Oh, no, no, no, no!
Why hadn’t it occurred to her before?
The Whittakers all had those same blue eyes, and Richard had told her that his son had worked on the air ambulance, so she really should have guessed.
Joel.
Joel Whittaker.
Why did this have to happen? She loved Richard, and Michael and Nick were both friendly and non-threatening. But as for Joel…
She swallowed hard as she stared into those glittering blue eyes.
Joel was one hundred per cent predatory male and there was no way she would be able to work with him if he looked at her the way he had this morning.
The way he was looking at her now.
She hadn’t tho
ught she’d ever be attracted to a man again and the strength of her reaction to him shocked her.
But she didn’t want to feel that way. It just confused her.
‘Hello, again.’ He paused at the bottom of the stairs and gave her a friendly smile that she had to admit was more boyish than predatory. ‘Ros said you needed someone to see a patient?’
She looked at him blankly. It hadn’t occurred to her that he’d be starting work straight away.
‘Is there someone you’re worried about?’ he prompted her, and she backed away from him, flustered.
‘Yes, but I just wanted to run an idea past someone. It’s probably stupid, and I know how busy you all are, and—’
‘Lucy.’ He interrupted her gently, his eyes searching. ‘You can run it past me. I’m a doctor, too, remember?’
As if she needed reminding! His impressive performance at the scene of the accident was still uppermost in her mind. If it hadn’t been for him, she dreaded to think what might have happened.
‘Can we go into one of the consulting rooms?’ She glanced over her shoulder towards her treatment room. ‘I don’t really want to talk in the corridor.’
He was instantly professional, his blue eyes keenly interested. He strode ahead of her, pushed open Michael’s door and stood to one side to let her in.
Closing the door behind them, he stayed with his back to the door, watching her carefully. ‘Go on, then—fire away.’
She swallowed. ‘Kawasaki disease. Have you ever come across it?’
He nodded slowly. ‘Once, when I was doing paeds, but it’s pretty rare. Why? Do you think we’ve got a case?’
Lucy looked at him and started to relax. At least he hadn’t laughed or scoffed or tried to tell her that she was overstepping her role.
‘I’m probably completely wrong—tell me some more about it. It’s not in the textbook I keep in the treatment room.’
Joel took a deep breath and paced across the room to the window. ‘Kawasaki disease—otherwise known as mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome—first reported in 1967 in Japan. It’s thought to be related to a viral infection and usually affects children under the age of five.’ He turned to face her, a frown touching his brow. ‘What signs and symptoms does the child have?’
‘She’s had a temperature for the last five days. She saw Michael once at the beginning, but he thought it was viral, and now she’s got a nasty peeling rash on the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet,’ Lucy told him. ‘And her tongue looks like a strawberry. That’s what made me think of it, to be honest. I just remembered the strawberry tongue bit from my training. One of those useless bits of information that stay with you.’
‘Clearly not useless,’ Joel said softly, walking back across the room and opening the door. ‘Michael’s gone out on a call so I’ll take a look at her with you.’
‘They couldn’t get an appointment to see one of the doctors today, so she thought she’d ask me about the rash,’ Lucy said as they walked to the treatment room. ‘I’m probably being ridiculous. It’s probably nothing.’
Joel pushed open the door of the treatment room and Lucy introduced him to Millie Gordon and her mother.