SO...
Here he was...
Doing the craziest thing he’d ever done in his life.
Matteo Martini paused as he reached the top of the spiral staircase that led from the enormous helicopter hangar to the offices and staff quarters above.
The bright red overalls of his new uniform felt a little stiff and he rubbed the side of his neck where the coarse material was irritating his skin. A glance through the wall of glass beside him made him pause for a moment.
Edinburgh’s Emergency Response Centre was an impressive set-up. This hangar and the tarmac where the helicopters were parked were side by side with the land-based arm of the ambulance service. He could see the huge building that housed the control centre and quarters for the dozens of paramedics who worked here. There was an astonishing number of ambulances lined up outside the building and a row of the SUVs that were painted in the same colours, with beacons on the top. They had similar vehicles in Milan, where experienced paramedics could be sent as a first response or backup to ambulances.
He could see one of these cars heading out as the automatic gates slid open. As soon as it outside the gates, he could see that the driver activated the beacons and he could hear the faint wail of a siren.
Matteo took a very deep breath.
It could be Georgia. Luke had told him that she was currently employed in one of those cars.
He assumed that she didn’t know that he had taken this job on the helicopter team. Why would she? The land and air services might work closely together but these bases were separate entities. It might, in fact, prove difficult to see much of Georgia.
Especially given that she wouldn’t want to be seeing him.
Okay. Perhaps taking this new job in a strange city wasn’t the craziest thing he’d ever done.
That prize had to go to proposing marriage to a woman he’d only spent one night with. A woman who’d made it very clear that night, a couple of weeks ago, that she didn’t need a man to help her.
Didn’t want one.
And yet here he was. Making himself available. Putting himself on the line in a way that would have been incomprehensible for any other woman he’d ever met.
Why?
Because he hadn’t been able to talk himself out of it, that’s why. It just felt...right. He’d convinced himself that, if nothing else, this could be a good career move. He could get experience in things that were hard to come by in a huge city like Milan. Mountain rescues perhaps. Or working in difficult conditions, like deep snow. It would be an adventure.
The fact that it was the only first step he could think of on a journey that could lead to Georgia changing her mind about him was irrelevant.
It had to be. Matteo started moving again. Dougal had given him a comprehensive tour of this facility yesterday and he would be waiting to introduce him to the new team of his paramedic partner and their pilot. His first shift was about to begin.
The new pager clipped to his belt could sound at any moment.
Matteo felt his heart rate kick up a notch. This was one of the things he loved about this job. You never knew when something was going to happen. Or what challenges it could present.
He was ready.
For anything.
* * *
The crescendo beat of an approaching helicopter had never been so welcome.
Georgia known that something was wrong as soon as she’d arrived on scene and approached the huddle of people at the bottom of the hill in this mountain biking park on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
A ground-based ambulance crew was already here and, when she saw the look of relief on the young paramedics’ faces when they noticed her arrival, it was obvious that this situation was well out of any comfort zone.
At first glance, she couldn’t understand what was disturbing them so much. Automatically assessing the scene for safety and any clues about what kind of injury she might need to treat, Georgia had already noticed a bicycle with a very bent wheel amongst the undergrowth and the young boy who was lying on his side, apparently unconscious. A group of other pre-teen children were grouped well away, clutching the handlebars of their bikes, and there were adults with them who were wearing blue polo shirts with a logo that had a bike in mid-air as it cleared an obstacle. Was this a school trip to an adventure park perhaps?
More adults in the blue shirts and a couple in civvies were close to the injured boy and one of the paramedics was taking a blood pressure. That suggested that the child was still alive but the expressions on the faces she could see were telling a different story.
And the silence was unnerving.
There was no time to waste on friendly introductions to a junior crew she didn’t recognise. Georgia slipped her arms from the backpack with all her gear and dropped to a crouch, realising belatedly that the size of her belly made this impractical so she ended up on her knees beside her patient.
‘Fill me in,’ she directed quietly, her fingers already on the boy’s neck, feeling for a pulse.
‘This is Toby,’ one of the paramedics told her. She was holding the boy’s shoulders. Preventing him from being moved? ‘He’s eleven years old. He’s come off his bike at speed, going downhill.’
A head injury? Georgia glanced at the helmet the boy was still wearing. She couldn’t see any evidence of damage.
The pulse she could feel beneath her fingers was light and rapid. A little uneven, which was a concern.
Was he bleeding out from a severed artery?
Another searching glance didn’t show her any signs of blood loss and surely even the most junior crew would have external bleeding well under control by now.
‘He hit this tree. And...’
The tiny hesitation in the paramedic’s voice came at the same instant that Georgia saw what the problem was.
It had looked as if the small branch that had snapped from the tree was just a part of the organic debris of this crash scene.
But only one end of the branch was visible.
The other end was hidden beneath a fold in the material of this young boy’s shirt. Very gently, Georgia moved the material and her heart sank.
Just how far had this stick penetrated? Were the irregular beats she had noticed due to its proximity to Toby’s heart?
This was beyond serious. It was critical.
The people all looking to her for guidance were probably reassured by how calmly she spoke. It was a skill honed over a long career of facing difficult situations. She might be on the verge of panicking but nobody would ever guess.
‘Can you get on the radio to Comms, please,’ she said to the first paramedic. ‘Request urgent helicopter backup and then organise a place for it to land.’ She turned to the second crew member. ‘I need padding so that we can stabilise this branch. Then I’ll need my IV roll out of my pack and I want you to get some ECG electrodes in place. Very carefully.’ She looked up at the bystanders. ‘Can I get someone to come and hold Toby’s shoulders, please? And someone else to keep a hand on his legs? We have to make sure we don’t move him yet, even an inch.’
By the time she heard the approach of the helicopter, Toby had IV fluids running, oxygen on, and a monitor that was recording his heart rhythm and blood pressure. Georgia had her hands on the doughnut-shaped padding that was around the base of the stick. She didn’t know how close it was to this boy’s heart but she could feel the movement of its beating and knew that even a small movement of the impaled object could prove fatal.
She was so focussed on what she was doing, she didn’t even look up until a flash of red filled her peripheral vision. The legs of one of the critical care paramedics from the helicopter crew. Her glance flicked up swiftly and—despite that skill of keeping a personal reaction hidden in the face of a difficult situation—it was a miracle that her hands remained rock steady when she saw the face beneath the helmet.
Matteo?
The flicker on his face told her that her shocked thought must have escaped in an audible gasp but he wasn’t about to waste a split second on any explanation.
‘Vital signs?’
‘Blood pressure and oxygen saturation have dropped in the last five minutes and the blood pressure’s widened. Respiratory rate increasing. He’s in sinus rhythm but I’m worried about an increasing number of ectopic beats. I’m querying a cardiac tamponade?’
Matteo was unhooking a stethoscope from around his neck.
‘I’m going to check his breathing and heart sounds. I’ll work around you. Don’t move.’
Of course she wasn’t going to move. Even if the ‘fight or flight’ part of Georgia’s brain had activated itself and was urging her to flee.
To get away from Matteo.
A man who had offered to marry her and help raise what he believed to be another man’s child.
She’d known that Italian men had the reputation of being passionate and impulsive but that had been the craziest thing she’d ever heard. That the offer had actually been as alluring as it was appalling was what had made it so dangerous. Fear had prompted the rush of words she had finally found to respond to him. To tell him that she didn’t want him, or any man, in her life. He’d finally got out of her car and left—as silently as he had that night after he’d left her bed. And that, she had been quite confident, was the end of it all.
But here he was.
And a traitorous part of her brain was registering something like...happiness?
No. It was probably simply relief that people even more qualified than she was were here to help manage this critical situation where a small boy’s life was at stake.
‘Thank goodness you’re here.’ A male bystander who might be Toby’s teacher was watching Matteo as he moved the disc of the stethoscope over the boy’s chest and he seemed to share Georgia’s relief. ‘You’ll know what to do.’
A flick of a glance from Matteo told Georgia that she’d been doing exactly the right thing to keep Toby safe until she had the backup she needed.
‘Can you pull it out?’ One of the female bystanders, perhaps a parent helper, sounded terrified. ‘It’s going to kill him, isn’t it?’
‘Pulling it out would be the worst thing to do,’ Georgia responded quietly. ‘It might even be saving his life at the moment.’
‘What?’ The man was incredulous now. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’
Matteo glanced up as he reached to open his pack. ‘If a foreign object has penetrated something important, like a major blood vessel, it can be the pressure of the object that’s stopping uncontrollable bleeding.’ He turned back to meet Georgia’s gaze.
‘I need you to keep the stick really still while I do as best as I can with an ultrasound. I need to know if this is a cardiac tamponade or a haemothorax. We’ll need to cope with either of those scenarios before we can move him.’
‘We’ll also need to shorten this before we can get him in the chopper.’ Matteo’s crew partner was examining the length of the branch. ‘I’ll check that we’ve got a saw on board.’
Matteo’s eased the small transducer of the portable ultrasound amongst the shreds of fabric where Georgia had already cut Toby’s clothing clear. He was very gentle as he edged around the gauze padding that Georgia was holding firmly in place around the entry point of the stick. His hands brushed hers and, at one point, the back of his hand pressed directly onto hers as he took a closer look at the image on the screen.
‘Look at that. You can see that the ventricle wall is functioning. There’s no blood loss with the contractions that’s going into the pericardium.’
Georgia skirted the awareness of the touch of his skin against her own. Except that it was actually helping her own concentration on this emergency. Making her feel as if she wasn’t alone in trying to save this young life. That, together, the chance of success had somehow more than doubled.
‘So it’s a haemothorax?’
‘Haemopneumothorax, probably. Same effect. I can see that air movement has decreased on this side even in the time it took to do the ultrasound.’
‘Are you going to do a needle decompression?’
‘Yes. I’d rather put in a drain but getting him to Theatre is the priority. It’s only ten minutes’ flying time and a needle decompression should be enough.’
For the next few minutes, Georgia watched both members of the helicopter crew working but she could do nothing to help except keep her position and keep this stick as stable as possible, especially when Matteo’s partner, Shane, was carefully sawing the branch to leave a length that would be manageable as they transported him.
Matteo was working remarkably swiftly. As soon as he noted that Toby was not unconscious enough to be feeling no pain from the vibration of the stick as it was carefully sawn through, he drew up drugs and administered them into the IV line Georgia had already established. When the needle inserted between the small ribs failed to release enough pressure to improve breathing, he and Shame worked as a team to perform the surgical procedure to insert a proper drain and remove some of the blood that was preventing a lung from functioning.
It was impressive.
And then they were ready for the delicate task of moving their young patient to the stretcher and into the helicopter.
‘Can you come with us?’ Matteo asked Georgia. ‘I know we can trust you to keep that stick stable.’
She still hadn’t let go of the padding around this object and she didn’t want to until she knew that Toby was safe.
‘We can get your vehicle back to base,’ one of the original paramedics on scene said.
Georgia nodded. But the next few seconds were anxious ones. She had to get up off her knees as they lifted the stretcher without moving her hands and changing the pressure that was keeping the stick steady. Normally that wouldn’t have been a problem but she had a huge belly that was affecting her balance now and couldn’t know whether it was going to be a problem.
Matteo’s sharp glance as she began to move told her that he was thinking along the same lines. He jerked his head at one of the ambulance crew to take his place at the head of the stretcher to lift it and he stepped behind Georgia, putting his hands under her arms to grip her body and help her to her feet.
The strength in those hands and arms was astonishing.
It was entirely inappropriate to even notice that they were in contact with more than her ribs but her body overrode her focus for just a heartbeat. Later—probably in the middle of the night—it would remind her that her breasts remembered that fleeting touch. And that would remind her of so much more...
It was just as well that there were too many other things to focus on right now. It was Georgia’s job to keep the foreign object stable as the others worked around her. To keep her gaze on the monitor at all times and warn of any changes to vital signs like heart rhythm, oxygen saturation and blood pressure.
And part of her was savouring every moment of this adrenaline-filled mission. Her peripheral vision showed the mountain park scene fall away beneath them as the helicopter took off, and Georgia knew this might be the last challenge like this that she would have for a very long time. She knew her baby bump could have interfered with her doing her job if Matteo and Shane hadn’t been there.
She’d held onto her front-line job for as long as she could but it really was time to step down and spend the next few months in an environment that was safer for everybody. The patients, herself and her babies.
And, maybe, that would also keep her well away from Matteo’s orbit. That was something else that would be haunting her later tonight when she had the head space to revisit the shock of his reappearance in her life.
Georgia had no idea how she was going to cope with it.
Or even if she could.
* * *
Well...that had been a memorable first day on a new job.
He’d been right that this position was going to give him new experiences and enhance his skills.
Matteo paced the floor in Luke’s small apartment in central Edinburgh, heading for the fridge in the hope of finding a cold beer.
That job this morning, with the young boy impaled by the branch, had been exciting. Challenging. That they’d got him to the hospital and into Theatre with no major deterioration in his condition had been a triumph. He would contact the intensive care unit tomorrow and ask for an update. Have a chat with the specialist in charge of his case, hopefully.
Because having an update to share would give him an excuse to make contact with Georgia?
No. That wasn’t his motivation. He needed to know how his patient was doing. Whether he’d done everything he should have done on scene.
The fact that he would have a reason to get in touch with Georgia to pass on the information was simply a bonus.
But Matteo sighed as he twisted the top off the small bottle.
He was facing a bigger battle than he’d expected.
That look of shock on her face in the instant when she’d recognised him today.
Horror, almost... Or perhaps even fear?
What was that about?
How could you find a connection with someone that was this powerful and then not want to explore it further?
How could you make love with someone like that and not be desperate to try it again? To see if it really was the most extraordinary experience in your life?
Unless she hadn’t felt the same way.
No. Matteo didn’t believe that. The lines of physical communication had been the clearest he’d ever experienced. It hadn’t made any difference that they came from different countries. They had been speaking exactly the same language that night.
Okay... Maybe he’d scared her by that impulsive offer of marriage. He could understand that. He’d been carried away in the moment. If she’d said ‘yes’, he would have put his heart and soul into making it work, but he was quite prepared to take this more slowly and win her heart.
But he’d never come across a barrier quite like this.
He had been left with the impression that Georgia was actually afraid of him and that was deeply disturbing.
Had it been his anger when he’d thought she was cheating on someone else by being with him that night? It wasn’t as if he’d threatened her in any way. He hadn’t even raised his voice. He’d simply walked away and then ignored her from that point on.
Maybe the anger had been enough.
Had Georgia been abused at some point in her life by an angry man? A boyfriend, perhaps. Or...her father?
The thought made him sick.
Whatever the reason, however, he could feel proud of the courage Georgia was showing, being faced with a situation she had made very clear was something she didn’t want.
She had done her job, working so closely with him, with professionalism and skill. After that initial shock, there hadn’t been any hint that she was distracted by anything personal. Even when he’d held her body to help her to her feet. She hadn’t flinched. He would have felt the slightest tremor beneath his hands and, if anything, she’d let him take more weight than strictly necessary.
As if she’d welcomed his assistance. Trusted him to deliver it.
But the fact that the assistance had been welcome bothered him as well. Why was she still working on the front line like this when she was at such an advanced stage of her pregnancy? Surely there was a cut-off point when it wasn’t allowed to happen?
She needed protection, even if she didn’t think she did. Matteo took a long swallow of his beer. He might have a chat to Dougal tomorrow and just ask. Carefully. He didn’t want to antagonise Georgia. She’d been clearly taken aback by finding out that her friend hadn’t warned her he was arriving.
It had been a rather disappointing conversation all round, actually, when they’d finally left Toby in the hands of the operating theatre’s team.
‘Why Scotland? Why here?’ Georgia had demanded, keeping her gaze on the long corridor ahead of them.
‘Why not? I was ready for a new adventure and I happened to be offered a job when I was here for the wedding.’
‘And Luke knew you were coming?’
‘Of course. He offered me his apartment to live in.’
‘But they’re coming back. Next week. You’re planning to live with a newly wed couple?’
‘No. But they’ll only be here for a brief time. To pack everything up and go to their new life in New Zealand. Kate said it wouldn’t be a problem. She knew a place I could use.’
‘So Kate knew, too?’ Georgia had looked wounded. ‘She didn’t tell me.’
‘I asked them not to. I wanted it to be a surprise.’
‘Oh...’ She made a hollow sound that wasn’t quite laughter. ‘I’m surprised...’
‘Kate thought it was a good idea.’
‘What? You coming to work in Edinburgh?’
‘That I would be here for you, cara. That you would have a friend.’ Yes, he had seen a flash of alarm in her eyes. He couldn’t risk pushing her. ‘If you need one, that is.’
‘We’re not going to be friends, Matteo.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because...’ She was avoiding his gaze. ‘Just because...’
He didn’t sigh audibly. But if he was prepared to try getting past the fact that she’d lied to him, surely Georgia could get past whatever it was that was making her keep him at arm’s length? No, it was more than arm’s length. She would prefer the length of a whole country.
‘We could be.’ He’d given her his most persuasive smile when they’d parted company at the elevators. He was heading for the helipad on the roof and Georgia was going to catch a ride back to base with the next available ambulance crew. ‘It might even be nice.’
* * *
A few days later, Georgia was at the airport late in the evening to collect Kate and Luke as they returned from their honeymoon. The anticipation of how good it was going to be to see her best friend for the first time in weeks was lifting her spirits for the first time in what seemed ages.
The last few days had been tough.
Her heart wanted to fill her thoughts with memories of Matteo Martini but her head drowned them with worry about the implications of him having anything to do with her life. Of him somehow finding out the truth.
Of wanting him to know the truth?
Yes. That was part of it. It wasn’t just that her body and heart kept reminding her of the connection she felt with Matteo. This was making her feel guilty.
Telling her that she’d done something very wrong. No. That she was still doing something very wrong and it didn’t sit well at all. It had been far easier to bury the guilt when the father of her children had been in another country and the chance of seeing him again had been remote.
Her heart also wanted to grieve a little for stepping away from her work on the road and her head was determined to find something good about being given a desk job. The research task of a retrograde data collection to identify the most effective airway adjunct to use in a cardiac arrest could potentially change protocols. It should be exciting. It was certainly a lot better than doing some kind of massive stocktake, except that if her hands had been busy at the same time, perhaps her brain wouldn’t stray quite so often.
Back to the unexpected bombshell in her life. At least she had anticipated the change of lowering her workload.
She had never expected Matteo to reappear in her life.
And she hadn’t expected to see him now but that tall back beneath the electronic flight arrivals board was unmistakeable.
‘For God’s sake, Matteo,’ she snapped, when she was right behind him, a little gratified that it made him jump. ‘What are you doing here? Kate arranged for me to collect them before they even left.’
‘And Luke texted me before they took off from Dubai.’ A dark eyebrow rose. ‘Perhaps they have a great deal of luggage?’
Georgia glanced at the board. The plane had landed on time so they should be coming through Customs any minute now.
‘Or perhaps you missed a call about a change of arrangements,’ Matteo suggested mildly. ‘You don’t seem to like answering your telephone.’
Georgia could feel a blush of colour creeping into her cheeks. She had deliberately ignored the call from Matteo the day after they’d worked together. She had actually deleted the voicemail before listening to it, because she hadn’t wanted to listen to his voice. That sexy, deep rumble. That accent...
It was inexcusably rude, given that Matteo was Luke’s best friend. And Luke was now her best friend’s husband. It wasn’t just that connection either. Matteo was now part of her own branch of the emergency services and it was a close-knit community.
One way and another, she was going to have to spend time with Matteo, at least in the near future.
She really needed to get a grip on how she was going to manage that.
An apology for her rudeness might be a good first step?
‘Sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘I’ve been really busy. What was it that you wanted to talk about?’
‘Just that case we shared on my first day. Toby. You remember him?’
‘Of course. An impalement injury like that is a once-in-a-lifetime type of job.’ Curiosity got the better of her. ‘Did you follow up on him? How is he?’
‘Probably ready to go home. He was one very lucky little boy. That stick had actually penetrated his left ventricle but because it wasn’t removed until he was in Theatre, the bleeding was easily controlled and the damage repaired. Antibiotic treatment prevented an infection and he only needed a short time in Intensive Care for monitoring after the surgery.’
‘Oh...that’s fantastic news.’ Georgia’s smile was genuine. ‘What a great job to have done on your first day. You handled it brilliantly.’
‘We handled it brilliantly,’ Matteo corrected.
The corner of his mouth tilted in a crooked grin and, for a moment, it was like the first time she’d ever spoken to him. When she was completely captured. Flustered enough, even, to say something pretty stupid.
‘Hey... Good to see you two getting along so well.’
‘Luke...’ Georgia and Matteo both spoke at the same time as they turned away from each other.
‘And Katy,’ Georgia added, throwing her arms around her friend with relief, both to see her again but also to have her attention so thoroughly diverted from Matteo. ‘Oh...it’s so good to see you.’
‘We’re going to have lots of time to catch up in the next couple of weeks while I work out my notice. I can’t wait to tell you about New Zealand. And show you photos. You won’t believe how beautiful it is. You should think about emigrating, too, Georgie.’
Matteo was walking ahead of them beside Luke, who was pushing the luggage trolley.
‘Maybe I will,’ Georgia murmured. ‘Hey, do you want to go home in my car? Matteo could take Luke, seeing as we’ve doubled up on chauffeurs.’
Kate’s eyes widened with something that looked a lot like guilt.
‘What?’ Georgia demanded. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Um... I told Matteo I’d found a place for him to stay while we were back in town. I was hoping you’d give him a lift.’
It was something to do with that hopeful little smile on Kate’s face that planted the seeds of a suspicion that rapidly grew into disbelief.
‘You didn’t...’
‘It seemed logical. A place to stay and he can use my car until I sell it. And you two are getting on better now, aren’t you? You might even like him, Georgie, if you gave him a chance. Luke’s told me all about Matt and he’s a great guy...’
Her friend was matchmaking.
Worse than that, this was like an intervention. Kate and Luke had come up with a plan that would force their best friends to spend a whole lot of time together.
To live together...
‘No.’ Georgia was struggling to find words. ‘You can’t do this, Kate. Matteo wouldn’t want it any more than I do.’
Kate ducked her head. ‘Sorry...’ She offered a tentative smile. ‘It doesn’t have to be for the whole time but it’s a bit late to find something else tonight and a bit rude to stick him in some hotel. He could sleep on our sofa, I guess.’
Luke was putting the bags into the boot of his car now. Matteo was pulling a bag from the back seat. He smiled at Georgia, eyebrows lifted.
The smile was an echo of the one they had shared so recently when they’d been talking about Toby. When, for a heartbeat, she’d forgotten the barrier between them.
‘You don’t mind, do you? Dropping me at my new place?’
So he didn’t know he’d been offered Kate’s old room in the cottage.
How would he react when he found out?
Oh...this was playing with fire if anything was.
And some wicked part of Georgia wanted to poke the embers. Like the first time she’d spoken to him, unexpected words that she could well regret later simply slid past her lips.
‘No problem. It’s not out of my way at all...’