The Nurse's Wedding Rescue (Lakeside Mountain Rescue 2)

‘He does love you.’ Tom swore under his breath and stared at the approaching train with something close to desperation. ‘No wonder the path of true love never runs smoothly,’ he muttered. ‘People don’t tell each other the truth.’

‘Oliver has only known me for three weeks.’

‘Oliver loved you from the first moment he saw you,’ Tom said. ‘He moved into Bryony’s cottage, for goodness’ sake, just so that he could be with you because he couldn’t bring himself to leave you on your own.’

Helen frowned, suddenly confused. ‘He was having his roof done.’

Tom sighed. ‘Helen, Oliver’s roof is fine. Rock solid. Not a leak in sight.’

Helen stared at him. ‘But—’

‘He was determined to watch over you. Pure Oliver again.’

Helen’s mind was racing. Oliver had stayed in the cottage just so that he could be with her? ‘That doesn’t mean he loves me. That just means he’s kind. As you say, “Pure Oliver.” He would have done the same thing for anyone.’

‘You need more evidence?’ Tom thrust his hands in his pocket. ‘In order to create a job for you, he bought his practice nurse a flight to Australia so that she could afford to visit her daughter.’

Helen shook her head. ‘But she’d wanted to go for ages.’

‘But she couldn’t afford it,’ Tom said gently. ‘Oliver paid for the ticket and gave you the job because he decided that you needed the distraction of working to get you out of bed in the morning. He was afraid that if he left you on your own all day, you’d brood.’

Suddenly Helen remembered Hilda’s surprise at hearing that Maggie had decided to go to Australia at such short notice.

‘He didn’t need a practice nurse?’

‘Maggie is a perfectly good practice nurse.’

Helen swallowed in disbelief as she assimilated the enormity of the gesture. ‘He did that for me?’

Tom nodded. ‘He loves you, Helen. Enough to let you go because he thinks you love David.’

Helen stared at the train as it slowed and then turned her eyes back to Tom. ‘He loves me?’

‘And you love him.’ Tom picked up her bags. ‘So I suggest you cash in that ticket you bought and let me drop you back in the village. Last time I saw him he was dragging on his walking gear. It’s what he always does when something stresses him. He takes to the hills.’

Helen was digesting everything that he’d said.

Had Oliver really thought she was going back to David?

Had he thought that he was making the decision easier for her?

She stood for a minute and then gave Tom a smile. ‘Do you know where he’s gone?’

‘I’ve got a good idea.’

Helen breathed a sigh of relief. ‘In that case, do you think you can drop me at the cottage so that I can borrow Bryony’s walking clothes one more time? And then I need you to point me in the right direction.’

She found Oliver by the lake, at a place they’d walked to together several times over the past month.

He was sitting on a rock, throwing stones into the water. He stood up as she approached, his expression neutral.

‘You shouldn’t walk in the mountains by yourself—you might get lost.’

Helen shrugged. ‘I was careful. You see, I have this friend who taught me a game.’

The wind played with his dark hair. ‘And what game is that?’

‘You memorise different landmarks on the way.’ Helen turned to look back down the path she’d taken. ‘I passed a boulder shaped like a sheep, a patch of ice shaped like Africa. If I had to find my way back without getting lost, I could.’