It was wonderfully peaceful after living in the centre of busy Manchester and she hated the thought of going back there, but she might have to if she couldn’t find a way to work with Luca. Although the day had gone better than she’d feared, she’d felt extremely tense whenever he’d been around and that was hardly conducive to a healthy working relationship. All she could do was wait and see if it got any easier.
Kelly was halfway down the hill when she heard a motorbike roaring along the road behind her. There was a bend coming up so she decided to let the motorbike pass her. A lot of the young men in the area rode motorbikes and they usually rode them at a breakneck speed, so it was safer to keep out of their way.
She’d just stepped onto the grass verge when a movement suddenly caught her eye. A little boy had appeared from the drive of one of the villas and was riding his tricycle down the middle of the road. He was oblivious to the danger he was in and Kelly realised that she would have to do something if she was to avert an accident.
Hurrying forward, she swept the child into her arms just a moment before the motorbike came careering down the road. There was a squeal of brakes as the driver tried to stop, but she didn’t wait to see if he succeeded as she hurled herself and the child onto the verge. Pain shot through her when her elbow struck a lump of rock but she barely registered it because she was more concerned about the child. Her legs were trembling as she scrambled to her feet and hurriedly checked him over.
‘Good boy,’ she said as she ran her hands over his chubby little limbs. Apart from a small graze on his cheek, he appeared unscathed so that was something to be grateful for, although she dreaded to think how the driver had fared.
Picking the child up, she ran over to the young man. He was lying at the side of the road, moaning. Crouching down beside him, Kelly could tell immediately that his right arm was broken. It was an open fracture, too, and she could see a section of bone sticking through the flesh. Setting the little boy on the grass beside her, she took a clean handkerchief out of her bag and placed it over the wound to prevent any infection getting into the tissue. Once that was done, she quickly examined the young man, but he didn’t appear to have broken anything else. However, the fact that he wasn’t wearing a safety helmet meant that she couldn’t rule out the possibility of him having suffered a head injury.
‘I’m going to fetch help,’ she told him, knowing there was very little else she could do for him. The most important thing now was to get him to hospital as quickly as possible.
He broke into a torrent of rapid Italian and she shook her head. Although her grasp of the language was more than sufficient to deal with the patients she saw at the hospital, he had a thick local accent which made it difficult to follow what he was saying. ‘I don’t understand.’ She pointed towards the villa. ‘I’m going for help—aiuto.’
Thankfully, he understood what she meant and nodded. Picking up the little boy, Kelly ran back up the road. Hopefully, there would be someone at the villa who would allow her to use their phone to ring for an ambulance.
‘Matteo!’
Kelly ground to a halt when a man suddenly appeared from the driveway leading to the villa. She gasped when she recognised Luca because he was the last person she’d expected to see. He came racing towards her and swept the child into his arms.
‘What happened?’
‘There’s been an accident,’ she explained as she watched the little boy cling to him. The child obviously knew him, although she had no idea what their relationship was.
‘An accident,’ Luca repeated, staring at the child in concern.
‘Yes, but he’s fine. There’s just a graze on his cheek—see.’ She brushed a dark curl off the little boy’s face so that Luca could see what she meant then hurried on. Determining Luca’s relationship to the child really wasn’t important at the moment. ‘This little chap was riding his trike down the road when a motorbike came along. The driver managed to avoid him but he’s broken his arm. I was on my way to fetch help when you appeared.’
‘I see.’ Luca’s mouth thinned as he digested what she had told him. Kelly could tell that he was angry and didn’t blame him. The child couldn’t have been more than two years old, far too young to be out on his own.
‘Go up to the house and ask them to phone for an ambulance,’ he instructed tersely. ‘I’ll take a look at the driver while you do that.’
‘Right.’
He started to hurry away but Kelly stopped him. ‘Do you want me to take the child with me? I expect his mother is wondering where’s he’s got to.’
Something crossed his face, an expression she found impossible to decipher. ‘Thank you but no. I’ll keep him here with me.’
He didn’t waste time debating the issue as he strode over to the injured motorcyclist. Kelly watched him kneel down beside the man then turned away. She had a feeling that she was missing something but there was no time to worry about it at the moment.
She hurriedly made her way up the drive to the villa. It was a beautiful house, built all on one level, with a small turret at one side and a low-pitched terracotta tiled roof, characteristic of the houses in the area. Crimson bougainvillea spilled down the walls and surrounded the huge oak door with its gleaming brass knocker. At any other time, she would have loved to explore the house and its grounds but it was more important that she sought help for the injured motorcyclist.
She knocked on the door and waited. She could hear footsteps inside and a moment later an elderly woman appeared.
‘Si?’
‘I’m sorry to bother you,’ Kelly began, ‘but there’s been an accident outside in the road. Can you phone for an ambulance, please?’
‘An accident?’ The woman pressed a hand to her mouth. ‘Is it Matteo? Has he been hurt?’
‘No, no, he’s fine,’ Kelly assured her. ‘It’s the driver of the motorcycle who’s been injured. Dr Ferrero is with him and he said that you would phone for an ambulance.’
‘Si, si. Immediatamente, signorina.’
‘Grazie.’ Kelly smiled her thanks then hurried back down the drive. Luca was examining the motorcyclist’s left ankle when she went back to them.
‘I think he’s damaged his ankle as well, possibly sprained it or even torn a ligament,’ he told her, glancing up.
‘I must have missed that,’ she admitted, crouching down beside him. ‘I was more concerned about his arm, I’m afraid. Sorry.’
‘There is no need to apologise. From what he has told me, the accident could have been a lot more serious if it weren’t for you.’ He looked over at the little boy, who was happily playing with some pebbles, and she could hear the emotion in his voice when he continued. ‘Matteo could have been killed if you hadn’t got him out of the way in time, Kelly. I don’t know how I can ever thank you.’
‘I’m sure the driver would have managed to avoid him,’ she said lightly, because she didn’t want Luca to think that he was beholden to her in any way.
‘Perhaps.’
He didn’t say anything else. Maybe he was relieved to have been let off the hook, she thought. She understood if he felt that way because she felt the same. If she was to work with him then she had to maintain her distance—if it was possible to do that, of course.
Fortunately, there was no time to dwell on that thought as the ambulance arrived just then. Luca told the crew what had happened and politely asked Kelly if she wanted to add anything but she shook her head. There was no need, he was too much of a professional to allow anything to get in the way of him doing his job, even his obvious concern for the child.
A frown pleated her brows when she saw the tenderness on his face as he picked up the little boy. Just who was Matteo? And why was he so important