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‘That’s possible.’ His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ‘Despite your college-girl looks, you’re obviously very sharp.’
Accustomed to thinking of herself as ‘past it’, his compliment made her feel strange. Or maybe it hadn’t been a compliment. ‘I’m interested in people. I like looking for the reasons they do things. It’s why I do the job.’ Even as she said the words she realised the flaw in that theory. If she was so interested in why people did what they did, why hadn’t she spotted the signs that her husband was cheating on her? Maybe she wasn’t so observant after all. Or maybe she hadn’t wanted to see what was under her nose.
Feeling the tension erupt inside her, Jenna hit a button on the computer and exited Mrs Parker’s file, wishing she could control her thinking. She had to stop asking ‘what if?’ She had to move on. That was what she was doing here, wasn’t it? She was wiping out the past. ‘Why do you do the job, Dr McKinley?’ Would he tell her that he was an emergency specialist in hiding?
He was leaning against the wall, his broad shoulders threatening the safety of the asthma poster stuck to the wall. ‘At the moment I can’t remember. You’d better ask me that question again when I haven’t been up for half the night doing calls. I’m always in a snarly mood when I get less than three hours’ sleep.’
‘That’s understandable. Could you sneak off and sleep at some point today?’
‘Unfortunately, no. Like I said to you on the quay—it’s just the four of us. When we’re busy, we’re busy. We can’t hand it over.’
‘Who called you out last night? Locals or tourists?’
‘One tourist with chest pains, a toddler with a febrile convulsion, and one of our own with a very nasty asthma attack.’ He frowned. ‘I called the mother a few moments ago to check on her and she told me the child is still asleep, but I’m going to call in later. I didn’t like the look of her in the night. I gather you have an interest in asthma?’
‘Yes. I ran a clinic in London.’ Jenna was interested. ‘Was there an obvious trigger? Did she have an infection or something?’
‘They’d got themselves a dog from the rescue centre. I’m assuming it was that.’
‘They didn’t know that animal fur was a trigger?’ Jenna pulled a face, understanding the ramifications of that statement. ‘So is the dog being returned?’
‘It’s a strong possibility. They’re thinking about it, but obviously the child will be upset.’
‘It would be wonderful to have a dog,’ Jenna said wistfully, and then sat up straight, slightly shocked by herself. A dog? Where had that thought come from? Why on earth would she want a dog?
‘Maybe you could give this one a home?’
Jenna automatically shook her head. ‘We can’t have a dog. Cl—’ She was about to say that Clive hated animals, but then she remembered that she wasn’t married to Clive any more. His opinion didn’t matter.
Glancing down at her left hand, she stared at the pale line on her finger that was the only remaining evidence that she’d once worn a ring. It still felt strange, seeing the finger bare. And it still brought a sting to the back of her throat.
‘Something wrong?’ His question made her jump.
‘No. I was just thinking about your little asthma patient and the dog.’
‘Right.’ His gaze locked onto hers and she looked away quickly, thinking that Ryan McKinley was nothing like the men she usually met during her working day. For a start he was about two decades younger than the GPs she’d worked with in her last practice. She tried to imagine any of them extracting a seriously injured girl from the wreck of a car during a storm without the help of paramedics—and failed. Ryan McKinley was a different breed of doctor. And then there was the fact that he was indecently good-looking. Sexy.
A different breed of man.
‘You look really stressed out.’ Ryan spoke quietly. ‘Is that Mrs Parker’s doing? Or is it being thrown in at the deep end?’
‘No! Not at all.’ Oh, God, he’d noticed that she was stressed. And the one thing she absolutely couldn’t afford to do was put a foot wrong in this job. ‘I love being thrown in at the deep end. Anyway, I didn’t ask why you were here. Did you want to talk to me? Is there something I can help you with, Dr McKinley?’ Please don’t let him say he’d changed his mind about hiring her.
‘I wondered if you could take some bloods for me.’ Ryan handed her a form, his eyes still on her face. ‘Callum is fifteen and he’s showing all the signs of glandular fever. I know you already have a full clinic, but I really need these results as soon as possible.’
‘Of course you do.’ As she took the form from him, Jenna’s fingers brushed against his. She immediately snatched her hand away, feeling as though she’d touched a live wire. ‘I’ll do them straight away.’ Without thinking, she rubbed her fingers, wondering whether she was doomed to overreact around this man.
‘He’s in the waiting room with his mum.’ Ryan was looking at her fingers, and Jenna swallowed and dropped her hands into her lap.
‘Fine. Great. I’ll call him.’
‘I appreciate it.’ There was a tension about him that hadn’t been there before. ‘Your bikes have been delivered, by the way. I had them taken straight to the cottage. They’ll be safe enough outside your front door.’
‘Bikes?’ Jenna had to force herself to concentrate. ‘Bikes. Yes, of course. Evanna told me about this place that hires them for the summer, so I rang them. I thought it would be good for both of us to cycle.’
‘I’m impressed. It’s a good example to set to the patients.’
‘So you’ll try not to knock me off my bike when you’re accelerating past in your Porsche?’
