He lifted his head and their mouths met again in a fierce kiss, each demanding of the other, each hungry and possessive and increasingly desperate. His entire body was consumed by a ferocious heat and he felt her hands shaking as they struggled with the buttons on his shirt.
It was the touch of her fingers against his bare chest that brought him to his senses.
Another minute more and neither of them would have stopped.
‘Kyla …’ With difficulty he broke his mouth from hers and forced his hands to release her smooth, golden flesh ‘… we have to stop. This isn’t a good idea.’
She gave a whimper of protest and leaned in towards him again, but he stepped backwards, breathing heavily.
‘Kyla, no.’
She blinked, her eyes dazed and disorientated. ‘Why—? What?’ Her mouth was soft and bruised from his kiss and he gritted his teeth and reminded himself that she knew nothing about him.
She didn’t know who he was or why he was there. But when she did. ‘Trust me. This is a mistake.’
She took a step back and when she spoke, her voice was soft. ‘Did it feel like a mistake, Ethan?’
Physically, no. But he had more sense than to take that route given the present set of circumstance. ‘We need to forget this happened.’
‘Why?’ Her blue eyes studied his face, searching for answers to the questions bubbling up inside her. ‘This wasn’t just me, it was you, too.’
‘I know that.’
‘Then—’
‘I can’t explain, but it isn’t you, it’s me,’ he growled, reaching for the door like a drowning man would have grasped anything that happened to float. ‘And now I need to go home.’
‘But—’
‘Goodnight, Kyla. Thanks for dinner.’
He didn’t wait to hear her reply, just strode out of her cottage and kept his eyes on his own front door.
Once there he switched on the kitchen light and pulled out the letter.
If nothing else, at least it would remind him of the reason he was there.
CHAPTER SIX
HE STRODE into her consulting room next morning with a piece of paper in his hand.
‘I’ve had the blood results on Shelley.’
Kyla stared at him. That was it?
They’d shared a kiss that had probably shaken the foundations of the island and that was all he had to say?
Her heart thundering at a dangerous pace, she waited for him to make some reference to the previous evening, but he was remote and businesslike. Cold. Unapproachable. It was as if the kiss had never happened.
Clearly he hadn’t suffered the same restless night that she had.
Kyla sighed inwardly, still unable to believe that he’d stopped so abruptly. The question was why? Evanna was obviously right. He had issues. It was just frustrating that he was unwilling to share them. Deciding that this wasn’t the time or the place to try and fight him, she looked at him expectantly. ‘And what do her results say?’
‘It’s definitely ITP. But her platelet levels are reasonable so hopefully it will resolve by itself in a few months. I’ve had a chat with the haematologist and his advice is to do nothing for the time being. We’ll check her blood again regularly and see how she goes.’
‘That’s good news.’ Kyla’s relief was genuine. ‘Mary will be delighted to hear all that.’
‘I’ve called them and asked them to come to surgery this afternoon. Five o’clock. I thought you might like to be there.’