Saved by the Single Dad (8 page)

He laid Sylvie gently down on the sofa. A roll of kitchen towel was produced, to wipe Harry's jeans, and Jack asked him to sit with his mother. Cass appeared from the hallway, pocketing her phone.

‘You'll be wanting her seen at the hospital?'

‘Yeah. All of them need to have blood tests for carbon monoxide.'

‘Okay, there are a couple of cars coming now, and we'll take them down to the motorway and get them across there. A lot quicker than calling an ambulance...' She stopped suddenly, reddening. ‘What do you think?'

‘I think we'd better get a couple of cars down here and take them across at the motorway. It'll be a lot quicker than calling an ambulance.' His eyes sparkled with amusement.

‘Yeah. Right.' Cass wrinkled her nose at him and Jack tried not to laugh. She was irresistible when she second-guessed him, and that thing with the nose was the icing on the cake.

‘How long?' He had to make a conscious effort to get his mind back on to the task in hand.

‘Ten minutes. I'll go and get some clothes for them.'

‘Just coats, from the hallway.' The front door must be still open and the air in the hallway would have cleared by now. ‘I don't want to have to carry
you
out.' Though he'd carry her pretty much anywhere she liked if given half a chance.

‘I'd like to see you try.' She turned her back on him and marched out of the room, leaving him to his patient.

CHAPTER TEN

S
YLVIE
'
S
HUSBAND
WAS
in one of the cars that arrived and the family was ferried down to the motorway together. Cass had disappeared, and Jack saw her waiting on the other side of the water with her SUV. She dropped the keys into Jack's hand and told him she'd meet him at the hospital and Jack helped Sylvie into the front seat, the rest of the family squeezing into the back.

He drove away, leaving her standing alone on the road. There wasn't any point in wondering exactly how she was going to get to the hospital. She'd said she'd be there, and Jack had little doubt that she would.

She arrived, pink-cheeked, nearly an hour later and sat down next to him on one of the waiting room chairs.

‘Hey.'

‘Hey yourself.' He wasn't going to ask.

‘Everything all right?'

‘Fine. They're being seen now.' Jack reached into his pocket and took out her car keys. ‘Blue.'

‘Blue?'

‘When Sylvie was called in I nipped out and put your car through the car wash around the corner. Just in case you happened to be looking for it, it's blue.'

She gave him a sweet smile, refusing to rise to the bait. ‘I'll bear that in mind. Thanks.'

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Cass took off her coat and dropped it on the chair next to her.

‘You could at least ask.'

Jack smirked. He'd been determined that she would be the first to break. ‘All right. How did you get here?'

‘I walked for about a mile and then I hitched a lift. On the mobility bus.'

Jack snorted with laughter. ‘The mobility bus? Didn't they want to see your pensioner's card before they let you on?'

‘No, they did not. I showed the firefighter's ID card I have for home safety checks and cadged a lift.'

‘And said you were on your way to a fire?' This was the first opportunity he'd had to sit and talk alone with Cass since they'd kissed. It felt almost as if he'd been holding his breath, waiting for this moment.

‘Very funny. Next time
you
have a fire, don't expect me to put it out.' She turned her head away from him and Jack saw that she was blushing furiously at her own gaffe.

‘I can put out my own fires, thank you.' Something about the delicate pink of her pale skin just wouldn't allow him to let this go. That, and the thought of letting her put out the delicious fire that her kiss had ignited.

She turned, grinning at him, and Jack suddenly wondered what he'd just got himself into. ‘You're no fun, are you?'

* * *

That smile. Those dark eyes, full of all the things that might have been last night. She hadn't stopped thinking about it. It had been running at the back of her mind, like a piece of music playing over and over on the radio. Unnoticed for most of the time, but still there.

Maybe she should just get a grip. Put Jack away in a box, lined with tissue paper, ready to take back out again when she was old and grey and wanted to remind herself of what it was like to be young.

‘That was a nice lift. Good technique.' He spoke quietly, almost daring her to rise to the challenge.

‘Thanks. One of those things that firefighters do.' She shot him a smile, daring him back.

‘Better than paramedics, you mean?'

‘Much better.'

He was unashamedly sizing her up. Cass returned the compliment. Jack was a good deal heavier than her, but she'd lifted men before. It was all a matter of technique. And the stubborness to give it a go. Right now she'd do practically anything to avoid thinking about the responsibilities waiting for her back at the village.

He heaved a sigh, as if his next question had already been asked and answered. ‘Car park?'

Cass nodded. ‘Car park.'

Jack popped his head into the treatment area, checking that the family weren't ready to go yet, and they walked silently out of A and E.

‘You're sure about this, now?' He was strolling next to her, his hands in his pockets.

No, she wasn't sure at all. Not about any of it. Cass stopped between two cars and stood in close, putting her right leg in between his, trying to imagine that he was a practice dummy. It wasn't working.

‘Mind your back.' He chose this moment to grin at her and offer advice. Cass ignored it.

Grabbing his right arm, she positioned it over her left shoulder. Then, in one fluid movement, she bent her knees, wound her left arm around the back of his leg and lifted him off his feet.

‘There. Easy.' She felt him put his free hand on the small of her back, balancing his weight and steadying her. It wasn't quite as easy as she was making out, but she could walk a dozen steps before she swung him back down on to his feet.

‘Impressive.' He looked impressed as well. Some men would object to a woman being able to carry them, others might suffer it in silence, but she'd never imagined that it might be a cause for congratulation. But then Jack was different to most men.

Or perhaps he wasn't. His lips curled, and suddenly she was pressed hard up against him, his leg between hers. ‘Hey...!'

‘Sorry. That's not right, is it?' He eased back a bit, turning what felt a lot like an embrace into the exact position for a lift. Then she found herself swung up on to his shoulders with about as much effort as it would have taken to swat a fly.

His right arm was wound around the back of her knee, his hand holding her arm. Perfect form. Perfect balance.

‘Not bad.'

He chuckled. ‘What's wrong with it?'

What was wrong with it was that the primitive beat of her heart actually wanted him to carry her off to his lair and claim her as his. He'd lifted her with no apparent effort last night, and she'd always assumed that he was perfectly capable of slinging her over his shoulder, but having him do it was something different.

‘You're not running.'

He settled her weight on his shoulders and started to stroll slowly back to A and E. ‘Paramedics never run when they can walk. We don't go in for all that macho firefighter stuff.'

‘Cheek!' She smacked at his back with her free hand. ‘Are you calling me macho?'

‘Never. Takes a real woman to do what you do.'

She tapped his shoulder. ‘Thinking of letting me down any time soon?' She was getting to like this far too much. His scent, the feel of his body. The sudden dizzy feeling that accompanied his compliments.

‘Oh. Yeah, of course.' He didn't bend to set her back down on her feet, just shifted her around so that she slithered to the ground against his body.

‘You lost marks there.' She stared up into his eyes.

‘I know. Worth it, though.'

It was the most exquisite kind of letting go. Forgetting about the effort and the stress of the morning and taking something for themselves, even if it was just messing around in a car park, testing each other's strength. And if it meant any more than that, Cass was going to choose to ignore it.

‘Suppose we should get back.' He nodded and they started back towards the hospital building. Back towards the cares of the day, the problems that still needed to be solved. And still neither of them had said anything about the one thing that she couldn't stop thinking about. That kiss.

* * *

The smell of a Sunday roast pervaded the church hall and people were busy smoothing tablecloths and positioning cutlery. Everything neat and tidy, as if the families of Holme were determined to show themselves, and each other, that despite everything which had been thrown at them in the last few weeks, life went on.

Jack popped his head around the kitchen door to ask what time lunch would be, fully expecting to be shooed away, but instead he was drawn in and questioned rigorously about Sylvie and her family. He imparted the news that they were all recovering well, that Sylvie was spending tonight under observation in the hospital and that the family would stay with her sister in town. In return, he was told that no one knew where Cass was, but that she'd gone out about half an hour ago, saying she wouldn't be long.

Armed with half a packet of biscuits, and the knowledge that it would be another hour before lunch was served, he walked through the winding passageways at the back of the church, losing his way a couple of times, but finally managing to find the corridor that led to the porch. When he opened the door, no one was there.

* * *

He wondered whether he should sit down and wait for Cass. This was her private place and it seemed like an intrusion, but he needed to talk to her alone.

He had to make a choice. He could leave, and thank his lucky stars that the constant demands of other people had meant that one brief but sensational kiss was all they'd been able to share. Or he could live with that mistake and not let it stop him from doing the right thing.

He heard footsteps approaching the door. When she opened the door into the porch she was rubbing her face, as if supremely weary. In that moment, Jack knew that he cared about her far too much to leave her here, with such a heavy weight of responsibility on her shoulders.

‘Jack!' As soon as she caught sight of him she seemed to rally herself. ‘What's the matter?'

‘Nothing.'

She shot him a puzzled look, then dropped the pair of waders she was holding and took off her coat.

‘Where have you been?' She pressed her lips together in reply and Jack gave up trying to pretend that he didn't know. ‘Your house?'

‘Yeah.'

Jack swallowed the temptation to say that if she'd told him he would have gone with her. ‘What's it like down there?'

She sat down, clearly trying not to look at him. ‘Wet. Pretty dismal.'

‘And how are you feeling?'

Cass gave a grim smile. ‘Pretty dismal too.'

He leaned across, handing her the packet of biscuits. ‘Chocolate digestive?' It was little enough, but at least she took them.

She unwrapped the packet, her fingers clumsy, as if she were numb. ‘What are these for?'

‘I want to talk to you. I reckoned that offering you food might keep you in one place for a minute.'

She pulled a biscuit out of the packet, the ghost of a smile playing around her lips. ‘You have my undivided attention.' She waved the biscuit. ‘Almost.'

Jack smiled at her. It wasn't much of a joke, but then she must be feeling pretty horrible right now. ‘You're going back to work tomorrow? Your fire station's the one in town, isn't it?'

She nodded. ‘Yeah. Early start. I'm trying not to think about it.'

She was going to
have
to think about it tomorrow. Trying to use the showers without waking everyone else up. Getting across the water, alone and in the chill darkness of an early morning. Arriving at work already exhausted. Jack tried one last gambit before he suggested the only other solution he could think of. ‘You don't have anywhere you can stay in town? A friend?'

‘Normally I would. But there are so many people flooded out that no one's got any room at the moment.'

‘I live pretty close to town. You could stay with me and Ellie.' Including Ellie in the invitation might make it sound a little less as if he was trying to make a pass at her. ‘I have a spare room so you'd have your own space.'

She stared at him blankly. ‘My own space?'

‘Yeah.' Saying that the kiss had meant nothing was far too big a lie to even contemplate. ‘Last night is...then. And today is...'

‘Now...?' Tension hovered in the air between them and clearly Cass knew exactly what he was talking about. Perhaps she'd been thinking about it too.

‘Yeah. Then and now. Concentrate on now.'

She shook her head slowly. ‘I appreciate the offer. But I should stay here.'

‘Cass, you know that's not going to work. Goodness only knows how long it'll take you to get to work from here. You'll do a demanding job, then come back here and find there are a load of other problems to deal with. It's too much and you know it.'

‘I can manage.' Her voice was flat, measured. Jack knew that she was close to breaking point and if pushing her a little further was what it took to make her see sense...

‘No, actually, you can't manage. This village owes you a great deal. But no one wants you here now. You need a break, and if you don't take it then you'll make a mistake. You and I can't afford to make mistakes, not in our jobs.'

Shock registered in her eyes and then she twisted her mouth in a parody of a grin. ‘Kick a girl when she's down, why don't you.'

‘If that's what it takes.' He'd resolved that he wouldn't touch her, that he'd demonstrate that he could keep his distance. But even a friend would offer comfort. Jack shifted over to sit next to her and wrapped one arm tightly around her shoulder. He might not have managed to persuade Cass, but he'd persuaded himself. Leaving her behind was totally out of the question.

* * *

He always seemed so warm. So solid. And she still felt as if the ground had been whipped out from under her feet, after the shock of wading through the dirty water that was almost a foot deep in the ground floor of her house.

‘I suppose...' She shifted a little, wondering if he'd let her go, and gratifyingly he didn't take the hint. ‘I suppose you're going to say that I don't have any other choice.'

‘Nah.' He rested his chin lightly on the top of her head. ‘I'm not going to waste my breath by telling you what you already know.'

Even now, he made her smile. If close proximity to Jack was hard, then continuing on here without him would be harder still. And since he seemed so intent on disregarding the kiss, then she could too. She could turn a blind eye to the clutter of Ellie's things around her and resist the temptation to pick the little girl up and hold her to her heart.

‘Maybe just a couple of days. You won't know I'm there...'