‘Okay. I’ll stay a little longer...’
‘No, you’ll go now and get some sleep. Ted will take you to the meeting, and he’ll point you in the right direction, who to greet first and so on. You’ll knock them dead.’
‘You really think so?’
‘Yes, I do. Go. Although if you could get me a phone first, I want to call my father.’
‘I’ll find Ted, you can use his.’
‘Thanks.’
Nell climbed off the bed, pulling her dress straight. It seemed to have survived the evening tolerably well, which was a tribute to its quality. She fussed with it, aware that she was putting off the moment of leaving.
‘I’ll...call you. In the morning.’ She picked up her clutch bag, checking unnecessarily that the diamond necklace and bracelet, which she’d finally managed to take off in the car on the way to hospital, were still safely inside.
‘Wait...’ Hugo was grinning now. ‘You were thinking of leaving without kissing me goodbye? Just on the cheek, I don’t want the monitor to register anything that gives my doctor pause for thought.’
Nell laughed, bending over him. ‘First you tell me how you really feel.’
‘Dreadful. I ache in muscles I never knew I had.’
‘Good. You’ll be well cared for here, and I’ll be back tomorrow, after the meeting. Think you can be awake for me?’
‘I’ll do my very best.’ Hugo pulled her down for a kiss that set Nell’s heart thumping. Goodness only knew what was going on with the monitor, and she didn’t dare look. ‘Go. Before I decide I’m feeling a lot better now and I need another one of those...’
* * *
Having Nell walk away had been more difficult than he’d thought. Hugo kept it together until Ted had come and then gone again, and then there was nothing to prevent his thoughts from ranging wherever they wanted to go. However much he craved having her with him now, this was what he wanted her to do. He wanted Nell to walk out of that meeting tomorrow feeling the exhilaration of having taken it by storm. She’d been bullied and made to feel ashamed for much too long.
Maybe if he’d done the same with Anna, given her some way of taking her own career forward while she was with him, then things might have been different. But he doubted it. Anna had told him that she lived in his shadow even when he wasn’t there, and that she couldn’t handle it. Things were working with Nell because, despite what everyone thought, they weren’t in love. He should remember that, just in case he felt any temptation to fall in love with her.
It wouldn’t be all that hard. She was beautiful and brave, and when she was there he forgot all about whether or not his heart would keep beating. He knew that it would, just so he’d be able to spend another moment with her. But if he fell in love, things would change. However hard he tried, Nell’s career would have to take second place to the duties that he’d been born to.
His limbs felt heavy, and he could hardly keep his eyes open. Hugo realised that the tablet he’d taken from the nurse, not even thinking to question what it was, was probably a sleeping pill. As he drifted into sleep, he wondered briefly what it might be like to fall asleep with Nell at his side.
* * *
Nell had called him before going into the lunch meeting, her nerves jangling in the cadence of her voice. When she called him again, a little more than two hours later, she sounded quite different.
‘I did the presentation, just the way you did last time. They really liked it, Hugo.’
‘I’m sure they did.’ Hugo leaned back against the pillows, smiling.
‘They’re going to help us.’
Hugo grinned. ‘It didn’t occur to me for one moment that they wouldn’t.’
‘Well, it occurred to me. I thought they might chase me away and say that they’d come to hear you, and I just wasn’t good enough.’
‘When are you going to realise that you’re always good enough, Nell?’
There was a pause, and Hugo imagined Nell frowning, the way she did whenever he complimented her.
‘I’m not sure how you can say “always” good enough. There are a lot of things you haven’t s
een me do yet. But I was good enough today.’
That was something. If large oaks could grow from little acorns, then one of these days Nell was going to stand up and command the attention she deserved. Until then, Hugo would just keep pushing, one inch at a time.