Rescuing Dr. MacAllister

She could have been mistaken but she thought she detected a glimmer of laughter in his eyes as he flicked off the internal light. 'Come on, then, I'll take you. If I don't, there's no knowing what you'll get up to. You need a bodyguard.'

He released the handbrake and drove up the road, handling the car skilfully as he negotiated the fierce storm and the lethal driving conditions.

'Directions?'

'Further up on the right.' She paused, her teeth chattering, looking for landmarks. 'Stop here!'

The man pulled up and squinted down the dark track. 'I don't see anything.'

'Well, the farmhouse is in a dip.' Ellie released the blanket and he frowned at her.

'What are you doing now?'

'I'll walk from here.'

'Like hell you will.' He muttered something under his breath and swung the vehicle into the lane.

She gasped and grabbed the seat to steady herself as it jolted viciously into the first pothole. 'You can't drive down here. You'll lose your suspension.'

"This is a four-wheel-drive,' he reminded her, his expression grim as he adjusted the headlights, his eyes fixed on the track. 'Just hang on.'

In no position to argue, she did just that, bracing herself as the vehicle lurched from the left to the! Right Finally he reached the end of the lane and they could see that every light in Lindsay's farmhouse was blazing.

He pulled to a halt and unlocked the doors.

In an impulsive gesture, she leaned across, briefly kissed his rough cheek and then shrugged the blanket off her shoulders and grabbed her sodden clothes.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. You saved my life. Now, go and get yourself something to eat' She grimaced as she slid her feet into her soaking wet boots and, without giving him a chance to speak, slid out of the car and sprinted to the front door, knowing that it would be open. It was always open. Lindsay refused to lock it.

'Linny?' She paused in the hallway and shouted for her cousin. 'Lin? It's me. Where are you?'

She heard a muffled sob and took the stairs two at a time. 'Lindsay?'

Throwing open doors, she charged around the upstairs of the farmhouse until she finally found her cousin crouching in a ball in the bathroom, her face streaked with tears.

'Oh, Lin...' Ellie dropped to her knees and scooped her cousin into her arms. 'It's OK. I'm here now. Everything's going to be fine.'

'I thought no one was ever going to get here—' Lindsay broke off with a gasp of pain and clutched at Ellie's hand. 'Paul's away and it's going to take him hours to get home, the midwife is stranded, I thought I was going to be on my own...'

Ellie hugged her tightly. 'You're not on your own. And you should have known I'd get here.'

Lindsay gave a sob. 'If the midwife couldn't manage it, how come you could?'

'I had a stroke of luck,' Ellie said evasively, not wanting to mention the ford. 'How are you feeling?'

'Scared. It's not meant to come this early, and I'm not meant to be at home. Oh, Ellie, what's going to happen?'

'You'r

e going to have a baby, and it's going to be .fine.'

'Ugh!' Lindsay shrank away from her. 'You're soaked!'

'Well, in case you hadn't noticed, there's a storm raging outside,' Ellie reminded her. 'It's raining.'

Lindsay gave a soft gasp of pain and rubbed her bump gently. 'This is the Lake District. It always rains. It has to or we wouldn't have lakes. You'd better help yourself to some dry clothes.'

'In a minute.' Ellie looked at her closely. 'Are you OK?'