A Puppy and a Christmas Proposal Page 12

  Dennis was there, his leg wedged underneath the engine. The snow around his head was a red halo.

  Head injury? Leg crushed. She knelt down, ignoring the cold and wet spreading through her jeans and into her bones. She took off her thick jacket and laid it over him in some vain attempt to warm him despite the snow, then investigated the head injury. He had a large gash across the back of his head caused, she imagined, by a jagged rock sticking up through the snow. She gently shook his arm. ‘Dennis? Dennis? Can you hear me?’

  He didn’t move.

  Pressing freezing fingers to his neck, she searched for a pulse. ‘Come on, Dennis. Please.’ Please.

  There. There it was, faint and thready and slow. He was barely clinging on, but alive. She put her weight against the quad, pushing as hard as she could. But it didn’t move. How long had he been here?

  She shook him again. Then tapped his cheek. It was like ice, his skin like parchment and his lips a pale blue. ‘Dennis. Can you hear me?’

  Okay. What to do? With shaking fingers she fumbled for her phone, tried again for a signal. Nothing.

  She breathed as slowly as she could and worked through things logically. Unconscious or fast slipping away? ‘Dennis, talk to me. Dennis.’

  A gurgle came from his throat and his mouth opened a fraction.

  ‘Dennis, it’s Beth.’ There was no way she was going to be able to lift the quad from his leg, not on her own. She needed help.

  She needed Alex.

  More than ever, she needed to see him. To see his steady and unshakeable calm. She didn’t want to admit it right now, but the thought of him warmed her through. More. The thought of him made her body prickle with heat and longing. But he wasn’t here, he was stuck with a sick child back at the village and that was where he should be. Damn. No phone signal. No Alex. She was on her own.

  Even if she could get him out from under the quad she wouldn’t be able to get him up and over that hill. The only way Dennis had a chance was if she got help. Maybe...maybe there’d be some phone reception on higher ground? Failing that she’d have to get in her car and drive until she got a signal.

  ‘Dennis?’ She rubbed his arms and legs in a, likely vain, attempt to get his circulation going. ‘Dennis, I don’t know if you can hear me, but it’s Beth. I’m here. I’m going to get help. Just hold on for me, please. June and Meg need you to hold on.’

  The dog whimpered at her name and she came and licked Dennis’s cheek. His eyes flickered open. ‘I’m...’

  ‘I’m going to get help, Dennis. Meg’s here. Meg, come here.’ She got the dog to lie on his chest, hoping she’d infuse warmth into him and a will to survive. ‘Stay, Meg. Stay, girl.’

  His lips moved again and she leaned close to hear. ‘So...sorry...’

  ‘It’s okay. I’ll get help, Dennis. Please. Meg needs you. June needs you. Hold on.’

  * * *

  Alex pulled into Oaktree Farm courtyard and cranked the handbrake. Beth’s car was parked askew. She was here, then, despite the fact he’d told her to wait for him.

  He jumped out of the car and looked around. Knocked on the front door. Twice.

  ‘Beth? Dennis? Anyone here?’ He pushed the door open and nearly tripped. June was lying on the hall floor and she raised her head as he barrelled in. ‘June? Where’s Dennis? And Beth?’

  But the dog just lay at his feet and whined.

  This didn’t feel right. He didn’t like the whining. He didn’t like the silence when the whining stopped. Surely, he should be hearing Beth and Dennis talking? Surely, they’d come to his calls? Where was Meg?

  He wandered outside and saw footprints heading off behind the barn so he followed them, his pace fuelled by the uneasy feeling in the pit of his gut.

  ‘Beth? Dennis? Beth?’ he called out to the wet blanket of mist that was quickly descending. Damn, it was so cold. How did Dennis live up here? Why? And where the hell were they? Why hadn’t she called him? Why hadn’t she just damned well waited?

  He breached the top of the hill and saw a small figure heading down away from him into the distance, trudging through knee-deep snow. His heart jumped in relief that she was okay, and also in a sudden need to beat to her rhythm. Where was she going? ‘Beth? Beth?’

  He started to move towards her, but his foot slid on a sheet of ice and his arms cartwheeled to keep his balance. ‘Beth!’

  She stopped and turned. ‘Alex?’ Her voice was thin and whipped away by the wind.

  But she ran back towards him, stumbling and slipping, reaching to the ground to get purchase through the steeper parts, and he ran towards her, fighting to keep upright and fighting to stop the crazy relief that she was safe overwhelming him and making his steps stutter.

  She was breathless, her cheeks pink with exertion, and she looked spooked as they met somewhere halfway. ‘Alex. Thank God.’

  ‘What’s happened? Where’s your jacket? You must be freezing.’ He slipped his coat off and put it round her shoulders.

  She looked surprised as she slid her arms into his coat sleeves, as if she hadn’t realised she wasn’t wearing one. ‘It’s Dennis, he’s had an accident on the quad. It’s bad. His head’s bleeding and his leg is crushed. He has a pulse and he’s vaguely conscious, but I’m not hopeful. He’s down there, looks like the quad might have skidded or something, anyway it’s on top of him and I couldn’t get it off.’

  As he peered in the direction she was pointing he could see a red stain in the middle of white. From memory the quad was ancient and rusting and probably weighed a whole lot more than she did. ‘Call an ambulance.’

  ‘I just did. I had to run to the top of the hill to get phone reception. They’re on their way but...oh, Alex.’ Her face crumpled and she looked as if she needed a hug. Without thinking he put his arms round her and felt her momentarily sag against him. ‘I got Meg to lie gently on him, in a place I didn’t think he was injured, so she could keep him warm. I hope that was okay.’

  ‘It’s fine, Beth, you’ve done everything right so far. We’ll do what we can to help him.’

  It was the first physical contact they’d had since the kiss and he couldn’t help notice, through the rush of adrenaline, how perfectly she fitted against him. Her hair was cold against his cheek but he pressed his face into it, just damned glad she was okay. He wanted to kiss away that tension in her body, to comfort her in more ways than this. He wanted her to not have seen what had happened to Dennis. Whatever that was.

  She pushed away from him but held his gaze. ‘Thank you, I needed that. But come on. Quick.’

  The old man was in bad shape. Alex untied his scarf and used it to stem the bleeding from the head wound while he did a quick assessment. ‘It’s not just the blood loss I’m concerned about, there’s hypothermia and the weight of the quad on his leg is compromising his blood supply. Any idea how long he’s been out here?’

  ‘No idea.’ She shook her head and put her hand over his. ‘I’ll do this, you look at his leg.’

  From what he could see it was a mess, but he couldn’t assess the full extent of the damage without lifting the quad off his limb. ‘Dennis, can you hear me?’

  The old farmer’s eyes flickered open, then closed again. Good. A reaction at least.

  ‘I’m going to lift the quad, okay? It’s going to hurt but I’m going to be as quick as I can.’

  Beth slid her hand into the old man’s. ‘Dennis, I’m here. Hold my hand. I’m here. Alex is here. He’ll get you safe, okay? Just hold on.’

  Alex took off his trouser belt and tied it around Dennis’s thigh. ‘I can see there’s a lot of blood loss there too. If I need to I can tighten the belt and stop any more bleeding. I just have to get eyes on the injury asap. I have to move the quad.’

  ‘Okay. Do it.’ She looked up at Alex and he felt her trust in him to save this man as a punch to his heart. And also a he
avy weight in his chest, because if he didn’t raise the quad and save their client he’d have failed her. But he used the force of her trust to power up the strength in his body. He pressed his shoulder against the quad and pushed hard. Pushed again. And with an ominous creak the machine lifted.

  Beth inhaled sharply and he could see the grip on her hand tightening. The old man was gripping on.

  He couldn’t risk aggravating any potential damage Dennis might have done to his back by moving him at all, so somehow he managed to shift the angle of the quad and release it off to the side with a sickening crunch.

  Dennis’s leg was indeed a mess. ‘It’s a complicated fracture and I’m worried he’s compromised the blood supply to his foot. He needs urgent surgery.’ Where the hell was the helicopter?

  He tightened the tourniquet and packed ice around the leg. And then the distant whir of blades set off a rush of relief through his veins.

  The two paramedics brought pain relief, oxygen and blankets and while they worked on getting Dennis ready to be transferred onto a stretcher Alex handed over. ‘His veins are thin and collapsing. We should do an intraosseous infusion in his left leg to get some fluids into him.’

  The lead paramedic nodded. ‘I’ll give you a hand with that and Sam here can radio ahead.’

  Alex blew on his hands to get some circulation working; he was going to need good dexterity to manipulate the drill and insert the cannula directly into the bone marrow.

  Meanwhile Beth wouldn’t let go of Dennis’s hand. She turned her head away as Alex got the drill out and winced at the sound.

  But as they transferred him to the warmth and safety of the helicopter she blew out slowly. ‘Do you think he’s going to be okay?’

  ‘If he is, it’s thanks to you. But why did you come on your own when I told you to wait?’

  She shook her head and her eyes blazed. ‘Because I had to make sure the animals were okay.’

  Now they were safe the reality of what had happened started to sink in and he fought the rising emotion born out of worry for her safety. ‘You had a suspicion that he was feeding something nasty to his pets and you were going to confront him, right? Didn’t you think for a moment that it might be dangerous?’

  ‘I wanted to see for myself what was going on. I had to come, okay?’

  ‘You should have waited.’

  ‘What?’ She blinked.

  ‘You should have waited for me.’ As he said it he saw the change in her demeanour; a shift to defensive and guarded. And he wished he could somehow take the words back. She was a professional and she’d been acting on a hunch. He had no doubt she would have dealt with the situation appropriately. It didn’t mean he couldn’t be worried about her, though.

  ‘No, Alex. You don’t get to tell me what to do. I didn’t know how long you were going to be and I had to do something.’ Her hands were shaking. They watched the helicopter rise and covered their faces from the dusting of snow. When the chopper had disappeared into cloud she sighed again. ‘Turns out it was a lot more dangerous for him, not me.’

  He touched her arm. ‘I was worried about you. I didn’t know where you were or what had happened.’

  ‘Now you know how it feels. And that was just for a few hours, not eight years.’ She pressed her lips together and started to walk up the hill, her back taut and her feet stomping through the snow.

  They’d both just been through something traumatic and intense and he knew she was spitting adrenaline-fuelled talk as a pressure release. But he also knew if they couldn’t draw a line under what had happened then they’d never move forward. He’d thought they were moving forward. Technically, they were...but, just like on this ice, it was more like one step forward, three slips back. He caught up with her. ‘Beth, please. For God’s sake. I can’t turn back the clock. I can’t make what I did any different. I did it. I’m sorry. We don’t have long before you head back to Glasgow. Can we please...please just have some time when you’re not going to throw the past back at me?’

  She stopped and turned to him. ‘You hurt me.’

  ‘I know. I know. And I’m trying to make things right.’ He opened his arms wide, ignoring the whip of wind that brought the chill factor way below zero. And the fact she was wearing his coat, and his scarf had disappeared into the paramedics’ detritus. So yes, he was standing on a hill, ankle-deep in snow, in a thin jumper and jeans, fast turning into a snowman, but he didn’t care about any of that, because he cared too much for her and needed them to get past this. ‘Want more target practice?’

  She huffed out and pulled a face. ‘It’s no fun when the target is offering to be a target.’

  ‘Okay, well, I’ll walk ahead and you can take joy in the element of surprise. If that makes you feel better.’

  ‘Stop being reasonable. It’s annoying.’ She fought a smile but not before he saw it. She’d always loved that he hit arguments head-on—that was probably another reason why she’d been so discombobulated when he’d backed right away all those years ago. What it meant, too, was that she still cared enough for him to be angry even now. He wasn’t sure whether that was a warning or a gift but it certainly made his heart ache. Her shoulders sagged a little and he saw the chink in her armour that was shaped like him. ‘I shouldn’t have said what I said, Alex. I’m sorry. It was definitely mean after everything that’s happened over the last few days. I think I’m a bit stressed out and emotional.’

  ‘Understandable. Me too. But fighting each other isn’t going to help.’

  ‘I know. But the thing is, I don’t know where I am with you. I don’t know how to feel. I like you. A lot. I’m just trying to work it all out.’

  I like you. It was something. It was something he needed to think carefully about. He didn’t want her getting ideas about things that simply couldn’t happen, but he did want to smooth their relationship into something more than prickles. ‘I’m at the point where feeling something is a distant memory. I’m numb. Completely numb.’

  She scanned his face and upper body and winced. ‘Oh, God, you’re shivering.’

  ‘Hypothermia tends to do that to a guy.’

  Now she did smile. ‘And you’re joking about it. Here, have this.’

  She went to slide her arms out of his coat but he stopped her. ‘Keep it, there’s no point in two of us freezing. But for the record, I don’t know where I am with you either. I didn’t intend for things to get complicated. I didn’t intend to kiss you, but I’m bloody glad I did. And I want to do it again, if I can ever get my lips to defrost.’

  ‘Here, you need to get warm.’ She cupped both his hands in hers and blew on them until he wiggled them at her to show it was working.

  ‘Beth, we need to talk about this. About what’s happening.’

  ‘Yes, we do. But not now. Not here. We need to get you somewhere warm.’ She fastened her hand around one of his and started to trudge up the hill.

  But he wasn’t going to let this go. They needed to mark a line somehow on their past. ‘Then when?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times as if trying to work out what to say and then, ‘When you lifted that quad bike my heart was in my throat. You were bloody awesome.’

  ‘Climbing gives you good upper-body strength.’ He went to flex his muscles but couldn’t make a fist; despite all her attempts at defrosting his hands were still pretty frozen.

  ‘You’ve got good inner strength. That’s what’s even better. You make me smile, even when I’m trying to be cross at you. You didn’t argue back, you just tried to take the sting out and it worked. And you gave me your coat.’ She stopped walking, pulled his hands back to hers, looked deep into his eyes and smiled, pressing their hands to her heart. ‘I know we need to talk about it and we will. But right now, before you freeze to death, I want you to know that even though I was very angry at you, I liked kissing you,
too. A lot.’

  He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Standing here with water dripping from her hair, her cheeks burned with cold, her nose red, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and the frustration that she’d come up here to see Dennis on her own revealed itself to be because he cared for her. So much. Too much.

  She smiled and then tiptoed so she was face to face with him. Mouth to mouth. Lips to lips. Her eyes misted and she brushed her cheek against his. ‘In fact, I liked kissing you so much I’m going to do it again.’

  ‘Good. It might help de-ice my mouth.’

  ‘Oh, you know me, anything to help.’ She slipped her arms around his neck and pressed against him. Then her mouth was on his, lips like ice but so damned sweet to taste.

  He felt the outline of her body against his, the curve of her breast, the press of her hip, and the biting cold that had seeped deep into his bones was replaced with a heat so intense he struggled to control it. Fired by the mewl in her throat and the moan of pleasure on her lips he pushed her hair from her face, tilted her head and deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding against hers.

  And she gripped his shoulders, fingernails deep as she raked down his back. As if the last eight years of wanting and aching and longing were wrapped up in this moment.

  Whereas their last kiss had been a gentle exploration and reacquainting, this was electric and desperate. Greedy, open-mouthed, wet. And all he wanted was more of it. He ran his hands down her coat, inside her coat, pressing his palm over her breast.

  ‘Alex.’ She said his name like a plea and a promise and then she tugged away. Pressed her hands to his face and kissed his jaw, his cheek, his mouth, her breath coming in frenzied gasps. Then suddenly she was sliding and slipping away from him and he had to haul her up, clasping her against his side.

  ‘This is treacherous.’ She clung to his shoulders and he wondered whether he meant to her balance or to her heart. ‘Damn ice.’