“Timid, you called her?”
“She’s probably hiding, hence the name,” Libby told her, walking over and handing the two kittens to Michael.
“Maybe you should go check on the furnace now, before it starts blowing any more hot air.”
James came walking into the kitchen, holding Timid at arm’s length. “Here’s the other one.”
“Oh, you’re scaring the poor thing,” Katherine said, snatching Timid away from him and cuddling her against her cashmere coat. “She’s just a baby.”
“I can lock her in the bathroom with the others,” Michael offered, holding out his hand.
Her mother turned Timid away from his reach. “No, she’s trembling. I think I’ll just hold her a bit.”
And just like that, Libby knew that Katherine Hart had won Michael’s approval.
Michael put Trouble and Guardian into the bathroom and then disappeared into the cellar. Libby put the kettle on to boil. Katherine took a seat at the table, still cuddling Timid, and looked around the kitchen.
“This is a wonderful house,” she said. “So old New England. How did you find it?” she asked, giving Libby a pointed look that said she was keeping up the charade.
“On the Internet,” Libby told her, going to the fridge, hoping there was something hiding in there to eat. She found half a block of cheddar cheese, two apples, and a cucumber. She carried everything to the counter and started cutting it up, arranging slices on a plate for a snack.
“Why Maine?” James asked, sitting at the table opposite Katherine.
Libby shrugged. “Why not?”
“Do you realize the trouble you’re in, Elizabeth? You walked away from your contract.
And your responsibilities,” he told her, his voice scolding. “As it is, your little trip will probably cost you a fortune in fines. But that’s nothing compared with what it’s already cost your reputation. You walked out of your operating room, Elizabeth. You left a mess.”
Libby stopped slicing the apple and turned to look at him. “I sent Randal Peters a certified letter saying I had to leave for personal reasons.”
“I talked to Peters, and he doesn’t care what reason you cited. He knows you left because of what happened,” James said, standing up and coming over to her, taking her by the shoulders. “There’s still time to straighten this out, Elizabeth. If you come back right now and apologize to the board and beg their forgiveness, this can be dealt with quietly.”
“What exactly happened,” Michael asked as he stepped through the cellar door, “that requires an apology and begging?”
James spun to face him. “This isn’t your concern, MacBain. It’s Elizabeth’s.”
“And yours?” Michael asked softly, walking up to stand directly in front of James.
“Libby doesn’t strike me as a woman willing to beg for anything. So, tell me what she’s done that needs an apology.”
James returned to the table and stood behind the chair he’d been sitting in. “It was a stupid mistake,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “She nearly cut into a perfectly healthy woman in her operating room. But that’s not something you throw your career away for.”
Michael turned and looked at her, his pewter-gray eyes gently probing hers. “Is that true, lass? Ya left because of this mistake?”
“It’s a serious mistake for a surgeon, Mr. MacBain,” Katherine said, drawing his attention. “But it wasn’t my daughter’s fault. They brought her the wrong patient.”
Michael looked back at Libby.
She turned to the counter and began cutting the apple again.
“She must have felt responsible,” she heard Michael tell Katherine. “Enough to doubt her ability to perform her job.”
“I repeat, this is not your business, MacBain,” James said tightly. “We will deal with Elizabeth’s problem.”
“By advising her to beg?” Michael asked so softly that shivers of alarm raced up Libby’s spine.
Robbie’s arrival interrupted the tense silence. He ran into the kitchen on a blast of cold air, the door slamming loudly behind him.
“Libby! We had a fire at school,” he said excitedly in greeting, rushing to tell her his news. “It was in the boys’ bathroom, and the whole school filled up with smoke, and we had to leave without getting our coats and stuff.”
Almost without breaking stride, Robbie walked over to Katherine and scratched Timid on the head, giving Libby’s mother a huge grin. “She’ll purr if ya tickle her right here,”
he instructed, guiding Katherine’s fingers to the back of Timid’s ear. “She likes ya,” he added with authority, his grin widening. “Are ya Libby’s mama? ’Cause if ya are, I’ll like ya, too.”
“Then I guess I am,” her mother replied, her warm brown eyes dancing with amusement. “And you can call me Katherine.”
Robbie thought about that, studying her for a good long time. “I think I’ll call ya Gram Katie,” he finally decided. “’Cause old people like it when I call them things like that.”
He turned to face James, completely oblivious to Katherine’s horror. “Who are you?” he asked, lifting his young chin. “You better not have come here to take Libby back to California, ’cause she’s not leaving. We’re keeping her. She’s got kittens and chickens to look after, and she signed a lease with me. It’s a contract that’s… ” He looked at Libby, suddenly uncertain. “What is it again?” he whispered.
“Binding,” Libby whispered back, barely containing her amusement.
Robbie looked at James again, his young features rather threatening. “Yeah. Her contract is binding, and she can’t leave for a year.”
“Well, if you had checked her references, young man,” James said sharply, “you’d know she makes a habit of breaking her contracts.”
“James,” Katherine snapped. “That’s enough.”
“Aye,” Michael interjected. “It is. Come on, son. You and I have to go buy Libby a new bed.”
“What’s wrong with her old bed?” Robbie asked, shooting one final glare at James before giving Libby his attention. “Is it lumpy?” he asked her. “Or does it sag in the middle? ’Cause we can put a board under it if it sags.”
“It-it’s lumpy,” Libby said past her blush, keeping her gaze from coming into contact with Michael’s. “But I want a new headboard as well,” she added, speaking directly to Robbie and hoping Michael was listening.
Why on earth did he have to bring up the subject of her bed now, in front of her mother and James? And dammit, she wanted to pick out her own bed.
Robbie leaned up to speak to his father as he kept a guarded eye on James. “I don’t think we should leave right now, Papa,” he whispered. “That guy with Gram Katie might try to steal Libby from us. We gotta stay until he’s gone.”
Of course, everyone heard Robbie, including the subject of his distrust. James sneered, looking at Libby. “The child has no more manners than your cats.”
Libby had had enough as well. She pointed her knife-skewered apple at James and decided it was time to tell him what she thought of his own manners. But Robbie beat her to it. The boy rounded on the condescending man and took a step toward him.
“I don’t need manners,” he told him, his young fists balled at his sides. “’Cause I’ve got right on my side. And might,” he added, taking another step closer.
“Might?” James sputtered in disbelief, his face darkening with anger.
Libby moved to step between them, but Michael took hold of her arm and silently shook his head, his eyes filled with delight and no small amount of fatherly pride.
“It’s my papa’s might,” Robbie explained, his tone even, his glare filled with challenge.
“He’s a warrior, and he steps over bigger men than you just to get to a fight.”
As threats went, Libby couldn’t have come up with a better one herself. For a worldly, sophisticated doctor who was so much at home in an operating room or a board meeting, it seemed James didn’t have a clue how to respond to the boy’s challenge. He didn’t know how to deal with children, period. Which was why, instead of snapping back, he darted a worried look at Michael, pulled out his chair, and sat down.