He physically recoiled at the thought of losing her and stopped in his tracks. How could he already feel a connection to this woman he barely knew? Most people would blame the dramatic nature of their encounter, but truthfully, to him, that drama had been minor. He was a military trained physician and for the past five years had had a decorated career as a trauma specialist. Pulling a beautiful woman to safety was a nice day at the office compared to the horrors he had witnessed.
It must be the emotional resemblance to Sabrina. The first time he’d seen that look in Sabrina he had missed it. He had been away for too long and hadn’t noticed the sadness in his little sister’s eyes. His role as a big brother had circumvented his role as a physician and he’d missed all the warning signs of depression his sister had been experiencing. She had been thinner than he’d remembered, with dark rings of fatigue under her eyes. She had rarely smiled and when he had tried to arrange activities to cheer her up, she had gotten no pleasure out of things that had previously made her happy.
Classic depression, and he, her big brother, the physician, had missed it and had just thought she’d been heartbroken and would get over it. That she had been better off. But in the end that hadn’t mattered. Instead, Sabrina had suffered for over a year before she’d hit rock bottom and he had never stopped blaming himself. He should have been there for her. He should have recognized the signs and gotten help for her earlier. He had failed her. He hadn’t protected her from the man who had broken her heart and he hadn’t realized how badly she’d needed help to be put back together.
The thought monologue snapped him back to Erin. She had thanked him for saving her. He wished that it was enough to reassure him. Hadn’t Sabrina always smiled politely through her pain? The one thing he was certain of was that this was not their last encounter. Was it a sense of responsibility he felt to her? Intrigue at the cause of her sadness? Or the fact that she smelled of wildflowers and had felt soft and right pressed against him. At this point it didn’t matter, his mind was made up. This was not the end of their story, it was merely the beginning.
ERIN SPOONED ANOTHER morsel of the warm decadent bread pudding into her mouth and let both the food and the ambiance overwhelm her senses. The local pub she had ventured to for dinner had been everything she’d been looking for; the noise and activity were a perfect distraction from the constant replay of her own thoughts. She had almost died today. She might have died had Ryan not saved her. The worst part was it would have been a stupid reason to die.
She needed to take responsibility for inadvertent actions. For her constant ability to let people, mainly her now ex-husband, manipulate her. But today it stopped. When she’d got back to her hotel room, she had torn up the new messages that awaited her and instead lounged in a hot bath and thought about what she wanted in life. She wanted to make a difference to the lives of others, just as Ryan had done for her today. The best way to do that was through her work as an obstetrician-gynecologist. So there was no way she was going to leave her training at Boston General, no matter what demands her ex made.
“Is this seat taken?” A deep voice interrupted her repetition of the earlier inner pep talk. She looked up and saw Ryan. He had changed from his running clothes and was flawless in a button-down navy collared shirt and charcoal-gray dark denim. How was it possible in a city of five hundred thousand people she would run into Ryan again? Attraction followed by fear coursed through her. She wanted to say yes and protect herself from once again being swayed by a handsome man, but how could she? Ryan had saved her life. The least she could do was agree to let him join her table.
“No, go ahead,” she agreed, gesturing to the single chair opposite her.
“Are you staying nearby?”
“Yes. You?”
“At the Glasshouse.” She felt her eyebrows rise and her eyes widen as he named her hotel. It felt as if they were being drawn together and that was a tough feeling to reconcile in the face of her newfound decision to take charge of her own life.
“How long are you going to be in Edinburgh?” Maybe he would be gone before she had to worry about her feelings toward him.
“A few days. You?”
“The same.” Of course, she thought to herself. She took a long sip of the local rhubarb cider she had nursed throughout her meal.
“So you are not running away from your life permanently?”
She looked up to meet his eyes, surprised that he had raised her impulsive comment. “No, I’m afraid that is not an option.”
“Glad to hear it.” The waitress arrived at their table and took Ryan’s order. She was a gorgeous Scottish redhead, tall with a body as luxurious as her hair. She waited for Ryan to notice but he was polite and otherwise unconcerned with the other woman. “I hope you don’t mind sticking around for a bit. It’s been a long time since I’ve had good company.”
“How do you know I’ll be good company?”
“Because you’re beautiful to look at and you speak your mind, making you interesting to talk to. It’s a rare but highly sought-after combination.”
He thought she was beautiful. When had she last heard that? She tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear before finally looking up to meet his eyes. “I don’t know what to say to that.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Erin. That’s the benefit of having dinner with a stranger. You don’t owe me anything.”
“I think I owe you a lot,” she acknowledged.
“So tell me something about yourself and we’ll call it even.”
She thought of all the things she could tell him. She was a physician. She worked at the same hospital as her stepfather and ex-husband. She was recently divorced from the only man she had ever been in a serious relationship with. None of those topics she wanted to discuss. “I was born in Scotland.”
“You don’t sound Scottish.” He was smiling at her and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of warmth from him.
“We moved when I was one. This is my first time back.”
“Your father never brought you here when you were growing up?”
“No. My father died when I was ten.”
He reached across the table and rested his hand on hers. “I’m sorry.”
This was where she normally said “That’s okay” as casually as she could muster, but something about Ryan changed her response. “Thank you.”
His hand lingered on hers until the waitress returned with his dark draft beer. “So tell me something about yourself,” she said, genuinely interested in the man before her.
“What do you want to know?”
“Am I the first woman you have ever pulled off a hillside?”
“First, and hopefully last. What else?” He leaned back in his chair and looked completely relaxed with opening his life up to her questions.
“Where are you stationed?”
“I’ve been mainly in combat zones in the Middle East for the past five years.”
“Do you like it?”
“Combat?”
“Being in the military.”
“Yes. I originally joined to help pay for school but found myself