Deception Read Free Page B

her.
    Thea's face softened.
The recipient of such devotion might not
deserve it, but it was very touching to see. 'After. I visit your father, I'Jl make you some supper
and then take you to bed.'
    'I
can take myself to bed, thank you.' The dignity was back
with a vengeance, as he proudly lifted his small chin. 'Now,'
he said manfully, 'if you'll just come with me.'
    About
to follow, Thea suddenly hesitated. 'Don't you think we should
take him some tea or something? Or might it be better to ask what he wants first?'
    'He's
unconscious.'
    'Unconscious!'
Without meaning to, she exclaimed in alarm. 'Why didn't you tell me before?'
    'You
didn't ask.'
    She
was astounded, truly shocked against Jamie's stolid acceptance. 'Now what
shall we do?'
    'But
you're a nurse!'
    A
nurse! If only she had been. She suspected it wasn't the
last time she was to regret claiming to be any such thing!
Wholly harassed, she paused. She could confess, yet if
it brought comfort to this neglected little boy mightn't a little twisting of
the truth be justified?
    Quickly
she pulled herself together, dismissing the last qualms of guilt.
Tiredness was sweeping her in such waves and she knew if she
didn't make an immediate effort she might soon be beyond it.
'Lead the way, Jamie,' she man aged a calmness of voice
which she could see made him feel happier. 'I was startled, that
was all. Of course I'll be able to cope.'
    For
the second time they went up the stairs together, their
shadows following them darkly along the high old walls. This time
they went quite a distance along the cor ridors, until they
came to the very last door. The whole house was icy and badly
lighted. Even before they reached Mr Murray's room, Thea was cold again.
    Inside
his bedroom the lighting was just as dim. For a moment she could
only see the shadows which had been pursuing them since they
left the kitchen. Like the rest of the house, this room was
big, the furniture of the same dimensions. Apprehensively her weary
eyes fell on the bed and barely in time she suppressed a startled
gasp. With a fastidious little tremor she drew back as her
heart seemed to leap somewhere in the region of her
throat. It mightn't be sensible,   but
there was   something so
aggressively masculine about the man who lay on the bed that she felt
almost frightened.
    The room, like the
passage outside, was freezing. She was sure he should have been under the
blankets, but these lay in a tumbled heap at his feet, where he had obviously
thrown them. He lay on his face, his arms hugging his pillows, bare from the
waist up. A little below that as well, Thea saw, where his pyjama trousers had
slipped. Her eyes, clear and innocent, darkened with a kind of bewildered
fascination as her glance travelled the length of his six-foot-plus frame. She
felt peculiar, out df her depth, yet conscious of a terrible prickling
awareness.
    Drawing a sharp little
breath, fraught with increasing apprehension, she allowed her gaze to return to
the powerful shoulders, to waver on the strong column of his neck before
continuing up the back of his dark head. His hair, like Jamie's, was thick and springy,
his illness—whatever it was he was suffering from—not yet having
had time to drain the vitality from it. She couldn't see his face, which was
still buried in the pillows, but all of a sudden, she wasn't sure she wanted
to. What she could see seemed to be more than enough!
    'This is my father.'
She became aware of Jamie's tugging at her sleeve impatiently while shooting
uncertain glances at her confused face. It was quite clear that, as he believed
her to be a nurse, he expected some immediate action!
    'Yes.' Forcing herself
forward, she hoped her reluctance didn't show. His father was just a man, after
all, not a wild animal to be afraid of. Jamie seemed quite certain he was
unconscious, but she felt she must make sure. From the bottom-of the bed, she
said, 'Good evening, Mr Murray.' Somehow that sounded incredibly foolish!
    Jamie was