Bride for Glenmore (4 page)

‘Storm?’ Ethan fixed his gaze on the perfect blue sky.
He needed to stay away from her.
Far, far away. ‘Jim, the ferryman, mentioned storms. It’s pretty calm today. Hard to imagine the place in a storm.’

‘You won’t have to imagine it because you’re going to see it soon enough.’ Kyla gave a soft laugh. ‘I hope you like your weather wild, Dr Walker, and I hope you’re not afraid of storms. Because anything you’ve seen up until now will be nothing compared to this island in the grip of a seething temper.’

‘I don’t scare easily.’ He turned, unable to be in the same room and not look at her. ‘How about you, Kyla MacNeil? Do you scare easily? Do you take risks?’ He was playing with fire.
Testing her.
He saw from the fierce glint in her blue eyes that she knew it.

‘Life is there to be lived to the full. I was born on this island and it’s part of who I am. Nothing about it frightens me. Not the storms. Not the isolation.’
And not you,
her eyes said, and he felt a flicker of envy.

What would it be like, Ethan wondered bleakly, to be so sure of everything? To live somewhere that felt like home?

The letter was still in his pocket and suddenly he wanted to read it again.
To try and understand.

‘I need to unpack and take a shower.’ His tone was harsher than he’d intended and he saw the faint frown of confusion in her eyes. For a brief moment he wanted to take her arm and apologise, and the impulse surprised him as much as it would have surprised all of the people who knew him because he wasn’t exactly known for gentleness.

You don’t have a heart, Ethan.

And then he backed off, remembering that he wasn’t in a position to explain anything.

He needed time.

There were things he needed to find out.

Kyla closed the front door behind her and jumped over the tiny hedge that separated the two cottages.

As she let herself into the cottage that she’d converted with the help of her brother and her friends, she considered the powerful chemistry between Ethan and herself. It was there. Pointless to deny it. And yet she sensed that the connection angered him.

He didn’t want to feel it.

Kyla frowned as she flicked on the kettle. And what about her? What did she want?

She’d become so used to leading her own life she hadn’t given any thought to the possibility that things might change.

He wasn’t going to stay, she told herself firmly as she made herself a mug of tea and took it out onto the deck that overlooked the beach. Whatever they shared would be short-term because she would never leave the island.

‘Nurse MacNeil! Kyla!’

She glanced up as she heard her name being called from the beach. Deciding that perhaps the prospect of leaving the island had possibilities after all, she gave a sigh and walked down to the end of her garden, still nursing the mug. At least in inner-city London she might get to drink her tea in peace. ‘Fraser Price. What are you doing on the beach in the middle of a school day?’

Probably bunking off, the way she had as a child.

‘Don’t tell Miss Carne,’ the boy begged, breathless as he struggled in bare feet through the soft sand. ‘She thinks I’m ill.’

‘And you’re not?’ Reminding herself that she was a grown-up now and supposed to set standards, Kyla looked suitably stern. ‘You should be at school. Education is important. Pretending to be ill isn’t a good idea, Fraser.’ She almost laughed as she listened to herself.
How many times had she sneaked off to play on the beach?

‘It was the only thing I could think of. And I needed to stay at home.’

‘Why did you need to stay at home?’

‘To look after Mum.’ Suddenly he looked doubtful and unsure. ‘She wasn’t making sense this morning and I didn’t want to leave her. I had a bad feeling.’

‘What sort of bad feeling?’ Kyla was alert now. ‘Is it her diabetes? What do you mean, she wasn’t making sense? Is something the matter with your mum?’

‘I dunno. She just seemed…different.’ He gave a shake of his head and then shrugged. ‘She’d kill me if she knew I was here. I bunked off last week to take the boat out and she really did her nut. Don’t say I was here. Couldn’t you just call in on her? You know, like by accident?’

‘Fraser, I don’t call on anyone by accident.’ Amusement gave way to concern as Kyla saw the look on his face. ‘OK. OK.’ She lifted a hand. ‘Today I’ll find a reason to call on your mum by accident.’

‘Really?’ He breathed an audible sigh of relief. ‘That’s great. Can the accident be right now?’

Banishing hopes of lunch, Kyla nodded. ‘Just let me lock up here and get my car. I’ll meet you back at your house. You can let me in. And, Fraser, about your mum…’ She caught his arm. ‘Can you describe how she looked? How was she different?’

‘She was a funny colour. And her hands were shaking when she gave me breakfast. You won’t tell on me?’ He looked at her anxiously. ‘I said I felt sick and needed a walk in the fresh air.’

Kyla thought of all the sins she’d committed at school. Didn’t everyone need a little latitude? ‘I won’t tell. Off you go. I’ll be there in five minutes.’

‘What will you say?’

‘I don’t know, but I’ll think of something,’ Kyla said firmly, giving him a gentle push and turning back to her cottage. She noticed Ethan standing in his garden and had a sudden inspiration. ‘Dr Walker!’

He turned and she gave an apologetic shrug. ‘How badly did you want a shave and a shower? If you’re not that tired, I need to enlist your help again. I think I might need a doctor.’

CHAPTER FOUR

‘A
ISLA
P
RICE
is a single mother.’ Kyla snapped on her seat belt and pressed her foot to the accelerator. ‘She moved to the island when Fraser was a baby because she thought it would be a good place to bring up a child. She has a small knitting business that she runs over the internet. Pretty successfully, I believe. She makes really pretty jumpers covered in bits of lace and beads and things like that. They live in a house right by the water.’

Ethan looked at her. ‘And she has diabetes?’

‘Yes. But her diabetes is very well controlled so it shouldn’t be that.’ Kyla frowned as she changed gear and flicked the indicator. ‘But Fraser obviously thinks there’s a problem so we’d better check it out. It might be nothing.’

‘She hasn’t asked you to call? You’re making an impromptu visit?’ Ethan tried to imagine something similar happening in London and failed. But in London a child wouldn’t run across a beach to bang on the community nurse’s door.

‘That’s right. An impromptu visit.’ She stopped the car outside a row of whitewashed cottages and yanked on the handbrake. ‘We’re here.’

Ethan looked at her in disbelief. ‘What on earth are you planning to say? You’re going to bang on her door and say that her little boy thought she looked pale at breakfast?’

‘No. That’s why I’m taking you along.’ She smiled and reached for her bag. ‘You’re the new doctor and I’m introducing you. She’ll be your patient after all. You may as well meet each other.’

Wondering why he was on a wild-goose chase when he could be in the shower, Ethan slammed the car door and followed her towards the house.

The front door opened and it took less than a second for him to register the raw panic in Fraser’s eyes.

‘You have to come quickly! She’s on the floor,’ he said urgently, reaching out a hand and virtually dragging Kyla inside. ‘And I can’t get her to wake up properly. She’s sort of moaning and trying to hit me.’

Ethan sprinted past him into the house, leaving Kyla to deal with the panicked child.

The woman was slumped on the floor of the kitchen, the remains of a cup of coffee spread over the quarry tiles. With a soft curse he dropped into a crouch and checked her pulse.

‘Has she died?’ The small voice came from behind him and Ethan turned.

‘She’s not dead. Fraser…’ He kept his voice calm and steady so as not to frighten the child further. ‘I need my bag from Kyla’s car. Do you think you could fetch it for me? It’s on the back seat.’

The little boy nodded and sprinted out of the room while Kyla dropped to her knees beside him. ‘Aisla?’

The woman gave a groan and her eyes fluttered open and then closed again as she muttered something incoherent.

‘Sugar,’ Ethan instructed, glancing around him. ‘Would you know where to find it?’

‘Not a clue.’ Kyla sprang to her feet and started opening cupboards. ‘Come on, Aisla, where do you keep your sugar?’ She rummaged through packets and bottles. ‘Soy sauce, pasta, turmeric, honey. Harissa paste—what on earth is Harissa paste? Gosh, do people really use all this stuff? No wonder cooking confuses me.’

‘Hurry up, Kyla,’ Ethan growled, and she yanked open a few more cupboards.

‘Lucozade. That will do.’ She lifted it down just as Fraser ran back into the room with Ethan’s bag. ‘Can we get her to drink, do you think, or is she past that?’

‘We should be able to manage it.’ Ethan scooped the woman up and Kyla held the glass to her lips.

‘Aisla.’ Her voice was firm. ‘You need to drink this.’

Aisla murmured something incoherent and tried to push them away, but Kyla held the glass and eventually she took a few sips.

‘More,’ Kyla urged. ‘You’re doing well, Aisla. Just a bit more.’

The woman drank properly and Kyla glanced towards Fraser, who was standing rigid, a look of horror on his face. ‘She’s going to be fine, sweetheart. Do you have any biscuits in the house?’

Fraser looked at her and some of the tension left his little body. ‘Of course.’ A flicker of a smile appeared. ‘Chocolate ones. Really yummy. But I’m only allowed them on special occasions.’

‘This is a special occasion,’ Kyla assured him hastily. ‘And a glass of milk, please.’

‘Can you manage here for a second?’ Ethan reached for his bag. ‘I want to check her blood sugar.’

‘She’s coming round,’ Kyla murmured. ‘Why would she have gone hypo? Fraser, what did your mum do this morning? Anything different to usual?’

‘She was late getting up.’ Fraser was on a chair, reaching for a tin. ‘I had to shake her. Why are you pricking her finger?’

‘We’re trying to find out the level of sugar in her blood.’ Ethan read the result and nodded. ‘Well that’s your culprit. It’s less than three. Perhaps she overdid the insulin. Fraser, has your mum done any exercise this morning?’

Handing the tin to Kyla, Fraser shook his head. ‘No. But she went for a run on the beach last night. I know because I took my book down and sat while she ran up and down the beach. Is that why she’s been acting funny?’

‘I don’t know, but I intend to find out. I’m going to take a blood sample and send it off,’ Ethan told Kyla, reaching for a blood bottle. ‘I want a more accurate blood glucose level.’

By the time he’d taken the sample and labelled the bottle, Kyla had fed Aisla several chocolate biscuits and she was rapidly recovering.

‘I can’t believe I let that happen,’ she groaned, struggling to her feet with Ethan’s help. ‘It was such a sunny evening yesterday I just couldn’t resist a trip to the beach. And then when I got there I thought I’d do some exercise.’ I was going to eat as soon as I got in but Fraser’s uncle rang and then I sort of lost track and just went to bed. I’m so sorry. How did you find me?’

Ethan opened his mouth to give the honest answer, but Kyla jumped in. ‘We were passing,’ she said quickly. ‘I wanted to introduce you to Dr Walker.’

‘Well, this isn’t the way I would have chosen to meet you,’ Aisla said with a weary smile, ‘but thanks. I owe you both. If you hadn’t called, goodness knows what would have happened.’

Ethan saw Kyla glance towards Fraser. Saw her smile of reassurance and praise.

Aisla followed that look. ‘Fraser?’ Her voice was gentle. ‘Are you all right? Didn’t you say something about feeling sick?’

‘I’m feeling a lot better now,’ he said firmly. ‘Ever since I had that fresh air on the beach.’

‘Fresh air can be a miracle-worker,’ Kyla said blithely, and Fraser breathed an audible sigh of relief.

‘I can’t believe that this is an average working day. Do you ever get any time off for good behaviour?’ Ethan slid into the car beside her and Kyla smiled.

‘The nature of this island is that we’re permanently on call. But it isn’t usually this bad, honestly. And now you definitely deserve some time off. I’ll drop you home on my way to the clinic. But have dinner with Logan and me tonight. It’s the least we can do, having pushed you straight into the deep end.’ She saw his expression change. Saw surprise flicker in the depths of his dark, dangerous eyes.

‘You eat dinner with your brother?’

‘Of course,’ Kyla said comfortably. ‘We’re family.’

‘But not all families eat together and socialise.’

‘Well, we do. Usually several times a week. Is that so strange?’ Kyla looked at him in confusion, wondering why that would seem odd to him. As far as she was concerned, it was so normal it wasn’t even worth commenting on. ‘I love seeing my niece and usually one of my aunts or cousins are there. It’ll probably be a pretty noisy evening but it will be nice for you to meet some of the islanders. One of my aunts runs the café on the quay and another has a knitwear boutique in Glenmore village. Two of my other cousins are fisherman. They also man the lifeboat when it’s necessary.’

‘What about your parents?’

‘They moved over to the mainland two months ago to be with my other aunt. My uncle died and she needs help on the farm, so my parents moved in and took over. But we still get together all the time.’

‘You’re a close family.’

‘Are we?’ She frowned and then gave a shrug. ‘A pretty normal family, I would have said. We have our rows and disagreements and we’re pretty noisy but, yes, we like each other’s company and we’re in and out of each other’s lives. Why wouldn’t we be? What about you? Are you a big family? Brothers? Sisters?’ She saw the immediate change in him. His dark eyes were blank. Shuttered—as if something had slammed closed inside him.

‘Just me.’ His tone was cool and his eyes slid away from hers. ‘My parents divorced when I was eight and my father’s second marriage didn’t last long either.’

‘Oh.’ Kyla tried to imagine not having her family round her and failed. Maybe that explained why he was reserved and slightly aloof. ‘That must have been pretty tough on you.’

‘On the contrary, it was a relief from the interminable rows. And it made me independent.’ He frowned, as if he hadn’t even considered the subject before. ‘I had a very free and easy childhood because everyone was too busy fighting to be remotely interested in what I was doing. From my point of view, it was a good thing.’

A good thing? It didn’t sound like a good thing to Kyla. ‘But one of the joys of childhood is being fussed over. Knowing that someone cares. It’s about loving and being loved.’ Puzzled by his observation, she lifted her eyes to his and saw the faint gleam of mockery there.

‘Perhaps it depends what sort of person you are. Don’t feel sorry for me, Kyla,’ he advised in a soft drawl. ‘I’ve never been touchy-feely. I don’t need hugs.’

‘Everyone needs hugs.’
Even people like him.
He was tough and aloof. Independent.

‘I prefer to handle my problems myself. In private.’

Kyla laughed. ‘Actually, so would I sometimes. But it’s virtually impossible if you live here. On Glenmore, people not only know everything about your problems, they all think they know the best way of solving them. And they let you know. Loudly and quite often in the pub when you’re trying to have a quiet drink. Come for supper tonight. Really. It will be a gentle introduction to the realities of living on an island. Sort of sanitised nosiness.’

Her humorous observation drew a smile from him. ‘I thought you didn’t cook.’

‘I don’t. But luckily for you, Evanna does. Extremely well. And tonight it’s seafood. You should come, it will be fun. If the weather holds, we’ll eat in Logan’s garden and no doubt my niece will create havoc.’ She tried to keep her voice light.
Tried not to stare.
His hair was rumpled and his jaw was dark with stubble, but she’d never seen a more attractive man in her life.

‘The baby will be there?’

Kyla dragged her eyes away from her surreptitious study of his mouth. ‘Well, she’s not really a baby any more. More of a toddler. Life has grown a great deal more complicated for everyone since she started crawling. But, yes, she’ll be there.’ She noticed the sudden tension in his shoulders. ‘Is that a problem?’

‘Why would it be a problem?’

‘I don’t know.’ But she sensed something. ‘You just seem…’ There was something in his cool gaze that she found intimidating and she broke off and gave a small shrug. If he came from such a small, fractured family then he probably just wasn’t used to children. ‘Nothing. Anyway, you’re welcome if you want to join us. I can give you a lift.’ Her heart was pounding hard against her chest and she wondered what it was about him that had such a powerful effect on her.

‘I think my relationship with your car has reached its conclusion,’ he drawled with a sardonic lift of his eyebrow. ‘My own car is arriving this afternoon. I’ll give you a lift.’

‘Does that mean you’re coming?’

His hesitation was fractional, but it was there. ‘Yes. If you’re sure your brother won’t mind.’

‘The more, the merrier.’ Her heart gave a little skip and she lectured herself fiercely. She shouldn’t care whether he was coming or not. This was
not
a man to get involved with. There were too many shadows around his eyes. And the little he’d revealed about himself hinted at an extremely scarred childhood. And any man who didn’t need hugs was never going to suit her. ‘Can you pick me up at six? We eat early because Logan puts Kirsty down around seven o’clock and I like to have some time with her.’

He sat for a moment without moving. ‘How does he manage?’

‘With the baby? Very well. Logan’s a brilliant father. Fun, loving and amazingly hands-on considering the job he does.’ Kyla shrugged. ‘He has to have help, of course, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to work. My aunts work out a rota, and I help when I can. My cousins muck in and he’s employed a few girls from the village, but that hasn’t really worked out.’

‘Why? Weren’t they competent?’

‘Perfectly competent. But they all had serious designs on my brother,’ Kyla said in a dry voice. ‘It would seem as though there’s nothing more appealing to a single woman than a sexy doctor with a baby. Amy Foster is helping at the moment and we’re all laying bets on how long it takes her to make a pass at Logan.’

‘What about Evanna? She mentioned helping out.’

Kyla gave a soft smile. ‘Evanna adores the baby.’

‘And I suppose she’s not likely to fall for your brother.’

Kyla laughed, wondering what it was about men that made them so unobservant. ‘Evanna’s been in love with my brother all her life. One day I’m hoping he’ll wake up and notice. Otherwise I just might have to interfere and that won’t be a pretty sight.’ She pulled up outside the cottages and saw him staring out to sea, his handsome face an expressionless mask. ‘You’re very difficult to read, do you know that?’

He turned his head. ‘Why would you want to read me?’

‘It’s easier to deal with people if you understand them.’

A faint smile played around his firm mouth. ‘I have no particular desire to be understood,’ he said softly, ‘so you can relax.’

‘Is it too isolated from civilisation for you here? Do you hate it?’ For a long moment he didn’t reply and she was starting to wonder whether he’d even heard her question when he turned his head away and stared at the sea once more.

‘I don’t hate it.’

What sort of an answer was that? He was a man who revealed nothing about his thoughts or feelings, she thought with mounting frustration as she switched off the engine. ‘Thanks for helping me with Aisla. I’ll see you at six, Dr Walker. Enjoy your shower.’