wouldn’t have said anything.’

He looked at her sternly. ‘I expect you to keep me informed of anything that’s not right. If someone is hurt on my property, I want to know about it. You live here now, and that’s part of your responsibility as a tenant.’

He glanced down at his watch. ‘I should go. I had to leave a dinner appointment to come here and sort this out, but there may still be time for me to go back and salvage what’s left of the evening.’

Now she felt even worse than before.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said again.

‘Don’t be. You did what you thought was right.’ He walked to the door. ‘Thank you for the coffee.’ His grey glance drifted over her, appraising her thoughtfully. ‘I’ll say goodnight, Dr Llewellyn, and I’ll see you on Monday morning, bright and early. I shall want see the results of those tests you ordered for Matthew.’