‘You saw the waiting room. How about now?’ Sean gave a wry smile and fingered the stethoscope around his neck. ‘Only joking. The day after tomorrow will do fine. That should give you time to settle into the place I’ve found for you to live. It’s great. You’ll love it.’ He reached into his drawer and pulled out a set of keys and a map. ‘A log cabin in a forest. It’s easy enough to find but watch the roads. The weather has been filthy for almost twenty-four hours and there’s no sign of it letting up. Some of the roads are flooded and there are trees down, so go easy.’
Ben glanced out of the window. ‘After some of the roads in Pakistan—or rather the lack of them—I can cope with the Lake District. But I’m in no hurry, Sean. Why don’t you show me round while I’m here and then I can get straight on with it the day after tomorrow?’
‘You’re not dying to go and clean up?’
Ben rubbed long fingers over his roughened jaw and lifted an eyebrow. ‘Am I that bad?’
Sean looked him over. ‘Let’s just say I can tell you’ve been in the wilds for the last year. You’re what Ally would call rugged.’ He stood up and walked towards the door. ‘Do me a favour and lose the designer stubble and some of your hair before you start or the hospital management will be complaining.’
Irritated by what he saw as a complete irrelevance, Ben’s face darkened. ‘I thought you took me on for my medical skills, not my appearance.’
Sean held the door open for him to pass. ‘I did. But the way you look at the moment you’ll scare the patients.’ He gave a wicked smile and locked the door behind them. ‘Unless they’re female. You’ll also distract my nurses and they’re too busy for that. I want their minds on work, not sex.’
Ben shot him an exasperated look. ‘Why did I ever agree to help you out?’
Sean slapped him on the shoulder as they walked into the corridor. ‘Because I’m your best mate and you’d never let me down?’
Ben shook his head. ‘Because I’m an idiot.’ He stopped dead and stared at his friend. ‘I can’t promise you that this will work—you know that, don’t you?’
Sean hesitated and then nodded reluctantly. ‘Just promise me you’ll give it a few months at least.’
A few months?
Ben felt sick at the thought. At the moment he doubted his ability to get through the next few minutes, let alone a few months.
He should never have taken the job.
IT WAS a filthy night and the river was flooded.
Ellie stopped the car and stared in dismay at the murky dark water swirling directly in her path, illuminated by the beam of her headlights. In the summer months the river flowed obediently under the road, but in the winter, particularly after torrential rain, it swelled and burst its banks, flooding the road and forcing drivers to make a long detour through another valley.
But she didn’t have time for any sort of detour.
Lindsay was in labour. On her own and terrified in a farmhouse that was in the middle of nowhere.
Ellie flicked her windscreen wipers onto double speed and weighed her options.
Turn around and approach Lindsay’s farm from the other side of the valley?
No. She dismissed the thought instantly. It would take too much time and time was the one thing she didn’t have.
Which left only one other option.
She narrowed her eyes and stared through the darkness at the swirling water.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, Lindsay!’ She glared at the surging river as if sheer will-power could make the waters part like the Red Sea. ‘Why did you have to buy a house in such a remote place? What was wrong with a nice stone cottage in the middle of Ambleside?’
Apparently the midwife had been very relaxed and reassuring on the phone, reminding her that the baby wasn’t due for another four weeks and that the tightenings that Lindsay was feeling were probably normal.
Ellie peered at the swirling water and hoped the midwife knew what she was talking about. If she was wrong, Ellie would have to deliver the baby by herself, a challenge which she didn’t relish. She was an A and E nurse, not a midwife.
In fact, if it hadn’t been for Lindsay’s cry for help, Ellie would have gone back to work because you didn’t need to be a genius to know that the A and E department was going to be packed with injuries on a night like this.
Opening the car door, she flinched as a gust of wind tore it out of her hand and the rain flung itself in her face like water from a bucket.
‘Ugh...’ Gasping and scrubbing the water away from her eyes with her hand, she forced the car door shut and picked her way down to the edge of the water. Within minutes she was soaked, the pelting rain turning her long dark hair as sleek as an otter’s, her dark lashes clogging together as she tried to see through the darkness.
How deep could it be?
She’d driven this way only the day before and the road had been clear. It had been raining for twenty-four hours but surely the water level couldn’t have risen that fast?
The secret was to drive quickly and not hesitate.
She’d done it before in her youth, she reminded herself. Plenty of times.
Her mind made up, she hurried back to the car and scraped a hank of sodden hair away from her face.
Now that she’d made her decision, her eyes gleamed with anticipation and she started the engine, set her jaw and pressed the accelerator to the floor.
As she hit the water the car jerked and for one terrifying, breath-stealing moment she thought she was going to be stranded in the middle of the roaring river. And then she heard the engine splutter and the car suddenly surged forward and bounded out the other side as if it was relieved to be clear of the water.
She gave a whoop of triumph which turned to a groan as the car gave another splutter, choked and then stopped.
‘Oh, no—don’t do this to me.’ She turned the key again but there was no response.
Her little car might have made it through the ford but there was no way it was going any further. She flopped back in her seat and stared out of the windscreen in dismay.
Now what?
All her thoughts were on Lindsay, alone, afraid and possibly in labour less than a mile away.
Lindsay—not just her cousin but her best friend.
There was no way anything was going to stop her reaching her.
Which meant she was going to have to walk the rest of the way.
But at least now she was on the right side of the water. She’d just have to leave the car where it was and sort it out later.
Reaching into the back of her car for her coat, she dragged it on, grabbed her bag and opened the car door again, bracing herself as she confronted the elements.
If anything the rain had increased and in seconds she was drenched to the skin, her vision distorted by the volume of water streaming over her face. The wind was so fierce she could hardly stand, let alone make headway up the road, and she swore under her breath as she battled to stay upright.
She’d barely made any progress when she heard the unmistakable sound of a car engine from behind her. Turning quickly, she saw headlights flickering in the darkness as another car made its way towards the ford.
For a moment she tensed. The water was