Risk of a Lifetime

‘Annie?’

‘Yes, Annie. What’s wrong with that?’

Kate shrugged. ‘Nothing. Just—she’s older than you, and she’ll need a babysitter if her mum can’t do it.’

Babysitter?

‘She’s checking it out,’ he said smoothly, while his understanding of Annie realigned itself in private. ‘And age is nothing to do with it. This is hardly a hot date and, anyway, she’s not exactly ancient.’

‘Well, if you change your mind, I’m definitely available,’ she said, her tempting smile promising to turn it into the hot date of the century.

He wasn’t tempted. Not in the least, which was odd because normally he might well have been, but compared to Annie—well, there was no comparison, and he had to put her straight or life was going to be really difficult.

‘Thanks, but I’m sure it’ll be fine,’ he said gently but firmly. ‘And for what it’s worth, I won’t change my mind. Ever. I’m not in the market, Kate, so you’re wasting your time with me.’

She smiled ruefully. ‘Shame. We could have had fun. Well, if you do change your mind, you know where to find me.’

Did she have no pride?

He went back to work, the word ‘babysitter’ echoing in his head. Funny. She hadn’t mentioned a child. Family, yes, but a child? Not that it changed anything, not for this evening. Or any other evening. He wasn’t going there, he reminded himself firmly. Tonight was a definite one-off.

He grabbed the little mid-afternoon lull and went out of the door to call his grandmother. ‘Hi, Marnie. How are you doing?’

‘OK. What’s wrong? You don’t usually ring during the day.’

‘I wanted to ask you a favour. We’ve been given tickets to the theatre tonight by a patient. I just wondered if you could cope without me this evening if I went.’

‘Of course I can cope. You go and have a lovely time. Are you going with anyone nice?’

He laughed softly. ‘I’m going with a colleague. We were both working on the case.’

‘Well, have fun with her.’

Her? Damn her razor-sharp intuition. He could challenge her but that would draw attention to it, so he changed the subject. ‘How’s he been today? Are you sure you can get him to bed all right on your own? Mum and Dad should be around if not.’

‘Of course I can do it. As you said, your parents are around if I run into difficulties.’

Although they both knew she wouldn’t call them unless there was an out and out crisis. And he could see where they were coming from, how emotionally distressing his father found it, but—

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure. You go out and have a lovely time, but I expect you to tell me all about it.’

He chuckled. ‘OK, will do. I’ll see you later. Call if you need me, I’ll have my phone on silent but I’ll feel it ring and I can always leave. It won’t be too late, anyway.’

‘I won’t need you. You go and have fun. Love you, darling.’

‘Love you, too. I’ll see you later.’

He hung up and turned round, to find Annie watching him thoughtfully.

‘I thought you said you were single?’

He blinked. ‘I am. That was my grandmother.’

‘Oh.’ She coloured slightly and waved a hand. ‘Sorry. I’m a bit, um...’

‘Suspicious?’

‘Sorry,’ she said again. ‘It’s a habit.’

He nodded, then said casually, ‘So did you get your babysitter sorted out?’

She stiffened, her eyes widening briefly with alarm, and then she frowned. ‘How...?’

‘Kate,’ he told her, although he didn’t tell her what else Kate had said in the process of eliminating the competition.

She rolled her eyes. ‘Of course. Silly me.’ She gave a wry laugh but she didn’t look pleased and so he didn’t pursue it. Her dependants were none of his business.

‘So—did you sort it?’ he asked again, and she nodded.

‘Yes. Yes, I did. It’s fine.’

‘Good. That means we’re both free. So, shall I pick you up at seven?’

Panic flared in her luminous blue eyes. ‘No. I’ll meet you there at a quarter past. It’s only a short walk from home and it’s a lovely day.’

And you don’t want to give me your address.

‘OK. I’ll be there at seven-fifteen, armed with the tickets. We can have a drink before the show. I’ll get them in ready. What would you like?’

‘Oh. Um—dry white wine?’

‘OK.’ He smiled at her, curious that she seemed suddenly flustered by the idea of the drink. ‘So—do you want me, or were you just eavesdropping?’

‘I want y—’ She broke off, and soft colour washed over her cheeks again as she registered what she was saying, but she held his eyes anyway and he suppressed a smile. ‘There’s a little girl I want you to look at,’ she amended.

‘OK. Lead me to her, and you can fill me in.’

* * *

This is not a date.

She stared blankly at the contents of her wardrobe, the words echoing in her head like a mantra.

So—what to wear, then? Jeans? Or smart-casual, which opened a whole new can of worms, because there was a huge range of options.

Who was she kidding? Her wardrobe was scanty, to say the least, and apart from work clothes she spent precious little on it because the budget just didn’t stretch to pretty stuff she never got to wear.