Buch lesen: «Playboy Under the Mistletoe»

Chapter One

WHY on earth had she agreed to do this? Jasmine risked a glance down from the lofty platform of the metal fire tower and immediately regretted it. Just looking out from that height made her feel dizzy, and it didn’t help that the eager crowd watching from below were way too far away for their faces to be seen clearly. At this rate, with nausea and vertigo both coming into play, she’d very soon be a patient for real, instead of simply acting the part.

‘You’ll be fine,’ Mike had said, in cheerful mood after he had persuaded her to take part. ‘You’re used to walking the fells in the Lake District, aren’t you? And I recall you said you had attempted to climb Scafell Pike and Helvellyn, so this should be no problem at all. We’re demonstrating a crag rescue here, and you know how that goes. Forget that this looks like a scaffolding structure. Just imagine that you’re stranded on Scafell Pike, and everything will drop into place.’

Jasmine winced at his choice of words. Right now, the notion of anything dropping anywhere was enough to make her stomach plunge all over again. Not that Mike had any qualms about this venture. He was a coordinator for the various mountain rescue teams in this part of the country, and of course he would have very few concerns about the exercise.

‘It’s not at all the same,’ she had protested. ‘I had time to prepare for those and they didn’t present me with a sheer, vertical face…not the bits I attempted, anyway.’ She had shuddered. ‘I can’t think why I let you talk me into it.’

Mike had chuckled. Determinedly optimistic, he had urged her towards the base of the tower and coaxed her up the ladder to begin the ascent, following close behind her.

Which was why she was stuck here now, alone on the topmost platform, pretending to be someone who was lying injured on a crag. Lying injured…The words struck a chord of memory, and she recalled what Mike had said. ‘Flail your arms around a bit and cry out for help. The crowd will love that. Then sink to your knees and pretend to topple over. After that, all you have to do is lie still and let the rescue team do the rest.’

So that’s what she would do…anything to get this over and done with. She would perform her heart out for the crowd of people who were watching the rescue demonstration from the safety of the fire station’s courtyard.

She wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to keep warm. It was not the best of times to be carrying out this operation—a freezing cold December day, with a smattering of snow in the air and the wind buffeting her from all angles.

It was also the final day of her course, marking the end of her week-long stay at the luxurious nearby hotel, and maybe if she lay down and thought about the comforting lounge waiting back there, with its logburning fire, and the delicious cocktails or the aromatic pot of hot coffee that the waitress would bring, it would take away some of the stress of her present situation.

With that in mind, she went into her act with a bit more enthusiasm. ‘Help,’ she shouted, waving her arms and pretending to stumble. ‘Help me, someone, please, help me. My leg’s broken.’

Then she sank to the floor of the platform and waited for her rescuer to arrive.

It wasn’t long before she heard sounds of activity coming from the ground below, along with the clink of chains and pulleys, and then, finally, she felt the thud of movement as someone began climbing the tower.

The whole edifice seemed to judder as her rescuer approached, but perhaps it was her overwrought imagination playing tricks on her. The tower was solidly based, wasn’t it? It would not topple.

Even so, a faint film of perspiration broke out on her brow. The nausea began to return in full force and she muttered a few curses that should have had Mike squirming in his boots if he’d been anywhere near.

‘Whatever did Mike do to deserve all that vitriol?’ a deep, male voice enquired, the tone threaded with a hint of amusement. ‘Letting loose a plague on him is kind of overkill, don’t you think?’

‘You wouldn’t say so if you were in my shoes,’ she retorted, sucking in a sharp breath. ‘I could have been watching all this from a safe distance if it weren’t for him. I could even have slipped away out of the cold and gone back to the hotel to enjoy a glass of something laced with a warming dash of brandy.’

‘You can still do that.’ The man swung his legs over the metal rail and dropped down onto the platform beside her. He hauled a metal basket stretcher over the bar, and placed it down on the platform floor. Then he looked at her, taking in her pale features, and in an instant the smile on his face became transfixed, very much as though he had suddenly found himself locked in a time warp.

‘Jasmine?’ The word was a soft breath of sound. ‘Is it really you?’ His gaze was fastened on her, his eyes widening as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

She stared back at him. ‘Ben?’ All at once she couldn’t breathe. What was he doing here? What did he have to do with the rescue services, and how was it that she should run into him again after all this time?

‘How long has it been?’ he asked, echoing her thoughts. ‘Five years?’

‘Something like that.’ She frowned. Her jaw was locked in a spasm of disbelief and shock was beginning to set in. She had never imagined that she would ever see him again, but here he was, in the flesh, and even after all the years that had gone by, it was clear that he still had the ability to make her heart pound and cause the air in her lungs to be constricted.

He hadn’t changed at all. He was as ruggedly handsome as ever, his black hair neatly cropped to outline his sculpted features, those blue eyes ever watchful and his mouth beautifully expressive, just as she remembered.

‘You’re down here to take part in one of the courses being run at the Royal Pennant Hotel, I take it? I’ve been speaking to a few of the people who were attending the medical seminars.’ He had come out of his reverie and had snapped back into action in an instant, beginning to prepare the metal cradle to receive its patient.

It wasn’t so easy for Jasmine to get back into the swing of things, but she made an effort. ‘That’s right. “Critical Care and The Role of the First Responder”.’ This last day was taken up with the activities of the emergency services, and although it wasn’t an essential part of her course, she had stayed on to get a better idea of what was involved. It was already on the cards that one of these days her job with A and E might involve her going out on call. In fact, up until now the idea of doing that had been quite appealing.

‘We’d better slide you onto this stretcher and get you strapped in,’ Ben said, becoming businesslike. ‘People will be wondering what’s going on.’

How had he managed to return to his customary efficiency within a matter of minutes? She felt oddly disgruntled. It hadn’t taken him long to get over his astonishment at seeing her again, had it? But, then, why should she expect him to be affected in any way by meeting up with her? He had made his final break with the village five years ago, leaving without so much as a backward glance, and why should it matter to him that he had left her nursing a bruised and battered heart?

He frowned, glancing at her briefly. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Yes, I’m fine.’ She wasn’t going to let him in on any of her thoughts. Far better that he should remain in blissful ignorance. Ben Radcliffe had the power to unsettle her without even trying, and she had discovered long ago that her only defence against him was to keep her feelings locked away inside her.

She shivered a little as soft flakes of snow began to drift around her, settling here and there on her jacket. ‘Shouldn’t there be someone else up here with you, doing this work?’ she asked.

He shook his head. ‘The powers that be planned this as a one-man rescue…for places where there is restricted access. So I’m on my own. But, no matter…I’ll splint the broken leg and lift you into the cradle as gently as I can.’ He gave a half-smile. ‘It shouldn’t be too difficult. If I remember correctly, you were always a slip of a girl. It doesn’t look as if things have changed very much.’

She frowned. How could he tell? She was wearing a waterproof jacket over a warm woollen sweater and snug-fitting denim jeans. For extra warmth she had added an Angora scarf. She wished she could pull it up over her face so that she could hide away from him, very much like an infant who imagined that with her eyes covered she could not be seen. She didn’t want him reading her thoughts and dragging her vulnerabilities out into the open after all this time.

‘Are you still living at the cottage?’ he asked, deftly strapping splints into place. For extra security, he bound both of her legs together.

‘Yes, I am. I never left Woodsley Bridge. I suppose I was fortunate in that I was able to do most of my medical training at the local hospital.’ That had been the perfect option for her, but it hadn’t done for Ben, had it? He’d started his medical tuition at a prestigious teaching hospital in Carlisle, some eighty miles away from Woodsley, coming home whenever he’d had a few days off just to make sure that his grandmother was all right. Even after she’d died, he’d come back to Mill House once in a while to keep an eye on things, but in the end, when other opportunities had beckoned, he couldn’t wait to leave the village behind once and for all.

He glanced at her briefly. ‘You always did love being home and having your family close by, didn’t you?’ His mouth made a bleak downward turn, but it was there only for an instant, so fleeting that she might have imagined it. His good humour was restored almost at once. ‘Let’s get you onto the stretcher, shall we?’

‘All right.’

He knelt down beside her and leaned closer. ‘I’m going to put my arms around you and lift you onto it. You don’t need to do anything except keep very still. Let me do all the work, okay? We have to do this for real, just in case anyone down there has a long-range camera lens zoomed in on us.’

She made a face. That possibility was more than likely. The press were out in force, along with a team from the regional TV studios, keen to film the day’s activities. It wasn’t just the people on the course who were interested in what was going on—visitors from all around had come to see the events being staged by the rescue services. The hotel was doing a roaring trade.

He slid his arms around her, cradling her for a moment as he tested her weight, and that was almost her undoing. How many times had she wondered how it would feel to have him hold her this way, only to shy away from that thought? But now it was happening for real, so that she felt the strength of those arms closing around her and became aware of his innate gentleness, and above all she absorbed the warmth of his body next to hers.

‘Ready?’ His cheek brushed hers as he moved to get a better grip, sending a ripple of flame to run through her veins. In the next moment she was being lifted and very carefully placed on the stretcher. ‘Okay, now we need to swing your legs into position. Easy now…Let me take the weight…Remember you have a nasty fracture. As soon as we have you settled, I’ll fasten the harness.’

She was glad when the manoeuvre was finished. Every time his hands touched her, to position her or adjust a strap, her body went into meltdown. She wasn’t at all sure how much more of this she could handle before she ended up giving herself away. It wouldn’t do to have him know how her fickle, treacherous body responded to having him near.

He was the man who’d had the girls back home burning up in a fever of excitement. He’d only had to look in their direction and they had queued up, vying for his attention, and she had vowed she wouldn’t be one of them. Ben was never going to stay around long enough to have a long-lasting relationship with anyone, was he? He couldn’t even manage to make a go of things with his father.

‘Are you all set?’ He gave her a fleeting glance. ‘I’m going to climb back over the tower and give the signal to the men on the ground so that they can begin hauling on the ropes to lower you down.’

She nodded warily. ‘Are you quite sure they’re going to hold?’ The stretcher rocked from side to side as he tugged on the ropes and raised it up a fraction. Perhaps if she just closed her eyes and imagined she was swinging in a hammock in her mother’s garden, this whole nightmare would end.

Her unease must have shown in her expression, because he chuckled softly. ‘I’ll be with you all the way to steady the stretcher as you make the descent. My harness is attached to the line so that I’ll be alongside you. My feet will be on the base rail of the stretcher. Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take care of you. Trust me.’

She closed her eyes fleetingly. She had long ago given up on any idea that he would be there to take care of her, or that he would be by her side whenever she needed him. Those were dreams from fantasy-land, weren’t they? As her brother’s friend, he had always been around, coming to the house, teasing her playfully until warm colour had filled her cheeks…but that was where it had ended. She had always been stranded on the fringes of his circle, looking on from afar, watching him struggle with his own demons and being unable to do anything to help.

He gave the signal to the waiting rescue team and then supported the basket stretcher as it was lifted over the rail. Then he followed, true to his word, accompanying her every bit of the way, his feet resting on the base of the stretcher, his long body leaning over her, his hands guiding the rope that lowered them to the ground. It was strangely comforting having him watch over her that way.

It was all over in a matter of minutes. ‘You’re safe now,’ Ben said, giving her a reassuring look as they reached ground level. ‘Home and dry. No worries.’

The people assembled in the courtyard were clearly impressed with the smoothness of the operation, and there were smiles all around. Ben supervised Jasmine’s transfer into the waiting ambulance, and then Mike appeared with steaming mugs of coffee. Once she was out of range of the onlookers, the patient miraculously recovered.

Freed from the restraints of the harness, she sat up and looked around at the interior of the ambulance. The windows were darkened and with the doors closed they were spared from prying eyes.

‘That was a great show,’ Mike said, looking from one to the other. ‘A very smooth rescue mission…so you’ll be able to go home now and relax.’ He paused. ‘Until next time.’ He grinned at Jasmine’s pained expression.

‘I don’t think you should be having any ideas on that score,’ she told him, giving him a look from under her lashes and clasping her coffee mug with both hands so that the warmth seeped into her. ‘I’m not likely to be volunteering again any time soon.’

Mike feigned disappointment. ‘Are you quite sure about that? I had you pencilled in for at least ten more meetings.’

She frowned. There was no way.

Sitting across from her on the opposite stretcher bed, Ben gave a wry smile. ‘Jassie copes well enough on mountain slopes where she can fend for herself,’ he said, ‘but this is not quite the same. She’s never been one to rely on others, so putting herself in someone else’s hands must have been quite an ordeal. She’s always been an independent soul.’

Jasmine sipped her coffee. His comment startled her. He seemed very sure of himself, as though he knew these things for a fact, so could it be that in the past he had actually been aware of her presence when she had thought him oblivious? It was true they had belonged to a group that regularly climbed the fells, but she had always teamed up with a friend on those occasions, whilst he had been accompanied by his fellow medical students. She frowned. Had he really taken note of what she was doing back then?

‘Well, she did a great job today…you both did,’ Mike said. He stood up. ‘I’ll say goodbye, then. Drink up and get warm. I should go and see what the rest of the team are up to…so thanks for your help this afternoon, both of you. I’ll look forward to meeting up with you again.’

They nodded and murmured their goodbyes, and Mike left the ambulance, closing the door behind him to keep out the cold wind.

‘What will you be doing now?’ Ben asked, looking at Jasmine. ‘I’m guessing this is your last day, isn’t it? Are you planning on going straight back to the hotel?’

She nodded. ‘I need to pack up my things and start heading back to the Lake District. It’s been a good week, but I’m looking forward to going home. I’m supposed to be helping my mother put up Christmas decorations this weekend, and once that’s done I’ll make a start on my own place.’

‘Are you sure that it’s wise to travel that distance in this weather? It’s over sixty miles away, isn’t it?’ Ben was frowning. ‘The snow doesn’t seem to be clearing up, and if it thickens and starts to settle, the roads could soon be covered. Wouldn’t you do better to stay overnight at the hotel?’

‘And risk being stranded here?’ She shook her head. ‘The main roads should stay fairly clear, I imagine, if the gritters have been at work. My room is booked for the night, but I think I’d prefer to set off as soon as possible and take my chances.’

‘Hmm.’ He studied her thoughtfully. ‘So you won’t be staying to have dinner at the hotel before you leave? It had occurred to me that perhaps we might have a meal together and talk over old times.’

She hesitated a moment before answering. From the way he was talking, he must believe that everything that had gone before was simply water under the bridge. The fact that his thoughtless actions had ruined her brother’s life hadn’t made so much as a dent in his confidence, had it? Or perhaps he felt that enough time had passed, the situation had changed, and they could all go on as if nothing had happened. For her own part, she couldn’t make up her mind whether he was entirely to blame for what had gone on. She was fiercely loyal to her brother, but sometimes life didn’t turn out quite the way people wanted.

‘That would have been something to look forward to,’ she answered softly, ‘but I daren’t risk any delay. I just have to stop by the hotel to pick up a suitcase and some packages—I managed to do quite a bit of Christmas shopping while I’ve been staying here. It seemed like too good an opportunity to miss, looking around the shops in a different town.’

Still, the thought of sitting down to eat a hot meal before she set off was very tempting right now—she wasn’t even going to think about how it would be to stay with Ben for a little while longer.

As an afterthought, she added, ‘But perhaps I could ask room service to send up a light meal and we could talk while I do my packing? After all, it probably wouldn’t be wise to start the journey on an empty stomach, would it?’

As soon as the words slipped out, she was regretting them. What had possessed her to suggest such a thing? Was she mad? He was her brother’s sworn enemy, a heartbreaker with no conscience, and here she was, actively encouraging him to spend time with her…and in her hotel room, at that. Had she taken leave of her senses?

‘I’d like that,’ Ben said, a look of satisfaction settling on his features. ‘I’ll follow you back there, just as soon as you’re ready to leave.’

‘I’m ready now.’ She’d already burnt her boats, so she may as well go where the tide led her. ‘As you say, the weather’s not good, so it would be as well not to delay too long.’ She stood up, taking time to adjust her scarf before picking up her empty cup and heading towards the door of the vehicle. Ben responded swiftly, unfurling his long body from the seat and going after her.

They went to the car park, and from there they started the journey to the Royal Pennant Hotel. Ben followed her for some two miles along the Yorkshire roads until at last they turned into the hotel’s wide forecourt. He drove carefully, she noticed, all the time mindful of the road conditions. The snow had turned to sleet, making the lanes slippery and treacherous.

She wasn’t looking forward to the long drive home. Her small car was reliable, but it wasn’t built for good manoeuvrability in snow and ice. His car, on the other hand, was an executive-style, midnight-blue saloon, built for power and road-holding capability.

It was a relief to arrive at the hotel, and the grand entrance hall was more than welcoming. It positively enveloped Jasmine with its warmth, reflected in the glow of polished mahogany timber, the sweep of luxurious carpet, and the orange and gold flames of the fire that crackled in the huge fireplace.

‘My room’s up on the first floor,’ she told Ben. ‘I’m lucky in that I have a small sitting room set apart from the sleeping area, so we’ll be able to eat in comfort.’

‘That sounds ideal.’

Once they were in the room, Jasmine waved him to a seat by the table, and then took off her scarf and jacket and laid them over the back of a chair to dry.

‘This is a lovely room,’ he commented, looking around. ‘It’s all very tastefully decorated.’

She nodded. The curtains and upholstery gave it an elegant but homely feel, and everything was pleasing on the eye.

Ben glanced beyond the sitting room to where part of the large double bed was visible, its counterpane matching the fabric of the curtains. ‘It’s good that they’ve separated the sleeping area from the living area with a narrow wall partition—it tends to give a notion that they are individual rooms and yet keeps the general feeling of spaciousness.’

‘Yes, it does. I was really pleased when I first saw the room. I wouldn’t have chosen to be away from home, but I’ve been comfortable here, and I have everything I might need, like a phone, desk and writing materials. I also brought my laptop with me so I’ve been able to sit here of an evening and type up my notes from the course.’

She ran a hand through her long, burnished chestnut hair, tossing her head slightly, allowing the waves to ripple freely. It was good to be uncluttered by her outer garments, and for the first time that day she took a deep, satisfying breath, content to be back in the cosy confines of her room.

‘Perhaps you’d like to order room service for both of us,’ she suggested, ‘while I start on my packing?’ She glanced at Ben as she went to place her suitcase on the bed, but something in his gaze made her stop what she was doing.

He was watching her closely, a glimmer of pure, male interest in his blue glance as it trailed over her, taking in the silky sweep of her hair and wandering down to trace a path over the gentle curve of her hips.

‘I’d almost forgotten how beautiful you are,’ he murmured, his gaze returning to settle on the soft curve of her mouth. ‘Whenever I thought about you, I’d remember your smile, the way you had of looking at me with that guarded expression, as though you weren’t quite sure what trouble I’d land myself in next. But it was always your hair that fascinated me. It’s so glorious that I’d long to run my fingers through it, very much as you did just then.’ He smiled. ‘Only I would have lingered a while longer, I think.’

His gently seductive manner unsettled her, causing her to falter as she set the suitcase down on the bed. Had he really been thinking about her from time to time? She hadn’t expected that. How was she to deal with this man from her past now that he had turned up, out of the blue, the one man she had kept at a distance all this time for fear of being hurt? He’d been a charmer, a man who’d known exactly how to wind women around his little finger, and it didn’t seem as though much had changed.

She fumbled with the zip of the suitcase, encountering resistance, and within a second or two Ben was beside her, his hand resting briefly on hers. The fleeting contact caused a tide of heat to surge through her veins and brought a soft flush of colour to her cheeks.

‘There you are,’ he said. ‘It’s free now.’

‘Thank you.’ She tried breathing slowly and deeply for a while in an effort to calm herself down. She studied him, letting her gaze run over his features and trying to assess what really lay behind that calm, unruffled exterior. ‘It’s been a while since we last ran into one another,’ she murmured, struggling to find her voice. ‘I’m surprised that you thought about me at all.’

‘It would be hard not to think about you,’ he responded with a faint smile. ‘After all, we both lived in the same village, and I watched you grow from a lively tomboy who landed in almost as many scrapes as I did into a lovely, serene and accomplished woman. It would have been very strange if I had forgotten you after that, just because we were separated by a few miles.’

She gave him a long, thoughtful look. Was he teasing her, trying to lead her along the same route that all those unsuspecting young women had travelled back home…like Anna, her brother’s girlfriend? She had to be wary of him. He simply wasn’t to be trusted.

‘Like I said, maybe you should order some food for us…the menu is on the desk. I’ll have a jacket potato with cheese, please. And a pot of coffee would be good. I’ve a feeling I’ll need something to sustain me on the journey.’

He nodded, accepting her change of subject without comment. Glancing through the menu, he said, ‘I think I’ll go with the ham and cheese melt. Leave it with me.’

She nodded and turned back to her packing. Some fifteen minutes later, she had managed to cram most of her belongings into her case, and Ben lent a hand with zipping it up.

‘All this for one week?’ he murmured, lifting a questioning brow. ‘How can any woman need so many changes of clothes in such a short space of time—unless, of course, you’ve been throwing yourself wholeheartedly into the night life? A few boisterous nights in the bar with the people on your course?’ He was looking at her quizzically, and she shook her head, giving off an air of innocence. He lifted a dark brow.

‘Well, maybe a couple,’ she amended with a laugh. ‘Though they weren’t what you’d call boisterous…more of a lively and animated type of evening, I’d say, especially as the night wore on.’

His eyes took on a contemplative expression. ‘No intimate dinners for two, then? Does that mean you’re not involved in any serious relationship at the moment? Or maybe you’ve a boyfriend waiting for you back home?’

She frowned. Why did he want to know that? There was no way she was going to let him wheedle his way into her affections, was there, given his past history? Enough was enough, and she decided to sidestep his questions. Why should he learn every detail of her private life when she knew nothing of his? Simply guessing what he might have been up to was bad enough.

‘It means,’ she said, looking down at her overstuffed case, ‘that I’ve packed my suitcase full of the Christmas presents I’ve bought for friends and family while I’ve been up here. Like I said, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to explore the shops in a new town…and with Christmas just three weeks away, there was no time to lose, was there?’

His mouth curved. ‘I guess not,’ he said, accepting her avoidance tactics with good enough grace. Then he moved away from her as a waiter arrived with the food, setting it out on the table.

‘I ordered a couple of desserts, too,’ Ben told her when the man had gone. ‘All this is my treat,’ he said. ‘I told the receptionist I would be paying for it.’

‘Thank you…but you didn’t need to do that.’ She eyed up the mouth-watering fruit crumble topped with creamy custard and felt all her good intentions fade away. How had he known that was her favourite? ‘That’s my diet blown for the week,’ she added mournfully.

He laughed. ‘I don’t believe that you’ve ever needed to diet in your life,’ he said, looking her over. ‘You’ve a perfect hourglass figure…’

She steeled herself not to rise to his bait. ‘Perhaps you should sit down and eat before the food gets cold,’ she suggested, doing her best to bat his comments to one side. ‘And tell me how it is that you came to be working with the rescue services this afternoon. I thought you were working in A and E, the same as me.’