Ruthless King

However, it seemed as though all rational thinking had fled in the face of Jilly being ill.

What was happening to him?

“Are you the doctor?” Jilly asked tiredly.

“I certainly am. I heard you’re not feeling that well, young lady.”

Jilly smiled up at him. How come she smiled at that crotchety old bastard and not him?

“I’m okay.” She coughed, making Regent frown.

“Do you think she has a chest infection? That sounded chesty,” he said, stepping forward.

Doctor Stanley turned to glare at him. “Will you let me do the doctoring, please? I am the one with the degree and the equipment.”

Regent scowled. But the old bastard wasn’t intimidated by him. They used to have another doctor on retainer, but Maxim fired Doctor Edwards after he’d snapped at Aston.

Good riddance.

However they really needed to get another doctor on the payroll, Doctor Stanley wasn’t getting any younger.

“Fine. Just get on with it.”

“You’ll have to forgive him, doctor,” Jilly said quietly. She swallowed, wincing. “He seems to have lost his manners.”

Doctor Stanley grunted. “So it appears. You can call me Doc if you’d like. Now, I’m just going to check you over, all right?”

She sniffled. “All right. I might have been wrong before when I said I was fine. I don’t really feel all that good.”

“Poor girl. I’m going to get you fixed right up.”

Regent stood at the end of the bed, uncertain what to do. But as soon as she glanced up at him with those watery eyes and pouting lips, he moved to the other side of the bed. Sitting, he placed his hand over hers.

God. She was so hot.

“Squeeze my hand if you need to,” he told her.

She held on tight as Doctor Stanley took her vitals, peering into her throat and feeling her glands.

When she sat forward so he could listen to her lungs, Regent positioned himself so she could lean against him.

Her hair was still caught up in a tight braid pinned to her head. He didn’t understand why she’d do that. And it was scratchy with too much hairspray.

A cough rattled through her chest as he helped her lie back.

“Well? What is wrong with her, Doc?” he asked impatiently.

“Jilly can call me Doc. You call me Doctor Stanley.”

He nearly snapped back at the older man until he saw Jilly smile.

Fine, the doctor could breathe another day.

“She’s got a high temperature. I’m going to give her some medicine to help get it down. I can’t hear anything sitting in her lungs, which is good. Her pulse is slightly fast, but that’s to be expected. Her blood pressure is good but her throat is very red. Is it sore when you swallow? Talk?”

Jilly nodded.

“All right. Then rest your throat as much as you can, okay? Don’t talk too much.”