Worth The Risk

From the moment they met, fighting together to save two young lives, Dr. Ally McGuire and Dr. Sean Nicholson were and explosive team! Sean was keen to follow his up out of surgery hours, but while he didn’t want commitment of any kind, Ally knew she could never settle for a brief affair. Neither was prepared to risk falling in love…until, after one unexpected night of passion, Ally became pregnant…

Worth the Risk

Sarah Morgan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Cover

Back Cover Copy

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Copyright Page

CHAPTER ONE

ALLY was cold.

Last night, curled up with a hot chocolate in front of a cosy, flickering fire, a walk in the mountains had seemed like a good idea. Solitary. Invigorating. Good for the soul. Something she rarely had time for any more. The weather forecast had predicted a clear, fine day…

Tugging her hat further down over her ears to keep out the rising wind, she scowled at the swirling mist. How did the weatherman get away with it? If she ever got a diagnosis that wrong she’d be struck off!

With a resigned shrug she put her fingers in her mouth and gave a shrill whistle, bracing herself as a ball of fur streaked through the mist and skidded to a halt in front of her, tail wagging.

‘This was a stupid idea!’ She rammed her fingers back inside the glove before they froze, and glared at the dog. ‘I don’t know what you’re looking so pleased about—I’m in the last stages of hypothermia. Let’s call it a day.’

Dropping her hand to give him a quick pat, she turned on her heel and then stopped dead, every muscle in her body frozen into stillness. The dog growled.

‘Did you hear something, too?’ She listened again, straining her ears to pick out the sound again.

Nothing. Just the wind gusting more heavily by the minute.

Hesitation showing on her delicate features, Ally turned her head to gaze back up the path. It had come from the ghyll, a deep ravine plunging hundreds of feet down towards the valley floor.

Just the wind? Or a cry for help?

Her fingers tickled the dog’s ears. ‘It’s probably nothing, but we’d better just check. We’ll go higher up where the path is better.’

Down here the path was so badly eroded that going too close to the edge would be a quick route down to the bottom.

Her decision made, she turned on her heel and snapped her fingers at the dog, who fell into step behind her, tongue lolling. She stopped at the curve in the path and rubbed the dampness away from her face before dropping to her knees, inching as close to the vertiginous drop as she dared.

‘Are you crazy?’

Hard male fingers bit into her shoulder and wrenched her back from the edge, leaving her spread-eagled on the stony path.

Her heart galloping with shock, Ally closed her eyes briefly and then opened them again to find herself staring at a pair of long, powerful legs. Blinking several times, her eyes moved slowly upwards, past broad shoulders, past a chunky polo—which brushed a rough jawline, and finally clashed with a pair of dark, very angry eyes.

Very angry indeed. With her?

Her heart still thumping, she scrambled to her feet, ignoring his outstretched hand. No way was she going to be on the receiving end of that grip twice in one day! The man obviously didn’t know his own strength.

‘What the hell were you doing?’ His sharp question made her lift her chin defensively.

‘What did you think I was doing?’ Surely it was obvious?

‘Contemplating suicide?’

‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous!’ Ally gave him an impatient look and brushed some stones from her knees. ‘I thought I heard someone shout.’

Smooth, dark eyebrows rose. ‘So you thought you’d dive head first over the edge to investigate?’

‘I wasn’t anywhere near the edge—’

Strong fingers clamped around her wrist and jerked her back towards the head-spinning drop.

‘See that?’ He gestured with his head, a muscle working in his lean cheek as his eyes blazed into hers. ‘This path is crumbling. You were seconds away from joining them at the bottom of the mountain.’

She tugged at her wrist. ‘It’s fine here. The National Trust have—’ She broke off as his words registered. ‘You said them! So you heard something, too?’

He gave a grim nod and released her, swinging a large rucksack off his back. ‘There are two boys in trouble. They were scrambling in the ghyll.’

‘Scrambling?’ Ally’s voice rang with disbelief. ‘But we’ve had ten inches of rain in these fells since Monday. That ghyll is a difficult scramble at the best of times, but when it’s been raining it’s lethal. Were they roped up?’

He unclipped the top of his rucksack with gloved fingers, tugging the collar of his jacket higher to keep out the wind. ‘They’re just kids. I doubt they’ve even got a waterproof between them.’

‘Oh, no!’ Ally bit her lip and glanced anxiously towards the edge. ‘We need to get help for them fast.’

‘We do indeed.’ He glanced up from the rucksack and studied her, those dark eyes sweeping every inch of her face and body before lingering on the logo of her quality weatherproof jacket.

She shifted uncomfortably. Something about those eyes made her feel suddenly gauche and tongue-tied. Like an eighteen-year-old student instead of a twenty-eight-year-old doctor with responsibilities. He had gorgeous eyes. Male eyes. Eyes you could stare into and lose yourself.

She blinked. ‘We need to contact the mountain rescue team. I didn’t bring a mobile phone.’

‘I did, but there’s no signal. I already tried.’ He straightened and wiped a hand across his forehead. ‘You and your party need to go down to the bottom and use a land-line.’

‘And what will you do?’

He turned his attention back to the rucksack. ‘Get down into that ravine and do what I can for them until help arrives.’

Ally stared at him. ‘On your own?’

‘You want me to take the sheep, too?’

Ally gritted her teeth. ‘I’m suggesting that it might be wiser to wait for the mountain rescue team.’

‘They’ll take too long.’ He delved into the rucksack and dragged out a coiled rope. ‘The way those boys were equipped they’ll die of hypothermia before you even make the phone call.’

Ally rubbed a hand over her numbed cheeks. The temperature was dropping fast. ‘It’s too dangerous. You can’t climb down there on your own.’

‘You have a better idea?’

She hadn’t, not that he was exactly interested in her opinion anyway. He was too busy preparing for the descent into the ghyll, seemingly indifferent to the physical challenge it presented. Her heart missed a beat as he tugged off his hat and stuffed it into the top of his rucksack. He was heart-stoppingly handsome. Jet black hair cropped short and a firm mouth and jaw that was overwhelmingly male. For a moment Ally just stared. Then she shook herself and frowned instead. Why was she staring? She never stared at men. Never. Especially not handsome ones. They were bad news.

‘I think what you’re planning is really dangerous. How can you be so calm?’

‘You’d prefer me to panic?’

The dry amusement in his tone made her flush slightly and she wrapped her arms around her body and looked at the threatening profile of the mountains. The weather was getting worse. Much worse.

‘You’re taking a huge risk.’

He rammed a helmet onto his head and glanced at the sky, assessing the weather. ‘As long as the wind doesn’t get any stronger it should be fine, although there’s no way the RAF will be able to scramble a helicopter. If necessary we’ll have to stretcher him off.’

Ally nodded. ‘OK. Well, I’ll wait until I know you’re safely down—that way you can give me an idea of their condition before I contact the mountain rescue team.’

He gave a brief nod. ‘That makes sense. Where are the rest of your party?’

Ally shifted slightly. ‘I’m not in a party…’

There was an ominous silence. ‘You’re walking alone? In this weather?’

Her eyes avoided his. ‘Yes, but I—’

‘You crazy, irresponsible woman!’ His gloved hand captured her chin and forced her to meet his incredulous gaze. ‘You’re walking on your own in the mountains in the middle of winter? You must be nuts!’

Her eyes flashed angrily and she jerked her chin away from his hand. ‘Don’t be a hypocrite! You’re walking on your own, too, remember? And you’re about to abseil down a rock on your own, so don’t lecture me about safety!’

His jaw tightened. ‘That’s entirely different.’

Ally’s chin lifted and her eyes clashed with his. ‘Because you’re a man and I’m a woman, I suppose?’

Anger blazed in his eyes and then suddenly faded and he gave her a sheepish smile that did strange things to her insides. ‘Something like that.’

Ally swallowed hard. If he was handsome when he was angry then he was devastating when he smiled. The rapid transformation from macho condemnation to self-deprecating humour was as surprising as it was attractive.

She pulled herself together and glared at him. ‘Has anyone ever told you you’re a chauvinist?’

‘Repeatedly.’ His soft laugh warmed her insides. ‘I just happen to think it isn’t safe for a woman to be up in these mountains on her own. The weather is unpredictable and the world is full of perverts.’

‘I’m equipped for bad weather and I have a dog to take care of perverts.’ Ally stamped her feet to keep warm and met his gaze squarely. ‘So when you’ve finished indulging your prejudices perhaps we can finish working out a rescue plan.’

‘I have worked out a rescue plan.’ He hefted a rope, his mind obviously back on the job in hand. ‘But I hadn’t banked on you being on your own.’

‘Why does that make a difference?’

‘Because I was hoping for reinforcements, and one woman on her own is not reinforcements.’

Ally bristled defensively. ‘What am I, then?’

‘Frankly?’ His mouth twisted into a wry smile. ‘A liability.’

‘A liability?’ She gaped at him and he shrugged without a trace of apology.

‘I don’t need a dizzy blonde distracting me when I’m supposed to be concentrating. It’s the same reason I don’t believe women should be in the army. Men always have protective feelings towards them and that affects the job.’

Dizzy? Stunned into silence, Ally opened her mouth and closed it again. Her voice seemed to have given up the ghost. She tried again. ‘Feel free to stifle your protective feelings. I don’t need them.’

He shrugged. ‘Well, like it or not, you’ve got them. And you’re not going down this mountain on your own.’

She couldn’t believe she was hearing this. ‘I’ve been walking in these mountains on my own since my teens and I’ve never come to any harm.’

He glanced up, his eyes hard. ‘Then you’ve been lucky. If you want to walk, join the Ramblers Association.’

‘The Ramblers…’ She broke off and her small chin lifted angrily. ‘How dare you make judgements when you don’t know anything about me? Dammit, you don’t even know I’m blonde!’

His gaze lifted briefly to the wool hat, which successfully hid all traces of her hair colour and then rested on her face.

‘I do know you’re blonde.’ His eyes smiled into hers for a brief moment. ‘I’m a connoisseur of blondes. Only true blondes have eyes the colour of violets.’

A connoisseur of blondes?

‘And being a blonde makes me dizzy?’ Her whole body was tingling with outrage and something else she chose not to identify. ‘You are the most chauvinistic, misogynistic, prejudiced male—’

‘And I like you, too.’ He smiled complacently and then turned to look at the ravine, totally dismissive of her words, his mind obviously working on the problem ahead. How to evacuate the boys.

‘Look.’ She took a deep breath and deliberately made her tone conciliatory. ‘I may be a woman but I do know these mountains and I can help—believe me.’

Judging from the look he gave her, he didn’t. ‘At a guess you’re five feet nothing and eight stone. The chances of you being able to deploy any muscle to save those guys down there is remote.’

‘Mountain rescue isn’t about muscle.’ Her fists clenched by her sides.

‘No?’ He tilted his head, his eyes hard. ‘Didn’t you say the water level is high at the moment? What if one of them has fallen into a dangerous position and needs to be moved to save his life? Good at lifting bulky teenagers, are you?’

Ally counted to ten. It wasn’t enough so she tried twenty. ‘Well, as you rightly said, someone needs to go for help, so once you give me a brief on their condition I’ll alert mountain rescue.’

With a short laugh he turned his attention back to the rope. ‘You’re not going anywhere. The wind is getting worse, the path is barely visible and you’re going down this mountain on your own over my dead body.’

Ally ground her teeth. The thought was actually quite attractive! ‘I came up it on my own.’

‘Ever heard the saying, Two wrongs don’t make a right?’ He tugged off a glove to get a better grip on what he was doing.

Ally ignored his tone and scanned the items he’d laid on the ground. ‘If you’re really planning to abseil down to them this isn’t the best place.’

He muttered something rude under his breath. ‘You’re trying to give me an abseiling lesson?’

‘Yes.’ She forced herself to hold his stare, refusing to be intimidated by his dry, forbidding tone. Obviously he thought she couldn’t teach him anything, and his arrogance made her grind her teeth in frustration. Except that something told her that, however difficult the abseil, this man would manage it. He was supremely confident, very fit and, judging from the equipment he was pulling out of his rucksack, he obviously knew exactly what he was doing. But he didn’t know the area like she did and it would be stupid to make the abseil more dangerous than it had to be.

‘Do it from further up the gully. There’s a six-metre waterfall directly beneath us and another one directly below that. It’s a double cascade and totally unclimbable unless it’s dry.’

He studied her in silence for a long moment, dark eyes narrowed. ‘You’re telling me you’ve abseiled into this ghyll?’

‘Amazing, isn’t it?’ Her voice was honey-sweet. ‘Even my blonde hair and blue eyes didn’t hold me back.’

He stared at her. ‘You’re saying you can abseil?’

She batted her eyelashes in a parody of a dumb blonde. ‘If I really concentrate hard I can even read and write.’

He grinned. ‘OK, OK. So maybe I jumped to conclusions—’

‘No, you?’ Ally gave him a pert look, picked up the rope and slammed it against his chest. ‘I know these mountains inside out and that ghyll is a death trap in weather like this. You need to be higher up. There are some flat rocks to the right of the falls. It’s safer there and your rope is less likely to get snagged. And for your information, I’m five feet five, not five feet—above average for a woman, actually. I just seem smaller because you’re tall. I weigh nine stone, and I may not have your volume of muscle but I’m extremely fit and more than capable of getting down this mountain in one piece and contacting the rescue services.’

Without waiting for his reply, she picked up his rucksack and trudged up the path, aware that he was close behind her.

‘Do it from here.’ She dumped his rucksack as far away from the edge as possible. ‘There’s a good place to anchor up there.’

He followed her gaze to a spiky rock above the path. ‘Are you an only child?’

Ally blinked, totally thrown by his question. ‘Sorry?’

‘You must be,’ he muttered under his breath, shaking his head and pulling a tape sling out of his rucksack.

‘Why?’ What was he talking about?

‘Because, having had you, no mother would have the nerve to put herself through the worry again,’ he said dryly. ‘Your exploits must have given her heart failure. So you must be an only child. Or the youngest.’

Ally grinned in spite of herself. ‘The youngest, actually. Shall I follow you down?’

‘Have you got a helmet?’

‘No.’

‘Then you’re staying here.’ His eyes gleamed. ‘Although, if you’ve spent your life being reckless, I don’t suppose this is exactly the time to reform you. But as you rightly said, one of us needs to go for help. If you’re sure you can do it without getting lost then that’s the best solution.’

‘Lost? Why should I get lost?’ Ally held onto her temper. Just. ‘Your opinion of women is appalling. Who on earth have you spent your life mixing with?’

‘You want a list?’ He gave her a wolfish grin and she could have bitten her tongue off. What a stupid thing to say. A man like him would have had women clawing each other to get at him since he could walk.

She changed the subject quickly, her voice crisp and businesslike. ‘You do know not to move a casualty unless it’s absolutely necessary?’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘You’d like to add a first-aid lesson to your abseiling lesson?’

She flushed. ‘I wasn’t being rude. It’s just that I’m a doctor and I thought that—’

‘A doctor?’ His eyes narrowed and she rolled her eyes.

‘Don’t tell me—you don’t think women should be doctors.’

‘Did I say that?’

He hadn’t, of course, and, judging from the strange light in his eyes, she had a nasty feeling that he was overplaying the chauvinism just to wind her up. And she was falling for it every time…

‘Just go and fetch the mountain rescue team and stop worrying.’ This time his tone was gentle. ‘I’m a doctor, too, so you can relax.’

Relax? He had to be kidding! She’d never be able to relax in his company in a million years! And he didn’t look like any doctor she’d ever met. He looked more like someone from the SAS.

She watched while he checked the anchor point once more and adjusted his helmet, before looping a rope around his body in classic abseiling style.

‘Ouch.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘Not the most comfortable way of doing it.’

‘You can say that again.’ He gave her a rueful smile. ‘Unfortunately, I didn’t come out fully equipped for abseiling.’

‘Will you be OK?’

‘Oh, yes.’ He gave a short laugh. ‘My youth was as misspent as yours.’

‘Well, be careful,’ she mumbled. ‘It’s a difficult abseil.’

‘I’ll manage.’ His eyes locked with hers. ‘Are you sure you can get down the mountain safely? It goes against my better judgement to let you go alone…’

She smiled sweetly. ‘Do us both a favour and leave your better judgement down there in the gully, will you?’

Why on earth did she find him so attractive? All he needed was a loincloth and he’d be the original Stone-Age man!

‘Are you this prejudiced against all women or is it just blondes?’

He gave her a slow, sexy grin that melted her irritation faster than ice cream in a microwave. ‘Don’t misunderstand me, I’ve always been a sucker for blondes. In the right place.’

‘And no doubt that’s chained to the kitchen sink at home.’

‘Barefoot and pregnant, you mean?’ His eyes gleamed wickedly. ‘Oh, no, sweetheart. If you were mine I wouldn’t waste you in the kitchen.’

If she were his—

For a moment Ally stared into those dark eyes, seduced by the blatant interest she saw there, and then she shook herself. She wasn’t his. She wasn’t interested. She had Charlie now and they got on fine together. Life might not be exciting, but it was stable and predictable and that was what she wanted.

‘Well, remind me to leave the bedroom window open so that you don’t get stuck delivering the box of Milk Tray,’ she snapped, determined not to show him how much he flustered her. His slow smile told her that her efforts were in vain. He knew all right.

‘Humour me. Sending a woman down a mountain alone in this weather offends my notions of chivalry.’ His eyes gleamed with appreciation. ‘Even if she has got guts.’

‘Well, chivalry isn’t going to save those boys,’ Ally pointed out briskly, pulling herself together rapidly and clicking her fingers at Hero, her dog, who bounded up eagerly. ‘I’ll wait while you abseil down.’

He gave a short nod and Ally tried not to look impressed as he went over the edge like a pro. There was no doubt that he knew what he was doing. He probably would have had heart failure if he’d seen the way she used to fling herself over the edge as a child. For several long minutes she hovered anxiously and then heard his voice, faint and muffled from deep down in the ghyll.

‘I’ve got them. One of them has fractured his clavicle but he seems fine otherwise. The other is unconscious with a nasty head injury, fractured tibia and maybe a few broken ribs, judging from the way he’s lying. Go as fast as you can but be careful!’

‘Will do,’ Ally yelled, whistling to the dog as she paced down the path as quickly as she felt was safe. Would she bring the team back in time?

* * *

It took two hours for her to return with the mountain rescue team and another hour for them to stretcher the two boys out of the ravine.

Ally’s eyes widened as she recognised the first of the casualties, his arm secured in a broad sling.

‘Andy? What on earth have you been doing?’

Despite his pallor, the boy coloured and looked thoroughly embarrassed.

‘Look, we’re really, really sorry, Dr McGuire…’

Ally made a soothing noise. Now wasn’t the time to tell him off. ‘Why weren’t you roped up?’

Andy closed his eyes and shook his head, wincing with the pain. ‘We didn’t think we needed to. We judged it all wrong.’

‘Well, you can say that again,’ muttered Jack Morgan, leader of the mountain rescue team, who was co-ordinating the rescue. He threw an exasperated look in the direction of the injured youngster. ‘Who’s the other boy?’

Andy shifted on the stretcher. ‘Pete. Pete Williams.’

‘Oh, no! Not Pete!’ Ally sprinted towards the edge of the ghyll to watch the second stretcher being lifted. She’d heard via the radio communications that the team had had trouble stabilising his injuries.

She’d known Pete for years. Ever since he’d first developed diabetes. Since then he’d devoted his short life to ignoring his diabetes and trying to prove he was no different from any other young teenager by getting into one scrape after another. And now he was seriously hurt. Her heart lurched and she mentally crossed her fingers as they lifted him up. Please, let him be OK. Please.

‘He’s in a bad way—we need the air support unit, really, but the weather’s too foul. We’ll have to carry him off.’ Jack helped steady the second stretcher as they lowered it onto the hard ground. He glanced at the man who had masterminded the rescue from the bottom of the ghyll and did a double take.

‘Nicholson?’ Wide-mouthed with shock, he pushed his helmet back, a look of delight spreading across his craggy features. ‘Damn, it is you! Sean, my boy, it’s good to see you!’

Ally frowned and braced herself against a sudden gust of wind. The mist was clearing but the wind was rising steadily. ‘You know him?’

Jack grinned. ‘I do indeed. Not that I was expecting to see him. When you told me that some macho idiot had abseiled into the ghyll, I was expecting to find another crazy tourist.’

‘Oh, thanks, Jack.’ Ally closed her eyes briefly, flushing as she heard her less than complimentary description fed back to her and caught Sean’s amused glance. Oh, well, at least he wasn’t offended.