her go. But he knew that was just the trickery of memory and the body’s craving for familiar things. They’d split two years ago, with Elly accusing him of letting her leave and him furious that she wouldn’t stay. Now so much had changed in his life that craving for the past was pointless.
Craving for any woman was pointless because after what he’d been through with Jenna he was keeping his very complicated life as simple as possible. Work and the children consumed every waking hour and a good part of the night, and he had no energy left for anything else.
Her dainty sandals clacked against the gravel as they walked toward the hospital. ‘I live here, Gabe. You might recall that moving out of the inner city was something I talked about.’ Emerald-green eyes hit him with a bone-weary look. ‘It wasn’t something that you wanted so it makes more sense for me to be the one asking what a guy like you is doing in a tiny town like Midden Cove. I thought your plan included trekking in Nepal and base jumping in Norway.’
He recognised the hurt in her eyes, hurt he’d help put there and she’d cemented in. ‘I did the base jump but I haven’t got to Nepal.’
Her chestnut brows rose. ‘You’ve had two years, Gabe. What have you been doing? It’s not like you to let the grass grow under your feet.’
Jenna’s blank face swam before his eyes and he had to work hard not to flinch. Just keep it light.
‘Oh, you know me, I go with the flow and it hasn’t taken me to Nepal yet, but one day it will.’ Knowing that in the past Elly had often lost her train of thought when he’d smiled at her, he gave her a full-wattage beam in a desperate attempt to derail her.
She didn’t even blink. ‘But the flow has brought you here?’
Hell, this was going to be harder than he’d thought. He refused to talk about the real reason he was in Midden Cove, not yet anyway, but he knew he had to give her something so the questions would stop. ‘There’s great sea kayaking around the peninsula.’
‘Isn’t that a bit tame compared with base jumping?’ Her usually open and friendly demeanour had a distinct chill.
He opened the door to A and E and forced himself to lean back as she passed through before him. ‘Not when there’s a sou-wester blowing. But mostly I’m in town because my parents recently retired down here and I’m visiting them.’
‘James and Cathleen Lewis are your parents?’
Her eyes widened to rippling pools of green that called to him, tempting him to dive in deep and become part of her. You moron. Haven’t you learned anything in two years? Desire like this will only cause you more heartache.
A barbed arrow of reality plunged in deeply. Hell, she knew his parents! He silently dammed small towns and hoped against hope his mother hadn’t shown Elly her wallet photos of the children. ‘Yep, that’s Mum and Dad. ‘ He worked on keeping his tone casual. ‘Are they patients of yours?’
She shook her head, her knuckles whitening on the edges of her white coat. ‘No, but if they need medical care in the next few weeks then they’ll see me as I’m the only doctor in town at the moment. I’ve met them briefly at a Coast-Care meeting but I didn’t make the connection with you.’
A breath of relief rushed out. He wanted to be the person who told her about the children. He owed her that but blurting it out on their first meeting wasn’t the way to go. ‘There’s no reason for you to connect them with me. As you say, me and small towns are not exactly a match, and when we were dating they were living in Hong Kong.’ Words tumbled over each other and he worked on slowing them down to his usual laid-back speed. ‘Dad’s decided he wants to be surrounded by vast tracks of space. I give him a year and he’ll be chomping at the bit to head back to the mainland.’
‘You might be surprised. Midden Cove has a way of getting into your blood. ‘ She tucked her chin-length hair behind her ear.
A snag of something akin to disappointment slugged him. He’d always loved her long, soft locks. Loved burying his face and hands in their silky length and breathing in their rich vanilla scent. ‘You changed your hair.’
The corner of her mouth lifted, the action resigned. ‘I changed a lot of things, Gabe. Some changes were forced on me and some I chose myself.’
Old hurt rumbled through him at her choice to leave him. Almost two years ago they’d both been immovable about what they wanted and unfortunately those wants had been poles apart. ‘Fair enough.’
She scrawled her signature across Will’s paperwork and then slipped off her white coat, exposing lightly tanned shoulders.
His gaze immediately drifted lower to the bead-adorned neckline and the hint of creamy soft breasts that nestled underneath. Breasts he’d once considered his. Blood pounded directly to his groin as memories of long afternoons spent exploring every centimetre of her body rushed back with an intensity that shocked him. His libido had been AWOL for months and this was a seriously inconvenient time for it to return.
Picking up her evening bag, she spoke brusquely. ‘You can drop me home now.’
He stifled a groan and tried to pull his recalcitrant body back together. The offer to drive her home had been spontaneously made the moment he’d laid eyes on the up-tight bloke who’d called her Eleanor. Now, the idea of sitting in the close confines of his car with Elly seemed too much like a temptation he’d have to work hard to resist. ‘Sure. Let’s go.’
He fished his keys out of his pocket and they walked silently into the now-inky night. He looked up and stopped. The Southern Cross hung low, and the Milky Way wove through the sky like a carpet of dazzling crystals. ‘This sky is amazing.’
Elly shrugged as if it was no big deal. ‘The moonshine’s masking most of it but if you hang around long enough it will fade and you might even see the aurora australis.’
‘The southern lights? You can see them from here?’
‘Sure. Midden Cove is one of the best places.’ She left him staring at the sky and opened the car door, settling herself in the passenger seat.
His body went rigid and he starting walking again, this time very quickly. Hell, how had he forgotten about the car? He hauled open his door, thankful he’d turned out the interior light after too many flat batteries, and hoped she wouldn’t glance into the back seat where the moonlight silhouetted the children’s car seats.
He slid into the leather seat and pressed the ignition button. ‘So where’s your place?’ Perhaps she’d invite him in and then he’d tell her about the children.
‘Turn right and take the second left. ‘ The metal of her seat belt clanged against the plastic lock as she tried to find the clasp.
‘Here, let me.’ He leaned over and her hair brushed his cheek as he snapped the buckle into place. The infusion of berries and the beach filled his nostrils and he hated the way he found himself breathing more deeply.
‘I can’t believe you parted with the Porsche.’
He felt her intense gaze on him as he steered the vehicle out of the car park. ‘It’s tucked up in the garage in South Yarra. This four-wheel drive is good for getting up to the out-of-the-way places for hang gliding. ‘ True, but it’s not the reason you bought it.
She
