‘No, I…’ she began. His eyes were strikingly blue with heavy brows and lashes, he was tall and broad-shouldered and for a moment, she realised, she was just gazing at him gormlessly. Good God, woman, she admonished herself, what are you like? So, she looked away, keeping her stare intent on the lights changing before her. But still, she was very aware of him next to her. She sensed that he too was staring hard ahead, forcing himself not to look at her.

At that moment, the lights before Liv changed and she was brought back to the present moment with a rush as the wind at her back heaved forward and she almost lost her footing.

‘Okay?’ The man had grabbed her elbow to steady her. He smiled at her now and something familiar in the shape of his mouth made her heart lurch. He was taller than her, a good six foot. He was slender too, but when he reached out to her, she could tell there was solidity to him. There was manliness about him that went beyond his five o’clock shadow or the slight nick in his skin just to the left of his chin.

‘I’m fine, I just…’ She smiled at him and they stopped in the road for a moment, a silence stretching out between them. There was something so familiar about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She never forgot a face, but perhaps he was a relative of a patient who’d only passed through the A&E one of those days when she’d been too rushed to take much notice. That’s it, Liv thought, I’ve run into him somewhere before and I’ll remember as soon as I’m drifting off to sleep tonight.

She was about to continue across the road, but the roar of a motorbike at her back stopped her in her tracks. It had come out of nowhere. There was a sickening screech of brakes, and then she felt the man push her out of the way, diving into the path of the oncoming bike himself. She heard the bone-crushing thumping sound of his body as it impacted with the bike. She was on the ground now, looking about dazed to see what had happened behind her, but she knew. The man had saved her life. She was almost afraid to look around to see if it had cost him his.