Dangerous Tides (Drake Sisters 4)

Libby's eyes met his and his heart nearly stopped at the look she gave him. He'd never seen love in another's eyes, not directed at him. He had the sudden urge to drag her into his arms and kiss her, just for looking at him that way. He was smart enough to acknowledge to himself that there was a part of him that felt he was unlovable and no amount of telling himself to grow up would get him over those childhood feelings of rejection. He was beginning to believe Libby Drake could love him, and all of his careful planning to get her to see she needed him was every bit as important as he'd first thought.

Edward shook his head. "I've lost all faith in doctors."

"Don't give up yet, Mr. Martinelli," Libby said, standing up. "Please let me see your son. Has your wife and or your son ever traveled with you to a foreign country?"

"Not Robbie. We haven't been out of the country since before he was born."

"Which country?"

"I traveled in South America. I wanted to see the rain forest. Eva flew to Mexico to meet me when my trip to the rain forest was over, and no, she wasn't bitten by any bugs. She wasn't near any bugs. I was very conscious of her health and kept her in the best hotel available. We've had the same questions asked over and over by the doctors."

"It's the only way we can get a clear diagnosis, Mr. Martinelli." Libby preceded him into the room where a nurse sat beside a bed and a young woman lay beside a small boy. He was about five and very pale and weak. Eva Martinelli looked just as weak.

"This is Dr. Drake, Eva. She's come to take a look at both you and Robbie," Ed said, his voice gentle.

"Don't get up, Mrs. Martinelli," Libby said, her smile easy as she pulled gloves out of the small bag she'd brought with her. "I won't disturb him too much."

She approached the bed, noting the woman's breathing. "Have you been short of breath for a long time?" Libby slid her hands down Eva's neck, feeling the swelling in the cervical glands. "On this trip you made to Mexico to meet with your husband some years ago, you don't recall being bitten by anything at all? Nothing unusual happened?"

"Nothing to do with bugs," Eva said.

Libby paused, her hands sliding down to the deeper glands. "What do you mean? What did happen on that trip?"

"I flew to Mexico to meet Ed. I wanted to swim with the dolphins. I love the water and we have a favorite place we enjoy going."

Libby nodded encouragingly as she moved to the sleeping child, her hands sliding over his neck to feel similar swelling in the glands.

"Eva's leg was cut open on a piece of metal embedded in the wall of a swimming pool just below the surface of the water. We were at the estate of some friends of ours and the cut was very deep. We barely got her to the hospital in time."

Libby straightened up and turned to face Eva. "You suffered severe blood loss?"

Eva nodded. "It was just a cut though. It didn't get infected."

"But you had a blood transfusion."

"I don't have AIDS. They checked us for AIDS."

"I don't believe you have AIDS, Mrs. Martinelli, but I believe I've seen your symptoms many times before. The signs are very indicative of Chagas's disease. You can get Chagas three different ways and one of them is through a blood transfusion. The symptoms often don't show up, particularly in an adult, for years. Adults many times get a more chronic form where a child can often get an acute form. You both will need some tests run immediately."

"But I thought the blood was screened for everything," Ed protested.

"I obviously could be wrong," Libby said, although she was certain she wasn't. The swelling in the cervical glands was very symptomatic of Chagas. "But the disease is very easy to misdiagnose. Did you tell the doctors about the transfusion in Mexico?"

Eva exchanged a long look with her husband. "We talked about South America quite a bit, but not Mexico. The subject didn't come up."

"Someone mentioned Chagas once," Ed said, "but she was never exposed to the bug that carries it."

"I think she should be tested and Robbie as well. She obviously was transfused before she ever conceived him. If I'm correct, Mr. Martinelli, time is of the essence to get treatment for them both, particularly Robbie. I'd like to call their doctor if you don't mind and arrange things immediately."

"I don't want to put them through a lot of tests again and then have the doctors say they have no idea."

"Chagas is present in eighteen countries on the American continent. In the early eighties, over seventeen million people were infected. Even now with all the work being done to eradicate the problem we see between seven hundred to eight hundred thousand new cases per year. I'm telling you, I've seen this over and over. Get them to the hospital and get treatment started. If you let me use your phone, I'll speak with their doctor and we can get things rolling."

17

"OKAY, woman," Tyson said, as he unlocked the door to the enormous glass front house, "I was very impressed."

"It wasn't all that difficult. I've seen Chagas's disease many times, and when I touched Mrs. Martinelli, I knew she was having heart problems. It wasn't such a big jump, especially since I knew Ed often went to foreign countries doing wild things with you. I was thinking foreign diseases as soon as he told me about his wife."

"You thought about trying to heal them," Tyson said, holding open the door, waiting for her to make the move to go inside. "Just like you wanted to do with Jonas."

"I was giving Jonas a boost, it isn't the same thing."

He made a huffing sound, which Libby ignored as she forced herself to step over the threshold. It was utterly silly to feel exposed in the house, but she did. She had loved the property from the first moment Tyson had driven her along the winding driveway and the first glimpse of the house had been breathtaking. It meant even more to her that he had found the place himself and purchased it for her. She wanted to feel safety and peace, instead of the current heart-pounding fear that someone was watching their every move.

"I did think about it, but you gave me your best imitation of intimidation and I was able to be sensible."

His eyebrow shot up. "Imitation? I scare everyone at the lab with that look. A little more respect, Drake."

"I thought if you kissed me, you couldn't call me Drake anymore."

"Are you angling for a kiss?"

"Yes."

"Well, then, why didn't you just say so?" He caught her chin in his hand to lift her face to his. She felt the long slow kiss all the way to her toes. Her reluctance to enter the house faded away instead of increasing as she thought it might. Every time he touched her, the world fell away so that she could only feel the ebb and flow of passion, and a rush of love so deep it shook her. She hadn't known she was falling that hard. It hadn't come fast as she'd always imagined love would, but had happened slowly over time. All those years of watching him, thinking about him, she had tied herself to him without even knowing.

When he lifted his head, she stared up at him feeling a little bemused. "That book you read on kissing? I'd like a copy."

"You kiss just fine, baby."

"I was going to frame it and hang it on the wall over the fireplace in a place of honor. In fact, let's keep the entire collection of your 'how to' books on the shelf where we can refer to them often."

He grinned at her. "I like the idea." Tyson gestured toward the living room.

Libby took a breath, forced air through her lungs and walked through the cool marble entryway into the enormous glass living room. She halted abruptly. Where before the unfinished room had been a lovely but bare hardwood floor and plush throw rugs, now neat groupings of furniture filled the space, leaving openness, but eradicating emptiness. A long, wide couch curved around the corner in soft buttered leather.

Several recliners and low slung coffee tables formed intimate, relaxing spaces. She halted abruptly. "Who did this?"

He shrugged. "I picked out the furniture a while back and had it delivered yesterday. If you don't like it, you can have them take it back and pick something different. I ju

st wanted to make the house seem more like a home than an empty building. And you won't have to worry about voyeurs. Sarah put in an alarm system. We have cameras for outside. And I had these drapes installed for you." He looked really pleased as he crossed to the wall opposite the glass. "I remembered Sarah waving her arms and closing the drapes and it gave me the idea."