Page 49 of Stranded with the Surgeon

She was brave, too, and when he’d told her that night that she wasn’t useless or soft, he’d meant it. Jennifer Allen was intelligent and focused and probably deserved the prestigious position she was aiming for. It would take a great deal to stop her reaching a goal. For the first time, Guy really registered the fact that she’d never complained once in that journey they’d made together. She had been scared, hungry, in pain and pushed to the point of physical collapse, but she had just kept going.

Guy found himself smiling. The bad weather and her smart city clothes hadn’t stopped her wading around in the mud to sort out that bull today either. She was quite something, this woman. It was just such a shame that they were so far apart. Chalk and cheese. Loner and socialite. Silence and noise. City and country; wild country, at that.

Releasing a deep breath in a heartfelt sigh, Guy turned his attention back to the present. He had to decide what he was going to say because it had to have been more than an hour since Jennifer had stormed out. A glance at his watch confirmed it was closer to two hours, and his brow creased in a frown.

Had she stuck to the roadside for her walk or headed for the hills? Maybe she wasn’t a complete townie, but she didn’t know this part of the country. She could have got herself lost among the ridges and valleys. She could have slipped on rocky ground, still wet from the morning’s rain, and injured herself. She was pregnant, for heaven’s sake. Withhisbaby!

With another sigh, Guy levered himself to his feet. He’d have to go looking for her and if she wasn’t on the road, there was no point in relying on the comfort of the Toyota.

‘Come on, guys.’ He clicked his fingers unnecessarily to alert the dogs of impending action. ‘Let’s take Charlie out for a run.’

* * *

Jennifer’s feet hadn’t been this wet and cold and uncomfortable since… since she’d trailed after Guy in their walk down the mountain. They weren’t blistered again, thank goodness, but they poked out from the ends of her jeans like two big mud balls.

The despair that had propelled her to take to the hills had made her oblivious to where she’d walked, and even a small stream and ankle-deep mud hadn’t done more than slow her temporarily. Whatever she’d been hoping to find was elusive until fatigue forced her to take a rest. She sat on a slab of rock near another stream and watched several tiny lizards scuttle out of the now warm late afternoon sunshine and disappear down a crack. A pair of rabbits gave her a startled glance before bounding away further uphill, and then it was just Jennifer and the vast surroundings of the Central Otago landscape.

Huge fluffy clouds scudded over the mountains, some with peaks still laden with snow. She could see the expanse of Lake Wanaka in the distance and the closer ribbon of the Matukituki river. Rocky hills flowed in every direction and obscured any sign of human existence like roads or houses.

Idly, Jennifer began picking the buttercups growing beside her as she sat and absorbed the stillness and peace.Thiswas what she had needed. Time out. Time to come to terms with the fact she was now bonded forever through a child to a man who didn’t want her. A man she was desperately in love with.

The persistently strong feelings she had grown accustomed to over the last few weeks had nothing to do with any post-traumatic stress syndrome or even the hormonal turbulence of pregnancy. The real reason for her apparent obsession with Guy had been blindingly obvious as soon as she’d seen him again, and the truth had become inescapable the moment she’d caught his expression when he’d watched Phil and Ellie and the baby together for the first time.

All the things she had been striving for in her life had just lost a great deal of their significance, and Jennifer felt utterly lost. Maybe she’d always been heading in the wrong direction. Ever since…

The glow of the bright petals she held distracted Jennifer. Almost mesmerised her. The last time she had picked buttercups had been to present a bouquet to her mother on one of their frequent wanders through the farm paddocks. Their special time together when the rest of the world had been forgotten and Jennifer had been the most important person in existence.

The blur of her tears made it difficult to ascertain what it was she saw appearing over the ridge of the next hill. Jennifer blinked and then stared. And then she laughed through her tears. She was still laughing and the tears had been brushed away by the time the apparition neared her rock.

‘What’s so funny?’

‘You’re a Knight,’ Jennifer pointed out, ‘and you’ve just ridden up on a white charger.’

Guy’s grin lit up his sombre features. ‘Charlie’s hardly a charger. I was lucky to get a good canter out of him. He’s just a retired farm hack, but, hey! If you need rescuing then I’m your man.’

He slid off the large white horse and held out a hand. Jennifer grasped it and scrambled to her feet. The two dogs, who had hurled themselves into the stream to cool off, emerged to shake themselves vigorously and shower Jennifer with water.

‘Get in behind,’ Guy growled. The dogs grinned back, still panting hard.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Jennifer assured him. ‘I’m filthy anyway. Just look at my feet!’

‘Charlie won’t mind. I can brush the mud off later.’

‘You don’t think I’m going to ride back, do you? I haven’t even been on a pony since I was a kid, and he’s huge!’

‘You’ll be as safe as houses,’ Guy promised. ‘Have you any idea how far you’ve walked? It would be nearly dark by the time you got back.’ He eyed her feet. ‘I’ll bet they’re cold, and you don’t want to get a new set of blisters, do you? Besides,’ he added firmly, ‘there’s a session at the Glenfalloch pub tonight to wet young Isaac Guy Henderson’s head, and you’re expected to attend as the guest of honour.’

‘But I haven’t got anything to wear!’

Guy raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m sure we can come to some arrangement. How ’bout I tell Maureen to leave the doilies in the cupboard and you can go… naked.’

‘Yeah, right!’

The change in the atmosphere at the very notion of Jennifer being naked was marked. Having Guy vault onto Charlie’s bare back after boosting her on board cranked it up to an electrifying level. When they started moving, with Guy holding Jennifer securely against his body, the rocking motion created a physical contact that was almost unbearably arousing.

‘Do you really want to keep those?’ Guy’s hand touched the one of Jennifer’s that wasn’t gripping a handful of shaggy mane.

She looked at the wilting bunch of buttercups and smiled. ‘Yes,’ she said firmly. ‘I do.’

---