Kai shook his head. ‘No way. I can’t stand the water pounding on my leg.’
Rhuaridh pulled out some kit. ‘There’s a metal hoop that fits on top of the stretcher. This plastic can go over the top of the hoop. It will keep the water off your leg, and hopefully protect you.’ He looked at the water cascading past his shoulder. ‘There is no other way out of here. We can get you in the stretcher, but we couldn’t manoeuvre it upright to slide you through the space at the side.’
He shook his head as he looked at it. ‘I had to imitate a spider to get in here, and I still got soaked by the waterfall on the way in.’ He turned to Des. ‘You’ve been around here just as long as me. Can you think of any other way to get him out?’
Des shook his head too. ‘Not a chance. He’s almost the same size as you and me. There’s no way we could manoeuvre him. We just need to go straight through the waterfall.’
Rhuaridh calculated how much pain relief to give Kai and administered it quickly. ‘We’ll give it some time to take effect before we get you onto the stretcher.’
The radio at his waist crackled. ‘Rhuaridh? Rhuaridh, are you there?’
Kristie’s voice echoed around the cave. ‘Who’s that?’ asked Des.
Rhuaridh pulled the radio from his waistband. ‘What’s up, Kristie?’
‘They’re not here yet and he’s starting to wake up.’
‘The ambulance crew haven’t arrived?’ He was surprised. He’d expected them to arrive a few minutes after he left.
‘No.’ Her voice sounded kind of strained. ‘Gerry’s here. He got dropped back at our car and came himself. Apparently the ambulance had to stop at a road accident. They’ve taken the people to the hospital.’
Rhuaridh shook his head. Typical. Everything happened at once. The ambulance hadn’t been used at all in the last week and now two simultaneous calls.
‘Kristie, tell me the numbers on the monitor.’
There was silence for a few seconds, then her voice came through. ‘The P is eighty-six. That’s his pulse, isn’t it?’
‘That’s fine. What’s the other one?’
‘It’s ninety-seven.’
‘That’s his oxygen saturation. That’s good. It means his breathing and lungs are okay.’
‘Uh-oh.’
Rhuaridh sat up on his knees. ‘What do you mean, “uh-oh”? Kristie?’
There was a crackle. Then a rumble of voices—all muffled. It was hard to hear anything with the constant background roar of falling water. Rhuaridh exchanged a look with Des. He’d never met the other instructor at the centre. Throughout the year many instructors from different countries came to help at the centre—Des was the only real constant. ‘Your guy. Anything I should know about him?’
Des’s brow wrinkled. ‘Ross?’ He shook his head. ‘Don’t think so. He’s been here about three weeks. Worked in a similar place in Wales.’
‘Any medical history?’
Des pulled a face. ‘To be honest, I can’t remember. But if there had been anything major it would be on his initial application form.’
Rhuaridh knew that all the paperwork for the centre would be up to date. Des’s wife dealt with that. But he also knew that Des wouldn’t recall a single thing about it. He’d never been a paper person.
‘Rhuaridh!’ The shout came through the crackling radio and made all three in the cave start.
‘Kristie, what’s wrong?’
Even though it was difficult, he was on his feet, crouching in the cave. Staring at the rushing water that was currently between Kristie and himself.
‘He’s thrashing about. I think he’s having some kind of seizure, what do I do?’
He could hear the panic in her voice. He signalled with his head to Des, who immediately pulled the prepared stretcher alongside Kai, knowing they would have to get out of there quickly.
‘Do you know the recovery position?’ he radioed to Kristie.
‘W-hat?’
‘His side. Turn him on his left-hand side. Get Gerry or some of the older kids to help you if need be. Once he’s on his side pull up his right leg slightly and bring his right arm over so his hand is on the ground in front of him.’
And then there was nothing. No reply. No chatter. Just silence as his stomach churned. Either Ross’s head injury had caused agitation and Kristie was mistaken, or he was having a full-blown seizure—neither of which were good signs. Kai would already need to be sent to the mainland for surgery. Now it looked like Ross would need to be airlifted. The nearest head injury unit was in Glasgow—it would take too long to get there by ambulance and ferry.
‘Ready, Doc?’
Des had moved to Kai’s head and shoulders, ready to slide the lad onto the stretcher. Rhuaridh bent down straight away. ‘Sure. Kai, your painkiller should have started working by now. We’re going to slide you over onto the stretcher. It should only be a bit uncomfortable, and once you’re on the stretcher the metal hoop will mean that nothing will touch your leg.’
He was trying hard to stay very calm, all while his brain wondered how Kristie was doing. He’d left her out there. He knew she wasn’t medically qualified at all, but he’d felt duty bound to come and assess his other patient. Would he have left her out there if he’d known the ambulance would be so long?
His mouth was dry. He couldn’t help but remember that momentary glance in her eyes when she’d told him hospitals freaked her out. He’d wanted to ask more, but there hadn’t been time. He was drawn to this woman. He liked her. He couldn’t ignore the flicker of attraction that seemed to permeate the air around them. But the truth was he barely knew her.
He was moving on autopilot. ‘Ready?’ he asked Kai.
The teenage boy screwed up his face and Des held him by the shoulders and Rhuaridh gently took the weight off his legs. The movement was swift, with only a minor yelp from Kai. Des helped move the plastic casing quickly over the stretcher, zipping it closed, protecting the rest of Kai’s body and only leaving his face exposed.
‘Who is going first?’ Des asked as he eyed the cascading waterfall. Each of them was going to have to step through it carrying the stretcher.
‘I’ll do it,’ said Rhuaridh quickly. He tried the radio again. ‘Kristie, how are you? How is Ross? Have you got him in the recovery position?’
There was an agonising pause.
‘I think so. But he’s still...twitching.’
‘I’ll be right there.’ He could hear the tension in her voice. He wanted to jump straight through the waterfall and be by her side. But he was a doctor. He was so used to taking the emotion out of things and doing the duty he was bound to—like now, when he had to try and take care of two injured patients. Where was that darned ambulance?
Before he had chance to let his brain churn any more he signalled to Kai and Des. ‘Are we ready?’
They nodded. Rhuaridh looked at Kai. ‘When I give you the signal, take a deep breath. I’ll have the front end of the stretcher and we’ll literally just need to walk through the waterfall. You know the pond isn’t particularly deep. This isn’t dangerous. Just a few moments of pounding water around your ears.’
Kai nodded. ‘I’ve been through it once when Des pulled me back in here. I’ll be okay. Let’s get this over with.’
Rhuaridh put the rest of the equipment back in the rucksack and put it on his back. He jumped down into the pool with the waterfall directly at his back. The noise was deafening, so he used signals to grab the stretcher above his shoulders and gesture to Kai. Des was ready and they moved swiftly through the waterfall and back out into the pool. Water cascaded over them, but it only took a few seconds to be free of the noise and clear their noses and mouths.
From the crest of the hill he could see a flash of bright green. The paramedics had finally arrived. Most of the kids were still crowded around the sides of the pool. They waded
slowly across, setting Kai down gently as his friends surrounded him. One of the paramedics knelt beside him, and the other joined Rhuaridh at Kristie’s side.
Her eyes were glinting with fear. ‘He’s literally just stopped shaking. He seemed to wake up for a few seconds, thrashing his legs and arms out, then he started shaking again.’
There was a red mark on the side of her cheek.
‘Did you get caught by his arm?’ asked Rhuaridh.
She shook her head. ‘I’m fine. It doesn’t matter.’
But it did to Rhuaridh.
It only took a few moments to assess Ross and to arrange an air ambulance for him. His pupil reactions were sluggish now and it was obvious the knock to the head had been harsh. He needed proper assessment in a specialist centre.
Rhuaridh then took time to recheck Kai before loading him up in the ambulance with the paramedics, ready for transfer for surgery.
By the time the ambulance had left with both patients, Des had gathered the teenagers together to take them back to the wilderness centre. Gerry was still chatting to a few that he’d caught on film.
Kristie was standing at the side, dirt smudged on her cheek and on the knees of her trousers. Rhuaridh reached out, took her hand and led her off to the side, pulling her down next to him on a large overturned tree trunk that had fallen over years before.
‘Are you okay? I’m sorry that I left you.’
She gave a small shake of her head, fixing her gaze on the view ahead.
He hadn’t let go of her, enclosing one of her slim hands in both of his. She moved her gaze to meet his.
He held his breath. He couldn’t help it. All he could focus on was the blue of her eyes. The hand he held between his was trembling slightly and he gave it a squeeze. ‘I didn’t mean to leave you alone so long. I thought the ambulance would only be a few minutes.’
Her voice was quiet. ‘You had to go and check on the boy. I know that.’ She gave a weak smile, ‘You’re a doctor. It’s your job.’
‘But it’s not yours,’ he replied, his voice hoarse.
She’d been shaking. She was pale. Pieces were falling into place. Now he understood why she’d seemed distracted in the hospital. He’d thought she either wasn’t that interested or had just had her mind on other things.
She’d been nervous. She’d been scared. And he’d missed it.
‘Why don’t you tell me why you don’t like hospitals, Kristie?’
She licked her lips and shook her head. ‘It’s not something we need to talk about.’
She looked him straight in the eye and pulled her hand free from his, lifting it to touch his cheek. ‘You just scaled part of a rock face and walked through a waterfall, Dr Gillespie. Some people might call that superhero material.’
‘What would you call it?’ The words were out instantly. Instinct. His gut reaction to that question. Because he really wanted to know the answer. He wanted to know exactly what Kristie Nelson thought about him.
If he’d thought for a few more seconds he’d have realised she’d just avoided his question. The one that might get to the heart of who she was.
‘I haven’t quite decided yet,’ she whispered, the edges of her mouth turning upwards. ‘But things are looking up.’
Her hand on his skin was making his pulse race. His eyes went instinctively to her mouth. The mouth he wanted to kiss.
He moved forward, all rational thoughts leaving his brain as his lips firmly connected with hers. She reacted instantly, leaning in towards him and sliding one hand up the side of his neck. He knew she needed comfort. He knew she needed reassurance. This seemed so obvious, so natural and it looked like Kristie thought so too.
Her skin was cold, but her lips were warm. Sweet. Responsive. She didn’t seem to mind they were sitting on a log in the middle of the damp countryside. She didn’t seem to mind at all, and as her hand raked through his hair he could almost feel the temperature rising around them.
But little alarms were going off in his brain, like red flags frantically waving. How could he kiss her when he knew there was something else affecting her?
He took a deep breath. He reluctantly pulled back. For a moment, neither of them spoke—just stared at each other as if they couldn’t quite believe what had just happened.
Rhuaridh pressed his lips together for a second, doing his best to collect his thoughts. The ones he was currently having involved sweeping Kristie up into his arms, into his car and away from this whole place. But she’d said something. She’d revealed a part of herself that she hadn’t before and every instinct told him that he had to try and peel back more of Kristie’s layers.
‘Wow,’ she said softly as a hint of a smile touched her lips.
‘Wow,’ he agreed. His timing was all wrong. He looked at her steadily, keeping his voice even. ‘Kristie, I do think we need to talk.’
There was a flash of momentary confusion in her eyes. He could almost see the shutters going down again, as if she knew what was about to come next.
He kept going. ‘I think the reason you don’t like hospitals is important. I think, when I work with someone, if something significant has happened in the past that affects how they feel or think about something, I should know. I should know not to expose them to a situation that they might find hard.’
She pulled her hand back as if she’d been stung. ‘Is that what we’re doing, working together?’
It was the way she asked the question—as if those words actually hurt—that made him catch his breath. He could hear it in her voice. The unspoken question. Was that all it was? Particularly after that kiss...
But she didn’t wait for an answer. She just brushed off her trousers, stood up and walked away...for the second time.
CHAPTER SIX
October
SHE CLOSED HER social media account. Will they? Won’t they? seemed to be everywhere she looked. She’d even been invited on a talk show to discuss her blossoming ‘relationship’ with Rhuaridh Gillespie, the world’s hottest Highland doc.
‘I’m going to kill you, Gerry,’ she muttered.
He was staring out of the ferry window at the thrashing sea, rubbing his chest distractedly. ‘No, you’re not. You’ve got the most popular show on the network. You love it.’
‘I don’t have time to love it. I can’t get a minute of peace.’ She rubbed her eyes and leaned against the wall.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.
She sighed. ‘There was a call last night.’ She rubbed her hands up both arms. It was cold. Scotland was much colder than LA, but that chill had seemed to come out of nowhere. ‘It was hard. I don’t know if I helped. I’ve spent the whole journey wondering if...’ Her voice trailed off.
Gerry touched her shoulder. ‘Don’t. You volunteer. You counsel. You’re the person who listens in the middle of the night when someone needs to talk. You do the best that you can. That’s all you can do.’
She put her head back on the wall. Fatigue sweeping over her. ‘I know that. But I can’t help but worry.’
‘You don’t look that great,’ said Gerry.
She closed her eyes for a second. ‘I don’t feel that great. I forgot to take my seasickness tablets. I’ll be fine when we land.’
The truth was she was nervous, and a little bit sad. She wasn’t quite sure what to say to Rhuaridh. She’d felt the connection. And she was sure he had too.
Didn’t their kiss prove it? But that had been fleeting. Rhuaridh had stopped it almost as soon as it had started. And then he’d pressed about the thing she didn’t want to talk about. Wasn’t ready to talk about.
And it had haunted her for the last month. Her head even felt fuzzy right now. She loosened the scarf she’d wound around her neck. It was irritating her. They’d started filming earlier, following up on Ross, the instructor with the head injury last month, who’d had em
ergency surgery. He was staying in Glasgow, recovering well, even though he was pale with a large part of his hair now missing. The young boy, Kai, had his leg in a cast but took great delight in showing them just how fast he could get about on his crutches.
Thank goodness those two parts of filming were wrapped up. It would mean they would need less footage whilst on Arran. She closed her eyes, part of her not wanting to spend too much time in Rhuaridh’s company and part of her aching for it.
She was so confused right now. And who was making all that noise? She shivered, pulling her coat closer around her. Rhuaridh. Sometimes thinking about him made her angry, sometimes it made her feel warm all over. Her mind would drift back to that second on the beach...then that second sitting in the woods together. Her life currently felt like a bad young adult romance novel.
‘Kristie. Kristie.’ Someone was shaking her. ‘We need to go. Here, give me the keys. I’ll drive.’
‘What? No?’ She stood up and promptly swayed and sat back down. Had she actually fallen asleep?
Gerry was looking at her oddly. ‘You’re sick,’ he said, holding out his hand for the car key. ‘I’ll drive. It’s the same place as last time.’
She thought about saying no. She knew Gerry didn’t like driving ‘abroad’, as he put it. But she was just so darned tired. She pushed the keys towards him. ‘Okay, just once. And don’t crash.’
* * *
‘Kristie? You need to drink something.’
She moved, wondering why the bed felt so lumpy, trying to turn around, but her face met an unexpected barrier. She spluttered and opened her eyes. Dark blue was facing her. What?
She pushed herself back, trying to work out why there was a solid wall of dark blue in the bedroom in the cottage.
The voice started again. ‘Kristie? Turn back this way. You need to drink something.’
Her brain wasn’t making sense. Was she dreaming?
She moved back around again. Opening her eyes properly. They took a moment to focus. Directly ahead was a flickering orange fire. She pushed herself up, the material underneath her unfamiliar, velvety to touch. She looked down. She wasn’t in her bed in the cottage. In fact, she didn’t recognise this place at all. ‘What? Wh...where am I?’
Tempted by the Hot Highland Doc Page 10
