AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Yes, thanks. I woke up this morning feeling calm and relaxed and reeking of lavender.’
He chuckled. ‘The technique worked, then.’
‘It certainly did. You’ll have to teach me some time.’
He shot her a thoughtful look, as if last night was then and this morning was now. ‘When we get home maybe. Would you like me to go through your talk with you?’
‘Thanks, but no. I’ve been through it about a million times already. I’d rather just have a moment of calm before I have to enter the fray.’
He nodded approvingly. ‘If you want, I can work the laptop to display the images. Let you concentrate on what you have to say.’
She wished he’d said that sooner. It would be great if she could just do the presentation and have someone else work the laptop, but he didn’t know which image went with which part of the talk. ‘It’s too complicated.’
‘I’ve got the script you sent me. I read through it on holiday. The prompts are all in there.’ He grinned. ‘I haven’t been through it a million times, but I’m fairly au fait with it.’
Something in his look told her that he knew every word of her talk. While she’d been stressing over her presentation, he’d been quietly working through it, weaving a fine safety net under her that she’d not seen but was nonetheless there.
‘Thanks. I’d really like that.’ She leaned back in her chair and Lucas beckoned one of the waiters, who seemed to know either by instinct or long practice when to appear and when not to interrupt. Watching the rain softly plashing on the great leaves in the garden seemed as if it was all she needed to do right now.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE MORNING’S SESSION was a comparison of how people all over the world were facing the challenges of TB. Delegates from the US and Europe spoke, and then it was Thea’s turn. Walking to the podium with Lucas at her side somehow didn’t seem so excruciating as she’d thought it might be.
He sat down quietly at the small side table reserved for data projection. She glanced at him and he smiled and nodded. Go for it.
She began to talk, dimly aware that images were flashing up on the screen behind her. When she turned to refer to a graph, showing the comparative numbers of incidents of TB in the UK over the last ten years, it was there already, completely on cue. Thea began to forget the sea of faces in front of her and concentrated on speaking to individuals, a woman in a green sari in the fourth row, a man who was sweltering in a suit, almost at the back.
Before she knew it, she was on the last page of her script. When she’d finished, and polite clapping turned to wholehearted applause, she wanted to stay right where she was and talk some more. Maybe read the whole thing again, with a
few variations.
Lucas was at her side. ‘Leave them wanting more,’ he whispered quietly in her ear, and escorted her off the stage. Perfectly mannered, as if she were the star of the show. Suddenly she felt as if she was.
‘Enjoy it?’ he murmured in her ear as they took their seats in the front row of the auditorium, ready for the next delegate.
Thea nodded, and he chuckled. She was aware that she was grinning stupidly, but couldn’t stop.
The next few minutes wiped the smile off her face.
In the sparkling haze of achievement she hardly heard the announcement that the delegate from Bangladesh had been unable to come to the conference due to family commitments, and that a colleague had flown in to deliver his paper. When that colleague walked onto the stage, it felt as if her blood had suddenly frozen.
For a moment she was unable to move, caught immobile as her limbs turned to ice. Getting up from her seat felt as if she was shattering joints that had lost the ability to flex and move, but she had to go. Had to get away from there.
She felt Lucas’s hand on her arm, pulling her back into her seat. ‘What’s…?’ He followed the line of her terrified gaze to the small, dapper man who was standing at the podium. ‘You know him?’
His head twisted around as Dr Nair was introduced to the audience. Having worked for twenty years as the director of a TB clinic near Dhaka, he was now the head of research at an institute in the city. Understanding flashed in Lucas’s eyes.
‘Stay, Thea. Please.’ His hand slid down her arm, and his fingers found hers.
‘I…I can’t.’
‘You can face him, Thea. He should be the one who can’t face you.’ Lucas was leaning in close, speaking straight into her ear so she could hear him over the applause.
Dr Nair obviously didn’t think so. He must have seen the list of speakers and his gaze found her almost immediately, hardening into frank dislike.
‘Don’t do it.’ Lucas’s words penetrated her panic.
‘Don’t do what?’ Fear made her snap at him.
