Gift of a Family

‘OK, I get the message.’ Mac whistled for the dog, shaking his head in blatant disapproval. ‘With you, it’s all about appearance, isn’t it? She’s probably as thick as a plank.’

Josh narrowed his eyes. ‘With a body like that, who cares?’

Mac rolled his eyes. ‘I can’t understand why some thoroughly modern woman hasn’t blacked your eye before now.’

‘Because I’m irresistible,’ Josh suggested, his eyes darkening as the girl jumped neatly off her board and tucked it under her arm, shaking her wet hair out of her eyes. ‘She’s coming this way. Any moment now she’s going to notice me. Watch and learn, bro’. I think that vacancy of mine is about to be filled.’

He gave a wicked smile and Mac gave a grunt of disgust.

‘I’ll get ready to resuscitate her when she’s knocked flat by the size of your ego. Has it occurred to you that she might not actually be interested in you?’

‘Are you kidding?’ Josh grinned and flexed his muscles. ‘Brain and brawn. What more could a girl possibly want?’

He stood still and watched as the girl turned back into the waves, lay on her board and paddled out to sea again without a glance in his direction.

‘Obviously losing your touch,’ Mac drawled, glancing at his watch. ‘Come on. What you need is some cold water on that libido of yours. Let’s go home. You can take a shower and have some lunch with us before you go back to patching up that boat of yours.’ He whistled for the dog and Josh’s face brightened at the prospect of lunch.

‘Has she cooked Indian? I love it when she cooks Indian.’

‘I’ve no idea. Whatever you think of my sad existence, even I’m not reduced to discussing menus with my wife.’ Mac fended off the dog as it bounded up to them, soaking wet and tail wagging madly. ‘But I doubt it’s Indian, on a Sunday. More likely to be a roast of some sort. She’s very traditional, my Louisa. Hopeful, down! Sit. For goodness sake, sit, you stupid dog!’

Josh wondered whether there was a woman in the world who would have the same effect on him as Louisa had on Mac. Probably not, he decided. He tried to imagine himself in his brother’s position, about to become a father for the first time. He couldn’t think of anything more terrifying. He’d thought about children, of course, but only to dismiss them with a shudder. He just couldn’t work out where they’d fit into his life. And he wasn’t about to give anything up, that was for sure. His job as a consultant in the A and E department didn’t leave much time for anything else, but what little time he had was spent with his boats or windsurfing. He certainly didn’t want to spend that precious time changing nappies. No, his life worked perfectly well the way it was. He could do without the whole family scene, although he had to admit that he enjoyed being with his brother, and his sister-in-law certainly knew how to make a cosy home.

‘Well, whatever she cooks will be delicious.’ He turned and prepared to head off the beach towards the dunes that ran along the bottom of Mac’s garden. A series of shouts stopped him and he turned, staring at a group of surfers in the water with a frown.

‘What’s the matter with them?’

‘Over here!’

Josh narrowed his gaze and watched as several people dragged a man out of the water and onto the beach. Even from that distance he could see the blood. ‘Oops.’ His tone was cool but his blue eyes were sharp and alert. ‘Looks as though someone’s had a knock on the head.’

Mac cursed under his breath. ‘It’s supposed to be my holiday,’ he muttered as they both broke into a run, Hopeful at their heels. ‘But it seems that even on my holiday I have to look at an injured person.’

Josh was ahead of him, his powerful legs eating the distance as they raced across the sand. ‘Relax. I’ll take this one.’ He dropped to his haunches, aware that the girl he’d been watching was already on her knees beside the injured man, her hair trailing down her back.

In one brief glance he saw two things. First, that she was a redhead and, second, that she was stunning.

He flashed her the smile that always guaranteed him female attention whenever he wanted it. ‘Don’t worry. I’m a doctor.’

‘I’m a doctor, too.’ She spoke in cool, clear tones designed to wither a man at a hundred paces, not even wasting a glance in his direction. ‘And you’re in my light.’

Josh ignored the smothered laughter from his brother, too intrigued by the girl to care about the teasing he was going to receive later. The sight of her in a black wetsuit was having an alarming effect on his blood pressure. She had a body straight out of a bad boy’s dreams.

But she wasn’t paying him the slightest bit of attention. She was saving that for the injured man, and as she looked down Josh found himself staring at her thick, dark eyelashes, fascinated by their length.

She was gorgeous.

‘He’s bleeding badly from his arm. Must have caught it on a rock when he came off the board. He was caught by the wave and the board gave him a bash on the head. I saw it happen,’ she said briskly, her fingers gently exploring the man’s head wound before moving to his arm. ‘It’s an artery. He’s cut an artery. Damn.’

As she shifted the man’s wetsuit, blood pumped skywards and she swiftly applied pressure and elevated the limb. ‘It’s a very jagged cut. I need something to use as a pad…’ Glancing around, she spotted the man’s friends hovering. ‘One of you take the laces out of your trainers and give me your T-shirt.’

One of the men took a step backwards, looking decidedly green.

‘It’s just blood,’ the girl said, a hint of impatience in her tone, ‘and the sooner one of you gives me a T-shirt, the sooner I can stop it. Come on!’

Josh watched in fascination as one of the men meekly did as she instructed. Quickly and with the minimum of fuss she bound the wound and turned her attention to the man’s head.

Josh ran a hand over the back of his neck, for the first time in his life feeling totally redundant in a medical situation. He kept waiting for her to do something wrong so that he could intervene, but she was doing everything right and she didn’t even seem to want help doing it.

She leaned closer to the patient, her body a slim curve in the tight wetsuit. ‘Hello? Can you hear me?’ Her voice was brisk and professional. ‘Can you tell me your name?’

The man groaned and screwed up his face. ‘My head…’

‘I know about your head and I know about your arm.’ Her slim fingers were on the man’s scalp, feeling for damage. ‘But now I need you to tell me your name.’

The man closed his eyes and the girl frowned slightly. Then she leaned closer to him and gave a sniff.

‘He’s been drinking.’ Her nose wrinkled in distaste and she glared at his friends who were still lurking close by, looking as though they’d rather be anywhere else. ‘Was he drinking before surfing?’

One of them shifted. ‘Maybe, just a bit.’

‘A bit?’ She gave them a look designed to freeze boiling water. ‘One of you get on the phone and call an ambulance. He’s going to need to go to hospital. I can’t tell what’s the bang on the head and what’s the alcohol. What’s his name?’

‘Dave.’ One of the lads shrugged. ‘He only had a couple of beers.’

‘Before surfing? He should have known better. And so should you lot.’ The girl shot them a look of contempt and then turned her attention back to the patient. ‘Dave, I’m going to put a dressing on your head and then get you to hospital. You’re going to need an X-ray and some stitches, and next time either drink or surf but don’t do both together. I need another T-shirt to bind his head.’

Finally she looked up at Josh and immediately she stilled. Slanting green eyes locked with his and widened as something powerful and indefinable passed between them.

Josh considered himself an expert on all things female but he’d never seen eyes like those in his life before and he couldn’t look away. Neither, it would seem, could she.

Mac cleared his throat. ‘Earth calling all doctors…’

The girl blinked and dragged her eyes away from Josh, but a betraying pink touched her cheeks that had nothing to do with the hot August sunshine and everything to do with powerful chemistry.

‘Have you got anything which we can use as a dressing for his head?’

Josh was having trouble concentrating. ‘I—er…’

‘Take your T-shirt off, Josh,’ Mac suggested kindly. ‘It might cool you down. You look a little hot.’

Josh dragged his gaze away from the girl and glared at his brother. ‘Take your own T-shirt off.’

‘Louisa bought me this for my birthday. And I’m not the one who’s overheating.’

Josh swore softly and dragged his T-shirt over his head, deriving some satisfaction from the fact that the girl stared at his muscular chest for several seconds before grabbing the garment and turning her attention back to the patient.

Josh watched her with masculine speculation. He was experienced enough with women to know when one of them was interested and the girl with the green eyes was definitely interested, despite her pretended indifference.