Dr Zinetti's Snowkissed Bride

‘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.’

‘You were getting really wobbly and there’s no way I could have got you down this mountain in that feeble state.’

‘Feeble!’ Meg took a breath as the extent of his manipulation sank in. ‘You never intended us to spend the night on the mountain—’

‘I enjoy extreme mountain survival as much as the next macho guy…’ he closed the boot ‘…but I was worried about you. You don’t exactly carry much body fat. Keeping warm would have been a challenge. Talking of which, we need to get out of this wind.’

He’d goaded her and then he’d almost—and she’d almost—’I hate you.’

‘No you don’t.’ He placed an arm on either side of her so that her back was pressed against the car, with no opportunity to escape. ‘You’re afraid of what you feel for me, amore, and that’s understandable because it’s very powerful.’ He dragged his gloved hand over her cheek, a thoughtful look on his face. ‘Interesting, isn’t it? Wolf-girl, who never lets a man near her, suddenly feeling the chemistry.’

For a moment, Meg was transfixed by those nightblack eyes. ‘No, it isn’t interesting. The last thing I need in my life is a Mediterranean macho man. You’re not my type and I’m certainly not yours.’

‘You don’t know me well enough to make that judgement.’

‘Maybe I don’t want to know you.’ She shoved at his chest but he didn’t budge. ‘Dino…’

Rambo growled low in his throat and Dino smiled and released her.

‘I have more sense than to come between wolf-girl and her wolf.’ He spoke quietly to Rambo in Italian and Meg felt her stomach flip because, although she wouldn’t have admitted it in a million years, the words sounded so lyrical and sexy.

‘He’s protecting me.’

‘I know. He’s an excellent dog. But you don’t need to be protected from me. I’m not the enemy.’ Not remotely afraid of the dog, Dino stroked Rambo’s head gently. ‘He’s never growled at me before.’

‘You’ve never pinned me to the car before.’ She tried not to show how flustered she felt. It was as if his powerful body had imprinted against hers. Even though he’d moved she could still feel it, hard and heavy. ‘He growled at you because I pushed you and you didn’t move. He was giving you a warning. Which makes two of us.’

‘Will he let you give me a lift? I left my Lamborghini outside your cottage.’

‘You drove the Lamborghini in this weather?’ Meg glanced at the ice and snow covering the road and then back at him in disbelief. There was a devilish gleam in his eyes and his face was breathtakingly handsome in the moonlight. ‘The roads are lethal.’

‘Like you, I love a challenge.’

And that was why he was dangerous. Like her, he loved the adrenaline rush. ‘I’m tempted to let you walk from here to the brunette who is probably waiting for you at home. The cold air will do you good.’

‘No one is waiting for me at home, Meg. And I’m going to the hospital. They’re overstretched and I want to check on Harry.’

Feeling really stupid, Meg let out an exasperated breath. ‘You see? It’s things like that I find really infuriating! Just when I’m ready to dismiss you as shallow you do something really—really…’ She floundered and then shrugged. ‘Decent. Go on. Get in before I change my mind. Rambo, don’t eat him. He’s going to help Harry. That’s the only reason we’re letting him live.’

Trying not to think about the moment when he’d almost kissed her, she drove her four-wheel drive down the narrow roads that led towards her cottage. ‘I can’t believe you drove the Lamborghini.’

‘I was at lunch, remember? With a woman.’

‘So the Lamborghini is an essential part of the Zinetti seduction technique?’ For some reason it irritated her and she changed gears viciously. ‘Do some women really fall for that?’

‘All of them. Could you slow down before you kill us both?’

‘I’ve driven these roads since I was a teenager. You must mix with some shallow women.’

‘I do my best. You drive too fast, Meg.’

‘Coming from someone who owns a Lamborghini and a Ferrari, that’s a bit rich. Don’t tell me—you’re such a chauvinist you hate being driven by a woman.’

Dino’s fingers were gripping the seat. ‘I hate being driven by anyone.’

‘That’s because you’re a control freak.’

‘Sì, I admit that. I like being the one in charge.’ He glanced towards her, laughter in his eyes. ‘I like to be the one on top, so to speak.’

‘Well, that confirms I’m not your type, because I like to be the one on top, too.’ Meg increased her speed, taking pleasure from his sudden indrawn breath. ‘Two control freaks together is a recipe for disaster.’

‘Or a recipe for explosive passion. Shall we find out which it is?’

Just for a moment her concentration lapsed and she felt the wheels of her four-by-four lose traction as she hit ice. She resisted the impulse to hit the brakes and steered into the skid, regaining control of the car within seconds. ‘That was fun.’ Her heart was pounding and her mouth was dry. ‘At least it shut you up. Are you all right?’

‘You mean apart from my heart attack?’ His sardonic drawl made her smile and she slowed her speed.

‘Why did you leave your car outside my house?’

‘When Harry’s mother realised he was missing, she called the team. Then she called your mother because she remembered that the gully is a favourite walk of yours and Harry often watches you and Rambo training up there. She hoped you might already be out, which you were. I dropped by to get your route from your mother.’

Meg tightened her grip on the wheel. ‘So this is all my fault because he followed me?’

‘No. It’s Harry’s fault. He went for a walk in the winter without the right equipment.’

‘He was unlucky.’

‘No, he was lucky.’ Dino pulled off a glove and flexed his fingers. ‘You found him. Could have been worse.’

She was concentrating on the road but she could feel him looking at her. ‘It was Rambo who picked up the scent. I didn’t even know he was missing.’

‘We were about to call you when you called us.’

‘So how come you got to us so quickly and the others didn’t?’

‘I was about to head into the mountains myself. I guess we spend our free time the same way.’

‘So your date didn’t end the way you wanted it to.’

He smiled. ‘It ended exactly the way I wanted it to.’

Which meant what, exactly? He’d already said the brunette wasn’t waiting for him at home. Trying not to think about it, Meg pulled up outside her cottage. ‘Home, sweet home. And you’re still in one piece.’

‘Miracles do happen. Thanks for the lift. Are you working tomorrow?’

‘Yes. Look, Dino…’ She hesitated, torn between getting away from him as fast as possible and doing the right thing for Harry. ‘Don’t take the Lamborghini. We’ve had so much snow in the past few hours and your car isn’t good in bad weather. I’ll drive you to the hospital. If they’re as busy as you say, they could probably use my help as well as yours. Just give me time to explain to Mum and see Jamie.’

Meg slid out of the car and crunched her way through layers of snow to the front door of her cottage. She stood for a moment, looking at the lights burning in the windows and the rose bush groaning under the weight of snow by the front door. In a few more months it would be frothy with white blooms, turning her home into something from a picture postcard. The summer tourists who overran the Lake District like a million invading ants had been known to stop and take photographs of her house because it was so quintessentially English. To her it was home and she loved it. Now, with Christmas only two weeks away, there was a wreath on the door and scarlet berries on the holly bush. And mistletoe.

Meg frowned.

Who had added the mistletoe?

The door opened before she even started to delve for her key and her mother stood there, an apron tied round her slim waist, a mug in her hand. ‘I’ve made you hot soup, Dr Zinetti. You need something to warm you before you go back to the hospital.’

‘Molto grazie. You are truly a life saver, Mrs Miller.’ Dino emerged from behind her and took the mug in his gloved hand, the steam from the soup forming clouds in the freezing air. ‘I’m grateful.’

‘I’m the one who is grateful. You brought my girl safely home.’

‘I brought myself home, Mum. Do I get soup, too?’ Irritated, Meg dragged the hat off her head and immediately saw Dino’s expression change as he followed the crazy tumble of her hair with narrowed eyes.

She tensed, thinking that he was probably comparing her messy, tangled hair to the smooth, blow-dried version he’d stared at across the lunch table a few hours earlier. For a moment she wished she’d left her hat on and that thought annoyed her because she’d long ago come to terms with who she was. When other girls in her school had been learning about lipstick and moisturiser, she’d been learning to map read and use a compass. While they’d spent their weekends shopping for clothes, she’d been up on the mountains. Her only interest in clothes was whether they were wind resistant and weatherproof. She knew about wicking layers and the importance of not wearing cotton. She didn’t know whether grey was the new black or whether jeans should be straight cut or boot cut. And, more to the point, she didn’t care.

Meg turned away, irritated with him for looking and even more irritated with herself for caring that he’d looked.

What could have been a decidedly awkward moment was broken by her mother’s disapproving tone.

‘Megan, I found mouldy cheese in your fridge.’

Meg gritted her teeth and vowed never to let her mother babysit again. ‘Is Jamie still awake?’

‘Mummy?’ Right on cue a small figure dressed in a Batman costume barrelled into her, crushing her round the waist. ‘We decorated the house. We’ve put mistletoe everywhere.’

‘I’d noticed.’ Why was everyone suddenly so obsessed with mistletoe?

‘Grandma says the berries are magic. If you stand under them, exciting things can happen.’

‘Is that right?’ Meg dropped to her knees and hugged her son. Immediately she felt her mood soften and the tension in her limbs evaporate. He smelled of shampoo and bedtime and his smile was the best thing she’d seen all day.

As long as she had him, everything was all right with her world.

‘Hey there, Batman.’ Dino was smiling. ‘Have you saved Gotham City lately?’

‘Loads of times.’ Jamie wrapped his arms round Meg’s neck, shivering in the thin costume he insisted on wearing to bed but grinning up at Dino anyway. For some reason that Meg didn’t even want to think about, in the months that she’d been working alongside Dino, her son had developed a serious case of hero-worship for him. ‘Why? Do you need any help?’

‘When I do, you’ll be the first person I ask. I need to get back to the hospital.’ Dino retrieved his car keys from his pocket.

‘Did you drive the Lamborghini? Wow, that’s so cool. It looks like the Batmobile. Can I sit in it?’

Meg tensed. ‘No, Jamie, you—’

‘Just for a minute—pleeease?’

Anticipating Dino’s inevitable rejection and Jamie’s subsequent disappointment, Meg shook her head. ‘Dino has to go, Jamie. He’s a very important doctor and he’s needed at the hospital. And, anyway, I know you love cars but the temperature is minus five and you’re in your Batman costume. You need to get back inside.’

‘Batman doesn’t feel the cold.’

‘You heard Dr Zinetti, he has to get back to the hospital now. Another time, perhaps.’ Having made his excuses for him, she expected Dino to leave, but instead he handed his empty mug back to her mother.

‘Does Batman have a cloak or some sort of coat? Anything you could wear over your outfit?’

Jamie frowned. ‘I’m not cold. Batman is tough and strong.’

‘I know,’ Dino didn’t miss a beat. ‘But the neighbours might be watching and you don’t want them to know who you really are. A superhero likes to keep his identity a secret.’

Jamie turned his head and looked at the neighbouring cottages. ‘You think they might be watching?’

‘I think you can’t be too careful when you’re saving the world.’ Dino’s expression was serious. ‘If you have something warm that will cover up who you are, we could sit in the Batmobile for a few minutes and discuss tactics.’

‘Really?’ Jamie’s face lit up like the lights on a Christmas tree. ‘Wait there.’ He sped into the house and returned moments later in his warm ski jacket, trainers on his bare feet. In his hand was a plastic Batman figure. Seeing the excitement in his face, Meg frowned.

‘Jamie, you can’t—’

Ignoring her, he hurled himself at Dino, who caught him with a laugh, swung him round and then lifted him onto his shoulders and carried him to the car.

Gripped by a fear that she couldn’t control, Meg watched as cracks appeared in her tightly controlled life. Jamie’s delighted giggles cut through the night air and she plunged her hands into the pockets of her coat, resisting the temptation to snatch him back. Keep him from harm.

‘Dino is good with him.’ Her mother handed her a mug of soup. ‘I can’t believe he’s actually managed to get Jamie to wear a coat. It’s more than I’ve been able to do all day. This is worse than the Tarzan phase when he ran around in nothing but his underpants for two whole months.’

Meg found it difficult to move her lips. As much as it pained her to admit it, she agreed—Dino was brilliant with Jamie, and that was a whole big problem in itself. ‘Yes.’

‘It’s a pleasant change for Jamie to have a man about the place. They look good together, don’t they? Doesn’t it warm your heart to see it?’

‘No, actually.’ Meg had never felt colder in her life. ‘It just reminds me how little Jamie knows about the real world.’ How easy it was to be hurt. The more you gave, the more you could lose.

‘Chill, Megan.’

Meg turned her head to look at her mother. ‘Since when did you start speaking like a teenager?’

‘Since I started working at the youth group,’ her mother said cheerfully. ‘I love it. They’re so vibrant and full of hope. Gives me something to do when I’m not helping you with Jamie. Oh, look at Jamie jumping in the seat! He’s enjoying himself, Meg. He likes Dino. And Dino likes him.’

‘Yes, because it suits him right now. And will until the next female distraction walks across his path and he has someone better to play with than my son. What then?’ Meg’s tone was savage. Her worries suddenly overflowed, like a river bursting its banks. ‘Presumably I’m the one who is going to have to explain to Jamie why Dino doesn’t have time for him any more. I’m going to have to break it to him that men often have a short attention span.’ She shivered as Dino fired up the engine, indulging her son’s passion for supercars. The Lamborghini gave a deep, throaty growl and Jamie bounced around in the passenger seat in paroxysms of delight.

Aware that her mother was staring at her in astonishment, Meg licked her lips. ‘Sorry,’ she croaked, ‘I’m tired. Maybe that was a bit of an overreaction.’

‘Just a bit? Megan, you’re a basket case when it comes to men.’

‘I know.’

‘Just because Hayden couldn’t keep his trousers zipped, it doesn’t mean all men are the same. You need to move on, Megan.’

‘I’ve moved on. I’m living a good life with my child.’ Huddling down inside her coat, Meg watched as Dino switched off the engine and let Jamie play with the wheel for a few minutes, pretending to be a racing driver. ‘Why does Jamie have to be interested in cars? It’s the one thing I know absolutely nothing about.’

‘He’s a little boy.’ Her mother’s face softened. ‘A gorgeous, fantastic boy and you have to help him grow into a gorgeous, fantastic man. That’s your job. Part of that is letting him mix with men.’

‘He does mix with men.’

‘I’m not talking about the mountain rescue team. They treat you as one of the lads. I’m talking about man-woman stuff. He needs to see men as part of your life. When did you last go on a date?’

‘You know I don’t go on dates.’ She blew on her hands to warm them. ‘And there’s no way I’m introducing a string of men to Jamie. What happens when they dump me? Jamie gets hurt. No way.’

‘Maybe they wouldn’t dump you. Have you thought about that?’

Meg stared straight ahead, her breath forming clouds in the freezing air. Her brain fielded the memories that came rushing forward to swamp her. ‘My job is to protect my child. That’s what mothers are supposed to do.’

‘Are you protecting him? Or are you protecting yourself?’ Her mother’s voice was casual. ‘Talking about protecting yourself, it’s lucky Dino was able to find you and help you out on the mountain today.’

‘I didn’t need his help. I could have managed on my own.’

‘Megan, when are you going to realise that you don’t win awards in this life for managing on your own?’ Her mother looked tired suddenly. ‘You’re a fantastic mum, but Jamie needs a man in his life and, frankly, so do you. It’s time you stopped shutting everyone out. If you can’t bring yourself to trust another man quite yet, at least make a New Year’s resolution to have sex.’

‘Sex?’ Scandalised, Meg shrieked the word just as Dino scooped Jamie out of the car.

It echoed through the silence, the sound somehow magnified by the cold emptiness of the night.

Across the snow Dino’s eyes met hers.

And she knew she was in trouble.

Chapter Two

‘MUMMY, what’s sex?’

Oh, brilliant. Cursing her mother for landing her in such deep water, Meg tucked the duvet around Jamie. ‘Well, sex can mean different things.’ This was one conversation she did not want to have right now—not while memories of Dino’s irresistible dark eyes were still fixed in her brain. ‘It can mean the same thing as gender—whether someone is male or female.’

‘So Rambo is male sex.’

‘That’s right.’

‘And you’re female sex.’

‘Right again.’

Jamie reached for his drink of water. ‘So what else does it mean?’

Meg wondered whether to simply change the subject and then decided that wouldn’t be right. This was part of being a single parent, wasn’t it? You dealt with these things on your own. ‘When a male and a female come together to make a baby, that’s called sex, too.’ She decided that was enough detail for a seven-year-old, at least for the time being.

‘Grandma thinks you should make a baby.’

Meg gulped. ‘No, Jamie, that’s not what Grandma thinks.’

‘Yes, she does. She’s told me loads of times she thinks you should get married and have more babies. She’s always talking about it.’

Meg contemplated calling her mother upstairs to sort out the mess she’d created. ‘Jamie, I’m not getting married.’ She took the cup from him and tucked the duvet around him. ‘Honestly, if I ever decide to get married, you’ll be the first to know.’

‘The man you’re marrying would be the first to know. I’d be second.’

‘Sometimes, my little superhero, you’re too clever for your own good.’ Meg kissed him on the cheek and then reached across and snapped the light on by his bed. ‘Which story do you want?’

‘Batman. So if you’re not getting married, why did you yell the word “sex”? And why was Dino laughing so hard?’ Jamie snuggled under the duvet, his hair still rumpled from play-fighting with the Italian doctor. His Batman toy was still in his hand. ‘I don’t get what’s funny.’

‘Nothing’s funny. I was talking to Grandma. She was being…well, she was being Grandma.’

‘She also told me it isn’t normal or natural for a young woman of your age to be on her own,’ Jamie parroted. ‘I pointed out I live here too, but apparently I don’t count.’

‘You count, Jamie.’ Meg picked up the book they’d been reading the night before. ‘Believe me, you count.’

‘I wouldn’t mind if you got married. Especially if you married Dino. That would be super-cool.’

Meg thought about the heat they’d generated in the small tent on the mountainside. ‘Cool’ wasn’t the word she would have chosen. ‘Jamie, I’m not marrying Dino. We’re not even…well…’