‘Well done, Flash.’
‘You too, Robin...’ She frowned suddenly. ‘Don’t you want to be Flash? Robin sounds as if you’re my sidekick...’
‘Hey. You stick with your own middle name, and I’ll stick with mine. I’ve become attached to it over the years.’ He wasn’t particularly attached to either of his first names, because he guessed they’d been his father’s choices. But on Hannah’s lips the name had acquired new and better associations.
He pulled the medal ribbon over his head. ‘Would Sam like this?’
‘You earned it. He can have mine.’
Matt put the medal into her hand. ‘Give him this one. Then you can both wear one.’ He reckoned that Sam might like that.
‘Are you sure...?’ Hannah looked up at him and he nodded. ‘Why don’t you come and give it to him yourself, so he can say thank you? We’ll probably have to go for a drink somewhere before I get to go home and lie on the sofa—you’re welcome to join us.’
There was nothing that Matt would like more. Being with Hannah for just a while longer. Seeing that softer side of her, which seemed to retreat behind a determined shell when she was competing. But it wasn’t a good idea. He was already becoming too aware of her, and it was an uneasy path to take.
‘Thanks, but I’d like to get home. I’ve got a few things to do.’ The lie sounded hollow on his lips. ‘Actually, lying on the sofa sounds like a good idea.’
Her gaze searched his face for a moment. Then she nodded. ‘I’ll let you go, then. Thanks for today. And the medal, Sam will love it.’
Matt watched her walk away. She knelt down in front of Sam, putting the medal around his neck, and Matt’s heart began to swell as the little boy picked it up gravely, examining it. Then Hannah pointed behind her in his direction and started to turn...
He turned away quickly. It wouldn’t do for her to know that he was watching, greedy for every detail of the scene. Matt walked away, starting to feel the heaviness of his limbs and the sting of the wound on his shoulder. He should go home, take a long shower, and forget all about Hannah until next week.
CHAPTER FIVE
HANNAH WAS TRYING not to think about Matt. That wasn’t easy, because Sam hadn’t stopped talking about him, and her mother had mentioned that he seemed nice and wondered innocently whether he had a family. Sophie didn’t have such reservations.
‘I asked. He’s definitely single.’
Hannah leaned back in the front seat of the ambulance, closing her eyes. ‘And they know this how?’
‘I spoke to one of the nurses in Orthopaedics. He comes into the ward quite a lot on account of operating on quite a few of their patients.’
‘Oh, and they’ve compiled a dossier?’
‘Yeah, pretty much. He lives just around the corner from the hospital. Been here a year, isn’t married and doesn’t have a girlfriend, despite being a complete and utter god in the looks department.’ Sophie frowned. ‘That sounds a bit too good to be true actually. I wonder if he’s got a dark secret.’
Hannah had wondered that too.
‘Maybe he just likes to keep his personal life to himself.’
‘So you know something? That you’re not telling me?’
‘No. We don’t all have your dating stamina, I haven’t had a partner in years either. I suppose that doesn’t count, though, I’m not a complete and utter goddess...’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. You’re a super-goddess.’ Sophie pulled a face. ‘You just can’t believe that there’s someone out there who won’t let you down, the way John did.’
‘And I’ve got a six-year-old, and a job. It doesn’t give me a lot of time for dating.’ Hannah was sure that she could have made time if she’d really wanted to, her Mum was always telling her she should go out more. But guilt stopped her. She’d let her father down, and she wouldn’t break the promise she’d never had the chance to ma
ke to him. She’d never get carried away, thinking that she was in love, and let down the people she really cared about. Her place was with Sam and her mother.
‘Sure you couldn’t squeeze him in?’ Sophie grinned, and then puffed out a breath as the radio hissed into life.
Good. Something else to think about for a while. Something that didn’t involve Matt’s broad shoulders, or what might happen if a girl should accidentally-on-purpose cut through that gentle veneer of his. She’d seen the fire and the determination beneath it, and it had made her shiver.
‘Here we go...’ Sophie glanced at Hannah, starting the engine of the ambulance.
* * *