Resisting Her Rescue Doc

by Alison Roberts

  ‘Not yet... I don’t think I’m hurt much. A few bumps and bruises maybe. Don’t move, Coop... Just hold me, please?’

  Cooper shifted enough to give him a more secure position on the ledge and he pressed a kiss to Fizz’s head as she snuggled against him.

  ‘I always thought you were a human rock,’ she told him. ‘I just didn’t realise that you were my rock.’

  Cooper liked that. ‘Always,’ he murmured against her hair. ‘I’ll always be your rock.’

  ‘I was running away because I thought it was all ruined.’ Fizz lifted her head and Cooper could see her face clearly as moonlight appeared between clouds. ‘Because after you said what you did, I realised that I felt the same way...that I couldn’t imagine a future without you in it. That I...that I...’

  Say it, Cooper pleaded silently. Say that word...

  ‘That I...love you,’ Fizz whispered. And then she burst into tears again.

  Cooper held her tighter. ‘It’s actually a good thing,’ he told her. ‘You’ll see.’

  But Fizz was shaking her head. ‘It means we’ll be in a real relationship.’

  ‘I hope so.’

  ‘And that implies a future.’

  ‘It certainly does.’

  ‘Things like getting married and having babies.’

  ‘Well...not straight away but...we can talk about that sort of thing later, babe. We don’t have to plan our entire future the moment we find out that we’re in love with each other. One step at a time, hey? And the first step is getting us off the side of this mountain and getting you properly checked out. Are you sure nothing is really hurting?’

  ‘My ankle’s aching a bit.’

  Cooper sighed. ‘Knowing you, that probably means you have a compound fracture. Let me see.’ He eased her out of his arms. ‘No...don’t move there. It’s too close to the edge of this ledge.’

  Fizz froze.

  ‘It’s safe here,’ Cooper told her. ‘You’re safe now.’

  ‘You can’t always keep me safe, Coop. No one can know what’s going to happen in the future.’

  ‘I know.’ Cooper was carefully taking her shoe off. ‘But it’s like watching someone you love do risky things because that’s who they are. You have to do what you can to make it as safe as possible and then all you can do is hope that everything will be all right. And it usually is.’ He cupped her foot in his hand as he examined her ankle, shining his torch on the skin and then starting to palpate the muscles and joint. ‘Does that hurt?’

  ‘A bit. Ow, yes...that hurts.’

  ‘There’s no bones poking out. I think you might be lucky and it’s only a sprain but it’ll need an X-ray.’

  ‘Okay...’

  Fizz had never been this subdued before. Cooper looked up, searching her face. ‘I’m still worried about that bump you had on your head. Do you know what day it is today?’

  Her eyes looked huge in the moonlight. A corner of her mouth twitched. ‘It’s the first day of the rest of our lives. Together.’

  A huff of laughter escaped Cooper. ‘Now I’m really worried you’ve got a serious head injury. That’s the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard you say.’ But he straightened up and cupped her chin instead of her foot and then he leaned closer and kissed her lips with a tenderness he could feel coming from his entire body. ‘It’s also the most beautiful thing I’ve heard you say,’ he told her when he stopped kissing her. ‘Particularly that last word.’

  ‘I don’t have a head injury,’ Fizz said. ‘My thinking is crystal clear. That’s why I’m still a bit scared.’

  ‘I get that. It is scary.’ Cooper kissed her again. ‘But you know what?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Somebody said something to me once that sounded quite wise. Something about being too careful and missing out on a lot of good stuff. About how the only way you could make yourself totally safe was shutting yourself in an empty room, and what kind of life would that be?’

  Fizz wrinkled her nose as she nodded. ‘That person does sound quite wise. It’s a good thing you remembered it after all this time.’

  But Cooper was being serious. ‘I reckon the same goes for taking the risk of losing somebody you love. If you don’t take that risk, you’re just going to sit around with an empty room in your heart, aren’t you? You’re going to be hiding in case you get faced with the pain of loss, but if you hide from that, you’re also hiding from the flip side of that coin. The joy it can bring to be with someone that you love.’

  ‘I guess...’

  ‘You’d be choosing to be lonely when...when you could be...’ Cooper had to swallow a big lump in his throat. ‘Happy,’ he finally managed. ‘Together. I want you to be happy so much, Fizz. I want to be part of that happiness. To help create it.’

  ‘You already are. I love working with you. I love being with you. I love... I just love you.’

  ‘Only you had to take a running jump off a cliff to find out?’

  Fizz sounded like she was trying to laugh but it turned into a groan.

  ‘Don’t do that again, okay?’

  ‘I’ll do my best.’

  ‘If you ever get scared again—of anything...’ Cooper wrapped his arms around Fizz again. ‘Don’t try and hide. Run towards me, not away from me, okay?’

  He could feel Fizz nodding against his chest. Over the top of her head he could see a flicker of movement well above them.

  ‘Oi! Is someone down there?’

  Fizz jerked her head up. ‘It’s the man from the gondola station.’

  ‘Yes,’ Cooper shouted back. ‘We’re down here. Stuck on a ledge.’

  ‘Turn your phone on again. Someone saw the light from the gondola when they were on their way up. We can get some help on the way when we know exactly where you are.’

  Cooper turned on the torch app again and held his phone up with one hand. He kept his other arm firmly around Fizz.

  ‘Let’s get out of here.’ He smiled. ‘So we can get on with the rest of our lives. Together...’

  EPILOGUE

  Six months later...

  ‘DON’T MOVE...’

  ‘What?’ Fizz turned to where Cooper was standing in the doorway. She paused in her action of winding her hair into a knot on the top of her head because something in his expression was giving her a melting sensation deep inside. ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because, right now, you look exactly like you did the first time I ever saw you. You were wearing those same jeans and that T-shirt with the knot, and you were putting your hair up to get it out of your way.’

  Cooper walked towards her, that look on his face becoming even more tender. His hands were large enough that they went right around her body as he took hold of her waist. Fizz loved that. She would never get tired of the size of this bear of a man she loved so much. Of his combination of both strength and gentleness. When he lifted her off her feet, a bubble of joyous laughter escaped and she released her hair to let it cascade down her back as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  ‘You looked like a warrior woman standing on that rock.’

  ‘I am a warrior woman.’ Fizz had to bend her head to kiss Cooper because he was still holding her well off the ground. ‘That’s why I need to get on with sorting these boxes.’

  ‘We only moved in yesterday. We made the bed. What more do we need?’

  ‘Things to cook with. And eat off.’ Fizz kissed him again as she slid down to escape his hold. ‘We’re supposed to be having a house-warming party with Maggie and Laura and Jack later, remember?’

  ‘Maybe they could bring stuff. Like tacos and beer. That way, we could go back to bed for a bit.’

  ‘Hmm...’ Fizz grinned. ‘Tempting, but no. This is our house, Coop. Our first house...’

  She took a moment to let her gaze roam the main room of this small, old villa, with i
ts honey-coloured wooden floors, pretty tiled fireplace and high ceiling. A glance through the sash windows showed the greenery of a garden that was overgrown enough to give them complete privacy. It was a bit run down but full of character, and both Fizz and Cooper had fallen totally in love with the property the first time they had seen it. High in Wellington’s hillside suburbs, they had a view from their veranda of the harbour in all its glory. They could even see helicopters taking off and landing from the Aratika Rescue Base when they weren’t on duty there themselves.

  ‘I want this place looking its best when our friends come to see it,’ Fizz added. ‘Oh, that reminds me... I must call Tom and invite him as well. He wasn’t at work in the ED yesterday.’

  ‘Did I tell you I asked Shirley? She’s bringing cake for dessert.’

  ‘That’s fantastic. Except now we really do need to get things properly tidy or Shirley will start sorting things herself. Is Joe coming?’

  ‘Yes. And Don and Andy. Pretty much everybody from Aratika, apart from the people on shift.’

  ‘What about that new guy—what’s his name?’

  ‘You mean Adam—the new HEMS doctor? You’re right. It would be a great way to welcome him to the team. I’ll try and find his number.’ Cooper turned towards the dining table that was covered with boxes and picked up the closest one. ‘Where does this one need to go?’

  Fizz gave him a look. ‘What’s in it?’

  ‘Feels heavy enough to be books.’ But Cooper laughed as he put the box down again and pulled the flaps open. ‘Okay... I guess I’m a bit excited. We’ve bought a house, babe. Together. How good is that?’

  ‘Very good.’ Fizz stepped closer to peer into the box. ‘That’s your training manual from the mountain search and rescue course, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yep. You said you wanted to read it, remember? When you couldn’t get time off to go back to Queenstown on the next course they offered us.’

  ‘I was too embarrassed to go back to Queenstown. Have you forgotten all those jokes those guys made about being a bit too keen to see how mountain rescue worked?’

  ‘I shouldn’t have told them we were due to do the course ourselves the next day. Guess I was just happy you weren’t badly hurt.’ Cooper was reaching into the box. ‘What’s this?’ He had a much smaller box in his hand and was starting to remove the lid.

  ‘It’s nothing,’ Fizz said quickly. She tried to take it from Cooper’s hands but she was too slow. He was unfolding the small square of newsprint.

  ‘It’s the photo that was in the newspaper!’ he exclaimed. ‘From the rescue on the day we met.’

  ‘Yeah...’ Fizz smiled. ‘I ripped it out of a paper a few days after that incident so I could keep it and look at you again. I did it so often I got a bit of a crush on you and I was so embarrassed when I did meet you again on base, I pretended I couldn’t remember your name very well.’

  ‘I remember.’ Cooper nodded. ‘I was devastated.’

  ‘Don’t think so. It was the same day when you almost kissed me. When you insisted on looking after my thumb.’

  ‘And there I was thinking it was you who’d almost kissed me.’

  Fizz grinned as she folded up the newspaper cutting again. ‘I’m admitting nothing.’

  Cooper had pulled the other object out of the box. ‘A shell?’

  ‘Mmm.’

  Fizz was a little embarrassed by this. She’d never been particularly sentimental in her life and had nothing more than a few photos to remind her of her time with Hamish, but she hadn’t wanted to throw that shell away when she’d found it in a pocket of her flight overalls a while back now. So far back, in fact, it was part of another life. The life before she and Cooper Sinclair had become so much more than a professional team. Or friends who could have fun without being in a ‘real’ relationship. They were a personal team, now—as close as two people could ever be and equally committed to their future together. A relationship that was as real and meaningful as it was possible to be.

  ‘You were holding it,’ she told Cooper. ‘That day you told me about Connor. When we were sitting outside Sarah’s house and I asked you how you knew so well what to do to help in a situation like that when someone so young was dying.’

  Cooper turned the shell over in his hands but he was looking puzzled.

  ‘I think I kept it because it was the day I realised how kind you are. How caring. What a truly special person you are. When I thought how lucky the person who got you for a partner would be, but I didn’t ever think it was going to be me.’

  ‘Ah...’ Cooper held her gaze. ‘Were you right? Does the person who got me for a partner feel lucky? Do you feel lucky now that we’re in a real relationship that everyone knows about? That we’ve not only moved in together but we’ve bought our very own house?’

  Fizz forgot about the huge list of tasks she had in her head to get their home ready for its first party this evening. Nothing mattered other than this man standing in front of her and that look in his eyes that told her he didn’t need an answer to that question at all because he trusted her. He trusted that they were perfect partners and he trusted that they would always be together to cope with whatever the future had in store for them.

  Best of all, he’d taught her that it was worth having that trust herself. That, without it, she would have been missing out on a joy that had made her world so much bigger and so much brighter that she had never felt so alive. So incredibly happy.

  ‘I was right,’ she whispered, reaching up to put her arms around Cooper’s neck again. To invite him to bend his head and accept the kiss on offer. ‘I feel like the luckiest person ever.’

  ‘Me, too,’ Cooper murmured as his lips touched hers.

  This conversation could well be leading to one they’d had not so long ago when they’d tentatively explored the idea of getting married, but Fizz hadn’t quite been ready to take that step into planning their future and instead they’d turned their energy into finding a home for themselves.

  Now that they were in their own home, the fear of tackling something that could tap into old fears was receding. Fizz was here, with her human rock. She had never felt so safe or so happy. If Cooper asked her again, she was going to say yes. If he didn’t ask her, maybe she’d just ask him. Would he say yes? Could they turn their housewarming party into an engagement party as well?

  It was Fizz who broke the kiss. She kept her arms around Cooper’s neck, though, and only pulled back far enough to be able to see his eyes clearly. Then she took in a slow, deep breath. Cooper held her gaze. He clearly knew that she wanted to say something and he was waiting for her to say it.

  But their eyes were having their own conversation and, in the end, they both spoke at the same time. With the same words.

  ‘Marry me...?’

  Their laughter was no more than a soft huff of mingling breath as they closed the gap between them for another kiss. There was just time to say one more word.

  ‘Yes...’

  * * *

  If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Alison Roberts

  Twins on Her Doorstep

  Their Newborn Baby Gift

  Rescued by Her Mr. Right

  The Shy Nurse’s Rebel Doc

  All available now!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from The Prince’s Cinderella Doc by Louisa Heaton.

  Join Harlequin My Rewards today and earn a FREE ebook!

  Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards

  http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010003

  Did you know that Harlequin My Rewards members earn FREE books and more?

  Join

  www.HarlequinMyRewards.com

  today to start earning your FREE books!

  * * *

  Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new re
leases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

  Other ways to keep in touch:

  Harlequin.com/newsletters

  Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks

  Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks

  HarlequinBlog.com

  Join Harlequin My Rewards and reward the book lover in you!

  Earn points for every Harlequin print and ebook you buy, wherever and whenever you shop.

  Turn your points into FREE BOOKS of your choice

  OR

  EXCLUSIVE GIFTS from your favorite authors or series.

  Click here to join for FREE

  Or visit us online to register at

  www.HarlequinMyRewards.com

  Harlequin My Rewards is a free program (no fees) without any commitments or obligations.

  The Prince’s Cinderella Doc

  by Louisa Heaton

  CHAPTER ONE

  FOR YEARS DR KRYSTIANA SZENAC had walked along the beach with her dog Bruno, allowing her gaze to fall upon the faraway façade of Il Palazzo Grande—the Grand Palace. It was like a fine jewel in the warm sunshine. A glittering building set atop a hill, with every window, every white wall, reflecting the light. She’d often wondered about what it would be like to live in such a place, but had never imagined for one moment that she would ever pass through the arched gates into the royal sanctuary where the King and his son the Crown Prince lived.

  He didn’t know it, but she felt a kinship with the Prince, and every time she thought about their connection—which was often—she would smile to herself, knowing it was ridiculous because he didn’t even know she existed!

  But he was about to.

  Krystiana sucked in a breath as the large armoured car drove her through the gates and into the palace grounds. She gazed out of the window, feeling like a silly little tourist as she took in the guards in their dark blue uniforms and the white sashes that crossed their chests, the flower displays—perfectly tended, not a weed in place—and the architecture: solid white walls rising high, the crenelated roof with the billowing flag of the royal family and the circular towers in each corner.