“Eddie is such a nice guy. It’s too bad he’s the one who’s missing, not Marni, Cal’s wife. Talk about a piece of work. She has a husband of her own, but she’s always looking to sweet-talk mine. Not that I blame her, really. You’d have to know Sean to understand just how fabulous he is, even though he’s so much older than I am. He’s got the constitution of an ox. He’s never ill—well, usually. Honestly, I don’t understand what could have happened.” The woman sounded genuinely puzzled, Caer thought. “All this has really upset me. I needed today. Absolutely needed a break from the depressing atmosphere of…that crummy hospital.”
Caer almost sat up in indignation. The hospital was understaffed, admittedly. But it was a good hospital, and the employees worked very hard. It was more than a job to the people she had come across there—it was a caring way of life….
And depressing? Crummy?
Christmas was still weeks away, but in their free time, the staff had put up trees on every floor and in every ward. They had festooned the walls with decorations, and done everything they could to brighten the patients’ rooms for the holidays, so those stuck in bed to while away their hours of pain and sickness would have something cheery to look at.
Well, she hadn’t cared much for Amanda when she had met her, and nothing she was hearing now was doing anything to change her opinion. She certainly didn’t seem like the kind of woman a man like Sean would choose to marry.
“You know,” Amanda said to the woman on her far side, “he may be older, but all those years of experience certainly pay off in bed.” She giggled. “I mean, he’s hot. Maybe that’s what I should do,” she said, considering. “Something risqué, like making it with him in his hospital bed.”
Far more than Caer wanted to know.
But the woman on the other side of Amanda was apparently perfectly happy to discuss other people’s sex lives.
“If the man is ill and, well, older, that might not be all that good for him,” she said.
“Really?” Amanda said thoughtfully. “It could be just what he needs.”
Amanda’s cosmetician came by then with a massive towel to help her out of the water, informing her that it was time for her sea-salt scrub.
Caer sank deeper into the water, grateful now that the woman hadn’t noticed her, since she was going to be traveling with them, and Amanda might not be best pleased if Sean’s nurse knew all about her love life.
Caer opted against the sea-salt scrub herself, and quickly dressed and headed downstairs, where she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Michael. When he answered, her heart sank. It sounded as if he were at the races. “You’re not at the hospital, are you?” she asked.
“No, but I made sure someone’s there,” he told her.
“Sean needs to be watched carefully tonight.”
“He’s your assignment,” Michael told her.
“Yes, but if I’m leaving tomorrow, I have things to do,” she informed him.
“What’s the problem?” he asked.
“I think that his wife might actually try to kill him tonight.”
“How? A knife? A gun? More poison?” Michael asked sharply.
“No. With…kindness, you might say.”
“What?”
She groaned inwardly. “Michael, she was talking about shagging him in the hospital. If that causes any kind of a strain on his heart, it could be dangerous for him.”
“Mmm, but what a way to go, huh?” he said lightly.
“Michael!”
“Sorry, sorry, just thinking it might be just the thing for a lot of poor blokes out there.”
“Are you taking this seriously at all?” she demanded. “Because if you’re not—”
“If I weren’t, you wouldn’t be going to America,” he told her. “But don’t worry, get your shopping done—and whatever else it is you intend for the night.”
“I intend to learn how to blend in like a normal person,” she informed him. “God knows, working for you, I seldom get that pleasure.”
“Go on then, blend. I have someone at the hospital, and I’ll see that Sean’s not left alone with his devoted spouse. But once you leave the country, he’ll be your responsibility. What will you do then?” he queried. “Sleep on a cot in the marital bedroom?”
“You really should think about stand-up comedy,” she said irritably. “I just think that he needs to be a bit stronger before he…you know.”
“Jealous?”
“Of what?” she demanded.
She heard the laughter deep in his throat. “A good shag?”
“I’m hanging up now, Michael,” she told him, but he stopped her before she could make good on her threat.
“Caer.”
“Yes?”
“After you left, they finished their arrangements. You will be leaving tomorrow. Zach Flynn met with the doctor, and O’Riley’s records have already been transmitted to the States. Mr. Flynn seemed to have no problem with a nurse attending Mr. O’Riley—in fact, he seemed to think it was a wise decision. He even appeared amused when he discovered it was you. He teased Mr. O’Riley that his wife might not be pleased. So there you go. She definitely won’t be happy at all about that cot in her bedroom.”
She took a deep breath, ready to tell him what to do with himself, but he went on too quickly for any interruption.
“You leave the hospital in a limo with the O’Rileys and Mr. Flynn at 8:00 a.m. sharp for an eleven-forty-five to New York City, where you’ll transfer to a flight into Providence.”
“No problem.”
“Don’t be late.”