‘She was travelling and arrived on the island one day. They met. Hit it off. Catherine became pregnant. They got married—and, yes, that was all in the wrong order so don’t start my mother on that topic—and then …’ Kyla broke off and sighed. ‘And then it all went wrong.’
‘And that’s why Logan doesn’t encourage women to have home births?’
‘Can you blame him? Not that Catherine was booked to have a home birth, anyway, but, given what happened, Logan wants every woman safely on the mainland the moment she starts to dilate.’
‘And Evanna disagrees?’
‘Evanna is a midwife. She wants to give every woman the birth experience they want. But she accepts the limitations of living somewhere like this. You can tell yourself that the helicopter can come and fly you out in an emergency, but what if the weather is bad, or there’s been another accident somewhere and they can’t get out to you?’
‘I can understand Logan’s reluctance.’
‘He won’t even consider it, and the women here respect that. To be honest, most of them want the reassurance of giving birth in a consultant-led unit so we don’t get that many requests. I am completely starving. I need to order before I faint.’ She turned and squinted over her shoulder towards the blackboard on the wall. ‘The food here is amazing. See anything you fancy?’
‘Why don’t you choose for both of us? But I ought to warn you that I hate haggis.’
‘That’s because you’re a soft Englishman.’ She caught the eye of Jim, the ferryman, who was downing a pint with one of the local fishermen. He winked at her and she smiled broadly. ‘Have the beef Wellington. It’s amazing.’
‘I feel as though I’m in a goldfish bowl,’ Ethan said mildly. ‘How does anyone ever have a relationship in a place like this? It’s impossible to keep anything private.’
‘The relationship bit is all right,’ Kyla said easily, reaching for her wine. ‘It’s the private bit that presents more of a challenge. You just have to ignore it. And, anyway, we’re not having a relationship. We’re just colleagues, out for a civilised meal.’
His eyes held hers. ‘That’s right. So we are.’
It was impossible to look away. Impossible not to feel the powerful spark of chemistry that drew them together. She saw his mouth tighten and sensed his growing tension. ‘We should order.’
‘Yes.’ He dragged his eyes away from hers and glanced over to the bar. ‘I presume I have to fight my way through the crowd for that pleasure?’
‘Actually, you don’t.’ Ben, the landlord, was standing next to them, a grin on his face as he looked at them. ‘After what you did for Doug this morning, you’re right at the front of our queue.’
‘We’ll both have the beef,’ Kyla said quickly, ‘and the treacle tart. Thanks, Ben.’
He scribbled on the pad in his hand. ‘How’s young Shelley?’
‘Fine.’
‘Mary’s worrying herself sick.’
‘I know that.’ Kyla’s voice was quiet. ‘We’re dealing with it as quickly as we can, Ben. As soon as we know anything, we’ll be in touch with Mary.’
He nodded. ‘Call me when you hear anything.’ He walked off and Ethan stared after him in amazement.
‘How did he know about Shelley? And how does he know so much about Doug? And how do you ever honour patient confidentiality in a place like this?’
‘Doug works for him and Ben is Mary’s cousin, but you’re right that most people find out who’s ill with what about five seconds after you’ve found out yourself. Anyway, Ben is on the crew of Glenmore lifeboat so he’s an important part of this community.’
‘The island has a lifeboat?’
‘Yes. It has a berth by the quay. Haven’t you seen it?’
‘I haven’t been down here since the day I arrived. Do they have a lot of callouts?’
‘Unfortunately, yes. Especially in the summer. Usually walkers on the cliffs who drop down to pretty bays and then get stuck when the tide comes in. And if it’s a medical emergency, they call on Logan. So, you see, we all work together and, yes, people are interested in one another, but we don’t betray a confidence. There’s a way of responding without giving anything away. But I can assure you that the moment you’ve spoken to Mary about the results, she’ll be on the phone to at least five other people and they’ll be on the phone to another five. But that’s their business.’
Ethan shook his head. ‘It’s so different to London.’
‘Of course. That’s why we live here.’ She tilted her head to one side, challenging him. ‘You’re missing all the positives. Like the fact that almost everyone on this island is part of an informal support network and that counts for a lot. When Fraser was in hospital with pneumonia when he was younger, everyone rallied round to help Aisla, even though she’d only just arrived on the island and knew no one.’
He sat back in his chair, his expression watchful. ‘Go on.’
She shrugged. ‘When Mrs Linton tripped down her stairs someone phoned us within the hour because they’d noticed that her bin hadn’t been taken in. In London she probably would have been on the floor for a week before it occurred to anyone that something might be wrong.’
‘Probably even longer than that,’ Ethan said dryly, finishing his drink and sitting back as their food arrived. ‘All right, you’ve convinced me. I can see that it has its advantages.’
‘But it isn’t somewhere that you could ever settle for good.’ The words left her mouth before she could stop them and she froze, appalled at herself for being so indiscreet.
Why had she asked that question? What was the matter with her? It wasn’t even as if she wanted him to be there for ever. She just wanted—she wanted—
A fling, she acknowledged finally, looking away from his searching gaze so that she didn’t reveal any more. She wanted a wild, abandoned fling with an incredible-looking, intelligent man, and Ethan Walker fitted that description.
‘What about you?’ His voice was even as he handed her a knife and fork and reached for his own. ‘You’re obviously an extremely skilled nurse. Have you ever considered leaving here?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean? That the people on the island deserve less than mainlanders?’
‘That wasn’t what I meant.’ His tone was wry. ‘You’re very touchy. Stop jumping down my throat. I just wondered whether you might be bored.’
‘I trained on the mainland and that was enough for me. Here I have a great deal more autonomy than I would have on the mainland. I happen to think that anonymity is vastly overrated.’ She poked the food on her plate for a moment and then looked up. ‘I like people, Ethan. I like knowing what they’re up to. I don’t even mind the fact that they know everything that I’m doing before I even do it. I like the
