She tapped on the door and opened it, but it wasn’t Michael who was sitting there, it was Joel.
‘Oh.’ Lucy stopped dead, taken aback to see him, and then mumbled an apology and went to leave the room.
‘Hold on.’ His deep voice stopped her in her tracks and he stood up and walked round the desk towards her. ‘Did you want something?’
‘No.’ She certainly didn’t. At least, not from him. He unsettled her more than any man she’d ever met. ‘I mean, yes. Michael. I was looking for Michael to see a patient.’
His gaze was disconcertingly sharp. ‘He’s gone on a house call. I’m covering his surgery. What can I do for you?’
In the confines of the consulting room his shoulders seemed broader than ever and the dark jumper he was wearing just emphasised the blue of his eyes.
He looked wickedly handsome and she swa
llowed hard and fumbled behind her for the doorhandle.
‘Nothing. It doesn’t matter.’
‘Now you’ve intrigued me.’ He gave a curious smile and rested one muscular thigh on the desk. ‘What is it that Michael has that I don’t?’
She bit her lip and rubbed her damp palms on her uniform. ‘Nothing. It’s not you. I mean—well…’ she was fumbling in her confusion. ‘It’s just that I need someone sympathetic.’
One dark eyebrow lifted and humour flickered in those blue eyes. ‘You don’t think I’m sympathetic?’
Hideously aware that she’d just insulted him, she blushed with mortification. ‘Of course you are—I didn’t mean… It’s just that I need someone…older.’
Oh, help, she was talking total gibberish. But she just didn’t think Joel was the right person for Penny.
‘Older.’ He nodded slowly and folded his arms across his broad chest. ‘Now I really am intrigued. Why don’t you tell me the problem and then we’ll work out whether I’m old enough to deal with it?’
Relieved that he was still laughing, and didn’t seem annoyed by her tactless comments, Lucy briefly told him what had happened and the humour faded from his eyes.
‘Ouch,’ he said softly. ‘Poor kid. She must be terrified.’
‘She is.’
‘Who’s she registered with?’
‘Your father, but she doesn’t want to see him because he’s a family friend and because…’
‘Because?’ he prompted her gently, and she blushed.
‘Because she thinks he’s too old to understand about sex.’
Joel threw back his head and laughed, his eyes shimmering with delight. ‘Oh, that’s fantastic. We’re always pulling his leg about being old. I must remember that one!’
Lucy looked at him anxiously. ‘You mustn’t tell him.’
‘Don’t worry, I won’t disclose the source.’ Joel’s shoulders were still shaking. ‘OK, so what are we going to do about young Penny?’ His laughter fading, he stood up in a smooth movement, his eyes on her face. ‘Seeing as all the other Whittakers are occupied elsewhere, are you going to trust me with her?’
Lucy hesitated, not sure what Penny’s reaction would be to talking to Joel. She was certain that if it was her, she’d never be able to discuss sex with a man like him.
Just thinking of Joel and sex made her feel strange.
‘Ideally she wants to see a woman.’
He gave a soft laugh and rubbed a hand over his roughened jaw line. ‘Well, I’m certainly not a woman, but I promise to be sensitive if that’s what’s worrying you.’
Lucy felt her breathing quicken as their eyes locked.