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Very angry indeed. With her?
Her heart still thumping, she scrambled to her feet, ignoring his outstretched hand. No way was she going to be on the receiving end of that grip twice in one day! The man obviously didn’t know his own strength.
‘What the hell were you doing?’ His sharp question made her lift her chin defensively.
‘What did you think I was doing?’ Surely it was obvious?
‘Contemplating suicide?’
‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous!’ Ally gave him an impatient look and brushed some stones from her knees. ‘I thought I heard someone shout.’
Smooth, dark eyebrows rose. ‘So you thought you’d dive head first over the edge to investigate?’
‘I wasn’t anywhere near the edge—’
Strong fingers clamped around her wrist and jerked her back towards the head-spinning drop.
‘See that?’ He gestured with his head, a muscle working in his lean cheek as his eyes blazed into hers. ‘This path is crumbling. You were seconds away from joining them at the bottom of the mountain.’
She tugged at her wrist. ‘It’s fine here. The National Trust have—’ She broke off as his words registered. ‘You said them! So you heard something, too?’
He gave a grim nod and released her, swinging a large rucksack off his back. ‘There are two boys in trouble. They were scrambling in the ghyll.’
‘Scrambling?’ Ally’s voice rang with disbelief. ‘But we’ve had ten inches of rain in these fells since Monday. That ghyll is a difficult scramble at the best of times, but when it’s been raining it’s lethal. Were they roped up?’
He unclipped the top of his rucksack with gloved fingers, tugging the collar of his jacket higher to keep out the wind. ‘They’re just kids. I doubt they’ve even got a waterproof between them.’
‘Oh, no!’ Ally bit her lip and glanced anxiously towards the edge. ‘We need to get help for them fast.’
‘We do indeed.’ He glanced up from the rucksack and studied her, those dark eyes sweeping every inch of her face and body before lingering on the logo of her quality weatherproof jacket.
She shifted uncomfortably. Something about those eyes made her feel suddenly gauche and tongue-tied. Like an eighteen-year-old student instead of a twenty-eight-year-old doctor with responsibilities. He had gorgeous eyes. Male eyes. Eyes you could stare into and lose yourself.
She blinked. ‘We need to contact the mountain rescue team. I didn’t bring a mobile phone.’
‘I did, but there’s no signal. I already tried.’ He straightened and wiped a hand across his forehead. ‘You and your party need to go down to the bottom and use a land-line.’
‘And what will you do?’
He turned his attention back to the rucksack. ‘Get down into that ravine and do what I can for them until help arrives.’
Ally stared at him. ‘On your own?’
‘You want me to take the sheep, too?’
Ally gritted her teeth. ‘I’m suggesting that it might be wiser to wait for the mountain rescue team.’
‘They’ll take too long.’ He delved into the rucksack and dragged out a coiled rope. ‘The way those boys were equipped they’ll die of hypothermia before you even make the phone call.’
Ally rubbed a hand over her numbed cheeks. The temperature was dropping fast. ‘It’s too dangerous. You can’t climb down there on your own.’
‘You have a better idea?’
She hadn’t, not that he was exactly interested in her opinion anyway. He was too busy preparing for the descent into the ghyll, seemingly indifferent to the physical challenge it presented. Her heart missed a beat as he tugged off his hat and stuffed it into the top of his rucksack. He was heart-stoppingly handsome. Jet black hair cropped short and a firm mouth and jaw that was overwhelmingly male. For a moment Ally just stared. Then she shook herself and frowned instead. Why was she staring? She never stared at men. Never. Especially not handsome ones. They were bad news.
‘I think what you’re planning is really dangerous. How can you be so calm?’
‘You’d prefer me to panic?’
