Sarah Morgan - Dr Zinetti's Snowkissed Bride

‘I’ll make sure everything is strapped down.’ Dino crawled out of the tent to help the helicopter crew and Meg’s gaze lingered on his shoulders. She was an athlete, she told herself. It was natural that she’d admire honed muscle and a powerful physique.

He stood on the narrow, snow-covered path, ready to assist the winchman. As the helicopter hovered above the narrow gully, the downdraft caused the sides of the tent to flap and whip up the new snow. Given the potential hazards, there was no wasted time. The winchman was lowered out of the helicopter and together the three of them strapped Harry securely to the stretcher, protecting his back and his neck. As he was winched back up into the helicopter, Dino held the guide rope to help prevent the potentially lethal swing of the winch rope into the sides of the gully. Once Harry was safely inside the helicopter, the crew released the guide rope and disappeared into the darkness.

Meg felt the adrenaline drain away and relief take its place. It was almost weakness, this response after the event, and she slid back inside the tent and sat for a moment, breathing slowly, trying not to think of all the alternative scenarios that tried to destabilise her sense of calm.

What if she hadn’t found him?

What if Dino hadn’t come?

She covered her face with her hands, dimly aware that Dino had gathered up the guide rope and was now back in the tent with her. ‘I’ve known Harry since he was born. My mum knows his mum. I used to go round and help bath him when I was a kid.’

‘Lucky Harry.’ Dino stowed the guide rope in his backpack and then gently removed her hands from her face. ‘You did well, wolf-girl. You probably saved his life.’

‘Well, I don’t paint my nails or bake cookies, but I have some skills.’ But maybe her skills weren’t enough in this case. What if he had a depressed skull fracture? What if they didn’t get him to hospital fast enough? Now that the immediate crisis was over, the fear that had been pressing against her threatened to overwhelm her. Suddenly she wanted to lean against that broad chest and just sob. She didn’t care that he was a notorious heart-breaker and that she’d been resisting his advances for months. She just wanted to feel those strong arms close around her. ‘Dino—’

‘It’s a good job I am here, no? A weak, feeble girl like you is going to need a big strong guy like me to help you out of this mess.’

Her traitorous desire to lean on him vanished instantly. ‘Do you honestly think I need your help?’ Anger stoked the fire inside her that had burned down to no more than a few glowing embers. ‘I don’t need any help from you.’

‘Sì, of course you need my help.’ He started piling the equipment back inside his bag. ‘You are too small and delicate to walk down this mountain without assistance. The wind has dropped, but not for long. You wouldn’t be fit enough to walk as fast as you’d need to. We will stay the night here, and I will protect you.’ His mouth curved into a slow, sexy smile. ‘It’s just you, me and this little private room. This isn’t quite how I pictured our first night together, but I can be flexible. Do you have any mistletoe?’

Anger flushed away the worry about Harry. ‘If I had any mistletoe all I’d do with it is force-feed you the berries. I’m not in the mood, Dino—’

Without warning, he leaned towards her and for one breathless, heart-stopping moment she thought he was going to kiss her. His eyes glittered dark with sexual promise and Meg felt something she never let herself feel. She felt strangely disconnected, as if she were being controlled by some invisible force outside herself. Then she came to her senses and gave him a hard shove.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’

‘You said you weren’t in the mood,’ he purred. ‘I was going to put you in the mood.’

‘I meant that I wasn’t in the mood for your flirting,’ she croaked, ‘not—anything else.’ It was disconcerting to realise that her hands were shaking. She knew that if she’d been standing up, her knees would have been shaking, too.

‘That’s what you meant?’ Those sexy eyes teased her. ‘Then you need to be more specific when you communicate.’

Her lips were tingling and the blood was rushing around her body. ‘Don’t ever do that again, Zinetti!’

‘Do what?’ Dino smiled and trailed a finger over her cheek. ‘I haven’t done anything yet. Maybe this is a good moment to teach you all the practical applications of the use of body warmth in the prevention of hypothermia.’

Meg skidded to the furthest point of the tent, too aggravated by her own response to notice his brief, satisfied smile. ‘I wouldn’t spend a night cosied up with you if we were the only two people left on the planet. I’d rather die of hypothermia.’

‘Beautiful Megan.’ His voice was soft. ‘A woman like you should have a man in her life, but you do everything alone.’

‘That’s the way I like it.’

‘Because you are afraid?’

It was like dropping a lighted match into a haystack. ‘Dino.’ Meg hauled the anger back inside herself. ‘You’re the one who should be afraid. Get out of my tent. I want to go down, now. I can’t stand another five minutes stuck on this rock face with a smooth-talking Italian. You’re more lethal than the weather.’

To her surprise he didn’t argue with her. Instead, he helped her pack up the equipment with his usual ruthless efficiency and then switched on the headlamp on his helmet.

Meg was so furious, so tumbled up inside that she barely noticed the steep descent. Dino stayed a metre in front of her all the way down, which gave her plenty of time to glare at his shoulders and plan various methods of revenge. Maybe she’d do something really embarrassing when he was surrounded by a bunch of nurse groupies. Maybe she’d even give him that kiss he’d been teasing her with. She could fry his brain and teach him a lesson. Just because she didn’t paint her nails, it didn’t mean she didn’t know how to kiss, did it?

They trudged and stumbled through the deep snow and the inky darkness until they reached low ground and all the time Rambo panted alongside her, his shape a reassuring presence in the vicious weather.

It was only as they were striding across the safety of the valley floor that the adrenaline ceased to pump round her body and her brain started to work properly. And then she realised what Dino had done.

She stopped for a moment, cursing herself for being dense and slow.

Dino turned with a frown. ‘Not a good place to stop, wolf-girl. Something wrong?’

‘You did that on purpose, didn’t you?’ The wind gusted, almost blowing her over. ‘You made me angry, you—’

With a maddening smile, Dino shrugged and carried on walking.

Meg glared after him, feeling like a fool. He hadn’t wanted to kiss her. It had just been a ploy to stop her worrying about Harry. She strode after him and caught up with him at the car. ‘There are times when you really drive me mad, Dr Zinetti.’

‘I rely on it. Need any help with that backpack?’ He slid his own off his back and threw it into the boot.

‘I can handle my own backpack.’ She spat the words. ‘And I can handle myself up a mountain. I don’t need you—’ She almost said ‘messing with my head’ but just in time she decided that she didn’t want him to know that the thought of kissing him filled her with anything other than feelings of boredom.

‘You were going to cry, wolf-girl, and I didn’t want a hysterical woman on the mountain with me. I’d rather deal with ten fractured skulls than one hysterical woman.’

‘I was not hysterical and I was not going to cry.’