‘That’s what Dani said.’
He should shut up right now. What he ought to do was to suggest a couple of reliable tour operators and let her find her own way round the island. But the pull he felt towards her was too strong, and he found himself asking, ‘How long are you staying?’
‘Until Friday.’
Shut up, shut up, shut up.
But his mouth wasn’t listening to his common sense. ‘Then why don’t you rebook your whale trip for tomorrow morning?’ he suggested. ‘And if you like, I’ll take you on a personalised tour.’
She blinked. ‘But aren’t you helping your brother?’
It was the perfect get-out. He knew he ought to take it. But his mouth was on a roll. ‘He’s had a couple of cancellations,’ Sam said, ‘so I wasn’t doing much this week. I’m free if you’d like to come with me.’
* * *
Hayley could practically hear Dani yelling in her ear, ‘Say yes! It’s the Year of Saying Yes.’
But Sam Price was a total stranger.
Even if he was a doctor and they’d just worked together to help a patient.
And, with that dark hair brushed back from his face and soulful hazel eyes, he was also the most attractive man she’d met since Evan, the first who’d even made her look at him, which made her feel guilty. It was only just over a year since Evan had died. Was she rushing into this?
She ought to be cautious. She was in a country where she didn’t speak the language; even though everyone in Iceland spoke perfect English, this still wasn’t England. She was a three-and-a-half-hour flight away from home. The sensible thing to do would be to say no.
But this was the Year of Saying Yes.
And maybe putting caution aside was something she needed to do for once. To help her move on.
‘Yes,’ she said.
THEY REBOOKED THE whale-watching tour for the following morning, then headed to a café in the centre of the city.
‘I love the ambience here,’ Hayley said when they were settled at a table.
‘Reykjavik lives up to your expectations, then?’ Sam asked.
‘Very much,’ she said. ‘I had a walk round yesterday evening when I got here. I really want to explore that amazing-looking church—I’ve never seen a spire like that, kind of spreading out like wings.’
‘The Hallgrímskirkja,’ he said. ‘It’s meant to resemble the volcanic basalt flows—and actually there are a couple of caves by one of the beaches that have columns looking very much like that.’
‘That’s amazing.’
‘The inside of the church is actually very plain,’ he said, ‘as it’s a Lutheran church—the simplicity is lovely, though. And the views from the tower are amazing.’ He paused. ‘We could go and take a look after we’ve had coffee, if you like.’
‘I’d like that very much,’ she said, ‘if you have time.’ She looked him straight in the eye. ‘And if your partner won’t mind.’
‘No partner,’ he said. Lynda had broken their engagement the week after he’d been suspended, and he hadn’t been tempted to date anyone since. It was going to take him a while to trust again. And he wasn’t actually dating Hayley, even if he did feel a strong pull of attraction towards her.
Though he needed to be clear that she wasn’t involved with anyone, either. The lack of a ring on her left hand meant absolutely nothing, nowadays. ‘I take it that it’s the same for you?’
She nodded. ‘No partner.’
This felt like another step towards dating. But it wasn’t, he reminded himself. No commitments and no promises. They were just doing some sightseeing together, that was all.
She took a deep breath. ‘I’m not looking for pity or anything like that, but I should probably tell you that he died just over a year ago.’
So she was still grieving?
If so, that made her safe, because it meant she wouldn’t be looking for a proper relationship.
But to lose her partner... He judged her to be around his own age, early to mid thirties, so it must’ve been either an accident or a seriously aggressive form of cancer that had killed her partner; either way, she’d clearly been through a lot. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘That must’ve been hard for you.’
She nodded. ‘He was killed in an industrial accident. I’m just glad I’d kissed him goodbye that morning and my last words to him were “I love you”—I think if our last words had been something awful said in the middle of a row, it would’ve been harder to deal with.’
‘Yes.’ And Sam knew that one from experience. The morning when his career had imploded, he’d had a fight with his fiancée on the way to work. Lynda had wanted him to give up his mountain rescue work in favour of something that would boost his career at the hospital. Something on a dull committee. He’d refused.
But he should have taken notice of the way she’d been behaving towards him, that last year. Then he would’ve expected Lynda’s reaction to his suspension, a few days later, instead of being shocked to the core by it.
‘So how long have you been in Reykjavik?’ she asked.
‘Since the end of March,’ he said.
She raised her eyebrows. ‘That’s quite a career change, from working in emergency medicine to being a tour guide.’
‘Yeah.’ Sam knew he was lucky. His family had believed in him. His older brother Martin had dragged him out to Iceland, saying that the job was only temporary, but he really needed the help—and someone who had mountain rescue team experience was the perfect person to come and help with glacier walking tours.
Sam knew that Martin hadn’t needed the help at all—he just hadn’t wanted Sam to sit at home alone and brood about the situation. And Sam would be grateful for ever to his brother for giving him something else to concentrate on, without expecting him to talk about the situation or his feelings.
Hayley winced at his flat tone. ‘Sorry, that was really intrusive—you don’t owe me any explanations. Please forget I said anything.’
‘It’s OK. It was a mix of a rough patch at work and a messy break-up.’ Short and to the point. Hayley didn’t need to know his team had been suspended after a diabetic patient’s death from a silent heart attack. He’d been sure that they’d followed all the right procedures during his admission and treatment, but the patient’s family had needed someone to blame for a death that shouldn’t have happened and they’d made a complaint. The hospital trust had been duty-bound to take the complaint seriously and launch an investigation.
A week later, Lynda had broken off their engagement, worried that the stain on his career would transfer to hers because she was his fiancée—according to her, everyone would still think there was no smoke without fire. How it had hurt to discover that the one person he’d expected to bat his corner for him, the way he would’ve done if their positions had been reversed, didn’t actually believe in him. All Lynda had wanted was to buy him out of his share of their house and get his name off the mortgage.
‘I took a sabbatical because I needed a bit of space to help me decide what to do next. Iceland’s a good place to think.’ And he’d come to realise that Lynda hadn’t been right for him anyway. She’d wanted him to be something he wasn’t—the sort who’d serve on committees and boards, moving