Can this maverick midwife…

…be her knight—in shining leathers?

Thrown together with motorbike-riding, leather-wearing midwife Ari Lawson, cautious paramedic Kelly Reynolds is immediately out of her comfort zone. But when they find their paths keep crossing, Kelly discovers she was too quick to judge, because beneath his bad-boy exterior, he’s dedicated, kind—and irresistible! Being around him makes her finally feel safe—and, dare she say, loved for the first time?

ALISON ROBERTS is a New Zealander, currently lucky enough to be living in the South of France. She is also lucky enough to write for the Mills & Boon Medical Romance line. A primary school teacher in a former life, she is now a qualified paramedic. She loves to travel and dance, drink champagne, and spend time with her daughter and her friends.

Also by Alison Roberts

Melting the Trauma Doc’s Heart

Single Dad in Her Stocking

Rescue Docs miniseries

Resisting Her Rescue Doc

Pregnant with Her Best Friend’s Baby

Dr Right for the Single Mum

Medics, Sisters, Brides miniseries

Awakening the Shy Nurse

Saved by Their Miracle Baby

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

The Paramedic’s Unexpected Hero

Alison Roberts

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90248-3

THE PARAMEDIC’S UNEXPECTED HERO

© 2020 Alison Roberts

Published in Great Britain 2020

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

OH, MAN…

It was clearly going to be one of “those” days. Ari Lawson could hear the shouting as soon as he pulled his helmet off, having shut down the engine of his powerful motorbike and secured it on its stand. Checking the house numbers in this outer suburban London street confirmed that one of the people engaged in this heated argument was standing in the doorway of the address he’d been dispatched to but it definitely wasn’t the person he’d been asked to check up on. This was a belligerent man in his mid-thirties—about Ari’s age—who was waving his fist at the middle-aged woman from the next-door terraced house.

‘Mind your own bloody business,’ he was yelling.

‘It is my bloody business,’ the woman yelled back, ‘if you’re punching holes in walls that I’m on the other side of. I’ve called the police.’

‘As if they’ll listen to you, you daft old bat. They never have before.’

Ari had lifted his kit from one of the panniers on the back of his bike. He walked towards the house.

‘Who the hell are you?’ the man demanded. He looked Ari up and down, his expression disgusted. ‘Get lost, whoever you are. You’re not wanted here.’

‘I’m here to see a Vicky Tomkins. This is where she lives, yes?’

‘There you go.’ The next-door neighbour folded her arms across an ample chest. ‘Vicky’s called for help. ’Bout time, if you ask me.’

‘Nobody asked you,’ the man spat. ‘And she didn’t call anyone.’

‘Yes, I did.’

Everybody turned instantly towards the woman now framed by the doorway behind the angry man. An obviously pregnant woman who was pale enough for alarm bells to start ringing for Ari.

‘I called my midwife,’ she said. ‘She said she couldn’t come but she’d find someone who could.’ But the younger woman was sounding hesitant now. ‘Another midwife…?’

‘That’s me,’ Ari confirmed. ‘Your midwife—Yvonne—is busy at the hospital in the middle of a delivery at the moment so she asked if I could come and see you. I’m a midwife, too.’

The moment’s silence didn’t surprise him. Ari was quite used to people finding a male midwife an unusual concept. Add in the fact that he was well over six feet tall, wore a leather jacket to ride his motorbike and kept his shoulder-length hair up and out of the way in a man bun for work hours and the reaction from others could often be a lot more than bewilderment. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard something like the raucous burst of laughter from the man in front of him.

‘You have got to be kidding me,’ he said. ‘A midwife? Well, you’re not getting anywhere near my wife, mate.’

For the umpteenth time, Ari had to wonder why it was such an odd concept that the only appropriate male role in pregnancy or childbirth was that of an obstetrician. At least he was quite familiar with dealing with this kind of prejudice.

‘I think that decision is up to Vicky,’ he said calmly. ‘She’s the one who called for help.’ He caught her gaze and held it, doing his best to convey reassurance that she could trust him. ‘You’re experiencing some abdominal pain, yes?’

She nodded. ‘And I’m bleeding,’ she told him. She had a protective hand on her belly and her voice dropped to a shaky whisper. ‘Please… I’m scared…’

The man wasn’t about to move but Ari was a head taller and he wasn’t about to let this client down. He knew she was less than thirty weeks pregnant and, if she was in pain and bleeding, she could be in real trouble. He could hear a siren not far away, which reminded him that he could well need to call for back-up sooner rather than later.

‘There you go.’ The neighbour sounded satisfied. ‘That’ll be the cops on their way and they’ll sort you out. I hope they lock you up this time.’

Sirens were commonplace in any huge city and this area of London had more problems than many so Ari thought it unlikely that they would be responding to a minor disturbance like this, but Vicky’s husband was incensed, stepping sideways and raising his hands as well as his voice so that he could grab the fence railing between them and shake it. Ari used the opportunity to step closer to the person who had called for help.

‘Are you safe here?’ he asked quietly. ‘Or do I need to get you somewhere else to check what’s happening?’

Vicky shook her head wearily. ‘He’ll settle down,’ she said. ‘He just gets wound up sometimes, you know?’ There was curiosity in her glance this time. ‘Are you really a midwife?’

‘I really am. But if you’re uncomfortable with that, it’s okay. I can refer you to hospital for an obstetric check.’

‘I don’t want to go in there. I’d have to wait for hours and I’m supposed to be working tonight. Ow…’ Vicky clutched at her belly with her whole arm as she bent forward. ‘Oh, that really hurts…’

‘Come and lie down somewhere.’ The sound of the siren was fading rapidly as Ari put a supporting arm around her shoulders. ‘Couch or bed—whatever’s easier. We need to find out what’s going on.’

A very short time later, he ended his phone call, hoping that he would be hearing another siren from an emergency vehicle in the very near future—from the ambulance he had just summoned.

Paramedic Kelly Reynolds shut down the lights and siren on the rapid response vehicle she was driving as she approached the suburban address she’d been dispatched to. Parking directly behind a large motorbike, she jumped out of the driver’s seat to go to the back hatch of the SUV to collect the gear she might need, slipping her arms through the straps of the backpack that contained an extensive first-aid kit. One hand was then free to carry the life pack with its monitoring and defibrillation capabilities and Kelly took a deep breath as she took her first step across the road.

As a rapid response paramedic it was her job to either arrive first to assess and stabilise what could be a serious case, or back up an ambulance crew that needed expert assistance. Sending an officer that worked alone—especially a female officer—into a potentially volatile situation was not ideal but when a call like this came in, it had to be the closest available vehicle that got dispatched and, this time, that had been Kelly.

She wasn’t about to stand back and wait for the back-up of the ambulance that she had heard being dispatched at the same time she had received the Code Red, urgent priority callout, on her radio. Not when there was a pregnant woman and a midwife on scene who needed assistance. She just needed to remember her training. To keep a clear escape route behind her at all times and to carry a heavy bit of kit like the defibrillator in front of her so that, in the worst-case scenario, she could throw it at someone to make her escape easier.

There was a woman leaning on an iron railing fence that separated her property from the house they’d been dispatched to.

‘’Bout time someone got here,’ she told Kelly, with satisfaction. ‘He’s kicking off again.’

Kelly acknowledged the greeting with no more than a nod. She could hear a raised voice coming from inside the house so she walked past the neighbour and rapped on the open door.

‘Ambulance,’ she called loudly.

The hallway was empty. The man’s angry voice was coming from a room to one side.

‘It’s her own bloody fault. I reckon she got pregnant on purpose. How do I even know the kid’s mine?’

It was the cry of pain from a woman that made Kelly move, her hackles rising as she got closer to what turned out to be a living room. She held the heavy life pack in front of her body as she’d been trained to do—poised to hurl it if she found herself under attack. The angry man wasn’t making an assault on anyone, however. He had a can of beer in his hand and he was simply standing in the doorway to a kitchen. The woman who sounded as if she was in severe pain was lying on a couch and there was another man crouched beside her.

An extraordinary-looking man, with olive brown skin and his hair pulled up into a bun that was a lot higher than the one Kelly always used to tidy her own hair for work. A lot messier, too. He was wearing jeans and a leather jacket of all things but he had what looked like a professional medical kit open on the floor beside him with a stethoscope and blood-pressure cuff visible. And he was placing his hands on the woman’s pregnant belly. Large, capable-looking hands, she noticed, but even from this distance she could see—or sense—how gentle his touch was. Kelly wasn’t the only one watching.

‘Get ya hands off her,’ the man yelled. ‘Nobody touches my wife without my say so.’

He lunged towards the couch but Kelly was faster as she stepped into the room at the same moment to get between him and the pregnant woman. He stopped in his tracks and swore vehemently but then backed off a little. He was a bully, Kelly realised, lowering the defibrillator. He might thrive on making threats but he was actually unlikely to follow through on them. Not that that made the abuse or interference with medical care any more acceptable, of course.

‘It’s not my fault,’ he muttered as he stepped back. ‘It’s that cow next door. She’s the one who’s causing all the trouble round here—not me. So we were having a bit of a barney…so what? Who doesn’t?’

‘What is happening here?’ Kelly only took her gaze off him for an instant because, while she thought she had the measure of this man, he was still clearly posing a threat. Her swift glance over her shoulder was long enough to see that the woman on the couch was looking distressed and far too pale. It was also long enough for the man who was crouched beside her to look up and meet her gaze.

Dark, dark eyes. A serious expression on a very intelligent-looking face.

‘I’m Kelly,’ she introduced herself. ‘From the ambulance service.’ She was still a little confused about who this man was. ‘And you are…?’

‘He’s a midwife,’ the man in front of her sneered. ‘A boy midwife. And you’re a girly medic. Who let you out to play all by yourself? If you ask me, the world’s gone bloody mad…’ He crumpled his beer can, hurled it towards the corner of the room and then turned back towards the kitchen. ‘I need another drink…’

Kelly ignored him, her gaze fixed on the midwife. She could sense that, beneath that calm expression, he was worried about his patient. Seriously worried.

‘I often work with the obstetric and neonatal flying squad,’ she told him. ‘Do we need to call them?’

The flying squad was a specialised team with a dedicated ambulance that was mainly used for transport of premature or sick babies to a hospital like the Kensington, which had a neonatal intensive-care unit, but it could also cater for any obstetric emergency like a home birth going wrong or a complication like a post-partum haemorrhage or obstructed labour. The team could include an obstetrician and/or a neonatal specialist, midwives and paramedics and had an incubator as part of their equipment in case an out-of-hospital birth or transport was needed for a fragile infant.

‘Maybe.’ There was a hint of a smile on his face as the midwife spoke to Kelly for the first time but it was ironic rather than amused. ‘For now, it’s good that you’re a “girly” paramedic. Between us, we might be able to properly assess how much blood Vicky’s actually losing.’

Any hint of that smile had faded but his glance still communicated the fact that this man was well aware of the threat that Vicky’s husband posed and that his attitude to a male midwife being here was exacerbating that threat. He wasn’t about to let it stop him doing his job, which deserved serious respect as far as Kelly was concerned. That simple reference to her being “girly” conveyed both an understanding of the kind of prejudice that could come with crossing perceived career boundaries or trying to assert authority and the kind of humour that meant he’d learned long ago how to deal with it. That earned more than respect from Kelly.

She liked this man.

As an advanced paramedic whose expertise had been requested, Kelly was theoretically now in charge of this scene but she wasn’t about to ask this midwife to step back if it wasn’t necessary. He had looked as though he knew exactly what he was doing when he’d been checking both the position of the baby and how tender or rigid Vicky’s abdomen was, and now he was about to move her clothing to check on her blood loss—something they both needed to assess as rapidly as possible.

A split second later, however, he reared back as an open beer can, spewing froth, whistled through the air to narrowly miss his head. Vicky cried out in fear and shrank back against the couch, even as the midwife moved to shield her, and it was in that instant that Kelly knew this woman had been struck in the past.

Maybe they should have waited until they could have taken Vicky out of there and into an ambulance before starting any assessment or treatment but this was most definitely not the time to start thinking about how she could have improved her management of this scene. Abuse of any kind was totally unacceptable and the midwife—who’d come into this situation alone with the sole intention of looking after a vulnerable woman—could have been seriously injured by that can.

With anger driving her muscles, it only took Kelly three steps to get to the other side of the room, although it was long enough for a hole to get punched into a wall. Not that that slowed Kelly down. If anything, she was even more furious as she faced up to the violent thug that Vicky was unfortunately married to.

‘Get in there,’ she shouted, jabbing her finger in the direction of the kitchen. ‘If you so much as put a foot back in this room while we’re looking after your wife, I’ll have the police here so fast you won’t know what’s hit you. And, believe me, they’ll make sure you don’t get to cause any more trouble for anyone for a very, very long time. Now…move…’

Wow…

Ari had his stethoscope in his ears because, having seen the alarming amount of blood Vicky had already lost, it was a matter of urgency to check on the baby’s status, but there was no missing the absolute authority in that voice. This paramedic—Kelly—might be blonde, pretty and as “girly” as they came, but she was not about to get messed with and that was exactly the kind of medical back-up he had hoped would arrive. He moved the rounded bell side of his stethoscope to pick up the baby’s heartbeat, which was reassuringly rapid and steady…for now.

‘Have you been feeling the baby move today, Vicky?’

‘Yes.’

‘How long ago did the pain start?’

‘I dunno. Maybe an hour. Or maybe a bit longer. The fight started because Brendan didn’t like what I was making for lunch and he…he…’

Ari lowered his voice, even though the kitchen door had been slammed behind Brendan. He knew that Kelly was coming back to this side of the room and would be able to hear him.

‘Did he hit you, Vicky? Is that how the pain started?’

‘N-no…he just…shook me a bit, that’s all.’

Again, his gaze met that of the paramedic for a heartbeat. He could see that Kelly, as a frontline member of the emergency services, had seen it all before. He could also see a fierce determination to help a vulnerable mother-to-be. He recognised that determination easily because it was something Ari had lived with himself for almost as long as he could remember. A need to protect and care for those more vulnerable than himself. Especially babies. Including babies that hadn’t been born yet and had no idea how tough life could be.

Kelly had her fingers on Vicky’s wrist but Ari knew she wouldn’t be able to locate a radial pulse because that had been the first thing he’d tried to assess. The tiny frown that appeared between her eyes was confirmation that she’d taken on board the warning that they needed to move fast. An absent radial pulse was an indication that the blood pressure was far too low.

‘Vicky?’ Kelly’s tone was reassuring. ‘I’m going to put a mask on you so that we can give you some oxygen. And I’m going to put an IV line into your arm, love. You’ve lost a bit of blood and we need to give you some fluids to get your blood pressure back up again. Then we’re going to get you into hospital. Is that okay with you?’

Vicky nodded wearily, lying back as she closed her eyes, her response no more than a mumbled assent. Kelly must have noticed that Ari was watching her rather intently because she flicked him a sideways glance. One that acknowledged what they both suspected—that Vicky’s placenta could be separating from the uterine wall and the amount of blood she was losing could put her into haemorrhagic shock that could be life threatening—both for this young mother and her baby.

There was a question in Kelly’s eyes. ‘You okay with staying here?’ she asked quietly as she opened her backpack and took out an equipment roll. ‘Want me to call for police back-up? There’s an ambulance on its way but we could try and get Vicky next door in the meantime.’

Ari kept his voice just as low—no more than a murmur that Vicky probably couldn’t catch. ‘I’d prefer to get her stable before we move her. Her GCS is dropping already. I reckon we can handle this between us…’ He tilted his head towards the kitchen door. ‘In fact, I think you could handle it all by yourself.’

A brief curl of one side of Kelly’s mouth acknowledged the compliment but her nod was an agreement with his preference to stay put and get some fluid resuscitation started. Movement could make the loss of blood more rapid and Vicky’s condition could deteriorate rapidly, tipping her into a possibly irreversible state of shock. Kelly had the tourniquet and the foil packet containing an alcohol wipe in her hands, ready to start establishing an intravenous line.

Ari reached for a cannula, peeling back the plastic cover before holding it out for Kelly to take as soon as she cleaned the skin over the vein she’d chosen in Vicky’s forearm. In that moment, they became even more of a team than they had when they’d agreed to stay here and try to stabilise their patient’s condition.

‘Vicky? Sharp scratch, love, but it’s only for a second.’ She slid the needle in, slid the cannula into place and released the catch on the tourniquet so swiftly and smoothly it looked like a single action.

Impressive.

‘There’s a bag of zero point nine percent saline in the kit. Top pocket.’

Ari pulled it out. Then he read out the expiry date for her.

‘Thanks…’ Kelly paused, a finger pressed onto the vein above the small, plastic tube in Vicky’s vein as she reached for the Luer plug he’d left beside her knee. ‘Sorry… I didn’t catch your name.’

‘We didn’t exactly get the chance for introductions.’ Ari was unwinding the giving set to poke the spike into the bag and then run enough fluid through the tubing to remove any air bubbles. ‘I’m Ari. Ari Lawson. I’m a midwife attached to Kensington Hospital.’ He held the end of the tubing out to Kelly who took it to attach to the Luer plug. With the IV line securely taped, she worked just as swiftly and smoothly to attach ECG electrodes to Vicky’s chest and flick the defibrillator into monitoring mode. Almost immediately, an alarm started sounding.

‘She’s tachycardic,’ Kelly noted. ‘And look…’ She pointed at the screen, where the bizarre shapes of ectopic beats were interrupting a trace that was rapid enough to have tripped the alarm. She silenced the alarm but it seemed like it had triggered a new wave of tension. Chaos, even?

The kitchen door was flung open behind them.

Ari could feel the surge of adrenaline that made every muscle in his body tense as he started to get to his feet. He could sense the same reaction from Kelly as she gathered her inner resources to face whatever new threat might be coming. After what he’d seen earlier, Ari had every confidence that she could deal with it but, this time, he was going to be the one in front. Protecting her.

Or maybe he didn’t need to. He could hear a commotion coming from the hallway of this small house. Loud shouting that told him that the police had apparently responded to the neighbour’s call—perhaps because they knew an ambulance officer had been dispatched and might be in need of back-up?

He could also tell that the arriving officers were both male because it felt like the wave of testosterone arrived in this room before they burst in, and although their equipment like telescopic batons, pepper spray and handcuffs were still attached to their belts or stab-proof vests, it felt like they were demanding attention and advertising their ability to enforce authority. Ari found himself turning his glance towards Kelly again. She’d had the authority to command respect without any kind of weapon, hadn’t she?

Except…

She looked different now that these male officers had arrived. Okay, her head was probably dipped because she leaning in to try and calm Vicky, who was trying to sit up and pull her oxygen mask off at the same time, but, for a split second, it almost seemed to Ari that Kelly was ducking her head for another reason. Trying not to be seen, even?

‘Brendan…’ Vicky was still trying to push past Kelly’s hands. ‘Don’t do anything stupid…’

Ari moved to help Kelly keep Vicky still. The last thing they wanted was an increase in the rate at which she was losing blood.

‘It’s really important that you keep still, sweetheart,’ he said. ‘We’ve got this, okay?’

Even if Brendan hadn’t been drunk enough to make it difficult to stand up straight, he would have been incapacitated within seconds by the two police officers.

Ari wondered if one of them, in particular, was enjoying the opportunity to use physical force to restrain someone a little too much as he flourished his baton and raised his voice. He was a big man with buzz-cut blond hair that accentuated uncompromising features, including a very square jaw. Kelly was watching as well as the officer twisted Brendan’s arm behind him with enough force to make him cry out in pain.

Kelly’s expression made Ari suspect that she shared his opinion that too much force was being used here. It certainly looked like her desire to protect an underdog was automatically overriding any desire to remain in the background. She jumped to her feet, although her words were almost tentative.

‘H-he hasn’t hurt anybody,’ she told the police officers. ‘He’s drunk, that’s all. Noisy. He was just…making some verbal threats.’

She was being ignored as the officer issued a rapid, almost bored-sounding caution.

‘You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court…’

What Kelly had said wasn’t exactly true, Ari thought as he reached for Vicky’s wrist to feel for her pulse again. Throwing a full beer can as a weapon was definitely assault. But ambulance staff often got to know local police officers pretty well when they were working in the same area of a city. Was she minimising what had happened here as a form of protection because she knew what this officer might be capable of in the heat of the moment?

Finishing the caution, the big, blond officer pushed Brendan towards his partner and then stepped closer to Kelly. Rather too close in Ari’s opinion. Any further and he would have been able to touch her ear with his lips but Ari could still hear what he said.

‘You called for us, Cowbell. So why don’t you just let us do our thing and look after you, okay?’

Oh, man…

How humiliating was this?

Kelly could actually feel the bright flash of colour that was heating her cheeks. She certainly couldn’t miss the way Ari’s jaw dropped as he heard that patronising tone and the dismissive nickname either. Or the expression in his eyes, even though his gaze only grazed hers for a heartbeat. He didn’t understand, did he? He’d seen her stand up to an aggressive, obnoxious drunk with no more than her voice and determination as weapons so why was she letting another bully take charge?

Kelly didn’t understand it herself. It was more than two years since her relationship with this man had ended. She should have been over it long ago. She had proved she was strong enough to keep herself completely safe from any other disastrous entanglement. Stupid nicknames should have lost any power long ago as well but, apparently, they could still sting.

Cowbell… Or maybe Kettlebell, because that’s all you are, sweetheart. A useless lump…

At least it was chaotic enough for anyone’s impressions or embarrassment to be so fleeting that they were unlikely to be remembered. Brendan was being dragged, shouting, from the room at the same moment that paramedics were coming in with a stretcher laden with more equipment. Vicky was crying and another alarm was sounding on the defibrillator. The focus needed on her patient was welcome. Kelly knew that treating a critically ill person was at the top of that list of things she was not useless at and she was going to use every one of those skills right now, for the sake of Vicky and her unborn baby.

Vicky’s heart rate was climbing. Her blood pressure, oxygen saturation and level of consciousness were dropping. They needed to increase the rate of fluid resuscitation with another IV line. They also needed to get this patient to hospital. Fast.

Only minutes later, Kelly was making sure that all her monitoring equipment for continuous measurements of blood pressure, oxygen saturation and heart rhythm were functioning. One of the back-up paramedics was going to drive her SUV back to the hospital so that she could stay in the ambulance with her patient.

Ari had gathered his own equipment while they’d got Vicky ready for transport. He appeared at the back of the ambulance just before the doors were slammed shut. The flashing lights had already been activated.

‘Where are you heading?’ he asked.

‘Kensington. It’s the nearest hospital set up for obstetric and neonatal emergencies.’

‘Great. I’m heading that way myself. I’ll be able to check up on Vicky later, then.’

Kelly could see him kicking his bike into life and starting to follow them before the ambulance reached the end of the street. She cleared her throat as she received acknowledgment from her radio handset that she’d been patched through to Kensington’s emergency department.

‘We’re coming to you with a thirty-seven-year-old woman—Vicky Tomkins,’ she told them. ‘Pregnant, almost thirty weeks gestation, sudden onset of acute abdominal pain and bleeding approximately ninety minutes ago. Suspected placental abruption. She’s on her second unit of saline but her blood pressure’s dropped to ninety over forty and her GCS has dropped from fifteen to twelve in the last ten minutes or so. Estimated blood loss of at least a litre. We’ll be with you in about six minutes…’

Another glance through the rear window showed Kelly that her rapid response SUV was right behind the ambulance. Just beyond the SUV was a large bike with a tall man in a dark leather jacket and a black helmet.

Ari Lawson—the astonishingly different midwife who had unexpectedly dropped into her life less than an hour ago—was riding shotgun.

For some inexplicable reason that she wasn’t going to allow any brain space to analyse, knowing he was close by was making Kelly feel safer. Protected, even.

And it was a good feeling.

CHAPTER TWO

THE FLASHING BLUE lights and the fluorescent red and yellow stripes on the back of the ambulance were easy enough to keep in sight. Weaving his way through the gaps available to a motorbike in the heavy London traffic was so automatic for Ari he was able to think about other things at the same time and, as he noticed the ambulance turning a corner ahead, he was thinking about what was going to happen to Vicky when she arrived at Kensington’s emergency department.

He had plenty of background knowledge to draw on. Ari had trained as a nurse before going into midwifery and he had particularly enjoyed his time in Emergency. His fascination with medicine in general continued to fuel his need for further postgraduate study and so far he’d clocked up qualifications in managing high-risk pregnancies and dealing with complications of childbirth and he was currently enrolled in a part-time course on the out-of-hospital care of premature newborns.

By the time he had the ambulance in his line of sight again, having turned the same corner, Ari had decided that Vicky would have as much time as needed in Emergency to support her circulation with aggressive fluid resuscitation and she might be given a blood transfusion as well. If a placental abruption was confirmed, the specialist obstetrician might want to take some fluid from her uterus to reduce the pressure but it was more likely that they would go ahead and deliver the baby by Caesarean section as quickly as possible and then deal with any complications that might follow.

Yvonne would want an update on her client and Ari should have just enough time to duck into the delivery ward on his way to the outpatient department of Kensington’s maternity ward where he was due to start an antenatal clinic at three p.m. It was going to be a busy one, with about six women at various stages of pregnancy who needed clinical assessment, any questions answered, reassurance given if needed and advice for the next stage of the journey they were on.

If there was anything abnormal found, he would need to arrange further care and he’d be fielding phone calls as well—from an obstetrician who’d decided to induce a client, perhaps, or from someone who needed to cancel or change an appointment or home visit. Like Yvonne, he could have a client who went into labour unexpectedly and that would throw his schedule into complete chaos, but the prospect didn’t bother Ari. He thrived under that kind of pressure and somehow making it work.

Something was bothering him, however, as he had to wait and watch the ambulance go through the red light of an intersection ahead of him. As the emergency vehicle got further ahead, Ari realised what it was that was niggling at the back of his head. Something about Kelly—the paramedic in that ambulance—had got completely under his skin.

He’d been blown away by her courage in subduing an angry, intoxicated man who outweighed her enough to have been dangerous. He’d already felt a beat of connection with her when Brendan had been so dismissive of any authority or skill either of them might have in their chosen professions. The recognition of the kind of determination to protect the vulnerable that, given the right circumstances, could make you much braver than you might think you were or that others might think you were was another connection that tapped into parts of Ari’s life that nobody he worked with knew about.

He’d also been seriously impressed with her calm confidence and obvious skill in her job to stabilise a patient whose condition was clearly deteriorating. But—and this was what was really bothering him—the way she’d visibly shrunk into herself when that macho idiot of a cop had turned up. He knew the type. A big ego, a bit of a bully. Capable of making sure the people around him behaved the way he wanted them to and to use whatever means necessary to do so.

But Ari had also learned long ago what even the faintest smell of fear was like. He’d seen, all too often, the effects that were the aftermath of trauma, whether it was physical or emotional, and he also knew, all too well, what it was like to feel vulnerable. And he’d been aware of all of that in Kelly’s body language when that cop had pushed himself into her personal space and put her down with such biting efficiency.

What had Kelly ever done to provoke that kind of treatment? And calling her Cowbell? What the heck was that about? Not that it mattered, anyway. The man had been unprofessional to the point where an official complaint might be justified but that hadn’t entered his head at the time. No…the only thing that Ari had wanted to do in that moment was to protect Kelly. The way he would always want to protect someone who was vulnerable and under threat.

The urge had been so powerful that, if Vicky hadn’t started crying at that moment, he would have been on his feet and by Kelly’s side. Telling that cop just how she had taken control of a situation that had been a lot more threatening than the one he and his colleague had arrived into. And that Kelly had gained control by using nothing more than her voice and her determination. She hadn’t needed to wave weapons around or cause physical pain.

His intervention hadn’t been required, of course. He might have caught a glimpse of the other side of the coin that was Kelly but it had only been momentary. She’d gone right back to doing her job without her focus being compromised one little bit. Strength had won out over vulnerability. That glimpse had been enough, however. Especially given the connection he was already aware of.

Ari was intrigued.

He wanted to know more.

And, yeah…he knew he should just let it go because that kind of interest had created problems before. He’d never had the space for a woman in his life who wanted to depend on a long-term relationship and he didn’t have the space for another woman in his life for any reason right now.

The ambulance carrying Kelly and Vicky was turning into the bay right outside Kensington’s emergency department. Ari couldn’t park his bike there so he had to go further down the road to access the staff car park. He’d have to walk back this way to head towards the maternity wing, though. Well…okay, it was a bit of a detour and he didn’t exactly have the luxury of time to be making detours but…

…but the pull to do that was so strong he knew it might well prove to be irresistible.

Different.

That was what was so intriguing about Ari the midwife.

It wasn’t simply that a male midwife was unusual. Or that he wore his hair long enough to need to tie it back to keep it out of the way for work. It wasn’t even the strangely hot contrast between the idea that he had chosen his profession because he loved babies and that obvious gentleness in caring for his clients and the sheer masculinity of a big man who rode around on a powerful motorbike and wore leather.

There was something else that Kelly couldn’t quite nail down and, now that she had the time to think about something other than the patient she’d just accompanied to hospital, her brain didn’t want to let it go. She was in a supply room down the corridor from the emergency department at Kensington Hospital, collecting everything she needed to restock the kit that was in the back of her rapid response car. The task was automatic. And easy, because all she had to do was run back through the scene in her head and pick up a replacement for everything she’d used.

An oxygen mask was first on the list and then it was IV supplies. Kelly added a strip of alcohol wipes to the bag, a sixteen-gauge cannula and a couple of Luer plugs and occlusive dressings. She had to stand on tiptoe to reach the shelf with bags of saline and the packages containing the giving sets.

It wasn’t just the treatment she had given her patient that Kelly was remembering as she collected the items. She was remembering the assistance she’d had. How easy it had been to work with someone who could anticipate what she needed and when. He was probably quite capable of inserting an IV line himself but he hadn’t given the slightest hint of being frustrated at her taking the lead. A lot of men wouldn’t like that, especially if that lead was being taken by a woman. Especially men like Darryn…

And there it was…that thing that had been at the back of her mind that felt important enough to identify. The reason that Ari was so different. It was the contrast between those two men that was almost as blinding as the difference between light and dark. Superficially, that contrast was there for everybody to see. Blond and fair-skinned against a Mediterranean kind of colouring. But the difference that Kelly could now see in retrospect was something only she could be aware of and that was the contrast in how those two men made her feel.

It was pathetic, given that she’d escaped her relationship with Darryn so long ago, that he could still make her feel stupid. Belittled. Afraid of what was going to come next, whether it was something being broken or vicious words or the threat of physical harm that seemed just as bad as any actual violence might have been. Worse, in some ways, because there was no evidence left that might have made others realise that something was very wrong. And why would anyone have believed her when he could be so very charming in public? She wouldn’t have believed it herself back in the early days when he’d set out to capture her heart. Now it was hard to believe that she could ever have imagined herself to be in love with him.

And in contrast to that was the feeling of…of safety…that Ari had given her. She’d only really noticed it when she’d seen him following the ambulance on that huge motorbike but it had been there right from the moment she’d met him, hadn’t it? When she’d seen him crouched beside Vicky as she’d entered that living room. There’d been something in his body language that had made her aware of his total focus on the pregnant woman. Something she could sense in the gentle movement of his hands on her belly that had made her think that if she was his patient she would feel safe.

She’d seen that look on his face when he’d heard Darryn taunting her with that horrible, old nickname. As unlikely as it seemed, Kelly could believe that he knew exactly how she was feeling in that moment and he’d almost looked as if he was ready to leap to his feet and come to defend her, but maybe she’d imagined that. In any case, it had been Vicky who had needed his attention far more than she had.

Remnants of that feeling of safety were still there, however, and it was doing something weird to Kelly’s gut. Making it feel like it did when she was nervous—a fluttering kind of sensation. Stronger than butterflies. More like birds. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling but it was unusual enough for Kelly to prefer that it would go away. Grabbing a handful of ECG electrodes, she headed back to the ambulance bay where her vehicle had been left to one side. She opened the back hatch and then opened her kit to lie flat so that she could slot her replacement supplies into the pouches they belonged in.

The movement and change of scene seemed to have done the trick in dispelling that strange fluttering sensation. Maybe now that she had identified what had been niggling at the back of her mind, she could now dismiss that as well. It wasn’t as if she was likely to see Ari again anytime soon and, even if she did, it wouldn’t mean anything. So what if he was the polar opposite of her ex-boyfriend? That didn’t mean that she was attracted to him, did it? She hadn’t been remotely interested in men since she’d broken up with Darryn and that was long enough now to make her think she might remain single for ever.

Zipping her kit closed, Kelly tightened the safety belts that held the defibrillator and an oxygen cylinder in place and then pulled the hatch shut. She was already fishing for the set of keys in her pocket as she turned to see the tall figure walking towards her. The man she hadn’t expected to see again anytime soon. If she’d been trying to subconsciously convince herself that those wingbeats in her belly didn’t have anything to do with attraction, she realised in that moment that it was a totally lost cause because just the sight of Ari made them spiral into an intensity that was a shaft of something rather too close to physical pain.

The pain of a barrier being smashed, perhaps?

‘Hey…just the person I was hoping to see.’

He was smiling at her. She hadn’t seen anything more than the hint of a smile on his face before and it was lovely. Warm. Genuine. Enough to make his eyes crinkle at the corners. Brown eyes, she noticed as he came close enough—just as warm as that smile. It was impossible not to smile back.

‘All good?’ Ari asked. ‘How’s Vicky? I was hoping to get here sooner but I got held up with some calls.’

‘You would have needed to be quick. I was most impressed with how fast they worked. There was a team waiting for us in Resus. An ultrasound confirmed the placental abruption and also revealed that there was quite a lot of blood trapped behind the placenta so what we saw was only part of the volume she’d lost.’

‘No wonder she was going into shock. Did she need a transfusion?’

Kelly nodded. ‘They had the first unit running as they took her up to Theatre.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘Her baby should be being delivered right about now. You’ll probably be able to see her on one of the maternity wards later this afternoon. I’m just hoping that they’ll both be okay.’

‘You and me both.’ Ari’s smile was long gone. ‘Especially if she’s going back to that violent thug of a husband.’

‘The police involvement was part of the ambulance report so Social Services has been notified. If Vicky wants help, it’s there for her.’

‘I’ll put something in my paperwork as well. My colleague, Yvonne, will be doing the postnatal house calls so I’ll have a chat to her. I’d hate to have her go back into an abusive relationship.’

‘Mmm…’ Kelly had to look away from Ari’s gaze. It was too intense. As if he really did see more than he should.

‘And what about that cop? I’m tempted to put in a complaint about his behaviour.’

Kelly’s heart missed a beat. ‘What behaviour?’

‘Brendan might be a thug but he was handled pretty roughly. And—’ there was a note of anger in Ari’s voice ‘—I didn’t like the way he spoke to you either.’

Kelly sucked in a quick breath. ‘Don’t say anything. Please. It would only make things worse.’

‘What things?’

‘He’s my ex,’ she admitted. ‘It was over a long time ago and we don’t cross paths very often but… I wouldn’t want to stir things up. You know…’

There was a beat of silence between them. A beat that was so long Kelly had to look back to catch Ari’s gaze.

He did know, she thought. More than she would have been prepared to admit to anyone on first acquaintance. But that wasn’t stopping him from wanting to know more. What was even stranger was that she wanted to tell him more. To tell him everything, in fact, and maybe she would have said more right then but as she opened her mouth, her pager sounded.

‘Uh-oh…’ She glanced at the message. ‘Code Red. I need to go.’

‘Me, too.’ Ari stepped out of her way but didn’t keep going. ‘I finish work about six,’ he told her as she opened her car door. ‘Want to meet for a drink or a coffee or something? I might be able to update you on Vicky by then.’

Kelly slammed her door shut but immediately pressed the button that rolled her window down. Already, her focus was veering towards her next callout but that new twist of her gut was sharp enough to make her catch her breath.

‘Sure,’ she heard herself saying. ‘Where?’

‘There’s a pub on the corner. The Kensington Arms. It’s the hospital’s local, I believe. See you there at six-thirty?’

Kelly was putting her vehicle into reverse. She flicked a switch to start the beacons on her roof. She could actually feel her adrenaline levels rising. Excitement at not knowing what she was being dispatched to this time? Or did it also have something to do with the prospect of meeting Ari again? Outside work hours. Almost like a date…

‘I’ll be there,’ she told him. Her vehicle was pointing the right way now and her foot was poised over the accelerator. She caught his gaze for a heartbeat, however. She couldn’t quite find a smile because this suddenly seemed a little overwhelming and she put her foot down as she spoke, as if she needed to escape. ‘See you then.’

“Intrigued” didn’t quite cover how Ari was feeling about Kelly by late that afternoon.

He should have known there was a reason why he’d felt such a strong urge to protect her when that cop had demonstrated that he had absolutely no respect for her personal space. An ex-boyfriend? What on earth had she ever seen in him? And if he could treat her like that in public, well after the relationship had ended, what had he been like when they had been together, behind closed doors?

Unfortunately, Ari could imagine only too well and he was sure he was right in his suspicions. Kelly was an intelligent, capable, gorgeous-looking woman and there was only one thing that could have undermined her self-esteem enough to make her personality visibly shrink in front of him like that and that was abuse. Pure and simple. He’d not only seen it too many times in his life not to recognise the signs, he knew what it was like to be on the receiving end. He’d only just met Kelly but he could feel anger on her behalf. And sadness. And…the desire to try and help her.

Just as a friend, of course, because no matter how undeniably attractive she was that was all he could offer, but that might be enough to make her believe in how amazing she was. To help heal whatever damage that bastard had done to her and let her move forward with her life with the kind of confidence that would make sure nobody could ever put her down like that again—in public or in private.

The thought had to be shelved as his last appointment for this antenatal clinic came into the room, a small sample container in her hand.

‘Sorry that took so long. I couldn’t do much either.’

‘Doesn’t need much for a dipstick test.’ Ari unscrewed the jar on his desk and took out the test strip to dip into the urine sample. He compared the colours in the tiny squares to the chart on the jar.

‘It’s all good, isn’t it?’

‘Your protein level’s up a fraction. We’ll need to keep an eye on that. I might get a culture done to make sure you’re not brewing up a urinary tract infection.’

‘That’s dangerous for the baby, isn’t it? I’m sure I read something about protein in urine being bad.’

‘If it’s there along with high blood pressure, it can be a sign of something called pre-eclampsia and that can be dangerous if it’s not recognised in time. But your blood pressure’s fine, Janice.’ He smiled at her. ‘Try not to worry so much.’

‘I can’t help it. We’ve waited a long time for this baby, you know?’

‘I know. But you’re well past the halfway mark now and everything’s looking great. Come and hop up on the bed and I’ll measure your tummy and we can listen to baby’s heartbeat. We can have a chat about whether you want to start making a birth plan as well.’

‘Oh…yes… I’ve been thinking about that a lot. I’ve even chosen the music I want.’

Ari grinned. ‘Maybe we could choose the place you want to give birth as a first step. You were considering a home birth, weren’t you?’

‘I’ve gone right off that idea.’ Janice lay back on the bed and pulled down the waistband of her maternity jeans to expose her bump. ‘What if something went wrong? I’d rather be somewhere safe that had all the experts and medical stuff that I might need.’

‘Safety is certainly my number one priority,’ Ari agreed. ‘For both you and your baby.’

He had his handheld Doppler ready, holding the monitor in one hand and the small transducer in the other, pressing it gently to one side of Janice’s bump as he searched for the best place to hear the baby’s heartbeat. It took a few seconds for the faint thumping sounds to become clearer.

‘There we go.’ Ari turned the monitor so that Janice could see the readout. ‘One forty beats per minute. Perfect.’

Janice was smiling but her lips wobbled a moment later. ‘It gets me every time, hearing that,’ she admitted.

Ari had to smile back. ‘Me, too.’

The miracle of new life never got old. The emotions that went with it covered every human experience from anguish to ecstasy and, as Ari chatted to Janice about making her birth plan, he hoped that her experience was going to be as joyful as possible. Some women never had the luxury of any control over how their babies came into the world—like poor Vicky today. Ari had half an eye on the clock on his wall. He wanted to get an update on how Vicky and her baby were doing because Kelly would want to know and he would be seeing her very soon.

If that little Doppler had been anywhere near his own heart right now, it would have picked up that little blip of a missed beat as well as the acceleration that followed. Anticipation, that’s what it was. He was very much looking forward to seeing her again.

‘Let’s wrap this up for today, Janice. I’ve got a printout here of all the things you can think about and talk to your partner about. Like pain relief options, what kind of food and drink you might want available in labour, preferred positions or use of water. Even who gets to cut the cord. There’s lots to think about.’

‘There sure is.’ Janice’s eyes had widened. ‘Thanks, Ari. Do I need to make another appointment?’

‘Yes.’ Ari opened his diary. ‘And I’ll be in touch about the results of any further testing on your urine sample. If necessary, I’ll refer you to your GP for a blood test or any medication you might need.’

Minutes later, Ari stripped off the scrub top he’d been wearing to replace it with a black T-shirt and then his leather jacket. He collected his satchel from the corner of the room but didn’t bother picking up his motorbike helmet. He could walk to the Kensington Arms and come back for the helmet later.

The sound of an incoming text message as he turned towards the door was nothing to worry about. They were almost always about an appointment that needed to be changed. People always rang rather than texted if it was something urgent. Except that this message was something different. Nothing to do with his work and everything to do with what currently had such a high priority in his life.

He read the message and then hit a rapid dial key.

‘What’s happening, Peggy?’ He listened for only a matter of seconds, a frown deepening rapidly on his face. ‘Okay,’ he interrupted. ‘It’s okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.’

He had to pick up his helmet and he was walking fast through the corridors of the maternity wing. He still had his phone in his hand, ready to call or text Kelly to let her know he couldn’t make it. But…he hadn’t asked for her number, had he? He had no way of contacting her because he certainly didn’t have either the time or the head space to start searching for and ringing around all the ambulance stations on this side of town. Or to go to find someone who might know her contact details because of her involvement in the flying squad. It would have to wait until later.

Ari could only hope that she would understand but if she didn’t that would be just the way things had to be. This was why he’d come back here. To be able to provide support for someone who needed him. The only woman in his life that he’d ever been able to trust completely, in fact, and that was why she deserved everything he could give her at the moment. It was also why he didn’t have space in his life for anyone else right now, possibly even a new friend.

‘What can I get you, love?’

Kelly smiled at the bartender, who had a strong Aussie accent. ‘I’ll wait, thanks. I’ve got a friend coming.’ She glanced sideways at the huge railway clock on the wall. She was a few minutes late herself so she had no right to feel disappointed that Ari wasn’t here already.

‘No worries.’ The bartender grinned at her. ‘Lucky guy.’

Kelly shook her head. ‘It’s nothing like that. He’s just a friend.’

Not even that, really. Or not yet. But the possibility was there. Of friendship. Of possibly—okay, a very small possibility but it had to be acknowledged—something more than friendship.

And there were parts of Kelly’s body that felt like they were waking up after a very long hibernation. Tingly bits that were not at all unpleasant. Quite the opposite.

The bar was quite crowded and noisy and Kelly was happy to sit on the bar stool and just relax in the convivial ambience as she let herself contemplate that tingle that had resurfaced at quite frequent intervals over the last few hours. It wasn’t freaking her out any more. In fact, she had identified something she hadn’t felt in so long it was almost a new concept in regard to her personal life.

Hope…that’s what it was…

The bartender went past, his hands filled with empty glasses. ‘Sure you don’t want something while you’re waiting?’

Blinking out of that daydream, Kelly looked at the clock and was astonished to find another fifteen minutes had gone by. Still, she shook her head, although her smile was harder to find this time. The atmosphere didn’t feel so friendly after that either. Had people noticed her sitting here alone? Was some of that laughter on her account? Oh, God…maybe some of Darryn’s mates were in here and talking about her. Passing on those nicknames and a warning to stay clear of someone who was too stupid to live.

Had she really thought that being around Ari the midwife made her feel safer? Well…that trust had been totally misplaced, hadn’t it? Right now, sliding off the bar stool, Kelly felt just as humiliated as she had when Darryn had reminded her of how worthless he thought she was.

She’d been stood up. Nobody did that to someone they had the slightest respect for, did they?

Not that she should feel this surprised. Or hurt. She knew better than to trust any man. Even one with soft, dark eyes that told her they could understand. That they wanted to know her story. That they thought she was something special.

Kelly’s breath came out in an incredulous huff as she let the pub door swing shut behind her. Who was she trying to kid? They were especially the kind of men you couldn’t trust. The ones who got under your guard and sucked you in so fast they made you feel things that you thought you’d forgotten how to feel. Maybe even feeling those things wasn’t worth it, because when reality came along and smacked you in the face, it really sucked.

‘Hey…you’re going the wrong way, darlin’.’ A group of young men were heading into the pub but one of them had turned back. ‘Come and have a drink with us, why don’t you?’

Kelly shook her head. And walked faster. There was only one place she wanted to be and that was her little basement flat where she lived alone. Where she had only herself to rely on.

Where she felt genuinely safe…

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