The nurse came flying through the door, followed by Roberta and two male executives. Chloe stepped back as Trainor’s staff took over.

The electronic thermometer beeped. “His temp is 104,” the nurse said, her voice sharp with worry. She looked at the executives. “I can’t handle this. He needs to go to the hospital immediately.”

“No,” Trainor said, struggling to pull himself upright. “I’m not sick.”

The nurse gave him a professional smile of disbelief. “Your doctor will be here shortly. He’ll make that decision.” She glanced at Chloe’s homemade ice packs. “We’ll keep those on him.”

“I can make some more packs,” Chloe volunteered. It figured that Trainor would have a doctor who showed up on demand at his office.

The nurse nodded and Chloe hurried off to the kitchen again. She was holding a pack against the pulse point on one of Trainor’s wrists when a lean young man with dark-red hair strode through the door.

“Dr. Cavill.” The nurse’s voice brimmed with relief. “His temp’s 104. He’s hyperthermic, but I didn’t want to give him anything until you arrived.”

“And I’ll bet he claims he’s not sick,” the doctor said.

Chloe could see the effort it took for Trainor to open his eyes. “Damn straight. Just hungover. No, that was yesterday. Maybe I am sick.”

“Well, that admission means he’s on death’s door,” the doctor said. Chloe watched for signs of concern, but Cavill kept a poker face. “You should have taken that flu shot I recommended. Now you’re suffering the consequences.”

Trainor turned away from the doctor, his gaze stopping on her face. For a moment he looked puzzled. Then his face cleared. “Chloe Russell, the temp.”

She nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Feels good,” he repeated and drifted away again.

The doctor looked around the little group circling the big office chair. “Does anyone know how long he’s been feverish?”

“I found him like this when I came in to work at 7:50,” Chloe said.

“When did you start the ice packs?” Cavill looked at the nurse as he asked.

She nodded to Chloe. “She already had two on him when I arrived.”

“Quick thinking,” the doctor said. He lifted his bag and set it on the desk. “If you’ll give me some privacy, I’ll examine the patient.”

Chloe set the cold pack on the desk and followed the group out of the office, closing the door behind her. Priscilla returned to her post in the reception area, but Roberta and the two men hovered by the door. Chloe sat down and checked her boss’s calendar, finding virtually wall-to-wall meetings. She looked up at Roberta. “Should I cancel the rest of Mr. Trainor’s schedule for today?”

Roberta turned to the shorter man, the same one whose office Trainor had been in. “Phil, could you take a look at Mr. Trainor’s calendar and see if anything’s critical?”

Phil came around the desk to lean over Chloe’s shoulder. “Poor bastard, he really doesn’t do anything except attend meetings,” he muttered after a few seconds, his voice holding a trace of a foreign accent. “You can cancel everything but the three o’clock. I’ll take care of that one. If anyone has any questions, refer them to me. I’m Phil Riviere. Executive vice president.” He held out his hand to Chloe with a smile that must have charmed a thousand women.

Chloe shook his hand and nodded. “Cancel by e-mail or phone?” she asked, not knowing what the protocol would be at this level.

Phil considered the calendar. “E-mail is fine. If you draft it, I’ll approve it.”

Chloe nodded and began to type. She’d come up with a satisfactory paragraph when the door opened and Cavill came out.

“How is he?” Roberta asked.

“I got him to the couch, but that’s as far as he could make it,” Cavill said. “I think it’s just the flu, but I want to run some additional tests since the fever is so high. Let me set up transport to the hospital.”

He pulled out his cell phone and walked away from the desk to stand by the windows, where he spoke in a low voice Chloe couldn’t hear.

The office door opened and the nurse put her head out, glancing around until she saw Chloe. “Mr. Trainor is asking for you,” she said.

“Me?” Chloe’s fingers stilled on the keyboard.

“He says you make him feel better,” the nurse said. “The fever is making him delirious, so it’s better just to go along with his requests. It will calm him down.”

“Okay.” Chloe stood and smoothed her palms down the front of her thighs as the high-powered executives stared at her. She followed the nurse across Trainor’s office to the big suede couch in the seating area by the window.

Her boss lay with his head on one of the striped pillows, his tie gone and his shirt unbuttoned far enough so that she could see a dusting of brown hair over the muscles of his chest. He shifted uneasily and looked around with an unfocused gaze. “Make it feel better, Chloe,” he muttered. “Make it better, like the report.”

Chloe looked at the nurse. “How?”

“Maybe an ice pack again? You were the first person to use one. He might be remembering that. Don’t move. I’ll get it.”

Trainor rolled over so that one of his arms flopped off the edge of the cushions, making his hand hit the carpeting. Chloe knelt and wrapped her fingers around his wrist to lift it back onto the couch. It was like touching the wax melting off a candle. She’d never known human skin could feel that hot. No wonder he wanted it to feel better.