The Doctor Claims His Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

‘Damper’ down in that notebook of hers but had deliberately stopped herself. Why, he didn’t know and he really shouldn’t care. He should be thinking about getting out of here and going fishing.
    A strained and unexpected silence expanded between them, vanquishing the companionable conversation that had existed when they’d been talking about work.
    Mia pushed her chair back, her shoulders suddenly rigid with tension. ‘I’ll get the dressing trolley ready and give those antibiotics. See you when you’ve finished your coffee.’ She walked out of the room, her three-quarter-length pants moving seductively across a pert behind.
    A wave of heat hit him hard and hot, and he stood up abruptly, trying to stall it. It didn’t work. All that happened was that he knocked over his chair. What the hell was going on with him?
    He’d specifically chosen this remote region to avoid women and the nightmare of relationships. It had been working really well for two years. He’d carved out a life of work and sport and he was content with his lot. He didn’t want or need anything else.
    His life was just as he wanted it.
    So his reaction to Mia made no sense at all. He’d mark it down as an aberration.
    A tall and curvaceous aberration .
    He nuked the traitorous thought with an undisputablefact. Conversation between them died once they’d exhausted talking about work. Given the strained silence that had built between them once they’d finished talking shop, they obviously had nothing in common.
    At least he’d worked that out quickly. That would kill this insane attraction dead in its tracks. Today he was going fishing and by the time Monday came around he would have got over whatever it was that was making him feel like a randy seventeen-year-old and Mia would be just another RAN.
    ‘Flynn?’
    He turned from the sink. ‘Hi, Walter. Good news. Jimmy can go home today but he has to rest. Is Ruby with you?’
    ‘Yeah. She’s with Mia.’ Walter continued to stand in the doorway, his head down, avoiding eye contact in the traditional way.
    Flynn had learned over time that just standing often meant the person wanted to say more. He turned back to the sink so he wasn’t looking straight at Walter and he waited. The two hardest lessons he’d learned since arriving on Kirra had been waiting and listening.
    ‘Mia did good with Jimmy.’
    Flynn washed the coffee-mugs. ‘She did. She knows her stuff.’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Any of your mob going fishing today?’ Flynn flicked the teatowel off the silver rail.
    ‘No.’ Walter moved his foot in circles against the lino.
    The brevity of answers was another thing he’d gotused to. ‘I thought I’d go. I fancy some barramundi for dinner.’
    Walter shook his head. ‘No fishing today, Flynn. We got a ceremony.’
    Surprise rushed through him. Usually he knew about the ceremonies and often he was invited to be part of them. ‘OK, well, I guess I’ll have to chance the fishing on my own, then.’
    ‘The ceremony is for Mia so you have to come, and bring her with you.’ Walter turned and left, walking outside to wait for Ruby and Jimmy.
    Flynn’s chest tightened as the reality of Walter’s request hit him. He had no choice—he had to go to the ceremony. He couldn’t refuse Walter’s request. As an elder on Kirra, Walter had made Flynn a ‘brother’, teaching him many of the Kirri ways. It was a relationship that was very special to him and one that helped with his work on the island.
    Images of his quiet day fishing, his day of relaxation and regrouping, burst like a balloon.
    Mia .
    Instead of fishing, he would have to spend the day with Mia at the ceremony. Mia, who was wound so tight she threatened to implode at any moment. And without work to talk about, there’d be those long, anguished silences.
    It was going to be a really long day.
    *
    Mia silently chanted some important details in her head while she walked alongside Flynn, his long strides sending tiny whirls of