The Midwife's Marriage Proposal (Lakeside Mountain Rescue 3)

‘I didn’t expect you to leave,’ he said hoarsely. ‘I didn’t want that. All I wanted was breathing space—I wanted to be sure that it was the right thing. For both of us.’

‘You didn’t expect me to leave?’ She set her chin at a dangerous angle and her eyes flashed. ‘You thought I’d sit around and watch while you dated other women?’

He sucked in a breath. ‘I didn’t date anyone, Sally. Not in the way that you mean.’

She didn’t even want to think about it.

Spitting fire and flame, she turned on her heel but he grabbed her again.

‘Don’t walk away from this.’

‘I’m walking away for your sake because if I don’t walk away I’m going to injure you!’ Her eyes flashed into his and she struggled to steady her breathing. ‘I actually do now feel like blacking your eye, but I don’t want to be on the receiving end of the speculation that your black eye would undoubtedly receive in this small community.’

‘Well, before you walk just think about this …’ His voice was weary and his fingers bit into her arm. ‘Think about all the things you’ve done in the last seven years and then ask yourself if you’d have done any of them if we’d stayed together.’

She stared at him for a long moment, her breathing rapid, and then she tugged her arm away from him and stalked down the path, the set of her shoulders warning him not to follow her.

How dared he say those things?

He was implying that he’d done her a favour by ending their relationship.

Sally walked quickly, trying to escape from the thoughts that crowded her brain, but they rolled around inside her head, crying out for attention.

She reached her bike and swung her leg over the saddle, pausing for a moment as Tom’s words came back to her with brutal clarity.

I was never sure if you wanted me for myself or because you saw me as a way to fulfil the dream you’d always had.

Her hands tightened on the handlebars and she sucked in a breath.

Even as part of her insisted that he’d just been trying to justify his actions, another part of her questioned whether there might not have been some truth in what he’d said.

Had she just been desperate to create the family that she’d never had?

It was certainly true that Tom had been the first person in her life that she’d loved.

And it was true that all she’d ever wanted had been a family. She’d spent her entire childhood on the fringes of other people’s families and she’d dreamed about being in the centre of her own. Of mattering to someone.

And she’d mattered to Tom.

For the first time in her life, someone had taken an interest in her and loved her.

Had that love stifled him? Put pressure on him?

Disturbed by the thoughts running through her mind, Sally stirred and fastened her cycle helmet, determined not to spend any more time dwelling on the past.

It was the future that mattered, and the future meant finding somewhere to live. She still had the rest of the day in which to find a flat, and she intended to do just that.

Whatever had happened between her and Tom was in the past, and that was where it was staying.

* * *

Tom ran a hand over his face and cursed softly.

He could go after her, of course, but he knew that there was no point in trying to continue the conversation until she’d had time to calm down and think about the things he’d said.

So he watched in silence as her slender, super-fit figure disappeared into the distance, remembering the pleasure he’d derived from watching her climb after so many years.

Some climbers seemed to heave themselves upwards in a series of dramatic jerks, but when Sally climbed it was like watching a mixture of ballet and gymnastics. Her movements were smooth and measured, her body strong and athletic as she pitted herself against the rock-face.