More Than A Gift. Josie Metcalfe

snatched a shallow breath, anything deeper being impossible while hanging in this position, and twisted towards the seat-belt release, resolved not to let it beat her this time.

      She’d completely forgotten about the way the car rocked when she moved too quickly, and this time freezing in position when the metal panels groaned wasn’t enough. With a lurch and a shudder she felt the vehicle shift towards the unknown blackness outside, the momentum growing as it began to roll.

      ‘No!’ she screamed, helplessly trying to brace herself against the movement, even though she knew she was powerless to prevent it happening.

      With the unearthly groaning and crashing going on all around her, the car rolled from its side to its roof and almost onto the other side while Laurel was tossed as helplessly as a puppet on a string.

      She was utterly convinced that the next revolution would take her over the edge of an escarpment to her death in the valley far below, but then her head swung into the frame of the door beside her and everything went black.

      Dmitri glared out at the snow swirling across the road in front of him and swore out loud.

      ‘That’s all I needed,’ he groaned, deliberately reverting to English. He tried reminding himself that there would be a great deal more snow than this in his native country, but it didn’t help his temper.

      ‘If only I’d done something about it as soon as I saw her car,’ he muttered. ‘Now, who knows which road she’s taken. It could be months before I get that close again.’

      Hearing the words aloud made him pause.

      Months?

      Was he really willing to put his life on hold while he searched the length and breadth of the country to track the wretched woman down again? It had taken him two weeks just to track down which hospital she’d been working at last, and it had taken all the charm he’d been able to muster to persuade one of her neighbours to remember that she’d mentioned a possible Christmas break in Cumbria.

      He couldn’t imagine the magnitude of the coincidence that had put the two of them on the same motorway at exactly the same time…and then he’d lost her again.

      So, he had a decision to make. He had another two weeks before he had to make a decision about the date of his return to work in Russia, two weeks that he could spend visiting Babushka Ana and getting his life in order, or he could spend it trying to complete his search for Laurel.

      He’d come so close this afternoon that he could almost have reached out and touched her car. If he hadn’t decided to bide his time…

      But did he really want to spend two precious weeks chasing down a woman who’d left him without a backward glance? Shouldn’t he go back to Babushka Ana as soon as possible? She’d been so frail last time he’d seen her. Who knew how long she had left?

      Not that she knew who he was half the time, but still…she had been the one constant in his life for so many years that he couldn’t help the guilt when he thought of her days passing endlessly without family to visit her.

      But if a few more days or weeks meant finding out what had happened to Laurel, why she’d disappeared like that…

      As ever, her image was clear in his mind—the long, softly curling hair that made him think of Christmas angels, the sweetly expressive face and those fascinating amber eyes. It had been the hidden shadows in those eyes that had first caught his attention a year ago when he’d joined the staff at the hospital where she’d just been finishing her training.

      Not that she’d done anything to attract his attention. Far from it.

      In fact, it had taken him several weeks of concerted effort before he’d realised that, far from downplaying her beauty, she’d actually been totally oblivious to it.

      He still marvelled at her innocence, and the unexpectedly passionate way she’d responded to him, even as he railed at the way she’d suddenly disappeared from the hospital and his life, apparently uncaring of the fact that they had an ongoing relationship.

      It was that relationship and, yes, he wasn’t too proud to admit it, a measure of injured ego that had prompted him to spend this time trying to find out why she’d left.

      But was he willing to spend more weeks tracking Laurel down? The heat that poured through him when he remembered the way she’d responded to his kisses gave him his answer. Yes, he was, even if he gained no more than the satisfaction of finding out why she’d run away.

      The heat became the slow burn of anger and determination that had prompted him to plan his final quest during the last days of his job in England, and had accompanied him throughout his search. Then the car wheels gave a sudden slew sideways and he had to drag his concentration back to the road. He wouldn’t be in a fit state to search for anyone if he were trapped in a heap of crumpled metal at the side of the road.

      ‘How much further is it to this place?’ he muttered, not even daring to glance at the map he’d left open on the passenger seat beside him. ‘What was it called? Something that made me think of the Garden of Eden.’

      He pulled a face at the dimly perceived scenery through which he was passing. It had looked quite spectacular until the light had faded and the snow had started falling. Now it looked far from idyllic, just somewhere on the road to…Edenthwaite! That was it! Although why Laurel wanted to go there was way beyond him.

      He’d been so sure that she’d been enjoying her work as a newly qualified nurse, and enjoying the relationship they’d been forging together. Obviously, he’d been wrong or she wouldn’t have left like that, without even a word to…

      ‘What was that?’ He took his foot off the pedal and peered towards the ragged top of the stone wall beside him and the metallic flash that had caught his eye.

      As it receded in his rear-view mirror he realised that someone must have crashed into it at some time because the flash had been a reflection from broken shards of glass or a mirror.

      ‘Thank goodness it didn’t happen tonight,’ he murmured when he noted the lack of tyre tracks in the layer of snow beginning to gather across the road and on the limestone blocks that made up the bordering walls. ‘I pity anyone who crashes up here tonight. If the snow keeps falling like this, it could be days before anyone finds them.’

      With new caution in each movement, he allowed the car to pick up a bit of speed again. There was no point loitering in the middle of nowhere in this weather when he could be booking into the hotel in Edenthwaite.

      ‘I’ll make some phone calls tonight to find out where she’s staying. If she was making for Edenthwaite, it’s probably because she’s hoping to get a job in the hospital, or she’s about to take up a post there. By tomorrow, I should be able to start asking some questions,’ he said firmly. ‘There must be some reason why she’s been moving about so much—some reason why she was heading in this particular direction—and I’m going to find out what it is.’

      Then, perhaps, he’d be able to go back to Russia with a clear conscience. At least he wouldn’t be left with the nagging feeling that he should have tried just a little harder to find the woman who was never very far from his mind.

      ‘Where are all the cars when I need them?’ Laurel groaned, her eyes fixed on the cock-eyed view in the mirror. At least she wasn’t totally upside down any more. The car seemed to be on its side.

      The cold had seeped into the car slowly at first but there was no heat left at all now. She was shivering all the time, and her head was aching after the collision with the door frame. She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious but her brain was still functioning well enough to appreciate the irony of the situation.

      ‘After all this time of keeping a low profile and making sure I don’t do anything to draw attention to myself,’ she groaned. How many times had she caught sight of her pursuer and known that it had been time to move on yet again? It must be four or five times since she’d read that letter and realised the significance