Sure enough, flames were licking around the toilet area, and she thought desperately that if Kyle came out of this alive she would marry him on any terms, just as long as she could be with him.
A smouldering cigarette end dropped in the carriage had started the blaze, but it hadn’t reached the leaking fuel and as the rest of the fire brigade converged upon the flames a sigh of relief went up from those on the bank as the injured woman was carried out followed by Kyle and the firemen.
He was bending over her and Hannah ran across to assist him with tears spilling down her cheeks. Looking up briefly he said, ‘Surely those aren’t for me?’
‘What?’ she croaked.
‘The tears.’
‘Of course they are. I thought you were going to die.’
The woman they had just rescued was unconscious, but apart from cuts and bruises she seemed to have had a remarkable escape. Clearly there might be other injuries not immediately obvious, but as Kyle cut away her clothing to check that they hadn’t missed anything it seemed as if she had been incredibly lucky.
Her daughter was weeping quietly beside her and Hannah thought that what had probably been the start of a pleasant day’s shopping had turned into a nightmare.
When all the casualties had been taken to hospital and the police and fire brigade had given the all-clear, they drove back to the unit.
Hannah still in a chastened state of mind and Kyle irritatingly whimsical about what could have been the most devastating day of her life.
‘I made a vow while you were inside the train,’ she told him after a long silence on her part.
‘Really? What was it?’ he asked casually.
‘That if you asked me again I would marry you on any terms.’
If she’d wanted to take the wind out of his sails she couldn’t have thought of a better way. He almost ran into the car in front in his amazement and without more ado he pulled to the side of the road.
‘Would you like to repeat that?’
‘You heard me the first time,’ she said quietly.
‘Mmm. I admit that I did. I just wanted to hear you say it again.’ As Hannah sat immobile, awaiting his response, she felt that in the next few moments her life could be changed for ever.
She was presuming too much. He was about to put her crazy admission into perspective.
‘Thanks a bunch for offering yourself up as the sacrificial lamb,’ he said coolly, ‘but just as you didn’t like my approach when I mentioned marriage, I’m not over the moon at yours.
‘Was it perhaps that you were concerned about what would happen to Ben if I died? Or maybe you were overwrought after the trauma of the derailment.’
It was the obvious moment to tell him that if anything had happened to him she would have wanted to die, too. That she loved him desperately, and that any sort of relationship was better than none. But would he believe her? He’d already turned her offer into a joke.
‘It’s quite clear that you doubt my sincerity,’ she told him wearily, ‘so let’s forget it, shall we? I wish I’d never got involved with you again, Kyle. You’re a disruptive presence in my life which I can do without, and if you don’t want them sending out a search party for us I suggest we get back to the unit.’
Kyle’s state of amazement continued throughout the day. Hannah had offered to marry him whatever the circumstances, and where he would have expected to have been delighted, he was anything but.
It was significant that where there had been no mention of love in his offer of marriage, the same applied to hers. What was the matter with them both?
Passion kindled between them faster than the speed of light, but what about the basics of a good marriage? Love? Trust? Honesty?
She was beautiful and kind and no way was he going to let her get involved in a marriage of convenience. He’d made a nice mess of things and it seemed that for the present he was going to have to let her get on with her life.
‘Disruptive’ was how she’d described him and it hadn’t been meant as a compliment.
As doctor on call Hannah was out again within minutes of their return, and for the rest of the day they made a point of avoiding each other.
The reports had come through on the casualties from the derailment. The child had been kept in for observation but wasn’t badly hurt because some of the torn upholstery had formed a protective covering over him.
The woman with the injured legs had been operated on for serious fractures, and the businessman with chest injuries was in Intensive Care, while the woman who had been found in the toilet was in a stable condition but with severe concussion.
That there had been only the one fatality was amazing, but sadly that wasn’t going to be any comfort to the family of the driver of the goods train.
At the end of a day in which she’d been involved in a rail crash and sundry other accidents, had told the man she loved that she would marry him on any terms and been politely turned down, Hannah was ready for an early night.
They hadn’t spoken since their conversation in the car and as far as she was concerned that was fine. Kyle had humiliated her once too often and he would be lucky if she looked the side he was on in the future.
But the day’s upsets weren’t over. There was a handwritten note waiting for her at the unit, and when she read it her jaw dropped.
‘Have tracked you down,’ it said. ‘Should have got details of your whereabouts from you yesterday but the nice lady where you were staying in Cheltenham has given me your work address. I need to see you, Hannah. I’ve booked into a hotel for a couple of days. Will see you tomorrow…’
All of that was mind-boggling, but it was the signature at the bottom that had her squirming. ‘Love, Paul,’ it said.
She sank down onto the nearest chair. It was years since she’d heard from her selfish brother-in-law and now he’d butted into her life twice in two days.
He was bent on worming his way back into her affections and typically he was taking it for granted that she would be agreeable.
Ugh! The thought of it. If Kyle saw Paul hanging around what would he think? She shrugged slender shoulders. What did it matter? Why get worked up about it? They weren’t going anywhere.
After a restless night, during which her dreams had been a mixture of Kyle trapped in the burning carriage and Paul stalking her, Hannah was listless and heavy-eyed when she arrived at the unit.
The thought that Paul might stroll in at any moment only added to her gloom, and as the day got under way she settled down to await the inevitable.
She would dearly like to know what he was up to. One thing was for sure. Paul wasn’t following up Sunday’s meeting just to pass the time of day. She could tell that by his note. He would want something of her. He always did. His appearance at the home of Kyle’s parents had been for a reason and it wasn’t for any of the ones Kyle might have considered.
On impulse she rang Reception on the ground floor of the hospital. ‘If anyone asks for me, please don’t let them come up here,’ she told them. ‘I’ll come down.’
Which was all very well, as long as he showed up while she was there. But if she’d been called out, what then?
The morning dragged on with Kyle in the office and Graham on first call. The rest of them sat around, ready in case they should be required, with Hannah waiting all the time for the phone to ring.
She should have known better. Paul was a law unto himself.
‘Is that guy outside in the passage trying to attract your attention?’ Pete asked as he was about to go for an early lunch.
When she looked up Paul was there, waving to her at the other side of the glass partition, and as she got to her feet she thought, All I need now is for Kyle to appear. Even if Paul’s appearance was for entirely innocent reasons, it wasn’t going to do anything for the mess that was her relationship with Kyle.
For one thing, if Kyle should see them together he would think that she’d been in touch with Paul since yesterday, as at that time P
aul hadn’t known how to find her.
As far as Kyle was concerned, the fact that Paul had long since remarried would become a minor issue compared to him having sought her out again so quickly.
She couldn’t get out to the passage fast enough. Apart from anything else, members of the public weren’t allowed in their part of the building, but that was the least of her worries.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘HANNAH!’ Paul cried when she went out into the passage.
Dodging his outstretched arms, she gave him a tight smile and asked, ‘What brings you to London, Paul, so soon after the weekend?’
‘You, of course.’
‘I see. So why don’t I take you downstairs into the restaurant for a coffee?’
‘Yes, why not?’ he said immediately. ‘It will give us a chance to make up for what we didn’t say then.’
It won’t as far as I’m concerned, she thought as she steered him towards the stairs. He was the last person she wanted to talk to.
So far there was no sign of Kyle, but he wasn’t going to be in his office for ever and at that moment all she could think of was getting Paul out of sight.
‘I can’t be long,’ she told him as they seated themselves at a table. ‘I’m on call all the time.’
He pulled a face. ‘Surely you’ve time to spare for me.’
‘I only have time to spare for the sick and injured when I’m on duty,’ she explained levelly. ‘So, what is it you want of me, Paul? We hadn’t seen each other in years until Sunday, and now here you are again. What’s the problem? Knowing you, there has to be one.’
‘I’m sick, Hannah,’ he wailed, ‘and you’re a doctor. I need your help. It must have been fate that has brought us together again.’
Hannah felt her insides beginning to knot. Please, don’t let me be burdened with him again, she pleaded to those same fates.
‘What’s wrong with you,’ she asked with assumed firmness, ‘that you have to seek me out when the country is full of doctors? I’m not a GP. My skills are channelled into accident and emergency. I’m sure that your wife would rather you saw a consultant for whatever ails you.’
He pulled a face. ‘Angela never has anything wrong with her and has no sympathy for those that have. I’ve got Parkinson’s disease.’
‘I see. And what have you done about it?’
‘Had some tests and that’s what came up.’
‘And so what do you expect me to do?’
‘Monitor my treatment. Keep an eye on my case.’
She laughed. He was incredible. And what a nerve! He thought that because she’d been there for him the last time there had been trauma in his life, he had only to lift a finger.
She got to her feet. ‘I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do for you, Paul. I’m sorry that you’ve got such a debilitating illness, but it’s for your GP and the doctors at your local hospital to treat it. They can do far more for you than I can.’
He wasn’t listening. He was looking over her shoulder, and when Kyle’s voice came from behind like a blast from a Siberian winter she knew the reason for his inattention.
‘Have you forgotten that you’re on call, Dr Morgan?’ he asked with a glacial look in her brother-in-law’s direction.
‘I’m afraid that I had for the moment,’ she confessed.
It was true unfortunately. Only Paul could make her forget why she was on the premises, she thought dismally.
‘So we meet again, Templeton,’ Paul said smoothly.
Hannah raised her eyes heavenwards. The moment was going from bad to worse.
‘So it would appear.’
‘As I explained yesterday, Kyle is in charge of the unit,’ Hannah butted in hurriedly. ‘I’m sorry, Paul, but I have to go. I hope that all goes well in the future, and don’t worry too much about what we’ve been discussing. There are lots of ways to keep it under control.’
‘Was that his libido you were talking about?’ Kyle asked as they went back to the rooftop.
‘Don’t be disgusting,’ she said coldly.
He gave a dry smile and went on, ‘So you’ve been in touch since the weekend?’
‘No. We haven’t.’
‘So how did he know where to find you?’ he questioned disbelievingly.
Hannah’s sigh had weariness in it.
‘Paul is never short on cheek when he wants something. If you can stop doubting me for a second you might be able to work out how he got the information.’
‘Wherever he got it from, the fact remains that you still have time for him. Why didn’t you tell him to get lost?’
‘Would it make any difference if I told you that I did?’ As they stepped out of the lift she asked, ‘Was I needed? Or were you just pulling rank?’
‘You were needed inasmuch as I want to know your whereabouts at all times when you’re here. If Pete hadn’t seen you in the restaurant with your brother-in-law I wouldn’t have known where you were, and in our job that kind of thing is no good.’
‘I know, and I’m sorry. But did you have to come and check us out? You wouldn’t have if it had been anyone else, but because it was Paul—’
‘I think I can be forgiven for that,’ Kyle said tightly, ‘He was responsible for ruining our lives. Or had you forgotten that? He has some cheek to come pestering you after all this time.’
They were back in their own part of the building and the matter had to rest there, but it didn’t stop Kyle from feeling that there were things left unsaid.
Hannah hadn’t told him why that pest had called to see her. Why he’d sought her out again after Sunday’s meeting. She’d been adamant that she hadn’t been in touch with him since then, yet…
As crisper autumn days followed the long hot summer, the doctors of the fast response team continued to fulfil their purpose. And if their only female member and the man in charge kept each other at a distance, it was noticed but not commented on.
Some people might have thought that they saw a bit too much of each other, working in the same environment and then going to their respective homes in the same apartment block. If anyone had thought to ask the two participants in the game why they were so cool with each other they might have been surprised.
On Hannah’s part there was a determination not to succumb to her feelings for Kyle while he was so dubious of everything about her.
Yet behind it was despair. The weeks were flying by. Soon she would be leaving the team for an appointment in a hospital and the chances of her seeing him then were remote.
She had told him that she would marry him if he wanted her to, no matter what the circumstances, and what had he done? It had been his turn to play hard to get.
He’d been prickly to say the least ever since Paul had appeared on the scene and she was damned if she was going to start justifying herself all over again with regard to her brother-in-law.
She’d explained that their second meeting had not been her idea and had expected Kyle to believe her. Also there had been no further communications from Paul, so what was the problem?
When she asked about Ben and his grandparents it was a different matter. He was happy to talk about those he loved and it made her feel more out in the cold than ever.
Yet as far as she knew there was no other woman in his life, and there was certainly no man in hers. So what were they playing at?
The assumption that he wasn’t interested in anyone else lasted until the night when a long-legged brunette was waiting for him as they all spilled out of the building at sunset.
It was only early evening as their working days were shorter now that the summer had gone. Time to get to the theatre or a cinema. Warm enough for a sail on the Thames. As Hannah watched the strange woman hook her arm in Kyle’s she could imagine them doing all of those things together if the way she was looking at him was anything to go by.
‘Who’s the dish?’ Jack asked as Kyle and the stranger got into a taxi.
‘I have no idea,’ she said stonily, with a
sinking feeling that keeping Kyle at a distance might have been a case of cutting off her nose to spite her face.
She spent a restless evening as her imagination ran riot and when they met in the entrance hall of the apartments the following morning she scanned his face as if somewhere written on it would be what he’d been up to the night before.
He was observing her blankly. ‘What’s the matter, Hannah? Have I got a smut on my nose? Or forgotten to brush my hair?’
She managed a smile. ‘No, of course not.’ Driven by a force she couldn’t resist, she added. ‘It’s just that I thought you might be turning in later after an evening out.’
‘Huh? How do you know I went out for the evening?’
‘I…er…saw that someone was waiting for you.’
‘Ah. I see. And though you can’t be bothered to look the side I’m on these days, you’d like to know who I was with last night.’
‘No. Certainly not.’
‘In that case I won’t tell you.’ And as if they had been merely passing the time of day, he departed with a long easy stride that made her want to run after him and shake him.
She hung back after that, deciding that she wasn’t going to catch the same train as him, then ended up late as the next one didn’t turn up.
He was talking to the operations officer when she came dashing in, and he looked pointedly at his watch.
‘Travel problems, Dr Morgan?’ he asked smoothly.
She inclined her head and with what grace she could muster went to get changed.
A traffic accident on the motorway, involving a lorry and a motor cyclist, was the first emergency of the day and Hannah went out on it.
The lorry driver had taken his eyes off the road for a second when his mobile phone had rung, and he’d run into the biker who had been coasting along in front of him.
When she got there she found that the bike was a mangled mess and the man who’d been on it had multiple injuries, while the lorry driver was slumped on the grass verge in deep shock.
Motorway police were diverting traffic and an ambulance was already on the scene. As she examined the injured man a paramedic said, ‘He’s pretty bad, Doctor. A guy on a bike is in no position to argue with a lorry.’
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