A Date with the Ice Princess

‘No. I’m trying to make you laugh. I’m not trying to seduce you.’

‘I don’t understand you,’ she said. ‘I don’t have a clue what makes you tick.’

‘Snap. So let’s go and have some fun finding out.’

Fun. Zip-lining. The idea of launching herself off a platform and whizzing through space, with only a flimsy harness holding her onto a line to stop her plummeting to the ground… No, that wasn’t fun. It made her palms sweat.

He frowned. ‘Are you scared of heights, Abby?’

She let the diminutive pass without correcting him. ‘No.’

‘But you’re scared of this.’

She swallowed. ‘I work in the emergency department. I see accidents all the time.’

‘And you think you’re going to have an accident here?’ His expression softened. ‘It’s OK, Abby. This is safe. All the staff are trained. All the equipment is tested. Very, very regularly. Your harness isn’t going to break and you’re not going to fall. No broken bones, no concussion, no subdural haematoma. OK?’

How had he known what the pictures were in her head? She blew out a breath. ‘OK.’

‘The first time you do it, I admit, it can be a bit daunting. Hardly anyone jumps off the platform on their first time. The second time, you’ll know what the adrenalin rush feels like and you’ll leap off as if you’ve never been scared.’

She doubted it. A lot. ‘So this is what makes you tick. You’re an adrenalin fiend.’ And that was probably why he worked in the emergency department. Because it was all about speed, about split-second decisions that made the difference between life and death. Real adrenalin stuff.

‘Actually, I’m probably more of an endorphin fiend,’ he corrected. ‘Which is why I usually go for a run before every shift, so I feel great before I start work and I’m ready to face anything.’

She’d never thought of it that way before. ‘That makes sense.’

And of course he made her climb up the ladder before him. ‘Ladies first.’

‘You mean, you want to look at my backside,’ she grumbled.

He grinned. ‘That, too. It’s a very nice backside.’

She gave him what she hoped was a really withering look—no way did she want him to know just how scary she found this—and climbed up the ladder. Stubbornness got her to the top. But when it came to putting the harness on all her nerves came back. With teeth. And could she get the wretched thing on, ready for the adventure centre staff to check? Her fingers had turned into what felt like lumpy balloons.

Way to go, Abigail, she thought bitterly. How to embarrass yourself totally in front of the coolest guy in the hospital. Nothing changed, did it? She just didn’t fit in.

‘Let me help you,’ Lewis said.

He was all ready to go, harness and wide smile both in place. Well, they would be, she thought crossly.

‘And this isn’t an excuse to touch you, by the way. Fastening the harness can be a bit tricky, and I’ve already gone through that learning curve.’

Now she felt like the grumpiest, most horrible person on the planet. Because Lewis was being nice, not sleazy. She’d attributed motives to him that he clearly didn’t have and had thought the worst of him without any evidence to back it up. How mean was that? ‘Thank you,’ she muttered.

He laughed. ‘That sounds more like “I want to kill you”.’

‘I do,’ she admitted. And somehow he’d disarmed her. Somehow his smile didn’t seem cocky and smug any more. He was… Shockingly, she thought, Lewis Gallagher was nice.

Which was dangerous. She didn’t want to get close to a heartbreaker like Lewis Gallagher. She didn’t want to get involved with anyone. She just wanted her nice, quiet—well, busy, she amended mentally—life as an emergency department doctor.

‘OK. Step in.’

And what had seemed like an impossible web was suddenly fitting round her. Lewis’s hands were brushing against her, yes, but that was only because he was checking every single buckle and every single fastening, making doubly sure that everything was done properly and she was safe. There was nothing sexual in the contact.

Which should make her feel relieved.

So why did it make her feel disappointed? Surely she wasn’t so stupid as to let herself get attracted to a good-time guy like Lewis Gallagher?

‘OK. Ready?’ he asked.

No. Far from it. ‘Yes,’ she lied.

The adventure centre staff did a final check on her harness, clipped the carabiners to the zip-lines, and then she and Lewis were both standing on the very edge of the platform. Looking down over trees and a stream and—no, they didn’t seriously expect her just to step off into nothingness, did they?

‘You can step off or jump off,’ the adventure centre guy said.

‘See you at the bottom, Abby. After three,’ Lewis said. ‘One, two, three—whoo-hoo!’

And he jumped. He actually jumped.

‘I hate you, Lewis Gallagher. I really, really hate you,’ she said. Right at that moment she would’ve been happy to give him back the money he’d paid for their date and give double the amount to the hospital fund, as long as she didn’t have to jump.

‘Just step off, love. It’s all right once you get going,’ the adventure centre guy said. ‘It’s fun. Look at that ten-year-old next to you. He’s enjoying it.’

So now the guy thought she was feebler than a kid? Oh, great. Her confidence dipped just a bit more.

But there was no way out of this. She had to do it.

She closed her eyes, silently cursing Lewis. Deep breath. One, two, three…

The speed shocked her into opening her eyes. It felt as if she was flying. Like a bird gliding on the air currents. Totally free, the wind rushing against her face and the sun shining.

By the time she reached the platform at the end of the zip-line, she understood exactly what Lewis had meant. This felt amazing. Like nothing she’d ever experienced.

He was there to meet her. ‘OK?’ he asked, his eyes filled with concern.

She blew out a breath. ‘Yes.’

‘Sure? You didn’t look too happy when you were standing on the platform.’

‘Probably because I wanted to kill you.’

‘Uh-huh. And now?’

‘You’ll live,’ she said.

He smiled, and she felt a weird sensation in her chest, as if her heart had just done a flip. Which was totally ridiculous. Number one, it wasn’t physically possible and, number two, Lewis Gallagher wasn’t her type. He really wasn’t.