Rescue Heat (19 page)

Matt made sure he had his hands on the medical bags, ready to move as soon as they landed. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Brigid make similar preparations. Once the blades touched down, they ran.

“Over here!” A shout came from over near the police car. Matt could only lengthen his strides.

When they sighted the officer, who came running to greet them, Matt knew the situation was not good.

“Thank god, you’re here,” said the policeman.

He looked dishevelled and shocked enough that if Matt didn’t know differently, he would have assumed that the policeman had been a victim of an accident as well. Obviously, the burden of trying to look after a seriously ill man had been a heavy one.

“His leg is still bleeding. But he can’t feel it, so I didn’t dare move him. His name’s Dan.”

Moving around the car, Matt saw the tangled mess of tree, dirt bike and man.

“Has he remained conscious since you arrived?” Brigid asked.

“Mainly, but he’s drifted out a few times.”

Even with the inch of mud on the ground, Brigid didn’t hesitate to get to her knees by the patient.

“Dan, looks like you’ll be sending your bike to the mechanic for a tune-up,” she said. “Can you tell me what hurts?”

As she was speaking, Matt did a visual inventory of their patient. Seeing the blood soaked gauze covering Dan’s twisted legs, Matt could better understand the shakiness of the officer. It must have felt impossible to offer any comfort, using only the first aid kit that was carried in the back of every police vehicle.

“You’ll have to help us with the roll,” Matt said, to the officer standing behind them.

After putting on the neck brace, Brigid cradled Dan’s head, carefully maintaining spinal precautions. Brigid and Matt exchanged looks of concern.

“Why can’t I feel my legs?” Dan asked, desperation in his voice.

“The most likely cause is spinal shock and we can help you with that, but what you have to do is keep completely still and try to stay calm,” Matt said.

The authority was so clear in his voice that he was giving Dan no choice but to believe him.

Dan’s co-operation in his own care was essential. If there were any fractured or broken vertebrae, keeping the spinal cord protected was a priority. Luckily, he could feel the patient calming, under his tone.

“Fluids,” Brigid said, using the shorthand, which had become second nature between them. Matt got the line inserted in Dan’s arm, while Brigid checked his leg.

He kept talking to Dan, although he reissued a stern warning. “If you don’t want to get us both in trouble with the doctor, remember not to shake or nod your head. You did well to call help on your mobile. I can’t imagine most smart phones work out here.”

“Sat phone,” Dan mumbled.

A jerk of Brigid’s head indicated the need to confer outside of the patient’s hearing. Matt handed the officer the IV and said, “Hold the bag high and push the fluid through.”

When they got a few metres away, Matt ducked his head and asked, “What’s the plan?”

“We’re going to push the fluids and hope we can keep his ribs from puncturing his lungs. I’m worried about a possible brain injury and of course his spine. So we need to get him to Cairns.”

“I’ll make sure the boys are ready to go.”

As they moved off separately, Matt thought, well at least we can work together.

Damn, his heart ached, in a completely unfamiliar way.

In her hallway mirror, Brigid looked at her herself, finally dressed for the ball, and wondered again whether there was anything that would successfully excuse her attendance.

She supposed telling the truth was out of the question: ‘My former lover is going and every time we see each other I die a little bit’.

No, she was just going to have to brave the ball.

Two weeks without Matt and Brigid was still emotionally raw. Was their relationship only about sex for Matt? He’d so easily let her walk away.

During Brigid’s first night alone, she had come to the realization that she loved that damned man. Now the dangers of loving someone who you worked with were painfully apparent to her. She spent her days within arm’s reach of Matt, while outwardly maintaining a coolly professional distance.

A knock on the door signalled the arrival of her date. Opening it, she greeted her guest.

“Hey Jennifer,” she said as she hugged her friend. “I love the dress. Thanks for coming. After my parents pulled out, I couldn’t face going alone.”

“You look gorgeous,” said Jennifer, as she warmly embraced her back. “And it’s my pleasure to come. You did tell me one of the night shift pilots was young and spunky, didn’t you?”

“I did, but at one of these things you might have to crawl over the adrenaline bimbos.” Brigid looked again at her petite friend, clad in delicate blue. “Although I’m pretty sure you could take them.”

Jennifer laughed, “Thanks darling, I think. What are you going to be doing to the block the hungry hoards from taking down Matt?”

Brigid had told Jennifer the truth about her relationship with Matt. After Brigid had indulged in an unfamiliar burst of tears over coffee, Jennifer had forced her to spill the beans.

“Matt is on his own, his fresh meat status notwithstanding.” Brigid heard the note of bitterness in her own voice and tried to flash a smile to counteract it.

Jennifer gently touched her arm. “You know I want to believe you, but you’re going to have to work on your delivery if you’re going to convince anyone of your indifference.”

“I know,” said Brigid. “It’s easier when we only interact at work. There we can concentrate on our missions and our patients. Tonight there isn’t any job to hide behind.”

“Well you look spectacular, so that might distract,” Jennifer said.

Brigid looked in the mirror, for the final time, as she grabbed her jet beaded evening bag. She had chosen her gown carefully, from her surprisingly large collection. From her teens, she had attended all the large Sydney fundraisers, with her parents and then as a professional on her own.

The dress was black and severely cut along the lines of her body. Her neck was exposed and she had roped a heavy gold chain around it. She looked a lot like the eastern suburbs princess she had worked so hard not to become. However, maybe tonight that persona would provide armour of sorts. Heaven knew she needed some protection.

“OK Jennifer, we can go. If we have to face the music, at least it’ll be with champagne.”

Walking into the ballroom, Brigid knew she had made the right decision to bring Jennifer with her. As a well-known Cairns emergency and rescue doctor, tonight she was on display. At least having the beautiful Jennifer standing alongside her created an element of distraction. Brigid kept her face passive as she spotted Matt standing tall at the back of the crowd.

“There’s the crew,” she told Jennifer.

As the primary day shift, the crew and their partners had a table of their own. They arrived at their section to hugs and kisses. As Brigid’s best friend, everyone knew Jennifer. The seats on either side of Matt were empty, as despite the teasing of Dave and Chris, he had stubbornly insisted on attending stag. Brigid knew without looking, that one of the place cards next to him had her name on it. Fate had that kind of humour.

Like everything he wore, formal wear looked good on Matt. Unlike most of the men in the room, his suit had obviously been custom made. His jacket encased his broad shoulders perfectly and laid flush against his chest and stomach, making his dimensions even more impressive.

Brigid managed to get to her seat, without having to exchange even the most salutary of social embraces with Matt. After their deeply erotic relationship, Brigid couldn’t bear to go through the motions of platonic friends.

“Hey guys,” she said, keeping her eyes determinedly from him. “Have you checked out what they’re serving us tonight?”

Jo leant across the table, “The beef medallions don’t look half bad. At least the way they’re described on the menu. And,” she said with glee, “we managed to lay our hands on some of the better champagne, so drink up now.”

Brigid explained to Jennifer, “We’ve learnt the hard way at these things; they start serving the cheap stuff pretty quick.”

Brigid knew that ignoring Matt wouldn’t go unnoticed, so she turned to him and asked blandly, “Did you have a good day off today?”

“Gym, swim and beach. Yeah, it was a pretty good day as days off go,” he said.

Well, at least he was going to the gym, considering she had given it to him, in her own head, after the break-up. She had been using her extra angst to pound the pavement at a run. That was the problem with having things in common with the man you were trying to avoid. You had to give up things you enjoy, along with the relationship.

Matt stayed turned to her and pitched his voice low, forcing her to move a little nearer. “Why did your parents decide not to come?”

Brigid wanted to brush the question away, but something compelled her to tell the truth. “My father had a better offer and it would never occur to my mother to come without him,” Brigid shrugged, “but they sent a generous cheque so the fundraising drive didn’t suffer.”

“Not the same as visiting their only child,” Matt said.

Brigid knew she should pull away from the conversation, but she couldn’t stand the sympathy she could hear in his voice. He had caused her his share of pain, who was he to console her?

“Matt, I’m not a neglected child. In case you didn’t notice, I’m an independent woman and I don’t need a babysitter at social events.”

Matt shot an amused glance at Jennifer, who was sitting on the other side of Brigid, talking animatedly to the rest of the crew.

“Some of us don’t need to play the lone ranger,” Brigid hissed. “She’s my friend and I wanted to catch up with her.”

Great, now she just sounded defensive. Brigid took the only course open to her and angled her body away from Matt. She joined Jennifer and Jo in their conversation.

Dinner was over and Brigid had finished her one-and-a-half glasses of champagne. As designated driver, that was all she allowed herself. She noticed that Matt had similarly paced himself. But then, she had never known him to over indulge.

Jennifer had spotted the promised handsome young pilot and had floated fetchingly to the bar, to stand in his sightline. That left Matt and Brigid alone, in a sea of married couples.

“Matt, you should ask Brigid to dance!” That suggestion, by Wendy had multiple voices chiming in agreement.

Everyone ignored all of Brigid’s protests. Matt was left with no decent option but to offer over his hand. She really did not enjoy anyone thrusting her into Matt’s unwilling arms.

After they were out of earshot of the table, Brigid quipped, “Lucky me. At a charity event I get a charity dance.”

She was surprised, when Matt replied with sincerity. “I’m enough of a coward to be grateful to Wendy. I wanted to dance with you and I’d have asked, if I wasn’t sure that you would have turned me down in front of the whole table.”

They had reached the dance floor and, with a torch song playing, Matt held out his arms for Brigid to step into. They slotted together well, in the way they always had, but Brigid didn’t want to get lost in the painful joy of being so near his body again.

Her mouth was near his jaw, when she said, “If I’d turned you down, I’d have done it politely.”

“No-one could accuse you of rudeness. But a simple ‘no’ would have been more than my damaged ego could bear.”

Brigid laughed, a genuine laugh that began in her stomach. “I forgot about that delicate psyche of yours. An über handsome medic, with too much money, who has spent the last decade saving lives. No wonder you have such confidence issues.”

Matt smiled down at her, “That is the first time you have properly laughed around me in weeks. I’ve missed it.”

When she didn’t reply, he continued, “And I’m glad you still think I’m handsome.”

Brigid laid her head on his shoulder, “Don’t talk like that, it just isn’t fair.”

To be in his arms and flirting again, was torture, but one that she didn’t want to end.

“You seemed like you were over me,” Matt whispered as he pulled her body closer to him.

Brigid hoped no one could see them clearly in the deliberate gloom of the dance floor. They swayed, feet moving to the music, bodies pressed together. Brigid’s high heels put her closer in height to Matt and she was only too aware of his erection grazing her lower belly.

As another song came to a close, Matt put some space between their bodies although his arms remained wrapped around her.

“This is ridiculous,” he said. “Let’s go outside where we can at least talk.”

Keeping one hand on her back, he ushered her out onto the hotel’s balcony. She noticed that he was shielding his body with her own. Obviously, he did not want the world to be aware of his excitement.

The ball was being held at one of Cairns’ premier beachfront hotels, so they had a large sweep of lawn to themselves.

Matt went to a bench and sat down. “I meant what I said about missing you. I missed you too much for my own peace of mind.”

They were the words that Brigid had imagined hearing him say on the nights she had lain sleepless and alone but if again, he was only offering a relationship based on great sex, she would have to decline. No matter how much she wanted him, she couldn’t go back to that. She couldn’t have him and lose him again.

The dark garden, however, proved too much temptation. Without answering him, she leant down and put her lips to his. Within seconds, the heaviness of Matt’s muscular arms surrounded Brigid’s body. She had missed that sensation.

He stood, rather than bringing her down to him and they kissed with a passion too long suppressed. Matt’s hands were slightly rougher than she could remember, but that only added to the excitement. Unfortunately, Brigid’s dress was tightly tailored and not designed for illicit garden encounters.

After several minutes of wandering hands, Matt laughed, “Damned if I can find any skin.”

“I’m afraid with this dress, I am either in it, or out of it,” Brigid replied.