The Nurse's Christmas Wish (The Cornish Consultants)

‘We’ll be home in less than five minutes and then we’ll warm you up.’

Louisa tried to stop her teeth chattering and wondered exactly what form the ‘warming up’ was going to take.

The romance of the evening was gone.

Now that the urgency of the situation had passed, reaction set in. With vivid clarity she remembe

red the headlights coming towards them—and Mac’s swift avoiding action.

‘Were they drunk, do you think? Do you think they were driving too fast? They almost hit us, Mac.’

If it hadn’t been for his skilled driving, they would have had a head-on collision.

The thought made her shiver.

‘The roads are icy.’ His tone was flat, devoid of emotion. ‘I suppose they just lost control of the car. The driving conditions are lethal and they’re young, inexperienced.’

Unlike him. His skill behind the wheel had undoubtedly saved them from being part of the accident.

‘Do you think they’ll be OK?’

His gaze didn’t shift from the road. ‘Yes.’

Because of him. She felt her insides turn over. ‘You were amazing and I was totally hopeless,’ she muttered. ‘I’m so sorry.’

He frowned, his hands firm on the wheel. ‘You weren’t hopeless.’

She huddled under the blankets. ‘Yes, I was. I’ve never actually dealt with a situation like that before. I completely panicked.’

‘It’s perfectly normal to panic faced with those circumstances,’ he said gently. ‘It’s very different from what we do on the unit.’

‘I find it really scary,’ she confessed. ‘Being first on the scene, making decisions that could mean the difference between life and death. And through it all you’re developing frostbite and you can’t see a damn thing.’

Mac gave a short laugh. ‘So you’re not going to give up your day job and become a paramedic, then?’

‘Well, they do at least have equipment,’ she pointed out, and he nodded and swung the car into his driveway.

‘I was waiting for you to invite them for Christmas. Along with the occupants of the car, the fire brigade and the police.’ He leaned across and undid her seat belt, his expression slightly mocking. ‘For once you were very restrained.’

‘My jaw was frozen. I couldn’t speak properly.’

His gaze drifted to her mouth. ‘Then we’d better do something about that. Starting with a hot shower.’

CHAPTER EIGHT

THEY used his bathroom.

Louisa was shivering so much she could barely speak and Mac pushed her soaking wet coat off her shoulders with a rough exclamation. ‘You’re soaked through. Let’s get this dress off.’

Louisa tried to smile but her teeth were chattering too much. ‘I bet you use that line on all the girls.’

‘Never before to one covered in blood and soaked through,’ Mac assured her in a dry tone, sliding the zip down with brisk efficiency and reaching into the cubicle to turn on the shower. Jets of hot water hissed and steamed and Louisa stepped out of her torn, filthy dress, watching regretfully as it lay limply at her feet.

‘I spent a lot of money on that. What a waste.’

‘Never mind that now.’ Mac adjusted the flow of the shower and jerked his head. ‘Take your underwear off and get in the shower. We need to warm you up.’

She rolled her eyes, her teeth still chattering. ‘You have a strange line in seduction.’