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‘Why not?’
‘Because I’ve just seen at least half a dozen people who know me.’
‘And what’s wrong with that?’ He strolled over to the nearest ice-cream shop and scanned the menu. Vanilla? Too boring. Strawberry? Too predictable.
‘Because if I’ve seen them, then they’ve seen me.’ She turned her head. ‘With you.’
‘Ah.’ Cappuccino, he decided. ‘And surely that’s a good thing.’
‘Why would fuelling town gossip possibly be a good thing?’
‘Because you want to prove that you don’t want a relationship.’ He wandered into the shop and ordered two cones. ‘In order to do that, you at least have to be seen to be mixing with members of the opposite sex. If you do that and still don’t fall in love then eventually everyone will just give up trying. If you don’t, they’ll just keep fixing you up.’
She glared at him and he realised that the lady selling the ice creams was listening avidly.
‘Perfect evening for a walk, Dr Anderson. We don’t see you in here often enough. That will be three pounds forty, please.’ The woman took the money with a smile and turned to Gio. ‘You must be our new doctor. Betty told me all about you.’
‘That’s good. Saves me introducing myself.’ Gio pocketed the change and picked up the ice creams with a nod of thanks and a few more words of small talk.
Outside he handed a cone to Alice.
‘I said I didn’t want one.’
‘Just try it. One lick.’
‘It’s—’
‘It’s protein, Dr Anderson.’ He winked at her and she raised an eyebrow.
‘How do you work that out?’
‘All that clotted cream.’ He watched, noting with satisfaction the smile that teased the corners of her mouth. He was going to teach her to relax. To loosen up. To enjoy herself.
‘It’s a frozen lump of saturated fat designed to occlude arteries,’ she said crisply, and he nodded.
‘Very possibly. But it’s also a mood lifter. An indulgence. A sensory experience. Smooth. Cold. Creamy. Try it.’
She stared at him. ‘It’s ice cream, Gio. Just ice cream.’ She waved a hand dismissively and almost consigned the ice cream to the gutter. ‘The body doesn’t need ice cream in order to function efficiently.’
‘The body may not need ice cream,’ he conceded, ‘but it’s extremely grateful to receive it. Try it and find out. Go on—lick.’
With an exaggerated roll of her eyes she licked the cone. And licked again. ‘All right, so it tastes good. But that’s just because of the coffee. You know I love coffee.’ The evening sunlight caught the gold in her hair and her blue eyes were alight with humour. ‘It’s my only vice.’
Looking at the way her mouth moved over the ice cream, he decided that before the summer was finished Alice would have expanded her repertoire of vices. And he was going to help her do it.
‘Lick again and close your eyes,’ he urged her, ignoring the fact that his own ice cream was in grave danger of melting.
She stared at him as if he were mad. ‘Gio, I’m not closing my eyes with half the town watching! I have to work with these people long after you’ve gone! I need to retain my credibility. If I stand in the harbour with my eyes closed, licking ice cream, they’ll never listen to me again.’
‘Stop trying to be so perfect all the time. And stop worrying about other people.’ She was delightfully prim, he thought, noticing the tiny freckles on her nose for the first time. He doubted she’d ever let her hair down in her life.
And he was absolutely crazy about her.
The knowledge knocked the breath from his lungs. ‘Close your eyes, or I’ll throw you in the harbour.’ His voice was gruff. ‘And that will seriously damage your credibility.’
How could he possibly be in love with a woman he’d only known for a couple of days?
‘Oh, fine!’ With an exaggerated movement she squeezed her eyes shut and he stepped closer, tempted by the slight pout of her lips.
