Page 44 of Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc

She had never expected Matteo to reappear in her life.

And she hadn’t expected to see him now but thattall back beneath the electronic flight arrivals board was unmistakeable.

‘For God’s sake, Matteo,’ she snapped, when she was right behind him, a little gratified that it made him jump. ‘What areyoudoing here? Kate arranged for me to collect them before they even left.’

‘And Luke texted me before they took off from Dubai.’ A dark eyebrow rose. ‘Perhaps they have a great deal of luggage?’

Georgia glanced at the board. The plane had landed on time so they should be coming through Customs any minute now.

‘Or perhaps you missed a call about a change of arrangements,’ Matteo suggested mildly. ‘You don’t seem to like answering your telephone.’

Georgia could feel a blush of colour creeping into her cheeks. Shehaddeliberately ignored the call from Matteo the day after they’d workedtogether. She had actually deleted the voicemail before listening to it, because she hadn’t wanted to listen to his voice. That sexy, deep rumble. That accent...

It was inexcusably rude, given that Matteo was Luke’s best friend. And Luke was nowherbest friend’s husband. It wasn’t just that connection either. Matteo was now part of her own branch of the emergency services and it was a close-knitcommunity.

One way and another, she was going to have to spend time with Matteo, at least in the near future.

She really needed to get a grip on how she was going to manage that.

An apology for her rudeness might be a good first step?

‘Sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘I’ve been really busy. What was it that you wanted to talk about?’

‘Just that case we shared on my first day. Toby. You remember him?’

‘Of course. An impalement injury like that is a once-in-a-lifetime type of job.’ Curiosity got the better of her. ‘Did you follow up on him? Howishe?’

‘Probably ready to go home. He was one very lucky little boy. That stick had actually penetrated his left ventricle but because it wasn’t removed until he was in Theatre, the bleeding was easily controlled and the damage repaired. Antibiotictreatment prevented an infection and he only needed a short time in Intensive Care for monitoring after the surgery.’

‘Oh...that’s fantastic news.’ Georgia’s smile was genuine. ‘What a great job to have done on your first day. You handled it brilliantly.’

‘Wehandled it brilliantly,’ Matteo corrected.

The corner of his mouth tilted in a crooked grin and, for a moment, it was like the firsttime she’d ever spoken to him. When she was completely captured. Flustered enough, even, to say something pretty stupid.

‘Hey... Good to see you two getting along so well.’

‘Luke...’Georgia and Matteo both spoke at the same time as they turned away from each other.

‘AndKaty,’ Georgia added, throwing her arms around her friend with relief, both to see her again but also to have her attentionso thoroughly diverted from Matteo. ‘Oh...it’ssogood to see you.’

‘We’re going to have lots of time to catch up in the next couple of weeks while I work out my notice. I can’t wait to tell you about New Zealand. And show you photos. You won’t believe how beautiful it is. You should think about emigrating, too, Georgie.’

Matteo was walking ahead of them beside Luke, who was pushing the luggagetrolley.

‘Maybe I will,’ Georgia murmured. ‘Hey, do you want to go home in my car? Matteo could take Luke, seeing as we’ve doubled up on chauffeurs.’

Kate’s eyes widened with something that looked a lot like guilt.

‘What?’ Georgia demanded. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Um... I told Matteo I’d found a place for him to stay while we were back in town. I was hoping you’d give him a lift.’

It was somethingto do with that hopeful little smile on Kate’s face that planted the seeds of a suspicion that rapidly grew into disbelief.

‘Youdidn’t...’

‘It seemed logical. A place to stay and he can use my car until I sell it. And you two are getting on better now, aren’t you? You might even like him, Georgie, if you gave him a chance. Luke’s told me all about Matt and he’s agreatguy...’

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