Forbidden Night With The Duke

Tim reached for the blister pack, and Megan caught his hand. ‘You don’t need any more, Tim. Just sit quietly.’

‘You think it might be malaria?’ Jaye murmured.

Megan reddened, as if she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t, turning her gaze up towards him. ‘I didn’t say that.’

Jaye supposed that, as the doctor in attendance, he ought to take over now. But Megan was doing fine on her own—a lot better than fine. She’d thought to take the paracetamol away from Tim before he took another dose, and her firm but gentle way seemed to be working with his friend, who was notoriously unwilling to do anything the doctor told him.

‘You know what to look for.’ He stepped back, motioning for Megan to carry on with her examination.

Megan nodded, laying her hand on Tim’s chest. ‘You have a bit of a wheeze there. When did you say this started?’

‘Tuesday...no, Wednesday. I was over it by Thursday lunchtime.’

‘Three days ago.’ Megan seemed to realise that the best way to get Tim to co-operate was to tell him exactly what was going on.

‘I’ve been home for six weeks...nearly seven.’ Tim started to shiver. He was obviously feeling very ill, and his tone was probably sharper than he’d meant it to be. But Megan didn’t waver.

‘Plasmodium Malariae can take up to forty-nine days to incubate and has different symptoms from the other types of malaria.’ She glanced up at Jaye and he nodded. ‘I think we might look at it as a possibility. Particularly as you may have some level of immunity from the amount of time you’re spent in regions where it’s endemic.’

She reached for the throw that was draped across the back of the chair and tucked it around Tim. Just the right mixture of care and cajoling.

‘Yeah. S’pose so...’

‘In which case we should get you a blood test as soon as possible, then we’ll know for sure. If it’s flu, I’ll be happy for you to say that you told me so.’

‘And if it’s malaria, you’ll tell me you told me so.’ Tim managed a smile.

‘I’ll forgo that pleasure, on condition you take the drugs to get it cleared up.’

Tim nodded. ‘Perhaps the doctor will make himself useful and give us a lift.’

Megan reddened again. ‘We should see what Jaye thinks...’ Her gaze found Jaye, a look of clear apology on her face.

That wasn’t needed. Megan had done exactly the right thing, and she’d charmed Tim into facing the possibilities that he must have already been aware of.

‘I’ll go and get my bag. And call my father.’

Tim groaned. ‘Oh, please. Surely we don’t need any more reinforcements, do we? People get malaria all the time...’

Jaye chuckled, turning away. He imagined that Megan could handle Tim while he was gone.

* * *

It was extraordinary. Five years ago, when she’d seen him at the hospital, Jaye had hardly seemed to notice anyone as lowly as a nurse. But now he was allowing her to take charge and examine his friend.

He must have a reason to act so completely out of character. Then the idea occurred to Megan that maybe he wasn’t acting out of character, that she’d been wrong about him all along. That was a little too delicious to contemplate right now.

‘It’s probably best to go to Gloucester Central.’ Raj had checked Megan’s observations and was writing a referral note for the hospital. ‘They have the facilities for out-of-hours testing, so they can get the blood test done tomorrow.’

He tore the sheet from his pad and handed it to Megan. ‘Make sure the doctor gets this, won’t you? I don’t want him listening to Tim and sending him home with a flu diagnosis.’

‘Doctors...’ Tim muttered under his breath. His cheeks were flushed with fever and he was grumbling quietly. ‘Give me a nurse any day.’

‘My sentiments entirely.’ Jaye shot Megan a grin that made her stomach turn somersaults, and then twitched at the throw that covered Tim’s legs. Tim protested, grabbing it tightly.

‘Come on. Let’s get you to the car.’

* * *

Megan had given Raj’s letter to the doctor at the hospital, who had read the few paragraphs in instalments, stopping every now and then to turn his attention somewhere else.

‘Dr Perera has extensive experience with tropical diseases.’ She tapped her finger on the top of the letter to draw the doctor’s attention back from the Saturday evening bustle that was going on around them, and Jaye allowed himself to smile. She was unshakeable.

‘In that case... I assume the patient’s been abroad?’