Summer Kisses: The Rebel Doctor's Bride

He stepped aside to let Logan pass. ‘Isn’t Angela Parker a little old to be training for the Olympics? She took one look at me and ran as if the hounds of hell were after her. What’s the matter with her leg?’

‘Venous ulcer. She’s supposed to be mobilising but she doesn’t do enough of it.’

‘Then perhaps I should stand behind her more often. She ran so fast I could have entered her in the Derby.’

He was so confident, so easy with a situation that most people would have found agonisingly awkward. He really didn’t seem to care that the locals had been distinctly unwelcoming. But if he’d cared, he wouldn’t be the man he was.

Flora cleared her throat. ‘Mrs Parker was a little surprised to discover that you’re now a doctor.’

Conner smiled. ‘Sweet Flora, always coating the truth with honey. Come on, angel. Tell me what she said. The truth. It will be good for you. And my shoulders are broad. I can take it.’

She knew his shoulders were broad—in fact, she was far, far too conscious of his body.

‘She doesn’t believe you’re a doctor and she values her health too much to see you.’

‘And I value my sanity far too much to see her, so both of us are happy. If her health is that good, she doesn’t need a doctor anyway. So I’m spared.’

‘It’s not funny.’ Ignoring the amusement in his eyes, Flora kept her head down and put a box of vaccine back in the fridge. ‘You have no idea what things are like here! We’re overwhelmed with work and every day the ferry brings more tourists. Logan needs help. He’s barely had time to see his wife and daughter since Ethan left and the baby is due in a few weeks. He needs someone he can trust.’

‘And you think he can’t trust me?’

‘I don’t think that’s relevant.’ Desperate to make him understand, she turned to face him. ‘If the patients won’t see you, then it doesn’t matter what Logan thinks.’

‘Relax. The tourists will see me. I’ll talk to Janet and make sure she allocates me a surgery full of patients who know nothing about my wicked past.’

‘Conner—’

‘I wasn’t expecting a hero’s welcome, Flora.’ He gave a faint smile. ‘And now you’ll have to excuse me. There’s a bit of a rush on. Patients are fighting to see me and I don’t want to disappoint them.’

Her heart bumped against her chest and she didn’t understand it. She couldn’t possibly find him attractive. It was ridiculous to find him attractive. So why were her legs shaking so much she needed to sit down?

CHAPTER FOUR

‘GLENMORE is in an uproar. Eight patients refused to see him this morning and insisted on waiting for Logan.’ In the café near the harbour, Flora leaned across the table and helped herself to one of Evanna’s sandwiches. ‘These are delicious. Why aren’t you eating them?’

‘Because there’s no room in my body for anything except the baby.’ Evanna shifted in her seat, obviously uncomfortable. ‘They refused to see him? Really? Oh, poor Conner, that’s dreadful. Were his feelings hurt, do you think?’

‘Does he have feelings?’ Flora glanced out of the window, watching idly as groups of tourists walked from the ferry towards the beach. ‘Since when did Conner MacNeil care what people think of him? He is Mr Tough Guy.’

‘Deep down, I’m sure he cares.’

‘If he cared he wouldn’t have done his surgery wearing black leather and half an inch of stubble.’ Flora winced as a toddler tripped over a fishing rod and fell hard onto the pavement. She watched the mother scoop up the child and offer comfort. ‘Believe me, he has no intention of modifying his behaviour to please anyone. He was as defiant and confrontational as ever.’ And sexy. Indecently sexy.

‘If he didn’t care, he’d be living in his parents’ old house up on the cliffs.’

Flora was silent for a moment. She hadn’t given any thought to where Conner was living. ‘And he’s not?’

‘Logan gave him the barn.’

‘I thought it was let for the summer.’

‘It is. To Conner. When Logan thought he might be coming back, he kept it free for him. I suppose he knew Connor wouldn’t want to stay in his parents’ house.’ Evanna shrugged. ‘Who can blame him? I don’t suppose it has any nice memories for him. By all accounts, he had a pretty miserable childhood.’

‘Then why didn’t he sell it after his father died?’

‘He hasn’t been here to sell it. Perhaps he’ll deal with it this summer.’

‘Break his final tie with the island? Do you think that’s why he’s come back? To sell the house?’

‘I wouldn’t think so. He could have done that with one call to the island estate agent. Perhaps he’s laying old ghosts.’ Evanna gave a suggestive smile. ‘Or maybe he’s laying old girlfriends.’

‘Evanna!’ Struggling between shock and laughter, Flora sent a weak, apologetic smile towards the tourists eating lunch at the next table. ‘If you’re going to make obscene comments, lower your voice. We still have to work here after Conner’s gone.’

‘And life will be considerably more boring.’

‘Pregnancy has driven you mad.’

‘You might be right.’ Evanna shifted in her seat. ‘I can’t remember what it’s like not to be fat and exhausted.’

‘I think Conner is trying to shock them on purpose. I suspect he wants to provoke a reaction from them.’ Flora looked at her and smiled. ‘Do you want to know something funny?’

‘Not too funny.’ Evanna patted her enormous bump gently. ‘I have to be economical with laughter at the moment. Go on.’

‘Mrs Ellis saw him.’

‘As a patient? You’re joking.’

‘I’m not. I expected her to walk straight back out and call the police, but she was in there for ages and she came out smiling.’

‘So he even charmed her.’ Evanna sighed wistfully. ‘You see? It doesn’t matter how badly he behaves, women just can’t help themselves. It’s the danger, I suppose. The fact that he’s a bit volatile and unstable just adds to his appeal. If you had a date with Conner you never quite knew whether you were going to end up in bed or in a jail cell.’

Flora gasped. ‘What exactly do you know about dates with Conner? There is no way your parents would have allowed you anywhere near him.’

‘Didn’t stop me dreaming.’ Evanna sipped her tea. ‘I had fantasies, just like you.’

‘I did not have fantasies.’

‘Now you’re lying.’ Evanna grinned placidly. ‘Every woman dreams about the local bad boy.’

‘Conner is well educated.’

‘Which makes him all the more attractive,’ Evanna sighed.

‘My idea of a perfect date never involved a close encounter with the police,’ Flora said lightly, ‘and I don’t believe yours did either. You were always crazy about Logan.’

‘That didn’t stop me looking. I suppose that’s part of the reason Conner was so attractive,’ Evanna said simply. ‘He was forbidden. Are you seriously telling me you’ve never had a few fantasies about Conner?’

‘Never.’ Keen to end what was increasingly becoming an uncomfortable conversation, Flora finished her sandwich and glanced at her watch. ‘I have to go. Little Helen Peters had an asthma attack in the night. I’m going to call on her on my way back to the surgery.’