Dangerous Love Read Free Page A

daughter’s side and taking her uninjured hand in hers. Her eyes looked very bright against the mask of red covering her face. Even her little hands were scarlet with blood.
    “I fell off the cliff, Mummy,” Georgie said and at that point it all became too much for her and she burst into tears, relief at seeing her mother tipping her off the fine brave line she’d been treading.
    This was not the time to ask why she was on the cliff. That could wait. Right now Regan needed to know the extent of her injuries. She looked at Karen.
    “She’s going to be okay, Regan,” Karen said. “Has she any allergies we should know about? Regan?”
    “Yes? Er, no,” Regan said, pulling herself together. “She’s fine with anything.”
    She squeezed Georgie's hand and felt another hand squeeze round her heart. She’d always been good at what ifs, too good, and now the what ifs were coming thick and fast. What if no one had seen her go over the side? What if she’d missed that ledge?
    She felt as if she was a still picture in one of those films where everyone else moves at super speed. Everything happened so fast around them, yet in the middle of it all, Regan stood beside the bed holding Georgie’s hand, her mind crowded with thoughts. She left briefly to call Lally and let her know, but it sounded as if Lally had just found an empty bed anyway and was already upset and sobbing.
    When she got back, Mike Anson, their department head had arrived.
    “What are you doing here, Mike?” Regan asked, instantly worried. Why had Karen called in reinforcements?
    “I’ve been visiting my father,” Mike explained. “He’s in Baker Ward. I heard about the incident on the cliffs and that there’s the possibility of more casualties, so I thought I’d swing by and see if I could help.”
    He reached out and squeezed Regan’s shoulder.
    Regan thought briefly of Stanley waiting in the cubicle. If Mike knew he was here cluttering up his department – even if it was empty – he’d do his nut! Then she thought of Georgie, the focus of all this attention – she could have been killed this evening. Mike could have been down here comforting her for completely different reasons.
    She blamed Bram for this. Bram and his reckless genes. Only a child of his would venture too close to the edge of a cliff when she shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Not content with inheriting his vivid blue eyes and the dark lashes that went with them, she’d taken on his outgoing personality. Regan couldn’t look at her daughter without being reminded of Bram and she’d learned to live with that, but how was she going to live with another daredevil?
    “Don’t cry, Mummy,” Georgie said.
    “I’m not crying,” Regan forced a laugh and rubbed at her eyes. “Silly old thing! I’m just tired.”
    Golden rule for parents with kids in hospital – you do not cry in front of them and make them even more frightened than they already are. You smile, you don’t look worried and you speak with utter conviction that everything is going to be all right. Which it is!
    “I’m going to take Georgie into theatre now, Regan,” Mike told her. “I’ll get that arm sorted out, make her comfortable and she should be able to come home in a day or two. Did you want to be with her while we put her under?”
    “Stay with me, Mummy,” Georgie pleaded, her voice so small and helpless it nearly tore Regan’s heart out. “Don’t go. Stay.”
    “Of course I’ll stay with you, darling,” Regan said. It would be just until she was put under, then Regan would slip away, ready to return when Georgie was in recovery so she’d be there beside her when she woke up.
    And it was only after Georgie’s eyes had closed and Regan was no longer needed that she allowed the tears to come.
    “She’ll be all right, Regan,” Mike said, his eyes serious over the top of his mask. “She’s safe in my hands.”
    “I know,” she whispered. “But she’s my little