Touched By Angels

He cleared his throat and she turned to look at him again, feeling her heart immediately sink when she saw that the aloof mask was firmly in place once more. What a fool she was to have imagined that he might have had a change of heart so soon!

‘It will take a couple of days once we get under way to assess the kind of problems we’re going to be dealing with. As you know, my main area of interest is eye disorders, but I shall be doing my share of general surgery, as well as dealing with whatever medical problems we encounter.’

‘That was something I was going to ask you about,’ Meg put in quietly, deliberately confining her thoughts to work because it seemed wiser. She was there to do a job, not to make friends and influence people, and she would be better off remembering that. ‘I know a lot of these overseas aid trips specialise in various fields and I wasn’t sure if that was what we would be doing.’

‘Ideally it would be wonderful if we could specialise. Diseases of the eye, for instance, are a huge problem in a lot of developing countries. I would like nothing better than to spend the next three months devoting my time solely to that area. However, it just isn’t practical,’ he explained levelly. ‘Oncamba has been cut off from the rest of the world for so long that the people have had no access to any sort of medical help for a great many years.’

‘I see. So we are going to treat anyone and everyone we can—is that it?’ Meg asked, frowning as she thought what a huge undertaking it was going to be.

‘That’s right. Oh, I shall still focus as much as I can on treating cases of trachoma and Guy, the other surgeon who has travelled on ahead to get things ready, has a keen interest in the early detection of cervical cancer. But, basically, you’re right. We shall be seeing as many patients as we can fit into a day, no matter what type of problem they have.’

He frowned. ‘It means that the workload is going to be very intensive so it certainly won’t be the best introduction you could have had to this type of work.’

Meaning that he didn’t think she would cope with the pressure? She almost laughed out loud as she realised just how foolish she’d been to imagine he might care about hurting her feelings when he lost no opportunity to try and undermine her confidence!

‘Maybe not. But I’m sure I’ll cope, Dr Trent, despite the fact that you’re expecting me to fall flat on my face!’

She knew how unprofessional it was to speak to him like that and steeled herself for his reply. What she had never expected was that he would laugh.

‘I’m sure that falling flat on your face is something you rarely do, Meg Andrews! I’m certainly not expecting or hoping it will happen either.’

His amusement vanished as abruptly as it had appeared. ‘However, that doesn’t mean that I’ve changed my mind. This isn’t the sort of work for a woman like you.’

And what sort of a woman is that? Meg wanted to ask, only she didn’t. She didn’t need to because she already knew. Obviously, the sort of woman who didn’t impress Jack Trent!

It wasn’t a comforting thought when they would be working together for the next three months. Yet, if she was really honest, she would have been forced to admit that it wasn’t just the fact that he held her in such low esteem professionally which hurt, but the fact that his opinion of her as a person obviously wasn’t any better.

What a good job it was that she had no intention of being that honest!

It was getting dark by the time they reached the village where they would spend the night. Meg was as exhausted as everyone else as she scrambled stiffly down from the lorry. The last five miles of the journey had been a test of endurance and she was black and blue from being jolted around.

‘Why on earth do we volunteer for these trips? I mean, I could be sitting in front of the telly right now with a cup of tea, watching Coronation Street. Must be mad, mustn’t we?’

Lesley came to join her, rubbing her back as she tried to work the kinks out of it. Meg smiled sympathetically. ‘I know what you mean. I thought my teeth were going to drop out on that last stretch!’

She grimaced when Lesley laughed then coloured as she caught the I-told-you-so expression on Jack’s face as he strode past them to speak to Rory. Without stopping to think, she stuck out her tongue at his retreating back and heard Lesley stifle a snort of surprised laughter.

‘Do I get the impression that you and our esteemed leader don’t see eye to eye?’

Meg shrugged, wishing that she hadn’t behaved so childishly. She certainly didn’t want to cause problems within the team at this early stage. ‘Sort of. Anyway, what happens now?’

Lesley took the hint and didn’t pursue it, but Meg could tell that she was curious about what had gone wrong between her and Jack. What could she have said if Lesley had asked her what the problem was? Meg thought ruefully. That Jack didn’t like her for some reason?

It was the truth and yet it seemed such a feeble explanation that she doubted anyone would believe it. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Jack Trent didn’t strike her as a man who took an unreasoning dislike to people.

That thought didn’t help one bit—it simply served to make her feel even more perplexed. It was a relief when Jack announced that because of the lateness of the hour it might be better if they got straight to bed after they’d had something to eat.

It turned out that Moses lived in the village and his wife, Leah, had prepared a meal for them. Everyone sat round the fire while they ate the deliciously spicy stew the woman had made.

Meg hadn’t realised just how hungry she was until then and had a second helping when Leah shyly offered it to her. She was a beautiful young woman with smooth, ebony skin, her hair intricately beaded and braided. She was obviously heavily pregnant, her distended belly clearly visible beneath the flowing, brightly coloured robe which covered her from neck to ankle. However, she still managed to move gracefully as she served their meal.

She smiled shyly when Meg thanked her. ‘I am pleased that you enjoyed it, Doctor,’ she said in her lilting voice, before she moved away to offer Rory a second helping, which was eagerly accepted.

‘Why does she call us all ‘‘Doctor’’?’ Meg queried, spooning up another mouthful of the tasty concoction. ‘I noticed that Moses did the same before, calling me Dr Meg.’

‘Women come very low down in the pecking order in a lot of these African countries,’ Rory explained, then glanced at Jack who was sitting beside him. ‘Isn’t that right?’

‘Unfortunately, it is. We’ve found by trial and error that it’s better if all the staff are awarded doctor status as it cuts down on a lot of problems, particularly with the male patients,’ he explained, putting aside his empty plate. ‘They accept treatment from a female doctor far more readily than they would accept it from a nurse. On trips like this, our nurses are more nurse practitioners than anything else, responsible both for diagnosing and prescribing treatment in many cases.’

‘And you have no problem with that?’ Meg asked before she could think better of it. She shrugged when everyone looked at her, glad that the heat of the fire could be blamed for her suddenly heightened colour.

‘A lot of doctors don’t hold nurses in very high esteem,’ she muttered uncomfortably.

‘Not a sin that I’m guilty of, believe me. And especially not on an undertaking like this. Everyone’s input is equally important to the success of the operation, which is why everyone is expected to pull his or her weight.’

Was she the only one to feel the sting in the tail of that statement? Meg glanced round the assembled group but not one of them looked as though they suspected Jack had meant that as a warning. It was hardly surprising when it had been aimed at her, though, was it? Hadn’t he said much the same thing earlier, that she was expected to pull her weight? Maybe he was taking the opportunity to remind her?

Suddenly, Meg knew that she’d had enough for one day. She was sick and tired of being in the dog house when she hadn’t done anything to deserve it! She scrambled to her feet, avoiding Jack’s eyes as she smiled at the rest of the team.

‘I don’t know about you lot, but I’m worn out. I think I’ll call it a night if nobody minds.’

‘Well, I don’t for starters.’ Kate got up as well, groaning as she arched her aching back. She shot a wry look at Jack. ‘Yvonne was right to cry off at the last minute if you ask me. I bet she knew you were going to have us bouncing around over miles and miles of dirt tracks!’

Jack laughed deeply as he rose to his feet. In the flickering glow from the fire, his face looked almost saturnine until he smiled, and then there was such a transformation that Meg had to look away, because she didn’t like the way her heart had started to bounce up and down.

It was only a smile, for heaven’s sake! she told herself sternly. And it hadn’t even been directed at her. Yet her foolish heart was playing leap-frog with her ribs.

‘You could be right about that. I should have told her that we’d be travelling by limo and then she might have felt well enough to come along.’ He sighed as he looked at the others. ‘I’m sure we’re all going to miss her.’

Especially when he’d been saddled with a replacement he didn’t want!

Meg turned away, afraid that the hurt she felt would show on her face. Was he deliberately trying to be cruel? she wondered sickly as she hurried towards the hut she’d been allocated to sleep in.

‘Meg, wait a moment!’

She paused when she heard Jack calling her name, although she didn’t turn round because she wasn’t sure that she had her emotions in check sufficiently to face him. She kept her back towards him, staring at the inky blackness of the trees that surrounded the village, yet she knew to the second when he stopped behind her.

That inner radar again, working overtime, she thought with a surge of black humour. Maybe she should use it as an early warning system for whenever he was in the vicinity. She certainly could do with avoiding him from the look of it!

‘I didn’t mean that as it sounded.’ He got straight to the point without any preamble, surprising her enough so that she half turned. She saw the regret in his grey eyes and somehow that undid all her good work, setting free her carefully shored-up emotions. It had been a long, tiring day and Jack’s intransigent attitude hadn’t helped one bit!

She felt her lower lip quiver before she could stop it and quickly turned away, hating herself for letting him see that he had the power to upset her.

‘Oh, hell!’ He reached out, as though he was going to touch her, then let his hand fall to his side without actually making contact. ‘Look, Meg, I wasn’t trying to make you feel that I wanted Yvonne here instead of you,’ he ground out, as though the words had cost him an awful lot of effort.

Maybe they had, Meg thought with unaccustomed cynicism. It certainly couldn’t have been easy for Jack to lie for the sake of harmony within the team!

‘Don’t worry about it,’ she said with an insouciance which cost her even more. ‘I certainly shan’t!’