THAT wonderful feeling of warmth and blissful closeness had somehow disappeared. Rebecca opened her eyes and blinked for a second or two, giving herself time to work out exactly what it was that had changed.
Gazing around her, she saw that she was still sitting in the shelter of the promontory. Tom and Harry were sleeping, or at least their eyes were closed. Connor was coughing, and that alarmed her until she realised that Craig was by the boy’s side. He had the medical kit open on the floor, and she noticed that he had laid out various pieces of medical equipment on a sterile sheet.
‘What are you doing?’ she said. Her voice came out in a husky mumble, and when she tried to move, her limbs were stiff from the cold.
‘I’m going to insert a thoracotomy tube into the pleural space so that we can drain away the fluid from his chest. The infection seems to be taking over, and I’m afraid that his lung will be affected if it gets any worse. I want to infiltrate the area with antibiotic solution and afterwards we can carry on with intravenous medication.’
He glanced at her, and she guessed he was trying to assess the state she was in. ‘I didn’t want to wake you up because you seemed so peaceful when you were asleep.’
‘I wasn’t really sleeping, was I? I wanted to stay alert for Connor.’ Dismayed, Rebecca looked over at the boy. The child’s face was flushed with fever and he looked very ill.
‘His coughing must have disturbed you, the same way that it did me. I doubt that you would have left him for long without going to check up on him.’
That was something, at least. She looked at the equipment he had laid out. ‘Are you quite sure that this is the place to be doing that? Shouldn’t we wait until we can get him to hospital?’
‘I don’t think we have any choice,’ Craig said, his tone blunt. ‘If I can get the tube in place, at least it will relieve the pressure and help him to breathe more easily. I’m aiming to keep conditions as sterile as I possibly can.’
‘I’ll help you,’ she said.
‘That’s not necessary.’
Rebecca frowned. She kneaded her fingers together to try to instill some warmth into them. ‘I’ll put on some surgical gloves. I’m not sure I could do the procedure myself with my hands being so cold. Are you absolutely sure that you can manage?’
His mouth made a crooked shape. ‘Don’t worry. I won’t do him any harm. I’ve done this procedure lots of times before, and I’ve anaesthetised the area, so he shouldn’t suffer in any way.’
‘I didn’t mean that. It’s just that I don’t know how it is that you’re able to rise above the conditions this way, when the rest of us are clearly feeling the effects of cold and shock.’
Was she weak, as he had implied earlier? She had always tried to be independent, and do her best to deal with everything that came across her path, but these last few hours had challenged her more than anything that had come before, and she was having to dig deep into her reserves of strength.
He, on the other hand, had been completely in control of the situation from the start, and nothing had daunted him. She couldn’t make him out. Was he really as tough as he appeared to be? Did nothing stop him in his tracks?
Craig was already making the incision between Connor’s ribs. She watched him insert the Kelly clamp and then feel for the pleural cavity. He pushed in the chest tube and then removed the clamp, advancing the tube a little further. Once he was satisfied that the tube had entered the cavity, he removed the trocar and clamped the outer end of the tube with the Kelly.
After a minute or so, when he had done everything that was necessary and had sutured and taped the tube in place, Rebecca handed him the suction unit so that he could allow drainage of the infected fluid.
‘I gave him an antibiotic injection some time ago. I don’t have my watch or my phone to rely on any more, so I’m guessing about the amount of time that has passed,’ she said. ‘I don’t know whether it would be too soon to give him another dose.’
‘I don’t suppose it has been all that long,’ Craig murmured. ‘It just feels like it.’ He made a wry smile. ‘I know what you mean about the watch and the phone—I guess they were ruined when the plane ditched.’
‘Even yours?’ she asked. When she had looked at his wrist earlier that day, she had noted that he was wearing what had looked like a very expensive, designer watch, but now it appeared to be missing.
‘Even mine. It was smashed when we landed, and my phone ended up underwater.’
‘I’m sorry. Does that mean you were hurt? Shall I take a look at your wrist?’ She started to move closer to him.
He shook his head. ‘No, it’s fine.’ He sent her a glance as though to curb any attempt that she might make to help him, and she cautiously backed off. He obviously didn’t want her checking him out. Perhaps he had some misguided idea that any kind of injury would make him less of a man.
‘Listen. I can hear something,’ Tom said, coming out of his drowsy state. ‘Is that a rescue boat? Is it coming our way?’
Craig got to his feet and went to push back the waterproof sheet. He looked out over the horizon. ‘I think it probably is. It’s some distance away, but it seems to be heading in our direction. I’ll go and signal to them, just in case.’
Rebecca stayed with Connor, making sure that he wasn’t showing any ill-effects after the procedure. He seemed to be calm enough, and the chest drain was working, so that even without X-rays it looked as though Craig had placed the tube in the correct position.
She got to her feet. ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ she told the boy, laying a hand lightly on his shoulder.
She went to join Craig, looking out across the water to where a vessel was making swift progress. ‘It’s the lifeboat, then?’ she said.
‘It looks that way.’
A quick tide of relief ran through her. ‘I’d almost expected an ambulance to arrive here first, but I suppose we’re a bit far off the beaten track. There isn’t a road nearby, as far as I can see.’
‘I expect that’s why Harry aimed for this part of the shore as best he could. He would have wanted to minimise any casualties.’
‘So what will happen now?’
‘They’ll probably take us to the nearest port, and there should be an ambulance waiting for us to transport us from there to the hospital.’ He sent her an oblique glance, his gaze running over her pale features. ‘You don’t look too happy about that. I would have thought you’d be ecstatic.’
‘I am—at least, I am for all of you.’
‘But? There is a but, isn’t there?’
Rebecca shifted in discomfort. ‘Like I said, I have this horrible feeling that wherever I go, disaster follows. You said lightning didn’t strike twice but obviously it did, and all I can think is that I was the one common factor.’
His eyes glimmered with amusement. ‘You’re not serious? You can’t possibly believe that, can you?’
She clamped her lips together, not answering, and he put his arm around her, holding her tightly against him. ‘The cold has obviously addled your brain,’ he said, giving her a squeeze. ‘Don’t you realise that you’re actually our guardian angel in the flesh? Think what might have happened if you hadn’t been there to save us.’
She looked at him, her mouth turning down a little at the corners. He was making fun of her, and she couldn’t really blame him, could she? He was right, it must be that the chill air was getting to her.
‘Perhaps you’ve stumbled across your role in life,’ he murmured. ‘You’re here to keep us all from harm.’ He looked her over as though he was impressed by what he saw. ‘A guardian angel…you know, that is really something special. I can’t believe my luck in finding you. I always imagined that my saviour would be an ethereal figure dressed in a white gossamer dress, and here you are with flyaway, windswept hair, all done up in a silver foil blanket. Is that what all the best-dressed angels are wearing these days?’
Rebecca couldn’t suppress a chuckle. ‘Stop teasing me,’ she said. ‘It isn’t fair.’ Besides, she couldn’t think straight while he had his arm around her. Her nervous system was already in chaos, and his nearness and his overriding masculinity was playing havoc with her senses.
She looked out over the water once more. ‘Perhaps we ought to start getting the equipment together. The sooner we get loaded up, the quicker Connor will be able to receive the treatment he needs in hospital…Tom and Harry, too.’
The lifeboat came to a halt further along the riverbank, and she guessed that the water was deeper back there. Two men disembarked and started towards them, and she saw that they were loaded down with medical bags and equipment.
The first one to reach them checked that everyone was accounted for. ‘Is there anyone still in the water?’ he asked.
‘No, we’re all here,’ Craig told him, ‘but we have some casualties.’
‘What exactly are we dealing with?’ The second man stepped forward, and Rebecca saw that he was wearing a paramedic’s jacket.
‘The boy is in a bad way, and the copilot has a few fractured ribs. The pilot has a head injury that needs to be checked out as soon as we get to hospital.’ Craig frowned. ‘He’s not looking too good just now.’
‘That’s OK. We’ll take it from here. Let’s get you all safely on board.’ The chief lifeboat man started to direct operations, and within minutes Connor was being transported aboard the vessel.
As Craig had pointed out, Harry appeared to be disorientated, and Rebecca winced. That was not a good sign.
‘He’ll need to have a CT scan as soon as we get to the hospital,’ she told the paramedic once they were all on board the lifeboat and on their way. They were seated inside the cabin of the vessel, protected from the harsh wind outside, and the lifeboat was skimming through the water, heading for the mainland. ‘And Connor will have to be watched closely for signs of increasing infection.’
‘It’ll all be taken care of,’ the paramedic told her. ‘You shouldn’t be worrying about any of this, you know. You’re a patient yourself until we’ve had you checked over at the hospital and you get the all-clear.’
‘But I’m OK. There’s nothing wrong with me.’
‘Apart from a mild case of hypothermia and post-traumatic shock,’ Craig interjected with a wry smile. ‘Do as you’re told and sit back and relax for a while. You’ve had enough excitement for one day.’
She narrowed her gaze on him. ‘And I suppose you haven’t been through the same ordeal? I don’t know how you manage to stay so calm. I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody who had such a jaunty attitude to life. We’ve just been through a terrible experience, and you look as though none of it has touched you. How is it that you’ve come to be that way?’
‘Of course it has touched me.’ Craig stretched his long legs out in front of him. ‘I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t feel that we’ve had a narrow escape, but I have to look at it from another angle. Bad things happen, but we came through this one and so long as I’m here and I’m fit and healthy, I’ll accept that and move on.’
The main paramedic who had introduced himself as Josh handed out cups of hot coffee to Rebecca and Craig. ‘Drink these,’ he said. ‘It’ll help to warm you up.’
‘Thanks.’ Rebecca accepted the drink and sipped cautiously at the hot liquid. ‘This is so good.’
Josh smiled. ‘We’ll soon have you feeling on top form once more.’
She looked up at him. ‘Do you know whether Connor’s parents have any idea what happened to him? I don’t know whether news of the accident has filtered back to anyone except the rescue services.’
‘I believe the chief radioed back to Base as soon as we found that you were safe, so if they were worrying, at least they will know that he’s unharmed. News of the accident was passed on to the rescue services as soon as the Mayday call came in, and shortly after that it would have gone out on the regional news bulletin. If anyone knew who was on the flight, it’s possible that they will be calling in for information.’
‘Thanks for that, Josh. At least it’s good to know that his parents won’t be worrying for too long.’
Josh acknowledged that with a nod, and said, ‘I’m going to check up on the others. I take it that you’ll both be all right for a while?’
‘Yes, we’ll be fine. Will you let me know if there are any problems?’
‘Of course.’
Tom, Harry and Connor were at the far end of the cabin, being attended to by a nurse, with one of the lifeboat crew acting as an assistant. They were ensuring that the child’s condition was being monitored, while Tom and Harry were being given top-up painkilling medication.
Rebecca sent a glance in Craig’s direction. ‘Is there someone who might be worried about you?’ she asked as Josh left them. ‘Your parents maybe, or a girlfriend? It can’t be good to hear about a helicopter crash through a news bulletin.’
He gave a negligent shrug. ‘I doubt that my parents will have any idea that I was on a helicopter coming from Northumberland. Mostly I keep to the Argyll area of Scotland, but this last trip was an out-of-the-ordinary mission to bring a patient in for specialist treatment. My brother is probably too busy working his farm to take much note of what I’m doing in between family visits.’
He swallowed his coffee and then studied her momentarily. ‘Would your aunt have been expecting you to arrive home before this?’
Rebecca was thoughtful. ‘I don’t think so. She knows that I was making arrangements to come and see her, and I tried to phone earlier to say that I was on my way, but I couldn’t reach her. I left a message on the answering machine, but she might have gone out for the day. I know her neighbour takes her out and about sometimes.’
It didn’t escape her that he hadn’t said anything about a girlfriend waiting for him, but that might be because she was out at work and wouldn’t be unduly worried about his whereabouts. There had to be a woman in his life, didn’t there? No one could be that masculine and full of energy and be celibate, could they?
‘And your parents?’
The question startled her, bringing her back to the present moment. She had been deep in thought just then, and heat filled her at the notion that he might have been able to tell what she had been thinking about. Heaven forbid that he should do that.
She shook her head. ‘I don’t really see too much of my parents.’
He looked as though he might have been about to ask her more, but one of the lifeboat men came over to them and said, ‘We’re about ready to dock. A couple of ambulances are waiting at the quayside ready to transfer you to hospital. The paramedics say they’ll take the boy in one, and perhaps one of you would like to go with him. The rest of you will be going in the other ambulance.’
‘I’ll go with him,’ Rebecca said quickly. ‘He’s my responsibility until we get him to the hospital.’
‘As you like. I’ll pass on the message.’
Within the next few minutes they were escorted off the lifeboat and transferred to the waiting ambulances. Rebecca sat with Connor, and watched Craig from inside her vehicle as he climbed on board the second ambulance. He turned and looked back at her, mouthing, ‘I’ll see you at the hospital,’ but before she could answer, the paramedic closed the doors on her, and they were whisked away.
‘Will I see my mum and dad soon?’ Connor stirred and looked at her briefly.
‘I think so, Connor.’ She smiled at him. ‘How are you feeling now?’
‘I don’t know.’ His voice trailed away. ‘Yucky.’
‘You just need to get some rest. We’ll soon have you tucked up in hospital.’
Rebecca watched him, and wondered how much he remembered of what had happened. Hopefully it would all seem like a dream that would soon be forgotten.
When they arrived at the hospital, Rebecca wanted to stay with Connor, but there was a team waiting for him, and as soon as she had recounted the details of his treatment, the nurse prepared to wheel him into one of the side bays.
‘His parents are anxious to see him,’ she said, and of course that was understandable.
Rebecca said goodbye, adding, ‘I’ll come and see you as soon as I’m able,’ but she couldn’t be sure whether he had heard her, because he gave no response and he was already being moved towards the treatment room.
Rebecca watched anxiously as he disappeared from view. He had to get well. The child had been through so much.
‘We should take a look at you now and make sure that you’re not suffering any ill-effects after that horrendous journey.’ Another nurse came to take charge of Rebecca, and for the next half-hour or so she was given a thorough check-up. After she had been given the all-clear, the nurse, Helen, ran a bath for her, and Rebecca luxuriated in the warmth for a while, letting the hot water ease away the strains of the day. She washed her hair and dried it, wrapping herself in a clean hospital gown while she brushed it through until it shone. Then she wondered what she was going to do about her wet clothes.
‘It’s all right,’ the nurse told her. ‘I took them into our kitchen and put them through a washing cycle, and they’re being tumbled dry at this very minute. Just relax for a while and I’ll bring them to you as soon as they’re ready. You can go and sit in our day room, if you like. It’s comfortable in there, and private. No one else will be using it. I’ll take you over there, shall I?’
‘Thanks.’ Rebecca smiled at the girl. ‘I wonder if the men are getting the same kind of treatment? We were all soaked through. Have you heard any news of how they’re doing?’
Helen nodded, going to the door of the bathroom and guiding Rebecca along the corridor. ‘I’ve made sure that they’ll all have clean, dry clothes to put on when they’re ready to leave. Tom’s been examined by our emergency registrar, and he’ll be all right to go home in a while. His ribs will be sore for a few weeks, but there’s no worrying internal damage, so he’ll be given a prescription for painkillers. Harry’s not so lucky—they’re worried that there might be a haematoma forming inside the skull, so it’s quite possible that he’ll have to go to Theatre for emergency surgery.’
Rebecca’s expression was serious. ‘I was worried that might happen. I hope he’s going to be all right.’
‘At least he’s in the right place.’ The nurse came to a halt just a few yards along the corridor and pushed open a door. ‘Here we are. This is our day room. We use it for patients or relatives who need to come and have a few quiet minutes. You shouldn’t be disturbed.’
Rebecca glanced around the room. ‘It’s lovely in here, very bright and cheerful.’
‘Yes, it is. There’s a coffee-machine, with supplies of milk and sugar,’ Helen said. ‘Just help yourself.’
‘I will. Thanks.’ Rebecca smiled, but then became serious once more. ‘And Connor? How’s he doing? Do you know?’
‘We’ll admit him to our emergency ward for observation, and then as soon as we think he’s ready, he’ll be sent back to the surgical ward where he was cared for after his original accident. I think the drainage tube that Craig put in will help to speed up his progress…but, then, Craig’s always been a wonderful emergency doctor. I’ve never known him put a foot wrong.’
Rebecca’s eyes widened a fraction. ‘You know him?’
Helen smiled. ‘Oh, yes. This hospital is his home ground. Didn’t you know?’
Rebecca shook her head. ‘I didn’t.’
‘Yes, he’s been with our emergency department for a long while. We were all worried when we thought he might have been injured in the crash.’
‘I don’t know how we would have coped without him,’ Rebecca murmured. ‘He was a tower of strength, and nothing seemed to throw him. I had the feeling he was planning what he needed to do right from the minute we first realised something was wrong.’
‘That’s our Craig. You sort of feel instinctively that you can rely on him. I’ve never known him to let anything get him down, although I would have thought this latest calamity might have shaken him up a bit. You never can tell. He always has that untroubled attitude…. or, at least, he has as long as I’ve known him.’
Helen went back to the door. ‘I’ll leave you alone in here for a few minutes, then. Just try to relax, take it easy, and I’ll be in with your clothes as soon as they’re ready. Will you be OK for a while?’
‘I will. Thank you.’
Helen left the room and Rebecca went over to the coffee-machine to make herself a drink. She checked that the jug was filled with water and then flicked the switch to heat it up.
It was an odd feeling, being here alone in this hospital room after the trauma of the day. All day long she had been keyed up, living off adrenalin, trying to cope with each event as it happened, and now, all at once, it was over. Everything had been lifted from her, taken out of her hands, and she ought to be feeling so much better by now. Only she wasn’t in a good way at all. She was numb inside and, try as she may to come to terms with everything that had gone on, she was finding it incredibly hard.
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door, and she half turned, expecting to see Helen walk into the room. Instead, it was Craig who she saw standing in the doorway.
‘Is it all right if I come in?’ he asked, and she nodded.
‘Of course.’
He looked different somehow, and after a moment she realised it was because he had changed out of his crumpled jeans and was wearing a whole fresh set of clothes, dark trousers that clung his long legs, and a crisp shirt that reflected the blue-grey colour of his eyes.
‘You look all spruced up,’ she commented lightly. ‘I can’t believe that the nurse managed to find those in a cupboard somewhere.’
He smiled wryly. ‘No. I keep a fresh set in my locker, just in case. You never know when you might need them in this job.’
‘I can imagine.’ She pulled the gown a little closer around her body. She felt awkward now, half-dressed and still dazed from the events of the day, while he was fresh and alert.
She said softly, ‘I was just going to make some coffee. Would you like a cup?’
‘I would, thanks.’
She lifted the filter jug and started to pour the hot liquid, but then she stopped suddenly and carefully replaced the glass container on its stand. Her hands were shaking and that was upsetting. She had tried so hard to keep her emotions reined in, but now the strain was proving too much for her. She couldn’t even manage this simple task, and it was scary how defencelessness she felt.
‘Let me do that for you,’ he said. ‘You’ve had a bad day and I would hate to see you scald yourself.’
She nodded and moved away from the worktop, letting him take over. She pressed her lips together. It was frustrating, this inability to take control of the most mundane task, and it was humiliating to have him witness her inadequacy.
‘It’s just—I’ll be fine in a little while,’ she managed. ‘I think everything must be catching up with me, that’s all.’ She gave a choked laugh. ‘Perhaps I should have gone to bed early last night, instead of partying. That way, I might have been more prepared for the way things turned out.’ Her mouth twisted a little. Last night seemed so far away now.
Craig glanced at her, but he continued to pour coffee. When he had finished, she thought he might hand her a cup, and she wondered how she would disguise the fact that she was still feeling shaky. It bothered her a lot. None of this should be happening. She had always been strong, and yet now she was as weak as a kitten.
He left the drinks untouched on the tabletop. ‘Come here,’ he said in a low, roughened tone. He held out his arms to her, and when she would have hesitated he reached out and drew her into his embrace, holding her close and lowering his head to hers, so that his cheek lightly grazed her face.
‘You’ve been through a hellish day,’ he said. ‘There’s no shame in feeling this way. It’s bound to have an effect on you.’
‘But it’s over now. We’re safe, on dry ground, and we haven’t been hurt, you and I. I don’t understand why I feel as though I’m falling apart.’
‘Don’t try to understand it,’ he said. ‘You’re human, you do the best you can, and sometimes life takes its toll anyway. You’ll feel differently about things in the morning, after you’ve had a good night’s sleep. Don’t worry about anything now. It’ll pass.’
She looked up at him. ‘How do you manage to stay on top of things? How do you keep on going?’
A faint smile touched his mouth. ‘I suppose I count my blessings. I’m thankful to be alive. I think about how the one good thing about this day is that it has brought me into contact with a sweet, vulnerable young woman, and it makes me want to take her in my arms and comfort her, just like this…’
His fingers threaded through the silk of her hair, gently caressing the nape of her neck, smoothing away all the tension there. It was such a warm and lovely feeling being held this way, and she found herself wishing that this closeness might go on for ever and ever…or at least, for just a little longer.
She stirred in his arms, lifting her head a fraction, and perhaps that was her undoing because the line of his jaw, already snuggled close to her cheek, shifted with the movement and his lips brushed the softness of her face, sliding down to glide over the tender fullness of her mouth.
A low sigh escaped him, and he lightly tasted the sweetness of her lips.
It was barely a whisper of a touch, not even a kiss, really, but Rebecca’s eyes closed, savouring the delicious thrill of that moment. Heat flooded her veins, coursing through every part of her body. She was safe, she was complete, and right now she wanted nothing more than to be held like this, in his arms.
It took a while for sanity to return. Perhaps it was a noise outside in the corridor that made her come back to the raw reality of the present, or maybe it was that he began to reluctantly ease himself away from her.
In either case, that magical moment drifted to an end and he looked into her eyes and she began to realise that she must have slipped into a dream world and lost her senses.
What had she been thinking? Nothing at all, judging from her reckless actions. Hadn’t she learned anything at all from her bitter experience with Ben? Above all she ought to have realised that her instincts were sadly misguided where men were concerned.
‘Perhaps I should see if I can find Helen and see if my clothes are ready,’ she murmured awkwardly. ‘I ought to go and phone my aunt and start making arrangements to go home.’
‘I’ll go and find her for you,’ Craig said. His gaze drifted over her. ‘You should stay and drink your coffee. Take a few minutes more to get yourself together.’
His mouth made a flat line. ‘Besides, we both need to see what we can do about reclaiming some of our lost belongings. I’ll do some ringing around for both of us if you like. I dare say we can make arrangements to replace cash cards, keys and so on.’
She stared at him. ‘I hadn’t even thought that far ahead.’
‘That’s all right. I’ll set the wheels in motion. You go and sit down and drink your coffee. Nothing has to be done right away.’
He handed her the cup, closing her fingers carefully around the rim and ensuring that she was steady enough to be left with it.
‘I’ll be back in a minute or two.’
She nodded, frowning as she watched him leave the room a moment later. Did nothing bother him? He was totally in command of himself, and it was as if their moment of closeness had never happened.
Perhaps it was just as well that he was behaving that way. It meant that she, too, could forget about it and move on. Couldn’t she?