He glanced upwards. ‘I have no idea what you mean.’
‘Yeah, right. We both know you don’t like Darius. Why are you being so obliging?’
Nathan sat down behind the desk. ‘How much weight has he lost recently?’
She blinked. It wasn’t the response she’d expected.
She shook her head. ‘I’m not sure. He lost weight a few months ago. I just presumed he hasn’t put it back on again yet. He is looking a little gaunt, but I’m sure once his time in camp has passed he’ll be fine. All the celebrities lose some weight in camp.’
Nathan looked thoughtful. ‘I don’t care that you’re not telling me his medical history. I just don’t like the look of him.’ His mouth curled upwards for a second. There was a definite glint in his eye. ‘In more ways than one.’ He looked serious again. ‘I think there could be something else going on with Darius Cornell.’
She took a deep breath. She was having a professional conversation with Nathan Banks. It was just so weird. She’d been so wrapped up in Darius’s history of non-Hodgkin’s and keeping it confidential she hadn’t really thought about anything else. Sometimes you needed someone else to help you look at the big picture.
She bit the inside of her lip and gave a little sigh of recognition. ‘This way we get to keep a direct eye on him every day?’
Nathan smiled. ‘You got it.’
So this was what working with Nathan Banks could be like. She’d waited over eight years to find out. She’d never really expected it to happen. Even though they’d attended the same university, they’d never actually worked on a ward together. Once they’d qualified, choosing different specialities meant that it was unlikely to ever happen. This had been totally unexpected.
She watched as he flicked through a few files. His hair was so short she had an urge to run her palm over his head and feel the little bristle beneath her skin. He must have got used to wearing it in the buzz-cut style while he was working away.
The first thing she’d noticed was the little lines around his eyes. He’d aged. But, like most men, he’d done it in a good way. He’d lost the fresh face of youth and replaced it with something much more lived in and a whole lot more worldly-wise.
Nathan had always managed to take her breath away. Before, it had been with his good nature, laughter and sex appeal. Now, it was something entirely different. The man in front of her made her suck her breath between her teeth and just hold it there. He had so much presence. His bulkier frame filled the room. But it was whatever was hidden behind his eyes that made her unable to release the breath screaming in her lungs.
It could be a whole variety of things. The loss of his parents. His time over the world for Doctors Without Borders. Did Nathan have a medical history she didn’t know about? Why had he changed his career pathway? It could even be the fact that his brother had now settled down with a family before him. But she doubted that very much.
She wanted to peel back the layers. She wanted a diary of the missing years. But she wanted it all about Nathan, without revealing anything of herself.
Pathetic, really.
But she just wasn’t ready to go there.
His head lifted and their gazes meshed. ‘Is there anyone else you’re worried about?’ he asked.
Her brain scrambled. You. Me. She bit back the obvious replies.
‘Ron,’ she said quickly. ‘I don’t know if he just has a sweating disorder but I’d like to check him over.’
Nathan nodded. ‘Me too. We’ll get him in soon.’
He stood up and walked over to the door. ‘I’m going to go for a run along the beach before we need to supervise the diving challenge.’
Rachel bit her lip. An empty beach and the open ocean sounded like a great idea. Somewhere to clear her head. Somewhere to get her thoughts together. But if Nathan was going to be there it was too crowded already.
She stood up. ‘I’m going to go and talk to the production crew about the diving challenge. I’ll talk to you later.’
As she stepped outside the medical centre she took a few gulps of air. This island seemed to be getting smaller by the second …
RACHEL STRETCHED OUT on the sun lounger and wiggled her toes, the only part of her currently in the sun. The last few days had been odd. After the hiccup on the first day and Darius’s minor injuries on the challenge, things had pretty much been how Lewis had promised. A few hours’ work every day followed by hours and hours to kill. That would be fine if they were staying at a luxury resort, or in the middle of a city. Instead, they were on an island with a distinct lack of facilities and where the only entertainment was the Z-list celebrities. The days seemed longer than ever.
The challenges had been going well. Frank, the sportsman, had aced the diving challenge around the coral reef without managing to do himself any damage. The next challenge had been to scale a thirty-foot tree to reach a fake bird’s-nest. Billy X, the rapper, had proved surprisingly agile but Darius had obviously been annoyed that he’d not been voted for by the public.
His wound was gradually healing and the antibiotics seemed to have warded off any sign of infection. He still wasn’t looking any better though and Rachel had started to wonder if they should be monitoring his weight. The celebrities had to prepare and cook their own food over a campfire and, even though there weren’t excessive amounts of food, there was still enough to keep them sustained. Maybe Nathan was right—maybe there was something else to worry about?
She shifted uncomfortably on the sun lounger. If Darius’s non-Hodgkin’s relapsed he would be in big trouble. He had already relapsed twice. Each treatment plan had been more intense than the one before. She knew firsthand exactly what these treatment plans involved. He wouldn’t be able to keep his illness a secret much longer.
She heard muffled voices up in the trees around her. The crew were gossiping again. She smiled. They were a great bunch but sometimes it was like being trapped on an island with a bunch of teenage girls.
Thankfully, no one seemed to have picked up on the tension between her and Nathan. Or, if they had, she hadn’t heard anyone mention it.
Ron caught her eye as he walked slowly towards the medical centre. Rachel had asked him to come in twice in as many days and she was glad he’d finally showed up. Nathan was on duty and would check him over.
As he reached out his hand towards the door he winced. His face was bright red. He almost looked as though he could burst.
She hesitated for a few seconds. Nathan was an experienced A & E doctor. He could handle this—she knew he could. If she went in now, he might be resentful of her interference.
But the expression on Ron’s face couldn’t let her sit there much longer. She sat up and dug her toes into the sand for a second as she reached underneath the lounger for her sandals. She wasn’t getting much of a tan anyway. She was too worried that if she took her sundress off and just wore her bikini people might ask questions about her scar.
She wasn’t normally self-conscious and if Nathan hadn’t been on the island she would have worn her bikini without a second thought. But suddenly she was wishing she had a schoolgirl-style swimsuit in her backpack—one that covered all parts of her back and front. It might not be stylish but would stop any awkward questions.
She shook the sand from her feet and pushed them into her sandals. Ron. That was who she needed to concentrate on now. It was time to stop fretting about the future and put her professional head back into place.
Nathan was feeling restless. The last few nights