He hadn’t changed at all. He was as ruggedly handsome as ever, his black hair neatly cropped to outline his sculpted features, those blue eyes ever watchful and his mouth beautifully expressive, just as she remembered.
‘You’re down here to take part in one of the courses being run at the Royal Pennant Hotel, I take it? I’ve been speaking to a few of the people who were attending the medical seminars.’ He had come out of his reverie and had snapped back into action in an instant, beginning to prepare the metal cradle to receive its patient.
It wasn’t so easy for Jasmine to get back into the swing of things, but she made an effort. ‘That’s right. “Critical Care and The Role of the First Responder”.’ This last day was taken up with the activities of the emergency services, and although it wasn’t an essential part of her course, she had stayed on to get a better idea of what was involved. It was already on the cards that one of these days her job with A and E might involve her going out on call. In fact, up until now the idea of doing that had been quite appealing.
‘We’d better slide you onto this stretcher and get you strapped in,’ Ben said, becoming businesslike. ‘People will be wondering what’s going on.’
How had he managed to return to his customary efficiency within a matter of minutes? She felt oddly disgruntled. It hadn’t taken him long to get over his astonishment at seeing her again, had it? But, then, why should she expect him to be affected in any way by meeting up with her? He had made his final break with the village five years ago, leaving without so much as a backward glance, and why should it matter to him that he had left her nursing a bruised and battered heart?
He frowned, glancing at her briefly. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Yes, I’m fine.’ She wasn’t going to let him in on any of her thoughts. Far better that he should remain in blissful ignorance. Ben Radcliffe had the power to unsettle her without even trying, and she had discovered long ago that her only defence against him was to keep her feelings locked away inside her.
She shivered a little as soft flakes of snow began to drift around her, settling here and there on her jacket. ‘Shouldn’t there be someone else up here with you, doing this work?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘The powers that be planned this as a one-man rescue…for places where there is restricted access. So I’m on my own. But, no matter…I’ll splint the broken leg and lift you into the cradle as gently as I can.’ He gave a half-smile. ‘It shouldn’t be too difficult. If I remember correctly, you were always a slip of a girl. It doesn’t look as if things have changed very much.’
She frowned. How could he tell? She was wearing a waterproof jacket over a warm woollen sweater and snug-fitting denim jeans. For extra warmth she had added an Angora scarf. She wished she could pull it up over her face so that she could hide away from him, very much like an infant who imagined that with her eyes covered she could not be seen. She didn’t want him reading her thoughts and dragging her vulnerabilities out into the open after all this time.
‘Are you still living at the cottage?’ he asked, deftly strapping splints into place. For extra security, he bound both of her legs together.
‘Yes, I am. I never left Woodsley Bridge. I suppose I was fortunate in that I was able to do most of my medical training at the local hospital.’ That had been the perfect option for her, but it hadn’t done for Ben, had it? He’d started his medical tuition at a prestigious teaching hospital in Carlisle, some eighty miles away from Woodsley, coming home whenever he’d had a few days off just to make sure that his grandmother was all right. Even after she’d died, he’d come back to Mill House once in a while to keep an eye on things, but in the end, when other opportunities had beckoned, he couldn’t wait to leave the village behind once and for all.
He glanced at her briefly. ‘You always did love being home and having your family close by, didn’t you?’ His mouth made a bleak downward turn, but it was there only for an instant, so fleeting that she might have imagined it. His good humour was restored almost at once. ‘Let’s get you onto the stretcher, shall we?’
‘All right.’
He knelt down beside her and leaned closer. ‘I’m going to put my arms around you and lift you onto it. You don’t need to do anything except keep very still. Let me do all the work, okay? We have to do this for real, just in case anyone down there has a long-range camera lens zoomed in on us.’
She made a face. That possibility was more than likely. The press were out in force, along with a team from the regional TV studios, keen to film the day’s activities. It wasn’t just the people on the course who were interested in what was going on—visitors from all around had come to see the events being staged by the rescue services. The hotel was doing a roaring trade.
He slid his arms around her, cradling her for a moment as he tested her weight, and that was almost her undoing. How many times had she wondered how it would feel to have him hold her this way, only to shy away from that thought? But now it was happening for real, so that she felt the strength of those arms closing around her and became aware of his innate gentleness, and above all she absorbed the warmth of his body next to hers.
‘Ready?’ His cheek brushed hers as he moved to get a better grip, sending a ripple of flame to run through her veins. In the next moment she was being lifted and very carefully placed on the stretcher. ‘Okay, now we need to swing your legs into position. Easy now…Let me take the weight…Remember you have a nasty fracture. As soon as we have you settled, I’ll fasten the harness.’
She was glad when the manoeuvre was finished. Every time his hands touched her, to position her or adjust a strap, her body went into meltdown. She wasn’t at all sure how much more of this she could handle before she ended up giving herself away. It wouldn’t do to have him know how her fickle, treacherous body responded to having him near.
He was the man who’d had the girls back home burning up in a fever of excitement. He’d only had to look in their direction and they had queued up, vying for his attention, and she had vowed she wouldn’t be one of them. Ben was never going to stay around long enough to have a long-lasting relationship with anyone, was he? He couldn’t even manage to make a go of things with his father.
‘Are you all set?’ He gave her a fleeting glance. ‘I’m going to climb back over the tower and give the signal to the men on the ground so that they can begin hauling on the ropes to lower you down.’
She nodded warily. ‘Are you quite sure they’re going to hold?’ The stretcher rocked from side to side as he tugged on the ropes and raised it up a fraction. Perhaps if she just closed her eyes and imagined she was swinging in a hammock in her mother’s garden, this whole nightmare would end.
Her unease must have shown in her expression, because he chuckled softly. ‘I’ll be with you all the way to steady the stretcher as you make the descent. My harness is attached to the line so that I’ll be alongside you. My feet will be on the base rail of the stretcher. Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take care of you. Trust me.’
She closed her eyes fleetingly. She had long ago given up on any idea that he would be there to take care of her, or that he would be by her side whenever she needed him. Those were dreams from fantasy-land, weren’t they? As her brother’s friend, he had always been around, coming to the house, teasing her playfully until warm colour had filled her cheeks…but that was where it had ended. She had always been stranded on the fringes of his circle, looking on from afar, watching him struggle with his own demons and being unable to do anything to help.
He gave the signal to the waiting rescue team and then supported the basket stretcher as it was lifted over the rail. Then he followed, true to his word, accompanying her every bit of the way, his feet resting on the base of the stretcher, his long body leaning over her, his hands guiding the rope that lowered them to the ground. It was strangely comforting having him watch over her that way.
It