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, it was difficult to make out who it was. But when the passenger dismounted, he recognised Megan even before she’d taken off her helmet, shaking her blonde hair in the breeze.
Even now, the familiar pain twisted in his heart. How often in the last two months had he longed for just a glimpse of her? Just one touch of her fingertips.
He watched as Dinesh took a brush from under the seat and flicked it across his beloved machine. Jaye never had got to the bottom of why he rode through every dust bowl and puddle he came across when he was so very particular about the motorbike being spotless when it was stationary. Perhaps he just liked cleaning it.
Megan had turned towards him, shading her eyes against the sun, and suddenly stood stock-still. Jaye began to walk towards her, and she seemed to gather her wits, hurrying in his direction.
He’d run through this moment so many times in his mind. He was here to solve problems, to be an arbiter if one was needed, and that meant that he had to swallow his own feelings and treat Megan exactly the same as he treated everyone else.
Still, all he could see was her hair, shining in the sunlight. All he could think about was her smile, and how her dusty clothes only served to make her cheeks look pinker and her eyes even more lustrously blue. Despite everything, he still ached to kiss her.
Which was impossible on just about every level imaginable. Megan didn’t want it, she’d made that pretty clear. And Jaye still had a little bit of his pride intact.
‘Jaye...’ He’d known it would be hard, but he hadn’t quite anticipated how hard it would be to hear her say his name. ‘What are you doing here? I thought the relief doctor—’
‘Dr Stone won’t be able to fly out until next week. I’m filling in for him. Didn’t Ranjini tell you?’
‘No...no, we’ve been very busy. She left me a note saying that a doctor was coming with the medical supplies and I thought it would be Dr Stone. I came to meet you because...’
Suddenly, a tear dropped from her eye. Megan wiped it away impatiently, leaving a smear of grime on her cheek.
‘What’s the matter?’ Jaye fisted his hands at his sides to stop himself from holding out his arms, ready to comfort her.
‘It’s nothing.’ She shook her head to emphasise the point. It was the death knell to all the vain hopes that had intruded into his waking and sleeping for the last two months. Even when she was angry with him, Megan had always told him why.
‘I mean...yes, there’s something the matter. We have a boy with dengue fever at the clinic. I need you to go to him. Dinesh will take you.’
‘Okay.’ It was almost a relief to think about something else. ‘What’s his condition?’
‘He’s starting to haemorrhage. We’re desperately low on IV fluids. Have you brought some with the supplies?’
Jaye had just unloaded the box, and he started to walk towards it. ‘Over here. You have no IV fluids?’
‘I’ll explain later. You should go.’
Jaye tore open the box with rather more force than necessary. Something was going on, and it looked as if Megan was as likely to tell him as fly in the air. If she wanted him to just be her boss, he’d be her boss, and that meant she had some questions to answer.
* * *
Megan watched as Jaye drove Dinesh’s bike away from the airstrip, followed by the obligatory plume of dust. The horror when she’d first seen Jaye had given way to a sudden joy, a feeling that everything was going to be all right. Which was even more terrifying.
Dinesh had handed his bike over to Jaye with little more than a murmur. The people here trusted him. It was good that he’d come because the clinic needed a firm hand to steer it right now. If that hand happened to be Jaye’s then there was no reason for Megan to start fantasising about all the other things that he could do with his hands.
And she didn’t have time for that, anyway. The truck from the clinic would be here soon and there were medical supplies to load. She’d survived the four days of Jaye’s presence and two months of his absence. She could manage to get through the next week until the new doctor arrived.
An hour later, she navigated the bumpy track that led to the clinic, brick built and shaded by trees that seemed even more lush and inviting after the heat of the road. Her arms ached from lifting boxes and the heavy steering on the truck, and Megan was glad to be back, even if it did bring her in closer proximity to Jaye.
Dinesh jumped down from the passenger seat, making for his bike, clearly intent on giving it a thorough once-over and applying a little man-to-bike reassurance that allowing someone else to take charge of it had been an exception to the rule and wouldn’t be happening again. Megan felt suddenly too weary to move.
A tap on the door made her jump, and as she opened it Ranjini stood back so that the shower of dust didn’t spoil the bright colours of her sari. ‘Jaye’s here?’
Ranjini gave her usual broad smile. ‘Yes. He has seen to the boy and is making a round of all the patients now.’
‘How is Ashan?’
‘We have what we need for him. He will be well now.’
‘Good. Did Jaye say anything...?’ Megan hardly dared ask. But asking Ranjini was a good deal easier than approaching Jaye. ‘Did he want to see me?’
