At that moment, Niall heard his name being called, and turned to see Harry Tomlinson approaching across the grass.
Niall sat up smiling. 'Hi, there." He looked around. "What have you done with Freddie?"
"Louis has taken him down to the village.' Harry sat down beside him, shading his eyes from the sun. 'He wanted to buy something for his mother from that little pottery shop.' Harry sighed. 'I can hardly believe our week is up. And, would you believe, we're almost sorry to be going home. For which we have you to thank, of course.'
'That's nonsense,' Niall said roundly. 'It was just lucky I happened to be at the desk that day, and was able to help.'
He'd been waiting to buy some stamps when he'd over heard the clearly distressed young couple protesting to an unsympathetic looking desk clerk about the hotel's policy of barring babies and young children from the restaurant after seven p.m.
As their voices failed to reach the deaf years, Niall helped translate for them in much crueler words, even though their objections were ultimately met with a shrug of complete indifference.
They'd adjourned to the terrace bar for coffee, where Niall had learned they'd won their South of Ireland holiday in a magazine competition, but their intended destination had been a three star hotel in the St. Vermin chain.
A fire had resulted in the grudging upgrade to the real St. Vermin.
'But we felt from the moment we got here yesterday that they didn't really want us,' Harry had said. 'They made a fuss about putting a cot in the bungalow and told us there was no babysitting service, then dropped the bombshell about the restaurant. If we wanted to eat there, we had to have the special children's supper at six.'
Harry sighed. 'We're just so disappointed with it all. It isn't a bit as we'd hoped. Now we feel we simply want to go home.'
Niall could only sympathize but he was not surprised. The hotel was a place where little children might be seen but not heard, and Freddie had a good pair of lungs on him.
But the St. Vermin had accepted this family, however reluctantly, and it was totally unfair to prevent them sampling the culinary delights on offer in the restaurant.
Niall took a deep breath. 'I've had an idea,' he said. 'We - I - never have dinner until at least nine. If you're prepared to eat early, I'll come to the bungalow each night as soon as children's supper is over and look after Freddie for you, so that you can dine together in the restaurant.'
There was a silence and then Harry said. 'No, we couldn't ask you. Couldn't impose like that.'
'I'd love to do it.' Niall bent, and ran a finger down Freddie's round pink cheek, receiving a toothless grin as a reward. 'I can't produce any references,' he added ruefully. 'But I used to babysit a lot for our neighbors in North Ireland and I- I miss it.'
The two husbands exchanged glances, then Louis leaned forward, his pleasant, tanned face serious.
'Well, if you really mean it, we'd be endlessly grateful. We were actually going to find out today how much it would cost to cut our losses and fly home.'
'Oh you can't do that,' Niall shook his head decisively. 'Because the food is really fantastic. You mustn't miss out on it.'
The final details of the arrangement were hammered out there and then. Harry assured him that Freddie was a good sleeper who rarely woke in the evenings, but that he'd leave a bottle ready just in case. In return Niall made it clear that he would accept no payments whatsoever. And on that, they'd shaken hands on the deal.
Bobby had received the news with far less amiability.
'What the hell are you thinking of?" he demanded incredulously. 'Who are these people?'
'A sweet couple with a nice baby they can't take into the restaurant for dinner,' Niall informed him calmly.
'Then why don't they order room service, or switch from dinner to lunch?" He demanded irritably.
Niall gave him a straight look. 'Because they'd be charged a lot extra and they can't afford it. Not a pleasant position to be in,' he added with faint emphasis. 'And as long as I'm ready to eat with you later, why should you care?'
'Because you might be seem, and there could be talk. You're not here as some kind of domestic help, Niall,' he added with a snap.
'No,' Niall said. 'But strangely I find I prefer it. And, whatever you say, I've promised. They're nice people, very different to those I usually have to mix with these days, and I have no intention of letting them down.'
It was a decision he hadn't regretted once, not even on the rare occasions when Freddie had woken up and grizzled. That brief hour or so in the lamp-lit peace of the bungalow's small terrace had become a welcome refuge.
A blissful break before he had to be on show, pretending to be someone else, he thought now with an inward sigh.
He said, 'I shall really miss my baby-watch.'
'Like an aching tooth,' Harry laughed. 'But surely you'll be leaving soon yourself - won't you?"
Niall looked away. 'I'm- I'm not certain. It's not really up to me.'
'Well, think of us as slaving away in the UK while you're still living in the lap of luxury.'
Niall's smile held a touch of bitterness. 'There's more than one form of slavery,' he said quietly. 'And, believe me, I'd be out of here tomorrow, given the chance.'
Harry stared at him, his bright face and green eyes suddenly looking troubled. 'Are you really so unhappy?" He asked gently.
'No, no of course not,' Niall shook his head. 'Just a touch of the blues, that's all. I- I have some big career choices looming.' And that's only part of it.
Harry got to his feet. "Well, if you want my opinion, you should become a nanny,' he said, adding hastily. 'But not the stiff and starched sort. I think you'd be magic, and then, when Louis and I get seriously rich, we can hire you.'
'I'll bear it in mind,' Niall said with forced cheerfulness.
'And as for wanting to get out of here,' Harry went on, 'my gran always says "Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it." So watch yourself, and please don't get whisked away before dinner tonight."
Niall laughed. "Are you sure it was your gran that said that and not Pussycat dolls?"
"Oh shush you and now promise me," Harry gave the blonde a cheeky smile.
"I promise. But after dinner - all bets are off.'
Alone again, he returned to his book but found it difficult to concentrate. Harry's suggestion that he might become a professional nanny had set new ideas and career possibilities buzzing in his head, and he couldn't dismiss them, although he could foresee the problems of trying to free himself from the current situation.
He knew that Uncle Matthew would get him back to the North of Ireland if he asked for his help.
But dad needs me, he thought. He said so from the start. Things were going well for him then. So how can I desert him when the going's got tough?
He collected his things together, put on his cheesecloth tunic, and began to stroll back towards the hotel. He hadn't gone far when he spotted the hotel manager heading towards him, looking harassed and talking volubly, hands waving, to a plump middle-aged man with a swarthy skin and heavy mustache, who was walking beside him, expensively dressed in a silk suit.
And Nicholas Johnson is the last person i need to run into right now, Niall thought grimly. Plus I wouldn't fool him even if I was wearing a sack over my head.
He turned swiftly away, taking a narrower path to the right which circled the gardens and led out onto a small promontory beyond.
As usual, he had it to himself. Few of the guests ventured far from the hotel, the beach or the various bars. He lighted his face to meet the slight breeze from the sea as he walked across the tussocks of grass to the farthest point and looked out over the rippling azure water.
The big yacht was still there, riding at anchor like a dignified swan, with small boats circling it like inquisitive ducklings. On impulse, Niall went over to the telescope that someone had helpfully erected on a small concrete platform, and fed the requisite number of centimeters into the slot. He adjusted the focus and guided the tube into a slow sweep of the whole bay before returning to its current most prominent feature.
The first thing he looked for was the name, but the letters along the bow were in Arabic, so she was none the wiser.
However, it couldn't belong to Onassis, because he'd died the previous year, nor, indeed to the rich Sheikh her father had been hoping for. And is that a good thing or a bad? Niall wondered wryly.
In close up, the yacht was even more spectacular, and Niall found himself wondering how many crew members it took to preserve that stringently immaculate appearance. There certainly didn't seem to be many of them around at the moment, scrubbing and polishing.
In fact, he could see just one solitary individual leaning on the rail of the upper deck, and adjusted the telescope for a closer look. His immediate hot was that he didn't belong in his pristine surroundings. On the contrary.
He wore no shirt, and Niall was treated to an uninterrupted view of deeply bronzed powerful shoulders and a muscular torso covered in black ink. Tattoos. Beautifully drawn art. With his tousled mane of black hair and the shadow of a beard masking his chin, he looked more like a pirate than a deckhand. In fact he made the place look distinctly untidy, Niall thought, deciding that he was probably someone from the engine room who'd come up for a breath of air.
He saw his hand move, and something glint in the sunshine. And with a sharp, startled catch of his breath, he suddenly realized that the tables have been turned. That he himself was now under scrutiny - throwing a powerful pair of binoculars. And that he was grinning at him, displaying very white teeth, and lifting his hand in a casual, almost mocking salute.
How had he known I was looking at him? Niall asked himself as a wave of embarrassed heat swamped him from head to toe. And why on earth had he allowed himself to be caught in the act like some - some peeping Tom.
On the other hand, why wasn't he swabbing the deck or splicing the main-brace - whatever that was? Doing something useful instead of - spying back?
Feeling intensely stupid, and wanting to scream in vexation at the same time, Niall hurriedly abandoned the telescope and walked away with as much dignity as he could muster.
Which wasn't easy when every instinct he possessed and every nerve-ending in his body was telling him with total certainty that he was watching Niall go.
And knowing at the same time that it would be quite fatal to look back and check - even for a moment.
AN/ How do you guys feel about the new covers? I was trying something new, and well, thought I'd give covers a try myself lol
Anyways, back the story, what do you think is going to happen now?
What do you think about Bobby's character?
And yes, I made Larry happen lol
NEXT UPDATE WHEN THIS CHAPTER GETS 30+ VOTES AND 10+ COMMENTS !
Till then ~