Hands reached for her. All trace of amusement vanished. ‘Just do as I tell you and don’t fight me,’ he said, his deep voice calm. ‘Just roll over onto your back and relax. I’ll take you in.’
Caitlin hesitated. Despite her terror there was no way she was going to be dragged ashore like so much flotsam.
‘Or, so help me, I’ll knock you out if I have to,’ he threatened as if he read her mind.
The hardness in his tone made Caitlin realise he was deadly serious. He would knock her out—she didn’t doubt him for a second! The last thing she had the strength for was a brawl. And she did need help. Her leg was agonising and she was finding it difficult to breathe. Giving up all pretence of being able to get herself out of her predicament, she rolled over on her back and let herself float. She felt firm hands grasp either side of her head, and then she was being tugged towards the shore.
It could have only taken a few minutes but, exhausted and mortified, it felt like hours to Caitlin before she was being helped up the beach and onto a blanket. She dropped to her knees while Brianna dropped a towel around her shoulders.
‘My God, Cat. Are you all right?’ Brianna pressed a tumbler of water to her lips and Caitlin drank the liquid gratefully, washing away the taste of sea water. Over her sister’s shoulder, Caitlin was conscious of the curious gazes of her niece and nephew. She shivered, trying to catch her breath, acutely aware how close she had come to being swept out to sea. Her rescuer knelt beside her and to her consternation gently lifted her calf and examined the place where she had been stung. Caitlin had the briefest impression of broad shoulders the colour of toffee and thick black hair.
‘How’s her leg, Andrew?’ Niall asked, sounding concerned.
‘It’ll be okay. As soon as I get some vinegar on it.’ Caitlin’s embarrassment deepened. So she’d been right. The man who had been forced to come after her to bring her ashore as if she were some helpless female was her new colleague. Dr Andrew Bedi. What a way to make a good first impression, she berated herself. He must think her all kinds of an idiot.
‘I’ve got some vinegar in the boot of my car. If you could fetch it, Niall?’ Andrew continued. He turned to Caitlin and smiled sympathetically. ‘They’re always getting me. It will sting like crazy for a while, but I don’t think there’s any lasting damage. You’re lucky that you got stung by these babies. Now, if it had been the ones up north, you’d really be in trouble.’ He raised his eyes to Caitlin’s and once again she was aware of the intensity of his gaze. She felt a tingle in her leg, but whether it was from the feel of his hands or the shock of her recent experience, she didn’t want to know. He was tall, at least six feet four, with short black hair. He was only wearing Bermuda shorts and Caitlin was acutely aware of his bronzed, muscular chest. Deep brown eyes, framed by impossibly thick lashes, glinted as if he found the whole world amusing. His features were perfectly sculpted, high cheekbones and a full, generous mouth. People might have called him beautiful, if it weren’t for his nose, which looked as if it had been broken and badly set. He was simply by far the sexiest man Brianna had ever seen—and she was to be working with him!
‘Did no one warn you not to go too far out?’ he said, frowning at her. Although he looked as if he was of Indian descent, his accent was Australian.
Caitlin prickled at the disapproval in his voice. She wasn’t used to people telling her off. ‘Yes. But I didn’t notice how far the current had taken me until it was too late.’ Caitlin pulled her leg out of his grasp, annoyed. Okay, so he’d had to rescue her, that was embarrassing and she owed him, but there was no need for him to talk to her as if she were a naughty child. ‘Thank you for helping me out. I am very grateful…’ She was aware that she sounded less than appreciative, but she desperately wanted to regain some dignity as quickly as possible. She wasn’t used to feeling at a disadvantage, as if she was in the wrong. ‘And I can promise you, I will never ever put myself, or any one else, in that position again. Okay?’ She tried a smile and tugged her leg from his grasp. It was still stinging like hell, but she would just have to grit her teeth until the pain subsided.
‘Oh, Caitlin,’ Brianna was saying as Niall returned carrying a large brown leather bag. ‘You gave us all such a fright.’
Caitlin hugged her sister. ‘I’m sorry, sis. Particularly seeing as it’s me that’s supposed to be watching out for you.’
‘Anyway, all’s well that ends well,’ Andrew said, taking the bag from Niall. After hunting around for a few moments, he pulled out a bottle and a dressing. He reached for Caitlin’s leg once more and propped it on his knees. Caitlin was deeply aware of the heat of his skin on hers. Once again there was that tingle. Dismayed, she tried to pull her leg away again. Equally determined, he pulled it back and held it there with a steel-like grip. Caitlin gave up, knowing that if she entered into a tug of war with this man she was likely to come out the loser, and would look even sillier than she felt right now.
He glanced up at her and Caitlin could see laughter in his deep brown eyes. ‘Just do as you’re told for a few minutes,’ he drawled. ‘Brianna did warn me that you were a stubborn woman. Goes with the red hair, I guess.’ He looked from Brianna to Caitlin. They both had auburn hair—or at least until Brianna’s had fallen out as a side effect of her treatment. But where Brianna’s hair had been a mass of curls, Caitlin wore hers longer, tamed into a silky curtain of thick waves. But adding to her discomfort, Caitlin was conscious that as her hair dried in the heat of the sun it was beginning to frizz. At the moment she was as far away from the sleek professional she liked to present to the world as was possible.
‘I did not!’ Brianna protested. ‘I said she was determined—not stubborn.’
‘Well I guess we both know who the other is, then,’ Caitlin said, feeling ridiculous as she held out her hand. She in her bikini, frizzing hair plastered to her scalp, her leg in the lap of her colleague and now here she was holding out her hand as if they had just met at some cocktail party. It was so ludicrous she had to smile.
‘Dr Caitlin O’Neill,’ she said with a grin.
He stopped what he was doing for a moment and engulfed her hand in his. ‘Dr Andrew Bedi. At your service.’ Then he too smiled. The effect was devastating. His teeth were a flash of white against the darkness of his skin, his dancing eyes crinkled at the corners. He really was the most incredible-looking man. Caitlin’s pulse, which had been beginning to resume its normal rhythm, uncomfortably started pounding again.
Eventually, having dressed her leg, he placed it back on the blanket. ‘It’ll feel a little bruised,’ he said, ‘and might be sore for a day or two, but that’s all. You’ve been lucky. If it had been one of the brutes up the coast a bit that had stung you, you’d have been a goner for sure.’
Caitlin shuddered, her gaze shifting to the clear blue Pacific. There was no way she was going back in there unless she was sure it was perfectly safe. Once stung twice shy.
‘I think we should go back to the house,’ Niall said. ‘And have our barbie there. Andrew, if you could take the girls, I’ll follow with the kids once I’ve packed up here.’
‘Please don’t,’ Caitlin said. ‘I don’t want to spoil everyone’s day. If Andrew thinks my leg is okay, we should just carry on as if nothing has happened. C’mon, Niall. Please. I don’t want to spoil it for everyone.’
‘Yes, Daddy. Let’s stay,’ Caitlin’s nephew, Ciaran, begged. ‘We haven’t been down to the beach since Mummy got sick. And Siobhan and I have only half finished our castle.’
Caitlin was stricken with remorse. She was supposed to be here to help make things easier for the family. Now it looked as if she had ruined their first proper day out.
‘I insist we stay,’ she said firmly. ‘Brianna and I will lie on the blanket here and chat. We still need to catch up properly. And as Andrew said, my leg will be perfectly