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TOOK the best part of an hour before they reached the waiting ambulance. Ally and Sean supervised as the stretchers were lifted into the vehicles.
Risking a surreptitious glance at Sean, Ally’s eyes skimmed his hard, male profile, resting for a moment on the strong nose and dark jaw.
‘Good-looking devil, isn’t he?’ Jack shot her a knowing grin and she gave him what she hoped was a casual smile as they moved away from the ambulance.
‘If you like Milk Tray.’
Jack looked baffled. ‘What’s Milk Tray got to do with it?’
Ally’s cheeks dimpled into an impish grin. ‘You know, man dives under water, scales mountains, leaps off cliffs and all because the lady loves…remember?’
Jack grinned. ‘Oh, right. Yes, that’s our Sean. Women usually can’t leave him alone.’
She could well believe it. There surely wasn’t a woman alive who wouldn’t find Sean Nicholson attractive. Dark-fringed lashes shielded an expression of cool indifference which she’d seen change to burning anger and molten sexuality.
As if sensing her scrutiny, he turned suddenly, one dark eyebrow lifting questioningly as he caught her looking at him. Throwing a final remark to one of the team members, he strode over to them, his eyes fixed on Ally.
‘Take a hike, Jack.’ It was a quiet order and Jack glanced curiously at the two of them before strolling back to his colleagues, whistling softly.
Ally’s heart thudded. Why on earth had she been stupid enough to get caught staring like a besotted teenager?
‘So how do you know Jack?’ She huddled deeper inside her jacket, although whether for protection from the weather or Sean she wasn’t sure. He made her nervous and he knew it.
‘I don’t want to talk about Jack.’
Ally shrugged casually and concentrated on watching the ambulance. ‘So what do you want to talk about, Dr Nicholson?’
‘Us.’
Her heart stumbled and her eyes flew to his. ‘Us?’
He reached out a hand and tugged off her hat, a wry smile twisting his firm mouth as her totally unmanageable blonde curls tumbled over her shoulders.
‘So…I was half right. Blonde—but not dizzy.’
Ally took a deep breath. She was feeling pretty dizzy at that precise moment.
‘Sean—’
‘I want to see you again, Ally.’
His eyes trapped hers and her heart thudded against her ribcage. The man certainly came straight to the point. Whatever happened to ‘perhaps you might like to’ or ‘would you consider?’. But that was Sean all over, or so it seemed. What the man wanted, the man got.
She lifted her chin and feigned indifference. ‘Why? You want abseiling lessons or first-aid training?’ She used bravado to cover up how shy and uncomfortable this man made her feel, and he laughed out loud, a powerful figure, his feet planted slightly apart, shielding her from the curious glances of the rest of the mountain rescue team.
‘Neither.’ His smile curled around his insides. ‘I want you, Dr McGuire.’
Her palms were damp and her breathing was difficult. ‘And what about what I want, Dr Nicholson?’
His lazy, totally male appraisal made her heart lurch. ‘You want exactly the same as me—it’s just a question of whether you’re brave enough to admit it on such short acquaintance.’
For a moment Ally stared at him, almost hypnotised by his gaze. She didn’t want the same as him. She didn’t. She had Charlie. A safe, steady relationship with none of the fire and heat that this man poured over her.
‘You’re assuming I’m not involved with anyone.’
He stared at her for a long moment, a muscle working in that hard jaw. ‘Are you?’
‘Yes.’
‘And he lets you wander the fells on your own?’ He scowled angrily. ‘You should ditch him. No man worth his salt would allow that. He should be protecting you.’
‘Charlie doesn’t own me.’ She forced herself to hold his gaze. ‘And I don’t need protecting.’
His jaw tightened. ‘That’s a matter of opinion.’
‘Sean, we’re off!!’ Jack shouted across to them, and Sean’s mouth tightened.
‘We’ll finish this discussion another time.’
He turned on his heel and walked towards the ambulance, leaving her trembling. What did he mean, they’d finish the discussion another time? With shaking hands she pulled her hat on. She didn’t want there to be another time. She never, ever wanted to see him again. Not if she lived to be a hundred. He made her feel vulnerable and exposed. He brought all her emotions to the surface, emotions that had been hidden for a long time and needed to stay hidden. She didn’t want to be forced to confront those feelings. She had Charlie now, and life might not be exciting but it was stable and predictable and that was all she wanted. Wasn’t it?
* * *
‘Mummy, did you really save two boys?’
‘Who told you that?’ Ally sipped her tea and mentally ran through everything she had to do before surgery. Mornings were always such a rush.
‘Uncle Jack.’ The little girl pushed her arm into the cereal packet and removed a fistful of cornflakes.
‘Charlotte McGuire, that’s disgusting!’ Ally removed the packet with a frown and pushed a piece of toast towards her daughter. ‘If you’re still hungry eat some toast.’
Blue eyes clashed with hers. ‘Toast is yuck.’
Ally took a deep breath, reminding herself that mealtimes should never be a battleground. ‘You liked toast yesterday.’
‘Well, I hate it today.’ Charlie scowled and then shrugged, obviously deciding that the toast looked quite tempting. ‘OK. One piece. If you shape it like a house. Why didn’t they die?’
Calmly Ally buttered the toast and cut out windows and a door. ‘Why didn’t who die?’
‘Those boys.’ Charlie munched happily, obviously forgetting that toast was supposed to be ‘yuck’. ‘Uncle Jack told Grandma that they were lucky you happened to be there because if you hadn’t they might have died.’
‘Well, they certainly shouldn’t have been walking without the right equipment.’ Making a mental note to talk to Jack about being so graphic in front of five-year-olds, Ally picked up the rest of the breakfast things and stacked them in the sink.
‘How would they have died?’
Ally gritted her teeth. Thanks, Jack. Thanks a bunch. ‘Well, it was very cold, sweetheart, and people can die of being too cold. But they’re fine now, so why don’t you just forget about them and get ready for school?’
Charlie didn’t want to forget it. ‘Karen doesn’t always wear her coat in the playground so does that mean she could die?’
‘No, it doesn’t,’ Ally said quickly, wiping her hands on the towel. ‘It isn’t the same thing at all. The boys on the mountain were wet through from a waterfall and that made them even colder. And up in the mountains is much colder than the playground. Now then, if you don’t hurry up and clean your teeth you’re going to be late.’
Charlie slipped off the stool, skipping through the kitchen to the stairs.
Ally breathed a sigh of relief. Having a five-year-old with an enquiring mind was a mixed blessing.
She grabbed both coats and Charlie’s schoolbag, and they climbed into Ally’s little car to drive the short distance to