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‘Is my wife sorting out your love-life?’ Logan strolled over to them, Charlie on his shoulders.
‘Who? Me?’ Her expression innocent, Evanna picked up a bowl of green salad. ‘Can you put this on the table, please? Next to the tomato salsa. I’m going to meet Jenna and make her feel welcome. She looks nervous. I’m sure she feels a bit daunted by the crowd.’
Ryan was willing to bet that her nerves had nothing to do with the crowd and everything to do with the kiss they’d shared. He’d flustered her.
He gave a faint smile. And he was looking forward to flustering her again.
‘What does tomato salsa look like?’ Logan’s expression was comical as he steadied Charlie with one hand and took the salad from Evanna with the other. ‘Is that the mushy red stuff?’ Leaning forward, he kissed her swiftly on the mouth and Evanna sighed and kissed him back.
Watching them together, seeing the soft looks and the way they touched, Ryan felt a stab of something sharp stab his gut and recognised it as envy.
Even in the early days, his relationship with Connie had never been like that. They’d never achieved that level of closeness. They’d been a disaster waiting to happen. If he hadn’t been so absorbed by his career maybe he would have picked up on the signs. Or maybe not. Connie had played her part well.
Lifting the bottle to his lips again, he watched as Evanna sprinted across the sand to meet Jenna—watched as she gave her a spontaneous hug and gestured with her hands, clearly telling her some anecdote. He had no idea what she was saying, but it had Jenna laughing, and her laugh was so honest and genuine that Ryan felt every muscle in his body tighten. He doubted Jenna had ever manipulated a man in her life. She wouldn’t know how—and anyway, such behaviour would go against her moral code.
As they approached he could hear Evanna admiring Jenna’s skirt, the conversation light and distinctly female in tone and content. Jenna responded in kind, handing over a bowl of rosy-red strawberries and chatting with the group gathered around the food table as if she’d been born and raised on the island.
It took less than a few seconds for him to realise that she was looking at everyone but him. Talking to everyone but him.
Aware of Evanna’s puzzled expression, Ryan sighed. If he didn’t do something, the situation would be taken out of his hands.
He strolled over to Jenna, who was busily sorting food on the long trestle table, carefully ignoring him.
‘Where’s Rebel?’ Ryan felt the ripple of tension pass through her body and she carefully put down the bowl she was holding.
‘Lexi has him on a lead. I thought all those sausages and steaks on the barbecue might prove too much of a temptation for a dog with a behavioural problem.’
‘You could be right.’ He noticed that her cheeks had turned a soft shade of pink and that she was making a point of not looking at his mouth.
No, he thought to himself. Jenna would never play games or manipulate. She was honest and genuine—surprisingly unsophisticated for a woman in her thirties.
Lexi strolled up to the table, earphones hanging from her ears, her iPod tucked into the back pocket of her jeans, her head bobbing to the rhythm. She was hanging on to Rebel, who was straining to run in the opposite direction. ‘Hi, Ryan.’
Jenna looked embarrassed. ‘Dr McKinley—’
‘Ryan is fine.’ He bent down to make a fuss of Rebel, who looked him in the eye and immediately sat.
‘Mum, did you see that? He sat without even being told!’ Lexi gaped at the dog. ‘Given that he’s behaving, you can hold him. I’m going to see my friends.’ Without waiting for a reply, she pushed the lead into her mother’s hand, took the cola Evanna was offering her with a smile of thanks and strolled across the sand to join a group of teenagers who were chatting together.
‘I have a feeling it was a mistake to bring a dog—this particular dog, anyway—to a barbecue.’ Gripping the lead until her knuckles were white, Jenna was still concentrating on Rebel. ‘Hopefully your influence will prevail and he’ll behave.’
‘I think you may have an exaggerated idea of my power.’
‘I hope not or I’m about to be seriously embarrassed.’
‘I think you’re already embarrassed.’ Ryan spoke quietly, so that he couldn’t be overheard by the people milling close to them. Keeping his eyes on her face, he watched her reaction. ‘And there’s no need to be. Just as there was no need to run off yesterday morning and avoid me all day in surgery.’
She took a deep breath, her gaze fixed on Rebel. Then she glanced sideways and checked no one was listening. Finally, she looked at him. ‘I haven’t kissed, or been kissed, for a long time.’
‘I know.’ He watched as the tension rippled down her spine.
‘I wasn’t sure how I felt about it—I mean—’ Her colour deepened. ‘Obviously I know how I felt, but I wasn’t sure what it all meant. I hadn’t expected—’
‘Neither had I.’ Suddenly he regretted starting this conversation in such a public place. He should have dragged her somewhere private where he could have matched actions with words.
‘Everyone is trying to pair us up.’
‘I know that, too.’
