‘Want me to help unpack all those boxes?’
‘I’d love you to, but I still haven’t decided where everything will go.’ She’d had far too much furniture sent out.
‘That’s okay. You call me when you’re ready. Ben will tell you where I live. Here’s your tea.’
Rachel took the proffered cup. ‘Thank you very much. I’ll take a look at your wounds before you leave.’
‘Thanks, Doctor, but they’ll be all right. I’m going next door now to make Ben his bacon and eggs. He gets up early too.’
Rachel pulled a chair out from the table. ‘Ben can wait a few more minutes while I check you over.’
Effie laughed as she sat down. ‘You’re not as stern as you try to sound.’
‘Must be losing my touch.’ Rachel pulled on gloves then quickly tugged off the gauze covering Effie’s wounds. ‘Looking good. Don’t get these wet, though. No shower, no swimming.’
Effie looked shocked. ‘No shower?’
‘Have a wash down.’ Rachel tried to examine the bruised eye but gave up when Effie groaned. ‘Sorry.’
‘It’s okay, Doctor.’
‘You never said how you fell.’
‘Skidded on the clean floor and banged into the glass door. Broke it, and hit my head on the corner of the bench on the way down.’ Effie gave a rueful smile. ‘Now I’ve got to go. That Ben needs feeding.’
Effie trotted down the path, favouring her injured leg, and ducked through the fence. Rachel suppressed the light envy that tripped through her. Effie was going to see Ben. And she wasn’t.
What a darned shame. She couldn’t think of a better way to start the day than rolling over in bed and finding Ben beside her. Which only went to show how much notice she took of her own warnings. Ben was out of bounds. Full stop. But he was a neighbour. She couldn’t avoid him, didn’t want to avoid him. But nothing. Ben was a handful of firm muscle, had a touch of arrogance, and, if the way he’d seen to Effie last night was anything to go by, he was someone who’d definitely put himself out there to care for others. Which made him a hero of sorts.
And she would never, ever go near a hero kind of guy again. Since when had she got over Jamie’s death enough to even be thinking about another man? The shock of losing her husband so suddenly still woke her at the deepest part of the night, sometimes with tears saturating her pillow. Her anger at Jamie was real but she missed him terribly. She wasn’t ready to move on. She might never be. The thought of suffering that kind of pain and grief again had so far stopped her wanting to get involved with another man.
What about having an affair? With someone as scorching hot as Ben? Her eyes drifted to Ben’s house. It would be so easy. Too easy. Until it was over and then what? Every morning she’d sit out on her deck and he’d be just over the fence. She’d be straining her ears to hear the slightest sound, be watching furtively for a glimpse of him. The island was too small to avoid anyone for very long. Life would be difficult if not impossible because she wasn’t the kind of woman to have a fling and walk away. Even in a brief, totally sexual encounter she gave too much of herself, needed too much back. She didn’t do sex for the sake of it. She’d tried it once while at university and had got burnt—nobody’s fault but her own. So, no fling with her neighbour.
Disappointment tugged her shoulders down. Tipping the tea away, Rachel concentrated on making another cup, this time black.
Three hours later Rachel had Riley dressed, breakfasted, and ready to start out on their first proper day in the islands. The rest of the unpacking would have to wait.
‘Need a lift?’ The deep, gruff voice of last night’s dreams broke through her thoughts from her back door.
Stomping down on a sudden burst of excitement, Rachel reluctantly told Ben, ‘Thanks, but we’re catching the bus.’
Hot damn. He looked good in his freshly pressed uniform. The light blue of his shirt accentuated the black of his eyes and hair. His biceps filled the sleeves in a mouthwatering way. The black trousers fitted perfectly. He had a body to die for. She grinned. She’d been doing a lot of that since arriving here. But who could blame her? Then Ben’s left eyebrow rose and she switched the grin off.
Riley slowly approached, shy of Ben today. ‘You read me a story last night.’
Ben bent down to his level. ‘Hey, kid, good morning.’
Those trousers stretching across Ben’s butt accentuated the very tidy shape. A shape she’d love to cup with her hands, to feel his hot flesh against her palms. Rachel closed her eyes briefly. To stop herself staring. To prevent Ben seeing the lust she knew would be gleaming there. To get herself back under control. What was wrong with her this morning? One glimpse of a man in a uniform and she was having X-rated thoughts. Oh, no. She wasn’t a uniform follower, surely? Jamie had always looked dashing in his and she’d loved ogling him. Clearly it was the uniform and not Ben that had her in such a stew. Thank goodness she’d said no to the ride.
But Riley wrecked everything by suddenly opening up to Ben, a big, peanut-butter-smeared smile on his face. ‘Can I have a ride with you in the police truck? Can we have the lights flashing?’
Ben looked bamboozled at the onslaught. ‘No lights.’
Rachel reacted without thought. ‘No, Riley. You’re not racing around the island in a police car. Taking a ride with Ben is one thing but I’ll not have you thinking you’re playing cops with him.’ Her son was not going to be a policeman. He would grow up with a balanced outlook on helping people. He would not think he had to rush in fearlessly to save people while putting himself in danger at the same time.
‘All boys want to be a policeman or fireman. It goes with the genes.’
Obviously she was meant to take him seriously. ‘Not my boy.’
‘Your call.’ Ben shrugged eloquently, letting her know he didn’t agree. Too bad. Riley was her responsibility.
Riley looked from Rachel to Ben and back. Then an abrupt subject change. ‘I’m going to play with Harry today.’
Rachel’s throat blocked. Riley had turned to Ben as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Which it definitely was not for her sad little boy. But for some inexplicable reason Ben seemed to touch a chord with Riley that no other man had since Jamie’s death. Because Ben didn’t try too hard? Fear gripped her. Was this a good idea? What if Riley got too close to him? It would break his little heart all over again when they moved on. This wasn’t a permanent destination for them. At least she hadn’t planned on it being so.
Ben glanced at her. ‘I’m leaving in five.’
Yes, so? ‘We’re going to the hospital.’
‘I go past the front door.’
The main road did not go that close to the hospital. But it would be easier to catch a ride with Ben and not have to walk up the hill to the hospital with her bag while towing Riley along as well. ‘Then thank you, I accept.’
‘Okay.’
‘Can I throw a box of medical books in your vehicle?’
‘No problem.’ He headed back down the path.
Rachel stared at his departing back. That’s it? The man had no conversational skills whatsoever. Or was that something he’d deliberately cultivated to keep people at bay? If so, why?
Come to think about it, why was someone as obviously bright and ambitious as Ben living in Rarotonga? She had nothing against Rarotonga, but she couldn’t imagine that the police department in a community this