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

She shook her head and stood staring at him, her fists clenched by her sides, her knuckles white. ‘No.’

His eyes searched hers and he saw the pain and confusion. ‘I want you to trust me, Sally, and I’m going to show you that you can.’

Her chin lifted. ‘No.’

Her strength and determination was amazing and he was just thankful that his determination exceeded hers.

She was going to marry him.

He played his final card and brought his mouth down on hers again, the kiss brief but devastating.

The flames licked and burned, and when he lifted his head his voice was rough with barely restrained passion. ‘Can you live without it, Sally? Can you honestly live without what we have?’

‘What we share is physical.’ She gave what she obviously thought was a casual shrug, but it didn’t convince either of them. ‘I’m prepared to have an affair.’

‘That’s not enough. And, Sally …’ He spoke the words softly. ‘What we share is love.’

She stared at him for a long moment, denial and confusion in her eyes, and then she turned and fumbled with the key, unlocking his office door and almost stumbling in her speed to get away from him.

He stopped himself from going after her, taking comfort from the fact that he’d never expected to win the war with the first battle.

His plan was only just beginning.

* * *

Love?

Sally stood in the toilet and took several deep breaths.

Her body was screaming with a sexual frustration that she hadn’t known she was capable of feeling, and she leaned her head against the wall and cursed Tom.

How dared he?

How dared he use the passion between them to push for something more when he knew she wasn’t willing to take that risk?

The man was so arrogant!

She straightened up and stared at herself in the mirror, her green eyes flashing fire.

He obviously believed that she couldn’t live without him.

Without his touch.

For a brief moment her body tingled, but she clenched her fists and forced herself to ignore the sensation.

She’d lived without Tom’s touch, without his love, for seven long years. She could do it again.

But that had been before she’d been given a taste of what she was missing.

Memories of that night in the cottage flooded through her and she gave a groan of denial, wishing now that it had never happened.

It would have been so much easier to turn her back on something that was only a distant memory. But to reject a passion that was so fierce, so alive, was almost asking the impossible.

Almost, but not quite.

Turning on the cold tap, she leaned forward and splashed her face, feeling the water cool her flushed cheeks.

She couldn’t give her love to him again. Couldn’t risk the rejection that had almost destroyed her seven years before.