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
