Tempted By Her Single Dad Boss. Annie O'Neil

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СКАЧАТЬ think. She knew. Both he and Mrs. Walsh had been told by their employers that if they didn’t show up to work, they would lose their jobs. This on top of their insurance company’s refusal to pay out. As if the Walshes had been the ones to will the arctic winter winds to blow both the house’s porch scaffolding and the porch onto their children on Christmas Eve.

      They might be poor, but the last thing the Walshes were was negligent.

      “Maybe a helicopter will come rescue us,” Connor suggested.

      Maggie made an “Ooh” noise, followed by an I don’t think that’s gonna happen frown.

      “The weather isn’t good enough for a helicopter to fly in, dummy,” Peyton snapped at her brother.

      At least Peyton was feeling good enough to name-call. It was when fear became silence and then silence became acceptance that it swallowed you whole. Maggie had fought that battle thousands of times in her own life and had found that smiling at adversity really was the best way to deal with life’s challenges.

      Right. Operation Positive Thinking!

      “We’re going to be fine. Probably just stopping for a pod of harbor seals or something.”

      “It’s a pod of whales. Seals are bob, harem, colony or rookery. Besides, the harbor seals don’t come round the cape in winter. It’s harp and hooded seals in January.”

      “Well, that’s very interesting, Connor. What else do you know about seals?” Distractions. Perfect. Maggie put on her best interested face as Vicky jumped into the front cab of the ambulance, along with a howl of wind.

      “Is the ferry sinking?” Peyton’s hands strained against the straps holding her onto her tray gurney.

      “Ha! No.” Maggie threw a quick Will it? look at Vicky, whose return expression wasn’t very reassuring. “It won’t sink. Even if it does, you’re with a hydrotherapist. Perfect person to be with.”

      The ferry lurched again. This time it was obvious the boat was tipping in the wrong direction.

       Don’t panic. Don’t panic.

      “I thought your therapy used horses, not water.” Connor’s voice wobbled as he spoke. “You said we could ride with you one day.”

      “Absolutely. We will ride together and swim together. I do all sorts of different things.” Including screw up her life so much she ended up on a sinking ferry on New Year’s Day with two kids who seriously deserved a break but who weren’t getting one.

      Adrenaline was normally her friend. She was going to have to make it her best friend today.

      “Lay it on me, Vick,” she whispered out of the children’s earshot. “What’s going on?”

      Vicky grabbed a couple of reflective vests out of the glove compartment and turned to her, looking utterly terrified. “Billy’s helping with the lifeboats. We need to get the kids out of here right now.”

      No news was good news.

      That’s what Alex was telling himself anyway. He stared at the phone again. Twenty attempted calls and each time it had cut out.

       No news is good news.

      When it involved a sinking ferry? No news could be the worst possible kind of news.

      He’d already had enough of that in his life, thank you very much.

      He pulled off his woolen hat and gave his sandy blond hair a scrub. Every nerve ending in his body was crackling with barely contained frustration. If jumping into the sea and swimming would have got them through the storm faster, he would’ve done it.

      The urge surprised him. Particularly given the barely disguised nickname he knew his staff had for him.

      Dr. Protocol.

      His fingers tightened round the brass railing in the small enclosed helm area Salty kept in immaculate condition.

       There were rules for a reason.

      Rules Mother Nature didn’t feel inclined to pay much attention to.

      It was insane to be out in this weather at all. He had a young son to look after. A clinic to run.

       She needs your help.

      They all needed his help.

      He pushed the thoughts away. This wasn’t some magic chance for him to leap in and change history. His wife had been killed in action. There hadn’t been a single thing he could’ve done about it.

       She could’ve followed orders and she’d still be alive.

      His preference of fact over the futility of what-might-have-been laid the argument to rest. What’s done was done.

      Right here, right now? He had patients who needed his help and Maggie Green had better be following emergency guidelines to a T.

      He looked across at Old Salty, the island’s resident commercial fisherman who had volunteered to bring him out here. His last name was Harrington. Alex had never learned his first. All the islanders called him by his nickname, so he did, too.

      The septuagenarian’s piercing blue eyes popped out beneath the navy captain’s hat he near enough always wore. A snow-white beard. Bit of a pot belly. He’d look like a nautical Santa if he wasn’t so damn grumpy all the time. Then again, there weren’t all that many folk willing to risk it all for a pair of young patients stranded on a sinking ferry off Boston Harbor. The man was made of the stern stuff of previous generations. The type who actually had walked to school through three feet of snow.

      In fairness, Maple Island virtually overflowed with helping hands when needed. It was a proper community looking after its own. It was one of the reasons he and Cody had picked it for the clinic.

      Three years he’d been on the island now. Given the fact the island was home to descendants of the Mayflower, he didn’t know if he’d ever feel anything other than brand new.

      But he knew he’d stay. He felt welcome. And that made all the difference.

      Didn’t mean the learning curve wasn’t steep. Cody was from California and Alex was from Alabama. A New England storm was still about as foreign to the pair of them as calling a place home for over two hundred years. And with temperatures below freezing, snow predicted and winds howling in from the Arctic Circle he was in completely new territory.

      “It was good of Marlee to get in touch with you.”

      “She didn’t,” Salty said.

      Alex gave him a sidelong look. He obviously wasn’t going to offer up any more information.

      Marlee was one of the clinic’s biggest assets and he wasn’t just talking about her bear hugs. If she wasn’t related to someone who could help, she’d gone to kindergarten with them, or had baked cookies with them or had raised her kids with them. The instant she sniffed trouble, she went into turbo drive СКАЧАТЬ