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‘I don’t want to spend the rest of my life by myself,’ Evanna said softly, resting her cup carefully back in the saucer. ‘You asked me if I was broody and the answer is, yes, I’m broody. But not for a baby in isolation. I want so much more than that. I want to have a home and a family and a man who loves me, and I’m not going to find that while I’m blinded by your brother. I’ve been stupid about him, I can see that now. The way I feel about him has stopped me even noticing other men, but that’s going to change. When I was away, I managed to talk some sense into myself. I went out with the people from the unit and had fun. It was good. And I realise now that it’s up to me to build a proper life here and I’m going to do exactly that. No more waiting around and hoping. No more deluding myself. I’m really, really over him. Honestly.’
At that moment the door to the café opened and a man strolled in. He was taller than average, with lean features and a suggestion of stubble on a firm jaw that hinted at the stubborn. His hair was dark and slightly too long at the back, just touching the collar of the blue linen shirt that he wore tucked into a pair of light-coloured trousers. He had broad shoulders and blue eyes that were sharply observant, and all the females in the café turned to stare as he pushed the door shut with the flat of his hand and strolled towards the counter. ‘Hi, Meg. Can I have a round of toast, please?’ He spoke in a deep, sexy drawl and the coffee cup slipped out of Evanna’s shaking fingers and clattered onto the table, spilling the contents.
Kyla uttered a sharp expletive and reached for a pile of napkins, dropping them on the table as she tried to staunch the flow of coffee. ‘You’re over him?’ She kept her voice low so that no one else could hear. ‘If you’re over him, Evanna Duncan, why are you dropping things when he walks into a room? Plan A obviously isn’t working so I hope to goodness you have a decent plan B worked out in that head of yours, because it might be time to make the shift. For goodness’ sake—how much coffee was in that cup? It’s like a lake here.’ She mopped frantically but Evanna didn’t even notice. She was too busy trying to control the frantic shaking of her limbs.
‘I don’t—I can’t—’
‘Evanna?’ Kyla dropped more napkins on the soggy mess, but her sharp whisper held a note of concern. ‘You’re as white as chalk—are you all right?’
No. She wasn’t all right. Her pulse was thundering at a ridiculous rate and she knew that if she’d tried to stand, she would have sunk to the ground in a heap.
Oh, no, no, no! She’d thought she had her feelings well and truly under control. She’d thought—
Her thoughts froze altogether as Logan strolled over to them, a smile in his wicked blue eyes.
‘So this is where both my nurses are hiding. Now that I’m here, we could have a practice meeting. It’s long overdue.’
Evanna found it almost impossible not to stare. She’d always found it impossible not to stare at him. In primary school, when she’d been just five years old, she’d gazed at him from the corner of the playground—stared at the dark-haired, blue-eyed god who had come to collect Kyla from school. In secondary school she’d drunk in every detail with the dawning awareness that came with the onset of womanhood. And then he’d left the island to train as a doctor and had returned only for holidays and she’d stared at his photograph—the one taken on the beach during the summer that he’d been a lifeguard. His chest was bare and bronzed and he was laughing into the camera.
She still had the photo.
‘Evanna.’ His mouth moved into a smile and her gaze was drawn to his mouth. It was firm and sensual and, in her opinion, designed for kissing. Not that she’d know, she thought miserably as she tore her eyes away, because Dr Logan MacNeil had never kissed her and was never likely to. He’d kissed just about every girl on the island, but never her. He just didn’t think of her that way. In fact, it was probably true to say that he didn’t notice her at all. She was part of the island he’d grown up on, as much part of the scenery as the beaches and the mountains.
‘Can I join you?’ He spoke in that deep voice that always turned her knees to liquid and made her think of sex and seduction.
‘Of course. Hi, Logan.’ She struggled to keep her voice casual and quickly moved her hands to her lap so that he couldn’t see them shaking.
Her reaction was pathetic, she told herself. About as pathetic as hanging onto an ancient, dog-eared photograph.
Kyla scrunched up the saturated napkins and stood up to throw them in the bin, casting a long, meaningful look in Evanna’s direction.
‘Well, I’m certainly glad to see you home, Evanna.’ Logan sat back as Meg placed the toast and coffee in front of him. ‘I’ve missed you, desperately. Every moment that you were away seemed like an hour.’
Evanna’s hands clenched in her lap and she felt an involuntary dart of pleasure at his words. He’d missed her? ‘R-really? You missed me?’
‘Yes, really. How can you doubt it?’ He spread butter on his toast with those long, lean fingers that she knew were so skilled with patients. ‘It’s the summer. Glenmore Island is heaving with tourists and every surgery is packed. Not the best time for one of my precious nurses to go swanning off to the mainland for a month, even if it was part of her professional development.’ He smiled the smile that had every woman on the island reeling. ‘Of course I missed you. Did you think I wouldn’t?’
Professional development.
He’d missed her at work. Evanna gritted her teeth and looked away from that charismatic smile. It was always about work. She was his practice nurse and nothing more.
She swallowed down the disappointment, reminding herself that she’d always known that. Hadn’t she just spent an entire month dissecting their relationship in minute detail? Hadn’t she been brutally honest with herself about the way he saw her? The answer was yes to both questions, so why did hearing him confirm her analysis hurt so much? If anything, she should take it as confirmation that she was doing the right thing. And no matter how hard it turned out to be—and she knew it was going to be incredibly hard—she was going to move on.
Kyla sat down again. ‘Evanna had a good time on her refresher course.’ Her tone was cool and pointed, and Logan glanced up from buttering his toast.
‘Good.’ He bit into the toast and lifted a hand in greeting to one of the locals who was strolling along the quay. ‘It’s busy out there today. Day-trippers as well as the usual tourists. The lifeguards are going to be busy on the beach. Let’s hope it’s a quiet one. There’s a wind blowing so I wouldn’t be surprised if the lifeboat sees some business today.’
Kyla’s fingers drummed on the table. ‘She met lots of people.’ She emphasised each word carefully, as if English wasn’t his first language.
Logan dragged his eyes from the window, obviously alerted by something in his sister’s tone. ‘Who did?’
‘Evanna
. On her course on the mainland, she met lots of people.‘
Evanna blushed. ‘Kyla.’
But Kyla was still looking at her brother, a dangerous light in blue eyes that were exactly like his. ‘She’s been away for a month, remember?’
