The Nurse Who Stole His Heart by Alison Roberts

Author:Alison Roberts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises, Australia Pty Ltd
Published: 2016-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

SO THAT WAS IT?

Luke was simply going to turn his back on Wildfire Island—and her—and ride off into the sunset without a backward glance?

Talk about hitting someone when they were already down.

Tears flowed freely as Anahera worked with Kura and Marama to prepare Tane’s body to be returned to his home and the churchyard where he would be buried within a few days.

She removed the tracheal tube, the IV lines and ECG electrodes as carefully as if her patient could still feel every touch. She brought scented water and warm, fluffy towels so that Tane’s wife and mother could bathe him. She listened to the traditional, soft songs of grief and her heart broke a little more with every verse.

The undertaker had been summoned, and Tane would have to be in his care for a while before his final voyage back to his own island. Anahera joined the solemn procession of family and friends to accompany his body to the boat. Sam walked by her side, but Luke was nowhere to be seen.

‘He’s taken it hard,’ Sam said quietly. ‘I suspect he’s got used to saving people even when they get to a critical stage. From what I hear, that’s what he did for that sheikh—Harry—who’s poured a fortune into developing the new vaccine. It’s a personal failure for him.’

‘It’s personal for all of us. These are our people.’

‘They are.’

His glance reminded Anahera that Sam had no island blood in his veins. He had been born and raised in Britain—like Luke—but he never talked about his old life except to say he was happy to have left it behind. This young doctor had virtually washed up on the shores of these islands and then had never left, but even if it hadn’t been so long ago, he would be one of her people. There was something about him that meant he had been one of them from the moment he’d arrived.

‘Is he really going to leave tomorrow?’

‘I’ve asked him not to. He thinks we can sort all the details of setting up the clinical trial for the new vaccine by internet connection but...’ Sam shook his head. ‘I get the feeling he needs to be here longer for his own sake as much as mine.’

Anahera’s heart skipped a beat. Had Luke said something? About her? About his ‘unfinished business’?

They stood a little apart as Tane’s immediate family said their temporary farewells until they could have their loved one with them again. A heart-rending wail from Kura split the air as the undertaker’s boat pushed off from the jetty.

‘We have to do all we can to make sure this doesn’t happen again,’ Sam said, his voice raw. ‘And that’s the way forward for us all. A way to deal with the grief and any sense of failure. I don’t want Luke to go off and carry this on his own shoulders. He saved Harry and he was there when the whole concept of developing the vaccine started. Actually

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