Page 2 of The Billionaire's Marriage Mission

She shone the torch on the window as she pressed the glass. Each window was stone mullioned and the leaded lights appeared to be supported by steel bars behind them. She wasn't even sure she could climb in if she did manage to break the glass. Of course she could smash one of her car windows but she'd freeze to death in there tonight, and in the morning she'd still have the same problem, her car keys and everything else being in the cottage.

'Oh, Harvey.' The urge to cry was back. This, on top of everything else that had happened lately was too much. Why, when she was trying to pick herself up and sort herself out, was she hampered at every turn? It just wasn't fair. She sniffed miserably and Harvey, now sensing all was not well, pressed protectively against her legs. She plumped down on the doorstep and put her arms round the shaggy neck, tears running down her cheeks. And it was like that, huddled into the warm animal fur, that she first noticed moving lights on the hillside.

Someone was driving down the lane leading to the cottage!

Jumping up, she dashed past her car and the small area of lawn which made up the front garden and opened the big swing gate, holding Harvey's leather collar as she waited for whoever it was to reach them. She shone the torch anxiously into the road, hoping the vehicle owner wouldn't just drive straight past. It wasn't as if she looked as though she might be a dangerous mugger or something, she reasoned frantically, not in her pyjamas. But for that same reason she wanted any potential rescuer to see Harvey and know she had the sort of guard dog it wasn't wise to ignore. You heard such horrible things these days about women being attacked when they asked strangers for help.

It seemed an eternity before the car reached them but it could only have been a minute or two. Then brilliant head¬lights lit up the darkness, swallowing the meagre light from the torch. A large estate car swept by before Beth could blink. For an awful moment she thought the driver hadn't noticed them standing on the grass verge, but then she heard the screech of brakes after the car had disappeared from view round a bend in the road. A few seconds later it reversed and came to a stop at the side of them.

The window wound down and a deep male voice, in tones of mingled amazement and amusement, drawled, 'What the dickens are you doing out here dressed like that?'

Enjoying myself? For a moment she almost let her tongue rule her brain before logic told her she had to get this guy on her side, whoever he was. Biting back the caustic retort which had sprung to her lips, she said evenly, "I appear to have locked myself out when I was seeing to my dog. I don't suppose you've got anything in the car I could force the door with?' She swung the torch in the di¬rection of his face as she spoke and saw him flinch as the bright light hit his eyes. 'Sorry.' She lowered it immediately but the brief glimpse had been enough to tell her the man was dark-haired and youngish; beyond that she hadn't been able to see.

'You're asking me to do a bit of breaking and entering?'

Amusement was definitely paramount now and Beth had to take a deep breath before she could say sweetly, 'I suppose so, yes. Can you help?' She was shivering from head to foot and in a minute her teeth would being to chatter, and this clown found the situation funny. The unfeeling so-and-so.

'You're cold.'

She hoped it was her shaking he had noticed and not the way her nipples were standing out like chapel hat pegs against the thin silk of her pyjama top. Not that she could do anything about it; she couldn't even cross her arms over her chest with one hand holding Harvey's collar and the other clutching the torch. 'A bit,' she said steadily. 'Which is why I'd like to get back in as soon as possible.'

The engine was turned off and the driver's door opened, a big figure uncurling itself from the dark depths of the vehicle. The next moment she was being handed a bulky jacket which must have been on the passenger seat beside him. 'Here, put this on,' he said easily, glancing down at Harvey who had begun a low rumbling growl in the back of his throat.

Beth didn't try to stop the dog; in fact she made a mental note to give him an extra handful of his favourite biscuits once they were inside. The man was tall—very tall—and intimidatingly broad-shouldered and muscular from what she could ascertain in the dim light. She didn't like to shine the torch up into his face again to get a good look at him but she was feeling distinctly nervous, being so scantily clad.

The next moment the stranger crouched down so that his head was in line with Harvey's powerful jaws, his voice relaxed and soothing as he said, 'Steady, boy. No one's going to harm your mistress,' and offered a hand for the dog to sniff.

There was a brief pause and then the rumbling stopped and a large pink tongue licked the man's hand as Harvey's tail wagged a greeting. Beth wondered if Harvey would look quite so pleased with himself if he knew he'd just blown the extra biscuits.

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