He’d hurt women before. Plenty of them. And it had never particularly bothered him. He’d always thought it more cruel to let a woman delude herself and spend hours waiting by the phone for a call that wasn’t going to come.

Fast and sharp, that’s how he would have wanted it, so that’s how he’d delivered it.

The difference was that he wasn’t doing this for himself. He was doing it for Flora and there was a certain irony in the fact that his first truly unselfish act was causing her pain. And he was in agony.

Suddenly realising that Agatha was watching him closely, he pulled himself together. ‘Do you have the central heating on at home?’

‘Of course. This is Glenmore.’ Her tone was dry. ‘Without central heating I’d be too cold to sit at the computer.’

‘Try logging on to somewhere warm,’ he drawled, examining her eyes carefully. ‘Mauritius is nice at this time of year. Central heating can make the irritation and redness a little worse. Tear secretion does reduce with age, Mrs Patterson.’

‘So do all the other secretions, Dr MacNeil.’ She gave him a saucy wink and Conner shook his head and started to laugh.

‘I can’t believe we’re having this conversation. What were you like at twenty, Agatha?’

‘I would have given you a run for your money, that’s for sure.’ She leaned forward, a twinkle in her eyes. ‘You wouldn’t have been able to walk away from that beach after a night with me.’

‘I have no trouble believing you. All right, this is what we’re going to do. I’m going to start by giving you artificial tears to use. It they don’t make a difference, I can refer you to an ophthalmologist on the mainland for an opinion.’

‘Can I contact him by email?’

Conner grinned and sat back down in his chair. ‘I’m sure he’d be delighted to hear from you. Try the drops first. They might do the trick.’ He studied his computer screen, clicked on the drug he wanted and printed off a prescription.

‘You’re a handsome one, aren’t you?’ Agatha gave a cheeky smile. ‘If I’d seen you sixty years ago, you wouldn’t have stood a chance.’

‘Now, that’s a pick-up line I haven’t heard before.’ Conner took the prescription out of the printer and stood up. ‘Try these. If you have no joy, come back to me.’

‘I certainly will.’ She took the prescription, folded it and tucked it into her handbag. Then she stood up. ‘The beach is still nice, you know. If you fancied paying a visit.’

Conner laughed. ‘Get out of here, Agatha.’

‘I’m going. I’m going.’ And she left the room with slightly more bounce and energy than she’d shown when she’d entered it.

* * *