Luca's Bad Girl - By Amy Andrews Page 0,48

crawled back in and gently shut the door. His overalls were soaked around the shoulders and the part of his face not protected by the helmet was as wet as if he’d just stepped out of the shower.

He scrambled to his feet and gave a very slight experimental bounce. When the chopper stayed firm he gave another bigger one. ‘I think it’s fine.’

He relayed the info to Brian who spoke with Air Control. Luca experimented some more, shifting slowly and carefully around the cramped confines of the chopper, which was hardly made for ease of movement anyway.

It seemed stable and he let out a little sigh of relief.

‘Bad news.’ Brian’s voice interrupted Luca. ‘The weather has worsened. High winds and driving rain are going to make rescue impossible for a while. It’s too dangerous to send another chopper and a winch crew. Meteorology think the system’s going to hang around for quite a few more hours so we’re stuck up this tree until daylight. Like the bloody Swiss Family Robinson.’

Mia heard Brian laugh at his own joke then suck in a breath on a deep guttural groan.

‘We’ve got to see to him,’ she said.

Luca nodded. ‘I think the chopper’s stable enough to drag him out of his seat and onto the stretcher. It’s going to hurt, though.’

Mia nodded grimly. Hell, yeah. ‘We could get him to splint his leg first—we carry vacuum splints—it might help a bit.’

Luca nodded. ‘Okay. Let’s do it. Unbuckle, but slowly. And leave your helmet on. Let’s make sure this bird can take both of us moving around before we get too carried away.’

Mia unbuckled and stood slowly. Luca held out his hand and she glanced at him as she took it.

‘You’re freezing,’ he murmured, enclosing her hand within his.

Mia was surprised to realise she was—she’d been in survival mode and hadn’t realised it. ‘The wind’s getting in somewhere,’ she said absently, caught up in the warmth of his hand.

Despite how soaked his shoulders and arms were, his hands were like a toasty pair of gloves. In fact, his mere presence was like a beacon of light in this cold, dark, scary scenario they’d landed in.

Luca was here and he was warm and solid and one hundred per cent in control.

‘Near Brian, I think,’ Luca murmured, steadying her. ‘Grab the splint,’ he said. ‘Slow and easy. I don’t know how much weight distribution is aiding stability.’

Mia nodded and reluctantly let go of Luca’s hand. She’d felt safe under the influence of his touch. Which made no sense. They were still stuck up a tree. In a helicopter. In the middle of a storm.

Which just went to prove what she’d always thought—love was crazy!

She took a tentative step and then another towards the storage cupboard. Like boats, helicopters made excellent use of space and Mia knew what was in every nook and cranny. The floor felt solid beneath her as she inched her way closer.

She grabbed the splint and the pump and turned to face Luca. ‘What now?’

He held out his hand and she passed him the gear. He gestured her close. ‘I’m going to drag him out from behind. You stand by at the stretcher for when he’s out. Let’s get an IV going and give him some morph.’

Mia looked at the cramped confines of the single pilot’s seat. The end of the stretcher protruded into the front cab area where in most commercial choppers there would have been a second seat.

‘Are you going to be able to manoeuvre him out from behind?’

Luca grimaced. ‘I hope so. I’m not sure how stable the chopper will be if I have to climb up onto the stretcher and pull him from there. The tail’s wedged fairly solidly so I doubt it’ll tip backwards. I’m not so sure it won’t tip forward.’

Mia swallowed. So this was the meaning of being stuck between a rock and a hard place. But Luca seemed so confident—like GI Joe, Action Man and Inspector Gadget all rolled into one.

‘It’s going to be fine, Mia.’ He smiled. She returned his smile with one that was suddenly wobbly and thanked any and all deities out there that if she’d had to be in a helicopter crash, at least Luca had been with her.

‘Okay. Let’s do it.’

Twenty minutes later, after a lot of effort and pain, Brian was on the stretcher, an IV had been inserted, fluids were running, nasal prongs with a trickle of oxygen had been applied and, because they could, he was being monitored.