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you wouldn't have felt any pain for a while.'
'That worries you?' he enquired smoothly. 'That I'm in pain?'
It did, in spite of everything, but she wasn't going to admit it.
'The only thing that's bothering me is your presence. So you might as well
tell me, before the ambulance comes, why you're here, because it will be
your last chance. I don't want you to come near me again.'
She was glad then that he was incapacitated, as his eyes narrowed, his face
contorting, not with pain this time, but with anger.
'Just think yourself lucky I can't get my hands on you right at this moment!
I'm not that easily deterred. I'll be back, Georgie. This is only a reprieve. I
want the answers to some questions.'
'You'll never come near me or lay a finger on me again,' she told him,
defiantly. 'I'll ask for police protection!'
His voice issued this time as a husky whisper, deliberately calculated, she
knew, to play upon her sensitivities.
'I can remember a time, we can both remember a time, when the touch of my
hands wasn't so abhorrent to you!'
Oh God, he was so right. She could remember that touch, the feel of his arms
about her, the sweet demanding pressure of his mouth, the hard contact of
his body, and she'd thought that two years without a sight of him had
enabled her to forget. There was a glint, a fever in his eyes that almost made
her wish she could put the clock back, know once more the possessive slide
of his hands over her, arousing and exciting her to a need that had taken so
many long, weary months to stifle.
'It's been a long time.' He had always had that uncanny knack of voicing her
thoughts. His eyes were half-closed. Was it with pain, or desire? But no,
Niklaas hadn't desired her any more. That was a part of why she'd left
Marula, but only a part.
She felt an urge she hadn't known in a long time, a ridiculous urge to cry, but
she mustn't relax her guard before him. Once he had gone, she could indulge
herself in that relief. The worst of it was that she knew that if he hadn't been
incapacitated by his fall and had taken her in his arms, by now all her
resistance would have been beaten down, her response full and ardent.
Humiliatingly, she still wanted him, and in that humiliation still hated him.
It was a good thing she was already sitting down. She doubted if her legs
would hold her at this moment. Steadfastly she kept her eyes on the road,
willing Dr Grey's car to appear. Miraculously it did, a sturdy, old-fashioned
Morris, bulldozing its way over the treacherous road surface, skewing
slightly sideways as he braked outside. Relieved by the necessity for action,
Georgie was capable of movement now, hurrying to open the door.
The doctor looked tired, she thought compassionately, as he nodded a
greeting and preceded her into the cottage's small living-room.
'Never known such a winter in all my years of practice,' he grumbled.
'Practically every case I've been called out to in the last fortnight has been a
broken limb,' and to Niklaas, "Fraid we'll have to sacrifice these trousers,
old chap.'Georgie turned her head away, again Niklaas's pain was hers, as a
deft movement of the doctor's scissors slit the well-cut slacks, exposing a
swollen, twisted limb. She was used to animal ailments, to treating creatures
in pain, but this was not just any anonymous patient, this was Niklaas.
'Hmm, not much doubt about that.' The doctor's assessment was swift.
'Telephone, Georgie, please. Let's see if there's an ambulance available.'
Waiting, he drummed impatient fingers on the table-top and spoke to Nik
aas. 'I must warn you, unless it's a very comp icated break, there's absolutely
no chance of keeping you at the hospital. We're overcrowded as it is. If the
X-ray shows a straightforward break, we'll have to put a cast on and bring
you back here.'
Georgie gave an involuntary cry of protest, and the doctor raised his
eyebrows.
'I thought Mr van der Walt was a friend of yours? And you've a spare bed,'
he asserted with positive knowledge. 'It'll be some while before I can
discharge your aunt long enough for this young man's bones to heal. Don't
worry, there won't be any real nursing. With luck he'll be able to hobble
about in a week. And it'll be company for you, Georgie. Your aunt's been
concerned about you and young Susan, all alone here.'
Susan! Georgie could feel her cheeks flushing, was aware of Niklaas's
interested gaze.
'Right!' Dr Grey dropped the receiver back on to its rest. 'Ambulance is on
its way. Best get that bed ready, Georgie. Unless I'm very much mistaken,
your friend will be back in a couple of hours at the outside.' He strode
towards the door, missing Georgie's muttered, 'He's no friend of mine.' But
Niklaas heard, and she knew he wouldn't miss the chance of retaliation, so
she followed the doctor to the door, making a great display of seeing him
out, even accompanying him to his car.
'Do I have to have him here?' she pleaded, as the doctor lowered himself into
the driving-seat. 'I don't really want to.'
His weary face was briefly upraised to hers, making her ashamed of
burdening him with her problems.
"Fraid so. Before this bad spell is over, there'll be more elderly people like
your aunt filling the wards. It's becoming a nightmare, hoping that a bed will
be vacated before another occupant needs it.' A wry smile twisted his tired
features. 'If you're worried about the proprieties, I doubt the young man will
be any threat to you for a day or so. Susan any brighter?' he added to
Georgie's worries by enquiring. 'That child hasn't a strong chest, you know.
Pity you can't take her to a warmer climate.'
The ambulance was prompt, but Niklaas's departure on a stretcher was only
a temporary reprieve for Georgie's quivering nerves. He would be back, and
by then she must be ready to face him with a little more poise, be ready with
glib answers to his questions.
There was no way, if Niklaas was to be brought back to the cottage, that she
could hide Susan from him. He knew now of the child's existence. Could she
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