The Nurse's Christmas Wish Read online

  Louisa tried to smile but her teeth were chattering too much. ‘I bet you use that line on all the girls.’

  ‘Never before to one covered in blood and soaked through,’ Mac assured her in a dry tone, sliding the zip down with brisk efficiency and reaching into the cubicle to turn on the shower. Jets of hot water hissed and steamed and Louisa stepped out of her torn, filthy dress, watching regretfully as it lay limply at her feet.

  ‘I spent a lot of money on that. What a waste.’

  ‘Never mind that now.’ Mac adjusted the flow of the shower and jerked his head. ‘Take your underwear off and get in the shower. We need to warm you up.’

  She rolled her eyes, her teeth still chattering. ‘You have a strange line in seduction.’

  ‘Louisa!’ His tone was exasperated. ‘I’m trying to stop you freezing to death!’

  ‘Well, I can’t undress with you watching me,’ she shot back, scraping her sodden hair out of her eyes with a shaking hand. ‘Turn your back.’

  Mac exhaled slowly, his eyes suddenly very dark. ‘I’m a doctor.’

  ‘You’re also a man, Mac!’ And a man she wanted so much she ached for his touch. But not like this. Not when she was so vulnerable. She felt shy, awkward. ‘I’m an old-fashioned girl! I can’t undress with you watching!’

  His jaw hardened and his eyes clashed with hers for a long moment. Then he muttered something under his breath and turned round as she’d instructed. ‘Just get in the shower,’ he growled, running a hand over the back of his neck, ‘or I’ll be taking you back to A and E and I’ve had enough of the place for one day.’

  She undid her bra, stepped out of her panties and walked into the shower, her body still shuddering with the cold. Hot needles of water stung her freezing flesh and she gasped.

  ‘Are you all right?’ He turned and she suddenly realised that he was soaked through, too, and she hadn’t even noticed. His dark hair was flattened to his head and his previously pristine dinner suit clung to his broad shoulders.

  His jaw was rough and dark and his eyes were restless. He looked dishevelled, more than a little disreputable and all the man she’d ever wanted.

  She felt a sudden jolt and desire overwhelmed shyness with the force of a tidal wave.

  ‘You need a shower, too.’ Gradually her body was warming up and the shivers lessened.

  ‘I’ll live.’

  ‘Mac.’ Her voice was pure female invitation and his eyes locked with hers. Something passed between them. She saw the heat flash in his eyes, registered the sudden tension in his broad shoulders. Then he lifted his hands and slowly, deliberately, unbuttoned his shirt.

  Her heart beat a hectic rhythm and her body started to shiver again, but this time it was nothing to do with the cold.

  His eyes still on hers, he let the shirt slip off his shoulders and dealt with his trousers.

  He was all hard muscle and masculine perfection and Louisa felt her legs weaken. When he stepped into the cubicle with her, she closed her eyes.

  The first purposeful slide of his hand down her bare back made her gasp with anticipation. Her whole body throbbed with awareness, her senses sang and excitement coiled and uncoiled low in her pelvis.

  ‘Are you warming up yet?’ His voice was husky and sexy and reflected everything that was happening between them.

  Her eyes opened and locked on his.

  ‘Oh, yes.’ She didn’t even question what she was doing. There was nothing to question.

  The tension that had been building for days hovered between them and then it tightened and snapped.

  His mouth came down on hers with ruthless intent, taking, ravaging, rough in his hunger for her. She didn’t mind. She welcomed the force that consumed them both. She wouldn’t have wanted less.

  And she’d always known that Mac was a man who wouldn’t hold back. A man whose passions ran deep.

  Her pulse hammering, she dug her fingers in his sleek flesh, loving the hardness, the maleness, the contrast to her own body. Her mouth opened under his and she gave back willingly, welcoming his lead, matching his fierce passion.

  He pressed her back against the tiled wall, trapping her with his body. He was all hard strength and masculinity and she slid her hands over the smooth muscle of his shoulders, grasping, seeking, wanting more.

  She felt the nip of his teeth on her neck and then the brush of his mouth as it trailed downwards, and then his mouth closed over the tip of one breast, sucking her into darkness and another world. Heat sizzled and burned deep inside her and she cried out her need and pressed against him. Her eyes closed, her soft lips parted and her fingers tangled in his sleek hair as she strained against him.

  ‘Louisa.’ The rough sound of her name on his lips was somewhere between a curse and a promise and his strong hands skimmed down her body until he found what he wanted.

  And he took.

  With a skilled touch he learned and discovered, building the level of intimacy until she could no longer breathe properly, until her body was a shivering, seething mass of uncontrollable need.

  She flung back her head and gasped his name in a plea that came perilously close to begging.

  His hands were hard on her hips as he lifted her, his breathing harsh, his eyes darkened by a passion stronger than both of them.

  With swift, sure movements he positioned her, supporting her easily, and then he thrust hard, taking her with almost fierce desperation, driven by the wildness that was consuming both of them.

  She cried out in shock at his first invasion, her fingers biting into the hard muscle of his shoulders as her body adjusted to the pulsing pressure of his. She felt him pause, his breathing harsh as he struggled to drag himself back from the brink of insanity, and then she felt the heat curl over her again and brought her mouth down on his.

  She didn’t want him to stop.

  She felt his hesitation, the briefest flicker of indecision, and then he drove into her again, but this time his movements were more controlled. She struggled to move her hips, to match his movements, but in this position she felt helpless and totally under his control. She felt the primitive rhythm, the heated, pulsing force of masculine possession and felt the frantic, desperate response of her own body.

  Desire ripped through her and she gasped at the intensity of that sensation, so all-consuming, so primitive. Why had she ever thought that desire could be controlled? She could no more control what was happening than she could halt wind or rain.

  His rough jaw scraped against hers and he took her cries into his mouth, his mouth demanding that she give still more. And she gave willingly. All of herself to this man. Her man. It was wild and crazy and totally out of control, and everything swirled and tangled until sensation exploded inside her with frightening intensity. Her body gripped his and he groaned her name before she felt the hot, liquid force of his own climax.

  She clung to him with an almost fierce desperation as if he were the only thing standing between her and insanity, waiting for her senses to settle.

  Mac continued to hold her, his breathing harsh and unsteady, his heart pounding against the rapid beat of hers as he struggled to regain control.

  Then he withdrew slowly and lowered her, but still his hands held her, as if he knew by instinct that to release her now would have her collapsing at his feet.

  Without speaking he reached out a hand and cut the flow of water.

  Silence throbbed between them.

  Louisa kept her eyes closed as she tried to regain some sort of composure. What were you supposed to say to a man after something so amazing?

  She felt stunned. Shocked. Exhilarated.

  ‘Louisa?’ His voice was low and rough and then she felt the soft warmth of a towel being wrapped around her. He lifted her in his arms and carried her through to the bedroom. ‘You should have told me.’

  ‘Told you what?’

  He deposited her gently in the middle of the bed and his eyes glittered in the semi-darkness. ‘That it was your first time.
I had no idea...’

  ‘You didn’t need to know.’ Away from the warmth of the shower and the heat of his body, she started to shiver.

  With a soft curse he removed the damp towel and, after the slightest hesitation, joined her in the bed.

  He curved her against the warmth of his body and reached down to cover them both with the duvet. ‘I wish you’d told me.’

  Warmth spread through her.

  She slid an arm over his chest, endlessly fascinated by the differences between them. He was hard to her soft. Male to her female. ‘What difference would it have made?’

  He tightened his hold and released a long breath. ‘Well, for a start I would have been gentle.’

  She pressed her mouth to his flesh. ‘I didn’t want you to be gentle.’ She’d wanted all that he was. The man she knew him to be.

  ‘Louisa—’

  ‘Mac.’ She lifted her head and her long hair trailed over his bare chest. ‘Stop worrying. I’m fine.’ She gave a womanly smile and her eyes dropped to his mouth. ‘In fact, I’m more than fine.’

  She felt his hesitation and decided that this time it was up to her to take the lead. Her body sliding over his, she lowered her mouth to his, teasing his lower lip with her tongue, offering him her kiss.

  He watched her from under lowered lids, his expression unreadable, and for a long, pulsing moment she thought he might reject her. Then he muttered something against her mouth and his hands came up to trap her head as he gave her the response she’d been hoping for.

  This time his kiss was slower and he explored every part of her mouth, controlling the pace, stoking the heat.

  Louisa moaned against his lips as the now familiar burn low in her pelvis started to build.

  She’d never met a man who could kiss like Mac. The moment he touched his lips to hers she could feel the effects through her whole body.

  His kiss drove her pulse rate into a wild sprint and she straddled him, but he lifted his hands and caught her writhing hips.

  ‘Not yet. This time we do it differently.’ His voice was husky as he rolled her on her back and stroked a leisurely hand down her quivering, aching body. ‘This time we take our time.’

  The wild burning in her pelvis was so intense that she shifted against the sheets, desperate to ease the throbbing, burning ache that had become the entire focus of her being.

  He held her down, refusing to allow her the satisfaction she craved until he was ready, using his mouth and fingers to drive her wild.

  Louisa couldn’t believe the intimacies she allowed him or those she gave in return, and when he finally rose over her she was sobbing his name and quivering in anticipation, the excitement almost intolerable.

  He raised her hips and paused, his eyes dark as he gazed down at her, watching her reaction.

  ‘Mac...please...’ She was almost begging, beside herself with a need that she didn’t recognise, and he lowered his head and took her mouth, his kiss as intimate as the rest of his touch.

  This time he entered her slowly, the controlled thrust of his hips as erotic as it was gentle.

  How did he know? she wondered dimly.

  How did he know just how to move, just how to hold her so that both their bodies achieved the maximum response?

  She curled her legs around him and arched her hips, drawing him deeper, urging him on.

  The rhythm was slow and easy but the connection between them was no less intense for the lack of pace. This time the passion was dark and molten, twining itself around both of them, drawing them deeper and deeper.

  And Louisa clung to him, her body matching his demands with demands of her own, discovering all that her body could do. Could feel.

  ‘Mac, Mac.’ She cried out his name and he dragged a hand into her hair, holding her head so that she was forced to look at him.

  And the connection was complete.

  She drowned in his dark eyes and felt her body convulse in an explosion of white light.

  She heard his harsh groan and then her climax consumed her, shattering control and rational thought, and she lost herself completely in the experience that was loving Mac.

  Breathless and weakened, she clung to him, her fingers holding onto his sleek flesh as both of them struggled to descend back into reality.

  Then he shifted his weight and rolled onto his back, taking her with him.

  So this was what it felt like to be in love.

  She lay still for a moment, savouring the fact that it had finally happened. That she’d finally met the man of her dreams. And then she closed her eyes and succumbed to the delicious lethargy that spread through her entire body.

  Flattened and exhausted by the depth of her own response, Louisa curled herself around him and slept like a child.

  * * *

  Mac poured coffee, choosing to drink it strong and black.

  He needed the caffeine hit.

  The overnight snowfall had transformed the world into a festive wonderland, and from the large windows in the kitchen he could see a family walking on the beach, throwing snowballs and clowning about.

  He sipped the scalding brew, trying to chase away the clouds that fogged his brain. Overnight the world seemed different and the reason for that was lying upstairs in his bed.

  It had taken all his will-power to leave her sleeping.

  Part of him had wanted to wake her from sleep in the oldest way known to man. But the other part of him—the part of him he’d lived with since Melissa’s death—had known that he had to walk away.

  While he still could.

  He drained the coffee and poured another cup, wondering what had happened to his self-control. He’d always considered himself to be a disciplined man. Hell, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t been confronted by temptation before. He had, on many an occasion. And each time he’d had no trouble resisting.

  It had been the accident. The sudden surge of adrenaline that had needed to find a release.

  The accident and Louisa herself.

  He swore under his breath, forced to acknowledge that Louisa, with her softness and her infectious personality, had sneaked under his skin despite all his efforts to keep her at a distance.

  A sound in the doorway made him turn and he felt as though he’d been thumped in the gut.

  ‘Hi.’ Her hair was soft and tousled from sleep and wild love-making, her soft mouth bruised from his attentions. The physical evidence of his own lack of control made his mouth tighten in a grim line.

  The knowledge that he’d been rougher than he should have been just added to his list of crimes.

  ‘Are you planning to share that coffee?’

  He reached for the jug and poured her a cup. ‘We need to talk.’

  ‘Right. That sounds ominous.’ She stayed in the doorway, her eyes wary, and he mentally cursed his lack of self-control. Why the hell had he succumbed to temptation?

  Then his gaze drifted to her brown eyes and he saw kindness, warmth and a memory of the passion he’d awakened the previous night.

  And suddenly he knew exactly why he’d succumbed.

  She was all woman. In every sense of the word.

  ‘Stop panicking, Mac.’ Her tone was soft as she stepped forward and took the cup he was still clutching in his hand. ‘If this is the point where you feel obliged to point out that last night was a mistake, you’re wasting your breath. It wasn’t a mistake and there’s no way you’ll convince me that it was.’

  He watched while she pulled out a chair and settled herself comfortably, her coffee on the table in front of her.

  ‘I can’t give you what you need.’ He put his empty mug down on the table and looked at her warily, braced for her reaction.

  Her dark lashes lowered slightly and her mouth curved into a half-smile that took him out at the knees. ‘You were pretty good at giving me what I needed last night.’ It was the voice of a seductress, smoky and soft, and it made him want to surrender on the spot.

  ‘Louisa, you were a virgin.’ He sai
d it to remind himself as much as her. She wasn’t the sort of woman who went into for casual relationships. Hadn’t Josh told him that right at the beginning?

  She frowned. ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’

  ‘A lot. You’ve got this dream in your head. You’ve had it there since you were a child.’ He sucked in a breath and forced himself to say the words. ‘I can’t be that dream.’

  He was lousy at relationships.

  ‘You’re frightened because I said I wanted five kids.’ She spooned sugar into her coffee. ‘Relax. I’ll settle for four, providing at least one of them is a girl.’

  ‘This isn’t a joke.’

  She sighed and ran a hand through her tangled hair, visibly tired. ‘No, but you are taking it all much too seriously. We had an amazing night. Let’s leave it at that.’

  ‘Is that what you want?’

  ‘You want me to tell you what I want?’ She spread her hands. ‘All right, let’s be totally honest. I love you, Mac. Very much. And to be honest, that comes as a bit of a shock to me because you’re not the sort of man I thought I’d eventually fall for.’

  He couldn’t have been more shocked if she’d punched him in the jaw. ‘You don’t love me, Louisa.’

  She reached for her coffee. ‘Yes, I do.’ Her tone was matter-of-fact. ‘Weird, isn’t it?’

  She loved him?

  He gritted his teeth. ‘Louisa, you can’t love me. You’re mistaking sex for love. Believe me, it’s easily done.’

  ‘Maybe for some people.’ She took a sip of coffee. ‘But not for me.’

  He gritted his teeth. ‘I was your first lover.’

  ‘And you were amazing,’ she said softly. ‘I feel sorry for every woman in the world who didn’t go to sleep curled around you last night.’

  He closed his eyes. ‘You don’t know me. You don’t know the man I am.’

  ‘Well, I’m trying,’ she said lightly, ‘although it’s pretty hard because you don’t leave that many clues lying around, do you? You shut every piece of yourself away and don’t let anyone in. You scare everyone away because you pretend to be so remote and chilly. But that isn’t the way you are, is it? Not really. I’ve seen you with patients. I’ve seen you with your brother. You’re capable of great warmth and kindness.’