The Nurse's Christmas Wish (The Cornish Consultants)

Louisa glanced towards him, her expression suddenly contrite. ‘You poor thing. I’d forgot what a long day you’ve had. I’ll make you some hot chocolate and tuck you into bed.’

‘Tuck me into bed?’ His eyes opened and clashed with hers and she felt her colour build.

His gaze was intent, male...

‘I didn’t exactly mean...’ Thoroughly unsettled, she turned around sharply and knocked a saucepan off the side. ‘Oops—clumsy me.’

‘You’re as bad as Hopeful,’ he murmured, standing up and walking towards her. ‘Hot chocolate sounds good, although I don’t know why. It’s nursery food and not something I usually drink.’ He was so close that she couldn’t breathe properly. ‘But, then, you’re making me do a lot of things I don’t usually do. Why’s that, I wonder?’

The soft wool of his black jumper clung gently to the hard muscle of his shoulders and she stared in fascination at the dark shadow on his jaw.

‘It’s just my naturally interfering nature,’ she muttered, her legs suddenly threatening to give way. This close she was aware of every tantalising inch of him.

He stared at her for a moment and then gave her a slow, sexy smile. ‘I’ll take you up on the offer of hot chocolate but I’ll tuck myself in,’ he drawled softly. ‘I think it would be safer for both of us that way.’

She swallowed, trapped by the look in his eyes. ‘Absolutely.’

She was desperate for him to kiss her.

‘Louisa.’ His voice was rough. ‘Stop looking at me like that. You did it the other day in Resus.’

She swallowed hard. ‘Sorry.’

His eyes drifted to her mouth. ‘I’m not your type, remember?’

Her heart was pounding against her chest. ‘What would you say if I told you I might have been wrong about that?’

There was a long, aching silence and then finally his eyes lifted to hers. ‘I’d say that we’d both be in trouble.’

‘Why?’

He gave a crooked smile and brushed her cheek with his fingers. ‘Because you want happy ever after and that’s the one thing I don’t do. Go to bed, Louisa. And lock your door.’

CHAPTER SIX

LOUISA woke late.

She padded over to the window and discovered that more snow had fallen in the night. The garden was white, the wind was whipping the sea into a frenzy and the sky was grey and threatening.

And she could see a lone windsurfer out on the waves.

Mac?

Remembering the tension that had flared between them the night before, she gave a little shiver. Then she reached for her clothes and pulled them on quickly. She was on a late shift so she still had time for a walk.

Scooping her hair under a hat, she whistled for Hopeful, pulled on a coat and boots and made for the beach.

It had nothing to do with the fact that Mac was windsurfing, she told herself firmly as she put Hopeful’s lead in her pocket. It was just that she needed some fresh air before she started her shift.

She opened the back door and gasped as the cold air hit her. Hopeful barked happily and bounded down the garden and onto the beach.

Louisa followed more slowly, cuddling her coat around her, feeling the cold biting into her cheeks as she watched the windsurfer scoot across the waves, driven by the winter wind.

It felt good to be outside. She wandered along the shore, Hopeful dancing around her feet, her eyes on the sea.

As she reached the water’s edge, Mac was dragging his

board onto the sand. ‘I don’t know how you can do that in this weather.’ She stared at the sea and shivered.