Page 43 of Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc
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 advancedstage 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 hadbeen a rather disappointing conversation all round, actually, when they’d finally left Toby in the hands of the operating theatre’s team.
‘Why Scotland? Whyhere?’ 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 tellme.’
‘I asked them notto. 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.
‘Wecouldbe.’ He’d given her his mostpersuasive 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 goingto 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.
Ofwantinghim to know thetruth?
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 wasstilldoing 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 countryand 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.
