Return of the Rebel Doctor

Ross had always been conscious of the wide differences in their backgrounds, but it hadn’t mattered to Katie. They’d mixed with the village children throughout their school lives, and it had seemed to her then that there were no class boundaries. They had just been children, spending their summers scrumping in the apple orchards or fishing with nets in the nearby burn.

That had been when she’d first been aware of Ross, when she’d paddled barefoot in the cool, running water and he’d shown her how to chase the fish into the shallows and then trap them in her net. He’d helped her transfer them to a jam jar filled with water, and he’d laughed when she’d insisted on tipping them back into the stream before they’d set off for home.

She shook the thoughts from her head and set off a few minutes later for the ferry port. She took the bus, looking out of the window at the beautiful wooded hills and low mountains in the distance. Soon the blue sweep of the coastline came into view, and she readied herself for the next lap of her journey.

It would be a blustery crossing, she guessed, for although the sun managed to filter through the clouds every now and again on this late August day, the wind was already stirring, lifting her hair in playful gusts.

It wasn’t too long before she was standing on the deck of the ferry at last, looking out over the water. Gulls swooped and shrieked, and she smiled, relaxing against the rail as the boat began to move slowly away from port. The light breeze danced around her, pulling at the edges of her cotton jacket, adding a chill feel to her denim-clad legs.

‘Well, there’s a welcome surprise. My dreams have started to come true.’ Out of the blue, Ross came to stand beside her, placing a hand next to hers on the rail. He smiled, looking inordinately pleased to have found her there.

‘Oh!’ She looked at him in startled wonder. ‘What are you doing here? I thought you were planning to stay on the island for a few days?’

‘I am, but I have some business on the mainland that was arranged before this happened. I was going to cancel, but Finn has perked up a bit now and his mother’s being supportive, so he insisted on me going ahead with it. He doesn’t have to go back to the station until the end of the week and I’ll be back before then.’

‘Oh, I see. Are you staying at the house with them?’

He shook his head. ‘I’m renting a room at McAskie’s for the time being. It’s comfortable there, and the food is good, so I’m well set up.’

She guessed he didn’t want to be with his father. ‘It sounds as if you’re doing all right, then.’ Jessie would be pleased about that, at any rate. She often went to McAskie’s with her friends, so she was bound to run into Ross before too long.

‘And how is it that you’re on board the ferry?’ he asked. ‘Is it a shopping trip, or are you taking a holiday?’

‘Neither of those. I’m going to Loch Cragail for a medical conference.’

‘Really?’ A smile spread across his face, crinkling the corners of his eyes and making her heart do an unexpected flip-over. She sighed inwardly at her weakness. There was no getting away from it, he was an extraordinarily good-looking man. No wonder he was so popular with all the girls. ‘I guess I get to wine and dine you after all, then,’ he murmured with satisfaction in his voice. ‘That’s where I’m headed.’

‘You’re kidding.’ Her jaw dropped momentarily, and he gave her a quizzical look before she recovered enough to clamp her mouth shut. How could fate conspire against her this way? Two whole days in his company? The irony of the situation struck her and she gave a wry smile. Jessie would never forgive her when she found out that she and Ross had been staying together at a luxury hotel.

‘Is that such a daunting prospect? You and I could get along very well, you know, Katie,’ he said in a coaxing tone, ‘if you’d only give us half a chance.’

‘I wouldn’t bank on it.’ She turned a glittering emerald gaze on him. ‘I’ve seen you in action, remember, and I know full well that you can flit from one woman to another quite easily, without so much as a backward glance. Look what happened to poor Molly Jenkins. She fell for you, hook, line and sinker, and you left her and went off with her best friend. I’ve no intention of becoming one of a long line of conquests.’

His dark brows lifted. ‘I’m shocked you think that way about me. In fact, it sounds almost like a challenge.’ His mouth tilted a fraction. ‘One I’d be more than happy to take up. But I think you’re misjudging me, Katie,’ he added with a frown. ‘I don’t set out to hurt people. Anyway, that was all a long time ago. What makes you think I’m still the same man I was then?’

‘News filters through, one way or another.’ She shivered a little as the wind buffeted her, and she paused to pull her jacket more closely around her. ‘And you’ve never settled down with a woman for any length of time, have you?’

‘I could say the same about you, regarding the men in your life. From what I’ve heard, you’re very careful about whom you date, and so far I gather no one has managed to win your heart. Except maybe for one who finally got the heave-ho.’

She looked at him from under her lashes. ‘It sounds as though you’ve been asking around.’ She didn’t want to talk about her ex. He’d been enough to put her off serious relationships ever since.

He grinned. ‘I may have just happened to catch the odd murmur here and there, you know, as you do when people have had a drink or two. I’m always interested to hear what you’ve been getting up to.’

‘Hmm.’ She looked out over the water and shivered again as the wind began to toss her hair, sweeping silky tendrils across her cheeks. In the distance, she could see the undulating, green hills of the mainland, with whitewashed houses spread out along the coastline or clustered together in small settlements in the valleys. Behind them, mountains rose majestically, their summits shrouded in mist.

Ross reached out and lightly tucked her hair back behind her ears. ‘Why don’t we go to the bar and I’ll buy you a drink,’ he suggested. ‘A brandy, perhaps, something to warm you a little?’ He wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her close.

She nodded agreement, enjoying the instant heat that came from his warm body, and they turned away from the deck rail. He kept her by his side and said in a cheerful tone, ‘You can tell me all about what you’ve been up to these past years.’

‘I’ve been working mostly,’ she said. ‘I’ve had to study hard to pass my specialist exams, and my job means everything to me.’

He frowned. ‘So much so that you’ve missed out on a personal life?’

She shook her head and smiled. ‘I wouldn’t go as far as to say that.’

He studied her thoughtfully as they took the stairs down to the lower deck. ‘You were always the sensible daughter of the family, weren’t you, Katie?’

Sensible? She absorbed that comment with a rueful, inner twinge. She’d not had much choice in that, had she? When her father’s angina had started giving him trouble in stressful situations, she’d made up her mind that she would do her utmost to protect him.

Jessie tried to do the same, but her nature was such that she often gave in to impulsive behaviour and only thought about the consequences afterwards.

‘I’ve missed you,’ Ross said, breaking into her thoughts. ‘Whenever I’ve been in bother, or about to do something mad, I’ve had the image of your sweet, calm face before me, with your green eyes warning me not to be such a harebrained fool.’ His mouth indented. ‘You’ve a lot to answer for.’

‘Oh, yes?’ She gave him a doubtful look. ‘I’m not sure I believe that. Since when did you ever bother about my opinion? I can’t imagine you’ve given me much thought at all—out of sight, out of mind, isn’t that what they say?’

‘Such scepticism…I can see I have my work cut out with you.’ There was a gleam in his eyes as he looked at her. ‘Definitely a challenge.’

He led the way to the bar, still keeping his hand splayed out over the curve of her hip, sending small ripples of excitement coursing through her body, and she had to steel herself not to give in to the warm, confusing tide of emotion that ran through her at his touch.

She had mixed feelings when he left her at a table by the window to go and fetch their drinks. Part of her was relieved that she was no longer under siege to that intensely intimate and sensual onslaught, and yet another, perverse part longed once again for that delight.

‘There you are,’ he said a moment later, sliding a brandy glass across the table towards her. ‘Drink up. You’ll soon feel it warm you.’

‘Thank you.’ She did as he suggested, and instantly felt the heat of the alcohol suffuse her body. Idly, she looked at him over the rim of her glass, and it seemed in that moment that the intervening years fell away. He still had that youthful look about him, all that boyish charm that had melted her heart when she’d been just a teenager.

Today he was wearing dark trousers and a navy-blue shirt beneath his open jacket. The first few buttons of his shirt were undone, showing his lightly tanned throat, and she watched, as though mesmerised, as he swallowed his drink. His larynx moved, and she felt a sudden, disconcertingly intense urge to reach up and run her fingers lightly over his golden skin.

She dragged her gaze away from him. ‘Do you ever look back and regret that you left the island?’ she asked.

He thought about her question for a moment or two. ‘In some ways, yes, for the family I left behind, but I think if I had that time all over again, I’d do the same thing. I was under a lot of pressure back then.’ His eyes darkened. ‘As you know, things weren’t going well for me, and my father was angry and clamping down on me more than ever.’

‘I know.’ She took another sip of brandy, feeling the amber liquid scald the back of her throat. ‘But you were badly injured, after all, and when all the hoo-hah died down after the accident, and the fire, your father might have had a change of heart. Perhaps you didn’t give him the chance to see things in a different light?’

He shook his head. ‘He was worried about me, I knew that, deep down, of course. But he was a stickler for doing things right and the fact was he was disappointed in me. I always seemed to be in trouble, and I guess the incident at the Old Brewery was the last straw.’

Katie nodded, understanding how things had gone so badly wrong. She didn’t know the full details—only what people had said at the time, and she suspected those stories had been embellished and exaggerated. The fire had scandalised everyone, but their feelings had been tinged with sorrow because when Ross had come down from the upper storey of the old building, the rotten timbers of the staircase had given way and he had fallen to the floor below. Quite why he had gone back up there after starting the fire wasn’t clear, but Katie suspected he’d gone to retrieve Jessie’s jacket. She’d said she’d left it behind, and that must have added to her guilt.

Ross and Jessie had been tight-lipped about that night ever since, and neither of them wanted to talk about what had happened.

‘I shouldn’t have been there,’ he admitted now, ‘but you don’t think about these things too deeply when you’re young. We’d all been warned to keep away because it was abandoned and dangerous, but it drew teenagers like a magnet, and I was no exception.

‘The way my father saw it, if I hadn’t been there, if I hadn’t acted the way I did, the accident wouldn’t have happened. He was right to be angry. It was my fault for being reckless, and the fire was the last straw.’

He gave a rueful smile. ‘They blamed me, and I suppose that was because my reputation for skirting the law went before me. I was unconscious, and I have no memory of it. But as far as my father was concerned it was one of a long line of misdemeanours, and I guess he was torn between anger and sorrow.’

She frowned. ‘Jessie was adamant that you didn’t do it.’

He nodded. ‘Yes, but no one was prepared to believe her.’