a helicopter had trouble.
Doctors today wanted back-up and nights off and private schools for their kids. There were few opportunities in the valley for the things most doctors and their families had come to expect, and Mike knew that to attract anyone here would take a miracle.
And here was a miracle. A slim, fiery, bossy, determined miracle-with blue toes and golden stars.
So grab her and hold…
That was just what he wanted to do, he thought suddenly. That was the problem. She was sitting beside him at the big kitchen table, made to seat a staff of twelve or more. Her feet were propped up before her. Her bathrobe was vast and warm and she looked like a gift package in crimson.
She was sitting so that her gown just brushed his shoulder.
He pulled back, suddenly acutely aware of the touch, and she grinned.
‘Hey, I’m not proposing to seduce you here, Dr Llewellyn,’ she said mildly. ‘Only work with you.’ And then she furrowed her brow. ‘Anyway, why so touchy? You’re not gay, are you?’
‘No!’
‘Hmm.’
‘Hmm, what?’ She was watching him as if she were looking at a frog on a dissecting table, and Mike found the sensation unnerving.
‘There’s a problem here, but I don’t know what.’ She brightened. ‘I’ll bet you have a past.’
‘A past…’
‘A deep and mysterious love life of which we know not.’ She grinned again. ‘A skeleton in the closet. Am I right?’
‘Dr Westcott…’
‘Oh, I am right.’ Her smile widened. ‘How about I do a bit of matchmaking? If the Volvo and cribbage doesn’t do the trick, how about Louise?’
‘Tessa!’ His voice was an explosion but for the life of him he couldn’t stop a chuckle. This girl was incorrigible. And now she was smiling straight back at him.
‘That’s better,’ she said approvingly. ‘You look ever so nice when you smile.’ She swung her crazy feet off the table and stood up. ‘How about it, Doctor? As of tomorrow, can I be on probation, please, sir? If you think I’ll make a good doctor, can I stay?’
‘Tessa…’
‘Just say yes,’ she begged. ‘Then you can go to bed, which is just where you look like you ought to be.’
He stared at her, baffled. She stared right back.
‘I’ll be a good little doctor,’ she said meekly. ‘I won’t cause any trouble, please, sir. And I’ll even take your most difficult patients.’
‘Tess…’
‘Just say yes.’
There was no choice. He stared at her for a long, long moment, but he was too tired-too confused-too just plain baffled-to make his mind think of anything but how gorgeous she looked. How he’d like to touch that magnificent flaming hair. How he’d like to-
‘Yes,’ he said quickly, before his traitorous mind took him one step further. ‘Fine. Starting tomorrow morning, Dr Westcott, you’re on probation.’
CHAPTER FIVE
TESSA’S probation started fifteen minutes later. Mike had barely put his head on his pillow when the phone rang. It was Louise, ringing from Reception.
‘Doctor, there’s a fire at the hotel. Rachel from the fire brigade just rang. She needs you.’
‘How bad?’ Mike was suddenly wide awake, all trace of weariness gone. At the sound of his voice Strop lifted his head from his basket, cast him a reproachful glare and went straight back to sleep.
‘Rachel says there are people trapped,’ Louise said, her normally placid voice unsteady. ‘I’ll call in all staff. If you go ahead with the ambulance, I’ll organise things here.’
Hell!
It took Mike all of ten seconds to haul on pants, sweater and shoes. Leaving Strop to his beauty sleep, he emerged from his apartment at the rear of the hospital in time to see the valley’s second fire engine screaming past.
The ambulance officers were already backing the ambulance up to the casualty entrance.
‘What’ll we take, Doc?’ one of them called, as they saw his shadowy figure running toward them. ‘Any extras?’
‘Shove in as much saline as we have in the emergency room, and soak some blankets before we go. Leave them on the floor of the van, sopping wet.’
Mike was barely awake but his mind was working lightning fast. This was his nightmare-an accident with multiple casualties where there was no medical back-up. ‘Do we know what’s happening?’ he demanded.
‘I don’t think they know down there yet,’ Owen, the senior ambulance officer, told him. ‘But Rachel sounded sick and you know Rachel. If she’s worried then it’s bad.’
‘Right. Let’s get down there and see.’
‘I’m coming too.’
It was Tessa, slipping out of the casualty entrance to join them. She’d replaced her crimson bathrobe with black jogging pants and a crimson sweater, her hair had been hauled back in a knot and she was shoving her feet into sneakers as she ran. ‘I was talking to Louise when the call came. Louise told me what’s happening, and you might need me.’
Before Mike could say a word, she heaved herself up into the rear of the ambulance. She took the bags of saline from Owen and shoved them behind her, as if she’d been working with the man for years. Then she looked down into Mike’s astonished face. ‘Well, what are we waiting for?’ she demanded.
There was no way Mike could argue. Argument took time, and if there were multiple casualties…well, he’d be grateful to have Tessa. He’d be grateful to have any medical body, he thought, Bill’s words about Doris the pig echoing once more in his mind.
But suddenly, especially, he was grateful for Tess. Why did the thought of her alongside him make the thought of what lay ahead less fearful?
Tess moved aside to make room for him, and he climbed in to join her without a word. It seemed his medical partnership was about to start.
Mike was silent on the three-minute ride down to the town. The boys had the siren screaming and lights flashing so to speak would have been impossible anyway, but mentally Mike was gearing himself for what lay ahead.
It was midnight. By this time of night the pub should be closed for casual drinkers so there shouldn’t be scores of trapped victims. There’d only be the guests.
The valley’s hotel had seen better times as an accommodation house. Trendy bed-and-breakfast accommodation had taken over the once lucrative tourist trade. The hotel’s guest rooms had become run-down and little used.
There were always one or two people using them, though. The guests now were usually men who had little choice-men who paid a few dollars for minimal accommodation and didn’t expect much.
Mike was aware of Tessa’s eyes on him, watching. It was as if she were reading his mind, he thought. She just watched…
No. It was as if she could see into his mind and didn’t need to read. It was as if she just knew… She sat calmly on the stretcher opposite him, her hands clasped loosely in her lap as she waited for the ambulance to reach its destination.
For a fireball, she was a restful woman, Mike thought suddenly. She was making no demands on him now, and
