Christmas Eve: Doorstep Delivery (Lakeside Mountain Rescue 7)

Hayley checked the clock. ‘Four hours.’ She lifted her eyebrows. ‘That went quickly.’

‘It’s because we were talking about the three S’s.’ Sally tightened her grip on the side of the pool. ‘Shoes, shopping and sex.’

‘Sex?’ Patrick’s eyes narrowed and he turned to look at Hayley, a question in his eyes.

She tried to look innocent but felt her cheeks growing hotter and hotter under his sharp blue gaze.

He knew. He knew she’d been talking about him.

Oh, help—couldn’t Sally have been a little more discreet?

‘Nothing like a conversation about sex to remind a girl how she got herself in this mess,’ Sally said blithely, and Hayley squirmed.

‘I think I’ll just get myself a quick drink as the two of you are here.’ Desperate to escape, she pushed the aqua Doppler into Patrick’s hand and slunk towards the door. ‘Back in a minute.’

CHAPTER FIVE

HAYLEY hunted down somewhere to hide her burning face. Why had Sally been so tactless? What on earth was she going to say to Patrick? She wished she hadn’t been so honest with Sally. Slinking along the corridor, she found a staffroom. Fortunately it was empty, several half-drunk cups of cold coffee abandoned in the middle of the table.

New Year’s resolution, she told herself firmly.

No more talking about herself. Ever.

‘So whose sex life were you talking about?’ Patrick’s voice came from behind her and she spun round nervously.

‘Oh, I thought you were with Sally.’

‘Tom’s with Sally. Despite his apparent ineptitude he is, in fact, more than capable of monitoring his own wife for ten minutes.’ Patrick’s gaze didn’t shift from her face. ‘So?’

‘So, what?’ Keeping her tone innocent, Hayley avoided the subject, hoping he’d just give up. ‘Sally’s lovely, isn’t she?’

‘Delightful. She’s also extremely preoccupied with my love life.’

‘She cares about you. Do you want tea? Coffee? No, of course you don’t. You want to get back to Sally.’ She looked at him pointedly but he didn’t move.

‘How much did you tell her?’

Hayley looked around desperately, wondering if the staffroom had an emergency exit. She had a feeling she was going to need it. What had Sally said to him? She tried to buy herself some time, hoping that his mobile would ring. ‘What makes you think I told her anything?’

‘Hayley.’ Patrick’s voice was patient. ‘There is a taxi driver a few miles from here who knows everything about you from your bra size down to the colour of your knickers, and you were only in his vehicle for fifteen minutes. You’ve been with Sally for the best part of six hours so I think it’s fair to assume that she has a fairly good grasp of your life story by now.’

‘I did not tell him the colour of my—That was a total accident because he just happened to pick the phone up when I was talking to you and that was absolutely not my fault.’ Affronted, Hayley looked at him but still his gaze didn’t shift from hers and she scowled. ‘Did you ever think about being a lawyer? You should be a lawyer. You have a way of looking at people that makes them want to confess to things they didn’t do. Could you stop looking at me like that?’

Patrick’s brows lifted, but there was a glimmer of humour in his eyes. ‘How am I looking at you?’

‘Like I’m an idiot,’ Hayley mumbled, and the humour faded.

‘Hayley, I do not think you’re an idiot. Far from it. On the contrary, I think you’re an exceptional midwife. Really exceptional. Sally isn’t an easy patient and you’ve got her eating out of your hand.’

‘That’s different.’ Hayley stopped the pretence of making tea. ‘That’s my job. But the rest of it—I feel guilty,’ she admitted hopelessly. ‘And, yes, I feel like an idiot because I should have been able to find some way of smoothly deflecting her questions, instead of which I just blurted everything out like I always do.’ She gave him a look of helpless apology. ‘Why do I always do that? Why can’t I just be discreet and enigmatic?’

‘I’m not sure if that was a rhetorical question but if you really want an answer then I suspect it has something to do with the fact that you’re incurably honest.’

‘Well, whatever it is I am, I wish I was something different.’ Frustrated with herself, Hayley flopped down onto the chair and buried her face in her hands. ‘I’m so sorry. I messed up. I admit it. I didn’t want to say anything, I didn’t want to embarrass you, but Sally sort of wormed it out of me and if I hadn’t answered I would have looked rude. She’s a patient and a consultant’s wife and anyway she sort of guessed and—’

‘Hayley, breathe.’

‘Sorry?’ She glanced up at him and saw that the humour was back in his eyes.