Island Doctor to Royal Bride?

‘I love this place,’ she said quietly. ‘I love coming back here.’ She took a deep breath then met his watchful gaze. ‘But I love my work too.’

‘Where are you based now?’

‘In Washington. It’s great. The team I work with is special. The patients—even more so. I’ve learned so much.’ She kept talking. ‘When I come back here I work as a generalist. That’s important. I like it. Sometimes, when we specialise, we lose sight of everything else.’

He sat back and looked at her with interest. ‘But, when you love something so much, how can you give it up?’

It was the way he said the words, the tiny edge to them that made something inside stand to attention. ‘I’m not giving it up,’ she said carefully. ‘It’s still in my heart. I’m just compromising for a few weeks.’

His eyes fixed on his hands on the table. She could tell he was thinking about something else. ‘Sometimes we have to do things for other people.’ She put her hand on her heart. ‘I like that I do that. It keeps me sane. Stops me getting wrapped up in the whirlwind of the world.’

He looked back up to meet her gaze again. Her heart was thudding against her chest. What was it she didn’t know about this guy?

It was weird. It was almost as if he had some kind of aura around him. Something weighing him down.

Her fingers drummed lightly on the table. ‘I have to do this. I get so wrapped up in my patients that this is the equivalent of a break for me.’ She picked up her napkin and twisted it between her fingers. ‘When you’re dealing with kids with a potentially terminal condition, it’s so easy to let it take over. To search everywhere for the possibility of a new treatment or cure. I get so focused on my work that I forget what else is out there sometimes.’

‘Isn’t that what everyone wants? A doctor who is committed and dedicated?’

She licked her lips, choosing her words carefully. ‘But what if you can’t let go? What if you miss something important because you can’t see outside your own little box?’ She twisted the napkin again. ‘I learned a few years ago, to take time to take a breath—to take stock. Some people go skiing. Some people go to the beach—like the resort you were staying at. Some people hire a cabin in the mountains to hide out in. Some people turn off the Internet, the phone and read books.’

A hand reached over and covered hers. She hadn’t even realised that her hands were trembling. His warm touch encompassed both of her hands and made her suck in a deep, steadying breath.

Here was she worrying about what he wasn’t telling her, but wearing her heart on her sleeve instead. He spoke in a low voice. ‘But sometimes you come to a place expecting nothing, and get a whole lot more than you bargained for. Sometimes you don’t know what you were looking for until it jumps out and finds you.’

She closed her eyes for a second, her heart rate increasing. Was he talking about work, or something else? It seemed ridiculous to imagine that he could be talking about her—they barely knew each other.

But something was in the air between them. She knew it. And she thought he did too.

He just sat for a few minutes, his hand still over hers. When she opened her eyes again he wasn’t staring at her. He was looking at the dark sky outside, his mind obviously someplace else.

Instantly she felt embarrassed, pushing any stray imaginary thoughts aside.

But when Philippe met her gaze he just said simply, ‘How about we take a walk? I haven’t been on the beach yet in Temur Sapora and I hear it’s one of your biggest tourist attractions.’

She was glad of the easy diversion. ‘Sure, as a resident it’s my duty to show you around. A walk on the beach at this time of night will be perfect.’

The restaurant was only a few minutes’ stroll from the beach. Arissa bent to unfasten her sandals as they got there. He stopped for a few seconds to watch. She grabbed hold of her dress as it fluttered in the ocean wind.

The edge of the beach was lined with thick green foliage. Philippe brushed against some, sending a host of pink butterflies into the dark purple sky. Arissa let out a little yelp, then stood laughing with her hands wide, letting them flutter against her skin.