Second Chance With Her Island Doc

‘Best rooms...’

‘I told you, skeleton staff, minuscule budget, that’s what we have. But certainly I’m happy for you to go. We started you on antibiotics last night. You can go as soon as the script’s filled. Continue them for the full course—there are bats in those underground vaults and they carry infection. I can’t imagine what Victoir was about, taking you down there without protective gear.’

‘He was proving the place was unsafe.’ There were a hundred other things she could have said but she couldn’t get her tongue around any of them.

‘It is unsafe. Obviously. But not if you know what you’re doing.’

‘You’ve been down there?’

‘I’d imagine every adventurous child living within a couple of miles of the castle has been down there.’

‘Bats or not?’

‘They add to the challenge.’

‘Surely my cousin didn’t let kids into the castle.’

‘There are entrances from outside the castle walls. No one’s ever blocked them off. Your cousin and your uncle and your grandfather before him didn’t give a toss what went on under the castle, as long as no one bothered their secluded, indolent lives. Let’s get your head checked and get you out of here.’

‘So I can start my secluded, indolent life?’

He sighed. ‘Anna, I have no idea what you intend. I’ve heard Victoir plans to turn the castle into luxury apartments, with its own internal helipad. An oasis for the super-rich from other countries. With its location, with the Mediterranean right under the battlements, with the right design and your money behind it, such a place could be a celebrity magnet. He hired architects years ago, trying to persuade your cousin that it wouldn’t intrude on his privacy. One of those architects left his plans in a local cab and the driver had them broadcast all over the country in minutes. It came to nothing, though. Your cousin wouldn’t have seen anything in it for him, and that was all that interested him. Now, your head...’

‘So he urgently wants the underground closed off because...’

‘It wouldn’t do to let it get out that the proposed idyllic retreat can be broached by twelve-year-olds.’ He was right by her bed now, too close for comfort, but then anywhere in this tiny room was too close for comfort. ‘Your head, Anna. I’m here to examine you, not talk about plans that have nothing to do with me.’

That shut her up.

He checked her head, not disturbing the dressing over the gash but simply noting the extent of bruising. He checked her eyes, her vision, and then retreated to the end of the bed to read the obs chart. Time for discussion was over.

‘Headache?’ he asked as he finished reading.

‘Only when I laugh, and when you’re here I find it difficult to even smile.’

He didn’t respond.

‘Any dizziness?’

‘When I stand up fast but that’s to be expected.’

He nodded. ‘Take it easy for a few days, then. Do what Victoir suggests. Go lie in your castle and enjoy your view.’

Oh, enough. She pushed herself to her feet and glared. ‘That’s mean. What have I ever done to you, Leo Aretino, to make you act like I’m something the cat dragged in?’

‘That’s an exaggeration.’

‘It’s not. What have I done?’

‘You haven’t done anything.’

‘Once upon a time you asked me to marry you.’

‘That was a long time ago.’ He closed his eyes—remembering?—and when he opened them there was a hint of softness there. Regret? ‘We all do stupid things when we’re young. Proposing to someone you barely know might count as one of them.’

‘You did know me, though. You slept with me for—’

‘I don’t want to go there. It’s history.’

‘Which is affecting how you’re treating me right now.’

‘I’d be treating you the same if we hadn’t slept together.’

‘That’s a lie and you know it. I watched you train as a doctor. I’ve seen you with patients. You’re caring and kind, and last night you couldn’t stop yourself moving in for a hug. Now I’m not going to be a patient any more, you’re back to cold and sarcastic and all the things you suddenly became the moment you learned who my mother was.’

‘Anna...’

‘You owe it to me, Leo,’ she said, calmly now. ‘It’s a question that’s hung over me for years. I know I should have put it aside, but I’ve never understood. I suspect I’ll be spending a bit of time here now, not only in your country but in this town. We may well meet again.’ She took a deep breath, because what she was about to say was a concept so big she was having trouble getting her head around it. ‘I may even be the one who decides on funding for this hospital.’

‘Are you blackmailing me?’ He was suddenly incredulous. ‘What are you saying? Tell me why I didn’t marry you or you’ll cut off our funding?’

Whoa. It was her turn to be angry now.

She’d been confused about Leo for years. They’d had a glorious six months and then nothing. She’d felt hurt, betrayed, sick at heart, but he wouldn’t talk of it. For what had remained of their training, he’d avoided any tutorial she was in. They’d been scrupulously polite when they’d been forced together.

She’d hurt every time she’d looked at him.

She’d been a kid, though, and those feelings should have long gone. She was now an experienced doctor in charge of her world—mostly—and there was no way she was letting this man insult her. Her anger was holding sway but she had herself in hand.

‘Do you think I’d do that? Blackmail?’ Her voice was so quiet that maybe only her dogs would have understood. It was the voice she used when she’d found them with a cornered, injured hedgehog.

Just before they’d decided never to annoy a hedgehog again.

‘It’s nothing to do with me, what you do,’ Leo snapped.

‘If I cut off your hospital funding, of course it’s something to do with you.’ She was having trouble getting the words out. ‘You really think I would?’

‘It’s your right. Heaven knows, we’ve had to fight for what we have. You know you own this building? As landlord—’

‘You think I’d close you down?’

‘You’re a Castlavaran.’

‘So you think ruthlessness is genetic. It’s like the name comes with a money-sucking piggy bank welded to my head.’

‘I know the terms of your inheritance,’ he said wearily. ‘Of your Trust. You have no choice. Money goes into castle maintenance or your comfort. Our funding’s limited to providing provisional medical care for Castlavarans and castle staff. We stretch that as far as we can, to provide for the rest of the island. The Trust’s been in place for hundreds of years, written into the fabric of our constitution. You think we don’t know that you can’t break it?’

‘I know I can’t break it but I’m not about to change things. Your hospital is safe.’

‘That’s great. Thanks very much.’

‘Stop the sarcasm.’ She was getting very close to yelling. ‘So I’m not threatening your hospital but there’s still so much I don’t understand. Ten years ago... Isn’t it about time you told me why you wouldn’t marry me?’

The junior nurse who’d helped her shower appeared at the door. Her eyebrows hit her hairline.

She disappeared, really, really fast.

Uh-oh.

Anna had spent enough time in hospitals to know what she’d just said would be all over the hospital—all over the country!—in minutes. Hospital grapevines were the same the world over.

Maybe she shouldn’t have said it.

But, then, this guy had hurt her. Badly. For ten years she’d needed an explanation and right now she felt strong enough—and angry enough—to demand it.

‘I told you why I couldn’t marry you.’ He raked his fingers through his dark hair, a gesture she remembered. A gesture she could almost feel. She knew what it was like to have those fingers...

Don’t go there.

‘You said there were family problems,’ she threw at him. ‘You said you could never marry a Castlavaran. You said if you did then you couldn’t come home.’

‘Which was the truth.’

‘And I said if the feud’s that bad then we could leave, go to Australia or Canada. I was ready to go anywhere with you, Leo. But you walked away.’

‘I walked back here. To a country that needed me.’

‘So you couldn’t face family hostility. You chose your family over me.’

‘I chose my country over you. I still do.’

‘What, like I’m still available?’

‘I never said that. I never meant—’

‘I don’t have a clue what you meant. You never explained. You just closed down.’ She sighed. ‘Enough. I’m over it or at least I should be. Falling in love with a toe-rag when I was a kid hasn’t defined my life and it won’t define me now. Neither will this inheritance. I have a lovely life back in England. I’ll do what I need to do and go home and let you get on with it.’

‘And let Victoir have his way.’

‘He’s head of the entire castle administration. You think I have any way of figuring out any better plan?’

‘You could try.’

‘And walk away from my life in England?’ She shook her head and the dressing felt suddenly very heavy. ‘Why would I do that? You were asked to change your life when you were nineteen and you made it clear that was impossible. Why should I even contemplate doing the same?’

* * *

So that went well.

Or not.

Leo left Anna’s ward and stood in the corridor, staring at the plain, whitewashed wall in front of him.

Memories of ten years ago were all around him. Of Anna’s white, shocked face as he’d told her he couldn’t marry her. Of her reaction of total betrayal.

But how could he have done better? How could he have explained the contempt and hatred that was felt toward her family? As soon as he’d found out who she was, he’d felt his own dumb adolescent heart break. How to explain that his studies, his time in England, his hopes for his future and the trust his people had put in him, they’d all be destroyed if their relationship went further.

Ten years ago he’d faced a bleak choice. Marry Anna and take her back to Tovahna? Impossible. If her uncle accepted her as part of the family she—and he—would have been incorporated into a family he hated. The community who’d scraped to give him an education would have been betrayed.

And being honest, he had to accept there’d been another problem that had been bone deep. He and his mother had been dependent on charity since his father had died. To marry a Castlavaran and take her home, for her to be accepted as part of the Castlavaran family, and for him to be married to her... It’d be the story of Cinderella turned on its head, and at nineteen, sexist as it was, the idea had made him feel ill.

He’d tried to think of other options. Moving overseas, anywhere where two doctors could make a living without baggage? Cutting all ties to her family and to his island?

He couldn’t do it. As soon as he’d heard her name he’d known he had to turn away.

So now... She was still angry? Maybe she had the right to be.

As he’d grown older he’d realised he should have explained better, but at nineteen, bewildered by the complexity of a love he’d been subsumed by, he’d hardly been able to get words out. To explain to his carefree, joyous Anna the abject poverty of his country, the hurt her family had inflicted on his... Explanations would have achieve nothing, he’d decided. It was better to walk away fast.

‘Leo, I said you should charm the Castlavaran. I didn’t say propose!’ Carla’s voice from the end of the corridor made him start. It was incredulous.

‘What?’

‘Luisa said she heard you talking about marriage!’

What the...? ‘She was mistaken.’ He turned to face her, willing his expression to be bland.

‘She was sure.’

‘We spoke in English. How’s Luisa’s English?’

‘Poor,’ she admitted. ‘But she was adamant marriage was in the mix somewhere. She said you sounded intense. If not marriage... You weren’t being accusatory, were you?’

‘I wasn’t.’ He sighed and decided to be honest. ‘We do have...baggage. Anna and I met at med school when I didn’t know who she was. We were in the same class for six months. I haven’t heard of her for years.’

‘And you didn’t tell us because...’

‘Because, as I said, we have baggage,’ he said, exasperated. ‘We dated. Not for long, but what teenager spreads the word about his love life?’

‘You had a love life with a Castlavaran?’ Carla eyed him with incredulity. But then she winced.

Her wince had him distracted. He wanted to be distracted—he wanted Carla to be distracted—but not like this. ‘Carla, your headache...’

‘It’s nothing.’ She sounded annoyed with herself. ‘It’s almost gone.’

‘Is there anything else wrong?’

‘Apart from too many patients to see? So what’s new?’

There was nothing new. The hospital normally had two fully trained doctors and two nurse-practitioners, nurses trained by Carla and Leo to take over many of their responsibilities. It was all they could manage when the cost of sending people abroad for medical training was prohibitive. But Bruno was on leave because his small son had fallen from a tree and fractured his leg. The little boy was currently undergoing corrective surgery in Italy. Freya was recovering from a filthy bout of the flu that had swept through the town, doubling their workload.

Carla had coped brilliantly during their absence, but for the first time ever Leo thought she looked...fragile?

‘Carla, you look strained. Are you sure it’s just a headache?’

‘Truly, I’m better, but thanks for asking.’ Their friendship went back a long way, and now she reached up and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek. ‘There. A kiss better and I’m done. But a love affair with a Castlavaran? See me astonished. I demand that you take time later to tell me all about it. By the way, you’re scratchy and I still think you should charm her. Teenage romances can be resurrected and if you want to charm our heiress you’d better go and shave.’

‘I know where I’m going,’ he growled. ‘Off to check the morning list.’

‘I didn’t even look,’ she told him. ‘It’s enough to terrify a woman stronger than me. But our heiress—your ex-girlfriend!—is a doctor? Maybe we could ask her to see a few coughs and colds before she goes back to her castle.’

‘A Castlavaran? Treating peasants? In your dreams.’

‘Don’t be so cynical,’ she told him. ‘It isn’t like you, and dreaming doesn’t cost anything. I might just pop in and introduce myself.’

‘You know there’s no time.’

‘There’s no time for anything but medicine in this place,’ Carla said, and suddenly she was deadly serious. ‘But this woman holds our fate in her hands and she needs to be onside. I know what triage is, Dr Aretino, and triage says being nice to the Castlavaran is top of the list, for all our sakes. And you... I’m thinking a shave is the least of it.’

‘Carla...’

‘I know. I need to shut up and see the next patient, like I do all the time.’

The snap was so unlike her that he took her shoulders and forced her to meet his gaze. ‘Carla? What is it? You’re not coming down with the flu, are you?’

‘Of course not,’ she said defensively. ‘It’s just a headache.’

‘How bad?’

‘Nothing a good night’s sleep won’t fix. Or another doctor. This country...this health service... I try to be cheerful but sometimes it gets me down.’

‘It gets us all down but we need to cope with what we have.’

‘Or try and charm a Castlavaran,’ she said grimly. ‘I can but try, even if you won’t. Off you go and start our list, Leo. I’ll talk to the heiress and join you when I’m done.’

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