It started with just one night...

But Dr. Matteo Martini is in for a double surprise!

Paramedic Georgia Bennett has never forgotten the night of no strings she shared with delectable Matteo, but never expected it would lead to the most surprising of consequences. And as he walks toward her at her best friend Kate’s wedding, Georgia knows she has to tell him the truth...

ALISON ROBERTS is a New Zealander, currently lucky enough to be living in the south of France. She is also lucky enough to write for the Mills & Boon Medical Romance line. A primary school teacher in a former life, she is now a qualified paramedic. She loves to travel and dance, drink champagne, and spend time with her daughter and her friends.

Also by Lauri Robinson

The Fling That Changed Everything

The Forbidden Prince

Their First Family Christmas

A Life-Saving Reunion

The Surrogate’s Unexpected Miracle

Sleigh Ride with the Single Dad

Rescued Hearts miniseries

The Doctor’s Wife for Keeps

Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc

Alison Roberts

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07488-9

TWIN SURPRISE FOR THE ITALIAN DOC

© 2018 Alison Roberts

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

For Sarah, Luke and Brendan,

with lots of love and very fond memories

of our adventures in the Czech Republic. xx

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

Extract

PROLOGUE

‘I THINK WE’RE LOST.’

Georgia Bennett had been enjoying the view of this pretty forest road as they wound their way through the Alps that bordered this part of the Czech Republic. It was her companion Kate’s turn to drive and it was obvious she was a little out of her comfort zone, which was hardly surprising. Georgia was the crazy one in this friendship—the one that took risks and chased adventures.

And she had every intention of making this one of her most significant adventures ever.

‘Whose bright idea was it to enter this international medical rescue competition?’ Kate continued. ‘Oh, yeah...yours...’

‘It’s an adventure.’ Georgia threw a reassuring smile in Kate’s direction but reached for the folder that had the maps so she could double check what the satellite navigation device was telling them. ‘Admit it—you’re loving it already.’

Kate still didn’t sound happy. ‘Road trips always sound more fun than they actually are. It’s a hell of a long way from Scotland to the back of beyond in the Czech Republic. I’ve never even heard of the town we’re trying to find.’

‘Rakovi. It’s a ski resort. And this is the biggest competition of its kind in the world. I’ve been hearing about it for years—ever since I became a paramedic.’

Georgia had tried to get a whole team together from her colleagues and persuade the manager of her rescue base to let them take an ambulance on an epic road trip but, despite her best efforts, it hadn’t panned out. Then she’d heard about the doctor/paramedic combinations that were allowed and that you could compete using a car. All she’d had to do was persuade Kate. Presenting the whole package as a birthday gift—along with a bottle of really good champagne—had done the trick.

‘Well, I’ve never heard of it.’

‘That’s because you’re a doctor and your lot aren’t as adventurous.’

‘Hmm...’ It sounded like Kate had changed her mind. ‘Have we even got out of Poland yet?’

‘Ages ago.’ Georgia made her tone as soothing as possible. ‘It’s not far now.’

‘We don’t want to be late for registration.’

‘Don’t stress. They’ve got a couple of hundred teams from about twenty different countries to process. If we’re a bit late it’ll just mean we don’t have to queue for so long.’

Kate slowed again to cross a narrow bridge over a tumbling mountain stream. ‘I can’t believe we’re competing in such a huge field.’

‘It’s broken up into categories, remember. There’ll be paramedic teams with their ambulances from all over Europe. I can’t wait till the end where everybody drives in convoy around all the local villages with their lights and sirens on. I’ve heard it’s a memorable experience.’ Georgia had come prepared. She had bags of sweets and Scottish-themed toys to throw from the windows for the children that would be lining the edges of the road. It would be such fun to see their faces light up...

Oh, boy...she had small humans on her mind far too much at the moment. She needed to focus.

‘Then there are the doctors and medical student teams and other combinations,’ she added quickly. ‘I just hope there’s enough like us to give us our own category, otherwise we’ll be competing against teams that have up to four members.’

‘I just hope I don’t make an idiot of myself. I’m a paediatrician, Georgie. I work in a nice, safe hospital with any amount of resources and backup. You would have been better to pick an emergency specialist.’

‘You do plenty of emergency work. And you’ve lived with me long enough to qualify as an honorary paramedic. You’ve even been out on the road with me a few times. You’ll be brilliant and who cares if we don’t win? We’re here to have fun, remember? To have an adventure and meet lots of new people and...’ Georgia’s grin was decidedly mischievous now. ‘We’re both single and gorgeous. Have you thought about how many men there are going to be at this thing?’

Men who were presumably reasonably intelligent because they were doctors or medical students or paramedics. Successful enough to want to be competitive. Adventurous enough to take on this kind of challenge.

Just the kind of man she would choose to be the father of her child.

Best of all, they would be strangers. From foreign countries. They would never have to know and they would never interfere with her life in the future.

‘Georgie...’ Kate sounded shocked. ‘You never give up, do you? You’ve only just got over the last disaster and you’re ready to do it again?’

The reminder of how gutting the last relationship mess had been was the last thing Georgia wanted to think about. Or maybe it was a good thing because she could feel her resolve strengthening. She was thirty-six now—a year older than Kate—and she didn’t have the time or inclination to jump through any more messy relationship hoops.

She wanted a baby.

Not that she was about to confess her master plan, even to her very best friend who’d been her housemate for years. Kate was too proper. She had set ideas about the way things should be in life and wasn’t likely to approve of Georgia’s intentions. A one-off, throw-away comment she had made a while back about a man only being essential for as long as it might take to conceive had been enough to tell her that. Kate had been appalled.

So she made her tone as offhand as she could. ‘Oh, I have no intention of falling for someone.’ And wasn’t that the truth?

Inspiration struck. ‘What’s that saying? The best way to get over a man is to get under another one?’

At least she’d made Kate laugh. That wouldn’t be the case if she’d guessed the truth.

‘Casual sex has never appealed to me.’

‘Yeah...you’re so old school, Kate. An ultimate romantic.’ This was good. She could divert the attention to Kate’s love life—or lack of it—instead of her own. ‘You really believe that you’re going to see ‘the one’ across a crowded room and it’ll be love at first sight and a happy-ever-after with a few bluebirds fluttering over the carpet of rose petals and—’

‘Oh, stop it...’ Kate growled. But she didn’t sound cross. Her tone was more concerned than anything. ‘Just be careful, hon. Okay?’

‘Of course.’ Georgia breathed a sigh of relief but that seemed to earn a sharp glance from Kate.

‘You have given up on that hare-brained scheme you came up with after that bastard, Rick, walked out, haven’t you?’

Uh-oh... ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Oh, yes, you do. The one where you gave up on men completely and were going to have a baby all by yourself?’

Georgia pretended to be distracted by the map in her hands. She couldn’t afford to allow Kate to get suspicious. She had the lid firmly in place over her own doubts about what she was planning and it would be too easy to get talked out of it if that lid got lifted.

She could almost feel that biological clock ticking more loudly than ever. Or was it her heart thumping? Excitement...or trepidation?

She cleared her throat. ‘Well, obviously I haven’t given up on men completely. And I’m over Rick. He’s ancient history—like all the others.’ Oh, man...she had to change the subject of conversation. Nerves were kicking in and the feeling was not pleasant.

She told herself to calm down. It was just an option—she didn’t have to follow through with her plan if she wasn’t sure. Maybe she wouldn’t meet anyone suitable. And, even if she did, what were the odds of getting pregnant with a single encounter anyway? She wasn’t even sure that it was the best time of the month, given that her cycle wasn’t that regular.

There were other reasons to be here. Exciting reasons. And there was no need to continue with any hazardous chatting either. Georgia had seen the perfect distraction.

‘Ooh, look...a signpost. We’re only fifteen kilometres away.’

‘Halleluiah. The end is in sight.’

‘Nah...the beginning is in sight.’ Georgia stretched her arms above her head and gave a whoop. ‘Bring it on.’

CHAPTER ONE

YES...

This was all shaping up to be even better than Georgia could have imagined.

While she was well aware that she was a part of the growing percentage of women succeeding in demanding careers like paramedicine, there were hundreds and hundreds of people here and it seemed like the majority of them were men.

The kind of men that had always stood out from the crowd for her. Intelligent, confident men who were caring enough to devote their working lives to caring for others. Born leaders who could wear a uniform like a second skin rather than an advertisement of achievement or authority.

One of them could be exactly the kind of man she would choose to be the father of her child.

The sense of unease that touched the back of her neck and rippled down her spine was becoming familiar but Georgia had come up with a way to shrug it off with what seemed a perfectly feasible argument in her defence. She wasn’t the only woman who was prepared to embrace the decision to bring a child into the world without a partner.

She could have taken what was becoming an accepted route to parenthood by paying for the services of a sperm bank and the initial part of that process would be to peruse the profiles of available candidates. She would be making judgements based on physical attributes like height and colouring. Academic qualifications and profession could indicate levels of intelligence and determination and interests in things like sport or music could offer an insight into attitudes or talents.

She could well end up doing exactly that but what put her off that route to parenthood was the fact that it would be recorded. Traceable. The risk of that knowledge being used to interfere with her life was probably small enough to be insignificant but Georgia knew only too well how damaging that interference was capable of being. Why take the risk if it was possible to eliminate it completely?

She had convinced herself that all she was planning to do was to peruse profiles in a much less clinical fashion, by means of personal interaction.

The thornier issue of consent was more difficult to shrug off, of course, but there wasn’t any point in facing that one unless she found a suitable candidate. Given her list of requirements, it was quite possible that even this best-case scenario of potentially great men wouldn’t provide exactly what she was looking for.

What with getting through the registration protocol and transferring their luggage to their accommodation, the time since she and Kate had arrived at the rally had been a bit too busy to get more than a very general impression of their fellow competitors but that had just changed. Standing in a crowded dining hall, holding her dinner tray, Georgia found herself joining Kate’s attempt to locate two empty spaces at a table. Except that it was the array of faces capturing her attention instead of any empty chairs. Surprisingly, many of those faces were looking back at them and they didn’t seem to be simply curious glances that might be assessing competitors. There were smiles to be seen, along with raised eyebrows that suggested friendliness, if not interest.

Like that very tall guy, with a mop of sun-streaked blond curls and a cheeky grin. The tilt of his head was an unmistakeable invitation to claim the extra space at his table.

Georgia smiled back.

‘There’s some space on that table,’ she told Kate, leading the way. She smiled again as they got closer. ‘Do you mind if we join you guys?’

‘Please do.’ He looked delighted. ‘I’m Dave. This is Ken and that’s Sally, who’s stuffing her face there.’

‘You’re from Australia, right?’

‘No. New Zealand.’ Dave sighed heavily. ‘Everybody thinks our accent is the same but it really isn’t.’ He grinned at Georgia. ‘No mistaking yours. You’re Scottish.’

‘I am.’ Georgia took the empty seat right beside Dave.

New Zealand... It was a country that conjured up images of clean, green forests and pristine beaches—like advertisements for healthy lifestyles. Even better, it was a country on the opposite side of the globe. About as far from Scotland as possible. It was impossible not to register that that fact ticked one of the first boxes on the list of requirements she had drawn up on her potential master plan.

The plan that had suddenly become rather more than just a half-baked idea, in fact.

The dumplings on her plate were rather dense and speckled with something green that could be parsley. Dave appeared to be enjoying his meal and Georgia was never fussy with her food so she took a large bite and found that the dumplings were actually better than they looked, especially with a covering of the gravy they were swimming in.

She glanced sideways as she loaded her fork again. ‘I like your uniforms. Are you paramedics?’

‘Yeah...you guys?’

‘I’m a paramedic. Kate’s a doctor. Is this your first time here?’

‘Sure is. Never seen anything like it.’

‘Where are you based at home? City or country?’

‘Auckland. Biggest city in the country. And up there in the top cities of the world to live in. You should come and visit sometime.’

‘Oh? What’s so great about Auckland?’

The attractions seemed to focus on fabulous beaches, a great night life and the best food and coffee the world had to offer. Sally and Ken were keen to tell her about what a great place it was to work in the ambulance service as well, but Auckland wasn’t a likely destination to add to any future travel plans, as far as Georgia was concerned.

Especially if any more boxes on that mental list were going to get ticked and that was apparently happening without her even consciously thinking about it. Dave was tall, which made a good genetic balance for her own slightly below average stature. He was definitely good looking and there was a gleam in those blue eyes that suggested intelligence. As a bonus, his camaraderie with his teammates told her that he wasn’t any kind of sociopath.

Dave seemed, on first impression, to be a very nice guy and Georgia experienced another pang of guilt that she could even be thinking along these lines. Was she really planning to cultivate a friendship enough to use someone for such a selfish purpose? Getting pregnant accidentally was common enough to be almost normal but it was more than a little disturbingly immoral to plan such an event.

She glanced at Kate, almost hoping that enough telepathy existed between them that her friend would sense the secret list-ticking and deliver a hint of shock with some raised eyebrows and then a frown, or perhaps a headshake, of total disapproval.

But Kate wasn’t even looking in her direction. She seemed to be focussed on her meal and wasn’t joining in with the conversation around her. Maybe she was more out of her comfort zone than Georgia had anticipated when she’d persuaded her to come to this competition. Kate was incredibly clever and hardworking and the best friend Georgia had ever had, but nobody could say she was overly adventurous. Or even spontaneous. If there was going to be a break in her normal routines, Kate liked to be able to plan how to cope with it. Making a plan that would turn her whole life upside down would be so unthinkable that Georgia had known instantly that it had been a mistake to even voice her idea of bypassing the search for a suitable partner and moving straight on to parenthood.

Or maybe Kate was thinking about the old friend from medical school she thought she’d spotted in the crowd at registration. The news that he was now married had been disappointing. Thanks to the latest disaster of being unceremoniously dumped by Rick, Georgia was completely over the idea of finding the love of her life but her flatmate was still a believer and, if anybody deserved the happy-ever-after of the full package, it was Kate.

Perhaps the vibe of wishing the best for her had transmitted itself to Kate because she finally looked up from her meal. She glanced from Georgia to Dave and back again, a subtle quirk of her eyebrow confirming what Georgia already knew—that Dave was interested and it would be very easy to turn this chance meeting into something more—but even that didn’t provoke any hint of disapproval.

Kate started chatting to Sally and Ken then, clearly interested in hearing about what it was like to live and work in New Zealand. Seeing that she seemed more relaxed about being here allowed Georgia to release a small sigh of relief. Maybe Kate was making an effort to embrace this adventure and the next couple of days would be a lot of fun for both of them.

And maybe that was exactly what Georgia needed to do. To focus on this competition for what it was—an opportunity to demonstrate her skills to the best of her ability. Kate was smart enough to be right most of the time and the plan that had seemed like an epiphany a few weeks ago, however half-baked it had been, was a hare-brained scheme.

And wrong?

With a small, inward sigh, she joined in the conversation and avoided looking at Dave again until she had finished her meal. By the time they all filed out of the dining room on the way to the pre-competition briefing she had decided that Dave, despite how cute he might be, was safe. After only one candidate, she was done with her personal profile testing.

She didn’t need Kate’s disapproval because she had just tapped into plenty of her own.

Men who contributed to sperm banks were doing so with the full knowledge that they could be fathering children they would never know. Making an assumption that what someone didn’t know couldn’t hurt them was irresponsible and...and unacceptable.

All the men here were safe.

She was done with any list-ticking. The master plan had been scrapped.

* * *

‘Between eleven-thirty and midnight tonight, you will all receive your list of events.’

Georgia felt her heart pick up its rate as a squiggle of excitement tickled her gut. This was really happening. She’d heard about this competition years ago, when she’d been training to become a paramedic, and it had always been a dream. This was why she was here and the crazy idea of hooking up with someone and possibly going home pregnant was no longer even remotely interesting.

‘You will be given the GPS coordinates of the scenario and a start time,’ the official continued. ‘Please be there at least ten minutes before that time. If you are late, you will not be admitted and you will not be marked in that section of the competition.’

Georgia elbowed Kate, who was standing close beside her in this very crowded room. ‘No chance of that happening,’ she whispered. ‘Not when I’m with you.’

The comment should have earned the kind of eye-roll that Kate bestowed automatically whenever she was reminded of her compulsion to obey rules but, instead, she received a quick grin. Maybe Kate was feeling as excited as she was now that this was actually beginning. Or would be in a few hours.

Starting at six a.m. tomorrow, there would be twelve tasks for each team to complete within twenty-four hours, with time allowed for rest and meal breaks along the way. A final warning about possible elimination from the competition if any teams were found to be sharing information about the tasks completed the briefing and a babble of conversation broke out amongst a shifting audience.

To Georgia’s surprise, Kate immediately turned to the man standing on her other side.

‘What section are you in?’ she asked. ‘All doctors? Doctors and med students?’

Her body language suggested the ease of an old friendship so Georgia realised that this man had to be the one Kate had told her about. Luke?

‘Doctor/paramedic.’ He put his arm over the shoulders of his companion. ‘This is Matteo Martini. Italian paramedic extraordinaire.’

Georgia’s gaze shifted. And then something a lot bigger shifted inside her chest.

This Italian paramedic had to be the most gorgeous man she had ever seen in her entire life. Well over six feet tall, his strong features were softened by a frame of soft waves of black hair and his eyes looked like the darkest, most luxurious chocolate you could imagine. And that smile...just crooked enough to give a hint of playfulness. Mischief even?

Whatever. The net effect was drop-dead sexy.

‘Ooh...’ The sound was almost an approving hum and Georgia felt as if her body was shifting itself a bit closer, even though she knew she hadn’t moved. And then her mouth opened without giving her time to think about whatever words she wanted to produce. What did emerge was vaguely appalling.

‘A martini? Yes, please... Extra-dry—with an olive.’

She saw the flash of surprise in those chocolate-coloured eyes but then it vanished in the wave of laughter that Georgia managed to join in with, making her ridiculously flirtatious comment no more than a joke.

‘This is Georgie,’ Kate said. ‘My paramedic partner.’

It seemed the most natural thing in the world to fall into step beside Matteo as Kate and Luke led the way to the bar where everyone was going to wait for the scenario list and start times to be handed out.

She felt small beside this solid male figure. And a bit embarrassed, to be honest, after her overly enthusiastic response to their introduction.

Matteo seemed perfectly at ease. He bent his head so that his voice was like a soft, teasing growl intended only for her ears.

‘So...you and me, then?’

Oh, help... If her response to their introduction had been flirtatious, this was more like blatant seduction and the reaction of her body to both the sound of his voice and the implied invitation was like nothing Georgia had ever experienced. She’d met this man less than a minute ago and already the attraction was so powerful she wanted...

An upward glance gave her direct contact with those extraordinary eyes.

Oh, man...she wanted everything. The sheer force of such an unexpected response to a stranger was actually alarming enough to make her break the eye contact within the space of a heartbeat.

And she didn’t trust herself to say a single word.

Even more disturbingly, she could feel a faint fluttering sensation that she recognised only too well.

Hope...

That this was it. That perhaps she had found the person she had been searching for. Her person.

The mental stamp was forceful enough to squash the flutter.

How many times? It wasn’t even that long since her heart had been broken for what she had sworn would be the very last time. She was not going to be stupid enough to take even a single step down that path. The one that ended with someone waiting inside a pretty church, bathed in all the promise of happily-ever-after.

No and no and no.

‘The competition,’ Matteo offered helpfully into the short silence. ‘We’re in the same category. We both have a doctor for a partner.’

‘Oh...that’s true.’ There was a very different sensation dampening the flicker of desire now. Disappointment?

For heaven’s sake, Georgia told herself firmly. Get a grip...

Matteo paused by the entrance to the bar to allow her to go in first. He smiled at her.

‘I intend to win,’ he said.

Georgia couldn’t help herself. ‘So do I,’ she warned.

This time she didn’t look away. Neither did Matteo. He was still smiling.

‘Do you always get what you want, Georgie?’

The way his accent changed her name into something rather more exotic sent a shiver down her spine. The gleam in his eyes suggested amusement but there was a warmth there, too, that made her feel like he would be more than happy to help her get what she wanted, even if it meant sacrificing something he wanted himself.

She shook her head sadly.

‘Not always.’

But she was smiling as well.

Maybe—this time—she would. The question was simply what she wanted more.

The first prize in this competition?

Or Matteo Martini?

CHAPTER TWO

‘WHAT’S THE TIME?’

‘Five past eight.’

‘We’re early.’ Matteo Martini sighed. Waiting had never been his forte.

It was an exercise in self-control. A tightrope to balance on between the need to follow rules and gather information and the desire to act. To help someone in trouble. To save a life perhaps...

This wasn’t a real life situation, however, which made it impossible to gather any clues about what was to come from a radio conversation or updated pager messages. All they had was a minimal briefing sheet that had given them the GPS coordinates for the scene and that they would be assessing a thirty-five-year-old woman with abdominal pain.

Their tasks were listed as well and they had to assess the scene, examine and treat the patient, define a working diagnosis and means of transport if necessary, within a time limit of eleven minutes.

This was all about following rules. Waiting in their vehicle until it was their turn to enter what looked like a very ordinary village house to face their first scenario of this emergency response competition.

‘Doesn’t look like much.’ Luke sounded disappointed. ‘You sure we’re in the right place?’

‘Sì. Assolutamente.’ Matteo pointed through the windscreen. ‘That car parked over there is a competitor. It’s got the numbers. And a light on the roof, like ours. And the flags are...’

‘Scottish,’ Luke murmured.

The tension of having to wait had just got a whole lot easier as Matteo felt himself being pulled back into the unexpected delight of meeting Georgia Bennett last night. What a stroke of luck it had been that her partner for this competition was an old friend of Luke’s. He didn’t even have to make an effort to get an introduction to a woman who would have caught his eye no matter how big a crowd she was in.

There was a glow of energy about Georgia that made him think of adventure. Fun. In combination with that tumble of dark blonde curly hair and those hazel-brown eyes that had rather fascinating flecks of gold, she was irresistible. Given their passion for a shared career, that easy conversation over a drink or two had been a bonus. And by the end of the evening, when they’d split up to study the lists of scenarios that had been handed out to the waiting teams, Matteo had been left with the conviction that the attraction he’d discovered was mutual.

Whether they would have the chance to explore that attraction any further was an enticing possibility but Matteo wasn’t going to allow it to distract him for any longer than a delicious minute or two. He had, in fact, dismissed it from his mind completely well before their start time of eight-fifteen a.m.

Until he saw the two women emerge from the house, that was. Until Georgia spotted them waiting in their vehicle and raised her hand to wave at him.

Until she smiled...

‘Be nice to have an idea of what we’re heading into,’ Luke said. ‘They weren’t giving away any clues, were they?’

‘And neither should they,’ Matteo said sternly. ‘That would be dishonest.’

‘Not exactly.’ Luke’s tone was thoughtful. ‘Dishonesty is when you fail to tell the truth. Breaking the rules of the competition to give someone else an advantage would be dishonourable rather than dishonest.’

‘Hmm...’ Matteo absorbed the correction. ‘They are both unacceptable.’

Dishonesty was at the top of his list of despicable human traits. Right up there with cruelty and violence, particularly when children were involved.

‘Too right they are,’ Luke agreed.

Thrusting his arms through the straps of his pack of gear, Matteo had another moment of distraction.

Had he been a little too honest with Georgia during that conversation last night? He’d probably talked about his family with rather too much enthusiasm, hadn’t he? If he had wanted to encourage any attraction on her part, he should have stuck to talking about the more exciting exploits of his career as a helicopter paramedic instead of how close he was to his mother and his sisters. Good grief, he’d had to blink tears from his eyes when he’d told her about how much of a thrill it had been to welcome his latest nephew into the world recently.

Weirdly, that slightly cringe-making moment of distraction became an advantage a very short time later, when the two men found themselves in a confusing scenario of a party going on in the house. If the memory of holding that newborn baby hadn’t been still there in the back of his mind, would he have been so quick to run up the stairs when they’d heard there was a pregnant girl having stomach pains? And maybe he wouldn’t have put quite the same amount of passion into resuscitating a baby who wasn’t breathing if he hadn’t been imagining that it could have been his sister as the terrified young mother.

In any case, there had been nods of satisfaction from the judges and both he and Luke felt far more confident when they arrived at their second scenario, which clearly had nothing to do with childbirth. Their patient was a middle-aged man who was curled up on a bed and groaning loudly as they entered the room. He was also holding a plastic bucket.

‘He’s been sick.’ The woman who’d met them at the door had explained that she was his wife. ‘He got this terrible back pain all of a sudden and then he started vomiting.’

‘Could you get some baselines, please, Matt?’ Luke was taking the lead on this scenario. ‘I’ll see what I can find out with the history.’ He crouched down beside the bed.

‘Show me where this pain is.’

The man put his hand on his side, under his ribs but then moved it towards his abdomen and into his groin.

‘Is it the first time you’ve experienced it?’

‘Yes.’

‘How bad is it? On a scale of zero to ten, with zero being no pain at all and ten being the worst you can imagine?’

‘Ten...’ He groaned again. ‘And I feel sick...’

‘We’ll give you something to help with that in just a minute.’

Matteo held a tympanic thermometer close to their patient’s ear.

‘Temperature’s normal,’ the nearest judge informed him as he continued taking baseline recordings. ‘He’s tachycardic at one-twenty, respirations are twenty-four and his blood pressure is one-thirty over ninety.’

Matteo caught Luke’s glance. With a normal temperature, infection was less likely to be a cause of this pain so a diagnosis like appendicitis or diverticulitis could be ruled out for the moment. What was needed now was pain relief. He collected everything he needed to insert an IV line and put a tourniquet on the man’s arm.

‘The IV line is in.’ The judge nodded.

‘Have you had any trouble urinating?’ Luke asked now. ‘Is it painful or have you noticed anything different?’

‘It hurts,’ the man replied. ‘And it’s very dark.’

Luke glanced at Matteo, who nodded. The diagnosis and their management now appeared simple.

‘We think you might have a kidney stone,’ Luke said. ‘And it’s blocking your ureter and causing this pain. We’ll give you something for the pain and then we’ll take you to hospital. Are you allergic to anything that you know of?’

‘No.’

Matteo was already going through the motions of drawing up the morphine.

‘What dosage are you administering?’ one of the judges asked.

‘We’ll start with five milligrams,’ Luke replied. ‘We can top that up if the pain scale isn’t reduced to less than five.’

The judge nodded. ‘The drug has been administered.’

Matteo began tidying up and Luke was checking their briefing sheet that gave a list of available hospitals and means of transport. They needed to choose the most appropriate option, which ranged from leaving the patient where he was, transport by helicopter or ambulance to the nearest general hospital, a higher-level hospital or a specialised centre.

Matteo dropped the packages of IV gear back into his pack and turned to pick up the blood-pressure cuff.

To his horror, he could see that their patient now seemed to be having trouble breathing and he was clutching at his chest.

‘Luke...’ The word was a warning. He reached out to take the man’s pulse. ‘Do you have chest pain, sir?’

Their patient didn’t respond. His head fell back against the pillow and he was gasping for breath.

Luke was still processing this unexpected twist in their scenario.

‘Do we see any skin changes?’

‘You see redness appearing,’ a judge said. ‘And hives.’

Nothing more than a glance between Luke and Matteo was needed.

‘Anaphylaxis to morphine,’ Matteo agreed quietly. ‘I’ll get a bag of fluids up. And we need some adrenaline, stat.’

They both worked swiftly to counter a potentially fatal situation, administering drugs, getting their patient on oxygen and a cardiac monitor. Within a couple of minutes the judges were nodding with satisfaction and declared the scenario complete. They just wanted to ask some questions.

‘What is your hospital of choice for this patient?’

‘Hospital A,’ Luke told them. ‘They have an internal medicine department and an intensive care unit and they are the closest.’

‘And what is the most important information to pass on about your patient?’

‘That he has a previously undiscovered allergy to morphine. We will write it on his notes and make sure the information is received by everyone we speak to. We will also advise the patient that it would be a good idea to wear a Medic-Alert bracelet from now on.’

‘That was good.’ Matteo slapped Luke on the back as they left the house. ‘I might not have thought of recommending the bracelet.’

‘I was too slow to spot the change in our patient’s condition. Well done, you.’

Matteo grinned at his friend. ‘We make a good team.’

‘We’ve got a break now, haven’t we? About an hour?’

‘We should use it to do the driving test.’

‘Okay.’ Matteo was looking forward to this test. He might work on helicopters now but his early years as a paramedic had been on the road and he loved the challenge of driving fast and doing it well.

A gravelled area beside the river that ran through this village had been cordoned off for this part of the competition and a line of orange road cones marked the course. They could see an ambulance completing the test as they arrived, clouds of dust billowing as it snaked around the cones at high speed and then came to a sudden halt between the cones marking the end of the course.

Another car was waiting for its turn.

The car with the Scottish flags.

And there it was again...

Distraction. A delicious buzz of anticipation at the knowledge he would be seeing Georgia again.

It had always been a given that he would thoroughly enjoy coming to this competition again.

A smile took over his face as he spotted Georgia sitting in the driver’s seat of the girls’ vehicle. He just hadn’t realised how much better it would be this time.

‘Cute,’ he murmured.

The swift glance from Luke held a note of surprise. Or maybe concern. Did he think that Matteo was here to chase women rather than focus on their performance? He thought fast, putting a casual smile on his face as he shifted his gaze from the woman in the driver’s seat. ‘I didn’t notice that before.’

The look of surprise increased as Luke raised his eyebrows. ‘You mean Georgia? Or Kate?’

Okay. Maybe his interpretation of that glance had been accurate.

He hoped his laugh was as casual as his smile.

‘Oh, the girls are both cute but that wasn’t what I was looking at. Have you seen what is tied to the front of their car?’

It was a stuffed toy bear that was wearing a kilt and holding a set of bagpipes.

Matteo rolled down his window and pointed to the toy, raising his voice so that Georgia could hear him. ‘He is going to get dirty, I think.’

‘All part of the fun.’ Georgia was grinning at him as she called back. Holding his gaze.

Mio Dio... That smile. The sparkle in those eyes. It was enough to make Matteo’s breath catch. For an odd warmth to ignite in his gut and then spread all the way through his body.

What was it about this woman that was so different?

So compelling?

Could Georgia feel this same unusual level of attraction? Possibly not, by how focussed she clearly was on what she was about to do.

‘Which one of you is going to do the driving? You’re only allowed one person in the vehicle.’

There was a hint of something in her eyes. A challenge perhaps? Or did she want to watch him showing what he was capable of?

His lips twitched in a suppressed smile. He would be more than happy to demonstrate any skill she might be interested in—and he was apparently good at many things that women liked...

But did Luke want to do the driving?

No. His companion was already unclipping his safety belt.

‘You do it,’ he said to Matteo. ‘You’ve got far more experience with emergency driving skills than I have. I’ll wait with Kate.’

‘Cool.’ Matteo nodded as Luke got out of the car. He could focus now.

He needed to know exactly what was required to make sure he aced this particular test.

He needed to make sure he impressed Georgia...

* * *

‘You’re a bit quiet, Georgie. Not worried about the next task, are you?’

‘Not at all. I was just thinking about that driving test. I could have done better.’

Georgia wished she’d done better. She might not have been able to see his face but she’d known that Matteo was watching her and the effect had been to make her very uncharacteristically self-conscious. Clumsy even. She had felt his gaze on her like a physical touch of his hand on her skin and the hyperawareness it had created had messed with her concentration. How embarrassing had it been to send those road cones flying on her first attempt at the serpentine? It wasn’t until she had been able to shut him out of her thoughts that she’d been able to demonstrate what she was capable of.

‘You did great.’ Kate’s tone was reassuring.

‘Not as great as Matteo,’ Georgia muttered.

Kate grinned. ‘He was something else, wasn’t he? I’ve never seen anyone drive like that. So fast. And he didn’t touch a single cone.’

Georgia scowled. ‘Thanks for reminding me.’

Kate laughed. ‘Let it go. I’ll bet there are other things he’s not as good at. He’s a boy. And he’s Italian. Maybe he had a Ferrari when he was a teenager.’

Oh, man, there was an image to play with. A younger version of Matteo Martini. With much longer hair perhaps, behind the wheel of a very fast car. With that easy grin on his face and only one hand on the wheel because his other arm would be over the shoulders of the girl in the passenger seat. Because there would be a girl, no doubt about that. Or maybe his hand would be resting on her leg, his thumb making lazy circles on that sensitive skin on her inner thigh. The girl would be smiling, too, of course. Georgia certainly would be...

It was ridiculous to experience a twinge of something so easily recognisable as envy.

No, it was even worse than envy. This felt like jealousy, thanks to the way Georgia’s eyes were narrowing. She shook her head to stop it happening.

‘What’s the next task about?’

‘It’s called “School Bag”. We’re being called to a teacher who has tripped over a school bag and is lying on the floor, not moving. She’s unconscious but breathing. Head injury, do you think?’

‘I’m sure it won’t be that simple. We’ll have to make sure we rule out other causes of unconsciousness. Was the fall the cause or did she fall because of something else?’

‘Like a cardiac event.’

‘Yes. Or hypoglycaemia, drug overdose, a stroke, seizures, anaphylaxis, alcohol. It’s a long list.’

‘Let’s hope there’s someone around who can tell us exactly what happened. We need to know how she was acting immediately before she fell.’

The only other people in the classroom with the unconscious woman, however, apart from the silent judges, were a group of young children who were taking every advantage of their teacher being unable to control them. Some were having a race around the room, jumping from one desk top to another. One was ripping pages from a textbook. They were all shouting and laughing.

The teacher was lying face down near the blackboard. A school satchel was close to her feet, spilling its contents of an apple, drink bottle and box of pencils. Kate felt for a pulse on their patient’s neck the moment they got close enough.

‘Hello...can you hear me?’

‘You have no response,’ a judge informed her. ‘The heart rate is one hundred and twenty.’

They rolled their patient carefully so that they could protect her airway. The noise in the classroom increased and Kate was hit on the head by a ball of screwed-up paper. Georgia’s head swerved and caught the culprit—the boy who’d been ripping pages from the book. He grinned at Georgia.

An impish grin beneath a wild mop of curly hair. Such a cute kid, she had to stop herself grinning back. Instead, she jumped to her feet and tried to find her sternest expression. If they couldn’t get this scene under control, it was going to make it impossible to do their job well.

‘Enough,’ she shouted. ‘All of you kids come here. At once.’

A chair toppled with a crash in the sudden silence that followed. One by one, the children came closer. They were all acting so well, with their heads down to show that they knew they were in trouble. One little girl, with huge blue eyes and long plaits, was biting her lip and looking so scared that Georgia just wanted to give her a cuddle.

‘It’s okay,’ she told them. ‘But you have to stop being naughty. Your teacher is sick. Did anyone see what happened?’

‘She fell over,’ one of the children said.

‘And before that?’

The children shook their heads. One boy turned away and pushed another one, who pushed back. Georgia caught a third boy who stepped past her, poised to start running again. From the corner of her eye, she could see Kate taking some baseline measurements, including blood glucose. Then she looked at one of the judges.

‘Is there someone available who could look after these children?’

‘There is a school caretaker outside the room.’ A nod from the judge was the signal for the young actors to leave the scene. The boy who’d thrown the paper ball grinned at Georgia again as he left and this time she did return the smile. Along with a quick wink.

‘Blood glucose too low to register,’ Kate said behind her. ‘Skin is cold and clammy and she’s still tachycardic.’

‘Cool. I’ll set up for a glucose infusion.’ Georgia turned back to the task as the door closed behind the last of the children. They could work in peace now but there was a part of her that was missing the energy that had been in the room a moment ago.

An energy that only children could provide. That wholehearted enthusiasm for being alive that adults learned to control too well sometimes. Taking advantage of an opportunity for adventure was a hallmark of a happy child and it always seemed to involve either laughter or tears—a pendulum that could swing unpredictably.

Georgia loved the unexpected.

And she loved kids. Even more than babies. She’d had always had dreams of having a whole bunch of them. A messy house and lots of noise with hopefully more laughter than tears. A frantic routine of cooking, cleaning, cuddles and school runs to deliver her little tribe to classrooms just like this one.

She had a job to do now that had nothing to do with small people and the fragment of that dream that the extras in this scenario had prompted was easy enough to push aside.

But it was a reminder that it was still there. Getting stronger with every passing week. If she was going to achieve even a part of that dream she was going to have to do it soon.

And having a kid you could take to school had to start in a very different place.

With having a baby.

And that brought her straight back to the plan she had just abandoned on moral grounds—of using this competition as an opportunity to start that journey to parenthood.

Georgia dismissed that line of thought easily as well as she taped the cannula to their patient’s arm as evidence that an IV line had been established.

As they monitored the effects of their treatment, she tried to think of anything they might be missing that could be another twist in this scenario.

‘She’s not wearing a Medic-Alert bracelet, is she?’

‘No.’ Kate moved the collar of the shirt their patient was wearing. ‘Or a necklace.’

‘Can you check her bag? Or the drawer in her desk? It would be useful to know what medication she’s on. Is she using insulin or medication to lower her blood sugar? She might have overdosed.’

Kate did find a packet of tablets in the teacher’s bag but they weren’t what they might have expected.

‘These are antidepressants, aren’t they?’

‘Yes.’

The woman lying on the floor began to move and she groaned softly.

‘Your patient’s blood glucose level is returning to normal,’ one of the judges said. ‘What is your plan for transport?’

Georgia thought fast. ‘We will transport her to hospital. She has no one here to watch her and we don’t know what her normal regime is for her diabetes control.’

‘Which hospital do you choose?’

‘Hospital B.’

‘Why?’

‘Because it’s a higher-level hospital and there are psychiatric services available. The fact that she’s taking antidepressants suggests that there are additional issues for this patient that might be affecting her control of her disease.’

The judges nod was pleased. So was Kate’s.

‘Good job,’ she whispered, as they left the scene. ‘I probably would have picked Hospital A because it was the closest. And I might not have thought to check her bag either.’

‘You get patients delivered to you with a handover of any available information. I guess I’m just used to searching for clues.’ Georgia shoved the bulky pack of gear into the back of the car. ‘It’s one of the things I love about my job—getting to play detective on scene along with being the medic.’

Matteo shared her passion for this job. He was probably as good at playing detective on scene as he was at emergency driving. They’d never run out of fascinating things to talk about, would they?

Oh, boy...this was getting worse. She was actually thinking in terms of for ever? Of growing old together and still not running out of conversation?

‘You have to deal with all the distractions, too,’ Kate added. ‘Those kids were doing my head in to start with.’

The bunch of children was being ushered back into the building now, probably to prepare for the next scenario. As Kate and Georgia drove away, they spotted a car they recognised heading towards the school.

‘I think those boys are stalking us.’

Kate’s lips twitched as if she was trying not to smile. ‘Just coincidence.’ But she turned her head to watch the car disappear. ‘I wonder how they’ll cope with finding a riot going on.’

Georgia lapsed into silence. Matteo would cope very well. He probably wouldn’t even need to shout at the children to get their attention and gain control of the scene. He’d only need to smile at them and they would be eating out of his hand because they’d know how much he loved kids.

And he did love kids. A large part of the conversation they’d had over drinks last night, when Kate and Luke had been talking quietly, had been about his family. About how much he adored his sister’s children and what a thrill the recent birth of a new nephew had been. It sounded as if the entire Martini clan had been at the hospital to welcome that new arrival and Georgia hadn’t missed the way Matteo had spoken about his other sisters and his mother. She could have sworn he’d actually had tears in his eyes at one point. Family was clearly of the utmost importance in his life.

And wouldn’t he make the best father? He would be totally devoted to his children and there would be a huge, extended family in the wings to make every milestone a glorious celebration.

If that was what Georgia was looking for, Matteo would be perfect.

A few years ago even, when she’d still had the dream that she could find her perfect partner and be totally confident that her own children would never face the kind of fear that had poisoned her own childhood, Matteo would have stood out as being exactly what she was searching for. Gorgeous and confident and super-smart. She’d been more than impressed to learn about his postgraduate qualifications in resuscitation and aeromedical transportation.

But the last remnants of that dream had come crashing down in the wake of the brutal ending of her last relationship. Her heart had been broken for the last time and she knew not to trust that tiny flutter of hope that had come from nowhere when she’d seen this gorgeous Italian for the first time.

His passion for his family was actually a massive negative in the grand scheme of things because if the worst happened, she would be facing an army of opponents if she wanted to protect her children. And she knew that fighting even one could be too many.

It was an automatic gesture to turn her arm a little whenever this memory surfaced. To see the jagged scar that remained from the arm that had been so badly broken when she was only five years old. To feel a shiver of that terror when her birth father had arrived to claim her and the struggle to drag her from her mother’s arms had turned vicious.

Not that it had surfaced much in the last few years, because Georgia had believed she would choose a good man and could rewrite history, but her choices had proved untrustworthy. And, okay, maybe Rick had only been verbally vicious when he’d ended their relationship but that had been more than enough to stir the memories. Her ‘father’ had been just as quick to cause pain with words as anything physical.

And Italians had a reputation for having quick tempers, didn’t they? Imagine having to face an entire family of angry Italians?

Kate’s voice broke into her thoughts. ‘Penny for them?’

‘Huh?’

‘You’re miles away. What’s up?’

‘I’m just hungry,’ Georgia said. ‘It must be time for lunch, isn’t it?’

Kate checked their schedule.

‘Yep. We’ve got a break for over an hour.’

Finding a parking space near the main buildings of the ski resort, the two women handed over their vouchers to receive another meal featuring dumplings.

Georgia felt suddenly weary.

‘I feel like I’ve been on a full shift already,’ she told Kate. ‘And we’re only a third of our way through the competition. At least we get a break after this. I’m going to try and catch a nap.’

After they’d eaten, they went outside into the sunshine and found a grassy patch to lie on that was shaded by a huge tree. Georgia closed her eyes and hoped that Kate would think she had fallen asleep.

She just needed a little quiet time and maybe she could stop the unsettling thoughts that were only a distraction to why she was really here and then she could focus completely on winning this competition.

Childhood memories of the trauma of being forcibly taken from her mother, the intervention of child protection services and then being moved from one town to another until her father’s death had finally freed them from the threat that had never gone away but were of no help to her concentration.

Stupid dreams of finding ‘the one’, like Kate still had, were just as useless.

The plan of launching her new future as a single parent by choosing her baby daddy at this competition were well and truly being laid to rest.

Because, if she had the choice, she wouldn’t be able to choose anyone other than Matteo?

And he would end up finding out, wouldn’t he? He was best friends with her best friend’s friend and secrets had a nasty tendency to get revealed eventually.

Besides...she liked him.

She really liked him. Too much to consider the kind of deception that would end up haunting her for ever.

Her breath escaped in a small sigh as she turned her mind back to the tasks they had already completed today. The baby resuscitation. All those little scamps creating havoc in the schoolroom.

And thinking about those children produced an idea that Georgia hadn’t ever considered before.

Perhaps she didn’t actually need to have a baby herself. There were always children who needed adoption or fostering. Children who were having to live with the kind of trauma she knew about all too well.

She’d be good at that.

With another long, outward breath, Georgia relaxed into the companionable silence she was sharing with Kate.

Yes. That was an idea that merited a lot more thought in the near future. When this competition was over.

CHAPTER THREE

IT WAS ALL over bar the shouting.

All tasks had been completed and the rest of the twenty-four-hour period after the lunch break had been jam packed with challenges and excitement.

The bus-crash scenario where they’d needed to triage so many injured people, including the woman who was trapped and losing a dangerous amount of blood. They’d dealt with a cardiac arrest and a young man having a stroke, whose acting had been superb. Even as Georgia had been asking her initial questions, his speech had become slurred and his face had started to droop on one side. The impressively set up scenario of a mass shooting incident in the last couple of hours had been responsible for finally using up any remaining ounce of her energy.

Skipping breakfast, she and Kate had gone to their room to grab a few hours’ sleep but it hadn’t been enough. When the alarm sounded to remind them it was time to go to the competition debrief, Georgia couldn’t drag herself out of bed.

‘You go,’ she mumbled. ‘Tell me all about it later.’

The extra sleep had been exactly what she’d needed. By the time the competitors gathered in the town square for the prize-giving ceremony, Georgia was refreshed and ready for anything. Standing in the crowd beside Matteo was adding considerably to the anticipation. More than once, she found her gaze caught by his as she glanced up and their eye contact was a conversation all in itself.

A reminder of a conversation anyway.

‘I intend to win.’

‘So do I.’

‘Do you always get what you want, Georgie?’

‘Not always...’

But her heart skipped a beat as the announcement became imminent for their section of the competition.

‘And the winner is...Scotland...’

There was a split second as Georgia sucked in an astonished breath where she was still locked in a moment of that silent communication with Matteo and she saw something change in that gaze.

He was impressed with her.

More than that. He had to be disappointed that he and Luke hadn’t won but she could swear he actually looked proud of her and, in that instant, that meant more than anything else could have.

She wanted to be the person that this man was proud of.

Because it made her feel as if she was a better person than she’d ever been before.

But then her lungs were full of air, and happiness laced with her own pride tipped into something that had to be let out, and Georgia emitted a rather unprofessional squeal of delight, threw her arms around Kate and squeezed her best friend as hard as she could.

Even then, in that moment of pure joy, she was aware of a longing to feel Matteo’s arms around her in a hug like this but there was no time for that. They had to weave their way through the sea of people and applause, to make their way to the stage and receive their trophy. The pace, and the excitement, didn’t stop there either.

After the prize-giving came the convoy that was the highlight of this ceremony, where every ambulance and Jeep or makeshift emergency response vehicle put their lights and sirens on and drove through all the surrounding villages, throwing toys and sweets to the crowds of children lining the roads to enjoy the spectacle.

Georgia recognised the cute little boy from the schoolroom scenario and leaned further out of the window as they sped past to make sure her gifts landed as close as possible to his outstretched hands. When he caught the soft toy bear in a kilt that had been on the front of their car, amidst a shower of boiled sweets in the colours of the Scottish flag, she let out a whoop of satisfaction.

Matteo, who was driving, turned his head with a frown of disapproval at the danger she was putting herself in, but he was laughing at the same time.

He knew exactly how much pleasure she was getting by pushing both the limits of safety and the rules for this traditional convoy that, astonishingly, she’d just had to remind Kate of—no alcohol, no speeding and no leaning out of vehicles. It seemed that Kate was a little drunk on adventure, possibly for the first time in her life, but Georgia knew that Matteo was as addicted to this kind of adrenaline rush as she was.

Sharing that kind of personality trait would have given her an instant connection with anyone but there was more to it as far as Matteo was concerned. Not that she wanted to think about that right now. She just wanted to enjoy the delicious sound of his laughter. And his voice with that fabulous accent. And the fact that she could make the most of it all for the next few hours as all the competitors and their supporters, the officials and army of volunteers for this competition were treated to an evening of food and wine and dancing.

It was Matteo who brought a chilled bottle of champagne to the table that Georgia and Kate were sitting at, having loaded plates with offerings from one of the many barbecues being used. The long, rustic table was crowded with their new friends from places like New Zealand and Croatia and there was already a generous supply of drinks available, but that bottle of champagne instantly became the star.

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