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She glanced at him as he pulled open the doors and ushered her inside. He was wearing dark grey trousers that fitted him to perfection, and a mid-blue shirt, crisply laundered and complemented by a subtly patterned tie. Long and lean, he was muscular, flat-stomached, and he managed to appear professional, alert and heart-wrenchingly good-looking all at the same time.

It wouldn't do her any good to dwell on that, though, would it? He was her boss, a consultant, whilst she was just a lowly junior doctor, and his opinion of her was probably at rock bottom. She looked away, concentrating her attention instead on climbing into the back of the vehicle.

'I have to say I don't think very much of last-minute efforts,' Mark said in a dry tone as he slid into a seat next to her. He was watching her, his grey eyes taking in her flustered appearance, missing nothing. 'I thought we had agreed that we would take some time to go over a few things before we started out today.'

'I know. I'm sorry.' She was battling with the seat belt, struggling to adjust it and strap herself in. Without a word, he reached over and completed the manoeuvre with slick, proficient ease, and she was mortified. She took in a few slow breaths to calm herself, aware the whole time of his cool scrutiny. It unnerved her. 'I came as soon as I could.' She looked up at him. 'How long will it take to get to where we're headed?'

'About ten minutes, but once we're there we have to negotiate a way down the cliff. There's no easy access to the beach and apparently the tide has cut off part of the bay.'

Sarah frowned. Did that mean the tide was encroaching on the boy? 'Who called the accident in? Is someone with the child?'

'A passer-by. He saw the boy from the clifftop and guessed that he'd taken a tumble. He's managed to make his way down to him apparently, and he's staying in touch with us over the radio. He said he's tried to contact the parents, too.'

'Do we know what the boy's injuries are?'

'The caller said his foot was at an odd angle. I suspect he's suffered a fracture.'

She nodded acknowledgement. 'Poor boy. I wonder what he was doing there? I'd have thought he would be in school at this time of day.'

'That's true enough, but from the sound of it he was perhaps being a bit of a daredevil on the way there, wanting to try things out. Climbing the cliffs is a dangerous thing to do at any time, but they can be especially tricky at this time of year. We've had quite a lot of rainfall lately, and now there are pockets of ice to make things worse. He was probably asking for trouble, but he's only eleven, so he can perhaps be excused for being young and foolhardy.'

'I suppose so.' Weariness overcame her and she struggled to suppress a yawn. She had been up half of the night, and now that the warmth of the ambulance enveloped her and the vibration of the engine was gently rocking her, lack of sleep was beginning to take its toll.

She was aware of Mark studying her once more. Perhaps he thought she was foolhardy, too. He didn't say anything, but she was conscious of his gaze travelling over her with slow deliberation. His expression was dark and brooding and for a moment she wished she could tell what he was thinking, but then she thought better of it. It wasn't likely to be anything good.

His nearness unnerved her. He seemed to exude energy and his whole demeanour was such a vibrant contrast to hers that it put her at a distinct disadvantage. She was far too conscious of him. His hair was dark, crisp and black, cut short in a style that attractively emphasised his angular, masculine features. His mouth was well shaped, forming now into an expression of probing curiosity.

'So, what happened? From the looks of you it must have been a memorable sort of night. What was it—a party? A new boyfriend?' His eyes darkened, as though he would see through her brittle shell to her innermost thoughts. Whatever her answer, she guessed that he wasn't going to be impressed.

. 'Nothing like that,' she muttered. 'Do you really think I would be so reckless, knowing that I had to come into work today?' He must have a very low opinion of her, if he thought that. 'Your problem is that you have no faith in me. Owen would never have asked me such a question.'

'Owen isn't in charge any more.'

'I know that.'

He sent her a long, thoughtful glance. 'Then perhaps you should get used to the idea.'

She frowned. She had spoken without thinking, and now she regretted bringing up Owen's name. It was a constant source of friction between them. Ever since Mark had taken over as consultant in A and E there had been a barrier between them. He had always viewed her with a faintly sceptical eye.

'Perhaps you should learn to trust me a little more.' Perhaps he doubted her loyalty. It was common knowledge that Owen had wanted the job that Mark had won, and it must seem to Mark that she'd sided with Owen and resented his appointment.

She guessed that in the circumstances he wasn't going to warm to her easily. He and Owen had never really got on well together. The two men were equally well qualified, but in the end management had decided that Mark had the edge, and he was the one who had been promoted. It hadn't taken long after that for Owen to decide to leave the hospital and further his career elsewhere.

'What was the problem, then? What kept you?'

'I had to go and fetch my sister and her little boy from their home,' she said. 'The dog, too.'

He raised a dark brow. 'Why was that? More problems with her drunken boyfriend?'

Her eyes widened. 'You know about him?'

He nodded. 'I heard some talk. A couple of the nurses live near your sister and they've seen him in action. He was brought into A and E one night after a reckless binge, and they mentioned that they knew him.'

'Oh, I see.' Sarah felt awkward. It was one thing to have to work with Mark, but to have him know the unhappy intimacies of her family life was more than a little upsetting.

'So what happened?'

She swallowed. He wasn't going to let things go without some sort of explanation, was he? 'Hannah called me in the early hours of this morning. Apparently Ryan had turned up in the middle of the night, kicking the door and threatening to break it down if she didn't let him in. She didn't answer, and he went off eventually, but she wasn't sure that he wouldn't come back. He's done that before, and she was afraid of what might happen. I don't think he's ever been violent towards her or Jamie, but he has smashed things up before now. As it was, he damaged the lock and managed to splinter the wood.'

'Isn't it time that she finished with him altogether? From what I've heard, she'd have been wise to tell him that he outwore his welcome a long time ago.'

'I don't think it's as easy as that. After all, he is Jamie's father.'

'But they aren't married, are they? She must have realised that she'd made a mistake, from the very beginning.' He was frowning, as though he found the situation incomprehensible.

'People do,' Sarah muttered. She flicked a glance in his direction. 'Make mistakes, I mean.'

'So why didn't she cut her losses and move on? Theirs was never going to be a match made in heaven, was it? She must have given him some encouragement or he wouldn't keep coming back, would he?'

'I don't think it's as simple as that. It can't be, can it, when children are involved?' She was silent for a moment. 'Ryan isn't always bad, and there are times, when he isn't drinking, when he can seem like a regular kind of man. At least he's managed to hold a job down.' She winced. 'I suppose she hoped they would make a go of things, and in doing that she set herself up for being let down.'

Mark was staring at her with an expression of disbelief and she doubted that he would understand. This sort of thing could never happen to him. He didn't know the meaning of failure, did he?

She said carefully, 'You wouldn't know about these sorts of problems, would you? Your background is so different from mine. Everything in your life works in an orderly fashion, running smoothly like a well-tuned engine.'

'You sound very sure of that.'

She gave a half-smile. 'I am.' He came from a family where wealth and opportunity were the norm, where life was simply an ongoing, smooth path to success. His father was a prominent businessman who seemed to have the Midas touch, and Mark seemed to have benefited from his parentage in every way. He was confident in everything that he did.

She stifled a sigh, wishing that the fog in her brain would clear. She was so tired, and yet she needed all her wits about her to cope with the challenges of her work. Without them she had to draw deeply on her inner reserves. A cup of coffee would be good right now.

'Are you going to be all right? Are you up to doing the job?'

She blinked. 'I'll be fine. It was a bad night, all in all, and I didn't get very much sleep, but you don't need to be concerned. I'll manage.'

'You need to be able to do more than manage,' he said briskly.

She didn't answer him. Instead, she closed her eyes and let the events of the night wash over her. She would be fine if he would just give her the chance to get herself together.

'We're here.' Mark's voice broke in, rousing her from slumber. 'Sarah, you need to wake up. I need you to be on your toes.'

She blinked once again, and looked around. The ambulance had stopped moving, and the paramedics were opening up the doors of the vehicle. Alarmed that she appeared to have dozed off, she struggled to get her brain back into gear. Reaching for her safety belt, she released the catch. She felt like death.

Getting to her feet, she moved along the ambulance and started to climb down onto the smooth surface of a standing area. Mark reached up to her, one hand grasping her elbow, the other going around her waist as he helped her down. It was a completely natural gesture on his part, an instinctive one, but even so it caused a ripple of heat to run through her, throwing her off balance momentarily as she absorbed the shock of his warm touch.

She laid a hand on his shoulder to steady herself and he looked at her, a glitter of something unreadable stirring in the depths of his grey eyes. Did he know the effect he had on her?

Probably not, she decided, getting herself together. More likely, he was dismissing her as a feeble woman, made vulnerable through fatigue. Once she set foot on firm ground, he let her go.

Looking around, she saw that they were parked alongside a winding road that curved around the back of a cliff and led down towards the beach.

'The boy is down there. It looks like a fairly rugged descent, but we should be able to manage it from this angle.' Mark spoke to the paramedics for a moment or two and they began to prepare the equipment that they would need.

Mark turned back to Sarah, glancing down at her feet. 'It's a good thing you're wearing sensible shoes.'

'I wasn't sure what we would be up against.' A gust of wind blew errant curls across her cheek and she pushed them away with her fingers. Mark glanced at her shoulder-length curls and went on to focus on the rest of her slender figure.

Sarah tensed. Not knowing what to expect, she had dressed in dark jeans that moulded themselves to her thighs, and a cotton top that clung to the contours of her chest, finishing off with a warm jacket, which was open at the front. She needed to be able to move freely, and this outfit seemed like the best option. Now she wondered if he would make some comment.

He didn't. Instead, he nodded briefly and appeared to approve of what he saw. Disconcerted, she looked at a point somewhere beyond his shoulder. His mouth made a crooked line, and he turned away.

She followed him down the rugged hillside, edging around to the foot of the cliff where their patient was lying. There was a small bay, with a stretch of dry sand, but the sea enclosed it, lapping at the foot of the headland on either side. Sarah could see why the boy had been tempted. This part of the Cornish coast was a wonderful location for aspiring rockclimbers, albeit that it was a forbidden pastime. It wasn't something that she had ever been tempted to try.

The boy was lying on the beach and he was clearly in agony. He was pale, with beads of perspiration breaking out on his forehead, and Sarah went over to him, filled with immediate compassion for his plight. She knelt down beside him, covering him lightly with a blanket, and spoke to him gently, trying to comfort him.

'He's in a lot of pain. I think he fell badly.' The man who had found him came to talk to Mark and the paramedics, filling them in on what had happened. He said his name was Andy.

He was a young man in his twenties, and he looked worried. 'I didn't know what to do for him. I was on my way to work when I saw him, and I think he must have been lying down here for some time. He had been trying to make his way up to the top apparently, but part of the cliff gave way, and he lost his grip. I haven't moved him. I was scared to death that he might have broken his neck, and I thought the best thing would be to try to keep him warm.'

'You did the right thing.' Mark reassured him, then went over to their patient and knelt down beside him. 'What's your name, lad?'

'Jacob,' the boy whispered. He tried to moisten his lips. 'It hurts. It feels really bad.' His mouth puckered and he said haltingly, 'I want my mum.'

'I think someone's gone to fetch her. She was at work, so it'll take her a few minutes to get here. It may be that she'll go straight to the hospital.' He added gently, 'Jacob, I'm Dr Ballard, and my colleague here is Dr Mitchell. We're going to try to make you more comfortable, but first I need to take a look at you, to see what the damage is. Can you tell me where it hurts?'

'My foot, my ankle,' Jacob managed, gritting his teeth against the pain. 'My mum's going to be mad with me, isn't she? I was on my way to school. I just wanted to do a bit of climbing.' The child was near tears and Sarah's heart went out to him.

'I'm sure she won't be angry,' she said. 'If anything, she'll be sorry that you're hurt.'

Mark said, 'OK. I'm just going to do a brief examination so that I can find out if you've suffered any other injuries.'

Sarah could see that there was a gross deformity of the ankle. Jacob had fallen awkwardly, and it was clear that he had dislocated the ankle and there was probably a fracture, too. He was lucky that he hadn't suffered any further mishap.