Josie Metcalfe - A Family To Come Home To

‘I could help you with that,’ he suggested suddenly, and Ben blinked in surprise. Unfortunately he was going to have to refuse.

‘I think it would be too heavy for you to lift. I’m afraid I usually pack too many books,’ he added hurriedly when Josh began to look affronted, obviously seeing his refusal as a slight.

‘Could we do it together?’ Josh offered, for the first time moving further into the room than his defensive position in the doorway.

Agreement was Ben’s only option. For Kat’s sake he had to get on with her sons if he could. He was already a major burden on her. A bad atmosphere in the house might be the final straw.

‘We could give it a go,’ Ben agreed, as he wheeled the chair back a little to allow him to take up position on the other side of the case. ‘How do you suggest we go about it?’

It was the work of mere seconds after that to decide on a likely method and to implement it.

‘That was completely painless,’ Ben said, as he reached forward to unzip the case and flip the lid back.

To his surprise, Josh burst into chuckles.

Ben couldn’t help an answering grin when he saw just how untidy it looked.

‘That’s what my suitcase looked like when I tried to pack it,’ Josh confided. ‘I had to get Mum to do it for me because I couldn’t fit everything in.’

‘Perhaps it’s a woman thing…being able to pack a case properly?’ Ben suggested, and had to stifle another smile when he saw Josh considering the idea so seriously.

‘Probably,’ Josh pronounced several seconds later with a decisive nod. ‘And they like everything else to be tidy, too, so you have to put your laundry in the basket and make your bed and put your toys away.’ He sighed heavily.

‘I can remember my mother making me do all that,’ Ben agreed, only too willing to foster the glimmer of a bond. He lifted his wash bag out of the suitcase, deposited it on his lap and started turning the wheelchair to take it to the bathroom.

‘I could take that through for you,’ Josh suggested diffidently. ‘I’ll put it beside the basin.’

Ben caught his eye and when he saw the answering gleam of mirth they added in unison, ‘Tidily!’

An hour later, Ben collapsed into bed completely exhausted. He would never have believed how much energy it took just to get himself undressed and washed. It had probably been a wise decision not to practise getting about on the crutches tonight. He’d probably have fallen flat on his face and broken something else.

The trouble was, even though he was physically tired, his brain was still wide awake, contemplating the consequences of his temporary disability.

Obviously, I won’t be able to drive anywhere for a while, he thought dryly, trying to imagine how far back he would have to push the seat to get the cast into the car. Would he even be able to reach the steering-wheel?

But if he wasn’t going to be able to do the home visits that Kat wanted her associate to take over for her, then, in all conscience, he should go so that she could find someone else who could.

Except…

Except he didn’t want to go, he admitted reluctantly and sighed.

For three years he’d had an absolute rule of non-involvement, but within hours of meeting Kat and her little family—and in spite of ending up with a broken leg—there was something about all three of them that made him reluctant to leave Kat to struggle on alone. So, he had a major problem. He didn’t want to leave, at least until she’d found someone suitable to take his place, but in his present state he was worse than useless. If only there was some way he could…

Kat had come to a decision while she’d been finishing off the evening’s list in the never-ending round of chores.

It didn’t matter that he couldn’t do anything to help her at the practice, it was her responsibility to take care of Ben until he was well enough to travel back to his home. And it was time she reassured him of that fact. After all, if she were in the same position, she would want to know exactly where she stood…or sat in his case, she tacked on with a wry smile.

‘Ben…’ she called softly, tapping on the door to what had been her sanctuary since Richard’s death.

‘Come in,’ the husky voice invited, but when she opened the door and saw him propped up in her bed, naked to the waist, she almost dropped the steaming mug in her other hand.

‘I…I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have disturbed you if I’d known that you were…I only wanted to…’ For heaven’s sake! What was the matter with her? She’d seen a semi-naked man in that bed every night of her married life.

But never one with such a broad muscular chest, decorated with a thick swathe of dark silky-looking hair from one dusky nipple to the other, countered that dratted voice in her head.

‘I heard you telling the boys that you still enjoyed a mug of hot chocolate,’ she said, hastily diverting her eyes from the stunning view in front of her to the prosaic white mug. ‘And I thought I ought to have a word with you…’

‘Come in and shut the door,’ he invited, and he must have seen her surprise at the unexpected request because he quickly added, ‘So that we don’t disturb Sam and Josh.’

Kat felt a swift rush of heat scorching her cheeks. As if she had to worry about her reputation with a man like him. If he was looking for a relationship, he certainly wouldn’t be interested in a permanently exhausted mother of two.

‘I was thinking…about you and the job,’ she began tentatively. ‘Of course, you’re welcome to stay here until you’re fit enough to go home, but—’

‘Kat, before you say any more, can I ask you a favour?’ he interrupted, just when she was getting into her stride. ‘You see, I haven’t got a home to go to at the moment.’

‘What?’ she exclaimed, unable to believe such an outlandish statement.

‘It’s true,’ he said with a tired smile. ‘It had been on the market for ages and suddenly I had a purchaser who was in a hurry to buy. So, rather than lose the sale, I packed everything up and moved it into storage just a couple of days ago, then was told about the vacancy here.’ He caught her eyes with his, their clear green almost seeming to envelop her in the calming hush of a leafy sunlit glade before he continued, ‘If you kick me out, I’ll have nowhere to go…at least, nowhere so suitable for life in a wheelchair or on crutches.’

‘But…the job,’ Kat said helplessly, even as a minor war was being fought inside her. She had a niggling feeling that she was being manipulated in some way but that was completely vanquished by the impossible elation caused by the fact that he might not be leaving after all.

‘Yes. The job.’ He paused for a moment in thought, looking up at her from under those thick dark lashes. ‘I’ve been thinking about that, and I wondered…Well, I know it’s going to take me a few days before I’m really competent on the crutches, but once I am, I should easily be able to get from here to the practice. And if you’re happy to do the leg-work…the home visits and so on…I would still be pulling my weight.’

How could she refuse? she asked herself even as she admitted that she really didn’t want to refuse. To put it bluntly, she needed his help. And it was all very well rationalising that it was her duty to accommodate him because it was her fault that he’d been injured, but the plain fact of the matter was that there was something about the man that called to her…that made her feel things that she’d believed were gone for ever.

‘It’s pointless thinking about him that way,’ she whispered into the darkness, once she’d silently made her way up the spiral staircase and slipped into the bed that should have been his. ‘He’s a drifter, so he’s the last person I could ever get involved with, no matter if he does set my hormones buzzing.’