Page 21 of His Secretary's Nine-Month Notice
‘You’re going to tell me that there’s no need.’ He waved his hand dismissively. ‘But it’s not an issue. I’m more than happy to be of help in this hour of need for you. You’ve spent many an overnighter with me, burning the midnight oil and ploughing through reams of legal paperwork that needed to meet a deadline. Never a complaint. So don’t even think for one moment that this will be putting me out.’
Since Violet had not been thinking any such thing, she could only continue to gape at him in silence, temporarily lost for words.
As was his way, he had brought his own picnic to the party and was happy barrelling ahead with his game plan. Which was... What, exactly? What thoughts did he have for the rest of the day?
She quailed.
‘Here’s my plan,’ Matt told her crisply, the consummate professional now, which should have been reassuring but somehow wasn’t. He pushed his plate to one side and tilted his head to look at her appraisingly. ‘We go to the hospital so that we can find out how your father is doing.’
‘We?We?’ Violet parroted faintly.
‘You were in meltdown yesterday,’ Matt pointed out. ‘And there’s nothing wrong with that, Violet. There’s nothing wrong with having to lean on someone else now and again.’
Violet wondered whether she was now occupying a parallel universe. Since when had Matt Falconer ever prided himself on being a man that a woman in a meltdown could lean on? She opened her mouth tactfully to point that out, but he was gathering momentum, leaning forward so that he could direct the full blast of his concentration on her as he finished what he had to say.
‘You probably won’t want to admit it, but you will have woken up this morning just as anxious as you would have been when your head hit that pillow last night.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ She had, but she was sticking to the brief, because if she strayed too far from it—and kissing him the night before in a moment of weakness definitely qualified for that—then who knew what might happen? She felt faint when her brain started travelling down that road and she very firmly put the brake on it.
‘I don’t need you to hold my hand, Matt. I’m perfectly capable of dealing with this situation on my own.’
‘Are you? Or are you just saying that because that’s the persona you’ve always cultivated?’
‘Don’t try to psychoanalyse me,’ Violet said sharply.
‘Why?’ He looked at her narrowly. ‘So the boot, for once, is on the other foot. Why don’t you relax and enjoy it?’
‘I’m not your responsibility.’ She bristled and shot him a fulminating glance from under her lashes. ‘And,’ she posed tartly, ‘since when have you ever seen psychoanalysing any woman as something to put on your list of good deeds for the day?’
Matt grinned. ‘I miss that. The way you can make me laugh. Most men would be cut down at the knees by that sharp tongue of yours, but it’s always done wonders for my frame of mind. Moving on, though. We go to the hospital, where it would be pointless for you to sit around watching your dad while he rests. So my plan is to take you to the company, and you can dive in and help me wade through these last-minute stumbling blocks.’
‘You want me toworkwith you?’
‘Do you have other plans for the day?’
‘Yes. No. I might.’
‘Mixed messages going on here, so I’ll interpret it myself and say that you have no plans except visiting your father and getting yourself knotted up, wondering if you could have done something to prevent it.’
He slapped his thighs and rose to his feet. ‘Some healthy distraction would work wonders for you and, as a bonus, you’d be doing me a favour. I hadn’t planned on coming over here, at least not at this point in time, and there’s more ego stroking, fine-tuning of detail and soothing than I’d banked on. The guys who run this show are like kids, and their paperwork, now that it’s all been excavated for inspection, is in total chaos.’ He looked at her seriously. ‘It would help having you there, Violet. We’ve always worked well together. No reason why you can’t take some time out to help me out now. And it would get your mind off things.’
‘I will need to go to the hospital. My dad will need me as soon as he’s out. I can’t just drop these responsibilities to help you out.’
‘At least a week,’ Matt told her without preamble and she blinked and looked at him, confused. ‘To clarify, I took the liberty of phoning his consultant. I thought I would come here the bearer of glad tidings. In times of stress, sometimes it takes a third party to look at things through independent eyes. You can count on me to be those independent eyes on your behalf.’
‘You took the liberty of phoning the consultant?’
‘Your father will be recuperating in hospital for at least a week, possibly a bit longer. He’s in a private ward with the best possible care, but his overall health has been compromised over the years, so recovery will take slightly longer than might have been the case for someone younger and stronger.’
‘You phoned and asked for an update on my dad?’
‘No need to thank me. I thought you might be nervous doing it yourself. Bottom line, he’s drugged up to the eyeballs at the moment and on a drip. He won’t really be conscious of you being there at his side, at least not for the time being. He certainly won’t be up for lengthy visiting and I doubt the hospital would encourage it. They want their patient to build his strength up, and he’s sure to feel guilty about what happened if you’re there 24/7 holding his hand and peering anxiously into his face.’
Speechless, Violet stared at him. ‘You can’t just appear on my doorstep and start micromanaging my life, Matt!’
‘No, but I can provide healthy distraction.’ He paused. ‘Unless you have more pressing options, then I’m at a loss as to why you won’t take me up on this offer. In a week, I’ll be gone and you can carry on with your life here and your father should be back at home. You can devote all your attention to him then. In the meantime, where’s the harm in burying your very justifiable worries into something productive and challenging?’
Where indeed?was what Violet thought ten days later. He had said that he would be in Melbourne for a week. His dulcet tones, and tantalising offer to take her mind off the horror of her father being rushed into hospital and all the attendant worry that went with that, had seduced her into doing as he’d asked.
