by Julie Rowe
“Do you want the hospital on the radio?” Mr. Handsome called from up front.
“Yes, please. You know which frequency?”
The pilot nodded as he handed her and Tommy each a headset.
She popped hers on and settled the mike near her mouth.
“Can you hear me?” a smooth, deep voice said. Its darkness made her shiver as she unwrapped the oxygen mask and tubing.
“Yes, thank you.”
Tommy just nodded.
“What’s the situation with our patient? If you talk low he won’t hear us.”
Willa repressed a jolt of surprise and dismay at hearing Mr. Handsome refer to Joe as “our” patient. Taking over already? “He’s holding his own for now, but the sooner we get to Fairbanks the better.”
“What happened to him?”
“Compound fracture of the femur. He was hunting, but luckily Tommy just finished his Wilderness First Responder training and got him to the clinic in good condition.”
“Wilderness what?”
“Advanced first-aid training for when you’re nowhere near a hospital.”
“That describes ninety-nine percent of Alaska, doesn’t it?”
The pilot wasn’t quite accurate, but Willa didn’t have time to correct him.
“Can you stop the bleeding?” he asked a moment later.
“I’ve done all I can for now. If I put pressure on it, the bone splinters could puncture his femoral artery.”
“Give him a unit of blood.”
“I don’t have any.”
“What kind of hospital has no blood?” His voice dripped with derision.
Good grief, did Jason tell this guy nothing? “Stony Creek has no hospital, just a clinic.”
“You’re a doctor then?” Mr. Handsome asked in a dubious tone.
“A nurse-practitioner, specializing in obstetrics and family medicine,” Willa answered absently as she checked Joe’s vitals. “I can prescribe and treat minor injuries, but something like this…I can’t deal with on my own. He’s going to require surgery and a transfusion.”
“Wait a sec,” Mr. Handsome said with enough emphasis to gain her full attention. “Are you telling me you work alone?”
“I have a nursing assistant.”
“What about him?” he asked, angling a thumb at Tommy who seemed more concerned with hanging on to his door and stomach than talking.
“He doesn’t work for me. He’s the patient’s nephew.”
“So, aside from a nurse’s aide, you’ve got no help?” Mr. Handsome shook his head. “There’s something seriously wrong with that.”
A chunk of ice formed in the pit of her belly. “Like what?”
“You’re so…” he paused, obviously searching for the right word, “…small.”
Willa froze. It had been a long time since someone assumed her size meant she wasn’t capable of doing her job. At five feet even she’d had to fight for respect everywhere she went, but in the two years she’d been working in the Alaskan Arctic no one had implied anything remotely close. The people here cared about what you could do, not how you looked. Having this stranger judge her ability because of her size was worse than a slap in the face.
“I assure you I’m quite capable of handling most of the emergencies I see.”
He gave her a skeptical look. “I’m sure you’re fine with the medical stuff, but what happens when you have to move a two-hundred-pound man?”
“I find a way.” She glared at him. “I’m not stupid.”
“I never said you were.”
“No, you said I was small.” It had taken too much hard work to build up her self-confidence after her disastrous marriage. She wasn’t about to let this man make her feel worthless. She maintained eye contact, daring him to keep arguing.
“Sorry,” he said, meeting her gaze. “I’m sure you can take care of yourself.”
But not someone else. He never came right out and said it, but the hesitation in his voice told her what he was thinking.
Willa jerked her attention away from him. She had a patient to worry about. She went back to Joe, checking and rechecking his vitals.
“You’ve been up here long?” Mr. Handsome asked a minute later.
“Two years.” Let him find fault with that.
“Two weeks for me,” he said, though she had no intention of asking anything so personal. “Jason said I’d have to get rid of a lifetime of preconceived notions when I got here.” Mr. Handsome shook his head then turned and smiled at Willa, his crooked grin impacting her hormones like a testosterone missile hitting its target. “I guess I’d better get started.”
She didn’t bother with a reply to his attempt at charm, just made sure her expression declared her disbelief as blatantly as anything she could’ve said out loud.
Joe lifted his head, his gaze searching.
“Joe?” Willa took her headset off. “Joe? What’s wrong?”
His mouth moved, but she couldn’t hear him.
“Say that again.” She put her head close to Joe’s.
“Can’t feel my feet.”
“Nothing?”
“Cold,” he mouthed.
She pulled the blankets off Joe’s feet. His toes were white tinged with blue. She quickly tucked the blanket firmly around both feet then checked his thigh. Blood continued to drip onto the floorboard.
She rammed the headset back on. “Pilot, what’s our ETA to Fairbanks?”
“About forty-five minutes.”
“Can we go any faster?”
Mr. Handsome turned his head to look over the seat at her. Willa didn’t know what he saw on her face, but whatever it was must have convinced him speed was of the essence.
“I’ll do what I can,” he said.
As Willa tried to stem the flow of blood, she could hear the engines rev higher. She smiled at Joe and leaned down to talk directly into his ear.
“I’m sorry it’s so cold in here. I just asked the pilot to turn up the heat and fly faster. You know how these new guys are. They don’t have a clue how far it is between places up north.”
Joe’s lips twitched upward and he nodded, but his head wobbled and his eyes drooped. It wouldn’t be long before he fell unconscious.
She checked his pulse. Slow and thready.
Willa moved forward, sticking her head between the front seats so Joe wouldn’t see the concern she couldn’t hide anymore.
“Pilot,” she said, tapping him on the shoulder.
“Liam, my name’s Liam. What’s happening with our patient?”
“He’s losing blood and going into shock.”
“I’ve got the engines at top RPMs now, but I’ll see if I can coax any more out of her.”
“Thank you.” He might be judgmental and arrogant, but at least he was willing to go the extra mile for Joe.
“Fairbanks is on the radio for you,” Liam said.
A click and a second of static then the voice of the head nurse from the hospital’s ER. “What have you got, Willa?”
“I’ve got an Inuit male, late forties with a compound fracture of the left femur. The wound is bleeding and the patient is shocky with decreased blood flow to the extremities.”
“Have you started an IV?”
“Yes, I’m running albumin.”
Background noise filtered through the radio then a male voice spoke. “Hung any blood yet?”
“No, I only have two additional units of albumin and a few bags of saline.”
“How far out are you?”
Willa glanced up at Liam and he flashed three fingers at her.
“Approximately thirty minutes,” she answered.
“Start a second IV with saline. We’ll push packed cells int
o him as soon as you arrive.”
“Understood,” Willa said. “I’ll keep you advised if his condition changes.”
“Roger that, Fairbanks out.”
She opened another equipment kit and removed a bag of clear fluid.
Tommy waved at her. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Your uncle is bleeding too much, too fast. He needs a transfusion and the closest place for that is Fairbanks.”
“We’re going as fast as this machine can fly,” Liam said. “I should have you on the ground in less than thirty minutes.”
“Good.”
Willa took a deep breath and deliberately relaxed for a second before starting the second IV. Joe was a strong, stubborn man. He’d pull through this.
“Joe.” She put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. His face had faded to a dull pale white, but he still managed to meet her gaze. “I need you to stay awake for me, okay? We’re almost there.”
Joe nodded slowly.
Willa started the second IV in Joe’s other hand, but as she started the drip, his eyes sagged shut and his body went limp.
“Joe? Joe?” She yelled in his ear and shook him, but got no response.
“What’s going on?” Liam demanded.
“He’s unconscious and I can’t wake him,” she hollered back. “I don’t care if you wreck the engines, get us to Fairbanks now.”
Chapter Two
Willa’s focus narrowed on Joe. His respirations, heart rate and blood pressure became her universe. She increased the feed on both IVs, hoping the additional saline would help, but he remained unresponsive.
He needed blood, and soon.
A gentle bump yanked her attention from her patient. They were on the ground, ambulance lights flashing close by.
The plane came to a stop next to the emergency vehicle and the waiting EMTs attacked the plane’s rear doors almost before it stopped moving.
Willa hoisted the IV bags in the air as the EMTs, two middle-aged men she’d worked with several times before, unhooked the stretcher and pulled Joe out. Within seconds, they were in the ambulance, Tommy in tow, pulling away from the plane. She glanced out the back window of the vehicle. Liam stood there, staring after them with a lost look on his face.
His job was over for now. She was still in the middle of hers.
The trip to the hospital was blessedly short, the transfer into the ER fast and Joe’s assessment completed by the ER doc in near record time. The surgical team took charge and rolled him away and into surgery, leaving Willa standing in the ER, blood covering much of her clothes.
One of the nurses handed her a pair of scrub pants to change into, then she settled down to chart everything she’d done on the trip down. It would give her something to do while waiting to find out if Joe survived.
An hour later she knew.
Joe kept his life and his leg.
Willa almost broke down in tears when the news filtered back to the ER. He had a long road of physiotherapy ahead of him, but she knew Joe. He was stubborn. He’d be fine.
She called home, letting Mary and Joe’s wife know the good news and ended up crying with them on the phone.
Afterward, she tidied her boxes of equipment and headed back to the airstrip. She needed to get back to the clinic, restock her kit, prepare for tomorrow’s visit to the hamlet of Summerset Inlet, plus a million other things that had to be done. Hopefully, Mr. Handsome…Liam, had waited for her, but who knew what he might do. People new to the north often did all kinds of strange things until they settled in, seemed to forget how far apart settlements were.
The paramedics drove her back to the airport and dropped her off next to the plane. The pilot was nowhere in sight.
She straightened her shoulders. At least he hadn’t taken off without her.
Willa loaded her equipment into the aircraft, then walked into the terminal and almost got trampled.
“Oops.” A man chuckled and a strong arm wrapped around her waist before she toppled over. “Sorry about that. I didn’t see you there.”
She looked up into Liam’s laughing gaze, fought the intense physical pull of attraction and pushed against his chest with both hands. He wasn’t getting under her skin that easily. “Of course.”
He set her away from him as if she were a piece of bone china. “You okay?” A small grin played at the corners of his mouth.
Willa slowly uncurled her fists. She told herself he wasn’t taunting her. He was just being polite.
She lifted her chin, but to meet his eyes she had to crane her head back a long way.
“How tall are you?” she blurted out, then winced.
“Six two. You?”
Fair was fair. If she could ask so could he.
“Five feet.”
His smile widened. “Ah, that’s the problem then.”
“Problem?”
“I’m too tall. Allow me to apologize in advance for any inconvenience that might cause.”
Willa stared at him with narrowed eyes, certain he was laughing at her. She searched his face for any sign of sarcasm or satire, but could see no indication of either.
“This is for you.” He handed her a paper cup.
She took it, but held it at arm’s length. “What is it?”
“Tea. Two sugar, two cream, right?”
Willa blinked in surprise. “How did you…”
“Jason told me. There’s also a BLT waiting for you in the plane, and we—” he glanced at his watch, “—are due back in Stony Creek.” He swept his hand toward the waiting aircraft. “After you.”
Frowning, Willa exited the terminal and headed in the direction of the plane. As happy as she was to be leaving, why was he being so nice to her? She watched him closely, but he seemed oblivious to her as they walked across the tarmac.
Stop it. Good-looking doesn’t always equate to selfish jerk. Though, in her experience, most of the time it did.
She circled around the aircraft to the passenger side door.
“Do you need a hand getting in?” he called out.
“No, thanks.”
“Good enough,” he said, jumping into the pilot’s seat and shutting his door.
She got in, buckled up because he’d probably quote regulations again if she didn’t, then stared at him.
He ignored her, his hands moving over the controls with a confidence she’d only seen in his boss, Jason.
“Something wrong with my face?” he asked after a few seconds.
“No,” Willa said with a snort, then realized how that must sound. “Of course not.”
“Of course not?” He gave her a sexy grin and a wink.
Darn it, this was a conversation she didn’t want to have. “Never mind,” she said quickly. “Just forget it.”
He turned his head away, but not before she caught a glimpse of another smile. When he turned back a second later, it was gone.
“Good. Better put that tea down.” He pointed at a cup holder on the floor between their seats.
Willa rolled her eyes. “Another regulation?”
“Yep.” He put his headset on and the plane moved forward, taxiing toward the runway.
Willa shook her head and opened the lid of her cup to take a swallow of tea before putting it in the holder. She didn’t trust this Liam fellow. Not at all. Surviving her ex-husband had taught her how to be strong, how to take care of herself, how easy it was for a man to misrepresent himself.
She put him out of her mind. Joe was going to need a fairly long recovery period and months of physiotherapy. She didn’t have a lot of equipment, so she would have to improvise, something she’d gotten good at. But improvisation only went so far. She’d have to write yet another letter to the town council begging for more mon
ey to buy that equipment, a larger space and a full-fledged, honest-to-God doctor.
Liam kept glancing at her, then finally handed her the copilot’s headset. She took it and put it on.
“I taxed the engines pretty hard on the way down,” he said. “Didn’t quite wreck them, but our ETA to Stony Creek is around two and a half hours.”
She looked at him then. “That long? I was hoping we’d get there sooner. I’ve got a lot to do.”
“Sorry.” He shrugged.
“Don’t worry about it. Getting Joe to the hospital in time is more than worth it.”
Silence.
After several long, empty seconds he asked, “How often do you go to the city?”
“I’m in Fairbanks every couple of months for staff meetings and training, why?”
“No, I meant Seattle or Portland. You do go south once in a while don’t you?”
“Sure.” She darted a confused look at him before replying, “Once every six months or so. I visit some friends, see a bunch of movies and shop. Why?”
“Just wondered. I’ve only been up here for a couple of weeks.”
“So you said before.”
A long pause.
“What brought you here?”
This was beginning to sound like twenty questions. “I like small towns, and city life had become…” How could she put this without giving too much away? “Too restrictive.”
“But there’s so much to do in a city.”
“That’s not what I mean. Here, I work for myself and every day is a new challenge, without eighty-five different people telling me what to do.”
“Yeah, that I get. The work is different and interesting.”
“Yes.”
“So…no boyfriend either then?”
His question jerked her head around. “Are you hitting on me?”
“No.” He winced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to ask that out loud.”
“But you were thinking it.”
“Yes…no. Look, Jason told me a little about you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why would Jason tell you anything about me?”
“He’s my uncle. He knows what kind of a joker I am. I’m harmless, really, but he was afraid I’d upset you.”