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She wondered why he was asking and then decided that it was idle curiosity. ‘Actually, I don’t know. Toby is keeping it a secret.’ She smiled. ‘Isn’t it romantic?’

‘Suspicious is the word I would use,’ Jack muttered, grabbing his coat and car keys and making for the door. ‘I’ll talk to him.’

Bryony gave an exasperated sigh. ‘Jack, you are not my minder.’

‘Toby is definitely not to be trusted when it comes to women,’ Jack growled. ‘I want him to know that I’m looking out for you.’

‘I should think he knows that, seeing as you spend half your life in my house,’ Bryony pointed out mildly, and he nodded.

‘Well, let’s hope so. I won’t have him messing either of my girls around.’

His girls.

Bryony swallowed and her eyes clashed with his. Something flickered in those blue depths and she knew that he was remembering their kiss. ‘We’re not “your girls”, Jack.’

He hesitated and a strange expression crossed his handsome face as he stared down at her. Then he muttered something under his breath, jerked open the front door and left the house.

The next day the temperature dropped further still and it started to snow. Wrapped up in her MRT gear, Bryony was posting her Christmas cards when her pager went off.

Relieved that Lizzie was spending the day with her mother, she drove herself to the rescue base, which was less than five minutes’ drive from her house.

‘Two women out walking,’ Jack told her, zipping up his jacket. ‘One has cut herself and one has an ankle injury.’ He exchanged looks with Bryony. ‘What is it with women and ankles?’

‘I don’t know but at least it gives you and me an excuse to climb mountains in filthy weather,’ she said happily, and he smiled.

‘I suppose there is that.’

The rest of the team gathered, picking up equipment and listening while they were given a brief.

‘We’re not sure where they are—’ Sean, leader of the MRT, tapped a point on the map ‘—but this was where they were aiming for when it started to snow. The path is covered now and they’re totally lost.’

Bryony looked at the map. ‘It’s really easy to lose that path in bad weather,’ she said. ‘I know because I’ve done it myself.’

Jack rolled his eyes. ‘Never let a blonde loose on a mountain,’ he drawled, but his eyes gleamed wickedly and she smiled back at him.

‘At least a girl will ask for directions if she’s lost. Men never ask for directions.’

‘That’s because they don’t need to. Men don’t get lost,’ Jack returned blithely, and Sean sighed.

‘Maybe you two could argue on the way,’ he suggested mildly, pointing at the map. ‘Ben, you go with Toby up this path and hopefully we’ll come across them. Stay in touch. And watch yourselves. The weather is awful. I’ll deploy the rest of the team as they arrive.’

Toby glanced at Bryony. ‘I could go with Bryony…’

‘No, you couldn’t.’ Jack’s response was instantaneous, his blue gaze hard and uncompromising. ‘I go with Bryony.’

Toby’s eyes narrowed slightly and then he shrugged. ‘Whatever.’

Bryony followed Jack out of the rescue base and they drove a short distance and parked the four-wheel-drive in a farm near the path.

Jack hoisted the rucksack onto his back and waited while she did the same thing. ‘Come on. We need to get going before we freeze to death.’

They set off at a brisk pace and she glanced at the sky. ‘It’s going to snow again in a minute.’

‘It’s Christmas,’ Jack pointed out. ‘It’s supposed to snow.’

Bryony gave a shiver and pulled her fleece up to her chin. ‘Well, it looks nice on the Christmas cards but it’s not so great when you’re out on the mountains. Why didn’t you let me go with Toby?’

‘Because he’d be so busy staring at your legs he’d let you fall down a crevice.’