When she’d chosen to leave Cumbria he’d been relieved. He had been fully aware that living in the same community as Sally Jenner and not wanting to ravish her twenty-four hours a day had been more than his willpower would have been able to cope with.
Even believing that his decision had been right for both of them, it hadn’t made it any easier to live with.
He’d hurt her. Badly. Which had reduced him from friend and lover to just another person who’d rejected her.
What he hadn’t anticipated was that seven years of separation wouldn’t dull his desire for her in even the smallest degree.
All that the time had done had been to increase his doubt.
He stirred slightly, his gaze sliding around the stylish room that he’d designed himself, noticing how empty it was. Usually he found comfort in returning to the peace and order of his home.
But tonight something had changed.
Tonight his house didn’t feel peaceful, it felt silent.
It didn’t feel private, it felt lonely.
Suddenly he’d found himself wishing that he shared it with a woman, but not just any woman.
Sally.
The connection between them was as powerful as ever, even though she was choosing to deny it.
And who could blame her for that?
Suddenly he wished it were Sally who was pregnant, with his child.
Shocked by his thoughts, he rose to his feet and paced the generous expanse of his living room, wondering just what on earth was happening to him.
Sally dragged herself through the next few days at work, feeling totally exhausted. The strain of working in such close proximity to Tom was affecting her sleep pattern and she was permanently tired.
And she was thinking too much.
Thinking about the past.
Gritting her teeth and promising herself that she’d spend the weekend outdoors, she walked onto the unit for her last shift before her days off, frowning slightly as her mountain rescue team pager bleeped.
Moments later Tom strode onto the unit, his expression urgent.
‘Grab your things, we need to get going.’
‘Going?’ Sally looked at him, her hand still on her pager. ‘Surely we can’t both leave the unit?’
Emma gave her a little push. ‘We’re quiet, and anyway Chris is around and I can get some help from the ward if I need it. What’s happening, Tom?’
‘Would you believe me if I told you that Lucy Thomas has called from somewhere in the Langdales? She’s fallen and hurt her ankle.’
‘Lucy?’ Emma gaped at him. ‘But she must be eight months pregnant by now!’
‘Apparently she felt like some fresh air.’ Tom let out a breath. ‘I have to admit that of all the incidents I’ve ever attended, this one looks as though it might take the prize. It seems she fell and twisted her ankle and her husband can’t move her. But we can talk about it on the way. I need to grab some extra equipment, Emma. Just in case.’
Sally frowned. ‘But I thought it was her ankle that was injured.’
‘It is, so far …’ Tom was already striding down the corridor towards the storeroom, ‘but I have a bad feeling about this one and clearly so does Sean. It’s the reason he’s asked for both of us to be there.’
He was back minutes later, stuffing various packages into a bag. In the meantime Sally had grabbed her coat and bag.
‘You’ll be pleased to hear I brought the four-wheel-drive today,’ he said dryly, his eyes faintly mocking as he looked at her. ‘So at least you’ll be travelling in comfort.’
The hospital was only minutes from the base, and as soon as Tom pulled up in the car park Sally was out of the door and sprinting inside, grabbing her gear and changing quickly.
‘I’m still waiting for the others,’ Sean told them, ushering them across to the large map that was permanently displayed on the wall. ‘She used a mobile phone but the battery went dead before she could be precise about their location. They stayed on the flat and she said they’d walked for about an hour. Given that she’s eight months pregnant, that can’t put them any further than here …’ He stabbed the map with the end of his pen and frowned thoughtfully. ‘We should be able to land a helicopter there if we have to.’
Tom shook his head in disbelief. ‘What is a heavily pregnant woman doing, walking in the Langdales in this weather? Has the world gone mad?’
Sean grinned. ‘It’s a sunny day. Perhaps she wanted to deliver alfresco.’
‘Don’t even joke about it,’ Tom growled, and Sally glanced at her watch.
‘Let’s get going.’
Part of her was quaking at the thought of going on alone with Tom, but part of her was relieved to be paired with him.
He was a highly skilled climber and a brilliant doctor. He was the perfect partner on any mountain rescue.
She just wished he wasn’t so dangerously attractive.
Or, at the very least, she wished she no longer noticed or cared.
They both jumped back into the four-wheel-drive and Tom drove quickly to the point that he and Sean had identified from the map as being the closest to the path the couple seemed to have taken.
As she slipped her arms into her rucksack, Sally gave a shiver and looked up at the sky.
‘The weather’s closing in.’
‘Of course it is.’ Tom’s tone was loaded with irony. ‘You didn’t really think you were going to carry out this rescue in sunshine, did you?’
Sally laughed. ‘I would have hated it if we had. I love wild weather.’
He stilled, a strange expression flickering in his eyes as he looked at her. ‘That’s right.’ His tone was suddenly soft. ‘So you do.’
For a moment their eyes held and then she turned on her heel and started up the path, her emotions churning.
Being out in the mountains with him was the most bitter-sweet reminder of what they’d once shared. When they hadn’t been working, they’d spent their whole lives outdoors. And she’d often chosen to climb when the weather had been at its worst, and Tom had always come with her.
Reminding herself that dwelling on the past just made the present harder to cope with, Sally increased her pace and strode confidently along the path that led along the valley floor, looking and listening and keeping a sharp eye on the weather. But all the time she was aware of Tom close behind her.
When she reached a fork in the path she paused, and Tom walked up to her, squinting up at the sky.
‘It’s not looking good. So which way? Left or right?’
Sally thought for a moment. ‘Left,’ she said decisively. ‘And if they only walked for an hour, they shouldn’t be far from here.’
She set off again and this time Tom walked by her side, adjusting his stride to hers. ‘Why did you decide on left?’
‘Instinct.’ Sally glanced at him. ‘If I was pregnant I would have taken this path. The views are better and it stays in the valley. The other one creeps up the mountain. It’s steeper.’
‘I can’t imagine that would bother you,’ Tom said dryly. ‘I have no doubt that you’ll still be climbing rock-faces when you’re nine months pregnant.’
Sally dragged her eyes away from