The Midwife's New-found Family. Fiona McArthur

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СКАЧАТЬ He had no doubt that was her secret.

      There was something pure and golden and unselfish about Misty that shone so brightly even someone as jaded as he could see her worth.

      His grip tightened and unconsciously he inched her back to face him until their sides touched again. And then he froze. What was he doing?

      His head ached, his chest hurt and he’d nearly died. And he owed his survival to this woman.

      All the more reason to act on the moment, his inner demon suggested unhelpfully.

      He did not need another complication in his life and from the little he’d seen of her he had no doubt this woman could be extremely complicating.

      There seemed a certain naiveté about her that warned him he was the much more experienced of the two of them, but it also unmanned him.

      ‘Thank you, Misty. I think you’d better go.’

      Her eyes widened and he saw the moment she realised what he meant. Heat dusted her cheeks and she stood up quickly and looked around the room as if she’d forgotten where the exit was.

      He smiled at her disorientation even as it showed him more than anything that he’d done the right thing. So she could feel it too, he thought.

      He stood to follow her to the door when without warning the room tilted away from him like the deck of a ship.

      A rush of cold doused him and then nothing as he fell backwards.

      Misty managed to reach out and guide him sideways and back onto the bed, but even lifting his muscled legs reminded her of the struggle she’d had to get him out of the water.

      She bent to lift his lids but his eyes flickered open again and he blinked groggily as he tried to sit up.

      His face shone like alabaster even in the dim room. ‘What happened?’

      ‘You fainted. I think you should stay down, Ben. I’ll call an ambulance so they can check you out at the hospital.’

      He lifted his hand and rested it over his eyes. ‘I don’t need a hospital. It would be a wasted trip for emergency services when they could be saving someone else.’

      Misty stilled. ‘That’s ridiculous.’ She ticked off his symptoms on her fingers. ‘You’ve lost consciousness twice from a head injury, had a respiratory arrest, and are probably brewing pneumonia. You need to be observed.’

      Ben rubbed his forehead. ‘I’m fine. I just need to sleep.’

      Misty couldn’t help her hands going to her hips and she stood over him and glared. The man was exasperating. ‘You might never wake up.’

      He didn’t look like he cared and she felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. ‘Imagine the waste of energy today for me.’

      Ben sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Misty. You’re a darling. But I’m not going anywhere. Especially to a hospital!’ Finality rang in the last four words.

      Misty stamped her foot and he winced at the noise. Then she felt guilty. Her voice dropped to nurse-speak. ‘Come on, Ben. Be sensible. I can’t just leave you.’

      He sighed. ‘So observe me for another hour, or the four required, and then when you feel satisfied you can go. Or stay in a spare room and leave in the morning.’

      Misty glanced at her watch. Four hours. It would be dark by the time she left but what choice did she have? She did not want to read in the paper about a man found dead in his beach house.

      She could stay until she was sure he was fine. She wasn’t expected until tomorrow and would at least know he was going to be OK before she departed. She looked around but there wasn’t a chair in the room, which left only the bed. She’d drag in a chair from somewhere.

      Ben had moved while she’d been going over her options. ‘So how did you stumble across me in my hour of need? The beach is usually deserted.’

      Misty rarely spoke about her gift and she hesitated at sharing such a personal subject with a stranger. Now was not the time to get into a discussion that would probably end with Ben thinking her fanciful.

      ‘Just luck. I’ll get a chair.’

      Ben lifted his arm and pulled a pillow across from the pile at the top of the bed and put it by his side. His weary eyes twinkled despite his exhaustion.

      ‘Here. Lie down next to me. I’ll put a wall up so I don’t attack you.’

      ‘I don’t think so,’ Misty said, and went to explore the house to find a seat. There was a huge old recliner in the next room that looked incredibly comfortable but it would never fit through the door into Ben’s room.

      Then there were the driftwood chairs on the verandah that looked fabulous but when she sat on them they were like bony park benches with knobs and bends in uncomfortable places. She couldn’t lounge on them for four hours.

      The kitchen had high-backed bar stools and she sighed as she carried one through.

      ‘That looks comfortable,’ Ben said conversationally, but then he shook his head. ‘I’ll get up. I can’t stand the thought of you perched up there just because you’re a good Samaritan. It’s really not been a good day for good Samaritans all round. I wouldn’t have nearly drowned if I hadn’t been trying to save a bird. It’s a step too far for you to suffer further on my account.’

      He was either incredibly well mannered or incredibly sneaky but she really had no choice if he threatened to get up.

      ‘For goodness’ sake, I’ll lie down next to you. But don’t blame me if I go to sleep. I’ve been driving since early this morning and spent a couple of hours in the sun this afternoon.’

      ‘Perfect. We’ll both sleep.’ He closed his eyes briefly, as if they stung.

      She was glad to see his eyelids droop but then he began to speak again.

      ‘My luck must have changed,’ he said with his eyes still shut. Then they opened and he said quite seriously, ‘You have a way of making me forget all reason in the most disconcerting way.’

      She wasn’t quite sure what to do with that statement because it came just as she lowered herself onto the bed as far away as possible from him.

      He smiled across at her, and it changed him into a much younger man, a less world-weary one, and for a moment her knees trembled and she was pathetically grateful she was lying and not standing because she might have collapsed, boneless, on top of him.

      Then he looked away and she managed to draw a discreet steadying breath and edge an inch further away from him.

      He wasn’t having that. He lifted his shoulder and slid across the bed until their shoulders were touching, and then slid his arm under and around her shoulders. Ben’s hand was cool against her but insidiously heat rose up her body like black ink soaking into white chalk.

      And once there the heat wasn’t going anywhere. It just got warmer and warmer.

      ‘So where have you driven from СКАЧАТЬ