Italian Doctor, No Strings Attached. Kate Hardy

she was still wobbly from the abseiling, because her knees went weak again at the touch of his skin against hers and the memory of that kiss made her skin burn.

      ‘So how long have you worked here?’ he asked.

      ‘Five years—since I qualified and did my two years’ pre-reg training. It’s a really nice department to work in. Everyone’s great. Except possibly Max Fenton, who suggested we did this abseil in the first place.’ She pulled a face. ‘I think I’ve gone off him.’

      Marco laughed. ‘No, you haven’t. He’s a nice guy.’

      ‘His wife’s nice, too—Marina. Have you met her yet? She’s Italian, too. She’s working part time at the moment, and then she’s off on maternity leave again in a couple of months.’ She paused. ‘So you’ve done a lot of climbing and abseiling?’

      He shrugged. ‘What can I say? I went through a phase of doing extreme sports.’

      ‘You did that sort of thing for pleasure? Are you insane?’ She shuddered. ‘I’m going to have nightmares tonight.’

      He just laughed, and Sydney looked at him. He really did have lovely eyes. And a beautiful mouth. Not that she should be thinking about that kiss. It hadn’t meant anything; it had just been adrenalin whizzing through her system. She wasn’t in the market for a relationship. Not any more. ‘Do you sing many people down like that?’

      ‘Not on an abseil, no—it’s usually to distract little ones in the department, because it stops them being scared.’

      ‘Fair point.’ It was a technique she used, too. ‘Though I normally get them to sing “Old Macdonald Had a Farm” or something like that.’

      He laughed again. ‘Ah, the song choice. I picked that one because it’s a happy song. It always makes me think of driving with the roof down on a summer day.’

      Sydney looked at him and took in the quality of his clothes. It was a fair bet that he owned an open-topped sports car. Gorgeous to look at, a nice guy, and beautifully dressed: he was going to have women sighing over him everywhere he walked.

      Though not her. She didn’t sigh over men, any more. She’d learned the hard way that it wasn’t worth the effort: the only person she could really rely on was herself.

      ‘I take it you’re meeting Ellen now?’ On his first day, of course he’d be meeting the head of the department. At his nod, she said, ‘I can show you to her office, if you like.’

      ‘Thanks, that’d be good.’

      Sydney Collins was absolutely gorgeous. Chestnut hair cut into a short bob, eyes the colour of the shallow bay near his family home in Capri, and a sweet, heart-shaped face. Better still, she didn’t have the ‘look at me’ attitude that Marco disliked in women who spent hours on their appearance. Now that she wasn’t panicking about the abseil, Sydney had turned out to be good company, lively and bright. He liked her instinctively.

      And that kiss … He still didn’t know why he’d done it; he wasn’t in the habit of going round kissing complete strangers. The adrenalin rush from the abseil, maybe. But his mouth was still tingling, and he’d felt that zing between them when she’d shaken his hand. There’d been a look of surprise in her eyes, so he was pretty sure it was a mutual zing.

      His head was telling him this was absolutely mad—he wasn’t looking for a relationship. He didn’t want one. And yet his heart was saying something else entirely. That he hadn’t felt a connection like this for so long: he should seize the moment and put some fun back into his life.

      ‘Here we are,’ Sydney said with a smile as they reached Ellen’s office. ‘No doubt I’ll see you in the department later.’

      ‘Sure. Thanks for bringing me here.’

      ‘My pleasure. And thank you for getting me off the top of that wretched tower,’ she replied. She smiled again, gave him a tiny wave, and headed off to the department.

      So, this was it. Meeting the director of the emergency department again, and starting his new job. Six months of working in the busiest department of one of the busiest hospitals in London. And he relished the challenge.

      He knocked on Ellen’s door.

      ‘Come in,’ the director called. She smiled at him when he walked in. ‘Have a seat. Was that Sydney I just saw with you?’

      ‘Yes. She showed me the way here.’

      ‘I gather you rescued her earlier.’

      He blinked. ‘Wow. The hospital grapevine here is fast.’

      ‘It certainly is.’ Ellen laughed. ‘I guess it’s one way of meeting your new team. Syd’s not a registrar yet, but she’s well on the way and she’ll be a good support for you.’ She gave him a speculative look. ‘And I hear you have a good singing voice. You do realise you’re going to get nagged into being part of the ED revue if we can get you to extend your secondment and stay past Christmas, don’t you?’

      He smiled. ‘Not a problem. And maybe I can persuade some of the non-singers into forming a choir.’

      ‘I have a feeling you might just manage that.’ She smiled at him. ‘Come on, let me show you round and introduce you to everyone.’

      He’d met half the team when a trolley came round the corner, a paramedic on one side and Sydney on the other; clearly they were heading towards Resus.

      He caught snippets of their conversation as the handover continued. ‘Knocked off his bike … helmet saved him … broken arm … ribs …’

      Given the situation, there was a very high chance that the cyclist would have a pneumothorax. And he’d dealt with enough cycling accidents in his time to be useful here. He glanced at Ellen. ‘Mind if I …?’

      ‘I was going to put you on Cubicles, to ease you in gently.’ She spread her hands. ‘But if you want to hit the ground running, that’s fine by me. And you’ve already met Syd, so I don’t have to introduce you. Go for it.’

      ‘Thank you.’ He quickened his pace slightly and caught Sydney up. ‘Hey. Would another pair of hands be useful right now?’

      ‘Considering that the driver of the car’s due in the next ambulance, yes, please,’ she said.

      Within seconds Marco had swapped his suit jacket for a white coat. Although technically he was the senior doctor, he knew that Sydney had been part of the team for longer and knew her way round. ‘I’ll follow your lead.’

      She looked surprised, and then pleased. ‘OK. Thank you.’ She turned to their patient. ‘Colin, this is Dr Ranieri, our registrar. He’s going to help me treat you. We’re going to sort your pain relief first and make you more comfortable, then we can assess you properly.’

      He noticed that she didn’t use Entonox; clearly she suspected a pneumothorax as well, so she was using a painkiller that wouldn’t make the condition worse.

      ‘Where does it hurt most, Colin?’ she asked.

      ‘My arm. And my ribs.’

      Colin was definitely getting more breathless, Marco noticed, and finding it harder to speak.

      Sydney listened to his chest. ‘Decreased air entry,’ she mouthed to Marco.

      ‘Needle decompression?’ he mouthed back.

      She nodded.

      His first instinct was to offer to do it, but he wanted to see how she worked; besides, given her throwaway comment about being a better doctor than abseiler, he had a feeling she needed to do this—that she needed to prove to him that she was good at her job and not some weak lightweight who couldn’t cope. And he could always step in if she needed help.

      ‘I’ll hand you the stuff and keep an eye on the monitors,’ he said.