She looked up and saw him staring at her.
‘Come back from wherever you are,’ he said. ‘You were miles away. What are you thinking?’
Their eyes met in a long, lingering gaze, and for a while neither spoke, both lost in the private world of their own thoughts. A pretty blush rose in Cryssie’s cheeks at what she’d been dwelling on a few seconds before! Imagine if she said, Well, Jed, I was actually thinking how good it would feel if you were to make love to me!
‘I wasn’t really thinking about anything,’ she lied. ‘Only that time seems to stand still in these places.’
And as for Jed, his own interpretation of what had been going on behind her captivating green eyes was that she probably wished she was safely home in bed, listening out for Milo. Yet he knew that wasn’t true. She’d insisted on being here with him. And there was no one in the world he’d rather have near him than this unlikely woman who seemed to have invaded every part of his consciousness since the day they’d met.
The minutes ticked by, with various comings and goings from the staff, and presently Jed said, ‘You must be worn out, Cryssie. But I don’t want you to go home yet…I mean, not now, in the middle of the night. Can you stay another couple of hours—until daylight? I’d feel happier you driving home then.’
‘Of course I can stay,’ Cryssie said at once. ‘And I don’t feel tired. I seldom do in emergencies.’
Jed nodded, pleased. Going out into the main ward, he brought back two soft chairs and put them together. ‘Here—no one’s going to need these until tomorrow,’ he said. ‘At least you can lie down for a bit. There’s even two cushions.’
Obediently Cryssie lay down, as instructed, and had to admit that it felt good to rest her back. It had been another long, long day, and in the silence of the room her eyes began to droop and her mind drifted briefly into a semi-doze.
Sitting there, Jed swept his gaze from his elderly father to the woman who hadn’t hesitated to drive a distance at night to be at his side His eyes softened as he watched her breathing gently, with one small hand tucked beneath her chin.
And, even in his present anxiety and concern, his overriding thought was that he was now more determined than ever that Cryssie should never escape his plan—for both their futures!
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
DURING the following days there was obviously a lot of discussion going on at Hydebound, as to whether the move to Latimer’s would now take place, given the traumatic time the Hunter family was going through. But one day Jed came into the office, unsmiling and businesslike as usual, to assure everyone that nothing had changed.
He was away a lot of the time after that, and Cryssie was glad of the respite it gave her—from seeing him, from thinking of how she was going to be strong enough to withstand his persistence. Because she knew he was not going to give up. Part of her so badly wanted to accept his proposal of marriage—yet there was a more than niggling doubt that she’d be doing the right thing. Her past would keep rearing its ugly head, filling her with misgivings, and Jed’s obvious motives just did not fit in with her own ideas of what made a successful marriage—one that would stand the test of time.
He had rung her several times with progress reports on his father’s condition, and for a long time it didn’t look good for Henry. Jed and Alice spent most of this time at his bedside, and Cryssie wished with all her heart that she could do something to help. But what could she do that they couldn’t afford to pay for? she asked herself.
One thing they could not buy was the ‘Get Well’ card which Milo made for the invalid. It showed a picture of a house with smoke coming from the chimney, and a garden with flowers, and two matchstick people playing football. And right around the four sides the little boy had added brightly coloured kisses, with the words ‘With love from Milo’ in his own childish writing added at the end.
Jed rang specially to speak to Milo, and the two held a long and serious conversation which Cryssie could only half-hear as she listened. But Milo’s face was wreathed in smiles as he heard what Jed was saying.
‘Well, what was all that about?’ she asked.
‘Not telling. It’s a secret,’ the child replied, running off.
Eventually, the call Cryssie most wanted to hear came, on a Saturday morning just as she was filling the machine with all their week’s washing.
‘Hi, Cryssie…I thought you’d like to know that my father came out of hospital yesterday, and—’
‘Oh, Jed! That’s terrific news! You said last week that they were a lot more optimistic. This is so good to hear!’