by Sarah Morgan
Because he did want her. Of that she was sure.
His body felt hard and strong against hers and suddenly she never, ever wanted him to let her go. ‘Are you hungry?’
They hadn’t been near the buffet. From the moment they’d arrived they’d been on the dance floor, their attention focused only on each other.
‘No.’ His eyes glittered hard in the dim light. ‘Are you?’
She felt the pressure of his hand on the small of her back, easing her closer still, and she closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest. Her heart was pounding so wildly she assumed he must be able to feel it.
Suddenly the world around them faded away and all she was aware of was Mac.
The blood throbbed in her veins as she slid her arms around his neck. She felt his sudden stillness and then he tightened his hold.
She felt the press of his thighs against her, the solid muscle of his shoulders and the firm beat of his heart.
They moved together, instinctively matching each other’s rhythm. Would it be like that in bed? she wondered, her whole body in a heightened state of sexual tension. She gave herself a little shake. They weren’t in bed, she reminded herself firmly. They were on the dance floor in a very public place and she shouldn’t be having those sorts of thoughts.
But how could she not?
Being held by Mac felt so right.
Locked in his arms, feeling his strength and breathing in that tantalising, elusive male scent, she felt safe, and yet not safe.
Mac Sullivan was holding back.
She thought about the layers. About the man. Underneath the rigid self-discipline lay scorching passion. He wouldn’t be half-hearted, she knew that. He was a man who knew exactly what he wanted and wouldn’t be afraid to go for it.
She looked up at him and stopped moving, suddenly trapped by the look in his eyes. Awareness flared between them, a mutual recognition of the sexual tension that had been building since they’d met.
Unable to help herself, Louisa lifted a hand to his cheek, feeling the warmth of his skin and the roughness of his jaw.
She wanted to touch him. All of him.
Something shifted his eyes and then, with a determined movement, Mac gently disengaged himself, closed his hand around her wrist and walked her purposefully towards the door.
There was no mistaking his intention and, like someone who has teased a tiger only to find that the cage door wasn’t shut, Louisa felt her heart suddenly race in a mixture of pure excitement and panic.
She’d never done this before.
‘Where are we going?’ She paused, breathless, as he retrieved their coats, aware that people were watching them. Speculating.
‘Home.’
‘People are staring.’
He draped her coat over her shoulders, his eyes glittering as he looked at her. ‘Let them stare.’ He shrugged, totally cool and indifferent to everyone else in the room. ‘I don’t care much about what people think, you should know that by now.’
Without glancing left or right, he led her away from the party, down a brightly lit corridor and into the freezing night air.
Her heart was thumping so fast she could hardly breathe.
‘People will gossip.’
There was a gleam of laughter in his eyes as he glanced towards her. ‘You should have thought of that before you posted yourself head first through my toilet window.’ They had reached the car by now and he grabbed her and turned her quickly, his body trapping hers, his arms either side of her head, preventing her escape.
Not that she had any intention of escaping.
She was where she wanted to be.
His mouth was only inches from hers and she could see the thickness of his dark lashes, the strong, straight lines of his nose and the blue-black shadow of his jaw.
‘If you don’t want this, Louisa say so now.’ His voice was forceful, husky, and she felt something curl low in her pelvis.
There was only one answer she could possibly give. ‘I want this.’
His gaze burned into hers and his body pressed closer. ‘You know I’m not making you promises. You know the sort of man I am.’
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
tting through the darkness. The snow was falling heavily now and the temperature was dropping. ‘Louisa.’ His breath clouded the air as he glanced over her shoulder, his expression urgent. ‘I need a stronger torch and some blankets. And the bag from my boot. Quickly.’
She stood frozen to the spot in horror, staring at the mangled wreckage of the car and the teenage boy in the driver’s seat who was clearly seriously injured.
‘Oh, God, they’re kids, Mac,’ she whispered. ‘Just kids.’
‘Old enough to drive a car,’ Mac said steadily. ‘I need that bag.’
Quickly she turned and scrambled back up the bank on shaking legs and slithered across the road to the car. She fumbled with the door, tugged it open and rummaged around in the boot until she found what he needed. Then she slithered back across the road and down the bank to the wreckage.
Mac had prised open the driver’s door and was half inside the car, talking to one of the boys.
Louisa flicked on the torch and directed the beam towards him. ‘I’ve got your bag.’
‘Good girl.’ He turned and took it from her, wedging it on the dashboard so that the interior of the car was illuminated. ‘Right, this guy is unconscious and from the little I can see with this totally useless torch he has extensive bruising to his chest from the steering-wheel. He’s got asymmetrical chest movement and a deviated trachea. I need to immobilise his neck and treat the pneumothorax.’
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Go round to the passenger,’ Mac ordered, adjusting the angle of the torch. ‘He’s conscious and talking but there’s blood coming from somewhere and the light isn’t good enough to see where.’
Louisa scrambled round the car and tugged at the door. ‘It’s stuck, Mac.’
‘Pull harder.’
She gritted her teeth and tugged hard but the door was totally jammed. ‘There’s no getting in this way.’
‘Well, I’m not moving the driver until we can support his spine. We’re going to need the fire brigade. Which emergency service did you ask for?’
‘All of them,’ Louisa muttered, shifting her coat out of the way, ‘just to be on the safe side.’
‘Good girl.’
Louisa tried the rear door of the car. ‘Mac, I could climb into the back seat—I might be able to get to him between the seats.’
‘Go for it.’ Mac was still dealing with the driver. ‘But watch yourself.’
Louisa hitched her long dress up to her waist and slithered onto the back seat. The smell of alcohol hit her and she screwed up her face. They’d been drinking.
Reminding herself that it wasn’t the right time to moralise, she focused on her patient. ‘Hello. Everything is going to be fine.’ Why did people say that, she wondered to herself, when clearly things were anything but fine? ‘Can you tell me what hurts?’
‘My arm.’ The boy’s voice was so weak it was barely audible. ‘My arm is agony.’
‘All right.’ Louisa shifted her position and yanked at her dress as it caught in her heel. There was a tearing sound that made her wince. So much for the dress. ‘I’m going to try and take a look at what’s happening.’
Mac glanced across, his face barely visible in the shadows. ‘Be careful. There’s broken glass everywhere. Don’t cut yourself.’
Louisa wondered how she was supposed to not cut herself when she had no room to manoeuvre and could barely see in the darkness.
She dragged on a pair of gloves, which she found in her pocket, ripped open some dressing pads from Mac’s bag and then leaned forward to find where the bleeding was coming from. ‘Mac.’ Her voice shook slightly and she just hated herself for sounding so pathetic, ‘There’s blood everywhere—I can’t get close enough to apply pressure.’
But the boy was cold, she could feel that much.
Without thinking, she struggled out of her coat and covered the injured passenger.
‘Just do your best,’ Mac said grimly. ‘I’ll be with you in a minute.’
Twisting her body slightly, Louisa managed to wriggle between the seats and move the teenager’s sleeve. Blood spurted into the air. ‘It’s an artery.’ She slammed a pad down on the pumping wound and felt her hands start to shake. ‘He’s hit an artery.’
Her fingers slithered and slipped on the wound and she gritted her teeth and reached behind her for more pads with her free hand. To her relief, she could hear sirens and see flashing lights.
Thank goodness.
Mac vanished from his position by the driver and shouted up to the paramedics and the fire brigade.
Bright lights shone in her face and suddenly she could see properly.
‘Get me a wide-bore cannula,’ Mac was saying, and one of the paramedics was by his side, helping him to drain the pneumothorax.
After that it was a blur of activity.
Once Mac had stabilised the driver he moved to the other side of the car and helped Louisa, who was keeping the pressure on the wound, even though she could feel the bandages were already soaked.
With the minimum of fuss he inserted two wide-bore cannulae and started IV fluids.
Louisa’s teeth were chattering and she could no longer feel her fingers. ‘Shouldn’t we just get him to hospital as fast as possible?’
‘Yes.’ Mac applied more pads and pressure to the arm. ‘But while they’re evacuating the driver he can be getting fluids. Time is crucial and he’s lost a lot of blood.’
Relieved that her part in the rescue was over, Louisa wriggled out of the back of the car and stumbled up onto the bank.
One of the paramedics frowned at her. ‘Are you OK, love?’
‘No.’ Mac’s tone was short as he joined them, snow clinging to his coat. ‘I should think she’s in the early stages of hypothermia. I need to get her home before she freezes. She wasn’t exactly dressed for the rigours of emergency care at the roadside.’
‘We could take her in if you like.’
‘Into A and E?’ Louisa’s voice was a squeak of horror. ‘You’re joking!’
She couldn’t think of anything more embarrassing.
‘I’ll take her home,’ Mac said roughly, watching as they loaded the casualties into the ambulance. ‘Will you take it from here?’
‘Certainly will.’ The paramedic smiled. ‘Josh on at the unit?’
Mac nodded, a ghost of a smile flickering across his handsome face. ‘Tell him I’m sending him an early Christmas present.’
‘Will do.’ He secured the doors and walked round to the front.
At that moment the police drew up and Mac strode across to speak to them.
Louisa watched from a distance while Mac outlined what had happened, gesturing with his hand to show how the car had crossed onto the wrong side of the road.
The police asked him a number of questions and then Mac strode back across to her.
‘Let’s go.’
‘Have they finished talking to you?’
‘For now.’
‘Good. Because I’m a bit cold.’ She was shivering so hard she could barely speak and he cursed under his breath as he helped her across the road and into the car. He yanked open the door and then glanced over his shoulder, his gaze on the wreckage in the ditch. His stare was bleak and full of ghosts and Louisa frowned.
Was he thinking of his wife?
‘Mac? Are you OK?’
He pulled himself together. ‘Fine. Cover yourself with these.’ He reached into the back of the car, thrust a couple of blankets onto her lap and added his own coat on top.
‘You can’t give me your coat,’ she protested, but he ignored her and swung himself into the driver’s seat.
‘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.’
