All she wanted to do right now was get to the safety of her cottage, undress and go to bed.
As she half ran down the road, her shoe caught in the hem of her dress. Stopping to remove her high heels, she took a couple of deep steadying breaths. She had to calm down. She had allowed Cameron to kiss her, but it had been a good bye. Hopefully he’d be able to persuade Rachel that their affair was over—had never really started. Cameron could never be hers. She would have to accept that, no matter how painful, and move on with her life. She couldn’t stay here. She knew that with heart-breaking certainty.
She stubbed her bare toe on a loose stone and yelped. Damn, damn, damn, she cursed. Why does life have to be so bloody difficult? She let the tears that had been clogging her throat for the last half-hour fall. There was no one to see and she deserved a good cry.
She was halfway home when the moon disappeared completely. Away from the lights of Grimsay House she was plunged into total darkness, unable to see the hand in front of her face, let alone the road. For a moment she considered retracing her steps and returning to the ball, but only for a second. She knew deep down inside that she wasn’t up to a scene. No doubt she’d have to face Rachel some time, but not tonight. It was more than she could bear.
Suddenly she felt the hard surface of the road give way. Surprised, she stumbled and lost her footing. She went down heavily, twisting her ankle in the process. For a few minutes she sat, rubbing her ankle, waiting for the shock and nausea to pass. The pain was excruciating. Had she broken it? she wondered. She waited a few moments longer, hoping the pain would subside. Once she had caught her breath and the pain had faded slightly, she attempted to stand, tentatively testing her weight on the foot. It was no use. She couldn’t walk. Mentally she calculated the distance to her house. She had been over halfway when she had fallen. Her cottage was just a few hundred yards in front of her—or was it behind her? Without any light to guide her, she was disoriented. She should be able to see the lights of Grimsay House and get her bearings that way. But she had been going downhill and around a corner. The lights had been hidden from her view by the hill. That was one of the reasons she had lost her footing.
Don’t panic, she thought. Eventually someone would drive down the road and with a bit of luck she’d be able to attract their attention. And if not, well, she had her mobile in her bag.
She felt in her handbag for her phone and when her fingers located the slim, hard shape, she felt relieved. That was until she realised there was no signal. She felt tears of frustration prick her eyes. Then she remembered. Hadn’t some one once told her that you could send a text sometimes even if you couldn’t get a signal? It was worth a go anyway. Quickly she tapped in a message to Jessie and pressed the ‘send’button. Just as quickly a message came back telling her that her message had failed.
Meagan took a deep breath. She couldn’t stay there all night. Especially as a couple of cars whizzed past her, unable to hear her cries for help. She would just have to hop or crawl towards her cottage.
But a short while later Meagan knew she was lost. She had no idea whether she was getting closer to help or further away. She couldn’t even find the road to follow it. She decided to rest for a while before trying again.
As she sat shivering on the damp, peaty ground, her thoughts turned to the tiny life growing inside her.
Mentally calculating dates in her head, she worked out the earliest time she could have a scan. She would be around four weeks, she thought. She would need to be a bit further on before she could have a scan that would tell her for certain if the baby was growing in her womb or in her Fallopian tube.
Poor tiny baby, she thought. You really do have the odds stacked against you. But perhaps this child would be a fighter. Like its parents. The thought spurred her on. She couldn’t stay here all night and she needed to keep moving. It was a cold night and if she stayed where she was she would become hypothermic. She needed to keep moving. She struggled to her feet, but only managed to hop a few steps before having to rest again. There was nothing for it. She would have to crawl. She ripped a strip off the bottom of her dress with her teeth and used the fabric to bind her ankle as best she could. She smiled inwardly. She was a bit like Cinderella—going to the ball, only for her finery to be turned back to rags. And as for the prince, well. Still, a dress could be replaced. But what about Rachel and Cameron? Could their fractured relationship ever be mended—even for Ian’s sake? Her thoughts turned to Cameron. Had he managed to persuade Rachel that what she had seen meant nothing? Would they be announcing their engagement right now?
In the perfect stillness of the night she could hear the waves lapping against the shore. Did that mean she was moving in the right direction? She carried on crawling.
How she loved it here. It would have been the perfect place to bring up a child. For a moment she left herself imagine how it might have been. Her child growing up free to run wild. To learn what it was like to live in a community where everyone helped each other. Where you knew and cared about your neighbour. Where life and death was part of the everyday fabric.
The thought of death made her shiver. What if she couldn’t find her way to help? What if she ended up there all night?
She shook her head to banish the thought. That simply wasn’t going to happen. Not while she had a breath in her body. She carried on, making her painful way inch by inch in the direction of the sound of the sea. But despite her efforts she seemed to be making no progress. It was possible even that she was moving further away.
Just when she thought she couldn’t force herself to go any further, she heard a faint sound in the wind. She stopped and listened attentively. She was so cold. So cold and so tired.
The sound came again. She hadn’t been mistaken. Someone was calling her name. She made herself get to her feet. In the near distance she could make out a familiar broad frame. It was Cameron! He was carrying a torch and sweeping the area from side to side. She called out and waved. And then finally he was coming for her. Running and calling her name. As he reached her, she felt her last bit of strength give way as she was lifted in strong, comforting arms.
‘My, God Meagan, are you all right?’ he was asking, and she could hear the fear in his voice.
‘My ankle,’ she managed. ‘I think it’s broken. I couldn’t find my way home. I was lost and I was scared.’ She felt her voice break as the fear she had been holding back threatened to overwhelm her.
‘You’re not lost any more, my darling,’ he said. ‘I’ve found you and I’m never going to let you go again.’
Meagan was barely aware of Cameron carrying her back to her cottage. She felt herself being lowered onto the sofa before being covered with a thick blanket. Then he took hands and was rubbing them vigorously between his.
‘Lie there for a moment while I rekindle the fire,’ he ordered.
‘Stop bossing me about,’ she mumbled grumpily, burrowing deep into the blanket. She couldn’t stop shivering.
As soon as he had the fire blazing, he returned to her side. She felt a sting in her thigh.
‘Ouch.’ She glared at him.
‘Just some analgesia,’ he said. His hands dipped under the blanket and before Meagan knew what was happening he was removing her sodden dress.
‘Do you mind?’ she said, trying to force his hands away.
He grinned at her feeble efforts, before slipping in beside her and pulling her naked body close, carefully avoiding her injured foot. Almost instantly she could feel the heat of his body begin to suffuse hers.
‘Just relax,’ he said. ‘Once we’ve got you warm I’ll have a look at that ankle.’
Meagan felt a welcoming lethargy steal over her body. Although there was so much she wanted to ask him, she couldn’t stop her eyes from closing. At last she gave in to sleep.
When she next opened her eyes, she was still held firmly in Cameron’s arms and light was beginning to trickle through the curtains. She lifted her eyes slightly and found his.
‘You’re