still further, Katya chose that moment to stroll up to them. ‘Hi, there.’ Her voice was smoky and seductive and her blonde hair fell down her back in a perfect, smooth sheet. She wore a pale pink roll-neck jumper and a tight navy skirt that ended just above the knee, and could have walked straight out of the pages of a glossy magazine. ‘Have either of you seen Alessandro? He promised to spend some time talking me through some interesting X-rays.’
Christy gritted her teeth and swallowed hard. She wasn’t going to be jealous, she told herself. She wasn’t going to be paranoid or childish. So, the girl was beautiful. That didn’t mean anything…
‘Alessandro is with a head injury patient in Resus,’ Nicky said in a cool tone, ‘and I need you to tie your hair back in this department, please. It’s unhygienic worn loose.’
Katya frowned slightly and then shrugged. ‘No problem. I have some grips in my bag.’
‘Good.’ Nicky gave a brisk nod, very much the sister-in-charge. ‘I’d appreciate it if you’d use them.’
Katya strolled off and Nicky stared after her, still clutching the dressing packs to her chest. ‘I don’t like that girl. Where does she think she is? On a catwalk?’
‘She looks great.’ Christy said with a forced smile, and Nicky grinned.
‘Oh, yeah—and how great is she going to look when a drunk has vomited down her pink cashmere? Are you OK? You look pale.’
‘Just a bit tired.’
‘Look…’ Nicky put a hand on her arm, her gaze sympathetic, ‘I know things are rough for you and Alessandro at the moment, but I know you’ll work it out. The two of you were meant to be together.’
Were they?
She was starting to wonder.
‘There you are!’ Sean strode down the corridor towards them, interrupting them in mid-conversation. ‘Christy, the mountain rescue team have had a call about a man who has fallen some distance. Might have chest and head injuries. The details are a bit hazy but we’re trying to send an advance party of five out, with the rest of the team following.’
Christy stared at him blankly. ‘And?’ What did it have to do with her? She hadn’t been out with the MRT for several years.
‘We’re a bit thin on the ground in the team at the moment,’ Sean said wearily. ‘Everyone is either in bed with this flu bug or they’re snowed in or all sorts of other feeble excuses. Alessandro is going and I wondered if you’d join him in the advance party.’
‘Me?’ Christy’s voice was an astonished squeak and Sean gave her a keen look.
‘Why not you? You’re fit and you know these mountains. You were the best climber we had at one time.’
Christy licked her lips. ‘Yes, but I had the kids and—’
‘I wasn’t aware that childbirth affected your mountaineering abilities,’ Sean drawled, glancing round as Alessandro approached. ‘Garcia, just the man. I’m trying to persuade your wife to join you on this callout while I scrabble around and try and get some other people together.’
Alessandro’s brows met in a frown. ‘Christy?’
‘Why does everyone think it’s such a strange idea?’ Sean wondered aloud, and Alessandro’s mouth tightened.
‘Because the weather is foul and I don’t want her risking—’
‘I’ll go,’ Christy said immediately, turning to Nicky. ‘If that’s all right with you?’
Alessandro didn’t think she could do it, and she was determined to prove him wrong, just as she had by working in A and E. What was the matter with the man?
‘I’m used to it.’ Nicky gave a resigned smile. ‘I’ll just run the department on fresh air as usual.’
‘My walking boots are in the car but all my other gear is at home.’
‘You can use Ally’s gear,’ Sean was already walking towards the door. ‘You’re about the same size. My dear wife never gets round to removing it from my boot. Come on.’
As they walked towards the car Christy’s anger at Alessandro mingled with excitement. Ahead of them the fells loomed, covered in snow and ice and potentially lethal. Who had gone walking in this weather? she wondered. How had they got themselves into trouble?
‘You stick right by me,’ Alessandro growled as they slid into his car, and she turned and glared at him.
‘Why? In case I fall down a hole? For crying out loud, Alessandro, when I was twenty I could outclimb you any day!’
It wasn’t strictly true and she saw by the lift of his eyebrow that he was aware of that fact, but he didn’t contradict her.
‘You’re not twenty any more.’
‘No, I’m thirty-two. Ancient.’ She stared at him in disbelief. ‘Is this what this is all about? You think I’m suddenly too old to do these things?’
‘It has nothing to do with age.’ Alessandro crunched the gears viciously. ‘You’re the mother of my children.’
‘And what? That means I should stay at home and knit?’ Her voice rose and she took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. ‘Giving birth to children doesn’t come with a personality transplant. Believe it or not, I’m still the same person I was twelve years ago when you first met me!’
‘You can’t just swan up a mountain when you haven’t been near one for years.’
‘That’s rubbish! I may not have been on the team, but I’ve done plenty of climbing and walking and I’m every bit as fit as you are!’
The atmosphere in the car was simmering with mounting tension and she looked away, so angry that she wanted to hit something. Or someone.
‘Fine.’ His voice was tight as he concentrated on keeping the car on the road in the lethal conditions. ‘Just no heroics.’
‘Heroics?’ She turned and glared at him as she tugged a hat onto her head. ‘Since when have I suffered from a hero complex?’
‘You always took risks when you were climbing.’
‘That’s not true.’
‘As you said yourself, you haven’t been with the team for a long time.’ Alessandro changed gear with a vicious thrust of his hand. ‘What you’ve forgotten could prove dangerous. I just don’t want your ego to get in the way. If you don’t know something, say so.’
‘What I know is that I’m not the one with the ego around here,’ she spat angrily, jamming her feet into her boots and yanking so hard at the laces that she almost snapped them. ‘There’s only room in this car for one ego and yours is taking up all the space!’
He had no confidence in her whatsoever, she thought, her temper building to dangerous levels. ‘I hadn’t been in A and E for years either,’ she pointed out angrily, ‘but so far I haven’t killed anyone! This used to be my life, Alessandro! This was what I did, but somewhere along the way I’ve lost it all. I’ve lost A and E, I’ve lost Mountain Rescue and now I’ve lost—’ She had been about to say ‘you’ but she stopped herself just in time. Instead, she clamped her teeth down on her bottom lip and blinked back the hot sting of tears.
His opinion of her was obviously at rock bottom, she thought miserably as she turned her head and stared out of the window while she struggled for control.
He slowed down to take an icy corner. ‘You make it sound as though your entire married life has been one big sacrifice.’
‘No.’ Confident that she was back in control again, she turned her head and studied his hard, handsome profile. She loved him so much. Despite everything, she completely adored him and always would. ‘That