The War Hero's Locked-Away Heart. Louisa George

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ eyes stirred something in him. Something which would be better left well alone.

      ‘You holding up, mate?’ He looked at Lukas. Did a mental check as he tried to do a blood sweep through the surfer’s wetsuit. Bit difficult with a second skin. Still, it’d work as a pressure aid while they sorted him out.

      ‘I’ll just check your vitals again.’ Skye took a quick pulse rate. He’d only known her two minutes and they were working in pure harmony, an understanding of the essentials hovering between them. Not just distracting, but unsettling too. ‘Your heart’s pumping a bit quicker than I’d like, but I reckon you’ll live.’ She squeezed the guy’s hand. ‘We just need to get that head to stop bleeding.’

      Adam curled his T-shirt into a knot and held it against the wound to stem the blood flow. ‘Sorry about this, mate. It was clean on this morning, I promise.’ That mustered a weak smile from his patient. ‘You’re going to need a few stitches in that head. Any pain anywhere else?’

      Lukas twisted to sit up and held out his right hand. ‘My arm hurts.’

      ‘Let’s take a look.’ Adam helped peel the wetsuit to waist level, scanning Lukas’s body for any signs of damage or internal bleeding. Then examined his arm, aware that Sky had put herself between Lukas and the ripping wind. She looked more bedraggled than a puppy at bath-time, with those accentuated huge eyes. She was covered in damp sand and her clothes were dripping wet, her arms blue with cold.

      He threw her his jacket and she wrapped it round their patient’s shoulders. ‘Sky? It’s starting to get dark and if we’re not careful we’ll all have hypothermia too.’ Not a great start to day one of the rest of his life.

      She shivered, but smiled. Again. Didn’t her mouth hurt with all that grinning? Then she rubbed her hands up and down Lukas’s shoulders. ‘He’s right. We don’t want you to get too cold, or go into shock. You need to get warm.’

      Patient first. Was she a nurse? A doctor? A local?

      Did she live here? His mouth dried.

      Stupid. Of course she did, hence the nagging about the rocks. If she was medical their paths were bound to cross. He shook his head, tried to clear his waterlogged brain. She was trained and skilled and here. That was all he needed to know. Any more was unnecessary detail.

      A few minutes in her company had proven her curves, her weird charm and her megawatt smile were bad for his equilibrium. Four years on from a broken marriage, a broken life, and he’d only just got his equilibrium back. So he would muster polite. Nothing more.

      He felt along Lukas’s arm, noticed the bruising and swelling, the wincing as he touched the forearm. ‘Pain here? What about here? It’s swollen. Could be a fracture, hard to tell with the naked eye. You’ll need an X-ray—’

      A siren cut him off. He followed Sky’s gaze to the main road and watched with relief as an ambulance drove down the small boat ramp. He hauled on his jeans and helped Lukas to stand.

      Within minutes they’d handed over and lifted their patient into the back of the van. As he shook hands with the ambulance officer Adam decided to come clean. It would be strange turning up to work on Monday morning knowing they’d all shared this rescue and them not knowing his identity.

      If he was going to settle here—and he was going to settle this time—he’d need to give more of himself than name and rank. Truth was, opening up after everything that had happened often proved hard.

      He spoke to the AO first. ‘I guess you should know, I’m Adam. Adam Miller. Paramedic. I start on Monday, at Wellsford base.’

      ‘Hi, Adam. Thought there was a look of expertise to this job. What a welcome, eh?’

      ‘Lucky I was here. Just one of those things.’

      ‘There I was thinking I was dealing with an average Joe and all the time you’re a medic in disguise.’ Sky blinked up at him. ‘Are you going to live here, or closer to the base in town? Have you got a family here too?’

      He turned his surprise at her inquisition into a cough. He’d forgotten how small-towners liked to chat. In retrospect maybe moving to Auckland would have been a better choice. He could have lost himself in the anonymity of crowds. ‘I’m renting up the road.’

      ‘We’re very pleased to have you.’ Dan, the AO, shook his hand. ‘Kick back a bit and get out of the rat race? Atanga Bay’s usually pretty quiet, but the towns round about keep us busy. Now they’ve extended that motorway we get our fair share of MVAs.’

      Adam helped Dan close the van doors. ‘Judging by the hairpin bends, I’m not surprised.’

      ‘You’re ex-army, is that right? No wonder you made mincemeat out of those waves. Quite the hero.’

      ‘I don’t think so.’ Hero? No chance. Adam swallowed back his usual dismissive retort and the memories of his last day in action. He forced himself to be friendly. It had been so long he’d almost forgotten how. ‘Before I joined up I was a surf lifeguard. I just follow my instincts.’ He caught Sky’s glance and remembered the importance of a positive debrief. ‘And Sky was great too.’

      ‘Our Skye is great. And we’re all going to miss her.’ The AO winked at the shivering woman and wrapped an arm round her shoulders. ‘How long to go now?’

      She peered up at him, her fists all screwed up like a kid’s at Christmas. Her lips were slightly parted, her mouth soft. A wave of something unfamiliar washed over Adam. He ignored it. Put it down to adrenalin.

      ‘Four weeks, three hours and …’ She glanced at her watch, and laughed. A light, unencumbered sound, something he hadn’t heard much, or done himself, in a very long time. ‘Thirty-two minutes. Not that I’m counting. Much.’

      ‘And then?’ Adam asked, despite his misgivings at having a conversation with her.

      ‘Then I live my life. This is just a rehearsal.’ More smiles. This time they were backlit with blatant excitement. ‘I’m going on a tour, travelling through Asia to Europe. To see the sights, the food, the people. Then I’m going to hit London. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I can’t wait. I’m so excited.’

      ‘So I see.’ A shot of relief mixed with a sense of something ending before it had begun mixed in his gut. ‘But is Europe ready for all that enthusiasm?’

      Her eyes darted across to him in question, for the first time since he’d met her, she frowned. He ducked his gaze away.

      See? Exactly why he shouldn’t attempt a normal conversation with her. He was so out of practice he’d made her excitement fizzle. Better to just keep quiet and wait until he could get the heck away.

      Dan squeezed Skye in under his shoulder, like a kid sister or a pet. ‘We’ve been trying to convince her to stay, but she’s adamant she wants out of here. God knows why. Atanga Bay has everything you could ever want. A decent chippy. A fine pub. Old friends. She’s mad. What has Paris got that we haven’t?’

      ‘Style. History. French accents.’ She shrugged her shoulder in a Gallic gesture. ‘Pain au chocolat.’

      ‘Pah! Pollution. Too many people. And no ocean.’ Dan eased away from Skye, climbed into the van and gunned the engine. ‘Well, Adam, good to СКАЧАТЬ