Dr. Zinetti's Snowkissed Bride (15 page)

‘You like my mum, don't you? You look at her all the time. And she looks at you, but mostly when she knows you're not looking.'

Digesting that information, Dino dropped down to his haunches so that he was at the same level as the boy. ‘I do like your mum, Jamie. I like her a lot.'

Jamie glanced over his shoulder and then leaned forward and whispered, ‘If you like my mum, then you need to have a plan, because pretty soon she'll drive you away. That's what she does. She puts men off. I've heard Grandma talking to her. Grandma says she needs to stop shutting people out. I don't quite know what that means, but I know she doesn't kiss anyone. Is that going to be a problem?'

Dino thought about the night before, about Meg stretched out naked underneath him and above him. ‘I think I can handle it.'

‘The thing that really worries her is that a man might like her and not me.' Jamie fiddled with one of the branches of the tree. ‘Not everyone likes kids. My real dad didn't like kids.'

Dino found that his hands had curled into fists. Forcing himself to breathe slowly, he relaxed them. ‘Jamie—'

‘I used to think it was that he didn't like me, but Mum told me that was wrong. He didn't even wait around for me to be born, so it couldn't have been because he didn't like me, could it?' There was a flicker of uncertainty in his face and Dino put his arms around the boy and dragged him into a hug.

‘No, it most definitely could not have been because he didn't like you. Your mum is right, he must just not have wanted kids. If he'd known you there is no way he could have walked away.' Over Jamie's shoulder he saw Meg looking at them.
Saw the anxiety in her eyes.
He gave her a smile and saw her relax slightly. But she kept glancing towards them as she helped her mother choose a tree.

‘Mum says it was her fault. Because she's not a girly girl. She says my dad wanted someone who wore a dress all the
time and painted her nails pink.' Jamie pulled away. ‘Would you want Mum to paint her nails? Because generally she thinks it's a waste of time.'

‘I think,' Dino said slowly, ‘that I'd want your mum to do whatever she wanted to do. If she wanted pink nails, that would be fine. If she didn't, that would be fine, too.'

‘Right, well, that's good. And I know you don't mind that she likes the mountains, because you like them too. Most of the time at weekends we're up in the mountains, training Rambo. And when I'm older she's promised to get me my own puppy to train.' He looked at Dino. ‘So what do you think? Do you think you could get to like me? Because I sort of come with my mum, a bit like getting a free toy in the cereal packet.' There was a tremble in his voice and Dino tried to remember another occasion when he'd felt as though his heart was jammed in his throat.

‘I already like you, Jamie. I like you a great deal.'

Jamie stood for a moment. ‘So the only problem is how to get Mum to stop being scared of you.'

Dino frowned at that interpretation. ‘You think she's scared of me?'

‘She's scared you might go away, like my dad. Some men do that.' Looking older than his years, Jamie studied the tree. ‘I suppose you just have to show her you like her and that you're not going anywhere. But I don't know how you do that. I expect she'll push you away. It's what she always does.'

‘I'm not going to let her push me away, Jamie.'

‘It will be hard.'

‘I don't mind.'

‘That's because you're a superhero.' Jamie slid his hand into Dino's. ‘Superheroes don't mind when things get tough. That's when they're at their best.'

‘I'm not a superhero, Jamie. But I won't let your mum push me away. That's a promise. How old are you again?'

‘Seven years and twelve days. I don't know the hours.'

‘Well, Jamie…' Dino cleared his throat. ‘for seven years and twelve days and I don't know the hours, you are very wise.'

‘No worries. Any time you need any advice about girls, just ask.'

‘S
O YOU
didn't make it to the ball.' Ellie gave her a wink and a suggestive smile and Meg gritted her teeth.

‘Actually, it wasn't—'

‘Honestly, you don't have to explain. I'm thrilled for you.'

‘Ellie, we're not—'

‘I knew the moment he saw you in that dress, he'd rip it off.'

Remembering exactly what had happened that night, Meg coloured and Ellie punched her gently on the arm and wandered off in the direction of the radiology department, leaving Meg to stew over her relationship with Dino.

Having not thought about sex for a few years, she suddenly couldn't think about anything else. And it didn't help that she seemed to be working every shift with him. Every time she turned round, he was there. And she'd started noticing things she'd never noticed before—like the way he really looked at the patients when he talked to them. The way he paid attention. Listened. The way he kept a cool head no matter what emergency came through the doors of the department. And he was razor sharp. He had a way of sifting through the evidence in front of him and homing in on the important bit that was going to give him the answers. Just watching him work sent a thrill running through her because he was so incredibly clever.
She felt a rush of pride and then realised that was ridiculous. What right did she have to feel proud? He wasn't hers, was he? One scorching night wasn't a guarantee of a future. She knew that better than anyone.

As the days passed, Meg started to wonder whether their colleagues were engineering it so that she and Dino worked together as much as possible and decided that they probably were. People thought it was a bit of fun, didn't they? They didn't realise that they were playing games with something that had the potential to explode and wreck a life.
Two lives.

On the fourth day after the ball, she finally lost it. ‘This is meant to be an emergency department,' she snapped at Ellie, ‘not a dating agency. Why am I in Resus with Dino for the fourth time this week?'

‘Because you make an unbeatable team.' Leaving that ambiguous statement hanging in the air, Ellie scurried off to meet yet another ambulance while Meg was left standing there, wondering why everyone felt they had to interfere. First her mother then Jamie and now her colleagues.

She felt a flash of exasperation, mingled with fear.

Were they all going to pick up the pieces when everything fell apart?

With a growl of frustration, she removed the packaging from a bag of IV fluid and hung it from the drip stand, ready for the next patient unlucky enough to find himself in the resuscitation room.

‘Finally, we're on our own.' Dino's voice came from behind her and her breath caught. Awareness came like a blow to the stomach and Meg tried to calm herself before she turned.

‘Alone, apart from about a few hundred staff and patients.'

‘I've missed you. This has been the longest four days of my life.' He curved his hand around her face, his gaze slumberous
and sexy. ‘Can I interest you in hot sex on the trolley? Against the wall?'

Her heart skipped and danced. ‘Show a little finesse, Dr Zinetti.'

‘Finesse? What's that? In case you hadn't noticed, where you're concerned I don't have any.' His smile was at his own expense. ‘Remind me.'

It was impossible not to be flattered by the masculine appreciation burning in his eyes. ‘You're obviously feeling rather—'

‘Desperate?' There was a husky note to his voice. ‘You could say that. I want you, Meg. Every minute of every day. And every minute of every night, but let's not go there.'

His words cut her off at the knees. ‘I want you, too.'
It was true, so why was she fighting it?
‘Jamie is sleeping over at my mother's tonight because she's taking him on a secret shopping trip tomorrow.'

‘Secret?'

‘To buy my Christmas present. I'm not supposed to know. So, Dr Hot…' Her heart jerked. ‘Do you want to go out tonight? Dinner? Movie?'

‘Neither.' He smiled, the stroke of his thumb against her cheek a sensual prelude to the night ahead. ‘If I have you all to myself then I want to stay in. All the entertainment I need is right here.' His eyes told her exactly the form the entertainment was going to take and her insides turned to liquid.

‘I assumed you'd want to do fancy restaurants and candles and all that sort of thing.'

‘If we're only going to have a few hours alone, I don't want to be in the company of others.'

Her protective antennae twitched. ‘You find it hard having Jamie around.'

‘No. I love having Jamie around.' He lowered his forehead to hers. ‘But I also want to rip your clothes off and I don't want
to do that in front of your child.' His mouth hovered close to hers and Meg felt suddenly dizzy.

‘Right, well, that's…good, because I don't want to shock him.' She leaned in for his kiss but he released her and took a step backwards.

‘Better not.'

‘No.' She cleared her throat. ‘Because it's unprofessional.'

‘Actually, it's more that I'm not sure I'll be able to stop. Which I suppose could amount to the same thing. I'll see you tonight, Meg. Don't bother cooking. I'll do something about replenishing the calories we use.'

In the end they didn't bother replenishing calories. Instead, they feasted on each other, making love until the cold winter light slid across the room and sheer exhaustion had her snuggling against him. She tumbled into clouds of warmth, cocooned by the delicious feeling of being close to another human being, and slept deeply.

This time when they woke, there was no rush to move. No subterfuge.

Meg made fresh coffee and plates of scrambled eggs with toast and they ate in bed, talking about everything and nothing.

‘What time will Jamie be home?' Dino leaned back against the tangled bedding. ‘Should we get dressed?'

‘I'm picking him up from my mother's so that there is no repeat of last time.' Meg put the tray on the floor. It came as a shock to realise she could get used to seeing him in her bed. ‘We have another hour, at least.'

‘A whole hour?' His eyes gleamed with humour. ‘How are we going to fill the time?'

It was fun to tease. ‘We could go for a run.'

‘If it's exercise you want, I have a better idea…' He rolled
her underneath him and his mouth came down on hers just as both their pagers went off.

Cursing in Italian, Dino leaned across and dug his pager out of the pocket of his trousers. ‘This had better be something really, really important.' Hair tousled, eyes sexy, he squinted at it. ‘A climber has fallen in Devil's Gully. We're closest and they want us to make a start. For the first time in my life I'm thinking of resigning from the team.'

Meg laughed, but she was already out of bed and pulling on her clothes. ‘Do we have exact co-ordinates?'

‘Yes.' His eyes skimming her body, Dino sighed. ‘The guy had better not have taken a stupid risk or I'm going to give him a lecture for ruining my Sunday. I'm not giving this up for anything less than a life-threatening situation.'

‘You're not allowed to lecture.' Meg pulled layers over her head and hopped around as she pulled on her socks. ‘Don't just lie there staring. Get dressed!'

‘If one of us has to abseil into Devil's Gully, it's going to be me. I just want to get that straight right now.' He dressed quickly and she stole a glance, admiring the curves and definition of his muscles.

‘Just because you're sleeping with me doesn't mean you can suddenly get ridiculously protective. I can abseil as well as you can. We'll do what needs to be done.'

He fisted his hand in the front of her fleece and pulled her against him. ‘I'm protective,' he said huskily, ‘that's just the way it is. Get used to it because it isn't going to change.'

‘I don't need protecting.'

‘Yes, you do.' He claimed her mouth in a brief but devastating kiss. ‘Mostly from yourself. You seem to have a talent for smashing anything that comes too close. Come on. We need to move.'

In under three minutes they were in the mountain rescue vehicle. Rambo was in the back, ears pricked, alert.

‘What do you mean, I need protecting from myself?' Meg drove and took the fastest route to the car park that was closest to Devil's Gully. ‘I don't smash things.'

‘Tell me you're not thinking of a thousand reasons why our relationship is never going to work.'

‘Not a thousand.' Annoyed that he was so perceptive, she shifted gear jerkily. ‘Even I can't come up with a thousand.'

‘That's because I've been keeping you occupied.' He zipped his jacket, wincing as the vehicle hit a bump in the road. ‘Keep your eyes on the road. If I have to be driven, the bare minimum I expect is for the driver to look at the road.'

‘My eyes are on the road. Don't tell me how to drive.'

‘You're so scared of being hurt again you've shut everyone out.' He pushed his hands into gloves, understanding but ignoring her snappiness. ‘But you're not shutting me out.'

‘Is that a warning?'

‘It's just the way it is, so there's no point fighting it. Car park's ahead. If you pull in by the gate, I'll sort out the equipment. And I'm driving home.'

From the car park, it was only a fifteen-minute hike to the top of Devil's Gully, which was just enough time for her to brood on his comments. It wasn't true. She didn't smash anything that came too close. She didn't need protecting from herself. That was a ridiculous thing to say. Her life had been stable over the past seven years, and that was because she'd taken great care to keep it that way. She liked her life.

But she also liked being with him.

And that terrified her.

‘I see someone on the path—this must be where they fell.' Dino quickened his pace and they met up with two walkers who were hovering at the top of the gully.

The woman had obviously been crying. ‘He was climbing. We were watching him. He was so good. And then he just fell right past his girlfriend. She was screaming but she's stopped
now. I think she's paralysed by fear. And he's been dangling from the rope for at least an hour. Any moment now it could snap. But we don't have any equipment. We had no idea what to do so we just called the police.'

Meg stared down into the gully. She saw the girl clinging to the rock face. ‘She doesn't look too good.'

Dino was hauling equipment out of his backpack. ‘He's hanging from emergency ropes.'

The woman was shaking. ‘At first he was just swinging. We kept thinking the rope would snap. And he smashed into the rock face when he fell. He managed to tie something round his thigh but he's still bleeding. He hasn't moved for the last few minutes.'

‘I'm on my way.' Meg had her hand inside her backpack, pulling out her own gear. ‘I'll abseil down to him. I'll try and cut a seat in the snow or something for him to sit on while we wait for the helicopter. I know this climb—there are places. There's a ledge just below him.'

‘You're not abseiling down.'

‘The rock is crumbling here. It's really unstable. That's probably why he fell. I'm lighter than you. It makes sense for me to go.'

‘Meg—'

‘You're too heavy, Dino. We're wasting time.' She checked the anchors that would hold the rope, looking for signs of corrosion, fractures and movement in the rock. ‘If he's been hanging there for a while, the cold is going to be our biggest problem. Once I have him on the ledge, lower me a sleeping bag—something warm, because if he's been hanging there for half an hour, he's going to be cold.'

‘You're not going.'

Meg adjusted her harness and jammed a helmet on her head. ‘Are you speaking as my lover or as a member of the mountain rescue team?'

A muscle flickered in his cheek. His internal battle was played out across his handsome face. ‘Back up your anchors and keep the rope clear of loose rock and sharp edges. Abseil smoothly and directly down the fall line.'

She pulled on gloves and tossed the rope. ‘You think I'm doing this for the adrenaline rush?'

He didn't smile. ‘Use an autoblock as a back-up to hold the control rope if you let go.'

‘I'm not going to let go.' Looking at his face, she felt warmth build inside her.
He cared.
And it felt scarily good. ‘I'm tying a French Prusik. Happy? That way, if I decide to live dangerously and let go, I'm not going to fall.' Calm and confident, Meg made five wraps around the rope and then clipped the two ends into the karabiner.

‘Get him onto a ledge.' Dino leaned forward and checked her harness. ‘Use your radio.'

Meg went over the edge carefully, checking her anchors and the pull of the rope. The first thing she noticed was the bitter cold and the evidence of new snowfall. She cursed as her feet dislodged loose snow and sent it showering over her. She wondered if the weather had contributed to the man's fall. Overhead she heard the clatter of the search-and-rescue helicopter but she forced herself to focus and concentrate on her own descent.

Finally she was next to the injured climber, her cheeks numb with cold. How much colder must he be after being exposed to the weather in this place?

‘Hi, there—can you hear me?' She moved her feet across the rock face so that she was next to him, keeping an eye on the rope. ‘I'm Meg. I'm with the mountain rescue team.'

His face was a whitish grey, shocked. Blood had stained one leg of his trousers. ‘Nick. I'm bleeding. Not good.'

‘Well, this is your lucky day because I'm going to do something about that, Nick.'

His lips barely moved. ‘C-cold.'

‘I know. I'm going to do something about that too.' She glanced at the rock face. Judged the distance. ‘Nick, I'm going to move you onto that ledge and see if I can sort out the bleeding. It will be quicker than getting you to the ground.'