Falling for Her Impossible Boss

‘Don’t be daft.’ But the look that Kate and Connor exchanged was lingering and very exclusive. Bella couldn’t help feeling left out. Lonely, almost.

‘How was work?’ Kate asked. ‘Did you get into any trouble?’

‘Almost. I got busted taking a line-dancing class by none other than Oliver Dawson.’

‘Uh-oh.’ Connor was grinning. ‘You really know how to push his buttons, don’t you?’

Oh … she wished. If Connor hadn’t been there, she might have blurted out the whole story to Kate but the fact that Oliver’s mother was an inpatient was being kept under wraps, wasn’t it? She’d told Sally she was capable of being discreet. With an enormous effort, Bella put a lid on her inside information.

‘What’s his deal?’ she asked Connor, who had finished scooping cat food into a saucer and had now turned his attention to a rather nice-looking bottle of red wine. ‘Why is he so … uptight?’

Connor shrugged. ‘Goes with the territory, I guess.’

‘What territory?’ Bella remembered that Kate had said something similar once about Oliver’s background—excusing him when he’d contributed to a bad day by telling her off in public—but she was curious to hear Connor’s take on the man. Oddly, she was suddenly aware of a very intense curiosity about anything to do with Oliver Dawson.

‘Being a pillar of society. Number one on the rich list. Following in the footsteps of Sir David Matthews can’t have been an easy road. Especially when he didn’t go into the family business.’

‘Which was?’

Connor pulled the cork from the bottle. ‘Something that made a serious amount of money. Too many companies to list, probably. Commercial stuff, anyway. I should think it was quite a rebellion to take up medicine.’

‘He died a while ago, didn’t he?’ Kate put in. ‘Sir David? I seem to remember that there was some big mystery about it all. Lady Dawson vanished from the social scene anyway and there was a rumour there was more to it than grief.’

‘Lady Dorothy.’ Bella couldn’t help the correction.

Kate raised her eyebrows. ‘How do you know her name?’

‘Must have heard it mentioned somewhere and remembered,’ Bella said vaguely. ‘Information is power and all that, you know.’

‘Mmm.’ Kate was trying not to smile. ‘Talking about information … shall we tell her, Connor?’

‘Might be a good idea,’ he said. ‘Seeing as she’s going to be chief bridesmaid.’

‘The only bridesmaid,’ Kate shot back. ‘This is going to be a quiet affair, remember?’

‘Oh, my God …’ Bella ran to hug her aunt. ‘You’ve set a date? For the wedding?’

Kate hugged her back, nodding happily. ‘In a month’s time. I didn’t want to risk you deciding to shoot off overseas early or something.’

‘Not much chance of that, the way my saving is going.’ But Bella shook off the depressing thought. ‘This is so cool. Where is it going to be?’

‘We’re thinking Piha beach.’

‘A beach wedding? Excellent. And are you having a honeymoon?’

‘For a few days maybe. At a beach where it’s a bit safer to swim. Rarotonga or Samoa. Would you be able to cat-sit if we were away?’

‘No worries. I’d love to. Ooh … what are you going to wear? Hey … what am I going to wear?’

‘I’m out of here,’ Connor groaned. ‘I’ll take my wine and go and sit in the garden while you two do the girly thing.’ He crossed the kitchen to hand Kate a glass of wine and plant a soft kiss on her lips. ‘Call me when dinner’s ready?’

Bella watched him go as she took a sip of her own wine. The countdown had really begun. No way could she still be living in this house when these guys came back from their honeymoon.

She’d have to find a flat to share and that meant she’d have to start paying rent. The delicious aroma coming from the pasta sauce Kate was currently creating reminded her that she would have to spend more on food than she was allowed to contribute here as well. If the money in her savings account was going up so slowly now, how much worse would it be when she had to factor in additional living costs? The dreams of going overseas to get her wanderlust out of her system before she settled down to get married and have babies was starting to look like a rather big ask.

Maybe she could get some extra shifts at work. Bella made a mental note to ask Sally about it tomorrow.

‘I’m sorry, Bella, as much as I’d like to cure my staffing problems this way, there are rules about how many hours you can do on the trot. Double shifts aren’t allowed.’

‘OK. It was worth a try.’

Sally sighed. ‘I can’t even use you on the ward this morning, so I’ll have to get a temp in.’

‘What?’ Bella bit her lip. ‘Have I done something wrong? Was it my line-dancing class?’ Or had Oliver dobbed her in about sneaking the kitten into the ward last night?

No. As much as she knew he might have liked to do the right thing about breaking such rules, Bella had complete confidence that a promise had been made that would be kept. What had gone on in that room would stay in that room. Maybe that went with all the privileged background stuff too. Bella was quite sure that Oliver Dawson was a man of his word.

Sally laughed. ‘Not at all. No … Lady Dorothy apparently pulled some strings and declared that she doesn’t want another nurse in her room. You’re it.’

‘Can she do that?’

‘When you come from a family that’s supported hospital fundraising to the extent the Dawsons have, I think you can pretty much call the shots. Do you mind?’

‘Not at all. I really like her. She reminds me of my nanna.’

‘That’s good. I get the impression that Lady Dorothy can be formidable if she doesn’t get what she’s set her heart on.’

What Lady Dorothy had really set her heart on became apparent a little later that morning, after Bella had helped her get dressed and sat with her while the physiotherapist put her through a range of exercises intended to keep her joints mobile. Bella went to fetch Lady Dorothy a cup of the Earl Grey tea she preferred when the session was finished and when she came back, she found that Oliver was visiting his mother.

They seemed to be finishing a rather intense conversation, in fact.

‘I can’t stop you,’ Oliver was saying in a low voice. ‘It’s your life and your house, after all, but I think it’s ill-advised.’ When he saw Bella enter the room, he turned away, walking two strides to the outside window where he stood staring at a view she knew was not that fascinating.

Bella had made the tea cool enough to be safe and it was in a cup with a straw.

‘Put it there, dear.’ Lady Dorothy waved at her bedside table. ‘There’s something I want to talk to you about.’

Bella set the cup of tea down and turned. She looked at Lady Dorothy sitting up quite straight in her chair. She was smiling. She looked at Oliver’s back. He was standing very straight. Bella had the distinct impression that if he turned around, he would not be smiling.

‘I want to go home,’ Lady Dorothy announced. ‘But I realise I’m going to need some help until I get better. Oliver suggested that I get a private nurse.’

‘That sounds like a very good idea,’ Bella said cautiously, not sure what this had to do with her.

Lady Dorothy beamed at her. ‘So you’ll take the job, then?’

Bella’s jaw dropped. ‘I’m not a private nurse. I work here, at St Patrick’s.’

‘That’s what I told you, Mother,’ Oliver said, without turning around. ‘Private nurses probably have specialised training.’

‘Nonsense,’ Lady Dorothy said. ‘A nurse is a nurse.’ She was still smiling at Bella. ‘What’s to stop you taking on a private job?’

‘Oh … no, I couldn’t.’ Bella was taken aback. ‘I’m only working until I can save enough money to go overseas.’

‘There you go,’ Oliver said. ‘You need someone who can commit to more long-term employment.’

‘I’d pay you very well, dear.’ Lady Oliver frowned at Oliver’s back. ‘And Oliver won’t be in the way. His wing of the house is quite separate, really.’

Bella couldn’t help sucking in an audible breath. His wing of the house? Her astonishment came out as a rather different query, however. ‘You live with your mother?’

The back stiffened further, quite visibly, and Oliver turned to face Bella directly. Oh … Lord … how could she have forgotten just how intimidating this man could be? Except … something about his face reminded her of how he’d looked when she’d caught him out with the fast food. Was he embarrassed by the fact that he still lived with his mother?

Even though the tiny hint of vulnerability was quite appealing, Bella knew it would be a big mistake to smile.

‘How long is it going to take for you to save up to go overseas?’ Lady Dorothy seemed undeterred.

‘Um … a wee while, I guess.’ Bella had to look away from the direct stare she was receiving from Oliver. He didn’t approve of what his mother was trying to do here. What was the problem? Did he think she wasn’t good enough to care for his mother without the kind of supervisory hierarchy a hospital provided? Of course she was. If she wanted to be a private nurse, she would be an excellent one. It was, in fact, the type of job she was considering doing when she went overseas because she’d heard that it paid very well.

‘Is that why you live with your aunt? To help you save money?’

‘Partly.’ Bella turned her attention back to Lady Dorothy who was, after all, a much more likeable person than her son. ‘She’s also my favourite person in the world. She’s not that much older than me and she lived with my family for a long time.’ Bella was happy to change the subject because the idea of a job that would pay well enough to speed up her saving was rather tempting.

She also had to admit that Oliver was right. They needed someone who could commit long term. It wouldn’t be fair to Lady Dorothy to take on a job as her private nurse and then disappear off overseas in a few months. ‘She’s getting married soon and I’m going to be her bridesmaid.’

‘How exciting. I love weddings. Have you decided what to give them for a gift?’

‘No …’ Bella hadn’t thought about that at all. She wasn’t given time to think about it now either because Oliver made a kind of huffing noise and muttered something about having to get back to his ward round.

‘I’ll see you later, Mother. When I get a chance I’ll ring an agency and make some enquiries about private nursing arrangements.’

He nodded at Bella as he left. The matter was ended.

Lady Dorothy left the subject alone for the moment as well, moving on to an animated discussion about potential wedding gifts. Bella’s head was whirling with suggestions by the time she headed for her lunch break. Of course she wanted to give Kate and Connor something special but that was going to be awfully expensive, wasn’t it?

Bella took a few minutes to surf the internet while she had a coffee to end her break. It seemed like a good idea to try to reconnect with her dreams of overseas travel. She looked at the cost of flights and what she might have to pay for even cheap accommodation in a place like London. She reminded herself that she would need to factor in the cost of eating at least occasionally and allow for it taking a bit of time to find a new job. Then she scribbled on a piece of paper, trying to decide how long it would take her to save enough to spread her wings.

The results were depressing. It might take her a lot longer than the six months she’d been counting on given her determination to get out of Kate and Connor’s way by the time they came back from their honeymoon.

She screwed up the piece of paper and threw it into the bin in the nurses’ station. When she went back to Lady Dorothy’s room, it seemed like salt was being rubbed into the wound to find her patient brandishing a very similar-looking piece of paper.

‘There …’ Lady Dorothy was having difficulty keeping hold of the paper but managed to push it towards Bella. ‘That’s how much I’ll pay you to come and be my nurse. I don’t care if it’s not for very long. I’m sure I’ll be much better by the time you want to leave and if I can’t manage by myself, I’ll come up with another plan.’

Bella took the piece of paper, mainly to save Lady Dorothy the embarrassment of having it fall from her stiff fingers. She caught sight of the amount written in wobbly figures on the paper, however, and her jaw dropped.

‘That’s ridiculous,’ she squeaked. ‘You could probably hire three nurses for that much.’

‘I don’t want three nurses,’ Lady Dorothy said firmly. ‘I only want one. You.’

CHAPTER FOUR

‘MOTHER… Bella said she couldn’t take the position. Stop pestering her.’

‘I’m just trying to understand, Oliver. That can hardly be considered pestering, can it?’ The question became directed at Bella as Lady Dorothy turned her head. Her smile was sweet. There was even a dimple flashing in a soft cheek.

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