Dangerous Love (4 page)

“I have to go,” she said. “Goodnight, Len.”

“Any luck tracing the kid’s mother?”

“Why is it always the mother with you guys, huh?” she said. “Never the father.”

She walked away from him shaking her head just as the doors were flung open and Lally Shires rushed in, straight over to Regan where she burst into tears.

Len looked about ready to say something, so Regan led Lally away, well away. She didn’t want to be anywhere near Len or Bram, not tonight, not ever, not after this.

“She’s all right, Lally,” Regan said. “Broke her arm, gashed her head, but she’s okay.”

“But you’re not okay! I can see you’ve been crying,” Lally wept, clutching at Regan’s hand. Her shoulder length grey hair was like a cloud around her face. “I’m so sorry, Regan. I swear I didn’t know she’d gone out.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Regan smiled, rubbing Lally's back as she spoke. True she’d been as mad as hell at first, but there was no point apportioning blame now. It wouldn’t change anything. “If you knew, you’d have stopped her.”

“I dozed off for a while after she went to bed,” Lally explained. “Then when I woke up, I made myself a coffee and then I realised Bonnie wasn’t around. Is Georgie really going to be all right, Regan?”

Okay, now more alarm bells were ringing. “What about Bonnie, Lally? Did you find her?”

“I checked she wasn’t outside, then I thought maybe she’d gone up and climbed on Georgie’s bed and that’s when I realised Georgie had gone… well not straight away because I checked the bathroom and then the phone rang and it was you and oh, Regan, I’m so so sorry. If that dear little girl had died because of me…”

Regan gritted her teeth. “Lally, what about Bonnie?”

“Bonnie?” Lally looked at her through a blur of tears. “I don’t know. She must have gone out when Georgie did. Oh, Regan, you don’t think..?”

Regan didn’t have time to think. She ran back to reception in time to see Len and Bram disappearing out the door, Bram walking with that stiff, hurt gait she’d seen so often before.

Bonnie was still out there somewhere. What if she’d gone over the cliff too? She was a clever dog – no calling her clever was an injustice. She was more than clever. She was perceptive and loving and she hadn’t a mean bone in her body and if it hadn’t been for Bonnie, there were plenty of times Regan might have fallen apart. She sprinted for the doors.

“Len,” she shouted as the doors opened and the wind blasted cold rain into her face. “Bram!”

“I’m not changing my mind, Regan,” Bram said, turning, looking at her through silver needles pounding down from the sky. “I’m not readmitting myself under any circumstances.”

“My dog,” she croaked. “Georgie’s dog …”

Both men looked at each other then back at Regan. Neither had heard her correctly, but at least she’d got their attention.

“Did you say something about a dog, Regan?” Bram said. “Where? What?”

He was walking back towards her. He looked so big and tough, but a lot of that was the jacket wasn’t it? He towered over her. How could she have forgotten how tall he was? How big and strong and indestructible. Yet she knew only too well that he wasn’t indestructible. He was flesh and blood and as vulnerable as any other human being. She looked up at him hoping her tears would mingle with the rain and become invisible. Could this night get any worse?

“What dog, Regan?”

“Georgie’s dog,” she said, licking rain from her lips, blinking it out of her eyelashes. “She’s a black and white Springer spaniel, same age as Georgie – they grew up together. She’s still out there somewhere. You have to find her, Bram.”

“Get back inside, Regan,” Bram said, clamping a wet hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently. “You’re getting soaked and your patients won’t appreciate you dripping all over them. We’ll do a search for the dog – what did you say her name was?”

“I didn’t,” Regan said. “It’s Bonnie.”

“We’ll find her,” Bram said in a tone that left her in no doubt that he would.

“A dog missing you say?” Len had come back to join them and caught the tail end of the conversation. “I’ll find her, Bram. You’re going home. Doctor’s orders. I’ll rustle up some of the lads and we’ll do a search. Tell the little girl not to worry, Regan, we’ll find her dog for her. Did I hear you right? Did you say it was Georgie in there? And isn’t Bonnie your..?”

She flashed him a look and shook her head and Len’s lips tightened. He’d obviously heard more than she realised. Bram was already walking away.

“Georgie?” Len whispered. “Jesus!”

“Don’t say anything to him, Len. Not until I’ve had a chance to talk to him.”

Len nodded and squeezed her arm.

“We’ll find her, love,” he said.

She hurried back inside and Karen waved her through.

“Go on up to be with Georgie,” she said. “We’ll manage down here. Come back once she’s settled for the night, okay?”

“Thanks, Karen.”

“You okay?”

Regan nodded, but she couldn’t get Bonnie out of her mind. What if she was lying injured somewhere? The thought of that sweet dog in pain and afraid was more than she could bear. But she had to hide those feelings, push them back and keep them away otherwise Georgie, no matter how drowsy she was after the operation, would see right through her.

CHAPTER FOUR

“It makes sense,” Bram said as he strode up the hill towards the cliff, ignoring Len’s protests and the pain in his back. The pain relief they’d given him at the hospital had started to kick in and he was walking easier. “I’m a vet. If you find the dog and its hurt, which it most probably will be, you’re going to need me here.”

They were forming a line along the edge, torchlight beams flashing in the darkness, lighting up the rods of driving rain.

“Don’t try to kid me,” Len said. “This has nothing to do with the dog and everything to do with Regan.”

Regan’s face flashed into his mind. Not the face that had haunted him for the past six years, that young pretty elfin face with its frame of closely cropped dark hair, but the face that had looked at him tonight through the splintery rain.

She’d changed. Boy how she’d changed. Her face was still pretty, but her hair was longer now, long enough to be tied back in a dark ponytail and her cheekbones seemed more defined. If anything she was more beautiful than he remembered, her lips seemed fuller, her eyes darker, deeper as if something more was hidden behind them. She looked as if she’d been crying, but why? Because of him? No, she’d been surprised to see him, but not upset enough to cry.

He couldn’t define what the difference was, just that there seemed to be more to Regan than there was before, much more.

But then, six years was a long time. She could be married by now. She could have kids. That would explain her rounder figure. He could just see her surrounded by little miniature Regans – in fact that’s how he used to see her, except in those days there had been miniature Brams there too. They’d talked about having kids – loads of kids.

“It has nothing to do with Regan,” Bram said firmly. “Believe me – Regan and I were finished a long time ago. It’s the dog that concerns me, Len.”

The guys were shouting the dog’s name, but if she’d gone over the cliff there wasn’t much hope for her. How did a kid and her dog come to be wandering about on the cliff at night Bram wondered again? It would be up to the medical staff at the hospital whether to involve social services, but it was something that should be investigated.

He turned his thoughts to the dog. Springers were pretty robust dogs, plenty of stamina and pretty smart too despite their scatty reputation. If she had got herself into some kind of hole, she’d probably be trying to get herself out of it.

He cupped his hands round his mouth and joined in the shouting, but he still didn’t hold out much hope, not if she’d gone over the side. And that sweet little girl would have to learn to cope with losing her best friend, possibly her only friend on top of everything else.

Georgie was awake and thankfully not in pain. She had a plaster cast on her arm and a neat row of six stitches on her scalp. Considering what she’d been through, Georgie was remarkably cheerful, but then she always had been a resilient child.

She took after Bram for her ability to bounce back.

“You’re going to need to get back to sleep,” Regan said after sitting with her for a while. “And I have to finish my shift. I’ll come back and have breakfast with you, okay? Oh, and by the way…”

She hesitated. She’d been worried about how to bring up the subject of Bonnie without upsetting Georgie. There were plenty of other questions to be asked, like what on earth was she doing creeping out at night like that for a start and why go to the cliffs, but right now there was just one question that needed urgently to be asked.

“Yes?” Georgie looked up at her, eyes still heavy.

“Did Bonnie go with you this evening?”

A flash of fear passed through Georgie’s eyes, but tiredness was taking over.

“Georgie?”

“Yes,” Georgie said sleepily, her little mouth framing a yawn. “But I told her to go home. I didn’t want her to get hurt.”

“Then you realised what you were doing was dangerous?” Regan whispered.

“I didn’t mean to fall, Mummy,” Georgie’s eyes grew heavy.

Regan leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Night, night, darling,” she whispered. “I’ll see you later.”

She stood beside the bed looking down at her sleeping daughter. “There’s something else, Georgie Tyler,” she whispered. “Something you’re not telling me. What is it?”

She hadn’t a clue what it could be, but it worried her.

Back in the department, Josie met Regan with a big smile on her face.

“You’ll never guess what I found,” she said and pulled back a curtain. There was Stanley, sprawled out on the bed fast asleep still wrapped in his wet raincoat.

“Oh, lord, I forgot all about him,” Regan said. “Has Mike definitely gone?”

“Yes, don’t worry,” Josie laughed. “As soon as he’d finished with Georgie he left the hospital. What do you want me to do about Stanley?”

“Leave him to sleep,” Regan said. “I’ll wake him an hour or so before the day shift arrives and give him a quick check over, then we’ll send him over to Larry’s with enough money for a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich for his breakfast. He’ll be long gone by the time Mike comes back on duty. I don’t suppose anyone has called about Bonnie?”

“By anyone you mean Bram,” Josie said. “No, I’m sorry, there’s no news. But no news is good news, Regan.”

Regan wasn’t so sure. She bit hard on her lip. It was bad enough knowing what Georgie had been through, but at least now she was safe and still in one piece. She was terrified that somewhere out there on this wild, stormy night, Bonnie was alone and frightened and suffering. Bonnie had a terror of thunderstorms and fireworks and any loud noises. The roaring wind would be absolutely terrifying for her.

“I bet it was weird seeing him again,” Josie said. “I mean it felt pretty strange for me, but you were practically engaged to the guy and he’s Georgie’s father.”

“Don’t say it,” Regan cried. “Someone might hear.”

“But don’t you think it’s kind of spooky? I mean him being there to save Georgie – he’d have held her in his arms and not even realised he was holding his own child.”

Josie’s face took on a dreamy expression as if it was a wonderful thing that had happened – a reunion between father and daughter with both unaware that it was happening.

“That’s enough, Josie,” Regan said sharply, then smiled to take the edge off her words. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to complicate matters. Bram mustn’t find out.”

Josie shook her head. “Oh, Regan,” she said. “Of course he’s going to find out. Sooner or later he’s going to bump into someone who knows you both and he’s going to be told – and then what? As for complicating matters, didn’t you do that when you found out you were pregnant and chose not to let him know?”

Regan sighed. She knew how it must have appeared to other people, even to Josie who probably knew her better than anyone. She didn’t choose not to let Bram know, not as cold-bloodedly as that. In the first place she hadn’t known she was pregnant when she told him to go and by the time she did, it was too late, he’d gone and she didn’t know how to find him.

True, she could have tracked him down if she’d tried hard enough, but how would that have looked? To have sent him away and then suddenly gone chasing after him when she found she was pregnant? Which led on to her second reason, the fact that she didn’t want to be standing with her little girl at some cold graveside someday watching Bram being lowered into the ground in a box.

 “Down there!” Len shouted, his torch beam shivering on the sand below. “There’s a dog. It must be her.”

Bram looked over the edge. The cliff had dropped away to grassy banks here, but they were pretty sheer. The dog had probably seen Georgie go over and had found herself an easier way down. Right now she was ignoring the men standing a few feet above her and was trying to pick her way over gigantic boulders on the beach.

The tide had turned and was on the way out now so was no longer crashing murderously against the rocks, but still Bonnie was in a dangerous situation. One slip and she could trap her legs between the rocks.

Springers could be crazy, loopy, wilful dogs, but they were usually pretty obedient. And smart despite their reputation. The body language of this one said she was scared out of her wits, but determined to carry on.

“Bonnie!” Bram shouted. “Wait!”

She stopped pawing at the rocks and looked round and up.

“Wait!” Bram repeated the command, hoping it was one she knew and understood. “Good girl.”

Ha, she knew that all right. Her tail began to wag and she redoubled her efforts to get across the rocks. She was almost frantic now. It was as if she saw them as reinforcements and wanted them to join in the search.

“Where are you going?” Len said, grasping Bram’s sleeve as he slid towards the slope.

“Where do you think, Len?” He grinned.

“No way. You slide down there and you could do yourself no end of damage. We’ll get one of the other guys to go after her. Bram! Bram, do you ever listen to anything anyone says to you?”

“Sorry, Len,” Bram called over his shoulder. “Can’t hear you.”

He was at the edge of the grass preparing to drop himself down onto the beach. He landed, one foot hitting a jutting rock and wrenching over to the side. Biting back a yelp of pain, he turned to look at Bonnie. She was watching him, cautious and curious, her eyes flashing in the beam of Len’s torch.

“Hey, girl,” he said softly. “Come here. Come on.”

She lowered her head, wagged her tail some more, but didn’t move.

“Come on, baby girl,” he said, squatting down, making himself as small and unthreatening as possible. She was soaking wet. God knows how long she’d been down here trying to make her way round the base of the cliff. She may even have tried to swim in the treacherous sea.

“I won’t hurt you, Bonnie,” he said, holding out his hand to her. “Come on. Come here. Come on, good girl.”

Squatting in this position wasn’t doing a lot for his sore back or his wrenched ankle, but if he suddenly stood up, he might scare her and then she might make a bolt for it and really hurt herself.

Persistence and patience. Knowing her name helped. It was a word she recognised. A word used by those she loved and trusted. Bram repeated it over and over, calling her softly, his arm going stiff from holding it out to her.

At last she took a step towards him, paws slipping and sliding on the rocks, tail still moving from side to side although it was more of an uncertain wag rather than an, “Oh, boy am I pleased to see you!” full on wag.

She had a rope round her neck, trailing along behind her. It was practically a noose and if it had got caught, it could have killed her.

“Good girl,” Bram said, his enthusiasm causing a real swing in her tail and a lifting of her ears. “Good girl, Bonnie.”

She edged towards him, low and slow. Poor dog must have been through hell tonight. First she’d lost her little mistress, then probably been scared out of her wits by all the rescue vehicles, lights and noise. Now here she was with this hard, slippery surface under her paws, freezing cold, soaked to the skin and not sure what was happening.

Bram knew if he made a grab for her, she’d probably turn tail and run – and run herself straight into danger and injury. He had to sit this out for as long as it took. Then he’d get her back to the surgery, check her out and report back to the hospital, to Regan, who could pass on the news that Bonnie was safe.

Or he could let Len go back to the hospital with the news. That would be the sensible thing to do. But since when had he been sensible when it came to Regan? He wanted an excuse to see her again, though why he didn’t know because she made it pretty clear six years ago that she didn’t really love him.

But then again, he hadn’t put up much of a fight for her had he? And he’d had his own reasons for wanting to get away. She’d played right into his hands and made breaking up easy.

Second thoughts, he’d leave the reporting back to Len. Safer that way. If Regan had made a new life for herself, he had no right to disrupt it.