Page 37 of The Midwife's Marriage Proposal (Lakeside Mountain Rescue 3)

It was just her and the rock-face.

A few more reaches and pulls and finally she was on top.

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, feeling the tension ooze out of her.

It was true that there was a lack of challenging climbing in the Lake District, but despite that she loved it here and at the moment she wouldn’t swap it for the Himalayas or the Karakorum.

It felt like home.

‘You shouldn’t free climb. It’s dangerous.’ The deep, masculine voice came from directly behind her and she froze, recognizing Tom’s voice without even turning to identify the speaker.

‘What are you doing here?’

But it was a silly question.

This had been their place. Somewhere that both of them had loved. It was hardly surprising that he still came here.

‘I was looking for you.’ His tone was easy. ‘I thought I’d find you here and I was right.’

Sally gritted her teeth, wishing that she’d been less predictable.

He sat down next to her, his dark hair windblown, his jaw dark with stubble. ‘Do you remember how often we used to come here? It was our special place.’

The peace and comfort vanished in an instant and she scrambled to her feet, raking her blonde hair out of her eyes with a shaking hand.

‘Don’t get all sentimental on me, Tom,’ she said coolly. ‘I came here because it’s a fun climb. Not because I want to wallow in the past. I don’t.’

He nodded, his eyes steady on her face. ‘And you needed to relax. It’s been a tough week, Sally. Tough on both of us.’

She deliberately chose to misunderstand him. ‘Yesterday was certainly a challenge.’ She kept her tone neutral. ‘But it had a happy ending. The baby is beautiful and they’re doing fine—I called this morning to check.’

‘You were amazing.’ His voice was soft. ‘Do you realize how much you’ve changed?’

She wished he wouldn’t look at her like that, his sexy blue eyes fixed on her face as if he was seeking access to her every thought.

‘Of course I’ve changed.’ She released her blonde hair from its ponytail and shook it so that it trailed down her back and lifted in the wind. ‘We’ve all changed, Tom. It’s been seven years, and seven years is a long time.’

But not that long.

‘Seven years ago you never would have been able to do what you did yesterday.’

‘Of course not. I wasn’t an experienced midwife.’

He shook his head. ‘That’s not what I mean. You’ve developed confidence, Sally. A belief in yourself. Something you didn’t have seven years ago. Seven years ago you would have doubted your ability to deliver that baby in those circumstances. You would have been panicking.’

‘Instead of which, you were the one doing the panicking.’ She couldn’t resist teasing him slightly. ‘I’ve never seen you rattled before, Tom.’

‘That was the most nerve-racking moment of my career,’ he confessed in a rueful tone, and she looked at him, surprised to hear him admit it.

‘Well, now who’s changed?!’ She lifted an eyebrow in challenge. ‘You used to think that there was nothing you couldn’t deal with.’

He gave a wry smile. ‘There’s arrogance for you.’

She frowned slightly at his response, still unable to understand why he’d been so tense. ‘You deal with obstetric emergencies almost every day of your life.’

‘That’s right,’ he drawled, ‘in a modern, well-equipped hospital with every possible piece of machinery at my disposal, including an operating theatre. Just for the record, you probably ought to know that delivering a woman in precipitate labour on a mountain at the end of winter is not my idea of relaxation.’

Sally gave a wistful smile. ‘Actually, I think it was wonderful.’

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