Unknown by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page B

have just moved Mr Mitchell's counter, Nurse!' a laughing voice broke into her thoughts, and Anna flinched as if struck. She gazed at the counters. Dr Alexandre was right. Hers was red. Had she really moved the green one? She bit her lip, embarrassed.
    'Colour-blind, are you, Nurse?' Mr Taylor asked, and all three men laughed.
    'Must be in love,' Mr Mitchell announced, causing the registrar to eye her thoughtfully.
    'Are you, Anna?' he asked, peering at her averted face so that she was forced to meet his gaze at last.
    Those steady eyes were stormy-grey again and Anna ran her tongue nervously over her dry lips before shaking her head. 'No. Not exactly,' she parried, then turned to Mr Mitchell.
    'It's your turn with the dice, Mr Mitchell,' she said, gaily, but even to her own ears her voice sounded on the verge of breaking. Dr Alexandre had no right to ask such a question!
    The game was nearly finished, with Dr Alexandre heading for the winning post, when the League of Friends committee members arrived. The registrar, who sat facing the door, saw them first, and Anna's eyes followed his gaze.
    Two women hovered in the doorway, with Staff Nurse Powell fussing around them. Then the younger woman, a tall brunette, beamed at their group, and Anna's eyes went from one patient to the other as she rose. But the smile was for Dr Alexandre, she saw now, as he went forward, hand outstretched, face wreathed in smiles.
    'Ricky! I'd no idea you worked here!' the brunette trilled, taking his hand and holding on to it with both of hers.
    Anna watched, fascinated, as the brunette and the registrar stood, smiling, apparently oblivious to those around them. She turned away, her eyes suspiciously bright.
    They continued their interrupted game, Anna moving the orange counter which had been the registrar's. But her eyes and ears were busy, as she tried to hear the registrar's conversation. The older woman and the Staff Nurse walked among the patients, exchanging a few words with them, but Dr Alexandre and his lady friend stood in the farthest corner, their voices low, and Anna, for some reason, wanted to hurl the ludo-board out of the day-room window.
    'Raining again, Nurse,' Mr Mitchell commented, as the game finished, with Dr Alexandre's orange counter the winner.
    Anna shivered. 'That's all I need. A walk home in the dark and cold!' she said lightly, unaware that the registrar and his companion had drifted back within earshot.
    'If you aren't getting a lift tonight, Nurse, I'll drop you off,' Dr Alexandre said evenly, and Anna turned questioning eyes on him.
    'I have to go out so you may as well have a lift,' he went on, his voice cold, and Anna stammered her thanks.
    She smiled tentatively at the woman by his side, and the smile was returned, but guardedly. Dr Alexandre performed the introductions and Anna was treated to a full inspection, the brunette's dark eyes missing no detail. She was Mrs Margaret Warwick of the League of Friends, and the registrar gave Anna a run-down of the good works the League performed, the donations they made, the cheer they brought to the patients, and this time Mrs Warwick gave Anna a genuinely friendly smile, obviously pleased at the registrar's praise.
    Anna did her best to look impressed, though her one impulse was to escape from the registrar and his friend. Mrs Warwick seemed older than Rick, Anna put her age at around forty. Probably she wasn't a friend in the way Anna had at first thought. She supposed Mrs Warwick was the wife of someone important and had to be deferred to.
    Dr Alexandre promised to be at the front entrance promptly at nine-thirty and told Staff Nurse Powell that Anna must leave on time.
    When nine-thirty came, she couldn't control her excitement. It was stupid of her. The man was only offering her a lift home! But Mike had been the only man in her life. So being taken home by another man was something of a novelty to her, and she hummed a tune as she hurried to the main door—to see the