Twin Surprise For The Italian Doc. Alison Roberts

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       CHAPTER TWO

      ‘WHAT’S THE TIME?’

      ‘Five past eight.’

      ‘We’re early.’ Matteo Martini sighed. Waiting had never been his forte.

      It was an exercise in self-control. A tightrope to balance on between the need to follow rules and gather information and the desire to act. To help someone in trouble. To save a life perhaps...

      This wasn’t a real life situation, however, which made it impossible to gather any clues about what was to come from a radio conversation or updated pager messages. All they had was a minimal briefing sheet that had given them the GPS coordinates for the scene and that they would be assessing a thirty-five-year-old woman with abdominal pain.

      Their tasks were listed as well and they had to assess the scene, examine and treat the patient, define a working diagnosis and means of transport if necessary, within a time limit of eleven minutes.

      This was all about following rules. Waiting in their vehicle until it was their turn to enter what looked like a very ordinary village house to face their first scenario of this emergency response competition.

      ‘Doesn’t look like much.’ Luke sounded disappointed. ‘You sure we’re in the right place?’

      ‘Sì. Assolutamente.’ Matteo pointed through the windscreen. ‘That car parked over there is a competitor. It’s got the numbers. And a light on the roof, like ours. And the flags are...’

      ‘Scottish,’ Luke murmured.

      The tension of having to wait had just got a whole lot easier as Matteo felt himself being pulled back into the unexpected delight of meeting Georgia Bennett last night. What a stroke of luck it had been that her partner for this competition was an old friend of Luke’s. He didn’t even have to make an effort to get an introduction to a woman who would have caught his eye no matter how big a crowd she was in.

      There was a glow of energy about Georgia that made him think of adventure. Fun. In combination with that tumble of dark blonde curly hair and those hazel-brown eyes that had rather fascinating flecks of gold, she was irresistible. Given their passion for a shared career, that easy conversation over a drink or two had been a bonus. And by the end of the evening, when they’d split up to study the lists of scenarios that had been handed out to the waiting teams, Matteo had been left with the conviction that the attraction he’d discovered was mutual.

      Whether they would have the chance to explore that attraction any further was an enticing possibility but Matteo wasn’t going to allow it to distract him for any longer than a delicious minute or two. He had, in fact, dismissed it from his mind completely well before their start time of eight-fifteen a.m.

      Until he saw the two women emerge from the house, that was. Until Georgia spotted them waiting in their vehicle and raised her hand to wave at him.

      Until she smiled...

      ‘Be nice to have an idea of what we’re heading into,’ Luke said. ‘They weren’t giving away any clues, were they?’

      ‘And neither should they,’ Matteo said sternly. ‘That would be dishonest.’

      ‘Not exactly.’ Luke’s tone was thoughtful. ‘Dishonesty is when you fail to tell the truth. Breaking the rules of the competition to give someone else an advantage would be dishonourable rather than dishonest.’

      ‘Hmm...’ Matteo absorbed the correction. ‘They are both unacceptable.’

      Dishonesty was at the top of his list of despicable human traits. Right up there with cruelty and violence, particularly when children were involved.

      ‘Too right they are,’ Luke agreed.

      Thrusting his arms through the straps of his pack of gear, Matteo had another moment of distraction.

      Had he been a little too СКАЧАТЬ