‘It’s a little bit sore,’ she said, ‘but nothing a couple of strong painkillers couldn’t sort out. Do you think it’s broken?’
‘I can’t be sure until we have it X rayed, but I think you’ve got away with a bad sprain. Mind you, as you know, they can be almost as painful as a break.’
‘How did you find me?’ she asked.
He held her closer, resting his chin on top of her head.
‘With great difficulty. God, you scared me, Meagan.’
‘Does your fiancée know you’re here? she said suddenly. She lifted her face so she could see his eyes
‘She’s not my fiancée.’ he said, and he grinned. Meagan caught her breath. He looked just like he had that first night. Like a mischievous schoolboy. Or a fallen angel.
‘She’s called it off. She says she’s still going and I can keep Ian here with me.’
‘She what?’ Meagan said, her heart beginning to race. ‘Why?’
‘She said she suddenly realised that I truly didn’t love her. That I never could. She said she could see I loved you, and what sort of woman did I take her for if she thought she could marry a man who was in love with someone else?’ He pulled Meagan close. She could feel his lips on her hair. Her heart was beating wildly. She felt a rush of happiness that made her stomach flip.
‘And are you? In love with someone else?’
‘Don’t you know?’ Then he was kissing her and she was drowning. The blanket fell away as his hands searched frantically for her bare skin. He pulled her closer and she was left in no doubt of his desire for her. But he still hadn’t answered her question. Oh, she knew he wanted her. But that wasn’t the same as being in love with her. She had to know. Reluctantly she pulled away.
‘What is it you want from me, Cameron?’ she asked, her eyes searching his.
He stopped talking. Then he took a deep breath.
‘When Rachel and I finished talking I knew I had to tell you. I came down here straight away, but you weren’t here. I knew something must have happened. I was scared out of my wits. Especially…’ He broke off.
‘Especially…?’ Meagan prompted.
‘Especially when I knew how cold the night would get. And how dark. I knew something must have happened to you. My God, if I hadn’t come, you could still be out there.’
‘But you did find me,’ she soothed. ‘But what now?’
‘Don’t you see, Meagan? This means we can be together. I can stay with Ian and we can be together. You, me, Ian and the baby.’
Suddenly Meagan felt her blood run cold. She pushed him away.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Jessie told me,’ Cameron said, seemingly oblivious to Meagan’s reaction. ‘I know you made her promise not to, but she thought I should know. She hadn’t realised that Rachel and I had already agreed to part. And she was scared that I was about to make a mistake that would haunt me for the rest of my life. She was only thinking of our happiness.’
‘Well, she had no right,’ Meagan said through stiff lips. ‘It was up to me to tell you. If I ever did.’ Her heart felt leaden. Would he have come to her if he hadn’t known she was pregnant?
‘Of course I needed to know,’ Cameron retorted. ‘Oh, Meagan, I can’t believe you were going to keep it from me.’
‘And did she tell you there’s a chance that this pregnancy will not continue?’
Cameron lifted the blanket and stood. He was still dressed in his dinner shirt and trousers, although with his stubble he looked different from the immaculately dressed man of the night before. Somehow Meagan preferred him like this. He looked at her, puzzled.
‘You mean because of your previous history? I admit I hadn’t thought about that. My poor love. You must be worried. But there is no reason that this pregnancy won’t be normal. We can scan you up at the hospital, then we’ll know for sure.’
‘Is that why you came here? A second woman pregnant with your child? Are you determined to do the right thing by me, too?’
‘What do you mean?’ Cameron narrowed his eyes at her. ‘If you are suggesting that I want to marry you simply because you are carrying my child, you are mad. I did that once—and look at the consequences. I’m hardly likely to make the same mistake twice.’
‘What if I don’t want to marry you?’ she said.
For a moment Cameron looked floored. He frowned.
‘Don’t you want to get married?’ he said. ‘I thought…’
‘Thought what exactly? That I would be so relieved that you wanted to be my protector and the father of my child that I would be flattered, even grateful for your proposal? It’s a whole new world now, Cameron. Two people don’t have to get married just because they have conceived a child together. And what if I lose this baby? How will you feel then? Trapped?’ She laughed, but it was a strangled sound that held no joy.
‘I could never feel trapped married to you,’ Cameron protested. ‘And if by some awful chance we lose this baby, we’ll try for another.’
‘But this could be my last chance. If I they take out the other Fallopian tube, I’ll never be able to conceive naturally.’ She shook her head. It was no use. It had all happened so fast. Meeting Cameron again, finding that her feelings for him had never truly gone away, fighting it and then finally giving in and accepting that there would never be any one else for her, despite the fact that he belonged to some one else. Then the pregnancy and mixed emotions of joy and fear that had come with the knowledge. She was terrified, she admitted to herself. She had never been more scared in all her life. Not even out there on the moors. If she dared even think that this child growing inside her was a possibility, maybe she would jinx it.
She looked at Cameron. In the faint glow of the dying fire his eyes glinted as he waited for her to say something else.
‘You were right back then that first day on the hill,’ she said finally, with a faint smile. ‘Our timing has always been wrong. I don’t know what to do any more. And when I don’t know what to do, I find the best thing is to do nothing. At the very least let us wait. We will know about the baby one way or another soon enough.’
‘But I have already told you, I want you regardless. I love you—I realise I have never loved anyone the way I love you. You are the only woman I imagine myself growing old with, the only person I can see by my side. With you life will never stop being an adventure. You know as well as I do that we were meant to be together. We have wasted enough years as it is.’ Cameron grabbed her by the shoulders, her fingers biting into her. His eyes blazed with his need to make her believe him.
‘And Ian? What about him?’ Meagan asked. ‘I can’t imagine he’ll be too happy to have a stepmother.’
‘Ian will be happy as long as he knows that he is loved. I wouldn’t be proposing to you if I didn’t think you cared for him. You do, don’t you?’
Meagan smiled, thinking of the little boy. ‘I can’t imagine anyone not caring for him.’
‘Then it’s settled? You’ll marry me? As soon as possible?’
It would be so easy, Meagan thought, to give in to this man. She wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of her life with him. But could she take the risk? What if she lost this baby and they drifted apart—just like she and Charlie had? It would break her heart. And it wouldn’t be fair on Ian. The child had known enough disruption as it was.
‘I…I don’t know. Cameron, you have to give me time. I can’t…won’t make any decisions. Not until I know about the baby.’
Cameron