The Nurse Who Stole His Heart

by Alison Roberts

  It should have been a relief to hear that Sam had no knowledge of a personal past history and that he thought any benefit to Luke staying longer had a professional basis. It should have been a relief that she might not have to make that decision of whether or not to talk to Luke and what to tell him when she did, because the moment his plane took off, her life would go back to exactly what it had been.

  Anahera was nodding but yet another piece of her heart was breaking. This wasn’t right. Of course Sam had intuitively picked up that there was something Luke badly needed to heal his life that he would only find here. He just didn’t know that it had a whole lot more to do with her than this tragic case he had inadvertently taken responsibility for.

  But what on earth could she do about it?

  ‘You okay?’ Sam pulled her into the kind of hug only a brother or a very good friend could provide. ‘It’s been a rough couple of days.’

  ‘I think I need a walk, that’s all. A bit of quiet time to sort my head out. I might go and watch the sunset.’

  ‘The tide’s out. You could walk around to Sunset Beach from here and get the best view of all.’

  ‘Sounds like a good idea.’

  Or not. Sunset Beach had been the place she and Luke had shared their first ever kiss. Where they’d made love for the first time.

  ‘Can I do anything? Want me to pick Hana up and look after her for a while?’ Sam’s smile was crooked. ‘I love time with kids. I reckon that’s all I need to sort my head out.’

  ‘Mum will have already gone to do that. She had almost finished packing up the extra food to send back with Tane’s family when I talked to her before we left the hospital.’ Anahera returned his smile. ‘But go and visit. Take Bugsy with you.’

  Bugsy was a gorgeous golden retriever who belonged to Maddie—one of the FIFO doctors—and Sam looked after her on Maddie’s regular weeks back on the mainland. ‘Mum would love to see you, and Hana adores Bugsy. And her uncle Sam. Like every other kid on these islands.’

  Her smile faded. In the years that Sam had been here she’d never seen any sign of him wanting to find a relationship. Would he ever have children of his own to spend time with?

  Would Luke go on to find someone else and have a child he could knowingly call his own?

  What if he didn’t and she was depriving him of the kind of joy she had been blessed to have ever since Hana had been born?

  ‘I might do that.’ But Sam was frowning. ‘Bugsy needs a walk. But are you sure you don’t want some company? You look...’

  ‘I’m fine.’ Anahera’s interruption was swift. If he said anything else, she might burst into tears and confess everything. ‘Or I will be. Tell Mum that for me, will you? And not to worry if I’m not home for a bit.’

  * * *

  Sunset Beach was the only place Anahera could go to watch the sunset given how close it was as the last of Tane’s family piled onto the ferry that would take them home. To one side of the harbour was the rocky promontory with the church on top, and the only way round was the road that led to the village. The beaches on that side would have groups of children shouting and splashing in the calm water sheltered by the reef and she really didn’t want company right now. Far better to pick her way past the rock pools exposed by the low tide to get to the beach with the shadow of the cliffs beside her that would catch fire as the sun said its goodbye for the day.

  She took her sandals off as soon as she was past the rock pools to feel the sand beneath her feet and paused again, a moment later, to pull the fastening off the end of her long plait and unravel her hair so that it could flow down her back and get ruffled by the delicious sea breeze.

  This was exactly what she needed. To be alone and immerse herself in the elements. The sound of the gentle waves breaking and the leaves of palm trees rustling overhead, the smell of salt mixed with the sweetness of unseen flowers and the caress of the sun’s warmth made perfect by the cool breeze.

  Anahera could centre herself here. She could let herself become one with the beauty surrounding her and realise what a microscopic piece of the universe she—and her problems—represented. Maybe some of those worries would simply ebb away with the pull of each wave and they would be diluted by the vastness of this ocean that cradled her home.

  She watched the waves and then looked past where they were breaking to where the water changed from turquoise to a deep blue. It was only then that she saw the swimmer. Someone who was swimming hard and fast, as though they were trying to wash away whatever demons were chasing them.

  It could have been anyone, but Anahera knew instantly that it was Luke. Of course it was. The exclusive bures built for the new conference and research facility were just around the rock fall at the other end of Sunset Beach. Had some part of her agreed with Sam’s suggestion of a destination because she’d known there was a chance of her path crossing Luke’s?

  It didn’t matter. She was here now and this had been meant to happen.

  She had to shade her eyes from the sun as it dipped lower and it made it increasingly hard to see the movement in the water, but she stayed exactly where she was and simply waited. The cliffs behind her were turning a spectacular blood red as the dark shape finally emerged from the shallows, and even though the light behind him made it impossible to read Luke’s expression, Anahera could tell the moment he saw her by the way he stopped—as though he’d walked into a brick wall.

  And then he started walking again.

  Towards her.

  Anahera’s heart picked up speed. She tried to remember what it was she had wanted to tell him when they got a chance to talk but it was scrambling in her head. Something about her parents. About not repeating history...

  But here they were, alone on Sunset Beach, and that was repeating a history that was making Anahera’s legs feel like jelly and making rational thought increasingly impossible.

  She had no idea how she was even going to greet Luke, let alone say anything of any significance.

  She didn’t need to say anything. Luke came close and his smile said it all. He knew exactly why she had come here. Why she had needed to. His single word summed it up.

  ‘Better?’

  She nodded. ‘You?’

  He mirrored her nod. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘What for?’ Anahera held his gaze. She couldn’t let it fall because he was standing so close to her and he was virtually naked, droplets of sea water probably clinging to every inch of that smooth, olive skin. The shiver she had to repress had nothing to do with the sea breeze.

  ‘The way I left. What I said. Sam was right. I can’t walk away yet. I’ve got to get this trial set up. It occurred to me while I was swimming that we’re going to have to comb every record of encephalitis cases on the island so we’ve got statistics to use as a measure for how effective the vaccine is. It’s a massive job, and I’ll have to show Sam how to carry it on when I’ve gone. The data entry and so forth...’ Luke pushed his wet hair back from his face. ‘And then there’s the tea-leaves. I still need samples but that made me think, too. If it’s got any use against the mosquitoes and the bushes grow on French Island, why did Tane get bitten?’

  Knowing that Luke wasn’t going to vanish from her life immediately was like taking a huge gulp of a very heady cocktail. There was relief there. And something a whole lot stronger. Like joy?

  Anahera had to press her lips together to suppress a smile. Had to focus to remember what it was that Luke had been saying.

  ‘Maybe Tane didn’t like the tea.’

  ‘That’s something we’ll have to find out. That’s going to be a whole study in itself. Brrr...’ Luke rubbed his arms. ‘That swim was cooler than I thought it would be.’

  ‘The sun’s almost gone.’ Anahera let her gaze drop now. To the soft sand that had encrusted his feet and had been kicked up to stick as far
as his knees. Up to swimming shorts that were dripping, past an impressively flat abdomen and then...yes, the water was still clinging, especially to the sprinkle of dark hair on his chest between nipples standing out like tiny pebbles in the chill. Hastily, she returned her gaze to his face.

  ‘Where’s your towel?’

  ‘Back at my bure. I kind of forgot.’

  ‘You probably need a shower.’

  ‘What I really need...’ Luke wiped a hand across his face but didn’t drop the eye contact ‘...is to talk to you.’

  Here it was. The opportunity that had been impossible to find since that time in the hospital garden. They could talk. Part on good terms, even?

  Anahera’s mouth felt suddenly dry. It was hard to swallow. ‘I’ll...I’ll come with you, then. I don’t have to be home for a while.’

  There was a moment’s silence, long enough to make it clear that Luke was registering the significance of her offer. Long enough for the wash of a wave to be heard, along with a mournful cry of some unseen sea bird.

  He didn’t say anything but he didn’t have to. His nod and that slow smile told her that he welcomed the idea. Maybe that it was more than he had hoped for.

  The silence continued as they walked together. Along to the other end of Sunset Beach, as the last of the colour drained from the cliffs towering alongside, leaving the pattern of their footprints in the sand. The tide was still out far enough to make it easy to get around the rock fall at the end of the beach, and within moments they could glimpse the first of the bures that had been built to accommodate the visitors to the conference and research facility.

  The smell of the shrubs planted to screen the bures from each other made Anahera draw in an appreciative breath.

  Luke smiled. ‘It’s lovely, isn’t it? I’d forgotten the scent of ginger flowers.’

  ‘I haven’t seen these bures before. This area has been fenced off for ages. The first time I’ve been here for years was when Sam and I came down to that doctor we thought was having a heart attack at your conference.’

  ‘Charles.’ Luke nodded. ‘I had an email from him yesterday. They brought his coronary angiogram forward as soon as he got home. He ended up with three stents to fix his arteries and he reckons he’s good for another forty years or so.’

  ‘That’s good to hear. He was lucky.’

  This was an easy way to break the silence. To talk about people other than themselves.

  ‘He said he wants to come back. I must ask Harry if they’re going to rent out these bures to people who might just want a break. They could make a fortune if they did.’

  ‘Turn it into some kind of resort?’ Anahera frowned. ‘I don’t think the Lockharts would allow that to happen on Wildfire Island. But then, I didn’t think they’d lease even part of it like this. I’m sure it was Ian’s idea, not Max’s.’

  ‘Ian’s his brother, isn’t he? I seem to remember hearing some opinions about his character that were not very flattering.’

  ‘Nobody likes him. He was the black sheep of the family and was apparently no support at all when Max’s wife died and he was struggling to care for the twins. I think he did his best to bleed the family fortune dry even when Max needed so much money to get care for Christopher.’

  ‘Caroline’s twin, yes? The one with cerebral palsy.’

  ‘Yes. Max has been living in Australia with him for years. Ian was given the job of running the mine a few years back but Mum says that he was just using the money for himself, probably gambled it away, and then he just took off. The mine’s been closed recently because it isn’t safe. Ian hasn’t been seen for weeks and nobody knows where he is. Caroline came back just last month and she was horrified by how run-down everything’s become but she’s determined to save the mine and the jobs for everyone.’ Anahera turned to follow Luke up a pathway from the beach that led to one of the bures. ‘Maybe it’s not such a crazy idea, starting a resort.’

  Stepping inside the bure, her eyes widened.

  ‘This looks like a resort already. Like something you only see in a magazine.’ Her gaze followed the round walls with the louvred windows, up to the coved ceiling and then down to where the softly draped mosquito nets framed a huge bed made up with crisp-looking white linen. Whoever had serviced the room had sprinkled frangipani blossoms over the cover, which made it look even more inviting.

  Romantic, even...

  Luke had no idea she was finding it hard to take in a new breath.

  ‘Have a look at the bathroom while I find my clothes. It’s astonishing...’

  It was. Anahera looked at the bowl on the vanity bench, where a pretty pattern of colourful petals had been left as decoration beside a pile of fluffy white towels. At the design of the fish in the mosaic of the shower floor. At the stone walls and the rainhead fitting. And then she imagined Luke standing in here, naked, under the fall of water, and she had to close her eyes and step back. To lean against the wall for a moment, even.

  ‘Ana? Are you okay?’

  She opened her eyes to find Luke standing close. Too close. She could see the tiny flecks of gold and brown that made his eyes hazel more than green. He had some dry clothes in one hand but he was still wearing only his damp swimming shorts, and looking at his face couldn’t remove that bare chest in her peripheral vision. It had been manageable out in the open space of the beach, with the sea stretching for ever on one side, but nothing could mitigate the effect of him standing so close, in a confined space, with all that skin within touching distance. She could feel the heat of it. Could smell the salt of the sea and something else that opened an avalanche of memories.

  The smell of... Luke...

  Anahera opened her mouth to say she was fine. Tensed every muscle in her body that she would need to move. To slip past Luke and into the safety of a larger room.

  But nothing happened. No words emerged. No muscle twitched.

  And Luke was just as still.

  The soft thud of a handful of clothing being discarded barely registered, and the touch of Luke’s hand on her face was so intense that she had to close her eyes again. She still hadn’t closed her mouth after that abortive attempt to say anything, and it was too late by the time she felt the touch of Luke’s lips.

  It was too late to talk. To move. To think...

  ‘Oh... Ana...’ The word was almost a prayer. Luke’s hands had trailed down her body, over her breasts and then slipped up under the top of her uniform to touch her skin by the time his lips were lifted enough for him to speak. ‘Do you want this as much as I do? I can stop...’

  The sound that came from Anahera’s lips was no more than a whimper of need. She had wanted this for ever. She just hadn’t known how much.

  It was a tiny sound but it had the effect of unleashing something huge. Luke had the hem of her green tunic in his hands now and he was lifting it. Anahera raised her arms to make it easier to shed the item of clothing that represented a barrier between his skin and hers. It had to go, along with everything else she was wearing. So that Luke could touch her anywhere. Everywhere.

  Especially there...

  Her legs were losing the ability to hold her upright but it didn’t matter. Not when there was a pair of strong arms to support her. To scoop her up and carry her and then lay her down amongst the fragrant lemon-and-white blossoms of the frangipani. Blossoms that released even more scent as they were crushed by her body lying on them. Then Luke stepped back, turned and retrieved his wallet from the dressing table. She watched him fumble through it, searching for a condom. He turned to face her, a question in his eyes: Are we going to do this?

  Nothing needed to be said. They had never needed to ask what was needed or preferred because they had been in tune with each other from that very first time of such gentle, passionate lovemaking. This was nothing like that first time. The sex was hard and
fast. Almost desperate—as if they’d both been wanting this for ever. As if they were grabbing something illicit because they knew they might never have another opportunity?

  And then they lay facing each other, their faces only inches apart, as they both tried to catch their breath and wait until their hearts stopped racing.

  It was Luke who broke the silence.

  ‘I wish I could turn back time,’ he said softly. ‘I wish I had the chance to change things.’

  Anahera’s smile was wistful. ‘What’s that saying? If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride...’

  ‘I’ve gone over and over it, you know. Wondering why I didn’t tell you—or anyone else—about Jane. I think it was because I was...escaping, you know?’

  Luke had the most beautiful face Anahera had ever seen on a man. She loved the intensity of his eyes. The way he could control his face when he was in a professional setting but he could let it go sometimes, like now, when every emotion could be seen in the subtle dance of muscle movement. It was how she knew how open he was being. How honest.

  ‘Those years with Jane in the coma. Being married but having no wife... It was the loneliest place you could imagine. And I was trapped in it. As trapped as Jane was in her own body. It never occurred to me that I’d want to be with anyone else, though, because when I was in London I knew she was lying in a bed in the same city and it would have felt like cheating.’ He closed his eyes for a moment. ‘It would have been cheating.’

  Had Jane known how much she had been loved? How many men were capable of such loyalty and devotion?

  ‘Coming here—to Wildfire Island—was a crazy idea that my boss came up with because he said if I didn’t take a break, he’d either have to fire me or I’d kill myself by overworking.’

  A smile tugged one corner of his mouth. ‘And coming here was like being set free from that trap. London was a world away. I couldn’t visit Jane. There was nothing here to even remind me. It was a fantasy break and I had been given permission to forget—just for a few weeks. I guess telling anyone would have broken that fantasy.’