It was the wrong thing to say to Conner. He leaned against the desk and gave a wicked smile. ‘As I was saying, they suck your blood and slowly become more and more engorged—’

‘You do it on purpose, don’t you? Try and shock people.’

‘I admit it’s an extremely stimulating pastime.’

‘You might not find it so funny when I’m sick,’ Flora said sweetly, and his smile widened.

‘Nurses aren’t supposed to have delicate constitutions.’

‘Doctors aren’t supposed to be bloodthirsty.’

‘I’m just delivering the facts.’

‘Well…’ She was horribly aware of just how strong his shoulders were and how much he dominated her tiny room. ‘Could you deliver them with slightly less gruesome relish?’

‘Where was I?’ He angled his head slightly. ‘Oh, yes, they were engorged with blood. Anyway, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease are usually carried in the gut and only travel to their mouth once they’ve been feeding for about twenty-four hours. So if you remove the tick as soon as you’re bitten, you’re unlikely to be infected.’

Flora shuddered. ‘So you’re telling me that a method of prevention is to drag this greedy, engorged creature off your skin?’

‘You remove it before it’s engorged. And you don’t drag. If you drag, you’ll just leave the mouth stuck in your body.’

‘Enough!’

‘The best thing is to smother it with Vaseline. It suffocates and then you can remove it with a pair of tweezers. You shouldn’t use your fingers—’

‘I wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole! And I’m never venturing outside again without full protective clothing.’

Conner’s eyes flickered to the neck of her uniform. ‘You don’t need to overdo it. The tick that carries the bacteria likes areas where there are wild deer.’

Her heart started to beat just a little bit faster. ‘And that’s why you were so interested in where the Greggs went on holiday?’

‘The symptoms fitted. The fact that they’d been camping in a forest in warm weather made it highly possible that he’d contracted the disease. Ticks like warm weather and people wear less then so they’re more likely to be bitten.’ His eyes lifted to hers and the tension between them increased.

‘Why haven’t I heard of it?’

‘Obviously there haven’t been any cases on Glenmore. It’s sensible to take precautions if you’re walking or camping in an area where infected ticks are known to live.’ His eyes dropped to her mouth, his gaze lingering. ‘Wear long sleeves and trousers, use a tick repellent spray—all the obvious things.’

They were talking about medical matters and yet there was a sudden intimacy in the atmosphere that she didn’t understand. It circled her like a forcefield, drawing her in, and when the phone rang suddenly she gave a start.