The Fling That Changed Everything. Alison Roberts

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СКАЧАТЬ words she spoke aloud were very different. A daughter asking her father’s advice.

      ‘What do you reckon, Dad? Should I go?’

      He returned her smile and the warmth in his eyes told her that her reassurance had been received and appreciated.

      ‘If you want to do it, cara, you should.’

      Lia nodded slowly. ‘I think I do.’

      ‘Mamma mia.’ Adriana crossed herself as she closed her eyes. ‘When would you leave?’

      ‘Um...tomorrow. It seems like the person who was going to go has had an accident at the last minute, which is why Bruce was asked to find someone else. He’s happy to give me leave.’

      The reality of the offer was sinking in around the table and everyone was staring at Lia with a mix of admiration and trepidation.

      ‘I said I’d call him back as soon as I’d discussed it with the family. Nico? You get to have the final vote. If you want me to be here for your surgery, I’ll say no.’

      ‘Go,’ Nico said. ‘I’ll have more than enough family fussing over me. I’m only going to be in hospital for a couple of days. You can send me some cool pictures and I can boast about my fabulous sister who’s off doing brave stuff and saving the world.’

      Lia grinned. ‘You’re on. Right...’ She scooped in a hurried mouthful of her dinner. ‘I’d better go and ring Bruce back and start packing. I’ll have to be at the airport at five-thirty in the morning.’

      ‘I’ll drive you.’

      Her father smiled as he spoke but her mother burst into tears. For a moment Lia considered changing her mind but then she glanced at Angel and remembered what that extra money could mean.

      Swallowing hard, she pushed back her chair and went to make the phone call.

      * * *

      ‘Whoa...’ Jack Richards, Wildfire Island’s head helicopter pilot, pushed his sunglasses down his nose to peer over the top of them. ‘You seeing what I’m seeing, Sam?’

      Two young people had climbed out of the small plane and were heading across the tarmac to where they were waiting in the shade. The man had to be the paramedic, Sam decided, so no wonder Jack had elbowed him in the ribs. The new FIFO nurse was a stunner, all right. Tall and lean, she had a mane of curly dark hair that the wind was playing havoc with and legs that seemed to go on forever beneath the short shorts she was wearing. Huge sunglasses were hiding half her face but even from this distance you could see a generous mouth that was clearly designed for laughing.

      Or kissing, perhaps...?

      Maybe it was just as well she’d be safely confined to the hospital during working hours and not floating around remote islands with a good-looking young helicopter pilot. Romantic liaisons with FIFO staff happened—of course they did—and Jack was not shy about enjoying the opportunities, but for Sam it was a no-no. He’d always kept any such casual hook-ups to the times when he was on a break a long way away from here. This was his home and, as such, it was too important to mess with by indulging in something that he’d seen lead to long-lasting negative fallouts in others.

      He didn’t need the clipboard he was holding to remind him that this was work time. Supplies were being unloaded from the small plane that was their regular link with the mainland of Australia and, amongst them would be the important medical packs containing drugs and all the other items Sam had ordered. They’d run low on dressings and suture packs after an unusually high number of minor trauma incidents in the past couple of weeks.

      ‘Let’s check that everything we ordered has come in,’ he said to Jack. ‘We don’t want to hold up the pilot in this weather.’

      The wind had picked up even as they walked towards the plane.

      ‘G’day, mate.’ Sam extended a hand towards the male newcomer. ‘I’m Sam Taylor—one of the permanent doctors at the hospital here.’

      ‘Good to meet you. I’m Matt.’

      ‘Welcome to Wildfire Island. Is this your first FIFO experience?’

      ‘Sure is.’ Matt’s smile was rueful. ‘Might be the last, too, after that flight.’

      ‘Oh, come on, Matt.’ The girl was now restraining her hair with both hands to keep it from covering her face. ‘It was fun.’

      Her grin suggested that a bumpy ride had been a bonus and Sam couldn’t help grinning back. A young woman who was gutsy as well as gorgeous? What man wouldn’t appreciate that combination of attributes?

      ‘I’m Lia Roselli.’ She had to let go of her hair with one hand as she extended it to shake Sam’s. The wind snatched the tumble of dark curls and plastered it across her face and she was laughing as she scraped it free.

      The sound was as attractive as the rest of her. No wonder Jack was grinning like an idiot. It was only then that he realised that his own mouth was still widely stretched. It was an effort, in fact, to pull his lips back into line.

      ‘I’ve got a hair tie somewhere.’ Lia delved into the soft leather shoulder bag she was carrying. ‘Sorry, I should have tried to arrive looking a bit more professional, shouldn’t have I?’

      ‘You weren’t to know there’s a cyclone brewing.’ Jack turned to her after shaking Matt’s hand. ‘I’m Jack Richards.’

      ‘Oh...you’re my pilot.’ The search for the hair tie was abandoned as Lia took his hand. ‘Awesome. I’m looking forward to working with you.’

      ‘You’re the paramedic?’

      Sam didn’t mean to sound so astonished. He deserved the look he got from both the newcomers. Even Jack’s eyebrows shot up. In just a few words he’d managed to make it sound like he not only had a prejudice against male nurses but that he didn’t think females were up to the kind of dangerous work that helicopter paramedicine could throw at them. He didn’t think either of those things. If he was really honest, the tone had probably come from disappointment more than surprise, and what was that about? Even the nurses tucked safely away in the hospital were not immune to Jack’s charm, so what chance did Lia have?

      Good grief... Was that oddly unsettling flash something other than disappointment? Jealousy, even?

      ‘Sam didn’t get the memo.’ Jack was trying to rescue him. ‘And, I have to admit, it’s the first time we’ve had a female paramedic as a FIFO.’

      ‘First time for a male nurse, too?’ Matt was smiling. ‘Good thing we’ve come, then, isn’t it, Lia? Time the glass ceilings were broken around here.’

      They all laughed, which broke the awkwardness. The distraction of having to check the delivered supplies off against the order form took a few more minutes and by the time the FIFOs’ luggage was brought out from the back of the compartment, Sam was ready to make amends for his faux pas.

      ‘It is a good thing,’ he told Matt as the new nurse retrieved his backpack. ‘We’re trying to encourage more islanders to train as nurses and you’ll be a role model that might open a few eyes. How would you feel about dropping into the high school СКАЧАТЬ