Mother's Day Treats

CHAPTER SIX

‘WHAT on earth do you think you’re doing?’

Liam glanced at her over the top of the business diary he had picked up from her desk and was now looking at. ‘Making sure you don’t have another prior engagement to escape to this morning,’ he finally drawled in satisfaction, snapping the diary shut before dropping it down.

Laura glared at him frustratedly. As he had said he would, Liam had made his appointment to see her this morning; in fact, he was her first appointment for the day. Which didn’t augur too well for the rest of it!

‘Satisfied?’ she snapped impatiently, placing the diary neatly back in its original place.

Liam raised mocking brows. ‘Hardly,’ he replied, dropping down into the chair that faced hers, wearing his usual denims, shirt and a black jacket. ‘Now perhaps we can continue our conversation of yesterday,’ he said, looking across at her with a smile.

Not exactly. As he had said, they had last spoken yesterday; she had had over eighteen hours to recover from the shock of having him invade her office in the way that he had. She had also spoken with Perry when she’d come in the first thing this morning, knew that Liam had cancelled his meeting with him yesterday afternoon…

‘I believe we concluded that particular conversation, Liam,’ she came back calmly. ‘In the circumstances, it was very unwise of you not to keep your appointment with Perry yesterday,’ she added coolly.

Liam arched dark brows. ‘That sounds suspiciously like a threat to me, Mrs Shipley,’ he returned softly.

She was not in the best of humour this morning, had slept very badly after those thoughts of her early relationship with Liam eight years ago had come flooding back with such clarity. She certainly wasn’t in the mood to deal with any more of Liam’s games.

‘Take it as you like, Liam,’ she sighed. ‘I told you yesterday. I run this company; I no longer have the time to be an editor too—’

‘Make me the exception,’ he cut in.

She looked at him incredulously; he was the very last person she would make an exception for—in anything!

She sighed, shaking her head. ‘No.’

‘Why not?’

‘Why not?’ she spluttered. ‘It must be obvious why not!’ she said exasperatedly.

‘Because we were once lovers?’ he mused consideringly. ‘But that was years ago, Laura. A lot has happened since then. We’ve both been married to other people, for one thing—happily or not so happily.’ He grimaced with feeling. ‘Surely you aren’t afraid that history might repeat itself, are you, Laura?’

‘Certainly not!’ she gasped indignantly. The only thing she was afraid of was that he would discover she had a son—his son!

The only thing!

He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘Then where’s the problem?’

‘Liam, are you learning-impaired? Why do I have to keep repeating myself? I—’

‘No longer edit any of the books yourself,’ he finished dryly. ‘I did hear that the first time you said it. As I recall, I asked you to make me the exception. Laura,’ he continued smoothly as she would have spoken, ‘make no mistake. I will go to another publisher.’

She drew in a sharp breath, having given this alternative some thought last night too—when she hadn’t been remembering what it had been like between them in the beginning, eight years ago!

To pass up the chance to publish the new Liam O’Reilly book would be madness from a purely business point of view, she knew, but not to the extreme where it would damage the company. After all, they already had a number of highly successful authors.

No, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if Shipley Publishing were to lose this particular novel to another publisher—it just wouldn’t make sense to anyone but herself! Not that she particularly cared about that either; she was well past the stage of explaining herself to anyone.

No, it was none of that that made her hesitate in telling Liam to go ahead and find himself another publisher…

It was the wrong construction Liam had already put on her actions—that she was in some way frightened of working with him—that caused her to balk at telling him to go, and take his manuscript with him. She already knew there was no way that history would repeat itself where the two of them were concerned!

‘That sounds suspiciously like a threat to me, Liam.’ She repeated his own words of a few minutes ago.

He shrugged. ‘That’s probably because it is one,’ he acknowledged suavely. ‘Laura—’ He sat forward, his expression intense as he glared at her across the width of the desk. ‘I would like the two of us to work together on this. Won’t you at least give it a try?’ he encouraged.

When all else fails, use the charm, Laura inwardly derided. The fact that that charm had once worked on her very effectively did not mean it would do so now!

‘Or is it that you don’t think you’re up to the job?’ he added tautingly.

Her lips curved into a humourless smile—the charm hadn’t lasted long! ‘Nice try, Liam,’ she responded. ‘But I believe I have already mentioned that after I left university I became a book editor…?’

‘So you did.’ He nodded. ‘And would that editing job have been here at Shipley Publishing?’

Laura didn’t like the mildness of his tone. ‘And if it was?’

‘Within a few months you ended up marrying the owner of the company.’

Laura stiffened resentfully. ‘I don’t think I care for the implication behind your words—’

‘What implication would that be?’ Liam prompted, again mildly.

Her mouth tightened. ‘I’m sure you’re well aware of what I’m referring to. But you know nothing about my life, Liam, either now or in the past; I suggest we leave it that way.’

‘I’m interested, that’s all.’

She gave a short laugh. ‘That interest is doing nothing to solve the immediate problem.’

‘Which is…?’

She had forgotten his habit of being deliberately obtuse when it suited him. It was just as annoying now as it had been eight years ago!

‘Agreement on an editor for you,’ she reminded him impatiently.

‘I’ve already told you my preference—’

‘And I’ve already told you it’s completely out of the question!’ she interrupted briskly.

‘It’s stalemate, then.’

She drew in a quick breath. ‘Perhaps you should take your novel to another publisher, Liam—’

‘You little coward! He stood up forcefully, glaring at her with glittering blue eyes, at once dominating the office with his sheer size.

Laura stood up too, tension in every inch of her slender body. ‘How dare you?’ She was breathing hard in her agitation.

‘How dare I?’ he repeated scathingly. ‘I’ll tell you how I dare—’

‘Laura, I— Oops!’ A confused Perry stood in the doorway, grimacing his awkwardness at having apparently interrupted a heated conversation, his brief knock obviously having passed unheard between the two adversaries.

Because that was what they were, Laura inwardly acknowledged angrily. She couldn’t even be in the same room with Liam without her hackles rising!

‘You asked me to join you at nine-thirty,’ Perry reminded her uncomfortably.

She had asked her senior editor to join them at that time because she had thought—erroneously, as it turned out!—that she and Liam might have come to some agreement about his editor by then. She had forgotten how completely unreasonable Liam could be when he wanted to be!

‘Do come in, Perry,’ she invited, forcing some of the tension from her body as she smiled welcomingly across the room at him.

‘Do not come in, Perry,’ Liam told the other man grimly. ‘I’m sure it was very nice of Laura to invite you to join us—’ he rasped his displeasure ‘—but the two of us haven’t finished talking yet,’ he added with a challenging glance in her direction.

‘Oh, I think we have, Mr O’Reilly,’ she told him just as determinedly. ‘More than finished,’ she concluded forcefully.

Liam continued to look at her for several long seconds, and then he gave a barely perceptible shrug before turning back to the younger man. ‘It appears you had better come in, after all, Perry. Although I should warn you,’ he continued softly as the younger man did exactly that, closing the door behind him, ‘some of what you might hear in the next few minutes may come as something of a surprise to you.’

Laura didn’t miss the warning in his voice—she would be being particularly stupid if she had! Well, two could play at that game!

‘I think Liam is referring to the fact that he and I knew each other several years ago,’ she told Perry smoothly, indicating that he should sit down in the chair next to the one Liam had occupied until a few minutes ago. ‘Perry already knows that, Liam,’ she said as she resumed her own seat behind the desk. ‘It was the reason I was able to recognise you at the hotel two days ago,’ she reminded him.

Liam’s mouth tightened at the memory of that meeting, and the construction—with hindsight—he had put on her behaviour. ‘Very Sherlock Holmes,’ he grated.

She held up her palms. ‘Why don’t you sit down again, Liam?’ she invited. ‘I have just finished explaining to Liam that you will make him a wonderful editor.’ She smiled warmly at Perry.

‘And I have just finished explaining to Laura,’ Liam said forcefully, making no move to resume his own seat, ‘that, wonderful as you might be—’ his mouth twisted derisively as he looked at the other man ‘—if I decide to sign a contract for Shipley Publishing to publish my book, I have already chosen my own editor.’

Laura looked at him frustratedly. He wasn’t going to budge an inch!

‘You have?’ Perry looked completely puzzled.

‘Liam is—’ Laura broke off with a frown as the telephone began to ring on her desk. She had asked Ruth to hold all her calls until after Liam had gone. Which meant that this was a call Ruth had decided couldn’t wait. ‘Excuse me,’ she murmured, and took the call, the colour draining from her cheeks as she listened.

Bobby! Oh, dear Heaven, Bobby!

‘I’ll be right there,’ she managed to choke, before slamming down the receiver and standing up. ‘I have to go,’ she told the two men distractedly, picking up her bag and hurrying over to the door.

‘Laura, whatever—?’

‘I can’t talk to you any more just now, Liam,’ she told him impatiently. ‘Don’t you understand? I have to go!’ Her beloved Bobby was hurt, needed her! He had fallen down some stairs at school, was on his way to the hospital right now.

Steely fingers gripped her upper arm, spinning her round. ‘No, I don’t understand,’ Liam ground out. ‘What on earth is wrong?’ He groaned concernedly, as his narrowed gaze took in her white face and frantic expression.

Laura shook her head. ‘I don’t have the time for this, Liam,’ she snapped. Bobby was all that was important to her now. ‘Talk to Perry or don’t talk to Perry,’ she added with impatient dismissal as Liam seemed about to protest again. ‘Take your manuscript to another publisher if that’s what you want to do.’

Liam’s hand dropped away from her arm. ‘You don’t care either way. Is that it?’ he rasped.

She glared up at him with glittering eyes. ‘No, I don’t care either way,’ she confirmed, before turning to almost run from the room, her only thought now to get to Bobby as quickly as possible.

It had been the headmaster of Bobby’s school on the telephone. Her son had fallen down some stairs, seemed to be in considerable pain, and an ambulance had been called. Laura’s only concern was to get to the hospital as quickly as she could.

She arrived at the hospital at the same time as Bobby did, the teacher who had accompanied him in the ambulance at his side as he was wheeled into the Accident and Emergency Department on a trolley.

A trolley that was far too big for such a little boy, making him look younger and more defenceless than usual…

Tears filled Laura’s eyes as she hurried over to him, having to blink back those tears as she saw the look of relief on Bobby’s face as he saw her there, his own tears immediately starting to fall. Laura knew it wouldn’t help anyone to have the two of them in floods of tears!

‘I bumped my head and my knee hurts, Mommy,’ Bobby sobbed into her neck as she held him close to her.

‘Have you thought that there’s probably a dent or two in the stairs now, too?’ she attempted to tease, and was rewarded for her attempt at levity with a teary smile from her son.

‘I never thought of that,’ Bobby giggled, obviously less distressed now that his mummy was here.

She ruffled the dark silkiness of his hair as she smiled down at him. Bobby was so precious to her that from the time he was a baby what she had really wanted to do was gather him up in her arms, wrap him in cotton-wool and never let any harm come to him.

Robert had been the one to show her she couldn’t do that, that it wouldn’t be fair to Bobby to deny him all the fun and games that all little boys enjoyed.

Robert had also been the one to encourage her to go back to work once Bobby was old enough for kindergarten, and by the time Bobby had begun ‘big’ school, with Robert only recently dead, she had been more than grateful to have Shipley Publishing to occupy her time and thoughts.

But she did wish that Robert were at her side now, if only to help guide her through the pain of seeing their son hurt. It was at times like this that she missed Robert the most…

To Laura’s relief, an X-ray on Bobby’s knee showed that he hadn’t actually broken anything when he fell, just badly bruised it. Another X-ray showed that his skull had sustained no fracture either. Although the bump on the head necessitated him spending the night in hospital, just in case there were any signs of concussion.

‘You can stay with him, of course,’ the doctor told her smilingly.

She had never intended doing anything else. Bobby was seven years old, had never spent a night away from home in his life, let alone in the awesome surroundings of a hospital ward. Of course Laura would stay with him!

‘I’m just going to pop home and get us some night things,’ she explained to her son shortly after helping him to drink his tea.

Bobby was well settled into his private room on the children’s ward by now, the nurse having obligingly put his favourite video on the overhead television attached to the wall. It seemed as good a time as any for Laura to leave for a short time to collect the things they were going to need for their overnight stay.

‘And Teddy?’ he prompted, his face still pale from the shock of his fall.

The teddy bear, Bobby’s usual night companion, rather tattered now, had been a gift to Laura when Robert had first visited her in the hospital after Bobby was born. It had been in his cot as a baby and continued to share his bed now that he was growing up, had become even more precious to him since Robert’s death two years ago.

‘And Teddy, of course,’ Laura assured Bobby with a choke, once again having to blink back the tears.

Although he liked to think he was the man of the house now that his daddy was gone, Bobby was still such a baby, Laura acknowledged tearfully on her drive back to the house. Never more so that when he was hurt and helpless, as he was now. Oh, how she wished Robert were here!

But sitting in the back of a taxi, crying her eyes out because of her son’s pain and the loss of her husband, was not the Laura Shipley she thought she had become, she acknowledged sadly. In fact, these moments of weakness were not a good idea, she decided, even as the tears wouldn’t seem to stop flowing.

‘Here you are, love.’ The middle-aged taxi-driver stuck his hand through the open window between the front and back of the vehicle, holding out a tissue to her. ‘Have a good blow,’ he advised gently. ‘You’ll feel much better.’

Laura took the tissue, noisily following his advice. Goodness knew what the poor man was thinking, having just picked her up from outside the hospital!

‘Thank you,’ she told him gratefully, this stranger’s kindness making her feel tearful all over again.

Pull yourself together, Laura, she told herself firmly as she paid off the taxi-driver outside the house, having assured the poor man that everything was fine. Bobby had had an accident, yes, but he was going to be all right. A bit battered and bruised, perhaps, but all right.

‘Oh, Mrs Shipley—Laura.’ A rather breathless Amy came down the hallway to greet her as she let herself into the house. ‘How’s Master Bobby?’ She frowned her concern as she took in Laura’s tear-streaked face, Laura having telephoned her from the hospital earlier and explained the situation to her.

Laura smiled reassuringly. ‘Asking for Teddy.’

‘Thank goodness.’ Amy sighed her relief. ‘Er—there’s a man waiting in the sitting room to see you,’ she added anxiously, obviously extremely flustered by this strange turn of events. ‘I told him you were out, and that I had no idea when you would be back, but he insisted on waiting for your return. He simply wouldn’t leave.’ She frowned her consternation.

There was only one man that Laura knew who had that sort of arrogance—Liam O’Reilly!

‘You didn’t tell him where I was, did you?’ she prompted sharply. She didn’t want Liam even to know of Bobby’s existence, let alone have the chance to start adding two and two together and come up with the correct answer!

‘Certainly not,’ Amy assured her indignantly. ‘He says his name is Liam O’Reilly.’ She confirmed Laura’s suspicion. ‘I don’t care what his name is; the man is altogether too fond of having his own way, if you ask me.’

Even though she was less than pleased at this interruption, Laura couldn’t help but smile at her housekeeper’s unflattering first impression of Liam. As Laura knew only too well, Amy’s second impression of him was unlikely to be any more complimentary!

‘How long has he been here?’ Laura kept her voice deliberately low, not wanting to let Liam know she was home just yet; she needed to tidy herself and redo her make-up before she faced Liam.

‘An hour or so,’ Amy frowned. ‘I took him in a tray of tea about half an hour ago.’ She sniffed dismissively. ‘After all, he could be pocketing all the family silver in there, for all I know!’

‘Highly unlikely,’ Laura assured her with an affectionate smile. ‘I agree with you about his arrogance, but I don’t think he’s a thief! I’ll just go upstairs and—’

‘Laura…?’

She turned at the sound of Liam’s husky drawl, instantly irritated at his intrusion into the home she had shared with her husband and now shared with only Bobby, as well as at the fact that she hadn’t had time to tidy herself before confronting him.

‘Thanks, Amy.’ She gave the housekeeper’s arm a reassuring squeeze before turning back to Liam. ‘I believe you wanted to see me?’ she acknowledged coolly, dark brows raised.

He gave an arrogant inclination of his head, still dressed—as she was!—as he had been during their meeting this morning.

Goodness, that seemed a long time ago, Laura inwardly acknowledged. So much had happened since that time. She felt emotionally drained after the upset of Bobby’s accident and the time spent at the hospital with him, trying to be cheerful when she had really felt like crying. She couldn’t have felt less like talking to Liam!

‘Could you bring me some coffee?’ she prompted Amy gently, before preceding Liam into the sitting room.

The soft click of the latch told her he had closed the door firmly behind them.

‘You look terrible.’

Laura turned again at the harshly made criticism, glaring across at Liam as he stood beside the closed door. How dared he come here, invading her home, refusing to leave, and then insult her the moment he saw her?

If he wasn’t so selfish, if he hadn’t been eight years ago, then he would have been sharing her distress over their son today! Instead of that, all he could do was stand there and be rude and insulting!

‘Thank you for those few kind words,’ she returned caustically. ‘Now, what do you want?’ she demanded abruptly.

He didn’t answer, didn’t move, just stood there looking at her, his gaze narrowed, a contemptuous twist to his lips.

Laura, her nerves already frayed to breaking point, withstood his critical gaze as best she could, knowing that the tears were still dangerously close. The last thing she wanted was to cry in front of Liam. He had no right to be here, let alone—let alone—

‘He must be really something,’ Liam finally said.

She swallowed hard. ‘He?’

‘The man you rushed off to see this morning,’ he bit out contemptuously. ‘The man you’ve apparently spent the day with.’ His gaze sharpened on the paleness of her face and he took several steps towards her. ‘The man who’s made you cry…’ he added slowly, the evidence of her recent tears obviously unmistakable now that he was standing only a couple of feet away from her. ‘Laura what on earth—?’

‘Ah, the coffee.’ She turned gratefully as the door opened and Amy entered carrying the coffee tray, with a plate of sandwiches beside the single cup; obviously her housekeeper did not intend Liam to have the mistaken impression he was in the least welcome here! ‘Thank you, Amy.’ Laura smiled with gratitude, sitting down to pour the rich brew into the cup, biting gratefully into one of the chicken sandwiches as she did so.