LITMIR.BIZ

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of laughter in his eyes as he flicked off the internal light. ‘Come on, then, I’ll take you. If I don’t, there’s no knowing what you’ll get up to. You need a bodyguard.’

      He released the handbrake and drove up the road, handling the car skilfully as he negotiated the fierce storm and the lethal driving conditions.

      ‘Directions?’

      ‘Further up on the right.’ She paused, her teeth chattering, looking for landmarks. ‘Stop here!’

      The man pulled up and squinted down the dark track. ‘I don’t see anything.’

      ‘Well, the farmhouse is in a dip.’ Ellie released the blanket and he frowned at her.

      ‘What are you doing now?’

      ‘I’ll walk from here.’

      ‘Like hell you will.’ He muttered something under his breath and swung the vehicle into the lane.

      She gasped and grabbed the seat to steady herself as it jolted viciously into the first pothole. ‘You can’t drive down here. You’ll lose your suspension.’

      ‘This is a four-wheel-drive,’ he reminded her, his expression grim as he adjusted the headlights, his eyes fixed on the track. ‘Just hang on.’

      In no position to argue, she did just that, bracing herself as the vehicle lurched from the left to the right.

      Finally he reached the end of the lane and they could see that every light in Lindsay’s farmhouse was blazing.

      He pulled to a halt and unlocked the doors.

      In an impulsive gesture, she leaned across, briefly kissed his rough cheek and then shrugged the blanket off her shoulders and grabbed her sodden clothes.

      ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you. You saved my life. Now, go and get yourself something to eat.’ She grimaced as she slid her feet into her soaking wet boots and, without giving him a chance to speak, slid out of the car and sprinted to the front door, knowing that it would be open. It was always open. Lindsay refused to lock it.

      ‘Linny?’ She paused in the hallway and shouted for her cousin. ‘Lin? It’s me. Where are you?’

      She heard a muffled sob and took the stairs two at a time. ‘Lindsay?’

      Throwing open doors, she charged around the upstairs of the farmhouse until she finally found her cousin crouching in a ball in the bathroom, her face streaked with tears.

      ‘Oh, Lin...’ Ellie dropped to her knees and scooped her cousin into her arms. ‘It’s OK. I’m here now. Everything’s going to be fine.’

      ‘I thought no one was ever going to get here—’ Lindsay broke off with a gasp of pain and clutched at Ellie’s hand. ‘Paul’s away and it’s going to take him hours to get home, the midwife is stranded, I thought I was going to be on my own...’

      Ellie hugged her tightly. ‘You’re not on your own. And you should have known I’d get here.’

      Lindsay gave a sob. ‘If the midwife couldn’t manage it, how come you could?’

      ‘I had a stroke of luck,’ Ellie said evasively, not wanting to mention the ford. ‘How are you feeling?’

      ‘Scared. It’s not meant to come this early, and I’m not meant to be at home. Oh, Ellie, what’s going to happen?’

      ‘You’re going to have a baby, and it’s going to be fine.’

      ‘Ugh!’ Lindsay shrank away from her. ‘You’re soaked!’

      ‘Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, there’s a storm raging outside,’ Ellie reminded her. ‘It’s raining.’

      Lindsay gave a soft gasp of pain and rubbed her bump gently. ‘This is the Lake District. It always rains. It has to or we wouldn’t have lakes. You’d better help yourself to some dry clothes.’

      ‘In a minute.’ Ellie looked at her closely. ‘Are you OK?’

      ‘Honestly?’ Lindsay bit her lip and shook her head. ‘No. I’m really panicking. I know it’s all going to go wrong.’

      ‘Why should it go wrong?’

      A deep male voice came from behind them and Ellie turned in surprise and shock. For a brief moment she’d forgotten about the man in the car. When she’d left him at a run she’d assumed that he’d be driving back down the lane and out of her life. Instead, he was leaning against the doorway of the bathroom, surveying them both through slightly narrowed eyes.

      Lindsay glanced at him and then back at Ellie, her expression bemused. ‘I— Who are you?’

      ‘A doctor. In the circumstances, I thought you might be glad of some help.’

      Ellie gaped at him. He was a doctor? ‘You don’t look like a doctor.’

      ‘You shouldn’t be influenced by appearances.’ His gaze mocked her as he reminded her of their earlier conversation and she gave a weak smile.

      ‘Touché.’

      Lindsay was staring at him. ‘You’re an obstetrician?’

      ‘No.’ His tone was clipped and businesslike. ‘But I have delivered plenty of babies in the course of my career. Your cousin mentioned that she isn’t a midwife so I thought I’d better check whether you needed help before I left.’

      Ellie felt her body flood with relief. She’d been secretly terrified that she’d end up delivering the baby on her own. But he was a doctor.

      He’d saved her life twice in one night.

      ‘We need help,’ she said firmly, ‘most definitely, don’t we, Linny?’

      Lindsay looked apprehensive. ‘But we don’t know him, El.’

      ‘I do. He’s already rescued me once tonight already and it’s only nine o’clock. Trust me, he’s a hero. Cool, calm and totally in control. The perfect person to have around in a crisis. A bit tense, maybe...’ Ellie’s green eyes twinkled with laughter as she glanced at the stranger ‘...but he can’t help that. I’ll make him a bacon sandwich if I get a minute. I’m sure his blood sugar is low.’

      ‘My blood sugar is fine. And I’m beginning to think I should have left you stranded by the side of the road.’ He looked at her with exasperation and then his gaze flickered to Lindsay. ‘Is she always like this?’

      ‘Worse usually,’ Lindsay informed him, a weak smile touching her lips despite her own predicament. ‘She’s totally irrepressible. Says what she thinks and always laughs at the wrong time.’

      Ellie looked indignant. ‘I don’t see that there’s ever a wrong time to laugh.’

      Lindsay was staring at the doctor. ‘What did you mean when you said you should have left her at the side of the road? Why was she at the side of the road?’

      Ellie reached for a towel and started rubbing her hair. ‘My car broke down.’

      Lindsay’s eyes widened. ‘Why?’

      ‘Who knows?’ Ellie ignored the man’s ironic glance. ‘Anyway, this man saved me. And his name is—is...’

      She broke off and stared at him blankly, suddenly aware that she hadn’t even asked his name.

      ‘Maybe you should have asked me that before you climbed into my car and stripped off,’ he suggested softly, and Lindsay’s expression was comical, her voice little more than a squeak.

      ‘What does he mean, you stripped off?’

      ‘I was soaking wet,’ Ellie explained quickly, glaring at the man crossly. What was she supposed to have done? Stayed in her sodden clothes?

      He watched her for a long moment and a ghost of a smile played around

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