‘I don’t...’ Olivia had to pull in a new breath. She could hardly say she didn’t want this and sound sincere. ‘I mean, this isn’t something I usually... I don’t want you to think that...’
‘I’m not thinking anything.’ Zac’s voice was a low growl. ‘Except that you are amazing. That we happen to be together and will be for the night, but after that we’re probably never going to see each other again, are we?’
She shook her head very slowly. She’d had a similar thought herself, although everything felt hazy now. One thing was very clear, though. She couldn’t stop. The pull of desire was threatening to drown her.
Something banged overhead, as if a gust of wind had lifted a sheet of the corrugated-iron roof and then let it slam down again. The startling sound was instantly followed by the brief rattle of heavy rain and it felt like a drumbeat that was adding to the intensity of what was happening here. Olivia knew she might never feel passion like this again in her lifetime and she had to know what it would be like.
Just once...
CHAPTER FIVE
IT WAS THE rumble of distant thunder that woke Olivia the next morning.
For a minute or two she didn’t open her eyes. She wanted to snuggle a little deeper beneath the soft duvet and bask in the warmth of this bed. She knew she was alone and that was okay. She could take her time to stretch her limbs just enough to wake up her muscles and skin. To let her mind drift and sift through the memories of a night she was never going to forget.
A sexual fantasy that she’d made the most of because she knew it was never going to happen again. She’d had no idea that sex could ever be that good. That someone could tease her to the brink of something so huge, hold her there until she was begging for release and then take her even further before letting her fall off the edge of bliss. And the things she’d wanted to do to him... She’d never imagined that she could feel comfortable enough with anyone to be so uninhibited. She could actually feel herself blushing a little as she remembered.
Okay...maybe that was enough sifting for now. Olivia opened her eyes and moved to get herself up. It was no real surprise that she’d slept through Zac leaving this bed. He’d warned her that he would probably be gone by the time she woke up and she’d been deeply asleep because it can’t have been very long ago that they’d finally found themselves too sated to begin making love yet again. She could feel her still-weary body protesting as she pulled the duvet with her to use as a cover when she rolled out of bed. What time was it? She had to get on the road and drive to the airport. She had to leave this fantasy behind and head straight back into her real life.
‘Zac?’
Her call echoed down the hallway of the cottage and Olivia knew that he was gone. It wasn’t simply because there was no response, it was because the air felt flat. The charged atmosphere that their mutual attraction had created was merely a memory. Like a fragment of a dream that had no relevance in real life. Padding through the house in her bare feet after a quick shower, Olivia retrieved her clothes from the rack above the stove in the kitchen. They were going to look appalling and that rip in her skirt was barely decent but it couldn’t be helped.
There had to be some shop at the airport where she could purchase something else to travel in. She didn’t have her hair straightener with her so it wasn’t possible to give her hair its normal sleek look but she twisted it into a loose braid that would, at least, keep it out of her face. Thank goodness she always carried a basic makeup kit in her large shoulder bag.
The kitchen was a bit of a mess. She’d almost forgotten that they’d found themselves starving in the earliest hours of the new day and had come in here to make fried-egg sandwiches with thick slices of bread and a layer of onion jam. She’d been wearing nothing but Zac’s T-shirt that was big enough to be almost decent. He’d been wearing the tracksuit pants that she’d borrowed earlier. They’d polished off that bottle of wine, too, and it had been the most delicious meal Olivia had ever eaten. Should she take the time to wash the frying pan and plates that were cluttering the sink now and give herself the luxury of sinking into the memory of that meal and what had happened again as soon as they’d finished it?
No. She might still have plenty of time to get to the airport but she needed to allow extra to drive as carefully as possible through that gorge. Especially with the weather still deteriorating. There had been intermittent rain squalls during the night but apparently there was a real storm on the way and that rumble of thunder that had woken Olivia had been a warning that it was nearly here. Through the window above the sink, she looked up at an ominous steel-grey sky where billowing clouds had an eerie light to their edges. A flicker of lightning near the mountains made her turn away. The sooner she hit the road, the better.
But... Her head swung back as what she’d caught in her peripheral vision registered. Yes. The gate to that paddock beyond the garden hedge was open. And... Olivia leaned over the sink to see more and her heart sank. Yes...there was Chloe the horse, standing to one side of a vegetable garden. She might not have any obligation to deal with dirty dishes before she left Zac’s house but she couldn’t leave his horse somewhere unsafe. What if she got out onto the road and was hit by a truck?
Olivia found the last of the carrots in the fridge in case she needed an incentive to persuade Chloe to return to her paddock but when she went out the back door into the garden there was no nicker of appreciation for any treats. Chloe’s head was hanging low and she had a strangely hunched look to her back. By the time Olivia had walked the short distance to reach the horse, Chloe had crumpled to the ground and was stretched out flat on her side.
‘Oh, my God...’ Olivia crouched by Chloe’s huge head. ‘What’s wrong?’ She patted her neck. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll go and call Zac. He’ll know what to do.’
She didn’t have his phone number, she realised as she ran back into the house, but she could look up contact details for the hospital and get hold of him that way. Except that as she was searching online, the power on her phone died and it was at that point that she remembered that she’d hadn’t thought it was necessary to bring her charger. Because she’d expected to be back in Auckland well before it was needed.
This was turning into a nightmare. Could she leave Chloe and drive to the hospital to find Zac? Olivia took a deep breath and went out to see if anything had changed. The horse was still lying on its side and Olivia could hear loud grunting noises. She could also see what looked like a white balloon expanding under Chloe’s tail. It took only seconds to realise what was happening. The pregnancy had been genuine and Chloe’s baby was about to be born. Had the mare broken through that wooden gate looking for help as her contractions started? Olivia crouched to stroke Chloe’s neck again.
‘It’s okay,’ she told the horse. ‘You’re going to be fine. I’ll be here to help.’
She had to be. However long this took and however difficult any consequences might be, there was no way Olivia could drive away now. She had to wait to make sure the foal arrived safely and she would also have to get them both into shelter, preferably before this storm broke. Leaving Chloe for a few minutes, she went to check the barn to one side of the cottage and was relieved to find it empty apart from a water trough in a penned-off area and a stack of bales, both straw and hay. Pulling the twine from a bale of straw, she scattered it over the cobbled floor of the pen. Then it was back to Chloe to find that the balloon now contained the front hooves and the head of the foal pressed against the legs.
‘You’re doing so well,’ she told Chloe. ‘Keep going... Big push...’
The mare’s grunts and groans sounded almost human and the whole of her enormous body was moving with the intensity of her contractions. Olivia had no idea how long she was there, trying to encourage and reassure Chloe with her voice and touch as she watched what was happening. Was it too slow? What was she going to do if a vet was needed? Finally, with an even bigger cont
raction, the foal’s body slid onto the ground, still encased in that thick white membrane.
Olivia knew what she needed to do now. She stepped around Chloe’s huge, fluffy feet to reach the foal and she broke the membrane and pulled it back so that the baby could take its first breath. Chloe lifted her head and then curled her front legs in and pushed herself to her feet, breaking the umbilical cord as she did so. She came to sniff the foal cautiously as Olivia pulled more of the membrane away. The foal tried but failed to lift its head. It would be some time before it was strong enough to be on its feet, Olivia realised, and she didn’t need the chill of a wind gust bringing a splatter of rain to remind her that she couldn’t leave either of these animals out in this weather.
The foal was not small and it took an enormous effort for Olivia to lift and then half carry, half drag it to safety. At least Chloe didn’t object to her intervention and followed her into the barn. There, Olivia could start rubbing the foal with handfuls of straw and its mother started to lick its face thoroughly. The foal made a stronger effort to move and managed to keep its head up this time.
‘There you go...’ She could feel a smile that just kept getting wider, but oddly she had tears on her face at the same time. ‘You know what to do, don’t you, Chloe? And look...isn’t your baby just gorgeous?’
Having made sure the water trough was full, Olivia stood for several minutes and watched the mother and baby get to know each other and the foal make new attempts to get to its feet. It was adorably wobbly but the determination was there and it wouldn’t be long before it could get the milk it needed. Long enough for Olivia to go back into the house and change her clothes. Her suit was really ruined this time, so she had no choice but to get back into the clothes Zac had provided yesterday.
She also had no choice but to drive back into Cutler’s Creek when she was finally satisfied that the animals were safe. She might have vowed never to set foot in this community hospital again but Zac needed to know about the new arrival. It was only going to add an extra twenty minutes to her journey and, with a bit of luck, she might actually still get to the airport in time.
Or perhaps a lot of luck. The flash of lightning as she turned her car onto the road was almost blinding and the crack of thunder followed so fast she knew that the storm was right on top of them. Even with her windscreen wipers on the highest speed, visibility was poor in the torrential rain that began only minutes later.
Olivia could only grit her teeth and keep going. What was it about this place? Nobody was going to believe the series of extraordinary events the last twenty-four hours had provided. On the plus side, it would make for entertaining dinner-party conversations in years to come, wouldn’t it? Being first on the scene at a plane crash. Delivering a Clydesdale horse’s foal. Driving through an apocalyptic storm. Fantasy sex with the most gorgeous man in existence...
No. That could never come up in conversation with anyone.
It was something totally private that belonged only to her. And Isaac Cameron.
* * *
‘Look at that, baby George.’ Zac held Faye Morris’s two-day-old baby up to the window. ‘That’s one heck of a storm you’re going to go home in.’
He turned back to where Faye was packing her small suitcase. Debbie, her midwife, was folding some baby clothes. ‘You sure you don’t want to wait it out?’
He wondered if Olivia had got past the gorge already on her journey north. He hoped so because it would be a tricky drive in conditions like this and he certainly wouldn’t want her involved in any kind of accident.
‘I’d rather be at home on the farm,’ Faye said. ‘With our log burner going full tilt and a pot of soup on the stove. Besides, George’s older brother is running his father ragged. Jamie’s hit the “terrible twos” with a flying start.’ She came to look out of the window and had to grimace. ‘It does look a bit nasty. We’ll have to make a dash for the truck.’ She rubbed at where her breath had misted up the glass. ‘Speaking of dashing...who’s that coming in so fast?’
Zac could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. Nobody skidded to a halt like that outside the doors of a hospital unless someone was in trouble. He pressed the bundle of baby he was holding back into Faye’s arms and headed out of her room at a near run, with Debbie hot on his heels. He got to the main reception area at the same time the occupants of the car came through the doors but he had been able to hear screams from the other end of the corridor.
He knew the tall man who was carrying the screaming girl. Mike was one of the local firemen who’d been at the crash scene yesterday. It had to be his youngest daughter he had in his arms and she was clutching at a blood-soaked towel wrapped around her head and face.
‘Come this way, Mike...’ Zac led the way to their minor procedures room, which doubled as their emergency department. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Shayna was heading out to catch the school bus. She got hit by a piece of iron. Must’ve come off one of the dog kennels in that wind, I reckon.’
Debbie was still right behind him. ‘What do you need, Zac?’
‘A dressing kit for now, thanks. And saline.’
Sixteen-year-old Shayna was still screaming as Zac helped Mike to put her on the bed. ‘It’s okay, Shayna,’ he said. ‘We’re going to look after you. Try and take a deep breath for me and calm down. I need you to tell me what’s happening for you.’ He glanced up at her father. ‘Was she knocked out?’
‘Don’t think so. Knocked over, but I saw her from the house and she got straight back up. Came in with blood pouring everywhere so I grabbed the first clean thing I could find to put some pressure on the cut.’
‘Good job.’ Zac was easing the towel away from Shayna’s head. ‘The bleeding’s stopped, which is great.’ What wasn’t great was that it was a deep wound that had carved out a V of flesh that was hanging just above Shayna’s eye.
‘It’s my eye,’ Shayna sobbed. ‘I’m blind...’
Carefully, Zac lifted the flap of skin and held a sterile gauze pad over it to keep it in place. Although the eyebrow was involved, her eyelid seemed to be uninjured.
‘You’ve got your eyes closed, sweetheart,’ he told Shayna. ‘I think you’ll find you can see if you open them.’
‘I can’t. They’ll be all full of blood.’
‘I promise they won’t be. Look, I’m going to put a bandage around to keep this dressing in place and make sure it doesn’t start bleeding again. And then we’re going to check you out properly.’
A thorough neurological check came next, along with making sure there were no other injuries that had been missed. He took Mike out of the room to talk to him while Debbie began to sponge dried blood off the girl’s face and hands.
‘She’s okay,’ he told the worried father. ‘It’s a deep laceration but there’s no evidence of an underlying head injury or nerve damage, which is good news.’
‘She’ll need stitches, though, won’t she?’
‘Yes. The wound is too large and deep not to be stitched and, because it’s on her face, it needs to be done by an expert to minimise scarring. I’m thinking we should transfer her to Dunedin and get a referral to a plastic surgeon.’
Plastic surgeon... How many times was he going to be thinking about Olivia Donaldson today? Even as he pushed that awareness out of his mind, he could feel the tingle of sensation that ran through his limbs to pool somewhere deep in his belly.
Man, that had been a night to remember last night, hadn’t it?
‘She won’t be going anywhere in a hurry,’ Mike told him. ‘Nobody will be flying in this and Bruce is even thinking of closing the gorge road. That wind is getting dangerous. I was already getting calls to the station for things like roof damage before I brought Shayna in. Which reminds me...reception is lousy at the moment with this weather, and I need to let them know where I am. Where’s your nearest landline?’
&n
bsp; ‘Reception. Come with me.’
He might need to make some calls himself, Zac decided. To bring in some extra staff because it looked as though Cutler’s Creek was in for a rough day. How many other storm-related injuries could come in?
‘Where’s Don, Jill?’ he asked the receptionist as Mike called the fire station.
‘On his way. He had to go and check that his mother was okay. Some windows of her house blew in. Oh...’ She turned her head. ‘That’s probably him arriving now.’
Except it wasn’t.
It was his daughter and, if anything, Olivia Donaldson looked more of a mess than she had in the wake of helping with that accident scene yesterday. There were strands of hair that had escaped from a plait and glued themselves to her face. She was streaked with what looked like mud and... Why was she still wearing his clothes?
‘It’s your horse,’ she told Zac. ‘Chloe. She’s just had her baby...’
‘No way...’ He knew he was staring. Not at how dishevelled she was or the dirt she had on her face. He was holding those extraordinary eyes because it was hard not to feel like they were the only two people in this space. In the world, even, for just a heartbeat. ‘Is...is everything okay?’
Olivia nodded. Smiled, in fact. ‘I stayed with her. I got them both into the barn and there’s clean straw and hay and water. I just thought you should know. And...and my phone had died.’ She looked at Mike, who was still using the phone on the reception desk. ‘I don’t suppose I could use your landline? I need to check the status of my flight.’
Mike put the phone down. He’d overheard Olivia’s last comment. ‘Dunedin airport is closed,’ he told her. ‘So’s Queenstown. And Invercargill. You won’t be driving anywhere, either, because the police have just closed the gorge road. There’s been a slip.’
Melting the Trauma Doc's Heart Page 7
