Boss Meets Baby(124)

‘I’ll go.’ Already at the door, and pulling it wide, Keir turned briefly to glance at the others round the table. ‘She’s probably not far away.’

‘Get a mackintosh from the mudroom before you go, Chief. You don’t want to be getting soaked to the skin or get that dressing all wet after your accident today!’

On her feet as she started collecting up the plates to take them into the kitchen, Moira didn’t hesitate to advise him.

Without a word, Keir turned and went out.

Just as he reached the bottom of the concrete steps that led down onto the gravel drive, he saw a blur of vivid colour in the distance and realised that it was Georgia, jogging towards the house, Hamish slightly ahead of her. The relief that washed through him could not be measured.

But even as he sensed the tension ease out of his shoulders a scissor-flash of lightning slashed through the sky with an ear-splitting crack, and Keir saw Georgia pause to look up. She started to run again, but a moment later she seemed to trip and pitch forward in the middle of the glistening emerald lawn. Immediately— the faithful Labrador ran back to be with her.

Without another thought, Keir started to run towards her. The driving rain pummelled at his clothing where he hadn’t bothered to do up the waterproof— he’d quickly donned on the way out. When he reached her, Georgia was starting to struggle to her feet, her red linen dress covered in loose wet grass and splashes of mud. Her long dark hair was tangled, and almost plastered to her shocked face, and her hazel eyes couldn’t contain their fear.

‘What have you done to yourself?’ he demanded, concern making his tone gruffly impatient. ‘You haven’t hurt your ankle?’

‘I just slipped on the wet grass,’ she replied, shivering. ‘I’m all right…really.’

She might not be hurt physically, but Keir easily detected that the lightning strike and the thunder had shaken her up badly. Giving no thought to his own injured arm, he swept her up against his chest and started to hurry with her towards the house.

‘You don’t have to carry me!’ Georgia protested, shocked. ‘Keir, I’m quite capable of walking… really!’—

But he carried her just the same, his dark face stoic and determined as he held her, his racing heart attesting to the maelstrom of emotion that was going on inside him at being able to hold her so close, uncaring— that her own soaked clothing was making his even wetter.

By the time they reached the house and Keir had ordered the faithful Labrador to go round to the back door Moira was at the front, her face amply illustrating— her anxiety and relief.

‘What happened, lassie? Are you hurt?’ The kindly housekeeper reached out to help her from Keir’s arms, but the Laird’s almost warning glare made her drop them down by her sides again immediately.

‘I’m not hurt. I’m fine—honestly…I told Keir I was fine! I simply slipped on the wet grass because I was hurrying to get out of the storm, that’s all.’ Her teeth chattering, but on her feet once more, Georgia glanced at the other woman with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. ‘Can I ask you if you’d mind seeing to Hamish? He’s gone round to the back door. I just need to get out of these wet clothes and go and get a hot shower.’

‘Of course I will, my dear! You go and get yourself dry before you catch your death!’

‘Thanks…I appreciate it.’

Withdrawing from them, hating being the centre of attention, Georgia stepped quickly away from the protection of Keir’s warm, hard body to cross the chequered entrance hall and start ascending the grand winding staircase.

‘I’ve put your dinner in the oven to keep warm,’ Moira called up behind her. ‘You come down and have it when you’re ready.’

Even though the spray from the shower had been wonderfully reassuring and hot, Georgia sat in her towelling robe on the edge of the quaintly old-fashioned— brass bed and sensed her body shiver as though it might never stop.

What had possessed Keir to pick her up and carry her like that? As though he wanted to put himself between her and harm? The threatened storm might have secretly terrified her, but she was far more scared of the torrent of wild feelings that gripped her whenever he came near.

Staring at the wall, she recalled the look of surprise on Moira’s face when she’d reached out to help her and Keir had somehow dissuaded her with just a single determined glance. Things were beginning to get complicated,— she realised. As if some unstoppable force was having its way and there was nothing she could do about it…Unless, of course, she decided to leave…

Her heart racing, Georgia glanced across at the casement windows of her room, at the rain that was still rattling the little square panes. A disconcerting emptiness and a yearning that she didn’t want to name gnawed at her, and the depth and power of the sensation almost drove her to tears.

‘Georgia? Is everything all right?’

At first she was disorientated, not knowing who spoke, then in almost the same instant she realised that the extraordinarily compelling voice could only belong to Keir. Standing up to go to the door, she tidied the front of her robe, making sure she was adequately— covered, at the same time cursing silently that she hadn’t dressed straight away—because once again she was at an embarrassing disadvantage.

But there was no need to open the door, was there? Georgia could merely assure him that she was fine and he would quickly go away again.