‘I can’t explain, but it isn’t you, it’s me,’ he growled, reaching for the door like a drowning man would have grasped anything that happened to float. ‘And now I need to go home.’
‘But—’
‘Goodnight, Kyla. Thanks for dinner.’
He didn’t wait to hear her reply, just strode out of her cottage and kept his eyes on his own front door.
Once there he switched on the kitchen light and pulled out the letter.
If nothing else, at least it would remind him of the reason he was there.
CHAPTER SIX
HE STRODE into her consulting room next morning with a piece of paper in his hand.
‘I’ve had the blood results on Shelley.’
Kyla stared at him. That was it?
They’d shared a kiss that had probably shaken the foundations of the island and that was all he had to say?
Her heart thundering at a dangerous pace, she waited for him to make some reference to the previous evening, but he was remote and businesslike. Cold. Unapproachable. It was as if the kiss had never happened.
Clearly he hadn’t suffered the same restless night that she had.
Kyla sighed inwardly, still unable to believe that he’d stopped so abruptly. The question was why? Evanna was obviously right. He had issues. It was just frustrating that he was unwilling to share them. Deciding that this wasn’t the time or the place to try and fight him, she looked at him expectantly. ‘And what do her results say?’
‘It’s definitely ITP. But her platelet levels are reasonable so hopefully it will resolve by itself in a few months. I’ve had a chat with the haematologist and his advice is to do nothing for the time being. We’ll check her blood again regularly and see how she goes.’
‘That’s good news.’ Kyla’s relief was genuine. ‘Mary will be delighted to hear all that.’
‘I’ve called them and asked them to come to surgery this afternoon. Five o’clock. I thought you might like to be there.’
‘I would. Thanks.’ Was he ever going to mention the kiss they’d shared or was it just going to be consigned to the archives without further reference? Was that the usual end to an evening out for him? Did he kiss women like that all the time?
As if reading her thoughts, his eyes moved to hers and her heart started to beat faster. His mouth tightened and he cleared his throat. ‘I need to get on.’
‘Yes. Of course you do.’ Her voice was a croak and he sucked in a breath and turned away from her, yanking open the door and leaving the room with a purposeful stride.
He was always walking away from her.
Kyla stared after him in mounting frustration. She wanted to run after him and ask the questions that were hovering on her lips.
What are you playing at?
Aren’t you going to say anything about the kiss?
Are you going to ignore what’s happening between the two of us?
Or maybe she’d imagined the whole thing and he just didn’t find her attractive. ‘Men,’ she muttered to herself, cleaning the dressing trolley ready for her next patient. ‘How can they accuse us women of being confusing?’
She tried to keep her mind focussed on the job all day and then at five o’clock she joined Ethan in his consulting room.
‘Mary and Shelley are just coming.’ She looked at him, trying not to be intimidated by his cool, formal appearance. ‘You’re wearing a suit again.’
He gave a faint smile. ‘I’m at work.’
‘And does the suit help you keep the distance you need from people?’ She asked the question without thinking and then immediately wished she’d kept her mouth shut when he looked at her steadily.
‘This isn’t the right time, Kyla.’ His voice was soft and she felt the colour rush into her cheeks because she knew it wasn’t the right time and she was furious with herself for even showing that she cared.
She wished she had the ability to be as indifferent as he obviously was.
Hurt and confused, she turned as she heard a tap on the door.
Mary Hillier walked in with Shelley, and Ethan immediately waved a hand at the two chairs he’d placed next to the desk. ‘Sit down. I can see you’re worried so let’s get straight to the point.’ He outlined the results of the blood tests, explaining in simple, precise language.
Mary was looking relieved. ‘So tell me more about this ITP thing. What exactly does it mean?’
‘It means that there aren’t enough platelets in the blood. If you cast your mind back to biology, you’ll remember that platelets are responsible for helping the blood to clot.’
‘So if she doesn’t have enough platelets, she could bleed?’
‘That’s right. That’s why she has more bruising than usual.’
‘And what’s caused it?’
‘It’s an autoimmune disease. In other words, your body attacks itself—in this case it attacks the platelets. As to what causes it—most of the experts think that in children it’s caused by a viral infection.’
‘But there’s no treatment? You’re not going to do anything?’
‘Treatment isn’t always necessary, particularly in children. They tend to recover completely in a couple of months without any intervention.’
‘But what if she has problems?’
Ethan reached for a pen and scribbled something on a pad. ‘This is my number.’ He handed the paper to Mary. ‘If you can’t get me in surgery, feel free to call me on that number if you have any worries. We will be checking Shelley’s blood regularly to see if the platelet count is recovering.’
Kyla nodded her approval. He may be dressed in a suit and look unapproachable, but he was making himself accessible to worried patients and they didn’t seem to find him intimidating.
Mary folded the paper and put it carefully in her handbag. ‘And does she need to stop doing sport or anything? She loves her netball and they’re playing loads of matches at school at the moment.’
‘The way her platelet count is at the moment, it’s fine for her to play.’ Ethan scribbled something else on the pad. ‘We’ll monitor it and if it drops to a certain level then we may need to advise you to avoid contact sports, but at the moment it’s fine just to carry on as normal.’
