by Molly Evans
“Several. I’m certain he has multiple stings inside his mouth and on his tongue. That’s why his breathing was affected so quickly.”
“Oh, dear.”
“Can you use your purple stuff on him?” Bear asked, his eyes filled with worry and concern for his friend, aware of the gravity of this situation. He held out his hand. “Fixed me up right quick on my burn. Can you use it on him?”
“My what?” she asked without looking up from her task, trying to get an IV into Skinny’s hand. They needed IV access, and they needed it now. In the next second she had one in and taped it down.
“The folk medicine. The purple stuff you used on my burn.”
“Purple stuff?” Then the light bulb in her brain went on. “Oh, the lavender oil!” Ellie glanced up at Mark, and he nodded.
“I’ll bag him. Go get your purple stuff.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
ELLIE raced the few yards to the infirmary and returned in minutes with her kit of essential oils. Fumbling with the zipper as the paramedics arrived, she sat the kit on the ground and pulled out the lavender oil.
Mark spoke to the rescue crew as Ellie dabbed the oil onto the stings on Skinny’s face and throat, not knowing if it would truly help the emergent situation, but it certainly couldn’t hurt. The rest of the stings could wait. His condition was too serious to mess around with. If he survived this attack, she could treat the welts later.
“Damned hornets. They keep on stinging. They just don’t die like a honeybee,” Bear said, anger sparking from his eyes. “He should never have been out here.”
“What was he doing?” Mark asked and continued to bag Skinny.
“He was looking for fiddlehead ferns that grow here every summer. Since the fire two years ago, we weren’t sure whether they’d come back like usual, and I just mentioned that I had a taste for some. Musta kicked into a ground hornets’ nest.” Bear shook his head. “They’re nasty.”
“Let’s get him loaded.” Bert, the paramedic, said and took over bagging Skinny. They headed off to the local hospital with him.
“Bear, why don’t you follow along?” Ellie suggested and gathered the equipment, her heart still not back to normal, the trembling in her hands not finished yet.
“I got dinner to get going,” he said, but his gaze followed the ambulance out of the camp.
“Give your instructions to one of your other cooks. I’m sure they’ll want to know someone’s with Skinny and everyone will feel better if you’re there with him.”
Bear gave her a look with his dark eyes and nodded. “You’re right. They’ll do better with something to keep their hands occupied.” He placed his on Ellie’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “Thanks.” With that, he picked up Skinny’s hat and moved off to the lodge.
Ellie turned to Mark. “Let me see to you now, please?”
“I’m going to be okay. I can feel the jitters from the epinephrine.” Stooping, he picked up the fire extinguisher. “Gonna need another one of these for the infirmary.”
“Later. Why don’t you go shower, and I’ll get the rest of this stuff?”
“Here, we can help,” Gil said and stepped forward. “We’ll get this stuff picked up. Ellie, take him to the infirmary. Then I’m going to call an exterminator to make sure these things are gone for good.”
Stiff and sore, Mark walked toward the infirmary building. Ellie approached his side and offered an arm of support around his waist. “Are you sure you’re okay? I think you ought to go to the hospital and get checked out, too. I’m concerned about the amount of stings you’ve gotten, even though they aren’t on your face or neck.”
“You can take care of me.” Unable to find the strength or desire to resist, he put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a little of his weight. Leaning on someone was not something he’d wanted to do and hadn’t done in a long time. Not since his illness. But now, leaning on Ellie, having her lithe body giving him some of her strength, was just what he needed. Tremors rattled through him, and it wasn’t just the effects of the epinephrine. He was exhausted from the outrageous amount of energy he’d exerted.
Reaching ahead of them, Ellie pulled the squeaky screen door open, and they entered. Guiding them straight to the bathroom, Ellie eased him onto the edge of the tub. With one hand balancing him, she turned on the taps with her other hand. “A cool bath with baking soda will help the stinging some, too. Can you manage while I get the baking soda?”
“I think so,” he said. But he really wasn’t sure he could get into the tub without disgracing himself or landing on his head. He hadn’t needed help to undress or bathe since the end of his treatments. Returning to that state of helplessness was somewhat humiliating, but at this point, he was too tired to care. “Why don’t you call the lodge and ask someone to bring it over?”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t leave you alone right now.”
“That’s not what I—” he started, but she had charged out the door. ICU nurse with a mission all the way. He smiled. But he supposed that was why she was as successful, and as fatigued, as she was.
God, he hurt. He felt as if someone had taken a hammer and beaten him with it. Each sting site throbbed laser beams through his body. His injuries were nothing like Skinny’s though, and he couldn’t imagine how much pain the man had been in. Reaching behind his head, he grabbed hold of the neck of his T-shirt and dragged it off over his head. Then he put a foot up on the toilet seat and untied one shoe, then the other.
A soft knock on the door interrupted him. “Mark? Are you in the tub? I have the baking soda. Do you want me to hand it to you or put it in the tub for you?”
“I think you’re going to have to help.”
Ellie pushed the door open and entered the room.
Sweat broke out on his forehead and chest and a chill soon followed it. Not good.
Ellie pressed her hand to his forehead and gave a small gasp. “You’re hot.”
“Cold, too.” Taking a deep breath, he struggled to maintain his control. “Get me a couple of Benadryl, Tylenol and a shot of whiskey.”
“Okay. I get the meds, but what will the whiskey do?”
“Settle my nerves or intoxicate me. I’m not sure which at this point.” And right now, he didn’t much care.
“I have something better than that. Let’s just get you into the tub first, then I’ll get the meds.”
Mark let out a long sigh. “This wasn’t how I had planned to spend the afternoon.”
“I know. Me, either. How about you just let someone help you for a change, eh? As medical people, we’re really bad about letting others help us, aren’t we?” She continued speaking in a soothing voice as she helped him to undress. Grabbing a towel hanging on the rack, she covered his waist. “Let’s maintain some privacy and cover your…stuff.” Averting her gaze, Ellie blushed prettily, and Mark smiled at that.
“Sure. Like you haven’t seen a man’s stuff before.” He was certain the towel was more for her modesty than his.
“True. Just not your stuff. And if we’re going to work together the rest of the summer without being uncomfortable around each other, it’s better this way.”
“Agreed.” Easing into the tub was no simple task while keeping the towel intact. “I feel like someone beat me up after pulling an all-nighter.”
“You look like it, too.” Leaning over him as she helped him ease down into the water, her clean fragrance and the scent of lavender passed over him. Unable to enjoy it due to the next wave of chill that hit him, he regretted that he was not in the tub with her under different circumstances. Any intimacy in his life was a distant memory. He didn’t know about Ellie’s love life. Unfortunately, the pain of the stings took his mind from going that direction at the moment.
“I can’t believe what you just did,” Ellie said and knelt beside the tub, shaking her head. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” She dumped the entire box of baking soda into the tub and turned off the taps. With her hand, she swirled the
powder so that it dispersed in the water. “Have you ever done anything like that before?”
Mark looked into her eyes as she paused. Something brief and electric passed between them before she dropped her gaze and picked up a washcloth. “No. I don’t normally go out of my way to commit heroic acts.”
“Yet you just grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran.”
“I did something else first,” he said, wishing he had the courage to try it again. Looking at her so close, maybe he did.
“Well, sure. You had to protect yourself with the bag over your head. It was a brilliant idea.” She gave a nervous snort and her amused gaze met and held his. “I wasn’t sure what you were doing at first though.”
Mark raised his hand from the water, cupped the back of her neck and pulled her closer. “I meant this.” And he kissed her. With her off balance in a kneeling position, he had no trouble pulling her the rest of the way to meet his mouth. Entirely too long had passed since he’d really kissed a woman, and he hungered for Ellie now. Her sweetness, her caring—everything about her pulled him in. For a moment, he needed to be just a man, in a tub, with a woman.
Soft and pliant, she opened her mouth to his. She reached across him and braced a hand on the other side of the tub. Imprisoning her face between his wet hands, he breathed in her scent, her warmth, and plundered her mouth with his lips and tongue. She tasted so sweet, felt so tender. Passion as he hadn’t experienced since his illness filled him. He was in danger of revealing too much of himself physically and emotionally in the kiss. He eased back from her before he lost all control of the situation, and he was suddenly grateful for the position of the towel. His stuff had come to life.
Startled brown eyes peered at him. “Wow. What was that for?”
Smiling, he pressed his forehead to hers and caught his breath. “Because you’re sweet, and I wanted to see if I remembered right.”
“Right about what?” Returning to her previous position kneeling by the tub, she created some space between them.
“That your mouth was as soft as I remembered. I couldn’t tell through the plastic bag.” Was he out of his mind even contemplating getting involved with a woman, even on a temporary basis? A shiver claimed his attention away from making any decisions at the moment.
“You shouldn’t be trying to jog your memory right now. Not when you’re in this condition.” She returned to nurse mode and placed the washcloth in his hand. “Keep washing this over you, and I’ll go get those meds.”
The phone in the main room rang, and she hurried out to answer it.
Amazingly enough, the baking soda trick seemed to be doing the job. The pain of the stings had begun to ease. He’d have to look more closely at home remedies for the simple things in the future. Minutes later, a gentle knock at the door announced Ellie’s return.
“I’ve got the meds and some water.” She handed him the items and sat on the floor beside the tub. “Are you doing any better?”
After downing the pills, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tub. “Yeah. Your remedy is working.”
“I’m sure the medications will, too, but when you’re out of the tub I’d like to use some oils on you.”
“Sounds interesting. The purple oil or what?” He opened his eyes to slits to watch her. At the moment, that’s all the exertion he could cope with.
“Yeah, the purple oil.” She raised a large amber bottle of whiskey. “If you take this with the Benadryl, you’ll probably fall asleep.”
“Sounds okay to me.” Although he hoped he hadn’t made her uncomfortable with the kiss, he didn’t regret it, either. Her lips were as soft as they appeared to be, and he liked the feel of them against his. “Why don’t I get out, get some clothes on and then you can do the purple oil?”
“It’s actually lavender oil.”
“I know, but men only recognize primary colors.”
“What?” Confusion appeared on her face. “That’s not true.”
“If you ask a man what color something is, he generally will tell you one of the primary colors. If you ask a woman what color something is, you’re likely to get a description of something else, like lavender, or fuchsia, or chartreuse. I don’t even know what color chartreuse is.”
Ellie laughed, and the sound filled him with joy. This was the first time he’d heard such unadulterated laughter from her, and it was a good sound.
“That’s absurd. Men see in more than primary colors—they simply refuse to acknowledge it.”
“Not in my world, babe.”
“That’s so lame.” She stood. “Anyway, can you get out and dressed by yourself?”
“Yeah. Just leave me a clean towel, and I’ll make it.” Weakness hadn’t gotten him through all of the ordeals he’d suffered in the past few years. Leaning on Ellie for a moment had been nice, but he had to find his own inner strength again to finish the job.
“Okay. Just call if you need me.” Rising, she moved away from him toward the door, then paused. “By the way, that was the hospital, and they’re keeping Skinny in the ICU overnight. He’s being intubated as a precaution due to the amount of stings he had on his throat and head, but he’s at least responding well to treatment.”
“Good to hear.”
“Okay. I’ll leave you to it.”
Ellie left the bathroom and busied herself restocking the emergency kit and tried not to think of what had happened in the bathroom. The kiss.
Mark had kissed her. Again!
Why had he kissed her?
Why had she kissed him back?
Why was her heart still unsteady?
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been kissed before. She certainly had. Mark had also given her a tiny kiss after pizza the other night. This kiss had taken her breath away, and she’d felt it to the bottom of her toes.
The door to the bathroom opened, and she heard Mark slowly move down the hall to his room. She’d better get the oils ready. Fumbling with unzipping the pack she kept her oils in, she pulled out her favorite healing ones—rosemary, grapefruit and lavender. The grape-seed oil was in another bottle that nearly slipped from her fingers.
Come on, Ellie. You’re a nurse. There’s nothing special going on between you and Mark. You’re just going to treat his injuries and go on with your life, right? Right. But the second that he entered the treatment room with her, she knew her little pep talk was a complete farce. She swallowed down the lump of desire that wanted to crawl up her throat.
Relying on her professional demeanor had gotten her through many difficult situations in the past, and she clung to it now as the only lifeline in the vicinity. “Moving kinda slow, huh?” She held out a chair and indicated he should sit.
“Being a human pincushion will do that to a man,” he said and eased into the chair. “So what are you going to do?”
“I thought I’d start at the top, and work my way down. The first application of oils will be lavender, directly applied to the skin, then I’ll do a mixture of a few others with some grape-seed oil.” She stood upright, explaining the procedure as if he were a patient. There was no harm in that. Treat him just like everyone else.
“I see. Come a little closer, please.” He motioned her forward.
CHAPTER EIGHT
COMPLYING, she picked up her bottle of lavender and moved closer. “Ready to get started?”
Without answering her, he reached out and clasped her behind the neck, pulled her closer and gave her a hard kiss.
Again! “What’s with the kissing today?” Not that she didn’t like kisses, but something was going on.
“I’m going to do that every time you hide.” Green eyes bored into hers, challenged her.
“I’m not hiding,” she denied and pulled away from him, gripping the bottle of oil tight in her fist. Seething anger burst through her.
“You are. You’ve got to be more than your job, or life is going to go flashing right by you. Since we’ve been here, I’ve only heard you laugh spontaneously
once or twice, and rarely seen you do something just for fun, other than read, and you usually read aromatherapy books.” He watched her, his playful mood giving way to a more serious undercurrent. “Why not relax a little, give yourself a break from whatever’s bugging you?”
“Nothing’s bugging me,” she said and tried to find a way to deny the truth in his observations, but couldn’t.
“Yeah, right. Ellie, every time something comes up where there’s an opportunity to share of yourself or jump into an event with the others, you run the other direction.”
She gasped, horrified. “I’m a Mackenzie. I don’t run from anything.”
“I know you value your privacy, but if something’s bothering you, I can listen. I can be a sounding board if you need a problem solved.”
“I don’t have any problems.” No, they’d all gone away when her fiancé had left her, and her dad had died. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself.
“Ellie, we all have problems.”
“Like you know anything about that.” Highly irritated without a logical good reason why, she faced him. She opened the bottle and released the lavender fragrance into the room. “I’m sure everything came easily to you, didn’t it? Probably went to an Ivy League undergrad school, took European vacations, sailed through medical school, didn’t you?” She avoided his gaze and concentrated on dabbing the oil on her fingers, then applying it to the red welts on his shoulders and arms. “Despite the recent illness you mentioned, I’m sure your life has been a piece of cake compared to what I’ve been through in the past few years. You’re too damned happy for it to have been otherwise, so don’t tell me about watching life pass you by when you hardly know what it’s like, Dr. Perfect.” She said it as if it was a character flaw. Why, she didn’t know, and didn’t want to think about the knot in her gut as the words came out of her mouth. That was so unlike her, so totally uncharitable, but something snapped in her. “You have no idea what it’s like to suffer.”