‘Haematology tell me you’ve been complaining about the length of time you’re having to wait before they test any samples you send down, and I thought I should point out to you, as one member of staff to another, that we all have to follow a certain protocol.’
‘The protocol being that Men’s Surgical samples should always be tested first, and the rest of us have to wait in line,’ Jonah said, with a smile every bit as false as Lawrence Summers’s. ‘I don’t think so, Lawrence.’
‘Then perhaps I should also point out that you’re only an acting consultant,’ Lawrence continued, his smile completely gone now, ‘and therefore have no real authority to insist on anything.’
‘Feel free to point out whatever you like, Lawrence,’ Jonah said smoothly, ‘but it won’t get you anywhere.’
The two men stared at one another, and Nell held her breath. Only yesterday she’d told Jonah he was as soft as butter, but this was a Jonah she didn’t know. A Jonah she wouldn’t want to mess with. Lawrence clearly thought the same.
‘Fair enough, Jonah,’ he said, his smile back in place on his handsome face. ‘I just thought I’d mention it.’
‘I’m glad you did,’ Jonah replied. ‘And now, if you’ll excuse us?’ he added pointedly, which left Lawrence with nothing to do but leave.
‘Thanks for rescuing me,’ Nell said as she followed Jonah into his consulting room. ‘That man is such a creep.’
‘Lawrence Summers is a creep?’ Jonah said in surprise. ‘I thought he was God’s gift to women?’
‘In his dreams,’ Nell retorted. ‘He may look like a Greek god but anyone who’s ever been out with him says he’s got arms like an octopus and a kiss like a bathroom plunger.’
Jonah let out a splutter of laughter. ‘That’s an image that’s going to stay with me for a very long time. Now, what can I do for you?’
‘Do for me?’ she said, momentarily confused, and his eyes crinkled.
‘Well, as you were clearly headed for my room before you were waylaid by the dreaded Lawrence, I assume you wanted to speak to me.’
She did, but now she was here…
Say it, she told herself. The longer she didn’t say it, the harder it was going to be. Which was true, but it didn’t make the prospect of raising the subject of last night any easier.
‘Jonah—’ She came to a halt as his phone rang.
‘I’ll be with you in a minute,’ he said, lifting the phone, only to roll his eyes in exasperation at whatever the person at the other end of the phone was saying. ‘No, I do not want the results tomorrow,’ he told the unknown caller. ‘I want them today. They were promised for today, and this is today, so where are they?’
He winked across at her, and she tried to smile back, but as she stood uncertainly in front of his desk, words crept into her mind. Words that made her cheeks heat up, and her resolve falter.
You have such lovely hair, Jonah. Soft, silky. Smells nice, too.
Oh, criminy, had she really said that? Maybe she should forget all about plan B and go back to plan A.
‘Would you believe that Haematology still haven’t processed Donna Harrison’s blood tests?’ Jonah said when he’d put down the phone. ‘I told them I need to be sure her jaundice has completely gone before we can discharge her.’ He dragged his fingers through his hair then smiled a little ruefully. ‘Enough with the complaining. What can I do for you?’
She opened her mouth, then closed it again. ‘It doesn’t matter. You’re clearly busy, and it’s not important.’
‘It obviously is, otherwise you wouldn’t be standing there looking like you’ve got your knickers in a twist.’
Knickers. He’d seen her knickers and they weren’t frilly or pretty but the sort of serviceable, practical kind his mother probably wore.
Oh, for heaven’s sake, stop thinking about your knickers, her mind urged. Just say it because if you don’t you’ll only have to try again tomorrow and that will be even worse.
‘It’s…it’s about what happened last night, Jonah,’ she said, and his eyes met hers.
‘Nothing happened last night, Nell.’
‘I know nothing happened in the sense of…of happened,’ she said, wishing she was anywhere but there, and doing anything but having this conversation, ‘but that’s only because…because you were too much of a gentleman to take advantage of the situation.’ Or took one look at me and thought, ye gods, but I hadn’t realised she was quite that fat.
‘That’s true,’ he said solemnly, then one corner of his mouth lifted. ‘Plus I have this rather old-fashioned notion that if I make love to a woman, I rather prefer her to be able to remember it afterwards.’
‘Oh. Right.’ She could feel a blush creeping all the way up from her toes. ‘Jonah.’
‘Look, you were unhappy last night, and very drunk,’ he continued. ‘Nothing happened you need be embarrassed about.’
Oh, yes, it had.
‘And as far as I’m concerned, the subject is over, forgotten. My only regret is that Brian isn’t standing in front of me right now. He’s behaved very badly, and if he were here I’d take the greatest pleasure in inflicting some serious damage on him.’
‘You would?’ she said in surprise, and he shook his head as though amazed she should doubt it.
‘Nell, we’re friends, and I won’t allow anyone to make a friend of mine unhappy.’
Tears rose in her throat and she gulped them back with difficulty. ‘You’re the best, Jonah. You know that, don’t you?’
‘I think the words you used last night were “my hero”, “Mr Superman” and “my knight in shining armour”.’
Crimson colour seeped across her cheeks and she gave an unsteady laugh. ‘I thought you said you’d forgotten all about last night?’
He grinned. ‘I have, but I kind of liked those descriptions so, if you don’t mind, I’d like to remember them.’
She tried to keep her smile in place, but it wobbled around the edges, and he got to his feet and clasped her hands in his own large ones.
‘Brian’s an idiot,’ he said softly. ‘This Candy, you’re worth two of her.’
‘I bet I weigh two of her as well,’ she said miserably, and he tilted her chin with his finger.
‘Enough of that. Nell, listen to me—’
‘Jonah, I’ve been thinking about Brian…what’s happened…It’s partly my fault, isn’t it?’
‘Your fault?’ he repeated. ‘How the hell can it be your fault?’
‘I should have gone to the States with him. I know he said there was no point in me going with him as it was only for a year, but Brian likes company, and I think he was lonely, living in a city he doesn’t know. And this Candy…she’s been there, somebody for him to talk to, and before he realised what was happening, she grabbed him.’
‘Bu—’
‘It makes sense, doesn’t it?’ she said. ‘And, if I’m right, there’s still a chance he’ll realise he’s made a mistake and come back to me, isn’t there?’
Her grey eyes were large and dark as she stared up at him, and it took all of Jonah’s self-control not to shake her.
How could she be so trusting, so gullible, so damned stupid? he wondered. Brian was, and always had been, an arrogant, conceited jerk. In fact, Jonah had been