Christmas With Her Daredevil Doc

‘Just so you know, I don’t do this with every woman I meet,’ he said. ‘You’re the first woman I’ve kissed since Lynda and I split up.’

‘You’re the first man I’ve even noticed since Evan died,’ she said softly. ‘And I think my years in emergency medicine have made me a reasonable judge of character. I’d already worked out that you’re not one of these men who have notches carved on their bedposts. You’re one of the good guys.’

He inclined his head. ‘Thank you. Though I wasn’t fishing for compliments.’

‘I didn’t think you were.’ She smiled. ‘So where are we going today?’

‘I think,’ he said, ‘given what you’ve just said, I’d like to start by kissing you hello.’

‘Sounds good to me.’

He took a step forward, rested his hands on her shoulders, and brushed his mouth lightly against hers. The butterflies in her stomach started doing a stampede; then he slid his hands down her arms, wrapped them round her waist, and kissed her more thoroughly.

Her knees were weak by the time he broke the kiss.

‘Good morning,’ he said.

She smiled. ‘It is now.’

He stole another kiss. ‘We’re going to start at Reynisfjara, to see the beach with black sand and the basalt columns,’ he said. ‘And then we’ll go to see a glacier and your waterfall.’

‘That sounds perfect,’ she said.

Once he’d parked at Reynisfjara and they were out of the car, he looked at her and held out his hand. She took it with a smile, and they walked hand in hand onto the beach. The sand was black and slightly pebbly, in sharp contrast to the turquoise blue of the Atlantic, and Hayley stood watching the waves crash onto the shore.

‘The sea’s pretty calm right now,’ Sam said, ‘but in the winter the Atlantic rollers can get absolutely huge.’

She could just imagine the massive waves thundering in.

‘And right at this point there’s nothing but ocean between you and the Antarctic.’

She blinked. Was he teasing her? ‘Seriously?’

‘Seriously.’ He led her over to the cave with the hexagonal basalt columns.

‘It reminds of me of Giant’s Causeway in Ireland,’ she said. ‘And it’s definitely like the church in Reykjavik.’

Tourists were standing on the shorter columns, posing for photographs. ‘When in Rome—or, rather, Reynisfjara,’ he quipped, and helped her climb onto the columns so he could take a photo with her camera. The touch of his hands, even through the material of her T-shirt, sent a thrill right through her.

Once she’d climbed down again, he pointed out the colony of puffins above; the tiny birds with their distinctive orange beaks moved incredibly fast, and Hayley had to admit defeat when she’d tried to take ten photographs of them and all had failed.

They walked hand in hand back to the car, then he drove them up a steep, winding track to the Dyrhólaey promontory, where they had a clear view of the rock with a ‘door’ in it that gave its name to the area. Sam stood with his arms wrapped round her waist. Up here where the wind was keen and the air was clear, she felt almost as if she were on top of the world.

‘So what are those rocks jutting up over there?’

‘Basalt stacks,’ he said. ‘The Reynisdrangar. Local legend says they were trolls who were trying to drag a ship from the sea onto land—but then the sun rose and the light turned them to stone.’

A land of legends, ice and fire.

A land that was going to start to heal her heart.

‘Bucket list time,’ he said. ‘We’re going to Solheimajökull—you can actually get up close to the glacier and touch it.’

When they parked, she could see a lake, and immediately behind it was the glacier.

‘But it’s dark grey,’ she said. ‘Aren’t glaciers white or blue?’

‘The grey’s from sediment,’ he said, ‘and the white bits are snow and fresh ice.’

She peered up at the glacier. ‘And are they people over there, walking on top of the glacier?’

He nodded. ‘That’s the kind of thing my brother Martin’s company offers—though it’s not safe to walk on a glacier without a guide who knows the area and can tell if there are sinkholes.’

‘And you’re qualified to do the guided walks?’

‘Yes. I was part of the mountain rescue team when I worked in Manchester—we’re not far from the Peak District or the Lakes. Actually, I was part of the team well before I qualified as a doctor, because I grew up in the Peak District. I’m also a qualified diver,’ he said.

Mountain rescue and diving. Both of which were really dangerous. Both of which meant putting your life on the line. A chill went down Hayley’s spine. It was just as well they’d agreed this would be only a holiday romance. She didn’t want to be in another situation where she fell in love with someone who put himself in danger on a regular basis. She really couldn’t bear to lose someone else the same way she’d lost Evan.

‘Do you want to walk on the glacier?’ he asked. ‘I brought some kit with me, just in case.’

Under the rules of her agreement with Danielle, Hayley knew she ought to say yes. Instead, still thinking of the danger of his work on the mountain rescue team, she asked, ‘Are you sure it’s safe?’

He smiled. ‘I know the area so, yes, it’s safe. I wasn’t sure of your shoe size, so I brought a few different pairs in case your hiking shoes weren’t sturdy enough.’ He glanced at her feet. ‘Actually, if we do it, I’d really prefer you to wear the boots I brought with me. Not that there’s anything wrong with your hiking boots,’ he hastened to add, ‘but ice walking needs a little bit extra.’

‘If you’re sure it’s safe,’ she said, ‘then OK.’ Walking on a glacier would be even better than touching one.

She put the shoes on and he fitted the crampons for her. ‘These are to make it safer for you to walk on the ice,’ he explained. He also gave her a helmet, ice axe and a walking pole. ‘This will help to stabilise you and help you get a grip when you need to,’ he said, ‘as well as help you test the ice to make sure it’s solid before you set foot on it.’

After a safety briefing, he showed her how to walk on the ice. ‘You need to stamp down to get a good grip,’ he said.

‘I’m glad now that I didn’t go for a run this morning before breakfast,’ she said.

‘As part of your training for the charity race, you mean?’ He smiled. ‘You’ll definitely get a good workout here. It won’t do much for your speed, but it’ll be good for stamina.’

They went along the path that led to the glacier, and then they were walking across the ice. Hayley could hear crunching sounds with every step. Part of her was terrified, part of her was thrilled and part of her was awed at the sheer beauty of the ice landscape. ‘The way the snow lies on the dark ice, all rippled—it’s a bit like the way a sandy beach looks when the tide goes out,’ she said. ‘I thought glaciers would be just white or blue, nothing like this. With all that dark veining going through it, in places it looks like marble.’