Free Once by James Herbert Page B

unmade bed running fingers through his untidy hair when he heard footsteps on the landing outside the door. Then Nell Quick was leaning against the door-frame, one fist on her hips as before.
    ‘Christ…’ he said, with a start.
    ‘I called, but you obviously didn’t hear me.’ Same full, slightly lascivious smile, same veiled intention in her eyes.
    You shouldn’t have—’ he began to say, but she interrupted with a laugh.
    ‘I’m used to lookin’ after people, Thom, ‘specially men. I’m a trained nurse, didn’t Hugo tell you? I’ve been carin’ for Sir Russell some time now.’
    ‘Maybe so, Ms Quick—’
    You jus’ call me Nell.’
    ‘Okay - Nell. But what I’m trying to say is, I enjoy my privacy. That’s why I came up here to Little Bracken, to get away from all the friends and acquaintances who think I need mollycoddling.’
    ‘ ‘Specially the girls, I bet.’ Her eyes shone challengingly.
    ‘No, not particularly. Well, maybe one or two, but that’s not the point.’ He rose from the bed and spoiled his next assertion somewhat by reaching for his cane. ‘I’m quite fit, actually, well on the mend.’
    She eyed the aid and he cringed, silently cursing himself.
    ‘It’s just the mornings,’ he hastily explained. ‘Leg’s a bit stiff until I really get going. Gets tired quite easily, too, but I’m working on that’
    ‘I can help you there.’ By now she had stepped into the
    room, shortening the gap between them. ‘I’m good at easin’ men’s stiffness.’
    He did a double take.
    ‘Know how the muscles work, y’see,’ she went on, letting the smile fall away when he had expected an even more licentious one. ‘I have my own herbs and balms that can do wonders for ailin’ limbs and bodies. Natural cures, mostly forgotten now, but effective, you jus’ wait and see.’
    She was less than a foot away, deliberately invading his space, her deep eyes studying his. His discomfort began to turn to irritation once more.
    And yet…
    And yet he could feel the tension - the sexual tension -between them and, for the first time since the outset of his illness, Thom felt a stirring, a reaction in his body over which he had no command. Her coquetry was plain and, at another time, would have been exciting, even welcome; but this morning, and in these circumstances - so fast, so unexpected - he could only be confused. And anxious, for he had been celibate for some time, even before his stroke, and right then he was not sure of his own adequacy, how much damage his system had sustained. Nell Quick was certainly alluring, gloriously so, in fact, and another man might have grabbed the opportunity to prove himself to himself. Not right then, though. No, he wasn’t ready. And, he had to admit, he was too scared.
    He went to the sideboard and pretended to search for something, but in truth, putting distance between himself and this unsettling woman.
    ‘Dammit, always losing my comb,’ he muttered, as if he had been oblivious to the interplay between them a moment before. Nell could not know, of course, that he rarely used a comb to tidy his hair anyway, but she certainly wasn’t fooled by the ploy.
    She gave a short, fruity laugh. Tour breakfast’s on the warmer, but you don’t want to let it get too dry, do you?’
    Turning from him in a smooth, gliding movement she disappeared through the doorway.
    Thom took a deep breath as he listened to her retreating footsteps and looked at himself in the free-standing mirror on the sideboard.
    ‘Bloody hell,’ he said, blushing deeply.
    He followed after her and avoided her eyes as he sat at the table. One plate had been laid and Nell busied herself cutting into the bread.
    ‘Er, won’t you join me?’ Thom asked out of politeness only.
    ‘Oh, I never eat a big breakfast,’ she replied, laying two slices on a bread plate. ‘Usually just some fruit or a yogurt, enough to get me through the mornin’. I drink gallons of coffee though.’
    He could