Flora began to wish that Glenmore was larger and busier. After her last humiliating encounter with Conner she was the one avoiding him, if such a thing was possible on an island as small as this one.

She arrived at work, hurried to her consulting room and then straight out on her calls. She didn’t spend time in the staffroom and if she needed a doctor’s advice on a patient, she sought out Logan.

It should have helped, but it didn’t. She felt dreadful.

On the outside she looked as she always had—a little paler perhaps, but pretty much the same. But on the inside…on the inside she was ripped to shreds. She was mortified that she’d misinterpreted his actions and felt foolish beyond words for ever believing that a woman like her—boring Flora—could ever be attractive to a man like Conner.

He was a woman’s dream, wasn’t he?

She might be relatively inexperienced, but she wasn’t blind. Women’s eyes followed him wherever he went. That wicked, careless streak that defied the opinion of society was one of the very things that made him so appealing. He was his own person. As strong of mind as he was of body.

And she had to put him out of her mind and move on.

So she concentrated on work and succeeded in avoiding contact with him until one afternoon a thirteen-year-old boy with a cheeky smile and long, lanky limbs tapped on her door.

Recognising him immediately, Flora waved a hand towards the empty chair. ‘Hi, Fraser, come on in. How are the summer holidays going?’

‘Too fast.’ The boy gave a shrug and stood awkwardly just inside the door.

Aisla, his mother, gave him a gentle push towards the chair. ‘For goodness’ sake, she isn’t going to bite you!’ She rolled her eyes at Flora. ‘Honestly, these teenagers. They’re men one minute and boys the next. He’s terrified you’re going to tell him to undress.’

Fraser shot his mother a horrified look, gave a grunt of embarrassment and slunk into the chair.

Flora smiled at him. ‘What’s the problem, Fraser?’

‘It’s my legs. Well, this leg mostly.’ He stuck it out in front of him and frowned down at the mud and the bruises. ‘I was doing football camp up at the school but I’ve had to stop.’

‘Both the doctors are fully booked but Janet said you’d take a look and decide what we need to do,’ Aisla said quickly. ‘I don’t know whether he needs an X-ray or what.’

‘Did something happen? Did you fall?’

‘I fall all the time. It’s part of football.’ Fraser rubbed his leg and Aisla gave a long-suffering sigh.

‘I can vouch for that. You should see the colour of his clothes. I swear that all the mud of Glenmore is in my washing machine.’