The Midwife's Christmas Miracle (Lakeside Mountain Rescue 5)

His blue eyes gleamed. ‘Can this possibly be the same girl who was wearing trainers and not much else when I met her on Christmas Day? I thought you were a city girl.’

‘Not any more.’ She shook her head and glanced around her wistfully. ‘I never want to go near a city again. The baby and I are going to live here happily ever after.’

‘That sounds lonely.’

Aware of his searching gaze, she blushed slightly. ‘I don’t think so. As you once said to me, families come in many different guises.’

‘I meant, lonely for you.’ He stepped closer to her. ‘Aren’t you a little young to be dismissing the male species from your life?’

It was impossible to look away and her heart fluttered and skipped at the look in his eyes. ‘I’m trying to keep my life simple.’

‘Is that right?’ Somehow his head had moved nearer to hers and now his mouth hovered, tantalisingly close. She stared up at him, hypnotised by the slightly slumberous look in his eyes. His jaw was rough with stubble and he looked more handsome than any man had a right to look, and her body’s reaction was as intense as it was instant.

Her legs wobbled, her insides tumbled and swirled and that was before he even touched her. Perhaps he knew the effect he was having on her because the last thing she saw before his mouth came down on hers and her eyes drifted closed was lazy amusement in those wicked blue eyes.

Then he kissed her and she slipped into his kiss as easily as she had that first time, on Christmas Day.

No wonder she hadn’t been able to resist him, she thought dizzily. His mouth was warm and skilled, his kiss slow and so erotically seductive that all the power drained out of her legs. Unable to stand without support, she clutched at his jacket and felt his arms slide around her as he pulled her against him.

Lost in a mysterious world of sensation that she’d never before discovered, it was only after he’d reluctantly released her that she realised his mobile phone was ringing.

Swearing fluently under his breath, Jake kept one arm around her and used the other to dig deep in his pocket for his phone. ‘Yes?’ His response was less than enthusiastic and she could understand why. She was ready to strangle the person who’d interrupted them. Or perhaps she should be grateful, she said to herself as she eased herself away from the pressure of his arm, taking advantage of the fact that all his attention was now on the phone. It seemed that it was all too easy to give in to Jake’s charms. No matter how hard her lesson, she seemed to have no willpower where he was concerned.

‘Problem, I’m afraid.’ Jake snapped the phone shut and dropped it into his pocket, his eyes narrowed as he stared down the path ahead of them.

‘You’re not on call. Mr Hardwick is supposed to be covering this weekend.’

‘It isn’t a baby. It’s a woman who’s slipped by the lake and broken her ankle.’

‘Which lake?’

Jake was squinting into the distance. ‘This lake. You and I are the advance party, sweetheart.’

‘You want me to help you with a mountain rescue?’ It was hard to keep the irony out of her voice and he turned to her, his eyes gleaming with appreciation.

‘Actually, we’ve always thought that an extremely pregnant woman would be an asset to the team.’ He trailed a finger down her cheek in an affectionate gesture that had her heart racing. ‘We’re not up a mountain and I don’t need you to do any rescuing, but I do have to go and help and I’m not prepared to leave you here or let you walk back to the car on your own.’

Wondering what it was about him that had such a powerful effect on her, she adopted a frosty tone. ‘You think I’m helpless?’

‘No, I think you’re very pregnant and this walk probably wasn’t a sensible idea, but it becomes even less so if you go back on your own. What if something happens, Miranda?’ He frowned. ‘It isn’t about independence, it’s about common sense.’

She thought for a moment and nodded. ‘All right. I’m not going to argue with you.’

‘You’re not?’

‘No. What do you want me to do?’

‘She dialled 999 a few minutes ago and the leader of the mountain rescue team thinks that she’s not far from here. If he’s right then we should be able to stretcher her down the valley and meet the ambulance at the road.’

‘I only see one problem with that.’

He started walking along the path. ‘What’s that?’

‘We don’t have a stretcher. Or do you carry one in your magic bag, along with the hot chocolate?’

He laughed. ‘My colleagues will be bringing the stretcher, the ambulance will wait at the end of the path and our job is to administer first aid and make sure she’s comfortable.’

‘They’re going to walk along here, carrying a stretcher?’