The Doctor's Christmas Bride by Sarah Morgan Read Free Book Online

leg in a splint. Then we’re going to warm you up and get you off this mountain.’
    Bryony gave a shiver. The temperature was dropping fast and even in her top-quality gear she could feel the cold.
    By the time they’d splinted the boy’s leg, Sean had arrived with the rest of the mountain rescue team.
    ‘Nice day for a walk,’ he drawled, glancing around him at the thick mist. ‘The views are fantastic.’
    Bryony smiled. ‘Absolutely fantastic,’ she said sarcastically. ‘Enjoy your stroll, did you?’
    Sean grinned in appreciation. ‘Didn’t want to rush things,’ he said, lifting an eyebrow in Jack’s direction. ‘Well?’
    ‘We need a helicopter but I don’t suppose there’s any chance of that.’
    ‘You suppose correctly.’
    Jack sighed and checked the pulses on the boy’s foot again. ‘So we’d better carry them off, then. Good. I needed a workout.’
    It seemed to take ages to organise both boys ontostretchers but eventually they managed to carry them out of the ghyll and started down the mountain.
    By the time they reached the valley floor the mist had cleared and it was a sunny day.
    ‘I don’t believe this,’ Bryony muttered, tugging off her hat and shaking her hair loose. ‘What is it with our weather?’
    Both boys were loaded into the mountain rescue team ambulance and then transferred to hospital under Sean’s supervision while Jack and Bryony followed behind.
    ‘Are you working today?’ Jack glanced across at her and she nodded.
    ‘Yes. I’m on a late. Why?’
    He returned his attention to the road. ‘I thought you had a date.’
    Bryony looked at him warily. ‘That’s tomorrow, but I don’t know if I’m going because Mum has to go and visit someone in Kendal so I don’t think she can babysit.’
    ‘I’ll babysit for you.’
    Bryony stared at him. ‘You?’
    ‘Why not?’ His eyes were fixed on the road. ‘I often babysit for you. It gives me a chance to talk to my godchild. I like it.’
    Bryony looked at him suspiciously. ‘But last night…’ She broke off and bit her lip, not really wanting to bring the subject up in case it rocked the peace that had resumed between them. ‘Last night you said that you didn’t think I should be dating.’
    ‘And I’ve already apologised for that,’ he said, flicking the indicator and turning into the road thatled to the hospital. ‘And to make up for it, I’ll babysit for you. What time do you want me?’
    Still feeling uneasy about the whole thing but not knowing why, Bryony gave a shrug. ‘Seven-thirty?’
    ‘Seven-thirty is perfect. There’s just one thing…’ He pulled up in the ambulance bay and yanked on the handbrake. ‘You haven’t told me who you’re going out with.’
    There was something in his smooth tones that made her glance at him warily but his handsome face was impassive.
    She paused with her hand on the door. ‘David.’
    ‘David Armstrong? The paediatrician?’ Jack’s expression didn’t change but she sensed something that made her uneasy.
    ‘Look, Jack—’
    ‘I’ll be there at seven-thirty. Now, let’s get on. I need to get antibiotics into Martyn and call the surgeons. That wound is going to need some attention.’
    And with that he sprang out of the vehicle, leaving her staring after him.
    Jack was going to babysit while she went on a date?
    It seemed harmless enough, generous even, so why did she have such a strong feeling that something wasn’t quite right?

CHAPTER THREE
    ‘M UMMY , you look pretty.’
    ‘Do you think so?’ Bryony surveyed her reflection in the mirror, wondering whether the dress was right for the evening that David had in mind. He’d said dinner in a smart restaurant, but she never went to smart restaurants so she wasn’t that sure what to wear.
    In the end she’d settled for the little black dress that her mother had given her three Christmases ago and which she’d never worn.
    She’d fastened her hair on top of her head, found a pair of pretty, dangly