Free Dating the Millionaire Doctor by Marion Lennox Page B

facing her. Gently he took her hand in his, and while Glenda submitted her arm for inspection, while Tori watched Glenda place her trust in him, the warmth around Tori’s heart grew and grew.
    She should be concentrating on Glenda. She was—sort of. But when he’d taken Glenda’s hand in his, it was as if he’d taken her own.
    I could be in huge trouble here, she told herself, feeling dazed. I need to leave, right now. If I stay longer…
    But she couldn’t leave now.
    Jake was holding Glenda’s hand lightly in his, watching Glenda’s face intently. The tension in the elderly woman’s body was palpable. Was she expecting Jake to hurt her?
    â€˜I’m not probing,’ Jake said softly. ‘I’m just touching.’ He rested her hand in his left hand, and touched her damaged wrist with his right, running his forefinger gently up and down her arm, along her fingers, not pressing, smooth as silk.
    â€˜Stop me the minute I make you feel uncomfortable or I hurt you,’ he told her. ‘Stop me the moment I make anything worse.’
    She didn’t stop him. He ran his fingers over the back of her palm, over and over, and then cupped her hand and felt that, too. Around her Tori felt the tension ease. Everyone, it seemed, had been holding their breaths. Even Mrs. Matheson, who’d been clearing coffee cups, had paused, riveted.
    â€˜Press my hand,’ Jake was saying. ‘Here. One finger at a time. Can you clench? No? Don’t try, then. What does that feel like?’
    â€˜Like my hand doesn’t belong to me,’ Glenda whispered. ‘Like it’s not there—only it is. I can feel it but not like I want to feel it. Sometimes it hurts so much I just want to chop it off. It’s not mine any more. It’s not real.’
    â€˜It is real.’
    â€˜I’m being stupid,’ Glenda said, as finally Jake rested her hand in his again and let it lie.
    â€˜No.’ It was such a flat response that Glenda stared. ‘You’re not being stupid. How long have you been putting up with pain like this?’
    â€˜A while.’
    â€˜Months,’ Doreen said dully. ‘And it’s getting worse.’
    â€˜But at the beginning it did seem to get better?’
    â€˜Yes,’ Glenda whispered. ‘That’s why it’s stupid. It got better and all the scans are good and the doctors say I’m cured. Only then the pain started…’
    â€˜I’ve seen this before,’ Jake said. He was still holding her hand in his, so gently he couldn’t possibly be hurting.
    â€˜I’m thinking this is something called complex regional pain syndrome,’ he said, and it was as if he was alone with Glenda—everyone else had disappeared. ‘Everything fits. You’ve had major trauma. So many of the bones and blood vessels and nerves were damaged that often a physical recovery masks more complex nerve problems. The symptoms oftenoccur months after the injury itself. Your hand feels cold and there are areas of sensory blunting. It feels strange and stiff, like it doesn’t quite belong to you. And then there’s the pain. You protect it to stop it hurting, and the more you protect it, the worse it gets. Your fingers are already starting to curl. It’s hard to make them move.’
    â€˜I don’t want to move them,’ Glenda whispered. ‘But it’s only my hand. I was so lucky… I’m better.’
    â€˜You’re not better. You have nerve damage that needs to be addressed,’ Jake said sternly, and Glenda blinked and looked at him with something akin to hope.
    â€˜The doctors say there’s nothing they can do.’
    â€˜That might be because you’ve been talking to surgeons,’ Jake said. ‘And no, there’s nothing more surgeons can do. Now it’s time to move to another specialty.’
    â€˜Like you?’
    â€˜Someone like me. I can’t