by Joanna Neil
She didn’t have much time to think about it, though. His head dipped down and in the next moment his lips brushed over the smooth swell of her breasts where they escaped the confines of her lace-edged bra. His kisses were gossamer-light, thrilling her through and through until her whole body tingled with feverish pleasure.
‘Heaven knows,’ he said in a roughened voice, ‘I’ve tried to keep from doing this, from getting close to you, but it’s just too much…it’s virtually impossible. You tantalise me…every time I see you, I’m lost…’
His breathing was ragged, his gaze absorbed as his hands moved over her, making a slow, sensual exploration of her rounded curves. Alyssa revelled in his touch. Under the golden blaze of this idyllic island sun everything was perfection and she wanted this moment to last for ever. But she didn’t understand what was happening to her. Why did she feel this way? Wasn’t it madness to let this go on? Things could very soon get out of hand…
Perhaps she’d been out in the sun too long and the heat had affected her way of thinking. Hadn’t he said that all he wanted was a fun, no-strings kind of affair? Was that what she wanted? Would that really be such a bad option? At least she would have him to herself for just a short while.
‘I don’t know what’s happening to me,’ she said huskily. ‘I’ve never felt this way before…’
‘I know. It’s the same for me,’ he murmured, his voice rough around the edges. ‘I think you’ve cast a spell on me. I can scarcely think straight when I’m around you.’ He gently lifted her hand and placed it over his heart. ‘See what you do to me? I don’t understand it, no other woman has ever made me feel quite like this before.’
His heart was thudding heavily, a chaotic, thundering rhythm, and she felt its beat ricochet along her arm. Had she really made him feel this way, his emotions raging out of control, just as was happening with her? A short burst of elation spiralled inside her, until she realised her thoughts were taking a hazardous course. Should she stop this right now, or was it already too late? Her heart and mind were at war with one another.
Then the roar of a car’s engine sounded in the distance, breaking the spell, and Connor half turned to glance in the direction of the road. ‘I guess that must be Ross, coming to show off his new car,’ he said on a soft sigh. He ran his hands over her arms. ‘Perhaps I should have known I wouldn’t get you all to myself for very long.’ He lowered his head towards her and kissed her tenderly on the lips. ‘Just one more kiss to keep me going…then I’ll have that to remember when I’m at work.’
She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him in return. What would it hurt to give way to her feelings just this once?
They drew apart as a car swung onto the driveway of the property. Ross parked by the side of the house and cut the engine.
‘What are you two up to?’ he said in a suspicious voice, looking them over as he walked towards them. ‘You’re getting very close all of a sudden, aren’t you? Is there something going on that I should know about?’
‘You know everything there is to know,’ Connor murmured, sliding an arm lightly around Alyssa’s waist. He looked at the shiny, metallic grey convertible on the driveway. ‘So this is the new dream machine…very nice. From the way you roared in here, I guess you’ve already put it through its paces.’
Ross smiled, nodding. ‘It purrs like a kitten, and the acceleration is so smooth.’ He turned to Alyssa. ‘I’ll have to take you for a spin in it. You’ll love it with the top down and the feel of the wind in your hair. Couldn’t be better.’ He checked his watch. ‘How about now? There’s no time like the present.’
‘Sorry, but I have to get ready to go and meet Carys at the airport,’ she said. ‘Perhaps some other time.’
He frowned. ‘I could take you there—it’s no problem. It’s a two plus two seater, so there’s room for Carys in the back. She’s only a slim slip of a girl, so she should manage okay with a small amount of leg room.’ His mouth quirked. ‘That’s the thing with sports cars…they’re built for speed, not space.’
Alyssa thought it over. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind taking me? It would help as you know the roads better than I do. But I should warn you—I might have to hang around for a while if her plane comes in late. And the journey’s more than just a short trip, you know. It will take at least half an hour for us to get there.’
‘Or twenty minutes in my new baby.’ He gave her a beaming smile.
‘Are you planning on writing off this car before you’ve even had a chance to run it in?’ Connor was frowning. ‘You’ll have Alyssa in the passenger seat—if you’re going to drive like a maniac she’ll do better to drive herself.’
‘Oh, but he wouldn’t do that,’ Alyssa put in quickly, ‘would you, Ross?’
‘Of course not, sweetheart.’ Ross turned to Connor. ‘As if I would do anything to put her at risk. Believe in me, brother. I’ll bring her back safe and sound.’
‘You’d better. The problem is, I know you too well.’ Connor’s expression was serious. ‘I’ve been wondering if that knock on your head didn’t set off your wild streak, especially after you started to talk about doing the water-ski stunt. You’re meant to be the film producer, not the stuntman. The company doesn’t insure you to put yourself in the frame.’
Ross reached out and patted him on the shoulder. ‘You worry too much, bro. It’ll all be fine, you’ll see.’
‘Hmm.’ Connor was still frowning. ‘It had better be. Remember, you have Alyssa to think about—you don’t need to be showing off in front of her—she already knows who you are.’
Ross laughed. ‘I’ll take care of her, I promise.’ He looked curiously at his brother. ‘Is this a protective instinct coming out in you? I guess I have competition.’ He made a crooked smile. ‘Still, she already knows you don’t have any staying power. I warned her about you and your reputation a long while ago.’
‘I’ll just bet you did.’ Connor’s dark eyes glinted, flint-sharp.
Alyssa decided it was time to interrupt. ‘Look, you need to put your differences to one side for a while, both of you. And there’s no competition going on here. I’m not looking to get involved with anyone. I’ve been there and it wasn’t good, and I’m not likely to be trying it again any time soon, especially with a man who thinks he’s the next James Bond and another who thinks the dating game is just that—a game.’ Those few minutes in Connor’s arms had been a mistake, she could see it now. Why would he think of her differently compared to any of the women who had gone before? She was deluding herself if she thought otherwise, wasn’t she?
She was frowning now, and both men were looking at her with alert expressions. She glanced at her watch. ‘And I really think I should be setting off or I’ll be late. I’ll go and get my bag.’
A short time later she slid into the passenger seat of Ross’s convertible and watched him set the sat-nav. ‘Okay, we’re off,’ he said, and the engine growled into life. She glanced at him. ‘Just kidding,’ he murmured. ‘Connor’s watching, and I wanted to make him sweat.’
‘You’re such a child,’ she scolded. ‘Behave yourself, for heaven’s sake.’ She turned to look at Connor, who was standing by the house, his features taut, his body rigid. She waved, and mouthed silently, ‘See you later.’
Ross shot the car along the road, gathering speed until they had left the isolated property behind them. Only then did he slow down and turn to look at her in triumph. ‘That gave him something to think about, didn’t it?’
‘That doesn’t even deserve an answer,’ she said, flicking him a cool glance. ‘You need to grow up, Ross.’
‘Yeah, I know. I will.’ He slid the car onto the main highway. ‘I wouldn’t take any risks with you. He ought to know that.’ He shot her a quick look. ‘But I think you must have crept under his skin somehow and found a soft spot. He’s definitely hot and bothered where you’re concerned.’
‘I doubt it,’ she murmured. ‘Anyway, could we talk about something else?’
>
‘Sore point, eh?’ He smiled. ‘Sure. So what do you think of my new beauty? She even has cameras to help with parking. You just switch on the screen on the dash, press “camera”, and away you go.’
Alyssa was suitably impressed, and Ross pointed out all the finer features of the car while they drove along. Traffic was building up on the roads, as might have been expected this close to midday, but Ross stayed calm and headed towards the road junction ahead. He glanced in his rear-view mirror.
‘Some people are unbelievable,’ he murmured, and Alyssa pulled down her courtesy mirror to see what was going on behind them.
A driver in a white saloon was weaving in and out of traffic, as though he was determined to get to the junction ahead of anyone else. He was a young man, in his early twenties, Alyssa guessed.
‘He’ll end up causing all kinds of mayhem, the way he’s going,’ Ross murmured. ‘I don’t see why he can’t just…’ He let out a mild curse as, without warning, the driver pulled out into the far lane to overtake and then swung back in front of him.
Ross touched his brakes, conscious all the time of the cars closing the gap behind him. ‘Now, why on earth would he do something like that?’ he murmured, frowning.
‘He’s obviously in a hurry.’
Too much so, because in the next minute the driver shot across the junction and there was an almighty crash and the awful sound of grinding metal as he ran straight into a car that was already travelling towards the middle of the road.
Alyssa’s heart seemed to turn over. ‘Oh, no…Stop the car, Ross,’ she said in a shocked voice. ‘Is there anywhere you can pull over? I need to go and see if anyone needs help.’ It didn’t look good. The left side of the other vehicle, a black coupé, had caved in, and the white saloon had lost its front end.
‘I can’t pull over. I’m completely boxed in,’ Ross answered, searching around for a solution. ‘The way people drive out here can be awful at times. I’m sorry you had to see this.’ He stopped the car next to the crashed cars, and Alyssa slid out of the passenger seat. All the other traffic had come to a standstill and car horns were blaring.
‘I don’t suppose you have a first-aid box in the car, do you?’ she asked, reaching into her bag for her phone as she pushed open the passenger door.
‘I do. Connor tells me I always have to be prepared. I’ll get it for you.’ He stepped out of the car.
‘Thanks.’ Fumbling around in her bag, she pulled a face. ‘I left my phone back at the house. Will you call for an ambulance?’
‘Of course. I’m already on it.’ He took the first-aid box from the boot of his car and handed it to her, then pulled out his mobile phone and began to punch in numbers.
Alyssa went over to the black car. At first glance that appeared to be the one where there was likely to be the most damage to the occupants.
The woman driver was bleeding badly from a chest wound and appeared to be in deep shock, though she managed to give her name. ‘My name is Raeni,’ she said. ‘My children—’ She broke off, struggling to breathe.
Alyssa glanced in the back of the car. There were two children there, a boy and a girl, aged about ten and eight, both white faced and crying quietly. ‘Mama’s bleeding,’ the boy said in a panicked tone, his face crumpling. ‘She’s bleeding.’ The children were very distressed by the sight of the blood.
‘I know, but we’re going to look after her.’ As far as she could tell, neither of the children was injured, but it was clear they were very badly shaken.
‘He came out of nowhere,’ Raeni managed to say, gasping between each word. ‘I don’t know what he—’ She was very agitated. ‘My children—’
‘They’re all right,’ Alyssa assured the woman. ‘Try not to upset yourself. Help’s on the way.’ She took a dressing pad from the first-aid kit. ‘I’m going to put this dressing pad against your chest. Perhaps you could hold it there to help stem the bleeding. I have to go and check on the people in the other car, but I promise I’ll be back in a minute or two.’
The woman nodded, and Alyssa hurried over to the white saloon. She found the young man slumped over the wheel, but he was still conscious and able to answer Alyssa when she spoke to him. He said his name was Malik. He was alert but breathless, and complained of abdominal pain. There were some cuts on his forearm, too, but nothing that appeared major.
‘Try to stay still, Malik,’ Alyssa said softly. ‘The ambulance will be here soon.’ She wished she could give him oxygen, but without her medical equipment she was severely hampered. Added to that, she couldn’t split herself two ways and had to decide which person needed attention most of all. She opted to go to the woman in the black car. She was losing blood fairly rapidly and her condition could deteriorate at any moment.
Ross came over to her. ‘Can I do anything to help?’
‘Yes, please,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Will you stay with Malik while I see to the other driver? Perhaps you could put a couple of dressings on his arm.’ She gave him some dressings and a bandage from the first-aid kit. ‘Try to keep him calm, if you can. If he gets agitated it will make his breathing worse.’
‘I can do that. Don’t worry. I’ll stay with him.’
Alyssa went back to the black car but was alarmed to find that Raeni was by now unconscious and the dressing pad was soaked through with her blood. She quickly felt for the pulse at her wrist, but to her dismay it was barely discernible.
She was stunned by what had happened, and it was the worst kind of situation she could have had to face. If Raeni’s heart stopped, or was at a virtual standstill, no oxygen would flow around her body, and she would be brain dead within a very short time unless something was done to save her. What could she do? Where was the ambulance? The thought that she was the only one who could help this woman weighed heavily on her. Was she up to it?
Turning to the children, she said softly, ‘I need you to go and sit with my friend for a little while so that I can look after your mother. Will you do that for me? I promise I’ll take care of her.’
She bit her lip as she made that promise. Would she be able to save their mother? She shook off the negative thought. She had to save her. She couldn’t bear the thought of these two innocent children being left motherless.
They tried to object but under her gentle insistence they gradually gave way and she quickly helped them out of the car. Ross gave her a concerned glance. He seemed to understand that she didn’t want them to see what she had to do and said, ‘Don’t worry, they’ll be fine with me.’
Alyssa went back to Raeni. Acting on instinct, she lowered the back of the driver’s seat so that she was lying as flat as possible. Then she opened the woman’s blouse and checked the wound. What she saw almost made her gasp out loud. It was nasty, deep, wide and gaping. How on earth could she bring her through this? She was so badly injured, there was hardly any chance of her being able to pull through.
She was guessing that the wound must have penetrated the heart, but even with the dire prognosis that presented, she couldn’t give up, could she? Recalling the children’s pinched, tear-stained faces was enough to spur her on. There had to be some way she could restore the woman’s circulation.
She switched on the car’s interior light so that she would be able to see a little better. She removed a pair of disposable gloves from the first-aid kit, along with a small bottle of antiseptic lotion, then took a sharp pair of scissors from her bag. After dousing the scissors in the solution, she began to clean Raeni’s skin. She could only pray that the scissors would be strong enough and sharp enough to do the job in place of a scalpel.
In the distance, she heard the sound of the ambulance as she cut into the woman’s chest. There was no anaesthetic she could give her, but in Raeni’s present state that was probably the least of her problems. Within a minute or two Alyssa had opened up the area and could see the cause of the problem. The pericardium, the sac around the heart, was swollen and stiff with blood, putting pressure like a clamp
around the heart and preventing it from pumping.
She heard the ambulance draw up and soon the paramedics were talking to Ross. She looked around and knew a huge surge of relief as she saw Connor coming towards her.
‘Oh, Connor, thank heaven it’s you,’ she said. ‘I’d forgotten it would be you coming out with the ambulance…I’m so glad to see you. I really need your help.’ A wave of nausea washed through her as the strain of the last few minutes started to make itself felt on her.
‘It’s okay, Alyssa…Take it easy…Slow down and take a deep breath…’ He laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. His voice and his calm, soothing presence were instantly comforting to her, and she felt some of the tension ease from her. It was only then, as she looked up at him, that she realised Connor might not be as composed as he seemed. His face was devoid of colour and his body was taut, as though he was steeling himself in some way.
‘Are you all right?’ she asked, and he nodded.
‘Tell me what the situation is here.’ His manner was brisk, and that was surely understandable. They were dealing with an emergency here.
‘I need to remove the blood clot that’s formed in the pericardium,’ she told him, ‘but she’ll need anaesthetic and a fluid line, preferably before I do that. We have to act quickly. She may need medication to force the heart muscle to contract.’ She’d find out later what was wrong with Connor. For now, their patient had to be their main priority.
Connor was already opening up his medical kit and pulling on disposable gloves. Within a very short time he had put in an intravenous line so that Raeni could be given life-saving fluids, as well as an anaesthetic and other medication. He put an endotracheal tube down her windpipe and connected it to an oxygen supply.
While he did all that, Alyssa carefully began to remove the blood clot and drained away some of the fluid from the pericardial sac. Slowly, as the pressure was eased, the woman’s heart began to beat once more, and at the same time blood began to spurt from the wound site. Alyssa placed her finger over the hole to stem the flow.