Dangerous Love by Teresa Ashby Page B

the wheel, checking out the houses, was Bram.
    Regan began to wonder if this was another nightmare. Maybe she was still asleep and none of this was real. Nightmares were an all too real part of her life and had been for six years. Now she seemed to be living right in the middle of one.
    The car pulling up outside started Bonnie off again. Of all people it had to be him, but under the circumstances, she was mightily relieved that it was.
    “What are you doing here?” Bram said as he got out of the car.
    “No time to explain,” Regan replied. “Why are you here?”
    “I just came to check on Bonnie and bring some antibiotics in case that paw gets infected,” Bram explained. “But from the barking it sounds as if no one’s home. She’s been left on her own already.”
    He said that last with a heaviness in his voice.
    “No, it’s… I’m… I’ve got to get back to the hospital. This is Katie. Could you give us a lift, Bram?”
    He looked her up and down, no doubt taking in her crumpled uniform and messy hair and a frown creased his forehead.
    “Sure,” he said and he raised an eyebrow, but Regan knew he wouldn’t ask questions. He could see plainly enough that something was very wrong. He cast a suspicious look at Katie who was still wearing slippers and told them to get in the car.
    “Haven’t you been to bed yet?” he asked as he closed her door. “You look…”
    “Yes, I’m well aware of how I look, thank you,” she snapped. “Bram, we have to contact emergency services? Katie’s little boy is missing. She thinks he was with Georgie.”
    He was getting into the car as she spoke and she saw his shoulders stiffen.
    “You think he was up at the cliffs too?”
    “Almost certain,” Regan replied.
    “Okay. Make the call, Regan.”
    It was a short drive to the hospital, especially at this time of day when traffic was relatively light.
    “Thanks, Bram,” Regan said when he pulled up in the patients’ car park. “I appreciate that.”
    But he wasn’t going to be easily dismissed. He got out of the car, straightening the thick black sweater he wore.
    “You don’t have to stay,” Regan said. “I have my car here.”
    He gave Katie another curious look. He clearly had no intention of driving off anytime soon.
    “I was thinking I might pop in and see Georgie while I’m here,” he said.
    “No!” The word came out as a shout that caught Katie’s attention. “That’s not a good idea, Bram. It’s a terrible idea actually. She’ll be sleeping. You know how it is. She’ll need lots of rest.”
    “Yeah,” he nodded. “You’re right and probably the last thing she needs to see is my ugly mug.”
    “You’re not ugly, Bram, and you know it,” Regan murmured, smiling reluctantly. “Far from it.”
    “Okay,” he grinned and sent her heart spinning out of control. “See you around then, Regan. I hope. I’ll head up and join the search.”
    She nodded and watched him drive off, then gripped Katie’s arm and led her into the hospital and up to the ward to see Georgie. Why did he have to add “I hope?” It implied that he wanted to see her again, but why would he? They were finished. He’d made that perfectly plain six years ago. All this would be so much easier if he was prickly and bad tempered.
    But she had more pressing concerns now. She had to find out where Jay was.
    Georgie was awake and sitting up in bed sticking stickers into a comic with Lally.
    Lally smiled when she saw them coming, but her face paled when she saw Katie. She could see at once that something was very wrong. Georgie had gone pale too. She looked terrified.
    “Hi, darling,” Regan said, kissing Georgie’s cheek. “How are you feeling?”
    “All right,” Georgie whispered. She hadn’t taken her eyes off Katie.
    “Georgie, was Jay with you last night, love?”
    Lally let out a gasp.
    Georgie’s eyes grew big and round and she shook her head.
    “Come on, Georgie,” Katie said. “I know Jay was with you.