The Rebel Who Loved Her

Ewan grimaced. ‘My mistake. Sorry.’ He frowned. ‘But why on earth did you call your cat Mog? I thought moggies were mice.’

‘Hmm, it all depends which part of the country you come from,’ Mrs Rose informed him tartly. ‘Where I come from, young man, a moggy is a cat.’

‘I stand corrected.’ Ewan laughed, pleased to see that there was nothing wrong with her mental faculties. He had a feeling that Mrs Rose wouldn’t appreciate the usual questions used to determine an elderly patient’s mental prowess, such as the date and the name of the current prime minister. He put a tick in the relevant box on the patient’s history and heard the old lady sniff.

‘Convinced you that I’m compos mentis, have I?’

‘Absolutely.’ Ewan put the clipboard down and folded his arms. ‘There’s nothing wrong with your mind, Mrs Rose.’

‘I wish you’d tell that to my son. He seems to think I’m going gaga. No doubt he’ll try to use this as an excuse to put me into a nursing home.’

Ewan frowned when he heard the tremor in the old lady’s voice. ‘I take it that it isn’t what you want?’

‘Certainly not. I’ve lived on my own for almost forty years now since my husband died. I couldn’t bear the thought of having to live with a group of strangers.’

‘There’s no reason why you should have to leave your home because of this accident,’ Ewan assured her. He picked up the tablet computer and showed her the X-ray she’d had done on admission. ‘There’s no sign of a fracture. Granted, your leg is badly bruised and the cut will need dressing to make sure it heals properly, but you’ll be back on your feet in no time.’

‘Are you sure?’ Relief washed over the old lady’s face when he nodded. ‘Thank heavens. Geoffrey has been going on and on about me moving into a home and I was sure this would be the excuse he needed to have me admitted.’

Ewan shook his head. ‘No. So long as you feel that you can manage on your own, that’s fine. And even if you do have problems, there’s help available. Your GP should be able to put you in touch with social services and they can assess the level of help you need.’

‘That’s a weight off my mind, I can tell you.’ Edith Rose smiled at him. ‘Thank you, young man. You’ve made an old lady very happy.’

‘Good.’ Ewan laughed as he stood up. ‘I’m just going to phone your GP and let him know what’s happened. As I said, your leg will need dressing so we need to arrange for it to be done at the surgery.’

‘Old flesh doesn’t heal as fast as young does,’ Mrs Rose observed wryly and he grinned.

‘I’m afraid not.’

He went to the desk to make the call, unsurprised to discover that Mrs Rose was registered with Bride’s Bay Surgery. A lot of the people he’d seen since he’d started at Pinscombe General had been registered with the practice, which meant it must be a very busy place to work. He asked to speak to the practice nurse when the receptionist answered, shaking his head when one of the nurses came over to see if he could look at a patient for her.

‘I’m tied up at the moment,’ he began then stopped when a voice came over the line, a voice that was all too familiar.

‘Sister Williams speaking. How may I help you?’

Ewan turned to face the wall, not wanting anything to distract him. The one thing he had never anticipated was that Becky would answer his call. He took a deep breath, deliberately ironing all trace of emotion from his voice. Maybe it did feel as though his head was being whirled around inside a washing machine on the spin cycle but he wasn’t going to let Becky know that.

‘Becky, it’s Ewan MacLeod.’ He gave a short laugh, praying that it sounded less forced to her than it did to him. ‘This is a surprise. Again!’

CHAPTER THREE

‘EWAN!’

Becky felt shock race through her when she recognised Ewan’s voice. It was all she could do to concentrate as he continued in the same teasing tone.

‘Of all the surgeries in all the world … I had no idea you were working there.’

‘I … um … it came as a surprise to me too, actually.’ She finally managed to gather her addled wits, relieved to hear that she sounded almost normal. Maybe it had been a surprise to hear Ewan’s voice but did it really explain why it had sent her into such a spin? She blanked out the thought, not wanting to set off down a route that was guaranteed to lead to more questions. ‘Dad needed a practice nurse for the surgery and asked me if I’d consider taking the job, and I agreed.’

‘Sounds ideal to me. Not only are you able to earn your living but you’re on hand if Millie needs you.’

‘Exactly,’ Becky agreed, wondering how he always managed to hit on the salient point. Ewan possessed the rare ability to cut through all the dross and see the bigger picture. It was something else she had admired about him, she realised, his ability to get to the heart of a matter with so little fuss. Steve had been the exact opposite, sadly. He’d got so caught up in the details that he had often failed to appreciate the real crux of an issue. Whenever that had happened, he had blamed everyone else, too, rather than himself. It was one of the things she had disliked most about him, in fact.

The thought made her feel incredibly guilty. It didn’t seem right that she should compare the two men, especially when she had found her late husband lacking. She hurried on, wanting to get the conversation onto a more solid footing. ‘Anyway, I take it that this isn’t a social call?’

‘No. I have one of your patients with me, a Mrs Edith Rose.’ Ewan was all business as he explained what had happened. ‘The cut on her leg is quite deep and it will need dressing. I was hoping I could arrange for her to be seen at the surgery.’

‘Of course.’ Becky opened the diary, relieved to turn her attention to other matters. Ewan was Ewan and Steve had been Steve; she mustn’t make the mistake of weighing one against the other. ‘I’ll book her in for Wednesday morning at eleven. If the dressing’s only been done today, it would be better not to disturb it, although tell her to contact me if she has any problems, won’t you?’

‘I shall. She’s a feisty old lady, very alert and determined, although she does seem worried that her son may try to use the accident as an excuse to have her admitted to a nursing home.’

‘I see.’ Becky frowned. ‘You don’t believe that’s necessary, obviously.’

‘Definitely not,’ he said firmly. ‘In my opinion, Mrs Rose is more than capable of looking after herself, although perhaps she could do with a bit of help.’

‘Would you like me to have word with her about what social services can offer?’ Becky suggested.

‘Are you a mind reader? That’s exactly what I was going to ask you to do!’

Becky felt her breath catch when she heard him laugh. He really did have the most attractive laugh, she thought, so soft and deep and so very, very sexy. She took a quick breath, forcing some much-needed air into her lungs. ‘Great minds think alike, or so they say?’

‘They certainly do.’

There it was again, that delicious, toe-tingling rumble coming down the line, and Becky’s lungs went into spasm once more. She was glad that Ewan didn’t seem to expect a reply as he explained that he would fax through a copy of Mrs Rose’s notes. By the time he’d finished, she was able to speak again, although she kept it brief, wary of pushing things too far.

‘I’ll make sure the information is entered on her file.’

‘Thanks. Right, I won’t keep you any longer. Good to speak to you, Becky. Maybe we’ll run into one another again at some point.’

‘Maybe.’

Becky hung up then went to the window, needing a few minutes to herself before she called in her next patient. So Ewan wasn’t working in London as she’d thought. He was right here in Devon, just a few miles away. Even though it shouldn’t make a scrap of difference, she knew that it did. Did she want to see him again? If anyone had suggested it a week ago, her answer would have been a resounding no, but she was no longer sure. Talking to Ewan had aroused feelings inside her she had never expected to feel again after what had happened with Steve.

Discovering that Steve had had an affair with one of his colleagues had turned her off sex. Even though she had tried to overcome her distaste and make a go of their marriage for Millie’s sake, making love had become a penance rather than a pleasure. The fact that Steve had used it to excuse his own behaviour had only made matters worse. He’d called her frigid, told her that it was little wonder he’d had to seek comfort in another woman’s arms. Although Becky had known it wasn’t true, part of her had wondered if she was to blame in some way. Now, after talking to Ewan, she realised how unjust the accusation had been.

She wasn’t frigid—far from it! She could and did respond to a man. However, the fact that it was Ewan who pushed all the right buttons was what worried her. Ewan wasn’t interested in settling down. He enjoyed playing the field and one woman would never be enough for him, not that she was in the market for another relationship. She had tried her best to make her marriage work and failed, and she wasn’t going to put herself through that heartache again, especially when there was even less chance now of a relationship working. Maybe Ewan was happily single at the moment but the time might come when he decided to settle down and start a family, and a family was the one thing she couldn’t give him or any other man.

She sighed. It would be far better if she steered well clear of Ewan in future.

Ewan found it impossible to stop thinking about Becky. At odd moments throughout the week, thoughts of her would pop into his head. He couldn’t rid himself of the thought that there was something troubling her and it only served to pique his interest even more. When his mother phoned and invited him to lunch on Sunday, he found himself agreeing even though he had planned to start redecorating the flat he was renting. The previous tenant had had a penchant for red and after a couple of weeks of waking up to pulsating scarlet walls, he desperately needed to do something about it. However, the décor could wait. Finding out what was worrying Becky seemed far more important.

He set off early on Sunday morning and made good time. It was the beginning of April and the main bulk of tourists hadn’t arrived yet so the roads were clear. His parents lived in Denton’s Cove but he bypassed the turning to their house and headed into Bride’s Bay. It was just gone ten when he drew up outside the surgery, which was attached to Becky’s parents’ home, and he frowned when he saw all the building work that had been taking place. He’d heard that the practice had been awarded health centre status and it was obvious that a lot of changes were being made.

He made his way to the back door and lifted his hand to knock when he heard voices coming from the garden. Turning, he peered over the hedge and felt his heart lift when he saw Becky. She was pushing Millie on a pint-sized swing attached to a bough of the old apple tree. She was wearing jeans and a white sweater, her honey-gold hair pulled up into a ponytail. She looked so young and so lovely that Ewan felt his senses swim. Eight years may have passed but he was still attracted to her. It was only when Millie let out a shriek of laughter that he pulled himself together.

‘It sounds as though you two are having fun,’ he called, adopting a deliberately upbeat tone. He wasn’t going to make the mistake of harking back to the past. Becky had chosen Steve and it had been the right decision for all of them. Maybe he would like to help her if he could but it was purely out of friendship. He wasn’t planning to get back with her, not that Becky would be interested even if he was.

‘Ewan!’