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At the sound of Ian’s voice, Cameron turned to find him striding toward her with Arabella perched in his arms. If she’d been afraid before, she was petrified now. Panic erupted in her chest. Her heart beat explosively. She swung her gaze back to the gangster, his attention now held by the tiny girl smiling so proudly at her mother.
“Get her out of here,” Cameron barked, turning her back to the men on the lawn.
Ian’s eyes grew wide. “What the—”
“Go.” She pointed to the back of the clinic.
Ian’s gaze darted to the man in the doorway.
“Who’s that?” the girl asked.
“Now,” Cameron ordered. Desperation filled her voice.
Without another word, Ian clutched Ara to his chest and hurried back down the hall.
“Mommy,” Ara cried.
Cameron closed her eyes against the fear and confusion in her daughter’s voice.
“She’s your daughter?” Roberts’s voice held a smirk as if even now he calculated ways to use the girl to get what he wanted from Cameron. He’d be right to think that tactic would work. After the attack in Africa, Cameron feared very little. She’d faced death. One day she would again. No one escaped their ending. She’d been burned, bloodied. She’d survived. Her own pain and death no longer scared her. But she couldn’t stand the merest thought of either for Arabella.
Pasting a hospitable smile on her face, she turned back to the men contaminating her island with their presence. “The quicker I’m able to check with the patients, the sooner you’ll have your answers about your friends.”
The man pulled his gaze from the hallway and back to her.
“I’m truly not trying to be difficult, Mr. Roberts. Your friends are not here. I’m sorry, but we couldn’t save anyone from the plane.” As she said this, images of the bodies they’d found flashed in her mind. “If you go to the beach, you’ll find a morgue of sorts. Maybe you’ll have better luck there. I believe the authorities are planning to transport them to the mainland soon.”
At her words, his eyes went wide before he quickly shuttered any emotion.
“Everything okay here?” Ian came to a stop behind her. His chest brushed against her back. The warm, solid weight of him bolstered her courage. Ian might hate her for hurting him, but he wouldn’t let Victor Roberts and his men harm her or Arabella.
She nodded. “This is Mr. Roberts. The owner of the plane that crashed.”
Ian released a sigh that ruffled the wisps of her unruly hair. Pressing closer to her back, he reached past her to extend a hand to the other man. “Ian Gauthier. I’m sorry about your plane and your friends.”
Victor’s glare only briefly left Cameron as he shook Ian’s hand.
“Mr. Roberts is here to see if any of our patients were on his plane,” she explained.
Ian gave his head a slow shake. “I’m sorry, Mr. Roberts, there weren’t any survivors.”
“Yes,” the other man snapped. “The doctor has said that. I think I’ll check the beach for my friends.”
Cameron made a show of checking her watch. “You might want to hurry. The boat transporting the bodies should be here any minute.”
Roberts eyed her as he straightened his suit jacket. “Thank you for your help. I’ll go see my friends. You should see to your daughter. She’s a beautiful little girl. Must take after her mother.”
For the first time since the men’s approach, anger overtook the fear inside Cameron. She clinched the doorjamb to keep from launching herself at the bastard on her clinic’s doorstep. How dare this asshole speak of Arabella? Rage burned through her veins. Now she understood Keso’s desire to kill the man. They couldn’t count on him sticking to the big island and out of their lives. But she couldn’t make herself a target either.
She swallowed her fury. “I’ll do that. Have a nice day.”
The boss man motioned to his thugs. The three of them turned and disappeared into the trees lining two sides of the clinic.
Tears stung Cameron’s eyes. She sagged against the door frame.
“Are you okay?” Ian’s hands came to her shoulders, kneading the tight muscles.
The soothing strokes eased some of the stress from her body, replacing it with an entirely new tension. Tingles raced up and down her skin. Her nipples tightened. She shivered.
Stepping away, she turned to him. “Thank you for taking Ara away. I didn’t mean to scare her. I should probably go talk to her.”
“Why don’t you start by talking to me?” He nudged her chin with his fist, so she had no choice but to look at him. “Who was that?”
“I told you.”
“No. Who is he to you? Why did you react the way you did?”
Staring into Ian’s whiskey eyes made her head swim. The intoxication was a lie though. It made her feel she could tell him things she knew she couldn’t. Once, he’d been her closest friend. He’d made her believe in soulmates. They’d had no secrets—or at least she hadn’t. She’d bared her soul to Ian, every hurt, every insecurity, leaving no corner of herself hidden from him. She couldn’t be that bare again. Maybe if she only had herself to worry about, she could afford the vulnerability, but she couldn’t risk Ara and Keso.
“I’ve actually never met him.” She spoke the truth. As far as she knew, today was the first the other man had ever set foot on this island. And she’d only been on the big island for a short time before moving here. Physically, their paths had never crossed, but their lives were forever intertwined.
“He’s not a good man,” she continued. “He’s suspected of many crimes.”
“Were you afraid he’d hurt you? Is that why you had me take Ara away? You didn’t want her to see?” He gripped her shoulders again.
The calluses on his palm scraped against her skin. She shook her head, both to answer his question and to try and knock away the memories of those calluses on other, more intimate, parts of her body.
“I just didn’t want him to see her.” She dropped her gaze to her hands, twisting the fingers on one hand with those of the other. “There are rumors… I didn’t want him to know she existed.” She raised her head. Tears swam in her eyes at the rumors of Victor Roberts’s torture, at the memories of what she’d seen with her own eyes with Keira.
Ian’s hand slipped up to cup her cheek. With his thumb, he brushed away a stray tear. His eyes flickered from her own eyes to her mouth and back. Nerves lit in her stomach.
“I’d never let him hurt her,” he promised her, “or you.”
Since she couldn’t form words, she simply nodded. She never doubted he’d protect her from others. It was the threat he posed to her, he couldn’t seem to prevent.
Before she could make herself move from the doorway, Ian tugged her closer. He held her flush against his body, crushing her already sensitive breasts against his chest, and took her mouth. Warmth raced through her body, pooled low in her belly, then slid between her thighs. For the first time in years, she wanted. Ian held her face with one hand and clutched her hip with the other, pulling her tighter against him. A moan slipped from between her lips, giving him the opening he needed to deepen the kiss. Twining her arms around his neck, she clung to him. She wanted to climb him. Wrap herself around him and never let go. God, she’d missed him. He pulled her into the clinic, then pushed her against the wall. He crushed his body against hers, nudging the vee between her thighs. Colors flashed behind her closed lids. Pleasure thundered through her body.
“Oh, Dios mio.”
Cameron froze.
“Lo siento.”
Cameron pulled away from Ian. Lust still burned in his gaze. His lips were dark and swollen. He took a step away, allowing her to slip around him.
“Doc?” Esme’s eyes rounded. Her gaze swung to Ian and then back to Cameron.
Cameron cleared her throat. “Are you here to see Brodie?”
Esme stared at her. Her expression screamed, what the hell is happening? Cameron only smiled back. Obviously, she’d had a momentary lapse in brain activity. She’d be sure not to be alone with Ian in the future. Not that they’d been particularly alone today. They were in the doorway of the clinic. Ian had always been a terrible influence.
“Brodie?” she prompted her friend.
Esme dragged her gaze away from Ian, who now faced them, looking no worse for wear. Though his eyes were still dark, stormy.
Esme blinked, then shook her head. “The doctor, the blond one. He wants to send Brodie to the big island today.” She paused, clearing her throat of the emotion creeping into it. “I wanted to spend as much time with him as I can.” She swiped a shaking hand over her cheek.
Cameron clasped the other woman’s hand in her own. “I’m still working on Dr. Robinson,” she promised her friend. “We’ll see what we can do to keep Brodie here. “
Esme sniffed. “Can I go see him now?”
“Why don’t I take you back?” Ian stepped forward. “Arabella’s waiting on Cameron, and I’d like to see Mr. Hunte myself today.”
Esme stared up at Ian. “Thank you, Dr. Gauthier.”
“Call me Ian.” Stepping forward, he placed his hand between her shoulder blades and ushered her toward her husband’s room. “Why don’t you tell me more about Brodie and your girls?”
Cameron watched as the pair disappeared into Brodie’s room. Finally, she allowed herself the deep steadying breath she’d needed since she’d first spotted the intruders heading toward her clinic. Her lips still tingled from Ian’s kiss. Her body still hummed with awareness and desire. But what scared her the most was her heart still ached for him. She could deal with physically wanting him, but she didn’t know if she had the strength to love him and lose him again.
