call to look forward to, and no good reason to be up earlier than necessary.
Not that she could talk to her mother about the main thing on her mind—Dr. Cam MacRurie, who’d cost her sleep and had her mind and body in a tailspin. While her mother was no prude, Harmony knew the fact that her daughter seemed to be going ga-ga over a man she’d literally just met wouldn’t sit well with Delilah Kinkaid.
Heck, it didn’t sit well with Harmony either, but she couldn’t get the darn man out of her head.
Tossing and turning half the night, thinking about Cam, had left her frustrated and testy, wishing she could stay in the apartment all day and not have to face him. However, there were tasks that needed to be done in the surgery, and despite Cam telling her there was no rush she preferred to be ahead of the game, rather than stressing when a deadline loomed and she was unprepared.
Having showered and had some oatmeal, she went downstairs to the surgery and was surprised to see, through the front window, a crowd of people on the village green.
Going closer, to look out through the glass, she realized there was more than just people. There were a couple of pieces of what appeared to be farm equipment, some open-back vans, and lots of ladders, loaded pallets, coils of rope and large wooden boxes.
Harmony blinked a few times, trying to figure out if she was seeing things. There were only two hundred and fifty people on the island, give or take, and it appeared that all of them, probably plus a few more, were milling about on the green.
“What are they…?”
She almost had her nose pressed to the glass, trying to see what was happening. In the midst of it all was a figure in a Santa hat she was almost sure was Dora, who was gesticulating this way and that like a conductor on a podium.
Another figure broke from the group and came toward the surgery, and Harmony hurriedly scooted back to her desk.
She’d met the man in the pub—Broderick Thompson—and wasn’t sure she liked him very much. He was a smooth talker, a little too full of himself for her liking, and his light gray eyes had seemed to be undressing her rather than holding her gaze.
Hopefully he wasn’t on his way to the surgery, but if he was she’d rather present an air of professionalism rather than be caught gawking out of the window.
Sure enough, the door to the entryway opened a few seconds later, and the man who was the gallery owner came in, sleek smile in place, sandy blond hair ruffled by the wind, exposing his scalp.
“Harmony, beautiful lady! I saw the lights come on and came over to ask if you’d be joining us.”
“I’m afraid not, Mr. Thompson,” she replied, not returning his smile. “I have work to do.”
His eyes took a break away from crawling all over her chest to glance around the empty waiting room. When he looked back at her his eyebrows were raised in exaggerated surprise.
“I can see how busy you are. So busy that I guess you wouldn’t have time for a coffee with me? But I know the surgery doesn’t officially open until nine, and Lalli’s has opened early for the workers, so I’m sure you can spare a few minutes.”
“No, I actually don’t have the time.”
She made no effort to soften the refusal, and she thought his eyes hardened, although his smile stayed in place. Unfortunately, instead of leaving, as she’d hoped, he actually had the temerity to come over and plunk his skinny bum on the corner of her desk.
“Come on, now. All work and no play makes for a less than harmonious life.”
Harmony just barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes at his heavy-handed banter. “I really have to get on with my job, Mr. Thompson. Was there anything else you wanted?”
He leaned forward, almost in her space, but Harmony held her ground, clenching her teeth as his gaze dropped to the front of her shirt again.
“Well…”
He let the word trail off suggestively, and Harmony narrowed her eyes. If this twit thought she was going to put up with any of his nonsense let him try her! She was ready.
“Broderick. Not lending a hand outside?”
Cam had come in through the back so quietly neither of them heard him. Harmony jumped with surprise, and when a wave of embarrassed heat rose in her chest she berated herself for it.
She wasn’t doing anything wrong.
Broderick Thompson got up and stretched. “Just came in for the First Aid kit. Dora sent me.”
Lying creep, Harmony thought, furious enough to want to smack him over the head with the kit once she’d fetched it from the store room. Instead she placed it on the desk, doing her best not to glare.
He picked it up, and gave her another of his smarmy smiles.
“So, what time for coffee later?”
Behind her she heard Cam’s office door open, but his footsteps stopped. She knew he was listening, and the thought of him believing she’d go out with Broderick Thompson made her more curt than perhaps she should be.
“I already told you no, Mr. Thompson, and I tried to be polite about it too. If you’d prefer I be rude, ask again.”
Broderick’s cheeks reddened, but to his credit he just shook his head as he picked up the kit and said, “Can’t blame a chap for trying. See you both later.”
She restrained the urge to make a rude noise as the door closed behind her, but it was hard not to kiss her teeth. Very aware of Cam, still standing by his door, she reached for the supply list on her desk, intent getting on with the audit she’d put at the top of her day’s to-do list. He’d explained that he usually put in a big order for a number of medical necessities just before the festival, in case they were needed, but much of it lasted the rest of the year.
“Whoa,” he said, and the amusement in his voice made her want to blush all over again. “Remind me not to rile you up.”
With her nose in the air she swept past him, on her way to the medical stores.
“I think it’s be almost inevitable that you will at some point,” she retorted, before she could stop herself.
The sound of his laughter smoothed the last of her ruffled feathers and she found herself smiling too as she set to work.
Cam was still chuckling to himself as he sat at his desk to switch on his computer.
Originally he’d come down to see if the noise of the arriving equipment had woken Harmony, and to tell her to take part of the afternoon off since she’d started so early. He truly loved this time of year, despite the stress of putting on the festival, but his excitement had shriveled on finding Broderick Thompson leaning close to Harmony, as though about to kiss her.
Her guilty start when he’d spoken had made the rest of his good humor flee, but hearing her give the other man that set-down had restored it. Clearly
