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“Really?” Pam’s face reflected every bit of the magic of that statement. “I think I’ve got a story about a lighthouse somewhere...”
Ellie took the bait, and followed Pam over to her desk. Pam produced a book from her handbag, showing it to the little girl. “Would you like to have this?”
Ellie nodded vigorously, and Pam handed over the book. “Perhaps your dad will read it with you.”
Rick was smiling. That seemed to be pretty much a constant state when he was with his daughter. “We’ll read it tonight at bedtime, shall we, Ellie? Say thank you to Mrs. Vandenberg.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Vander...” Ellie tried to get her tongue around the name and failed.
“Call me Pam. That’s a darn sight easier. We’ll put the book into a bag, so that you can carry it home with you.”
Pam selected a child-sized pink bag from under her desk, holding it open for Ellie to slide her book into it and then looping the straps over her shoulder. The little girl thanked Pam again without having to be reminded, and ran back to Rick to show him what she’d been given, while Pam turned her attention to chivvying the last of the library’s patrons off the premises and closing and locking the doors.
“I should put something in the box...” Rick murmured, reaching for his wallet, and Fleur laid her hand on his arm. Something tingled between them. Something warm and... She snatched her hand away.
“It’s okay. Pam won’t hear of it, she likes to give all the kids something. The Vandenberg millions can stand it.”
“Millions...?”
“Pam might not look much like a society lady, dripping with jewels, but she could be if she wanted it. She prefers the library, though.”
“Right. Lot to learn. Still.” Rick grinned, putting his wallet back into his pocket.
“Yep. Me too. Still.”
He shot her a smile, and then turned to follow Ellie, who had run off to look at one of the display stands. Pam returned, looking around with one of her Everything’s as it should be smiles.
“I’ll show Rick and Ellie to the children’s library. We’ll go to the reading room, I think.”
“The reading room?” That was where Pam kept the Emergency Tequila.
“I think it warrants it, don’t you?”
* * *
Rick sat on one of the low benches in the well-stocked children’s library, watching as Ellie sorted through the pile of books that they’d selected together from the shelves.
“Dad... Is Fleur your girlfriend?”
It was a reasonable enough question. Ellie knew all about girlfriends. The kind who were little more than just friends, who accompanied them on days out and sometimes spent the evening at his place, but never the night. The kind who understood when Rick told them that Ellie had to come first in his life.
“No, sweetie. I’m Fleur’s doctor, so I’m not allowed to be her boyfriend. It’s against the rules.”
“What rules?”
Just about every rule there was. The one he’d set himself that any relationship that looked as if it might impact on Ellie’s life was forbidden. The one that said he was happy living without a woman’s touch. Rick concentrated on the more obvious one.
“When you start being a doctor, you make a promise...”
“Like the Girl Scouts...?” Ellie’s face lit up. Someone had told her about the island’s Girl Scout group and she’d been talking about it ever since. “I want to join when I’m old enough...”
“Um...more or less.” It was what Ellie understood, so the comparison would have to do. “A doctor has to make a promise and keep all the rules. And one of those rules is that I’m not allowed to ask any of my women patients to be my girlfriend.”
“What if she asks you?”
“No, Ellie. It’s really important. It doesn’t matter who asks who, I’m not allowed to go out with a patient.”
“Oh.” Ellie was obviously thinking it over. Rick braced himself for whatever was coming next. “When Fleur isn’t at the clinic anymore she can be your girlfriend, though.”
