Forbidden Night With The Duke

Then what were they doing, sitting here talking about it? Megan swallowed down her exasperation.

‘What you do is entirely your business. But it’s my business who I choose to work for, and I want that to be someone who I feel I can trust.’

‘I admire that sentiment. Not everyone would stick to their principles and give up something they want in favour of something they think is right.’

‘I’m just being practical. If I’m going to be working abroad, I need to know that there’s a support network here that I can rely on. That’s non-negotiable for me.’

It should be non-negotiable for anyone, but Megan felt it more keenly. When she’d been little, ‘Uncle’ Harry had visited once every two weeks, bearing expensive toys and presents. It hadn’t been until she’d been a teenager that she’d found out that he was really her father, and she’d spent the intervening years trying to distance herself from his brash attempts to have a say in her future. She wasn’t going to allow all that to count for nothing by putting herself in a position where a man just like Harry could tell her what to do.

Jaye’s gaze caught hers. Dark, and almost tender. ‘The story was true, but it left out some important details. I wasn’t the father of Sonia’s child.’

‘But...’ Megan took a swig of her coffee and almost choked on it. ‘So you just walked away...?’

‘I’m sure you’re not naïve enough to imagine that there wasn’t any just about it. We had a few full and frank discussions.’ He hesitated, as if he might be about to elaborate, and then shook his head. ‘The only other thing you need to know is that I left because Sonia called off the wedding.’

‘I don’t...’ Megan covered her mouth with her hand. Actually, she did believe him.

‘You don’t think I’m telling you the truth?’ He shrugged. ‘I’m afraid I can’t help you with that. You’ll have to make up your own mind.’

If he’d been lying he probably would have elaborated, or used his charm to convince her. But his face was impassive, making the sadness in his beautiful eyes even more compelling.

‘But you must have known what everyone at the hospital was saying. Didn’t you want to correct it?’ It would have been easy enough. A ten-minute call to one of the hospital bosses, who would have passed the information on to his secretary, with the hint that it could be tactfully fed to one or two other people. That was how rumours worked.

‘Yes, I knew exactly what Sonia’s friends were saying. And, no, I made no effort to correct it, even though I knew it was untrue.’

Discretion maybe. Or maybe he just didn’t care what anyone else thought. Jaye had always seemed quite capable of that kind of arrogance. Or maybe humbled pride, that any woman could cheat on him.

It didn’t matter. She wasn’t thinking of making Jaye her best friend, she was looking for a boss who she could trust.

‘I believed what I heard and...’ Megan felt herself redden at the thought. ‘I’m sorry. I should have known better than to trust second-hand gossip.’

He shrugged her apology away. ‘What you heard was as much my responsibility as Sonia’s. What matters now is that you make your decision based on the facts.’ He smiled and Megan felt herself flush, heat zinging up her spine.

He hadn’t given her a shred of proof, and precious little explanation, but she believed him. If those eyes were lying then she could kiss goodbye to everything she thought she knew about human nature.

‘I still have a decision to make?’ Megan heard herself whisper the words. If Jaye couldn’t forgive her behaviour, she wouldn’t blame him.

He planted his forearms on the table, hands clasped together, and leaned towards her. Challenging, and yet intimate too. ‘Absolutely. I believe you’ll justify my confidence in you.’

‘Then...’ Megan’s head was spinning, and her heart was pumping fast. Both organs seemed to be vying for their say in the matter. ‘I like working for people who expect success. They generally put fewer limitations on their goals.’

Jaye laughed suddenly. ‘I’m glad to hear that.’

He clinked his mug against hers, and drank. A toast to an unexpected success, dragged from the jaws of failure. If nothing else, working for Jaye’s charity was going to be interesting, and even more of a challenge than Megan had thought.

* * *

If Jaye did nothing else in the next four days, at least he might manage to repair some of the damage. His and Sonia’s engagement might have been a disaster in the making, averted only at the very last minute, but there was no reason why Megan’s career should be damaged by the fallout.

He hadn’t examined the potential consequences of letting the rumours persist, wanting only to disappear. Hurt and feeling that if he shrunk any more, he’d lose himself completely, he’d retreated to Sri Lanka. The clinic that his father had founded after the 2005 tsunami, and which Jaye had helped build, was a place of tranquillity and calm. A place to heal and find his balance.

But it was a different balance. He’d tried dating again, but had found himself caught up in a fury of mistrust, unable to accept that his new partner’s motives for being with him could be any different from Sonia’s. In the end, he’d given up the struggle and had let her go, burying himself once more in the work that brought him peace and fulfilment.

Jaye stared at the crackling logs in the fireplace. When Megan had believed him, it had felt as if a little piece of his heart had been repaired. Here, sitting in his apartment, with only the sound of the fire to keep him company, he knew that one piece would never be enough.

He should get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a full day, and he needed to focus. Preferably on something other than Megan’s smile.

* * *

The conference was under way, and already it felt to Megan that she’d entered a self-sufficient bubble. One that brought people who’d worked in many different parts of the world together with those who were just starting out on their careers. It was almost impossible to find the time to meet and talk to everyone.

But the one person she never seemed to talk to was Jaye. Although he was always there, he was always at the opposite end of the room from her. The coincidences were beginning to form a pattern.

At least she could watch him, and that had its very definite pleasures. Tall, graceful and always impeccably dressed, he was the stuff that daydreams were made of. And if he caught her watching him, then that could surely only be because he was watching her.

* * *

Jaye had retreated to his apartment in the west wing of the building, and sat in his study with John Ferris. It had been an exhausting two days.

‘You’re pleased with how things are going?’

‘On the whole.’ John sank into the leather chair on the other side of the fireplace. ‘I was a bit disappointed about Steven.’

Jaye and John had spent over two hours last night with the young doctor, talking through all of his reasons for leaving. ‘But you did say that was the point of this. That we shouldn’t assume any particular outcome for any particular candidate but find out what the best way forward was.’

John nodded. ‘Yeah. Steven’s not in the right place to take up a job with us at the moment. He’s got a lot of potential, though, and I want to keep in touch with him.’

‘You think that in twenty years’ time he’ll be Head of Surgery somewhere. Consulting for us, and mentoring our young surgeons?’

‘Who knows? We have to look towards the long term, and funnier things have happened.’

This was exactly why Jaye had recruited John. Four years ago, Jaye had returned from Sri Lanka with a new commitment for a future that had seemed empty without a wife and the prospect of children. It was time to take a step back from his private practice in London and concentrate on the charity that he and his father had built together. And he had needed an organiser, someone who could work side by side with him and run the charity, while Jaye concentrated on its medical activities. John had been that person.

‘What about Megan?’ John’s question interrupted his reverie.

‘What...about her?’ Megan had occupied his thoughts for much of the last two days, and that was a very good reason to take a step back. John’s decisions would be far less clouded by the urgent need to look into her eyes and see her smile.

‘It looked as if she was intent on leaving the other day, before you threw yourself in front of her car in the driveway. I asked her if everything was all right.’

‘What did she say?’

John laughed. ‘She played her cards as close to her chest as you are now. Told me that it was a misunderstanding, and that you’d come to her rescue. She made it very clear that it was all her fault and that you’d addressed her concerns very fully.’

Jaye resisted the impulse to smile. Since he hadn’t spoken with Megan himself in the course of the last two days, he’d relied on her demeanour and the few shy smiles that she’d given, when his gaze had met hers. It felt good to hear that Megan was moving forward on the basis that she really did believe him.

‘It wasn’t all her fault. Mostly it was mine.’

‘Yeah. Takes two to tango.’ John was looking at him steadily. ‘Is there anything else I should know? You and her?’