Reawakened by the Italian Surgeon

by Scarlet Wilson

  So far, the only real risk Joy Hamilton had ever taken was to apply for the locum position at a hospital in the middle of nowhere, here in the South Island. She might not come from the country’s largest city of Auckland but her hometown was the vibrant capital of the country and, right now, Joy would feel a lot more comfortable walking on an inner city Wellington footpath than pushing through almost knee high grass on the edge of this isolated road.

  That pain in her ankle was getting worse every time she stepped on it so it was quite possible that she did have a fracture but she’d been humiliated enough by the expression in this paramedic’s eyes when he’d asked whether she had X-ray vision. A patient kind of expression, with just a hint of amusement, as if he was dealing with a naughty child. Or someone with very limited intelligence.

  Very blue eyes, she remembered now. So blue, in fact, that she turned her head as if she wanted to check that her memory wasn’t playing tricks on her. He was too far behind her to see properly but she took in the spiky brown hair with its streaks of blond that made him look like he spent a lot of time outdoors in the sunshine. If they weren’t hundreds of miles away from a beach, she wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he was into surfing. Not that she should be remotely interested in what this man’s hobbies might be. The realisation that the station manager for the local ambulance service, who already knew she didn’t belong here, was an undeniably gorgeous looking man only made this situation worse.

  No...what really made it worse was the way he smiled at her as she looked back.

  She knew that kind of smile. The gleam she would have seen in his eyes if she’d been any closer. This was the kind of man who revelled in anything unconventional. Created chaos, even, by an inability or lack of desire to follow rules. The kind of man her grandfather had had absolutely no sympathy for when their exploits resulted in damage to property or loss of life or limbs.

  ‘Should’ve followed the rules, shouldn’t they? They’re there for a good reason...’

  The kind of man Joy had known to steer very well clear of for her entire life.

  A bad boy...

  She was definitely getting closer to the lamb, because the bleating was louder, but she couldn’t see where it was in this long grass. Then she heard Ben’s voice behind her.

  ‘It’s in the ditch. Looks like it’s stuck in the mud.’

  Sure enough, when Joy stepped closer, she could see the small, woolly creature with its legs sunk into the muddy edge of the shallow creek at the bottom of this ditch. It was looking back at her, with black, button eyes and ears that were far too big for it that stuck out sideways and something just melted inside Joy’s chest.

  ‘Oh...you poor wee thing.’ She slid down the edge of the bank, taking no notice of the way her new Italian boots were disappearing into the mud. She got hold of the lamb and pulled it clear, holding it in her arms as she turned to get back up the bank.

  It was then that she realised her injured ankle was highly unlikely to be able to support her weight enough to climb out of the ditch when she couldn’t use her hands to help.

  ‘Here...’ She held the lamb up. ‘You take it.’

  Ben’s eyebrows rose enough to let Joy know that he was more than a little surprised by her bossy tone.

  ‘Please...’ she muttered as an afterthought.

  He was grinning broadly as he took the lamb from her arms. He started to turn away but his head swerved as he heard the cry of pain Joy was unable to stifle as she took her first step to climb the bank. He tucked the lamb under one arm and leaned down to offer her his hand.

  She had no choice but to take it because the bank was too steep to try and get out on her hands and knees. They both had muddy hands now, thanks to the lamb, which made their skin slippery so Joy had to hold onto Ben’s hand with both of hers even as she felt his fingers curl into a firm grip. It was a big hand. Warm. And strong. So strong, she had the impression he could have hauled her out of that ditch in the blink of an eye but he was taking his time and his movements were considered enough to feel oddly gentle.

  She had to stand on one leg when she reached level ground. How embarrassing was this? She was covered in mud and her clothes were damp enough to make her shiver in the cold gusts of wind. Far worse than that, however, was that she was going to have to admit that she hadn’t been completely honest earlier. She was injured and she was going to have to ask for help.

  Except she didn’t have to ask for anything. Ben put the lamb down on the ground where it promptly collapsed into the long grass.

  ‘Stay there,’ he ordered. ‘I’ll be back soon.’

  Stepping forward, as Joy could feel herself wobbling enough that she was about to lose her balance completely, Ben simply scooped her up into his arms and strode back along the road to where he’d parked his ambulance. If his handhold had felt strong and capable, it was nothing to how it felt being in his arms. Joy was fairly slim but she was tall enough to have never felt petite. Until now...

  She’d never been swept off her feet and carried like a child by any man. Ever. Her grandfather had had a bad back and hadn’t picked up anything heavy. Her boyfriends would have never considered a move like that because she would never have dated them if they had. She was hating this feeling of being helpless, of course, but Joy had to admit there was a rather different reaction beneath the current of what felt like humiliation. A frisson of...what was it?

  Pleasure...?

  No. That would be unacceptable. It was probably more like relief, perhaps, in that she could temporarily relinquish responsibility and let someone else make decisions and look after her?

  Fortunately, the journey was over before such an unwelcome notion could make itself any more pronounced. Ben opened the back doors of the ambulance and flipped the steps down with one hand, climbed inside and put Joy down on a stretcher that had a pristine, white sheet over it.

  ‘Where’s it hurting?’

  ‘My ankle.’

  ‘I need to get that boot off. Might need to cut it.’

  ‘No...it’s brand new.’ A hint of something like panic was enough to make her not think about what she was saying. ‘You’ll ruin the luck.’ She ignored his raised eyebrows. ‘It’s got a zip on the side. Somewhere under that mud. Here... I’ll find it.’

  ‘Uh-uh...’ Ben pointed to the pillow at the top of the stretcher. ‘Lie down. I’ve got this.’ As Joy hesitated he gave her a stern look. ‘My truck, my rules,’ he said.

  And there it was again. An invitation to let someone else look after her and...it was irresistible this time. Joy sank back against the pillow with a shiver, pulled the blanket Ben draped over her up to her shoulders and let him open the zips and ease the boots free from her feet. Her uninjured foot first but she knew he was doing that because it was important, whenever possible, to compare any injured body part with a normal side. It was ridiculous to know that her cheeks were going red because it felt as if she was being undressed for something other than a medical examination.

  At least the pain of her injured ankle, especially as he peeled off the damp sock, put this experience firmly back into a professional realm. She could even ignore the extraordinary warmth of his hands against her chilled skin.

  ‘I can’t see any obvious deformity,’ he told her. ‘You’ve got a good pedal pulse and capillary refill. Can you wiggle your toes?’

  She could.

  He held her leg with one hand and her foot with the other, putting pressure on in different directions.

  ‘Does this hurt?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘How about this?’

  ‘Ouch...’

  ‘Sorry. You’ve got some bruising coming out already there. I don’t think you’ve broken anything but we won’t know until you have an X-ray.’ A twitch of his lips suggested that he was tempted but had decided against making a comment about her visual abilities again.
‘I’ll put a compression bandage on this, elevate it and then take you into Cutler’s Creek emergency department.’

  With a groan of defeat, Joy closed her eyes. This so wasn’t the way she had intended arriving at her new position. Then her eyes snapped open again.

  ‘You’re not just going to leave that lamb all by itself, are you? With its dead mother in the ditch?’

  Ben shook his head. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. He had ripped off the plastic covering of a crepe bandage and he held the end of it against her ankle as he started unrolling. ‘It’s all under control. I sent Bruce a message before we went on that lamb hunt.’

  ‘Bruce the...policeman?’

  ‘That’s the one.’ The bandaging that was happening was well practised and swift. It was also firm enough to already be reducing the pain Joy was aware of.

  ‘What did you mean before?’ Ben’s tone was casual, as if he was just trying to make conversation while he worked. ‘About ruining the luck if I’d cut your boot off?’

  Okay...this was embarrassing but he was going to find out before long anyway.

  ‘I always get new shoes for a new job. For luck...’

  There was a sharp focus in those blue eyes as they flicked up to meet hers.

  ‘You’re heading to Cutler’s Creek for a new job? As in...the locum that Zac’s been trying to find?’

  ‘That’s the one.’ It was only after she’d spoken that Joy realised she was echoing both the words and tone of what Ben had just said about Bruce the policeman.

  He was silent now, however, as he hooked the crocodile clips in place to fasten the bandage and then ease a pillow under her foot and ankle. It felt as if he didn’t know quite what to say about the fact that they would quite possibly be working together in the very near future. Because he wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea?

  ‘Wonder what’s holding Bruce up...?’ Ben straightened and then turned to peer through one of the small, square windows in the back doors. ‘Ah...about time.’ He opened the door and raised his voice as he jumped out. ‘What took you so long, mate?’

  Joy could hear the response.

  ‘I was trying to find someone at home with a tractor who could tow this car off the road. Greg’ll be here in a minute but he’s not exactly thrilled about cleaning up after another tourist.’

  ‘Ah...’ Ben poked his head through the door before pulling it closed and Joy could swear he actually winked at her. ‘Be back in a minute,’ he told her cheerfully. ‘Don’t go anywhere.’

  As if she could. Joy closed her eyes again and tried to remember why it had seemed a good idea to apply for this new job. Oh, yeah...she’d been fed up, hadn’t she? Sick of herself and bemused by yet another relationship disaster which had to win the prize for being the most humiliating.

  She was the one who ended relationships—usually because they had become so predictable and unexciting they could only be described as boring—but this time she was the one who’d been dumped. By Ian, one of the radiologists in her emergency department, in favour of a ditzy, blonde nurse who was probably ten years younger than Joy. He’d been apologetic when he’d ended things. Kind, even, but his words still rankled.

  ‘You’re a lovely woman, Joy. Gorgeous and smart and damn good at your job. But...you’ve got zero spontaneity. I don’t think you’ve ever taken a risk in your entire life, have you? I’m sorry, but do you even have any idea how...how boring that can get?’

  Watching the two of them making eyes at each other when they had all been on the same shift had sparked the disturbing thought that there were aspects of life that were passing Joy by. That, perhaps, she might never actually experience?

  Her colleagues had been so astonished when she’d announced she was taking leave because she needed a change of scene that Joy had to wonder if they all thought the same as Ian—that she was the most boring person on earth. Had Ian been right? Was she the reason her relationships had always fizzled out?

  Well...they wouldn’t think she was that boring now, would they? She was creating havoc even before she’d stepped through the door of her new job. So much for those lucky new boots. Her car was written off, she might have broken her ankle, there was a dead sheep that someone would have to deal with and...

  And she didn’t need to recall that cute little face of an orphaned lamb because the back doors of the ambulance opened again and there it was, peeping out from the crook of Ben’s elbow, with its long, skinny legs trailing below.

  ‘Can’t leave him for Greg to take back to the farmhouse.’ Ben used his free hand to scratch the lamb between those ridiculously large ears. ‘Poor little guy seems to have broken its leg.’

  The lamb bleated loudly as if to agree. There was something about this tall, capable man holding a vulnerable baby creature that was doing something odd to Joy’s gut. Something she wasn’t sure she particularly liked because it was rather too distracting but it was impossible to look away.

  ‘X-ray vision, huh?’

  Oh, yeah...his eyes were an extraordinary kind of blue. And there was a gleam in their depths that suggested that, even if he might think she was somewhat stupid, he didn’t think she was the most boring person on earth. Deep down, Joy had to admit she kind of liked that. It even occurred to her that, seeing as nobody here knew anything about her, she could choose to become a totally different person. And create a completely new, exciting kind of life to go along with that new personality?

  ‘Here, hold onto him.’ Ben shoved the lamb at her so Joy had no choice but to take hold of it in her arms. ‘I need to find something to use as a splint.’

  He was bandaging some folded cardboard around the lamb’s front leg a minute or two later when the ambulance doors were opened again. A large man leaned in and put something on the floor.

  ‘Here’s the doc’s handbag,’ he told Ben. ‘Thought she might need her phone and whatnot. I’ll get her suitcases out before the car gets towed and bring them in to the hospital.’ He caught Joy’s gaze then, and smiled at her.

  ‘Welcome to Cutler’s Creek,’ he said.

  Ben’s gaze flicked up to meet hers and she could see that he was very well aware of just how much she thought her lucky new footwear had failed to do its job.

  ‘Yeah...’ He seemed to be trying not to laugh. ‘Welcome to Cutler’s Creek, Dr Hamilton. You’re going to love it here.’

  Copyright © 2021 by Alison Roberts

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  ISBN-13: 9781488075032

  Reawakened by the Italian Surgeon

  Copyright © 2021 by Scarlet Wilson

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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