He couldn’t possibly mean that.
‘Look…’ He gave a sigh and slid his fingers through her hair. ‘I know that you still haven’t sorted out how you feel about David. But sooner or later you’re going to realise that he did you a favour. Not the way he did it—that was cruel and cowardly—but what he did. And I happen to think that what you feel for me is real. But I’ll hang around while you find that out for yourself and if dating is important to you, then we’ll date.’
She was breathlessly aware of every powerful inch of him. ‘You said that living and working with me was driving you nuts.’
‘And I can think of a very good way of relieving that frustration.’ He flashed her a wicked smile. ‘But I’m just a simple mountain man. If dating is what it takes then dating is what we’ll do. Tomorrow night is quiz night at the Drunken Fox. The pinnacle of our monthly social calendar up here in the wilds. Most of the mountain rescue team should be there. It will rival anything you have in London, city girl.’
At the moment nothing was further from her mind than London.
All she could think about was Oliver. The lazy, sexy look he was giving her from underneath thick, dark lashes, the way a tiny dimple appeared in the corner of his mouth when he smiled.
The way his mouth hovered tantalisingly close to hers.
Her breathing was shallow. He was so close that the temptation just to lift her mouth to his and finish what they’d started was enormous.
‘I don’t feel like a city girl any more.’
He gave a slow smile that was so unbelievably sexy that she felt her tummy tumble. ‘Oh, dear,’ he said softly, touching her cheek with his finger. ‘In that case, it wouldn’t be safe to let you go back to London. The big city is no place for a girl from the country.’
Helen chuckled but there was no escaping the fact that soon she would have to make a decision. She’d been given a month to drift. A month in which Bryony had given her a home and Oliver had given her a job. But that month was up in another week.
And she needed to make a decision about what she was going to do with her life.
Tom dropped by the following morning while they were having breakfast to tell them that Lily had given birth to a little girl in the early hours of the morning.
‘Tell me she was OK.’ Oliver’s expression was strained and Tom gave a long sigh.
‘She was fine.’ He yawned. ‘I was there, wasn’t I?’
‘You didn’t need to section her?’
Tom frowned. ‘Why is everyone so obsessed with Caesarian sections these days? Believe it or not, women actually are designed to give birth, you know.’ He helped himself to a mug from the cupboard and poured himself a coffee.
‘So what happened?’
‘You want a report on each contraction?’
Oliver rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and gave a wry smile. ‘Am I that bad?’
‘Yes.’ Tom pulled out a chair and straddled it. ‘But I forgive you because it’s true that Lily was in a bad state, emotionally at least. She actually did have some damage from the previous delivery and it did cross my mind that I might have to section her, but she was so traumatised by the fact she felt so out of control last time that I decided to take a risk.’
‘Her scar could have opened up.’
‘In which case I would have repaired it,’ Tom said calmly. ‘As it is, Emma and I put her in the birthing pool, played her some music, kept her calm and she did it all by herself. Very relaxed. The sort of birth they have in the movies. You would have approved.’
Oliver looked at his brother. ‘You stayed with her the whole time.’
‘That was your request, I believe,’ Tom drawled, leaning forward and helping himself to a piece of toast. ‘I’ll send you my bill.’
‘How did you manage to not get called away? You always get called to handle the difficult stuff. Or wasn’t there any difficult stuff?’
‘There’s always difficult stuff in obstetrics,’ Tom said dryly. ‘Babies insist on doing the unexpected instead of coming down the right route facing the right way. Last night I delegated. I happened to agree with you that Lily was important. And, actually, my registrar is showing a great deal of promise, which helps.’
‘Well, thanks.’ Oliver gave his brother a nod, his blue eyes warm. ‘I’ll buy you a drink tonight.’
‘You will indeed.’ Tom rose to his feet and reached for his jacket. ‘I’m off. I just popped in to tell you about Lily.’
‘What are you doing today?’