as Sonia’s. What matters now is that you make your decision based on the facts.’ He smiled and Megan felt herself flush, heat zinging up her spine.
He hadn’t given her a shred of proof, and precious little explanation, but she believed him. If those eyes were lying then she could kiss goodbye to everything she thought she knew about human nature.
‘I still have a decision to make?’ Megan heard herself whisper the words. If Jaye couldn’t forgive her behaviour, she wouldn’t blame him.
He planted his forearms on the table, hands clasped together, and leaned towards her. Challenging, and yet intimate too. ‘Absolutely. I believe you’ll justify my confidence in you.’
‘Then...’ Megan’s head was spinning, and her heart was pumping fast. Both organs seemed to be vying for their say in the matter. ‘I like working for people who expect success. They generally put fewer limitations on their goals.’
Jaye laughed suddenly. ‘I’m glad to hear that.’
He clinked his mug against hers, and drank. A toast to an unexpected success, dragged from the jaws of failure. If nothing else, working for Jaye’s charity was going to be interesting, and even more of a challenge than Megan had thought.
* * *
If Jaye did nothing else in the next four days, at least he might manage to repair some of the damage. His and Sonia’s engagement might have been a disaster in the making, averted only at the very last minute, but there was no reason why Megan’s career should be damaged by the fallout.
He hadn’t examined the potential consequences of letting the rumours persist, wanting only to disappear. Hurt and feeling that if he shrunk any more, he’d lose himself completely, he’d retreated to Sri Lanka. The clinic that his father had founded after the 2005 tsunami, and which Jaye had helped build, was a place of tranquillity and calm. A place to heal and find his balance.
But it was a different balance. He’d tried dating again, but had found himself caught up in a fury of mistrust, unable to accept that his new partner’s motives for being with him could be any different from Sonia’s. In the end, he’d given up the struggle and had let her go, burying himself once more in the work that brought him peace and fulfilment.
Jaye stared at the crackling logs in the fireplace. When Megan had believed him, it had felt as if a little piece of his heart had been repaired. Here, sitting in his apartment, with only the sound of the fire to keep him company, he knew that one piece would never be enough.
He should get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a full day, and he needed to focus. Preferably on something other than Megan’s smile.
* * *
The conference was under way, and already it felt to Megan that she’d entered a self-sufficient bubble. One that brought people who’d worked in many different parts of the world together with those who were just starting out on their careers. It was almost impossible to find the time to meet and talk to everyone.
But the one person she never seemed to talk to was Jaye. Although he was always there, he was always at the opposite end of the room from her. The coincidences were beginning to form a pattern.
At least she could watch him, and that had its very definite pleasures. Tall, graceful and always impeccably dressed, he was the stuff that daydreams were made of. And if he caught her watching him, then that could surely only be because he was watching her.
* * *
Jaye had retreated to his apartment in the west wing of the building, and sat in his study with John Ferris. It had been an exhausting two days.
‘You’re pleased with how things are going?’
‘On the whole.’ John sank into the leather chair on the other side of the fireplace. ‘I was a bit disappointed about Steven.’
Jaye and John had spent over two hours last night with the young doctor, talking through all of his reasons for leaving. ‘But you did say that was the point of this. That we shouldn’t assume any particular outcome for any particular candidate but find out what the best way forward was.’
John nodded. ‘Yeah. Steven’s not in the right place to take up a job with us at the moment. He’s got a lot of potential, though, and I want to keep in touch with him.’
‘You think that in twenty years’ time he’ll be Head of Surgery somewhere. Consulting for us, and mentoring our young surgeons?’
‘Who knows? We have to look towards the long term, and funnier things have happened.’
This was exactly why Jaye had recruited John. Four years ago, Jaye had returned from Sri Lanka with a new commitment for a future that had seemed empty without a wife and the prospect of children. It was time to take a step back from his private practice in London and concentrate on the charity that he and his father had built together. And he had needed an organiser, someone who could work side by side with him and run the charity, while Jaye concentrated on its medical activities. John had been that person.
‘What about Megan?’ John’s question interrupted his reverie.
‘What...about her?’ Megan had occupied his thoughts for much of the last two days, and that was a very good reason to take a step back. John’s decisions would be far less clouded by the urgent need to look into her eyes and see her smile.
‘It looked as if she was intent on leaving the other day, before you threw yourself in front of her car in the driveway. I asked her if everything was all right.’
‘What did she say?’
John laughed. ‘She played her cards as close to her chest as you are now. Told me that it was a misunderstanding, and that you’d come to her rescue. She made it very clear that it was all her fault and that you’d addressed her concerns very fully.’
Jaye resisted the impulse to smile. Since he hadn’t spoken with Megan himself in the course of the last two days, he’d relied on her demeanour and the few shy smiles that she’d given, when his gaze had met hers. It felt good to hear that Megan was moving forward on the basis that she really did believe him.
‘It wasn’t all her fault. Mostly it was mine.’
‘Yeah. Takes two to tango.’ John was looking at him steadily. ‘Is there anything else I should know? You and her?’
The question knocked Jaye off balance for a moment. Maybe because he’d wondered more than once how it might have been had he met Megan before Sonia. But the truth of it was that the only moments of intimacy between them had been in his head.
‘No. Megan and I met before, years ago and in the course of our jobs. But that’s all, there’s never been anything between us.’
‘In that case... I wonder how you feel about offering her a posting in Sri Lanka. They’re short-staffed there and, with the new doctor in residence still settling in, they could do with the help.’ John flashed Jaye a questioning look.
‘Staffing’s your province, John. I trust your judgement.’
‘And I appreciate that. But considering your close ties with the clinic in Sri Lanka, I thought I’d get your opinion before I mentioned the idea to Megan.’
