LITMIR.BIZ

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all this pain.’

      ‘What happened to her, sweetheart?’ The endearment slipped out, perhaps as unnoticed by its recipient as it was unplanned by him.

      Her brown eyes darkened. ‘I only know it was abdominal pain. The ambulance had to get her from the newsagent’s while Dad came back in from his work on one of the road-works crews outside of town. Dad only got to see her for a second before they took her away, and they wouldn’t tell him much. I have to get to Milberry. I need the Mini.’

      ‘The car you hire from your neighbour.’ He remembered her muttering something about that, the day she’d felt faint after their crisis meeting.

      It felt so long ago, and a Mini wasn’t the vehicle to get her out of the city and to her family with any kind of speed or comfort.

      Rick caught her wrist between his fingers, rubbed his thumb across the soft skin. Hoped the touch offered some comfort, and silently acknowledged that a part of him wanted the right to more, whether that meant his emotions were involved in her, or not.

      He couldn’t worry about any of that now. ‘Do any flights go to the township? I only know of it vaguely. It’s rather off the beaten path, isn’t it? How far is it by road? I can charter a plane for you if there’s an airstrip …’

      ‘There are no flights, no airstrip. Milberry doesn’t have an airport. It’s a reasonable sized town but there’s nothing much around it.’ Marissa stared at the mess on her desk as though she didn’t know what to do with it, and then she stared at him as though she wasn’t quite sure what to do with his offer either. ‘It’ll take me almost three hours in the Mini. Mum’s been at the hospital about an hour already, I think.’

      ‘I’ll take you myself—’

      ‘I forgot. My neighbour left Sydney this morning with the Mini.’ She broke off and said in confusion, ‘You’ll take me?’

      ‘My car will be faster than a Mini, faster than you having to hire something.’ He wanted to beg her to let him do this for her. Instead, he made it a statement and silently urged her to simply agree with it. ‘We can leave straight away.’

      Confusion clouded her worried brown eyes. ‘You can’t … I can’t ask …’

      ‘I can, and I’m not asking you to ask.’ He needed permission. Needed to be allowed, wanted to draw her into his arms and promise her everything would be all right, that he would fix everything for her. ‘Give me one minute and we’re out of here.’

      He used that minute to get on the phone and instruct one of the senior staff to come in and pack the office up for them and secure everything.

      His borrowed secretary was in trouble. He could help her and he’d chosen to do so. That didn’t have to be any big thing, and his relief as Marissa put herself in his hands and allowed him to usher her from the building was simply that of a man who had got his way.

      He told himself all this, but the intensity he felt inside didn’t lessen.

      In moments he had Marissa out of the office building, into his ground-eating vehicle and away. A glance showed that her face hadn’t regained any colour. She was also utterly silent. ‘Tell me the route.’

      She gave him the directions and fell silent again.

      Rick clenched his hands around the wheel and got them clear of the city. Once he had, he murmured her name and reached for her hand. He curled his fingers around hers and she cast a glance his way.

      ‘Move into the middle seat so we can talk while I drive.’ He tugged on her hand. ‘You’re going to tell me everything your father said, the name of the hospital your mother is in and all you know about her situation.’

      She obeyed him without question, and that told him, more clearly than anything else, the extent of her concern for her mother.

      Once he had her shoulder pressed against his arm, her body close enough to feel her warmth and know she could feel his warmth, Rick relaxed marginally.

      ‘Talk, Marissa.’ He stroked his fingers over hers, registered the tremble that spoke of her tension.

      ‘Dad said they were sending her for an ultrasound of the abdominal area.’ She drew a deep breath. ‘There’s a small imaging facility in Milberry that does that sort of thing and they were opening it up for her. I guess the place must close at five. That would have meant another ambulance trip, though a short one.

      ‘Dad wanted to go with them but the nursing staff said no. I suppose they needed to focus on finding out what … what needed to be done after the tests.’ Her breath hitched as she ended this speech.

      Rick squeezed her hand, drew it onto his thigh and curled his fingers over hers. ‘There are lots of things that can cause pain that are not life-threatening. If it was her appendix, for example, an operation should set it to rights.’

      She nodded. ‘Maybe that’s what it is.’

      ‘How old is your mother? Has she enjoyed good health until now?’

      ‘She’s fifty. She never gets sick. Not like this. Neither of them do.’ Suddenly the fingers beneath his curled with tension. ‘What if …’

      ‘What if we ring the hospital and ask if there’s any news?’ He inserted the question gently.

      Marissa tugged her bag from the floor by its strap. Her fingers were curled beneath Rick’s, against his strong thigh. She couldn’t seem to make herself let go or shift away. She didn’t want to leave the comfort of that press of warmth against her shoulder and arm.

      Rick wasn’t Michael Unsworth. He wasn’t anything like her ex-fiancé. That knowledge was probably even more cause for worry, but right now she only had room to worry about Mum.

      She lifted her phone. A moment later she had the hospital on the line.

      ‘It’s Marissa Warren. My mother …’ she cleared her throat ‘… my mother, Matilda Warren, arrived by ambulance with abdominal pain. I’d like to know how she is.’

      ‘Your mother is still under examination,’ the woman on the end of the line said briskly. ‘She’s had several tests done and Doctor is with her now. We’ll know more in a little while. Are you on your way to see her, dear? There might be more news if you leave it another half hour or so …’

      ‘We’re only about another hour away now.’ Rick murmured the words.

      She glanced at him, realised she’d ended the call and simply sat there with the phone in her hand.

      ‘I’ve taken it for granted that they’re there, in good health …’ She trailed off.

      ‘Then keep believing in that good health. And if she needs anything that I can arrange or help with, to be airlifted to a different hospital in a private helicopter or anything …’

      ‘I hope she won’t need that, but I appreciate your words.’ She swallowed hard and her fingers flexed beneath his as she registered just how much his concern meant to her.

      She couldn’t think about that now, couldn’t see his actions as a sign of his ability to care, or commit. ‘We’ll lose phone reception for a while about half an hour out of Milberry. I may not get to hear the test results until we’re close to town.’ Her gaze tracked over him despite herself. ‘There’s an area that doesn’t pick up very well.’

      ‘You should make any other calls now before we lose reception.’

      ‘Yes, I’d better do that.’ How did Rick feel about holding her hand? Had he simply wanted to offer comfort? It felt somehow deeper than that, and he was so determined to help her, anything she might need …

      He glanced her way. ‘Did you want to try your father again?’

      ‘No. Dad won’t have his phone on inside the hospital, but I’d like to send a message to one of my friends.’ She toyed with

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