Marion Lennox - Second Chance With Her Island Doc

‘I’ve only brought you the urgent ones,’ he told her. ‘These are things that can’t wait. Like blocking those tunnels. I warned you. The sooner they’re blocked—’

‘The sooner you can start turning the castle into your dream apartments?’

The voice from the doorway made them both start. Leo. Of course it was. Victoir swivelled and scowled, and Anna flinched—which was stupid. She wasn’t afraid of Leo.

She was afraid of how he made her feel.

‘Good morning,’ he said, edging into the tiny room. ‘Victoir, can I ask you to leave while I check Ms Castlavara’s condition?’

‘I’m Anna Raymond,’ she threw at him.

‘You own the castle. This entire country knows you as the Castlavaran and I’m not about to argue with my country. Victoir...’

‘Ms Raymond’s about to sign some papers,’ Victoir snapped. ‘They’re urgent.’

‘More important than Anna’s health?’

‘What gives you the right to call her Anna?’

‘I believe she gave me the right some years ago,’ he said, meeting Victoir’s challenge head on. ‘When we met at medical school.’

What the...? Was Leo about to discuss their past history in front of Victoir? She felt herself go cold at the thought.

‘We did meet while studying medicine,’ she said, hurriedly and grudgingly. ‘And he might as well use my first name if the alternative’s Castlavara. Victoir, I’m sorry but I’m signing nothing now. Dr... Leo will tell you that I’ve been taking strong painkillers, so nothing I sign now will be legally binding anyway.’

‘You’re fine,’ Victoir snapped. ‘No one will argue.’

‘I’ll argue,’ Leo said smoothly. ‘Victoir, leave.’

‘Please, Victoir,’ Anna added. ‘And take the papers with you. Honestly, I’m fuzzy.’

He knew when he was beaten. He cast her a look of frustration, but then softened.

‘I’m sorry. You’re right, you’re in no condition to consider. But we’ll get you home as soon as possible. You’ll need a couple of days’ recuperation—your castle accommodation will be a far cry from this.’ And he cast the room a disgusted glance, Leo an angry one, and stalked out.

Leaving her with Leo, which left her feeling weird. Alone, vulnerable...scared?

‘Don’t you have a nurse accompany you on your rounds?’ she asked, and for the life of her she couldn’t stop herself sounding like some sort of sulky adolescent.

‘If I was in England maybe I would,’ he told her. ‘But nurses cost money and this hospital has no money. We run on a skeleton staff. This whole country runs on a skeleton staff.’

It was an accusation.

She didn’t know how to answer. He was watching her like she was some sort of unknown entity, certainly not like a woman who’d slept in his arms, who’d shared his life...

Don’t go there, she told herself fiercely. Move on.

‘My head’s fine,’ she told him. ‘I’m fine.’ Being dressed should make her feel better, more in control. It didn’t. Somehow it made her feel defenceless.

The hurt she’d felt ten years ago was all around her. It was ridiculous, she told herself. You didn’t mourn a lost love for ten years.

But the hurt had gone bone deep, and it was surfacing again now. This guy was too tall, his eyes were too dark. His hair was too black. He was too much the same as he’d been all those years ago.

‘If you’re running on a skeleton staff then I’m taking up a bed,’ she managed. ‘Discharge me now, Leo. The sooner I get out of this cell the happier I’ll be.’

‘Cell?’

‘This room’s awful. Why on earth don’t you paint it?’

He didn’t answer. The look on his face, though...

Uh-oh. She watched his fingers clench into fists at his sides, and then slowly unclench, as if he was counting to ten, and then to twenty, and then maybe to whatever it took to hold his temper.

‘We have two private rooms in this entire hospital,’ he said at last. ‘We reserve them for those who desperately need privacy, usually those in the last days of their lives. We had a death just before you were admitted, which left this room free. Because of your...because of who you are...we believed a single room was imperative. Believe it or not, if we’d put you in a shared ward you would have had half the country visiting the patient in the next bed, just to get a look at you. So we did you a kindness. We put you in what’s one of our best rooms.’

‘Best rooms...’

‘I told you, skeleton staff, minuscule budget, that’s what we have. But certainly I’m happy for you to go. We started you on antibiotics last night. You can go as soon as the script’s filled. Continue them for the full course—there are bats in those underground vaults and they carry infection. I can’t imagine what Victoir was about, taking you down there without protective gear.’

‘He was proving the place was unsafe.’ There were a hundred other things she could have said but she couldn’t get her tongue around any of them.

‘It is unsafe. Obviously. But not if you know what you’re doing.’

‘You’ve been down there?’

‘I’d imagine every adventurous child living within a couple of miles of the castle has been down there.’

‘Bats or not?’

‘They add to the challenge.’

‘Surely my cousin didn’t let kids into the castle.’

‘There are entrances from outside the castle walls. No one’s ever blocked them off. Your cousin and your uncle and your grandfather before him didn’t give a toss what went on under the castle, as long as no one bothered their secluded, indolent lives. Let’s get your head checked and get you out of here.’

‘So I can start my secluded, indolent life?’

He sighed. ‘Anna, I have no idea what you intend. I’ve heard Victoir plans to turn the castle into luxury apartments, with its own internal helipad. An oasis for the super-rich from other countries. With its location, with the Mediterranean right under the battlements, with the right design and your money behind it, such a place could be a celebrity magnet. He hired architects years ago, trying to persuade your cousin that it wouldn’t intrude on his privacy. One of those architects left his plans in a local cab and the driver had them broadcast all over the country in minutes. It came to nothing, though. Your cousin wouldn’t have seen anything in it for him, and that was all that interested him. Now, your head...’

‘So he urgently wants the underground closed off because...’

‘It wouldn’t do to let it get out that the proposed idyllic retreat can be broached by twelve-year-olds.’ He was right by her bed now, too close for comfort, but then anywhere in this tiny room was too close for comfort. ‘Your head, Anna. I’m here to examine you, not talk about plans that have nothing to do with me.’

That shut her up.

He checked her head, not disturbing the dressing over the gash but simply noting the extent of bruising. He checked her eyes, her vision, and then retreated to the end of the bed to read the obs chart. Time for discussion was over.

‘Headache?’ he asked as he finished reading.

‘Only when I laugh, and when you’re here I find it difficult to even smile.’

He didn’t respond.

‘Any dizziness?’

‘When I stand up fast but that’s to be expected.’

He nodded. ‘Take it easy for a few days, then. Do what Victoir suggests. Go lie in your castle and enjoy your view.’

Oh, enough. She pushed herself to her feet and glared. ‘That’s mean. What have I ever done to you, Leo Aretino, to make you act like I’m something the cat dragged in?’

‘That’s an exaggeration.’

‘It’s not. What have I done?’

‘You haven’t done anything.’