There was an ominous silence and in the darkness the driver's features were barely visible. When he finally spoke, his voice had a hard edge. 'Do you have a death wish?'
The temperature inside the car suddenly seemed lower than outside, and Ellie's merry smile faltered slightly as she looked into glittering black eyes.
'Of course I don't have a death wish.'
'You took an absurd risk.'
'By driving through the ford?' She gave a chuckle and toed off her wet shoes. 'I hate to point out the obvious, but you drove through it too!'
'In a vehicle designed for those sorts of conditions,' he growled. 'The same can't be said for your car.'
'Wasn't she amazing?' Ellie squinted through clogged lashes towards her little car, her tone warm with affection. 'I mean, I know she conked out on me but at least she made it through the water.'
'You could have been killed.'
'Relax, will you?' She smiled cheerfully as she peeled off her soaking wet coat arid pulled her sodden jumper over her head. 'I've got nine lives.'
'Not anymore.' His voice was clipped. 'You just lost at least three back there in the river.'
Why was he so angry?
'I've been driving through that ford since I was young, although admittedly I haven't done it for a while now. There was no danger.'
She dropped her wet clothes onto the floor of the car and tugged her wet shirt out of her trousers.
'Are you planning to remove all your clothes?'
'Just the outer layers,' she assured him. I'm soaked to the skin and I don't want to get hypothermia. What I really need is a towel. I don't suppose...?' Her voice trailed off as she saw the expression in his eyes. 'No, you're not the type to carry a towel in the car.'
He seemed to struggle to find his voice. 'I don't generally need towels when I drive,' he said finally, and she rubbed her arms to keep warm.
'Well, you should,' she told him. "They can be very useful. I remember one time when I was driving home from work, I passed this injured sheep—'
He blinked in disbelief. 'Sheep?'
'Yes, sheep.' She gave him an odd look and then shrugged and carried on. 'Anyway, she'd managed to wriggle her way under the barbed-wire fence and she was totally wedged and every time she moved the wire embedded itself deeper in her wool and—why are you looking at me like that?'
'I've never met anyone that talks as much as you. I'm wondering when you breathe.'
'I can breathe and talk,' she assured him. 'As I was saying, she was stuck, and I've tried rescuing sheep with bare hands before and it's always been a disaster, but luckily I had a towel in my car and so I used that and it was brilliant. I always carry one now. You should too.'
He stared at her for a long time and then finally stirred and cleared his throat. 'I'll remember that. In the meantime, I do have a blanket on the backseat. Please feel free to use it.'
'Oh, thanks.' Completely unselfconscious, Ellie reached into the back, grabbed the blanket and then shook herself like a drenched kitten. Droplets of water flew from her dark hair and landed on the driver. 'Gosh, I'm soaked and freezing. Can we turn your heating up?'
'Be my guest.'
She glanced at him warily as she fiddled with the controls of his fancy car.
'You're looking at me in a funny way. I suppose you think I'm very forward, but I'm sure you wouldn't want me to get hypothermia. I remember once when I got really wet—'
'Do you always talk this much?'
'Are you always this tense?' She peered at him, trying to read his expression in the semi-darkness. 'Have I made you late or something? It was very kind of you to stop.'
'You were standing in the middle of the road,' he reminded her with exaggerated patience. 'I had no choice but to stop. It was that or run you over.'
'If you're trying to convince me that given the choice you would have driven past me and left me there, you won't succeed,' she said cheerfully. 'No one would be that heartless.'