Nurse Ann Wood by Valerie K. Nelson Read Free Book Online

Woods never thought of Iain Sherrarde except with intense dislike and antagonism, but she wasn’t going to tell Ann that. She was going to pretend all the time that she and the Director of the Sherrarde Institute were on the best of terms.
    She went on, “Of course, we should all like to see Iain married. He’d make a marvellous husband. His aunt, Mrs. Trederrick, who lives with him at Dainty’s End, is trying to do some matchmaking. She invited a distant cousin, a young woman doctor, to stay with her. A lot of people are beginning to think Iain will fall for her, for they are seen about together a great deal. She certainly appears to have what it takes ... looks, breeding and a common interest with him in medicine, but...”
    She stopped and laughed, and her eyes were suddenly rather sly.
    “Of course, there is another possibility.”
    Ann’s breath caught sharply in her throat. What was this dreadful woman going to say now? And then her eyes rounded as Mrs. Woods went on musingly, “My daughter Beverley is a very lovely girl and Iain visits her very frequently. They have so much to discuss — money affairs, the children. Sometimes they quarrel violently, and it’s that which makes me wonder. Haven’t you noticed, Ann, that people who quarrel at first very often fall in love later?”
    Her glance was full of mockery and it was just as if she had guessed Ann’s secret and was saying to her: “You’re a silly little fool if you give Iain Sherrarde another thought. He would never look at you !”
    But thoughts aren’t so easily banished, and as she saw the gardens and the beautiful front of Fountains for the first time, Ann was still thinking of him.
    When she entered the house, Ann’s first impression was of disappointment. The decor, the furniture, the carpets were in contemporary style, and seemed a little out of character in the old house, but worse still, there was a faint air of neglect about the place. The furniture did not shine and there were no flowers.
    She had no reason to alter her first impression when Mrs. Woods took her upstairs. “I’m giving you the room my daughter would have,” the other told her loftily, “but when Miss Pollard goes, you’d better have hers, which is next to the children’s night nursery. It will satisfy ...” She was about to refer to Iain Sherrarde, but it would be better if the girl did not know how much power he had, so she substituted “their mother. She worries in case they wake in the night. Guy, the little boy, sometimes has nightmares.”
    The room was not very attractive, quite small, right at the end of the corridor, in an angle of the house and consequently rather dark. There was a film of dust on all the furniture and it seemed as if no one had been asked to prepare it for her occupation.
    Now, after Mrs. Woods had dismissed her, Ann came back to her room, feeling unutterably depressed. But that was silly, she told herself. Better to try to improve the appearance of the room, rather than to sit moping about it.
    Having done what she could in the way of tidying the room, and making up the bed, she unpacked and then went over to the window. As she looked down, she saw a man in flannels and a grey sports jacket come from one side of the house and walk through an opening in an old-fashioned yew hedge. Ann thought he might be a gardener, and wondered about the staff in the house, for as yet she had seen only one young girl who had brought tea for Mrs. Woods and herself.
    She felt lonely, depressed and fearful. This silent, neglected house was a terrible change from the friendly brightness of the private wing. Megan Elliott had said that she would cycle over on Tuesday to see her, but that seemed a long way off.
    She moved her slim shoulders impatiently. She wouldn’t sleep if she stayed here. She would go out for a walk, and perhaps tire herself physically. The long spring twilight hadn’t faded yet, and the air was quite mild. Ann, still in the uniform which