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‘A new nurse?’ There was a wistful note to Zoe’s voice. ‘Well, I know Nurse Evanna needs the help. So what’s this new nurse like? Is she young?’
‘She’s coming with her teenage daughter.’ Why had Evanna wanted him to meet her? That question played on his mind as he watched the ferry dock. It could have been an innocent request, but he also knew that his colleague was obsessed with matching people up. She wanted a happy ending.
Ryan felt the tension spread across his shoulders. He knew life didn’t often offer up happy endings.
Zoe’s face brightened. ‘If she has a teenage daughter, she must be forty at least. Maybe even older.’ She dismissed the competition. ‘Well, the ferry is on time, so you’re about to meet your nurse.’
Shaking the sleep out of his brain, Ryan watched as a patchwork of people flowed off the ferry. Businessmen in suits, families clutching bulging beach bags, toddlers in pushchairs. A slightly overweight, middle-aged woman puffed her way towards him carrying a suitcase.
He didn’t know whether to be relieved that Evanna clearly hadn’t been matchmaking or disappointed that their new practice nurse didn’t look fit enough to work a hard day at the surgery. ‘Jennifer?’ He extended a hand. ‘I’m Dr McKinley. Ryan McKinley. Welcome to Glenmore Island.’
The woman looked startled. ‘Thank you, but I’m Caroline, not Jennifer. I’m just here for a week with my husband.’ She glanced over her shoulder towards a sweating, balding man, who was struggling with a beach umbrella and an assortment of bags, one of which popped open, spilling the contents onto the quay.
‘Oops. Let me help you—’ A slim girl put down her own suitcase, stepped forward and deftly rescued the contents of the bag, her pink mouth curving into a friendly smile as she stuffed everything back inside and snapped the bag firmly shut.
Ryan’s gaze lingered on that mouth for a full five seconds before shifting to her snaky dark curls. The clip at the back of her head suggested that at one time her hair had been fastened, but it had obviously made an escape bid during the ferry journey and was now tumbling unrestrained around her narrow shoulders. She was pale, and there were dark rings under her eyes—as if she hadn’t had a decent sleep in months. As if life had closed its jaws and taken a bite out of her.
He recognised the look because for months he’d seen it in his own reflection when he’d looked in the mirror.
Or maybe he was imagining things. Plenty of people looked tired when they first arrived on the island. It took time to relax and unwind, but by the time they caught the ferry back to the mainland they had colour in their cheeks and the dark circles had gone.
Doubtless this girl had worked all winter in some grey, smog-filled city, saving up her holiday for a couple of bracing weeks on a remote Scottish island.
Eyeing the jumper looped around her shoulders, Ryan realised that she obviously knew that summer weather on Glenmore could be unpredictable.
He watched her for a full minute, surprised by the kindness she showed to a stranger. With no fuss, she helped rearrange his possessions into a manageable load, making small talk about the problems of packing for a holiday in a destination where the weather was unpredictable.
Having helped the couple, the girl stood for a moment, just breathing in the sea air, as if she hadn’t stood still for ages while the man and his wife carted themselves and their luggage towards the two island taxis.
‘The brochures promise you a welcome,’ the woman panted, her voice carrying across the quay, ‘but I didn’t imagine that the island doctor would meet everyone personally. He even shook my hand! That is good service.’
A faint smile on his lips, Ryan watched them pile into a taxi. Then he stared at the ferry, resisting the temptation to take another look at the girl. He hoped the nurse and her daughter hadn’t missed the boat.
A hand touched his arm. ‘Did I hear you say that you’re Dr McKinley?’ The girl with the tumbling black hair was beside him, cases by her feet, her voice smoky soft and her eyes sharp and intelligent. ‘I’m Jenna.’
Ryan looked into her eyes and thought of the sea. Shades of aquamarine, green and blue blended into a shade that was uniquely hers. He opened his mouth and closed it again—tried to look away and found that he couldn’t. So he just carried on staring, and he saw something blossom in the depths of those eyes. Awareness. A connection. As if each recognised something in the other.
Something gripped him hard—something he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Shocked by the chemistry, Ryan inhaled sharply and prepared himself to put up barriers, but she got there first.
Panic flickered across her face and she took a step backwards, clearly rejecting what had happened between them.
And that was fine with him, because he was rejecting it too.
He didn’t even know why she’d introduced herself. Was every passenger going to shake his hand this morning?
Ryan knew he needed to say something casual and dismissive, but his eyes were fixed on the sweet lines of her profile and his tongue seemed to be stuck to the roof of his mouth.
She wasn’t a girl, he realised. She was a woman. A young woman.
Mid-twenties?
And she looked bone tired—as if she was ready to collapse into a big comfortable bed and sleep for a month.
‘Sorry. I must have misheard—’ Flustered, she adjusted the bag that hung from her shoulder. ‘I thought I heard you say that you’re Dr McKinley.’
‘I did.’
‘Oh.’ Her tone suggested that news was unwelcome. Then she stuck out her hand. ‘Right, well, I’m Jennifer Richards. Jenna.’ She left her hand hovering in the space between them for a moment, and then slowly withdrew it as he simply stared at her. ‘What’s wrong? Have I arrived on the wrong day? You look a bit…stunned to see me.’
Jennifer Richards? Stunned didn’t begin to describe his reaction. Ryan cleared his throat and shook her hand, noticing that her fingers were slim and cool. ‘Right day.’ Wrong description. ‘It’s just that—my partner fed me false information. I was expecting a woman and her teenage daughter.’ Someone about twenty years older. Someone who wasn’t going to make his hormones surge.
‘Ah—’ She glanced towards the ferry, her smile tired. ‘Well, I’m the woman, but the teenage daughter is still on the boat, I’m afraid. That’s her, hanging over the side glaring at me. She’s refusing to get off, and I’m still trying to decide how best to handle this particular situation without ruining my reputation before I even take my first clinic. I don’t suppose you have any experience in handling moody teenagers, Dr McKinley?’
He cleared his throat. ‘None.’
‘Shame.’ Her tone was a mixture of humour and weary acceptance. ‘This is one of those occasions when I need to refer to my handbook on teenagers. Stupidly, I packed it at the bottom of the suitcase. Next time it’s going in my handbag and if necessary I’ll ditch my purse. I apologise for her lack of manners.’ She flushed self-consciously and looked away. ‘You’re staring at me, Dr McKinley. You’re thinking I should have better control over my child.’
Yes, he was staring. Of course he was staring.
All the men on Glenmore were going to be staring.
Ryan realised that she was waiting for him to say something. ‘I’m thinking you can’t possibly be old enough to be that girl’s mother. Is she adopted?’ Damn. That wasn’t what he’d meant to say.
‘No, she’s all mine. I have sole responsibility for the behavioural problems. But it’s refreshing to hear I don’t look old enough. According to Lexi, I’m a dinosaur. And she’s probably right. I certainly feel past it—particularly right now, when I’m going to have to get firm with her in public. Oh, joy.’ The wind flipped a strand of hair across her face and she anchored it with her fingers. ‘You’re still staring, Dr McKinley. I’m sorry I’m not what you were expecting.’
So was he.
He wasn’t ready to feel this. Wasn’t sure he wanted to feel this.
Mistrusting his emotions, Ryan ran a hand over his neck, wondering what had happened to his powers of speech. ‘You must have been a child bride. Either that or you have shares in Botox.’
‘Child bride.’ There was a wistful note to her voice, and something else that he couldn’t decipher. And then she lifted her eyebrows as the girl flounced off the ferry. ‘Well, that’s a first. She’s doing something I want her to do without a row. I wonder what made her co-operate. Lexi—’ she lifted her voice slightly ‘—come and meet Dr McKinley.’
A slender, moody teenager stomped towards them.
Ryan, who had never had any trouble with numbers, couldn’t work out how the girl in front of him could be this woman’s daughter. ‘Hi, there. Nice to meet you.’
Eyes exactly like her mother’s stared back at him. ‘Are you the one who gave my mum this job? You don’t look like anything like a doctor.’
Ryan wanted to say that Jenna didn’t look like the mother of a teenager, but he didn’t. ‘That’s because I didn’t have time to shave before I met the ferry.’ He rubbed his fingers over his roughened jaw. ‘I am a doctor. But I didn’t give your mother the job—that was my colleague, Dr McNeil.’
‘Well, whatever you do, don’t put her in charge of family planning. As you can probably tell from looking at me, contraception is so not her specialist subject.’
‘Lexi!’ Jenna sounded mortified and the girl flushed.
‘Sorry. It’s just—oh, never mind. Being in this place is really doing my head in.’ Close to tears, the teenager flipped her hair away from her face and stared across the quay. ‘Is there an internet café or something? Any way of contacting the outside world? Or are we using Morse code and smoke signals? Or, better still, can we just go home, Mum?’
Ryan was still watching Jenna. He saw the pain in her eyes, the exasperation and the sheer grit and determination. She looked like someone who was fighting her way through a storm, knowing that there was no shelter.
Interesting, he mused, that Glenmore so often provided a bolthole for the wounded.
He wondered what these two were escaping.
Sensing that Jenna was hideously embarrassed, he knew he ought to say something—but what did he know about handling teenagers? Nothing. And he knew even less about what to say to soften the blow of teenage rudeness. Assuming that something along the lines of she’ll be leaving home in another four years wouldn’t go down well, Ryan opted to keep his mouth shut.
He’d never raised a child, had he?
Never been given that option. Anger thudded through him and he stilled, acknowledging that the feelings hadn’t gone away. He’d buried them, but they were still there.
Taking an audible breath, Jenna picked up their bags. ‘We’re renting a cottage at West Beach. Is there a bus that goes that way?’
‘No bus. There are taxis, but before you think about that I have a favour to ask.’
‘What favour can I possibly do you already?’
Ryan gently prised the suitcases from her cold fingers, sensing the vulnerability hidden beneath layers of poise and dignity. ‘I know you’re not supposed to officially start until tomorrow, but we’re snowed under at the surgery. I’m supposed to exert my charm to persuade you to start early, only I was up three times in the night so I’m not feeling that charming. I’d appreciate it if you’d cut me some slack and say yes.’
‘You do house-calls?’
‘Is that surprising?’
‘The doctors I worked with rarely did their own house-calls. It was the one thing—’ She broke off and smiled at him, obviously deciding that she’d said too much.
‘On Glenmore we can’t delegate. We don’t have an out-of-hours service or a local hospital—it’s just the three of us.’ He looked at her pointedly. ‘Four now. You’re one of the team.’ And he still wasn’t sure what he thought about that.
‘Are you sure you still want me? You’re sure you don’t want to rethink my appointment after what Lexi just said?’ Her tone was light, but there was vulnerability in her eyes that told him she was worrying about her daughter’s comments.
Ryan was surprised that she was so sensitive to what others might be thinking. Out of the blue, his mind drifted to Connie. Connie hadn’t given a damn what other people thought. She’d been so monumentally selfish and self-absorbed that it had driven him mad.
‘Your qualifications are really impressive. We’re delighted to have you here. And the sooner you can start the better.’
‘I spoke to Evanna McNeil on the phone.’ She turned her head and checked on her daughter. ‘She’s arranged for us to pick up the keys to the cottage this morning. I was going to spend the day settling in and start work tomorrow.’
‘The cottage isn’t far from here. And I know you were supposed to have today to settle in, but if there is any way I can persuade you to start work this morning that would be fantastic. There’s a clinic starting at eight-thirty, and the girl who helps Evanna with the kids is off sick so she has to look after the children. I’d cancel it, but we’re already overrun because we’ve been down a nurse for a few months.’
‘But if the clinic starts at eight-thirty that’s just half an hour from now.’ Jenna glanced at her watch, flustered by his request, working out the implications. ‘I want to help, of course. Normally I’d say yes instantly, but—well, I haven’t made any arrangements for Lexi.’
‘I’m not six, Mum. I’ll stay on my own.’ The girl looked round with a despairing look on her face. ‘I’m hardly likely to get into danger here.’
Ryan had a feeling that the child would be capable of getting into trouble in an empty room, and Jenna was clearly of the same opinion because she looked doubtful.
‘I’m not leaving you on your own until we’ve both settled in and found our feet. It’s going to be OK, Lex.’ Her gaze was fixed on her daughter’s face and Ryan wanted to ask what was going to be OK. What had given her dark rings around her eyes? What was keeping her awake at night?
Why had she taken a job on a remote Scottish Island?
It didn’t take a genius to sense that there was a great deal more going on than was revealed by their spoken communication. And he couldn’t help noticing that no man had followed her off the ferry. If there was a Mr Richards, then he was keeping his distance.
With customary practicality, Ryan searched for a solution. ‘Lexi can come too. The surgery is attached to the house. She can hang out with Evanna and the children. Evanna would be glad of the help, and it will give Lexi a chance to find out something about the island. And I can drive you over to the cottage at lunchtime. I’ll even help you unpack to speed things up.’
‘Mum!’ Lexi spoke through gritted teeth. ‘I’m not spending the morning looking after a couple of babies! I’d rather go to broken pottery camp, or whatever it’s called!’
Ryan struggled to think like a teenager. ‘Evanna has internet access, and the mobile signal is great from her house.’
Lexi gave a wide smile that transformed her face from sullen to stunning. ‘Then what are we waiting for? Lead me to civilisation. Otherwise known as wireless broadband.’
Chapter Two
‘I NORMALLY see Nurse Evanna,’ the old lady said, settling herself into the chair. ‘She knows exactly what to do with my leg.’
Could today get any worse? Feeling mentally exhausted, Jenna scanned the notes on the screen.
Not only did her daughter not want her to be here, the patients didn’t appear to want her either. And doubtless Dr McKinley was also regretting her appointment after that embarrassing scenario on the quay.
And to top it all, having not thought about sex for what seemed like the whole of her twenties, she’d looked into Ryan McKinley’s cool blue eyes and suddenly started thinking about nothing but sex. She’d been so mesmerised by an alien flash of chemistry that she’d almost embarrassed herself.
Jenna cringed at the memory of just how long she’d stared at him. Who was she kidding? She had embarrassed herself. There was no almost about it.
And she’d embarrassed him.
Why else would he have been staring at her?
What must he have thought?
That she was a sad, desperate single mother who hadn’t had sex for a lifetime.
He’d made all those polite noises about her looking too young to have a teenage daughter, but Jenna knew it was nonsense. People said that, didn’t they? People said You don’t look thirty, while secretly thinking you looked closer to forty. She shuddered, appalled at the thought that he might be sitting in his consulting room right now, formulating a strategy for keeping her at a distance. She needed to make sure he knew she didn’t have designs on him—that a relationship with a man was right at the bottom of her wish list.
She was just trying to survive. Rebuild her life.
Knowing she couldn’t afford to think about that now, Jenna concentrated on her patient. ‘I understand that it’s unsettling to have someone new, Mrs Parker, but Evanna has left detailed notes. If you see me doing anything differently, or anything that makes you feel worried, you can tell me.’
‘You’ve a teenage daughter, I hear?’ Mrs Parker dropped her bag onto the floor and slipped off her shoe. Her tights were the colour of stewed tea and twisted slightly around her ankles.
Jenna searched through the choice of dressings available to her, unsure what the surgery stocked. ‘I only stepped off the ferry half an hour ago. Word travels fast.’
‘Hard to have secrets on Glenmore. We’re a close community.’
‘That’s why I chose to come here, Mrs Parker.’ That and the fact she hadn’t had much choice. She helped the woman onto the trolley. ‘And I don’t have any secrets.’
‘Will your husband be joining you later?’
‘I’m no longer married, Mrs Parker.’ Jenna swiftly removed the old dressing, wondering why saying those words made her feel such a failure.
As if to reinforce those feelings, Mrs Parker pressed her lips together in disapproval. ‘I was married for fifty-two years. In those days we sorted out our differences. We didn’t give up.’
Great. Just what she needed. A lecture. Still, she was used to those from her mother. She’d grown up seeing her failings highlighted in neon lights.
‘I admire you, Mrs Parker. I’m just going to check your blood pressure.’
Mrs Parker sniffed her disapproval. ‘I’m here to have the dressing changed.’
‘I know that. And I’ve already picked out what I’m going to use.’ Reminding herself that building relationships was essential to the smooth running of the practice, Jenna was patient. ‘But it’s important to check your blood pressure every six months or so, and I can see from your notes that it hasn’t been done for a while.’
‘I don’t see what my blood pressure has to do with the ulcer on my leg.’
‘Sometimes ulcers can be caused by bad circulation rather than venous problems. I want to do an ankle blood pressure as well as taking it on your arm.’
Mrs Parker relaxed slightly. ‘You obviously know what you’re doing. All right. But I haven’t got all day.’
Jenna checked her blood pressure, reminding herself that she’d always known this move wouldn’t be easy. Not for her, nor Lexi.
‘So you fell pregnant when you were still in school, by the looks of you.’ Mrs Parker’s lips pursed. ‘Still, everyone makes mistakes.’
Jenna carefully recorded the blood pressure readings before she replied. ‘I don’t consider my daughter to be a mistake, Mrs Parker.’
There was a moment of silence and then the old lady gave a chuckle. ‘Capable of standing up for yourself, are you? I like that. You’re obviously a bright girl. Why have you moved all the way up here? You could be in some leading city practice. Or are you running away?’
Jenna sensed that whatever she told this woman would be all over the island by lunchtime, so she delivered an edited version of the truth. ‘My marriage ended. I needed a change. And this place has a good reputation. Logan McNeil has built a good practice.’ She didn’t add that she would have taken the job regardless, because it was as far from Clive and her parents as it was possible to get without leaving the country.
‘Logan is a good doctor. So’s Ryan McKinley, of course. But we all know he won’t be around for long. He’s a real high-flier. Used to work as one of those emergency doctors.’
Emergency doctor?
Confused, Jenna paused. ‘How long has he lived here?’
‘Came here two years ago and bought the old abandoned lighthouse that Ewan Kinaird had given up hope of selling. Too isolated for everyone. But not for Dr McKinley. Apparently isolation was what he wanted, and he paid a fair price for it. Didn’t see him for most of that first year. Turned up occasionally in the village to buy supplies. Kept himself to himself. Never smiled. Some thought he was antisocial. Others thought he was recovering from some trauma or other. Certainly looked grim-faced whenever I glimpsed him.’
Jenna felt guilty for listening. Part of her wanted to cover her ears but she didn’t want to be rude. And she was intrigued by Ryan McKinley. When she’d met him he hadn’t seemed antisocial. Nor had he shown signs of trauma. He’d talked. Smiled. But she knew a smile often hid a secret. ‘So how does he come to be working as a GP?’
‘That was Evanna’s doing. Won’t let anyone be, that girl—especially not if they’re in trouble. She coaxed him into helping out after the last locum left them in the lurch. She had baby Charlie, and Logan was managing the practice on his own. When he was needed, Ryan stepped up. But we all know he won’t stick. He’ll be off to some high-flying job before the tide has turned.’ Mrs Parker took a closer look at her leg. ‘What’s your professional opinion of this, then?’
‘I’m just taking a look now.’ Jenna wondered what trauma had made a doctor qualified in emergency medicine buy a secluded lighthouse on an isolated island. ‘How did you find out he was a doctor?’
‘Oh, he kept it quiet.’ Mrs Parker peered at her leg. ‘But Fiona Grange crashed her car into a ditch in the middle of a storm and he happened to be passing when it happened. Some say he’s the reason she’s alive. Bones smashed, she was unconscious, and the air ambulance couldn’t take off. And there was Dr McKinley, cool as a Glenmore winter, stopping the bleeding, extracting her from the car—shocked everyone, he did. Went from hermit to hero in the blink of an eye. But there was no hiding his profession after that. And he’s been a good doctor, although he’s private. Keeps himself to himself. Some think he’s unfriendly. A bit cold.’
Unfriendly? Jenna thought about the man who had met her at the quay. He hadn’t been unfriendly. Tired, definitely. Guarded, maybe. She would have described him as cool, but not cold.
‘I’m going to take a proper look at your leg now.’ Trying not to think about Ryan McKinley, Jenna washed her hands and opened the dressing pack. ‘Your blood pressure is fine. How long have you had this problem, Mrs Parker?’
‘I had it last summer and it went away. But then it came back.’
‘Did you wear your compression stockings?’ She glanced down at the tan stockings that had been placed neatly on the chair.
‘Not as much as I’m supposed to.’
‘They’re not that comfortable, I know.’ Jenna cleaned the wound and dressed it. ‘That does look sore, you poor thing. Are you in a lot of pain?’
Mrs Parker relaxed slightly. ‘I’m old. I’m always in pain. My bones ache every morning. The Glenmore winter is bitter. Like having your leg in the jaws of a shark.’
‘I’ve only ever been here in the summer. My grandparents used to bring me. Tell me if this feels too tight.’ Jenna bandaged the leg, applying most pressure to the ankle and gradually less towards the knee and thigh. ‘Try and keep your leg up before you come and have that dressing changed next week. Have you tried putting a couple of pillows under your mattress? The aim is to let gravity pull the fluid and blood towards the heart. It will reduce the swelling. Can you move your ankle?’