A Date with the Ice Princess

‘So you enjoyed it.’ He brushed her cheek gently with the backs of his fingers, and all her nerve-endings sat up and begged for more. ‘Good. We get three turns. Ready for another?’

She nodded, not quite trusting her voice not to wobble and not wanting him to have any idea of how much he was affecting her.

The second time, the ladder was easier, and so was standing on the platform This time she stepped off without hesitation.

The third time, she turned to Lewis and lifted her chin. She could do this every bit as well as he could. ‘After three? One, two, three.’ And she jumped, yelling, ‘Whoo-hoo!’

With her customary reserve broken, Abigail Smith was beautiful, Lewis realised. Her grey eyes were shining, her cheeks were rosy with pleasure, and he suddenly desperately wanted to haul her into his arms and kiss her.

Except she was already off into space, waving her arms and striking poses as she slid down the zip-line.

If someone had told him two days ago that the ice princess of the hospital would let herself go and enjoy herself this much, he would’ve scoffed. He’d brought her here as much to rattle her as anything else.

But he’d been hoist with his own petard, because she didn’t seem rattled at all.

Unlike him. Abigail Smith had managed to rattle him, big time.

He jumped off the platform and followed her down; he was far enough behind for her to be already taking off the safety harness when he reached the landing platform.

‘So are you going to admit it?’ he asked when he’d removed his own harness and handed it to the assistant at the bottom of the zip-line.

‘What?’

‘That you enjoyed it.’

She nodded. ‘If you’d told me earlier that this was where we were going, I would’ve made an excuse. I would’ve paid back your money and given the same amount to the hospital, so nobody lost out.’

‘But you would’ve lost out.’ He held her gaze. ‘And I don’t mean just the money.’

‘Yes. You’re right.’

He liked the fact that she could admit it when she was wrong. ‘That’s why I didn’t tell you.’

‘Thank you for bringing me here. I never would’ve thought I’d enjoy something like this. But—yes, it was fun.’

Oh, help. She had dimples when she smiled. Who would’ve thought that the serious, keep-herself-to-herself doctor would be this gorgeous when her reserve was down? He hadn’t expected her to be anything like this. And he was horribly aware that Abigail Smith could really get under his skin.

‘Let’s go exploring,’ he said. He needed to move, distract himself from her before he said something stupid. Or did something worse—like giving in to the temptation to lean over and kiss her.

CHAPTER TWO

ABIGAIL AND LEWIS spent the next couple of hours exploring every activity at the centre, including the almost vertical slides and the climbing wall. Abigail didn’t even seem to mind when they got a bit wet on the water chute, though Lewis’s pulse spiked as he imagined how she’d look with her skin still damp from showering with him.

‘Penny for them?’ she asked.

No way. If he told her, she’d either slap his face or go silent on him, and he wanted to get to know more of this playful side of her. ‘Time for lunch,’ he said instead.

‘Only on condition you let me pay. Because you’ve paid for everything else today.’

‘And you don’t like being beholden.’

‘Exactly.’

Someone had hurt her, he thought. Broken her trust. Maybe that was why she kept herself to herself so much: to protect herself from being hurt again. ‘Then thank you. I would love you to buy me lunch.’

She looked faintly surprised, as if she’d expected him to argue, and then looked relieved.

‘There really aren’t any strings to today, Abby,’ he said softly. ‘This is all about having fun.’

‘And I am having fun.’

Although her smile was a little bit too bright. What was she hiding?

There was no point in asking; he knew she didn’t trust him enough to tell him and she’d make up some anodyne excuse or change the subject. So he simply smiled back and led her to the cafeteria.

‘What would you like?’ she asked.

He glanced at the board behind the counter. ‘A burger, chips and a cola, please.’

‘Junk food. Tut. And you a health professional,’ she teased.

‘Hey, I’m burning every bit of it off,’ he protested.

She smiled. ‘Go and find us a table and I’ll queue up.’

When she joined him at the table with a tray of food, Lewis noticed that she’d chosen a jacket potato with salad and cottage cheese, and a bottle of mineral water. ‘Super-healthy. Now I feel guilty for eating junk.’

She looked anxious. ‘I was only teasing you.’

‘Yeah. I was teasing, too.’ He gave her a reassuring smile. ‘Thank you. That looks good.’

He kept the conversation light during lunch, and then they went back to exploring the park.

‘Do you want to do the zip-line again?’ he asked.

‘Can we?’

‘Sure.’

And, as well as his usual adrenalin rush, Lewis got an extra kick from the fact that she was so clearly enjoying something they’d both thought was well outside her comfort zone.

‘Thank you. I’ve had a really nice time,’ she said when they got back to his car.

‘The date’s not over yet.’

She blinked. ‘Isn’t it?’

‘I thought we could have dinner,’ he said.