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He took a deep breath. He reluctantly pulled back. For a moment, neither of them spoke—just stared at each other as if they couldn’t quite believe what had just happened.
Rhuaridh pressed his lips together for a second, doing his best to collect his thoughts. The ones he was currently having involved sweeping Kristie up into his arms, into his car and away from this whole place. But she’d said something. She’d revealed a part of herself that she hadn’t before and every instinct told him that he had to try and peel back more of Kristie’s layers.
‘Wow,’ she said softly as a hint of a smile touched her lips.
‘Wow,’ he agreed. His timing was all wrong. He looked at her steadily, keeping his voice even. ‘Kristie, I do think we need to talk.’
There was a flash of momentary confusion in her eyes. He could almost see the shutters going down again, as if she knew what was about to come next.
He kept going. ‘I think the reason you don’t like hospitals is important. I think, when I work with someone, if something significant has happened in the past that affects how they feel or think about something, I should know. I should know not to expose them to a situation that they might find hard.’
She pulled her hand back as if she’d been stung. ‘Is that what we’re doing, working together?’
It was the way she asked the question—as if those words actually hurt—that made him catch his breath. He could hear it in her voice. The unspoken question. Was that all it was? Particularly after that kiss...
But she didn’t wait for an answer. She just brushed off her trousers, stood up and walked away...for the second time.
CHAPTER SIX
October
SHE CLOSED HER social media account. Will they? Won’t they? seemed to be everywhere she looked. She’d even been invited on a talk show to discuss her blossoming ‘relationship’ with Rhuaridh Gillespie, the world’s hottest Highland doc.
‘I’m going to kill you, Gerry,’ she muttered.
He was staring out of the ferry window at the thrashing sea, rubbing his chest distractedly. ‘No, you’re not. You’ve got the most popular show on the network. You love it.’
‘I don’t have time to love it. I can’t get a minute of peace.’ She rubbed her eyes and leaned against the wall.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.
She sighed. ‘There was a call last night.’ She rubbed her hands up both arms. It was cold. Scotland was much colder than LA, but that chill had seemed to come out of nowhere. ‘It was hard. I don’t know if I helped. I’ve spent the whole journey wondering if...’ Her voice trailed off.
Gerry touched her shoulder. ‘Don’t. You volunteer. You counsel. You’re the person who listens in the middle of the night when someone needs to talk. You do the best that you can. That’s all you can do.’
She put her head back on the wall. Fatigue sweeping over her. ‘I know that. But I can’t help but worry.’
‘You don’t look that great,’ said Gerry.
She closed her eyes for a second. ‘I don’t feel that great. I forgot to take my seasickness tablets. I’ll be fine when we land.’
The truth was she was nervous, and a little bit sad. She wasn’t quite sure what to say to Rhuaridh. She’d felt the connection. And she was sure he had too.
Didn’t their kiss prove it? But that had been fleeting. Rhuaridh had stopped it almost as soon as it had started. And then he’d pressed about the thing she didn’t want to talk about. Wasn’t ready to talk about.
And it had haunted her for the last month. Her head even felt fuzzy right now. She loosened the scarf she’d wound around her neck. It was irritating her. They’d started filming earlier, following up on Ross, the instructor with the head injury last month, who’d had emergency surgery. He was staying in Glasgow, recovering well, even though he was pale with a large part of his hair now missing. The young boy, Kai, had his leg in a cast but took great delight in showing them just how fast he could get about on his crutches.
Thank goodness those two parts of filming were wrapped up. It would mean they would need less footage whilst on Arran. She closed her eyes, part of her not wanting to spend too much time in Rhuaridh’s company and part of her aching for it.
