Summer Kisses: The Rebel Doctor's Bride

‘Coming back? Why would you say that?’ Conner was surprised to find that his voice sounded so harsh. ‘You know how much I love this place.’

Ignoring the sarcasm, Logan watched him steadily. ‘Actually, I was talking about leaving the army.’

The army?

Conner realised that since he’d stepped off the ferry, he’d given no thought to the life he’d just left. All he could think about was Glenmore and how it felt to be back. The bad memories poured into him like some dark, insidious disease, gradually taking possession of his mind. ‘Leaving the army isn’t my problem at the moment.’ he growled. ‘And, anyway, I don’t believe in living in the past when there’s a perfectly good future to be getting on with.’

‘Are you going to sell the house?’

‘You get straight to the point, don’t you?’ Conner rose to his feet and paced across the room, keeping his back to his cousin as he rode the pain. ‘Yes.’ He turned, his eyes fierce. ‘Why would I keep it?’

‘So that you have a place on Glenmore?’

‘If I’d wanted that,’ Conner said softly, ‘why would I be renting your barn?’

‘Good point.’ Logan gave him a sympathetic look. ‘This must be hard for you, I know.’

‘Nowhere near as hard as it’s going to be for the locals.’ Conner studied a picture on the wall. ‘They’re going to think that you’ve lost your mind, appointing me as the locum.’

‘They’d be less shocked if you told them the truth about what you’ve been doing since you stormed off Glenmore all those years ago.’

‘Island gossip has never interested me.’

‘You sound like Flora. Her clinics are taking twice as long as they should because she doesn’t like to interrupt people when they’re chatting.’

‘Flora?’

‘My practice nurse. She replaced Kyla.’

‘Flora Harris?’ Conner turned, the pain inside him under control. ‘Daughter of Ian Harris, our island solicitor? Niece of our esteemed headmistresses?’

Cloudy dark hair, soft brown eyes, an impossibly shy and awkward teenager, and as innocent as the dawn.

Logan’s eyes narrowed. ‘You didn’t ever …’

‘Fortunately for her, there were enough wild teenage girls on the island who were more than happy to experiment, without me having to corrupt the saintly Flora. Anyway, she didn’t take her nose out of a book for long enough to discover the existence of sex.’

‘She isn’t saintly. Just shy.’

‘Maybe. But definitely not the sort of girl who would skip classes in favour of a practical session on human reproduction.’ Conner rolled his shoulders to ease the tension. ‘I’m not surprised she’s a nurse. It would have been that or a librarian. Does she know I’m the new doctor?’

‘Not yet.’

‘She won’t approve.’

‘Even if she doesn’t, she would never say so. Flora is sweet, kind and incredibly civilised.’

‘Whereas I’m sharp, unkind and incredibly uncivilised. I’m willing to bet that the first thing she does, when she finds out about me, is remind you that I blew up the science lab.’

‘I’d forgotten about that.’ Momentarily distracted, Logan narrowed his eyes. ‘What did you use—potassium?’

‘Too dangerous. They didn’t keep it at school.’ Restless, Conner paced across the room again and scanned the row of textbooks on the shelf. ‘But they did keep sodium. That was good enough.’

‘It should have been in a locked cupboard.’

‘It was.’

Logan laughed. ‘I’m amazed you weren’t expelled.’

‘Me, too. Very frustrating, given how hard I applied myself to the task.’ Conner suppressed a yawn. ‘So I’m going to be working with Flora. The excitement of this place increases by the minute.’

‘She’s a brilliant nurse. She was working in Edinburgh until last month but we persuaded her to come back. And now you’ve joined us. I’ve been thinking—we should tell the islanders what you’ve been doing with your life.’

‘It’s none of their business.’

Logan sighed. ‘I don’t see why you’re so reluctant to let people know that you’re a good guy.’

‘Who says I’m a good guy? If you wanted a good guy for the job then you’ve appointed the wrong man.’ Conner turned, a ghost of a smile on his face. ‘You’ll have a hard job convincing Flora, Mrs Graham and any of that lot on the ferry that there’s a single decent bone in my body.’

‘Give them time. How soon can you start?’

‘That depends on how soon you want to clear out your surgery.’ Conner unzipped his jacket. ‘I can guarantee that they won’t be queuing up to see me. I’m assuming that, by appointing me, you want to encourage your patients to deal with their ailments at home. We both know they won’t be coming to the surgery once they know who the doctor is. Which means I get to lounge around all day with my feet up while you pay my salary.’

‘That’s rubbish. You know as well as I do that the women will be forming a disorderly queue all the way to the harbour.’ Logan’s expression was serious. ‘Tell them the truth about yourself, Con. It will help them understand you.’

‘I don’t need them to understand me. That’s always been the difference between us. You are a nice guy. I’m not. You care about them. I don’t.’

‘So why are you here?’

‘Not out of love for the islanders, that’s for sure. And I’m here because …’ Conner shrugged ‘… you rang me. I came. Let’s leave it at that.’ He didn’t want to think about the rest of it. Not yet. He frowned, his attention caught by one of the photographs on the wall. ‘Isn’t that little Evanna Duncan? Are you two together?’

‘She’s Evanna MacNeil now,’ Logan’s tone was a shade cooler as he corrected him. ‘I married her a year ago and if you so much as glance in her direction you might just discover that I’m not such a nice guy after all.’

‘Seducing married women has never been on my list of vices.’ Conner turned and looked at his cousin. ‘She always adored you. Children?’

‘Evanna is due in five weeks.’ Logan hesitated. ‘And I have a daughter from a previous marriage. Kirsty. She’s two.’

‘So, you’re a regular family man.’ Conner saw the shadows in Logan’s eyes but he knew better than to ask questions. He had plenty of shadows of his own, dark corners that he kept private.

Logan’s gaze didn’t waver. ‘What about you? Wife? Children?’

‘I’ll assume that wasn’t a serious question.’

‘I was just hoping you had a reason not to wreak havoc across the female population of Glenmore over the summer. Just don’t touch the patients, it’s strictly frowned on and definitely against the rules.’ Logan rose to his feet. ‘Use the consulting room across the corridor. Do you want to shave or change before you start?’

‘And ruin the opportunity to shock everyone? I don’t think so. I’ll stay as I am.’

‘I’ve just broken the news of your arrival to Janet, our receptionist. She’s already lined up some patients. Is there anything you need to know before you start?’