‘That’s when one of the two is a toddler.’
‘Just be careful how you climb in or you’ll tip me out.’ He closed his fingers over her wrist and gave her a gentle tug so that she tumbled off balance and landed on top of him.
‘Logan!’ Thoroughly embarrassed, she rolled off him and lay on her back in the hammock. They were hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder and, for a moment, she couldn’t breathe. Then she looked up and gave a murmur of delight. ‘Oh—the stars are amazing.’
‘You’ve never lain in this at night?’
‘You know I haven’t.’
‘It’s so hot indoors that I’d sleep here at the moment if it weren’t for Kirsty. So why did you come, Evanna?’
His quiet question flustered her. ‘I wanted to check on you.’
‘I’m not one of your patients.’
‘I—’ What did he want her to say? ‘I know that. But I care about you.’
‘And that’s why you wanted to hug me?’ He turned to look at her, a dangerous glitter in his blue eyes. ‘Because you care about me? You care about everyone, Evanna. You always have. At school you were the one who broke up fights, smoothed everyone’s feathers. You always hated conflict. Caring is part of your personality.’
His face was close to hers. So close. Evanna’s heart lurched. Had he guessed how she felt about him? Had she failed to hide it? ‘Of course I care about you.’ Her voice came out as a whisper, as if anything else would have punctured the perfect stillness of the garden. ‘We all care about you, Logan.’
For a moment he didn’t respond and it seemed to her that the air around them thickened with tension. ‘So the whole community is still keeping an eye on me.’
‘You make it sound patronising, but it isn’t like that.’
‘Isn’t it?’
‘No.’ His eyelashes were really long. And dark. Such a contrast to his blue eyes. ‘You’re not an object of pity, if that’s what you mean. No one could ever pity you because you’re so strong, but that doesn’t stop them feeling sad for you or wanting to protect you from any more pain. The situation with Sonia this afternoon must bring it all back and that must be hard.’ She felt the hard muscle of his leg brush against hers and felt crazy flutters of excitement in her stomach.
‘What’s hard is realising that I’m nothing like people’s image of me.’ There was a harshness in his tone that disturbed her.
‘What do you mean?’
He gave a faint smile. ‘People look at me and see a dedicated doctor. Grieving widower. Single father. Doting dad.’
‘I suppose. Maybe. Aren’t you all those things?’
He stared at her for a long moment and then dragged his eyes away and stared up at the sky. ‘Am I?’
He was frustratingly uncommunicative. ‘What are you thinking? You’re obviously upset. Talk to me,’ she urged, and he gave a cynical laugh.
‘You know that men aren’t great at talking.’
‘But you are. When you want to be. I’ve seen you spend hours with patients who are worried about something. You’re amazingly intuitive and a fantastic listener.’
‘Not such a great talker.’
Evanna swallowed. ‘You’ve always talked to me.’
‘That’s true. Funny, that, isn’t it? I’ve said things to you that I’ve never said aloud before.’ There was a long, throbbing silence and then he turned to look at her again. ‘The truth is that I’m not feeling what I’m expected to feel.’
‘I don’t think anyone expects anything, Logan.’
‘Don’t they? I’m supposed to be devastated and far too grief-ridden to even contemplate—’ He broke off, swore softly and ran a hand over his face. ‘I think of Catherine, that’s true, but lately…’
‘Lately?’
He paused and then reached across and took her hand in his. ‘Lately—well, let’s just say that lately a lot of things have changed.’