Kitabı oku: «Playboy Under the Mistletoe», sayfa 2

Chapter Two

JASMINE frowned, gripping the steering-wheel firmly and making a determined effort to concentrate on her driving. Starting out on the long journey home, she was still reeling from the bombshell that Ben had dropped just a short time ago.

Her mind was caught up in a fog of confusion. One minute she had been secure in her own sheltered world, and now, in an instant, everything had changed. Somehow, she couldn’t come to terms with the fact that from now on he would be staying around. For her, life in her home village of Woodsley Bridge would never be quite the same again.

It was early evening now, already dark, and snow was falling in a gentle curtain, lending a picture-postcard atmosphere to the landscape. The branches of the trees were topped with thick ribbons of snow, the rooftops of isolated farmhouses had become a pristine white and all around snow spread like a glistening carpet over the fields. It was lovely to look at, but not so good when she had to drive in it.

She had already been on the road for half an hour, and there were still many miles left to go. She was keeping her fingers crossed that the steady downfall would ease off at some point and that at least the roads would stay clear.

Ben was following her on this first lap of the journey. ‘My route follows yours for the first fifteen miles or so,’ he had told her before they’d set off, and she had looked at him in surprise.

‘But I thought you were living in St Helens, down in Cheshire,’ she responded with a frown. Surely that was in the opposite direction?

Driving along, she recalled their conversation. ‘I didn’t realise you knew where I was living,’ he had said, raising a brow.

She’d given a faint shrug. ‘Information filters through from time to time about what you’ve been doing or where you are. People might have caught a glimpse of you, here and there, or maybe their friends and relatives have been further afield to a hospital for treatment…it really doesn’t take much for word to get around.’

He’d smiled crookedly. ‘Tongues will always wag, won’t they? I expect rumours are rife about all my transgressions. The village folk could never quite get over my youthful misdemeanours, could they? That Radcliffe boy’s up to his tricks again is about all I ever heard from them. Even when I was doing my medical training they were convinced I’d be thrown out for something or other.’

He wasn’t far off the mark there, Jasmine acknowledged inwardly. His father had made it clear from the first that he wasn’t expecting him to finish the course, and perhaps that was because his son had such a wide range of interests that he found it hard to stick to one in particular. Ben was a wild spirit, always game for anything, and even at medical school he had managed to raise brows. News of his exploits quickly found its way back home.

‘Well, you did get into trouble for almost setting fire to the kitchen in your student residence,’ she murmured. ‘And then there was that time when you and your friends stayed out all night and turned up at your lecture next morning looking the worse for wear.’

He made a face. ‘Almost being the operative word about the fire,’ he said. ‘I only left the omelette cooking on the hob for a minute or two while I went to help a fellow student who had cut her hand…and the fact that the smoke alarm didn’t go off was down to someone else removing the battery and forgetting to put it back. I think he was fed up with it going off every time he made toast.’

His brows drew together. ‘And as to the night out, why should that have turned out to be a disciplinary offence? At least we turned up for the lecture on time next day. Some of these people on the boards of universities seem to have no recollection of what it’s like to be a student. Yet I’ll bet they had their moments, if the truth was known.’

‘You make it sound as though it was all unfair,’ she said with a wry smile. ‘Anyway, I’m sure that’s all in the past. I heard you’d done well for yourself in the last few years. There was a piece in the paper about you setting up a new emergency paediatric unit at the hospital in Cheshire…’ She frowned. ‘But that brings me back to what I was saying—if you’re following the same route home as me, I’m guessing you must be living and working somewhere else at the moment.’

He nodded. ‘I’ve been doing some locum work up in Lancashire, so it made sense to stay there for the last couple of months. And, of course, it meant I was able to come and do the stint with the rescue services today, since I’m based not too far away.’

It made sense to Jasmine. He had always been a restless soul, and from what he had just described of his travel arrangements, things didn’t seem to have changed very much.

Now, though, she glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw that he was still following behind her, his beautiful car eating up the miles without the slightest hint of difficulty. She wasn’t so lucky. Her own car had been throwing up problems along the way.

The outside temperature had dropped to below freezing, and it seemed that her tyres were not up to the job of gripping the slippery surface. She had to take extra care on the bends in the road, and as if that wasn’t enough, the snow was still coming down thick and fast so that her windscreen wipers were struggling to clear it away.

The roads were becoming increasingly clogged with snow as drifts began to pile up along the hedgerows, and now she was worried that she might not be able to go on much further. Perhaps Ben had been right when he’d suggested she should stay overnight at the hotel.

Still, she wasn’t the only one who had decided to venture out. A few drivers were following the same route, doggedly determined to get home.

She looked at the road ahead. The car in front of her was negotiating a bend, and as the road sloped downwards the driver seemed to have trouble maintaining a straight course. He swerved as the car in front of him suddenly drifted in an arc across the road, the unexpected action causing him to veer wildly. A second or two later, he rammed his vehicle sideways into a large oak tree. Still in a skid, the other car swivelled around, hitting his front end and coming to a halt halfway across the road.

Jasmine’s stomach clenched and her pulse began to quicken. Her mouth went dry and she was uneasily aware of the thud of her heartbeat as it rose up into her throat. How was she going to avoid being part of the pile-up ahead? Both cars were taking up a good half of the road directly in front of her, and she wouldn’t be able to stop in time to avoid them. She couldn’t brake or she would go into a skid, too. She had no choice but to go on.

Her mind was racing. She was all too conscious of Ben not far behind her, and she didn’t want to risk him being caught up in any collision. Her only hope was that, with any luck, he would have seen what was going on, and would be able to find some way of avoiding trouble.

She wasn’t going fast, but now she changed to a lower gear, slowing the car and carefully steering through the only gap available between the cars and the hedgerow. Thankfully, no one was coming in the opposite direction. Then, as she tried to steer a course away from trouble, the camber of the road changed, throwing the car out of kilter in the bad conditions, and a moment later her vehicle slewed violently around, slamming her headlong into a snowdrift.

The car shuddered to a halt, tipping over at an angle, and she stared at the windscreen, seeing nothing in front of her but a blanket of white. Apprehension clutched at her insides. It seemed very much as though she had plunged part way into a ditch, and maybe the hedgerow had stopped her going any further. Her heart plummeted. Now it looked as though she was going to be stranded here, miles away from anywhere, in a dark, frozen void.

The engine had cut off. There was silence all around, and it seemed as though she was enclosed in a capsule, shut away from the outside world. It was eerie and scary at the same time, being trapped in this pale wasteland.

‘Are you okay?’ A moment or two later, Ben was pulling at the door of her car while she was still trying to take stock of everything that had happened.

Relief washed over her. Ben was safe and she wasn’t alone. ‘Yes,’ she answered, struggling to keep her voice level. ‘I’m okay.’

‘You’re quite sure that you’re not hurt in any way?’

‘I’m sure. I’m not hurt.’ She blinked, looking around at the overwhelming mass of snow that covered three sides of her vehicle like a half-built tunnel. She tried to gather her thoughts. ‘Did you manage to keep your car on the road?’

‘It’s fine. I’ve parked just along the road from you.’ He hesitated. ‘If you’re positive that you’re all right, I need to go and check on the other drivers. If we don’t clear the road fast, there could be another accident before too long. We have two people keeping watch, so that they can try to alert people to the danger, but it isn’t safe and I need to hurry.’

She nodded. ‘I’ll come with you.’

‘There’s no need.’ As she tried to slide out of her seat, he laid his hands on her shoulders, lightly pressuring her to stay. ‘You look as though you’re in shock,’ he said. ‘You’re trembling. Stay there and I’ll be back as soon as I can.’

He was right, she realised after he had gone. Her body was still mourning the loss of his reassuring touch, but that was only because she was in a state of shock, as he’d said…wasn’t it? She tried to move, but her legs let her down and her hands were shaking. Her car was slanted at an odd angle to the ground and she wasn’t at all certain how she was going to get it back on the road.

For a minute or two, she sat very still, concentrating on breathing deeply in an effort to compose herself. No matter what he said, Ben most likely needed help. If they didn’t move the other car to the side of the road, it would be a danger to oncoming drivers. It was also quite possible that one or both of the people involved in the accident might be injured. Sitting here wasn’t an option, and somehow or other she had to pull herself together and try to help out. Bracing herself, she drew another shuddery breath of air into her lungs, and a moment later she slid out of her seat and went to find him.

He and another man were trying to steer the crumpled car to the side of the road, but the vehicle that had rammed into the tree was still in the same position as before. The driver was at the wheel, and she guessed that Ben must have already spoken to him. The man wasn’t moving, but perhaps that was because he was traumatised by what had happened.

She went over to car and opened up the passenger door. ‘Is there anything I can do to help you?’ she asked. The man was in his fifties, she guessed, with a weathered complexion and streaks of grey in his hair. His expression was tense, as though he was hurt and was steeling himself against the pain. ‘I can see that you’re holding your arm,’ she murmured. ‘Is it giving you some problems?’

He nodded, his lips compressed. ‘I wrenched it when I went into the tree. Help’s on its way, though. The man from the BMW told me he’s a doctor…he came to take a look at me and said I’d probably dislocated my shoulder. He had to go and shift the car out of the way, but he’s coming back.’

‘I’m sure he’ll be able to help you.’ She quickly tried to assess his condition. He was wearing a cotton shirt with a sleeveless fleece jacket over the top, and even in the darkness she could see that the shoulder was strangely distorted. ‘He and I know one another, as it happens—we’re both doctors.’

He managed a weak smile. ‘I suppose I’m lucky, then, that this happened while you were around.’

‘You could say that.’ She hesitated. ‘Is it all right if I switch on the interior light? Perhaps I could take a look at you and see what we’re dealing with?’

He gave a slight nod, and once the light was on she examined his arm and his hand. ‘Can you feel your fingers?’

‘I don’t think so. They’re a funny colour, aren’t they?’ He frowned. ‘That’s not good, is it?’

‘Well, it means we probably need to put the shoulder back in its socket sooner rather than later. Your circulation is being stopped or slowed down, and we have to sort it out fairly quickly.’

She glanced around and saw that there was a cushion on the rear seat. ‘If we put the cushion between your arm and your chest it may help to make you feel more comfortable in the meantime.’

He nodded again, and she went to get the cushion, coming back to gently place it in position. A faint look of relief crossed his features.

‘That feels a bit better,’ he said, breathing hard and gritting his teeth. ‘Thanks.’

‘You’re welcome.’ She glanced at him. ‘Are you hurting anywhere else? I noticed the driver’s door is buckled…has that hurt you in any way?’

‘I don’t think it’s done anything too bad. It feels as though I’ll be bruised for a while, but basically I’m okay. It’s just the shoulder. It hurts like the devil.’

‘I can imagine it does.’ She hesitated momentarily. ‘Will you be all right for a minute or two while I go and get my medical bag from the car? We should be able to put your shoulder back in position for you—and we can at least give you something to relieve the pain.’

‘That would be good.’ He seized at the chance. ‘Whatever you can do…’

‘Okay.’ She slid out of the car once more and trudged through the snow to her own vehicle, thankful that she was wearing strong leather boots.

‘What are you doing?’ Ben asked, coming over to her, his brows drawing together in a dark line as she retrieved her bag from the car. ‘I thought I told you to stay where you were. At least you would have been warmer in there, and you know you shouldn’t be wandering around when you’ve just been involved in an accident. You could be injured and not realise it.’

‘I’m a doctor,’ she said in a succinct tone, her green eyes homing in on him. ‘I think I’d know if there was something wrong with me.’

‘Not necessarily.’ His gaze lanced into her. ‘You should let me check you over.’

She raised both brows. ‘We both know that’s not going to happen.’ Just the thought of him laying hands on her was enough to make colour sweep along her cheekbones. She just hoped he couldn’t see her reaction, and to avert disaster she went on, ‘It looks as though only one man was injured. Apparently, you said you’d go and help him.’

‘That’s right.’ He studied her briefly, and clearly he must have decided not to pursue the point about her staying in the car.

‘Well, it looks as though his circulation’s compromised, so I think it would be best to try to put the shoulder back in place here and now, rather than wait.’

‘Yes, that’s pretty much the conclusion I came to.’

Jasmine was thinking out a plan of action. ‘In that case, he’ll need a sedative and a painkilling injection,’ she added. ‘I have the medication we need in my medical bag.’

‘Good. You’re right, it will probably be best to inject the joint, rather than set up an intravenous line and anaesthetise him. That way, he would be knocked out completely, but his recovery would take longer, and these aren’t exactly the best of circumstances for him to be undergoing that kind of treatment.’ His gaze ran over her once more. ‘We could do it together, if you think you’re up to it…?’

‘I am. I’ll be fine. I’ll support him while you do the reduction.’

‘Okay, then. Let’s go and see how he’s doing.’

The injured man, they discovered, was becoming paler by the minute, and his lips were beginning to take on a pinched appearance.

‘Ian,’ Ben said, slipping into the passenger seat beside him, ‘we’re going to give you something that will help you to stay calm and relaxed throughout the procedure, and then I’ll inject a painkiller directly into the joint. The drugs will help to relax your muscles at the same time. All that means you shouldn’t feel too much discomfort when I put the bone back into place. You should feel immediate relief from pain when that’s done.’

Ian’s lips moved in what they took for agreement. ‘Anything,’ he said. ‘Please, just put it back so that I can start to think straight again.’

They worked together to give him the medication and prepare him for the manipulation. Then they manoeuvred him from the driver’s seat to where they could work more comfortably. Jasmine positioned herself to one side, getting ready to stop any sudden, untoward movement as Ben popped the shoulder back into its socket.

As soon as it was over, Ian slumped back in his seat. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘That was really painful until you two set to work.’

Jasmine was pleased to see that his fingers had started to regain their normal colour, which meant his circulation had been successfully restored. ‘You need to keep the shoulder very still,’ she told him. ‘Any movement will cause more damage.’

Ben had been searching through his own medical bag and now he brought out a shoulder sling. ‘This should help to immobilise the joint while it heals,’ he said. ‘The tissues around the shoulder will probably be inflamed and swollen for a few weeks, so I’ll prescribe some anti-inflammatory tablets for you. I can give you some to be going on with, but you should get the shoulder checked out at a hospital as soon as possible. They’ll probably do an X-ray to make sure that everything’s okay…and they’ll want to make sure that you have no other injuries.’

Ian nodded. ‘Thanks. Though I don’t know how I’m going to get to a hospital in this weather. I don’t even know how I’m going to drive…or even if the car is capable of getting me anywhere.’

‘Same here,’ Jasmine said. ‘Mine’s halfway down a ditch. It seems we’re both in the same boat.’

‘Wretched weather.’ Ian grimaced. ‘I suppose I could call for a taxi…we could share, if you like. That’s if anyone will come out in this weather, of course.’

‘There’s no need for that,’ Ben put in. ‘I can help out. My car’s not damaged in any way, so I can drive both of you. Actually, there’s a cottage hospital with a minor injuries unit not too far away from here. They have X-ray facilities, so they should be able to sort you out.’ He looked at Ian. ‘I’ll drop you off there, if you like, and maybe you could call a relative to come and pick you up later?’

Ian thought things through. ‘I expect my son will come once he finishes work. He’s on the late shift, but he has a four-wheel drive, so I don’t suppose he’ll have too many problems with the road conditions.’

‘What about you, Jasmine?’ Ben’s gaze rested on her. ‘You’re not going to be able to make it to Woodsley Bridge tonight, are you? I can put you up at my place overnight, if you want. At least you’ll be warm and safe there, and we can make arrangements to have your car towed to a garage in the morning.’

A surge of relief flowed through her. ‘Thanks,’ she said, giving him a quick smile. ‘I’d appreciate that, if you’re sure you don’t mind? It’s getting late, and it’s a weight off my mind, knowing that I won’t have to start making all sorts of arrangements at this time of night.’

‘Good. That’s settled, then.’ Once he had everyone’s agreement, Ben was ready for action. ‘We’ll load your luggage into the boot of my car and get under way.’

He helped Ian into the BMW, making sure that he was secure and comfortable in the back seat. ‘The hospital’s a couple of miles down the road,’ he said. ‘We’ll have you there in just a few minutes.’

Jasmine sat in the front passenger seat, absorbing the sheer luxury of Ben’s car. Everything about it spelled comfort and opulence. The temperature was perfect, the seats were heated, and the upholstery gave off a rich scent of supple, new leather. There was even soft music playing in the background.

It all lulled her into a false sense of security, making her feel as though everything was right in her world and that it was perfectly normal for her to be sitting here next to Ben. She tried not to notice how his strong fingers closed around the wheel, or the fact that his long legs were just an inch or so away from her own. The material of his trousers pulled across his powerful thighs, drawing her attention, and she quickly looked away.

When they arrived at the hospital, they went with Ian into the casualty department and waited while a triage nurse took details of the accident and organised an immediate appointment for him in the X-ray department. Then Ian rang his son, and once they were confident that arrangements were in place for him to be picked up later that evening, they said goodbye to him and set off for Ben’s house.

‘It isn’t too far away,’ Ben said, as he turned the car into a country lane. ‘We’ve had to make a bit of a detour, but we should be there soon. I’ll rustle us up something to eat—it seems like an age since we had that snack back at the hotel.’

She gave a crooked smile. ‘I know what you’re thinking…I should have stayed there and agreed to have dinner with you. It would have saved all this trouble.’

He sent her a sideways glance. ‘I wasn’t going to say that…far be it from me to say I told you so.’ He grinned. ‘But sitting down to a relaxing dinner with you and taking time to catch up with all your news would have been good.’

She sighed. ‘I know. But I did so want to get home.’ He didn’t need to know how wary she was of being in close proximity with him for any length of time. ‘It’s just that my mother will be putting up the Christmas tree tomorrow evening, and it’s sort of a tradition that I help her with the baubles and decorations. I love this time of year. We always have Christmas carols playing in the background while we dress the tree, and my dad brings us hot liqueur coffees and warm mince pies, so that we really get into the festive spirit.’

She smiled. ‘Of course, he complains that he’s not really ready to celebrate three weeks early while he’s still working, but as a GP he could be tending patients on Christmas morning, so we tend to ignore that and get on with it.’

Ben grinned. ‘Your father has always been a solid, easygoing man, though, hasn’t he? Nothing ever really fazes him. I suppose that comes from taking care of all the folk in the village for years on end and dealing with their quirks and foibles.’

‘That’s true.’ She sent him an oblique glance. ‘What about you? Will you be going back to the manor house to stay with your father?’

He shook his head and his expression became sombre. ‘I don’t think so. That wouldn’t go down too well. My father and I have never seen eye to eye over anything very much.’

‘But you’ll be spending Christmas with him, won’t you?’ She frowned. ‘Now that you’re going home, surely he’ll be glad of the chance to see you again after all this time? Perhaps you’ll be able to forget what went on in the past and try to start over again.’

‘It sounds good in theory,’ Ben said. His mouth flattened. ‘But, truthfully, I don’t suppose he’ll welcome me with open arms. He can be stubborn at the best of times.’

‘I’m sorry. That’s so sad.’ Her green eyes clouded. ‘It’s such a shame to see a family torn apart at the seams when maybe a word or two could put matters right.’

His expression was cynical. ‘Do you really imagine that I haven’t tried?’ He shook his head. ‘I know you mean well, Jassie, but you should give up on trying to reconcile my father and me. I’ve come to the conclusion that it isn’t going to work. I’ve written to him, tried to talk to him on the phone, but he’s brusque and uncooperative, and I have the feeling that I’m wasting my time. It’s not even as if I’m the one in the wrong…well, not totally, anyway…But it doesn’t seem to make any difference to how he thinks and feels.’

His mouth made a flat line. ‘Things were said, on both sides, that should have been left unsaid, and the damage has been done. The wounds they leave behind never truly heal.’

‘I don’t believe in giving up,’ she murmured. ‘Not where family is concerned, anyway. I’d always be looking for an opportunity to put things right.’

His expression softened. ‘That’s because you’re a sweet, generous-natured woman who only ever looks for the good in people. I’m just afraid that before too long you’ll find yourself disillusioned, and that would be a terrible shame.’

She absorbed that, subsiding back into her seat without comment. The only way she had ever been disillusioned had been in her dealings with Ben. Over the years, she’d watched him, wincing as he’d made his mistakes, biting her tongue when she’d wanted to speak out about his various entanglements, wondering if there would ever be a time when he would look at her with the light of love in his eyes.

But that had been asking for the impossible—how would he ever have done that when she’d constantly shielded herself from him for her own protection? Besides, she had long ago given up on that dream world. Life had thrown a spanner in the works when Ben had gone away with Anna.

She could never keep up with Ben. He had been like quicksilver, constantly on the move, rising to challenges as and when they’d arisen. All his youthful energies had been fuelled by rebellion against the hand life had dealt him…losing his mother at a very young age had been a raw deal, the worst, and who could blame him for his confusion and disenchantment with life? No wonder he’d run amok through the village in his tender years and stirred up a storm.

Knowing all that, maybe it was the reason why Jasmine had always looked beyond the vigorous, determined exterior to what lay beneath.

Her feelings for him had never changed. They just became more impossible to manage as time went on.