Katya stood closer to him than was strictly necessary and Christy tried not to mind and concentrated instead on helping Donna.
‘You can see that he’s correcting the abduction and the external rotation,’ she explained as she helped manoeuvre the splint onto the leg until it was in the right position.
She and Alessandro worked together smoothly, closely observed by both Katya and Donna.
Once the cords were tied and twisted, Christy put wool roll padding under the thigh. ‘Now we just need to bandage the whole splint from thigh to lower calf,’ she said to Donna, ‘lift and support the leg on a pillow and check the distal pulses.’
‘Great.’ Alessandro turned to Katya. ‘Can you arrange for X-rays and then we’ll refer him to the orthopaedic team? I want X-rays of the pelvis, hip and knee.’
Katya gave a feline smile. ‘Of course, Alessandro.’
Donna shot a questioning glance at Christy, who dragged her gaze away from her scrutiny of Katya and volunteered the information she knew was needed.
‘For the femoral shaft to fracture, there must have been a violent high-energy impact and that is associated with other injures.’ He wouldn’t be sleeping with Katya, she told herself firmly. Alessandro wouldn’t do that. He might be the archetypal alpha male, but he was an honourable man with strong principles. ‘So when we’re X-raying, it’s important to check pelvis, hip and knee.’
But if he considered their marriage to be over, would he do that?
CHAPTER THREE
CHRISTY started to clear up some of the debris that had accumulated while Katya and Donna arranged the X-rays. She knew how important it was to keep Resus tidy and well stocked, and she thought that the comfort of routine might relieve the sick feeling building in her stomach.
Forcing herself to be rational and mature, she hung a fresh bag of IV fluid from the drip stand and then started to replenish the drugs that they’d used.
Eventually the patient was transferred to Theatre and she was left alone in the room. She picked up a laryngoscope from the intubation tray and snapped it open, testing that the bulb worked. She stared down at the curved, silver blade in her hand and didn’t hear the door open behind her.
‘So—working in A and E is obviously like riding a bike.’ Alessandro’s deep, masculine drawl came from directly behind her and she turned, her stomach jumping. There was no reason to feel nervous, she told herself firmly. They’d worked together as a smooth, efficient team. She hadn’t done anything wrong.
‘It came back to me.’
‘Obviously.’ His dark eyes lingered on her face. ‘You’ve missed it, haven’t you?’
She caught her breath. It had been years since she’d stopped working in A and E and yet that was the first time he’d ever asked her that question. ‘Yes,’ she breathed. ‘I missed it terribly.’
Something flickered in his eyes. ‘You never said.’
‘You never asked.’
Their eyes met and held and Christy felt the heat flicker and stir in her pelvis.
Why did she have to find him so completely irresistible? The attraction between them was so powerful that it blinded her to every other aspect of their relationship, which was probably the reason they hadn’t sorted their pro
blems out earlier.
‘We should talk more,’ he said roughly, and she gave a wan smile.
‘You’re not always that easy to talk to, Alessandro.’
‘Am I really scary?’ There was a frown in his eyes and she realised that her earlier comment had genuinely bothered him.
‘You can be intimidating,’ she said honestly. ‘But that’s partly because of your skills and experience. You can’t expect a newly qualified nurse to respond to an emergency situation with your confidence.’
‘If she can’t cope with the situation, she shouldn’t be in Resus,’ Alessandro growled, and Christy sighed.
‘You’re so hard on people. In an ideal world, I suppose you’re right. But we don’t live or work in an ideal world. And the best way to learn is by the patient’s bedside, gaining hands-on experience with the appropriate supervision.’ She scanned the trolley, checking that she’d replaced all the drugs they’d used. ‘All the studying in the world doesn’t prepare you for the pressure and demands of Resus when a patient is bleeding before your eyes.’
Alessandro looked at her thoughtfully. ‘You were good with her,’ he conceded. ‘The nurse, I mean.’
It was so unlike him to offer praise that she blinked in astonishment and then felt the warmth spread inside her.