Ellie gasped and looked down at the box in her lap. 'Oh, Linny! I forgot about them.'
'I know.' Lindsay reached out and took them from her with a smile. 'You've been clutching them like a life raft since you walked in. And what I want to know is, what is about to sweep you away?' She grinned wickedly. 'Or should I say who?'
Ellie gave a guilty start. 'I don't know what you mean.'
'Ellie, this is me you're talking to,' Lindsay reminded her patiently. 'And, anyway, you know there's no point in you trying to hide your feelings. You burst if you even try.'
Ellie laughed. 'Am I that obvious?'
'Fortunately, yes.' Lindsay settled herself more comfortably and peeped into the cot by the bed to make sure that the baby was still asleep. 'Did you get your car fixed?'
Ellie nodded, still miles away. 'It was no problem.'
Lindsay stared at her impatiently. 'So, go on. Tell Aunty Lindsay.'
'I'm the aunty around here,' Ellie reminded her. 'Talking of which, I wish she'd wake up so I can have a cuddle.'
'Ellie...' Lindsay's tone warned that she didn't intend to be distracted but Ellie made a last attempt to divert her.
'Did you get any sleep last night?'
'Ellie!'
'Oh, all right.' Ellie sighed and rested her chin on her palm. 'You remember that doctor from last night?'
Lindsay pulled a face. 'Well, let me see—was that the guy who virtually saved both our lives? I think I have a dim recollection.'
'If you're going to be sarcastic then I'm going home,' Ellie warned, and Lindsay subsided.
'Sorry. Go on. I'm dying to hear everything.'
'There isn't much to tell,' Ellie confessed, 'except that it turns out that he's working in A and E for the next few months as a locum consultant and your dad has let him the cabin next to mine.'
Lindsay gave a whoop of delight and then clapped a hand over her mouth as the baby snuffled in the cot. "That's fantastic,' she whispered, and Ellie sighed.
'No, it isn't. He thinks I'm reckless and that I talk too much.'
'You are and you do.' Lindsay shrugged. 'So?'
'Well, he isn't interested in me.'
He'd only let her cook breakfast because she'd given him no choice.
Lindsay stared at her. 'I wouldn't be so sure. What about you? Are you interested?'
Ellie bit her lip. 'I don't know...'
Ben was unlike any other men she'd ever met before.
'You can't be telling me you don't find him attractive?'
'Of course I find him attractive!' Ellie struggled to keep her voice low so that they wouldn't wake the baby. 'There's nothing wrong with my eyes! But looks aren't important to me, you know that. I'm not that shallow.' Or at least, she hoped she wasn't. But she had to admit that being near Ben did strange things to her body. She bit her lip, troubled by the way she felt. 'And I'm worried about him. I know there's something wrong.'
Lindsay opened the chocolates. 'What do you mean, there's something wrong?'
Ellie hesitated, reluctant to tell Lindsay what had happened. Ben was so intensely private that she didn't want to reveal his secret to anyone. 'I've just got one of my feelings.'
Lindsay rolled her eyes. 'Oh, heaven help the man, then. Where do these feelings stem from?'