‘You’re not abseiling down.’
‘The rock is crumbling here. It’s really unstable. That’s probably why he fell. I’m lighter than you. It makes sense for me to go.’
‘Meg—’
‘You’re too heavy, Dino. We’re wasting time.’ She checked the anchors that would hold the rope, looking for signs of corrosion, fractures and movement in the rock. ‘If he’s been hanging there for a while, the cold is going to be our biggest problem. Once I have him on the ledge, lower me a sleeping bag—something warm, because if he’s been hanging there for half an hour, he’s going to be cold.’
‘You’re not going.’
Meg adjusted her harness and jammed a helmet on her head. ‘Are you speaking as my lover or as a member of the mountain rescue team?’
A muscle flickered in his cheek. His internal battle was played out across his handsome face. ‘Back up your anchors and keep the rope clear of loose rock and sharp edges. Abseil smoothly and directly down the fall line.’
She pulled on gloves and tossed the rope. ‘You think I’m doing this for the adrenaline rush?’
He didn’t smile. ‘Use an autoblock as a backup to hold the control rope if you let go.’
‘I’m not going to let go.’ Looking at his face, she felt warmth build inside her. He cared. And it felt scarily good. ‘I’m tying a French Prusik. Happy? That way, if I decide to live dangerously and let go, I’m not going to fall.’ Calm and confident, Meg made five wraps around the rope and then clipped the two ends into the karabiner.
‘Get him onto a ledge.’ Dino leaned forward and checked her harness. ‘Use your radio.’
Meg went over the edge carefully, checking her anchors and the pull of the rope. The first thing she noticed was the bitter cold and the evidence of new snowfall. She cursed as her feet dislodged loose snow and sent it showering over her. She wondered if the weather had contributed to the man’s fall. Overhead she heard the clatter of the search-and-rescue helicopter but she forced herself to focus and concentrate on her own descent.
Finally she was next to the injured climber, her cheeks numb with cold. How much colder must he be after being exposed to the weather in this place?
‘Hi, there—can you hear me?’ She moved her feet across the rock face so that she was next to him, keeping an eye on the rope. ‘I’m Meg. I’m with the mountain rescue team.’
His face was a whitish grey, shocked. Blood had stained one leg of his trousers. ‘Nick. I’m bleeding. Not good.’
‘Well, this is your lucky day because I’m going to do something about that, Nick.’
His lips barely moved. ‘C-cold.’
‘I know. I’m going to do something about that too.’ She glanced at the rock face. Judged the distance. ‘Nick, I’m going to move you onto that ledge and see if I can sort out the bleeding. It will be quicker than getting you to the ground.’
‘Fiona—my girlfriend…’
‘We’ll get her down in a minute. You’re the priority. Can you move?’ Descending half a metre, Meg moved across the rock face and climbed up to the ledge that she knew was under the layers of snow. With her gloved hand she formed a snow shelf. Dino’s voice came through the radio and she talked to him briefly, updating him, telling him about the bleeding. Then she carefully helped the injured climber onto the shelf. ‘OK, let’s see what we’re dealing with. Can you undo your trousers? They’re an expensive brand—I don’t really want to cut them off.’
Nick gave a weak laugh. ‘That sounds like an indecent suggestion.’
‘Nick, it’s minus five.’ Meg ripped open a sterile pad and then helped him slide his trousers down to expose the wound. ‘Sex isn’t exactly the foremost thing on my mind right now. I—’ Blood spurted into the air and she slammed the pad down hard on the wound, pressing with her hand ‘Right, that’s quite a cut you’ve got there. You must have caught an artery.’
‘I gashed it on the rock—it spurted.’
‘Still spurting.’ The pad was soaked within seconds. Meg increased the pressure.
Nick leaned his head against the rock. ‘I tried a tourniquet. Kept releasing it and tightening it but it wasn’t easy. Just leave me. Get Fiona.’
‘I’m not leaving you.’ Her fingers were slippery with the blood. Using her free hand, Meg spoke into her radio. Her own pulse was racing because this wasn’t the place to be dealing with a major injury. She had no room to manoeuvre. ‘Dino, I’m dealing with a bleeding femoral artery.’ She was going to have to apply another tourniquet, up here on a ledge in freezing conditions. What equipment did she have? What could she use? She had another rope in her backpack. Maybe she could cut that—
‘Meg.’ Dino’s voice came over the radio. ‘I’m sending down a sleeping bag and Celox. Use Celox to stop the bleeding. Pour it into the wound. Apply pressure for three minutes.’
‘Celox. Damn.’ Meg blinked. ‘I’d forgotten about Celox.’
Nick’s eyes opened. ‘What’s Celox?’
‘It stops bleeding by bonding with red blood cells. It gels and produces a clot. It’s amazing stuff. Originally developed for battlefield injuries, I think, but now we’re using it. Had our first training session last month.’ Careful with her balance, Meg took the pack that Dino lowered. Trying to remember what she’d been taught in the last training session, she ripped open the packet and tipped the Celox into the wound. Then she tore open a fresh pad and applied pressure. ‘Let’s just hope it’s as good as they say it is. Apparently it takes less than thirty seconds to clot. It even works in freezing temperatures, which is just as well because that’s what we’re dealing with here. See?’ Relief poured through her as the bleeding ceased. ‘It’s magic. Otherwise known as a powerful haemostatic agent. You’re going to be fine, Nick. We’re going to get you out of here and—Nick? Oh, no, don’t do this to me—not here…’
‘It’s all right, Meg, he’s still breathing.’ Dino spoke from right beside her and she turned with relief, realising that she hadn’t even heard his descent.
‘What are you doing here? The rock is crumbling and you must have come down far too fast.’ Her voice was croaky. ‘If I admit that I’m pleased to see you, are you ever going to let me forget it?’
‘Probably not.’ His hands were over hers, reassuring and strong. ‘How’s the bleeding?’
‘It’s stopped. That stuff is like a miracle.’
‘You’re the miracle, tesoro.’ Dino took over. He checked Nick and then signalled to the winchman, who was slowly lowered with the stretcher. ‘I’m going to get some morphine into him and then we’re going to get him onto the stretcher and into the helicopter. It’s only a five-minute flight from here.’
The transfer to the helicopter went smoothly. Having discharged his responsibility towards Nick, Dino abseiled down to help Fiona, who was still clinging to the rock face, frozen with fear.
It took him another twenty minutes to calm her sufficiently to be able to help her down the rock face. Finally, when she was safely secured to him, Dino carefully helped her down to the valley floor. Back in the mountain rescue vehicle, they wrapped her in layers to warm her.
‘Will Nick be all right?’ Her teeth chattering, Fiona huddled deeper inside the coat. ‘When he fell, I thought—I thought…’
‘He’s going to be fine.’ Meg cleaned herself up as discreetly as possible, sloshing water over her hands. ‘We’re taking you to the hospital now, so you can check that out for yourself.’
Ellie met them as they walked into the department. Her eyes sparkled knowingly as she saw Meg and Dino together. ‘Enjoying your Sunday?’ Without saying anything else, she smiled and slid her arm around Fiona, escorting her to where Nick was being assessed.
‘Not subtle, are they?’ Meg gritted her teeth. ‘I should have got you to drop me off.’
Dino sent her a speculative look. ‘I don’t see a reason to hide our relationship. Do you?’
Meg shrugged awkwardly. ‘Well, we’re colleagues. I suppose it’s just I don�
��t want everyone knowing. I don’t want them all taking bets on how long it is before you go off with some long-legged blonde.’
‘You’re a long-legged blonde, amore.’ Dino slid his arm round her waist and pulled her against him. ‘And I’m with you.’
Conscious of their surroundings, Meg tried to ignore the sizzle of awareness in her body. ‘We’re at work.’
‘No, we’re not. It’s our day off.’ His mouth was close to hers. ‘Stop thinking like that, Meg. Stop thinking this relationship is doomed before it starts.’
‘Right. Yes. I’m going to stop.’ Meg tried not to think about Hayden. Instead, she found herself thinking about her replacement, the gorgeous Georgina, waiting in the car, her hair smooth and sleek and her mouth a glossy red. Damn the woman. ‘I’m just going to nip to the staffroom and clean up. Then we can go and pick up Jamie and get your car.’
‘Come back to my house for the evening.’ Dino stroked her face with his fingers. ‘I’ll cook some pasta. We can open a bottle of wine.’
‘I have Jamie.’
‘He can eat my pasta. And I’ve bought a selection of DVDs for him.’
‘You’re kidding.’ Meg started to laugh. ‘You bought Ice Age?’
‘I bought every animated film that has been produced in the last ten years, just to be on the safe side. And a mountain of popcorn.’
‘Be careful. If you make it too comfortable, we’ll move in.’
Something flickered in Dino’s eyes and Meg took a step backwards, seriously shaken up by her own thought process. Why had she said that? What was she thinking? ‘I—I need to go and clean up. I’ll meet you in the car park.’ Without giving him time to answer, she shot into the staffroom and into the shower room.
She turned on the hot water and scrubbed her hands, soaping them to remove all traces of the dramatic rescue. Moving in? Since when had sex turned into moving in? Get a grip, Meg. It was all too fast.
She closed her eyes tightly, trying to wipe out the picture of the three of them curled up on one of Dino’s huge, deep sofas, watching a movie.
He liked her, yes. And he liked Jamie. Otherwise why would he have bought an entire collection of movies he was never likely to watch on his own? And he genuinely seemed to find her attractive, even when she was dressed in her walking gear.
So why was she just waiting for it to fall apart?
Reminding herself that Dino wasn’t anything like Hayden, Meg dried her hands and opened the door of the shower room. A couple of nurses from the department were making tea and Melissa, the nurse from the observation unit, was in the middle of telling a story about some unfortunate girl whose trousers had split.
‘It would help if she ate less chocolate,’ she said bitchily, and then broke off as Meg appeared. ‘Oh—hi, Meg. Gosh, what have you been doing with your Sunday? You look a total wreck.’
A total wreck.
Angry, Meg pushed her hair away from her face. ‘I rescued a man from certain death from a cliff face,’ she said coldly. ‘What have you been doing with your Sunday, Melissa? Painting your nails?’
Flirting with doctors?
‘Apart from working, I’ve been planning what to wear for Dino Zinetti’s Christmas party.’ Melissa made herself a herbal tea and declined the offer of a biscuit from one of the other nurses. ‘No, thanks. My dress is so-o-o tight there’s barely room for me, certainly no room for a biscuit. I want to look like a woman, but not that much of a woman.’
Meg felt sick. Dino had invited Melissa to his party? A few friends, he’d said. Friends from work and members of the mountain rescue team. Since when had Melissa been a friend? He knew it was seeing Melissa that had upset her on the night of the ball.
Nina, one of the other nurses, helped herself to two biscuits. ‘So what are you wearing, Meg?’
Meg looked at her blankly. What was she wearing? What sort of a question was that? The party was two days away. Who started thinking about what to wear two days before an event? Dino had told her it was informal. She’d planned to tug open her wardrobe half an hour before she left the house and pick something.
‘Meg will wear jeans.’ Melissa fished her tea bag out of her mug. ‘Meg always wears jeans. And I don’t blame you.’ She smiled at Meg. ‘Jeans are always safe, aren’t they? And your legs are quite muscular.’
Muscular?
Meg had an overwhelming temptation to kick one of her muscular legs straight into Melissa’s glossy smile.
She wanted to say something witty that would wipe the smirk off the other girl’s face, but her mind was completely blank. No words came. Later, she knew, she’d think of something cutting. Later, when it was far too late to say anything, and then she’d spend weeks cursing herself for not thinking of the right thing to say at the right time. But for now there was nothing. So she simply muttered something non-specific and left the room, hating herself for letting them get to her.
Meg will wear jeans. Meg always wears jeans.
What was wrong with that?
What was so clever about pouring yourself into a tight dress that left nothing to the imagination? Any idiot could plaster themselves with make-up and pout, couldn’t they?
Angry and hurt, she stomped towards the back entrance of the department. She’d actually been looking forward to Dino’s party, but now she didn’t want to go. It was going to be another one of those social events that felt like a competition. I love your shoes. Oh, that dress is so gorgeous. A room full of gorgeous Georginas all staring at her and judging.
Meg always wears jeans.
Maybe she’d just tell Dino she wasn’t well. But then Jamie would be horribly disappointed and she’d earn herself another lecture from her mother.
Pushing open the doors of the emergency department, Meg paused as the cold air rushed forward to meet her. In the distance she saw the jagged outline of the mountains, topped with snow and sparkling under the winter sun. Just looking at them made her feel instantly better.
Really, she had to get over this. It was just a party. One party. Not a big deal. Nothing worth getting herself into a stew over. She was being pathetic.
Meg breathed in the fresh mountain air and suddenly felt stronger.
Two girls dressed as elves hobbled past her into the building, chatting together. A mother with a pushchair loaded with Christmas shopping negotiated the icy pavement on her way home. Life, Meg thought. A mixture of good and bad. Easy and difficult.
The door swung closed behind her and she saw Dino waiting for her, the collar of his jacket turned up against the cold, his phone in his hand as he scrolled through his messages.
She could ask him why he’d invited Melissa. She could tell him she wasn’t coming. Or she could play this another way.
Meg gave a slow smile.
And have some fun.
Chapter Eight
DINO checked on the caterers and adjusted the volume of the music. People had been arriving for the past hour but there was still no sign of Meg and Jamie.
A tinkle of female laughter scraped against his nerve endings and he clenched his jaw and glanced over his shoulder at Melissa. She stood with her back to the fire, the shimmering light turning her skin-tight black dress transparent. He wondered if she knew her underwear was on display and decided that she did. Melissa did nothing by accident. He knew her type well. Her dress was a message. I’m yours.
Except that he didn’t want her.
He hadn’t invited her, but she’d arrived as part of the group of nurses from the emergency department. Given that the purpose of the party was goodwill, he’d decided to overlook it. But now he was remembering that Melissa had been the reason Meg had run out on him the night of the ball. Had she found out that Melissa intended to show up? Was that why she wasn’t here?
If she didn’t know, she was going to find out soon enough. And she was going to take one look at Melissa’s ultra-short dress and shiny red mouth and turn and run. Again.
Dino felt tension ripple across his shoulders.
He’d told her it was casual, hadn’t he? He’d set this whole thing up as somewhere comfortable and safe where she could socialise without worrying about what everyone was wearing. He hadn’t factored in that it was Christmas and most of the women were looking for an excuse to dress up and flutter their feathers.
Meg was going to arrive in her jeans and feel out of place.
He wondered whether he should call her mobile and warn her. But if he did that, she would definitely freak out and not show.
‘Hi, Dino, great party.’ One of the consultant radiologists shook his hand firmly and introduced his wife, who was heavily pregnant. ‘This is a fantastic place you have here.’
Looking at the throng of people filling his house, Dino gave a humourless smile. Interesting, he thought, how a house could be full of people and yet still feel empty just because of the absence of one person.
Extracting himself from small talk, Dino glanced through the expanse of glass, watching for headlights. People were arriving in a continuous stream, but there was still no sign of Meg.
He was just exchanging a few words with an equipment officer from the mountain rescue team when the room suddenly fell silent. The steady buzz of conversation faded to near silence. Exploring the cause, Dino turned his head and saw Meg standing in the doorway. She was wearing a sparkling blue dress that made Melissa’s choice of semi-transparent black look positively dowdy.
Scanning her from the tumble of golden curls to the long, graceful length of her legs, Dino tried to remember how to breathe. What had possessed him to invite all these people when there was only one person who interested him? Why hadn’t he just invited her and made it a private party for two? She looked stunning.
And sophisticated.
A pair of killer heels made her legs look impossibly long and the shimmering dress skimmed her athletic physique in a way that suggested rather than shrieked.
‘Dino!’ Jamie flew across the room, dressed as a superhero, his cape flying behind him. ‘Sorry we’re late. We were on a mission.’
Dino scooped the boy into his arms, his eyes still on Meg. For a moment she didn’t move. She just looked at him. Then she smiled and walked across the room, head held high.
Dr Zinetti's Snowkissed Bride / The Christmas Baby Bump Page 15