don’t think I’ve not noticed.’
Her cheeks were flooded with colour. ‘Noticed what?’ she snapped.
‘That there’s information missing from his medical file. What does your boyfriend have to hide?’
‘Stop calling him that. He’s not my boyfriend. Hasn’t been for more than seven years. It might have escaped your notice but he’s actually engaged to someone else. There’s absolutely nothing between us.’ She was getting angrier and angrier as she spoke. The colour was rushing up her face to the tips of her ears. He’d forgotten how mad she could get about things. Particularly when something mattered to her.
He lifted up the nearest folder. It took both hands. ‘Look at this one.’
She frowned and placed her hands on her hips. ‘Who does that belong to?’
‘Diamond Dazzle. Model. Grand old age of twenty-two and look at the size of her medical records. I know every blood test, every X-ray and every piece of plastic surgery and Botox she’s ever had. This one?’ He held up Darius’s records. Paper-thin. ‘I know that Darius had an appendectomy at age eight. That’s it.’
She folded her arms across her chest. ‘And that’s all you need to know. I know the rest.’
‘No physician works like that, Rach.’
‘You work like that every day, Nathan. You rarely know the history of the people who turn up in A & E, and I imagine on your missions you must have had patients from everywhere. They didn’t come with medical files.’
He stood up. She was annoying every part of him now. It didn’t matter that the angrier and more stubborn she got—the more her jaw was set—the more sensations sparked around his body. Rachel had always had this effect on him. He’d just expected it would have disappeared over time and with a whole host of bad memories. The rush of blood around his system was definitely unwelcome. ‘So, you’re going to look after one patient and I’ll look after eight? Is that how we’re going to work things?’
She shook her head fiercely, her eyes flashing. Rachel had always hated it when someone suggested she didn’t pull her weight. After all these years he still knew what buttons to press.
‘No, Nathan. I’ll look after all the patients—just like you will—if required.’
But Nathan wouldn’t be beaten. Not after all these years. He folded his own arms across his chest and matched Rachel’s stance. He couldn’t help but smile. It was like a stand-off. ‘Well, I don’t think I can do that if I don’t have all the facts about the patient.’
The colour of her face practically matched her T-shirt now and he could see tiny beads of sweat on her brow. It was unquestionably hot on the island. But he was quite sure that wasn’t why Rachel Johnson was sweating.
She shifted her feet. It was unusual to see her in khaki shorts, thick socks and heavy boots. She’d obviously been warned about the island paths. Rachel had spent her time as a student and junior doctor dressed smartly. Always in dresses and heels. This was a whole new look for her. Maybe her time in Australia had changed her outlook on life?
‘Of course you can, Nathan. Stop being difficult. Three weeks. I can tell you’ll be scoring off the days on the calendar just like I will.’
She turned to walk away. And it surprised him just how much he actually didn’t want her to. If you’d asked him if he wanted to come face to face with Rachel Johnson again he’d have said, Not in this lifetime. But reality was sometimes stranger than fiction.
She stopped at the door. ‘How’s Charlie?’
The question caught him off guard and his answer was an automatic response. ‘Charlie’s fine. Not that you would care.’
She sighed. ‘That’s not fair, Nathan, and you know it.’
He shrugged. ‘Why? You didn’t want to hang around when I had to look after my little brother for a couple of years. Why bother now?’
She shook her head. He could see her biting her lip. She probably couldn’t find the words for why she’d run out on them both. ‘I always loved Charlie. He was great. Did he finish university?’ A thought must have flickered across her mind. ‘How was he when you were away?’
‘Charlie was fine. He finished his engineering degree and got a job before I left for my last mission. He’s married now with two young children.’
She gave a little nod of her head. ‘Glad to hear it. Tell him I’m asking for him.’
She walked out of the door, letting it slam behind her. Nathan picked up the bottle of water on the table and downed it in one, wishing it was a beer. No matter how he tried to avoid it, his eyes had settled on her backside and legs as she’d walked out of the door. Eight years on and Rachel Johnson was as hot as ever.
And eight years later she still drove him crazy.
I always loved Charlie. The words echoed in his mind. ‘Just as well you loved one of us,’ he muttered.
She’d thought the cabin was hot but outside was even hotter and the high humidity was making the sweat trickle down her back already, probably turning her hair into a frizz bomb.
She stopped for a second to catch her breath, leaning against the metal bodywork and hoping to feel a little of the coolness on her body.
Trapped on an island with two exes. You couldn’t make this up.
A little wave of nausea rolled over her. Nathan Banks. Eight years had done nothing to diminish the impact of seeing him again. Her hands were trembling and every hair on her arms stood on end. She’d never expected to come face-to-face with him again.
His blond hair was a little shorter. His build a bit more muscular. But his eyes were still the neon green they’d always been. They could stop any girl in her tracks—just like they’d done to her.
They were supposed to be continents apart. What on earth was he doing in Australia? She knew he’d spent five years working for Doctors Without Borders. He was still friends with a lot of the people they’d trained with. And even though she’d pretended not to, she’d spent the last five years searching mutual social media sites with her heart in her mouth, hoping she wouldn’t ever hear bad news about him. That was the trouble with working in humanitarian missions—sometimes they took you into places with armed conflict.
Trouble was, five minutes in Nathan’s company could make her mad. No one else in her life had ever managed to spark that kind of reaction from her. But there was just something about Nathan and her alone in a room together. Sparks always flew. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad.
It was clear he still hadn’t forgiven her for leaving. She couldn’t blame him. But if she’d told him why she was really leaving he would have put his life—and Charlie’s—on hold for her. She hadn’t wanted that—she couldn’t do that to them. They’d just lost their parents; they’d needed to focus on each other.
And if she told him now why she’d left, she would be betraying Darius’s trust. Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
She stared out at the perfect
