Rescuing Dr Macallister. Sarah Morgan

then leapt out the other side as if it had barely noticed the impediment. Great. What wouldn’t she have given for a car like that on a night like this?

      Still, she might be able to make use of it.

      Ignoring the fact that the wind was trying to tear her coat from her shoulders, she braced her legs apart, stood in the middle of the road and windmilled her arms.

       Oh, please, please, let the driver stop.

      If the driver could drop her at the end of Lindsay’s lane, she’d save precious time.

      The car pulled up and there was a soft purr as the window on the passenger side slid down.

      The wind whipped her sodden hair across her face and she raked it to one side impatiently as she leaned inside to talk to the driver.

      ‘Thank goodness you stopped!’ She was shouting to make herself heard above the wind. ‘I need a lift, it’s an emergency.’

      Without waiting for an invitation, she yanked open the door and clambered into the passenger seat, giving an exclamation of disgust as the wind tried to drag the door from her hand.

      With considerable difficulty she slammed it shut, closed the electric window and turned to the driver with a relieved smile.

      ‘What a night! Thank goodness you came along when you did. I was in a spot of bother.’

      There was an ominous silence and in the darkness the driver’s features were barely visible. When he finally spoke, his voice had a hard edge. ‘Do you have a death wish?’

      The temperature inside the car suddenly seemed lower than outside, and Ellie’s merry smile faltered slightly as she looked into glittering black eyes.

      ‘Of course I don’t have a death wish.’

      ‘You took an absurd risk.’

      ‘By driving through the ford?’ She gave a chuckle and toed off her wet shoes. ‘I hate to point out the obvious, but you drove through it, too!’

      ‘In a vehicle designed for those sorts of conditions,’ he growled. ‘The same can’t be said for your car.’

      ‘Wasn’t she amazing?’ Ellie squinted through clogged lashes towards her little car, her tone warm with affection. ‘I mean, I know she conked out on me but at least she made it through the water.’

      ‘You could have been killed.’

      ‘Relax, will you?’ She smiled cheerfully as she peeled off her soaking wet coat and pulled her sodden jumper over her head. ‘I’ve got nine lives.’

      ‘Not any more.’ His voice was clipped. ‘You just lost at least three back there in the river.’

       Why was he so angry?

      ‘I’ve been driving through that ford since I was young, although admittedly I haven’t done it for a while now. There was no danger.’

      She dropped her wet clothes onto the floor of the car and tugged her wet shirt out of her trousers.

      ‘Are you planning to remove all your clothes?’

      ‘Just the outer layers,’ she assured him. ‘I’m soaked to the skin and I don’t want to get hypothermia. What I really need is a towel. I don’t suppose...?’ Her voice trailed off as she saw the expression in his eyes. ‘No, you’re not the type to carry a towel in the car.’

      He seemed to struggle to find his voice. ‘I don’t generally need towels when I drive,’ he said finally, and she rubbed her arms to keep warm.

      ‘Well, you should,’ she told him. ‘They can be very useful. I remember one time when I was driving home from work, I passed this injured sheep—’

      He blinked in disbelief. ‘Sheep?’

      ‘Yes, sheep.’ She gave him an odd look and then shrugged and carried on. ‘Anyway, she’d managed to wriggle her way under the barbed-wire fence and she was totally wedged and every time she moved the wire embedded itself deeper in her wool and— why are you looking at me like that?’

      ‘I’ve never met anyone that talks as much as you. I’m wondering when you breathe.’

      ‘I can breathe and talk,’ she assured him. ‘As I was saying, she was stuck, and I’ve tried rescuing sheep with bare hands before and it’s always been a disaster, but luckily I had a towel in my car and so I used that and it was brilliant. I always carry one now. You should too.’

      He stared at her for a long time and then finally stirred and cleared his throat. ‘I’ll remember that. In the meantime, I do have a blanket on the back seat. Please feel free to use it.’

      ‘Oh, thanks.’ Completely unselfconscious, Ellie reached into the back, grabbed the blanket and then shook herself like a drenched kitten. Droplets of water flew from her dark hair and landed on the driver. ‘Gosh, I’m soaked and freezing. Can we turn your heating up?’

      ‘Be my guest.’

      She glanced at him warily as she fiddled with the controls of his fancy car.

      ‘You’re looking at me in a funny way. I suppose you think I’m very forward, but I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to get hypothermia. I remember once when I got really wet—’

      ‘Do you always talk this much?’

      ‘Are you always this tense?’ She peered at him, trying to read his expression in the semi-darkness. ‘Have I made you late or something? It was very kind of you to stop.’

      ‘You were standing in the middle of the road,’ he reminded her with exaggerated patience. ‘I had no choice but to stop. It was that or run you over.’

      ‘If you’re trying to convince me that given the choice you would have driven past me and left me there, you won’t succeed,’ she said cheerfully. ‘No one would be that heartless.’

      There was a long pause and when he finally spoke his tone was chilly. ‘You have a worrying faith in human nature.’

      She frowned. ‘No, I haven’t. Most people are very kind-hearted. Like you. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along when you did. You’re my knight in shining armour and I’ll love you forever.’ She snuggled under the blanket and gave him a wide smile which faltered when she saw the look on his face. ‘What? Why are you looking at me like that? What have I done now?’

      In the gloom his expression was hard to read but she sensed his exasperation.

      ‘Are you always this reckless?’

      ‘Reckless?’ She subdued a yawn and snuggled deeper under the blanket. ‘When was I reckless?’

      ‘When?’ He lifted one dark eyebrow and his expression was ironic. ‘Well, let’s see—was it when you drove the ford in a car no bigger than a sewing machine, or flagged down a total stranger, climbed into his car, stripped off your clothes and declared undying love—’

      ‘Not undying love exactly,’ Ellie corrected him with a quick frown. ‘More eternal thanks.’

      He gritted his teeth. ‘You’re not safe to be let out alone. Didn’t your father teach you never to accept lifts from strange men?’

      For a brief moment Ellie’s smile faltered. ‘Yes,’ she said in a small voice, ‘I suppose he did.’

      ‘So what were you doing, flagging down a total stranger?’

      ‘Well, it was that or die of exposure,’ Ellie said logically, pushing away thoughts of her beloved father. ‘Dad may have taught me not to accept lifts from strange men, but he also taught me to use my head in a crisis. And tonight is definitely a crisis.’

      ‘I could be anyone.’ His voice had a hard edge, but Ellie just smiled trustingly and snuggled further under the blanket.