Nikki and the Lone Wolf / Mardie and the City Surgeon: Nikki and the Lone Wolf / Mardie and the City Surgeon

‘Say something bitter.’

‘I’m removing all fireside implements from rental properties.’

‘That’ll do,’ she said and let him go back to sleep.

At four she checked him again. Another slurred response but just as together. Excellent. One more check would get her in the clear, she thought. No more inspections of semi-naked landlords.

She wasn’t sure whether to be glad or sorry.

Glad, she told herself, astounded where her thoughts were taking her. Of course, glad.

She went back to bed. Tried not to think of half naked landlords.

Didn’t succeed.

At five-thirty Gabe’s phone rang. She was on her side of the wall with Gabe’s phone beside her bed. She answered. A woman’s voice. ‘Gabe? Where are you?’

‘Hi,’ she said cautiously. ‘This is Nikki, Gabe’s next door neighbour.’

‘The city chick,’ the woman said blankly.

‘That’s me.’

‘Where’s Gabe?’

‘I’m sorry, but Gabe had a bit of an accident last night. He won’t be in this morning.’

‘He won’t be in …’

‘He can’t come to work.’

‘What sort of an accident?’

‘He fell. He almost knocked himself out. He’s got a headache and a badly bruised face.’ No need to mention he had the bruised face before he fell.

‘Gabe turns up for work when he’s half dead.’ The woman sounded stunned. ‘How bad is he?’

‘Determined to come in but I’ve taken his alarm and his phone and he hasn’t woken up.’

There was a moment’s awed silence. Then … ‘Well, good for you, love. You’ve got him in bed, you keep him there. When he wakes up, tell him Frank’s rung in and his head cold’s worse, so it would have only been me on board with him. The Mariette’s short a crew member as well, so I’ll go on the Mariette and the Lady Nell can stay in port. That’ll play into your hands as well. He no longer has a crew. You keep him in bed with my blessings, for as long as you want. Go for it, girl.’

She disconnected. Laughing.

Nikki stared at the phone as if it stung.

This was a small town. This’d be all over town in minutes.

How would Gabe react?

Um … what had she done?

Whatever. It was done now. She had an hour before the next check.

She really was incredibly tired.

She put her head on her pillow and closed her eyes.

She forgot to set the alarm.

Gabe woke and sunshine was flooding his bedroom. This on its own was a novelty. If the weather was decent he was out fishing, as simple as that.

He opened one eye and tried to figure it out. Why the sunbeams?

His head hurt a bit, not too much, just a dull ache. If he lay still and only opened the one eye it didn’t hurt at all.

The sun was streaming through his window. He felt …

Suddenly wide awake. He turned to the bedside table, looking for his clock in disbelief.

No clock.

He groped for his phone.

No phone.

What the …?

His watch.

It was eight o’clock. Eight! He’d slept for ten hours.

The boat. The crew. They’d be waiting.

Where were his …?

Nikkita.

Hitting him on the head was one thing; making him miss a day’s fishing was another. She was so out of here.

He threw back the covers and headed for the door, thumping the wall as he went, just to make sure she was awake.

Anger didn’t begin to describe what he was feeling. Women!

The thump on her bedroom wall was loud enough to wake the dead. She sat bolt upright. Stared at the clock.

Uh-oh. Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh.

Eight o’clock. She might just have slept in.