The Nurse's Christmas Wish (The Cornish Consultants)

She knew.

Strong. Clever. A bit wild. Troubled.

And, for tonight at least, he was all hers.

‘I don’t want promises.’ And strangely enough she discovered that she didn’t. All she wanted was the man. Mac. And she’d take him on whatever terms she was offered, for as long as she could have him.

He searched her eyes for answers to questions he hadn’t even asked and then bent his head and took her mouth. And she closed her eyes and moaned because his kiss was everything she’d imagined it would be and so much more.

The erotic stroke of his tongue, the nip of his teeth and the brush of his strong fingers against her cheek. It was a gentle seduction, a prelude to something more—a promise...

Louisa started to shiver and instantly he lifted his head, his eyes glittering in the semi-darkness.

‘You’re cold.’ His voice was rough. ‘Let’s get home.’

How did she tell him that she wasn’t cold? That the tremors attacking her body had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with her reaction to him?

Or perhaps he understood that.

She saw his hard eyes gleam brightly before he unlocked the car and bundled her inside.

He drove quickly but carefully, his eyes fixed on the road in concentration, his profile hard and unsmiling.

What was he thinking?

It was snowing again and Mac flicked on the windscreen wipers as huge white flakes raced towards them.

He headed for the coast road and Louisa squinted as headlights came towards them at speed. One minute the car was on the other side of the road and the next it was directly in their path.

Mac gave a vicious curse and swung the wheel hard, steering back again to pull the car out of a spin. It all happened so fast that Louisa didn’t even have time to cry out.

Her stomach lurched with horror and she braced herself for the impact, but there was no sound and she realised that Mac had skilfully avoided a head-on collision.

He struggled to bring the car under control on the icy road, his hands tight on the wheel, his concentration absolute as he slowed his speed and controlled the skid.

Louisa closed her eyes and breathed out slowly.

It was all right.

And then she heard a sickening thud.

Mac brought the car to a halt at the side of the road, hit the switch for the hazard warning lights and turned towards her, his expression urgent. ‘Are you hurt?’ He switched off the ignition and an eerie silence descended on them. ‘Louisa, are you OK?’

She looked down at herself and discovered that her hands were shaking. ‘I’m fine.’ Pull yourself together. ‘Mac, they were driving like maniacs.’

His expression was grim. ‘I know. The car’s in the ditch.’ He opened his door and unclipped his seat belt. ‘Use my mobile. Call the emergency services. I’m going to see what I can do.’

It took her a moment to act. Her brain felt numb. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.

Then she glanced over her shoulder and saw the car in the ditch and Mac picking his way over the icy road towards it. Reality hit.

She reached for the phone and made the call, rubbing a hand across her forehead as she tried to give the emergency services their precise location.

Then she grabbed her coat around her and slithered across the road to join him, wishing that she was wearing something more sensible on her feet. Her shoes weren’t designed to be anything other than decorative.

Her heart was racing and her palms were clammy, partly as a reaction from their near miss but also in anticipation of what lay ahead. Despite the fact she’d worked in A and E for several years, she’d never attended the scene of an accident before.

Mac already had his head inside the driver’s window and was talking to someone, the beam of his torch cu