Summer Kisses

by Sarah Morgan

  He was silent for a moment and then he cleared his throat and gave her a wry smile. ‘Now, this is the sort of hero-worship I think I could live with,’ he drawled softly, standing up and pulling her up after him. ‘I’m still afraid you’re going to lose your nerve any minute and change your mind.’

  ‘I won’t do that. I love you, Conner. What I feel for you isn’t something I can turn on and off.’

  ‘I make women miserable, Flora.’

  ‘You don’t make me miserable. These last weeks has been the happiest of my life.’

  He hesitated. ‘What would you say if I told you that I don’t want to stay on Glenmore?’

  She lifted a hand to his face, gently exploring the roughness of his jaw with her finger. ‘I’d say that’s fine. And I’d ask you where you want to go.’

  His gaze flickered from her face to the boat. ‘I want to sail. Just the two of us. And when you’re too pregnant to move around the boat, we’ll find some dry land and make a home.’

  She felt the lump building in her throat. ‘That sounds good to me.’

  ‘You don’t mind leaving Glenmore?’

  ‘I want to be wherever you are.’

  He closed his eyes for a moment and then lowered his head so that his forehead brushed hers. ‘If you’ll do this, if you’ll trust me with your heart, I swear I won’t let you down, angel.’

  ‘I know you won’t let me down.’

  His breath warmed her mouth. ‘I don’t deserve you. You’re such a good person.’

  ‘Actually, you’re wrong about that. I have an extremely bad side,’ she murmured, giving a soft gasp as his lips brushed the corner of her mouth. ‘Several less-than-desirable qualities, in fact.’

  ‘Name a few.’ His body was pressed against hers and it was becoming harder and harder to concentrate.

  ‘I’m useless at gossip.’

  ‘That’s a quality.’

  ‘I’m insatiable in the bedroom.’ She tilted her head back and gave him a wicked smile. ‘The problem with good girls, Conner MacNeil, is that when they discover what fun being bad can be, they never want to stop.’

  ‘Is that right?’ He curved his hands over her bottom and brought his mouth down on hers. And then he suddenly lifted his head and cursed softly.

  ‘What’s the matter?’

  ‘What does a person have to do to get privacy on this island?’ He stared over her shoulder and Flora turned to find what appeared to be the entire population of Glenmore gathered on the quay, watching.

  Several of them held torches and Flora blinked as the beam from one almost blinded her.

  ‘Well?’ It was Jim who spoke and his voice carried the short distance across the quay. ‘You can’t expect to make a declaration like that in the Stag’s Head and not tell us the ending. What’s the ending? Has she said yes?’

  Conner shook his head in disbelief. ‘I can’t believe this,’ he muttered. ‘The first and only time I propose to a woman and I have to do it with an audience.’

  ‘You should be down on one knee, Conner MacNeil,’ Ann Carne said primly, appearing at the front of the crowd, and Flora’s heart stumbled in her chest.

  ‘You don’t have to propose—I don’t want you to feel smothered by all this. We can just live together and—’

  He put a finger over her lips, his eyes gentle. ‘That isn’t what I want. I want to make sure you’re chained to me so that you can’t run off easily when you realise what you’ve married.’ He dropped to one knee and she gave an appalled gasp.

  ‘Conner! You don’t have to go that far! The seagulls are usually pretty busy above here. Kneeling could be a messy experience.’

  ‘If I don’t kneel, I’ll never hear the last of it from the locals.’ With an exaggerated gesture Conner took her hand in his. His eyes gleamed wickedly and he lifted an eyebrow in question. ‘Well? How daring are you feeling? Can you bring yourself to marry a reprobate like me?’

  ‘Conner!’ There was a disgusted snort from Evanna. ‘You’re supposed to make it romantic. At the very least you’re supposed to tell her that you love her.’

  ‘I’m on my knees in seagull droppings,’ Conner growled. ‘I think that tells her quite a lot about my feelings.’

  Half laughing, half crying, Flora looked down at him. ‘You haven’t said that you love me. I want to hear you say it. That’s the really important bit.’

  ‘I love you.’ This time his voice was serious. ‘I love you, Flora Mary Harris. Will you marry me?’

  ‘Yes. Oh, yes. Yes!’ She choked on the word and tears spilled down her cheeks.

  Instantly Conner was on his feet, his expression horrified as he scooped her face into his hands. ‘What’s wrong?’ He brushed the tears away with his thumbs. ‘All my life I’ve been making women cry because I wouldn’t say those words. Now, suddenly, I’ve said them and you’re crying!’

  ‘I’m crying because I’m happy.’ She pressed her mouth to his. ‘I’m happy and I love you. And, just for the record, my answer is yes.’

  Torchlight wavered on her face. ‘Speak up, Flora! We can’t hear you at the back!’

  Flora started to laugh. ‘Yes,’ she yelled in a voice so loud that Conner flinched. ‘Yes, I will marry you.’

  There was a cheer from the crowd on the quay and Conner folded her into his arms. ‘I hope you know what you’re saying yes to, because you can’t back out now.’

  ‘I’m saying yes to everything,’ Flora said softly, and this time her words were for him alone. ‘Everything, Conner.’

  ‘Everything?’ His eyes held a wicked gleam. ‘In that case, I don’t know about you,’ he murmured against her mouth, ‘but I think I could do with a bit more privacy for the rest of this conversation. Your place or mine?’

  * * * * *

  Dare She Date the Dreamy Doc?

  Sarah Morgan

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘I CAN’T believe you’ve dragged me to the middle of nowhere. You must really hate me.’ The girl slumped against the rail of the ferry, sullen and defiant, every muscle in her slender teenage frame straining with injured martyrdom and simmering rebellion.

  Jenna dragged her gaze from the misty beauty of the approaching island and focused on her daughter. ‘I don’t hate you, Lexi,’ she said quietly. ‘I love you. Very much.’

  ‘If you loved me, we’d still be in London.’

  Guilt mingled with stress and tension until the whole indigestible mix sat like a hard ball behind her ribs. ‘I thought this was the best thing.’

  ‘Best for you, maybe. Not me.’

  ‘It’s a fresh start. A new life.’ As far away from her old life as possible. Far away from everything that reminded her of her marriage. Far away from the pitying glances of people she’d used to think were her friends.

  ‘I liked my old life!’

  So had she. Until she’d discovered that her life had been a lie. They always said you didn’t know what was going on in someone else’s marriage—she hadn’t known what was going on in her own.

  Jenna blinked rapidly, holding herself together through will-power alone, frightened by how bad she felt. Not for the first time, she wondered whether eventually she was going to crack. People said that time healed, but how much time? Five years? Ten years? Certainly not a year. She didn’t feel any better now than she had when it had first happened. She was starting to wonder whether some things just didn’t heal—whether she’d have to put on the ‘everything is OK’ act for the rest of her life.

  She must have been doing a reasonably good job of convincing everyone she was all right because Lexi was glaring at her, apparently oblivious to her mother’s own personal struggle. ‘You had a perfectly good job in London. We could have sta
yed there.’

  ‘London is expensive.’

  ‘So? Make Dad pay maintenance or something. He’s the one who walked out.’

  The comment was like a slap in the face. ‘I don’t want to live off your father. I’d rather be independent.’ Which was just as well, Jenna thought bleakly, given Clive’s reluctance to part with any money for his daughter. ‘Up here there are no travel costs, you can go to the local school, and they give me a cottage with the job.’

  That was the best part. A cottage. Somewhere that was their own. She wasn’t going to wake up one morning and find it had been taken away from them.

  ‘How can you be so calm and civilised about all this?’ Lexi looked at her in exasperation. ‘You should be angry. I tell you now, if a man ever treats me the way Dad treated you I’ll punch his teeth down his throat and then I’ll take a knife to his—’

  ‘Lexi!’

  ‘Well, I would!’

  Jenna took a slow deep breath. ‘Of course I’ve felt angry. And upset. But what’s happened has happened, and we have to get on with it.’ Step by step. Day by day.

  ‘So Dad’s left living in luxury with his new woman and we’re exiled to a remote island that doesn’t even have electricity? Great.’

  ‘Glenmore is a wonderful place. Keep an open mind. I loved it when I was your age and I came with my grandparents.’

  ‘People choose to come here?’ Lexi glared at the rocky shore, as if hoping to scare the island into vanishing. ‘Is this seriously where you came on holiday? That’s totally tragic. You should have sued them for cruelty.’

  ‘I loved it. It was a proper holiday. The sort where we spent time together—’ Memories swamped her and suddenly Jenna was a child again, excited at the prospect of a holiday with her grandparents. Here—and perhaps only here—she’d felt loved and accepted for who she was. ‘We used to make sandcastles and hunt for shells on the beach—’

  ‘Wow. I’m surprised you didn’t die of excitement.’

  Faced with the sting of teenage sarcasm, Jenna blinked. Suddenly she wished she were a child again, with no worries. No one depending on her. Oh, for crying out loud—she pushed her hair away from her eyes and reminded herself that she was thirty-three, not twelve. ‘It is exciting here. Lexi, this island was occupied by Celts and Vikings—it’s full of history. There’s an archaeological dig going on this summer and they had a small number of places for interested teenagers. I’ve booked you on it.’

  ‘You what?’ Appalled, Lexi lost her look of martyred boredom and shot upright in full defensive mode. ‘I am not an interested teenager so you can count me out!’

  ‘Try it, Lexi,’ Jenna urged, wondering with a lurch of horror what she was going to do if Lexi refused to co-operate. ‘You used to love history when you were younger, and—’

  ‘I’m not a kid any more, Mum! This is my summer holiday. I’m supposed to have a rest from school. I don’t want to be taught history!’

  Forcing herself to stay calm, Jenna took a slow, deep breath; one of the many she’d taken since her daughter had morphed from sweet child to scary teen. When you read the pregnancy books, why didn’t it warn you that the pain of being a mother didn’t end with labour?

  Across the ferry she caught sight of a family, gathered together by the rail. Mother, father, two children—they were laughing and talking, and Jenna looked away quickly because she’d discovered that nothing was more painful than being around happy families when your own was in trouble.

  Swallowing hard, she reminded herself that not every modern family had perfect symmetry. Single-parent families, stepfamilies—they came in different shapes. Yes, her family had been broken, but breakages could be mended. They might heal in a different shape, but they could still be sturdy.

  ‘I thought maybe we could go fishing.’ It was up to her to be the glue. It was up to her to knit her family together again in a new shape. ‘There’s nothing quite like eating a fish you’ve caught yourself.’

  Lexi rolled her eyes and exhaled dramatically. ‘Call me boring, but gutting a fish with my mother is so not my idea of fun. Stop trying so hard, Mum. Just admit that the situation is crap.’

  ‘Don’t swear, Alexandra.’

  ‘Why not? Grandma isn’t around to hear and it is crap. If you want my honest opinion, I hope Dad and his shiny new girlfriend drown in their stupid hot tub.’

  Relieved that no one was standing near them, Jenna rubbed her fingers over her forehead, reminding herself that this was not the time to get into an argument. ‘Let’s talk about us for a moment, not Dad. There are six weeks of summer holiday left before term starts. I’m going to be working, and I’m not leaving you on your own all day. That’s why I thought archaeology camp would be fun.’

  ‘About as much fun as pulling my toenails out one by one. I don’t need a babysitter. I’m fifteen.’

  And you’re still a child, Jenna thought wistfully. Underneath that moody, sullen exterior lurked a terrified girl. And she knew all about being terrified, because she was too. She felt like a plant that had been growing happily in one spot for years, only to be dug up and tossed on the compost heap. The only difference between her and Lexi was that she had to hide it. She was the grown-up. She had to look confident and in control.

  Not terrified, insecure and needy.

  Now that it was just the two of them, Lexi needed her to be strong. But the truth was she didn’t feel strong. When she was lying in bed staring into the darkness she had moments of utter panic, wondering whether she could actually do this on her own. Had she been crazy to move so far away? Should she have gone and stayed with her parents? At least that would have eased the financial pressure, and her mother would have been able to watch out for Lexi while she worked. Imagining her mother’s tight-lipped disapproval, Jenna shuddered. There were two sins her mother couldn’t forgive and she’d committed both of them. No, they were better on their own.

  Anger? Oh, yes, she felt anger. Not just for herself, but for Lexi. What had happened to the man who had cradled his daughter when she’d cried and spent weeks choosing exactly the right dolls’ house? Jenna grabbed hold of the anger and held it tightly, knowing that it was much easier to live with than misery. Anger drove her forward. Misery left her inert.

  She needed anger if she was going to make this work. And she was going to make it work.

  She had to.

  ‘We’re going to be OK. I promise, Lexi.’ Jenna stroked a hand over the teenager’s rigid shoulder, relieved when her touch wasn’t instantly rejected. ‘We’ll have some fun.’

  ‘Fun is seeing my friends. Fun is my bedroom at home and my computer—’

  Jenna didn’t point out that they didn’t have a home any more. Clive had sold it—the beautiful old Victorian house that she’d tended so lovingly for the past thirteen years. When they’d first married money had been tight, so she’d decorated every room herself…

  The enormity of what she’d lost engulfed her again and Jenna drew in a jerky breath, utterly daunted at the prospect of creating a new life from scratch. By herself.

  Lexi dug her hand in her pocket and pulled out her mobile phone. ‘No signal. Mum, there’s no signal!’ Panic mingled with disgust as she waved her phone in different directions, trying to make it work. ‘I swear, if there’s no signal in this place I’m swimming home. It’s bad enough not seeing my friends, but not talking to them either is going to be the end.’

  Not by herself, Jenna thought. With her daughter. Somehow they needed to rediscover the bond they’d shared before the stability of their family had been blown apart.

  ‘This is a great opportunity to try a few different things. Develop some new interests.’

  Lexi gave her a pitying look. ‘I already have interests, Mum. Boys, my friends, hanging out, and did I say boys? Chatting on my phone—boys. Normal stuff, you know? No, I’m sure you don’t know—you’re too old.’ She huffed moodily. ‘You met Dad when you were sixteen, don’t forget.’

  Jenna flin
ched. She had just managed to put Clive out of her mind and Lexi had stuffed him back in her face. And she wasn’t allowed to say that she’d had no judgement at sixteen. She couldn’t say that the whole thing had been a mistake, because then Lexi would think she was a mistake and that wasn’t true.

  ‘All I’m asking is that you keep an open mind while you’re here, Lexi. You’ll make new friends.’

  ‘Anyone who chooses to spend their life in a place like this is seriously tragic and no friend of mine. Face it, Mum, basically I’m going to have a miserable, lonely summer and it’s all your fault.’ Lexi scowled furiously at the phone. ‘There’s still no signal. I hate this place.’

  ‘It’s probably something to do with the rocky coastline. It will be fine once we land on the island.’

  ‘It is not going to be fine! Nothing about this place is fine.’ Lexi stuffed the phone moodily back in her pocket. ‘Why didn’t you let me spend the summer with Dad? At least I could have seen my friends.’

  Banking down the hurt, Jenna fished for a tactful answer. ‘Dad is working,’ she said, hoping her voice didn’t sound too robotic. ‘He was worried you’d be on your own too much.’ Well, what was she supposed to say? Sorry, Lexi, your dad is selfish and wants to forget he has responsibilities so he can spend his summer having sex with his new girlfriend.

  ‘I wouldn’t have cared if Dad was working. I could have hung around the house. I get on all right with Suzie. As long as I block out the fact that my Dad is hooked up with someone barely older than me.’

  Jenna kept her expression neutral. ‘People have relationships, Lexi. It’s part of life.’ Not part of her life, but she wasn’t going to think about that now. For now her priorities were remembering to breathe in and out, get up in the morning, go to work, earn a living. Settling into her job, giving her daughter roots and security—that was what mattered.