Single Dad's Triple Trouble. Fiona Lowe

without the back-up of a state-of-the-art hospital.’ She knew she sounded brusque but she didn’t want to think of old times spent at work, and no way was she thinking about old times spent together away from work. That had jeopardy written all over it.

      Like a well-oiled machine they fell into the emergency, each of them anticipating the other, seamlessly working toward the same wished-for outcome.

      ‘Still no pulse. We need the ambulance and the lifepack.’

      ‘We need more light—and where’s my medical kit?’ Gabe’s muscular arms pushed against Will’s chest, compressing blood through the heart and urging it to start pumping again.

      ‘Emergency lights are on their way but we’ve got five torches.’ The barman slid Gabe’s medical kit onto the stage and organised Dev and three other men to hold torches above them.

      ‘On my count, El, you start compressing and I’ll attach him to the AED.’

      Surprise competed with relief. ‘You travel with an automated external defibrillator?’

      He shrugged. ‘Once an emergency specialist, always one.’

      With expert fingers, he connected Will to the tiny but rugged lifesaving device. ‘All clear.’

      Elly kneeled back, making sure no part of her was touching Will. ‘Clear.’

      Gabe discharged the AED but the heart rate traced across the screen like a squiggly line. His normally wide and smiling mouth flattened grimly. ‘He’s in ventricular fibrillation.’

      Elly resumed compressions and Gabe prepared to shock again.

      ‘All clear.’

      Will bucked as the electricity shot through his body but the longed-for change didn’t occur.

      ‘Adrenaline.’ Elly kept up the cardiopulmonary resuscitation, shutting out how good it felt to be working with Gabe again.

      ‘On it.’ He quickly tore open a large bore butterfly cannula pack, and with the skill born of years of practice he slid it into the large vein on the inner aspect of Will’s arm. He immediately followed with the adrenaline. ‘Come on, Will.’

      ‘Let it work this time.’ Elly bit her lip as she kneeled back.

      ‘God knows what’s burned inside him.’

      The quiet words mirrored her thoughts. They might get Will’s heart beating properly but the hidden damage might be just as life-threatening.

      ‘All clear.’ Gabe’s fingers pressed the button.

      Time rolled out at one-eighth speed as both of them stared at the visual display, willing it to show a normal heartbeat.

      ‘Yes! Sinus rhythm.’ Elly grinned at Gabe, high on the buzz of teamwork and a good save.

      He met her gaze, his eyes sparkling with his own high, and her heart took a shock. Heat scudded through her and like oxygen to a flame it sparked and fanned the deeply buried ashes of her longing. Shimmers of delicious need tingled along her veins, diving deep until the embers flared into a hot and raging fire. Her hands trembled on the air-viva. Look away now! She dropped her gaze and concentrated on puffing air into Will’s lungs.

      ‘I need ice in towels for his burns,’ Gabe yelled to the torch bearers, the sound slightly strangled.

      They continued to work in silence until the paramedics arrived and Elly gave a handover. ‘We’re taking him to the hospital’s helipad because he needs to be airlifted to Hobart, but I’ll ride with the ambulance.’

      Gabe stood up. ‘I’ll call the Royal and meet you at the hospital.’

      Dev stepped up. ‘Eleanor, ring me from the hospital when you’re ready to go home.’

      She swung round. God, she’d forgotten all about Dev and the fact he’d driven her to the yacht club. ‘I could be hours, Dev.’

      Gabe’s shoulders rolled back and he clapped Dev on the shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, mate, I’ll make sure she gets home safely.’

      For the first time Dev’s eyes narrowed. ‘And exactly who are you?’

      Gabe extended his hand. ‘Gabe Lewis, doctor, and good friend of Elly’s.’

      Friends? Snapshot images of their time together formed a montage in her mind—lovers, colleagues and combatants were words that came instantly to mind, but friends? Perhaps once, but not now. Not when he’d broken her heart so badly.

      ‘Ready when you are, Doc.’

      The senior paramedic brought her back to the moment and she nodded, checking Will’s vital signs. ‘Let’s go.’ With the air-viva in her hand she walked out, steeling herself not to look back.

      CHAPTER TWO

      ‘SO, WHAT’S a girl like you doing in a tiny joint like this?’

      The moment the roar of the helicopter blades had receded to a distant buzz, Gabe asked the question that had been constantly playing in his head from the second he’d spotted Elly at the yacht club. He hadn’t expected to meet anyone he knew from Melbourne, or from anywhere else for that matter, let alone Elly. He’d seen her across the room five minutes before she’d danced into his arms, giving him a few precious minutes to dig deep and attempt to cover his stunned and shocked surprise.

      God, she looked amazing. Different, but still amazing. When his arms had wrapped around her soft, lush curves and when he’d breathed in her tantalising scent of tropical fruit and the tang of the ocean, he’d experienced the completely unexpected sensation of not wanting to let her go. But he knew that was just the trickery of memory and the body’s craving for familiar things. They’d split two years ago, with Elly accusing him of letting her leave and him furious that she wouldn’t stay. Now so much had changed in his life that craving for the past was pointless.

      Craving for any woman was pointless because after what he’d been through with Jenna he was keeping his very complicated life as simple as possible. Work and the children consumed every waking hour and a good part of the night, and he had no energy left for anything else.

      Her dainty sandals clacked against the gravel as they walked toward the hospital. ‘I live here, Gabe. You might recall that moving out of the inner city was something I talked about.’ Emerald-green eyes hit him with a bone-weary look. ‘It wasn’t something that you wanted so it makes more sense for me to be the one asking what a guy like you is doing in a tiny town like Midden Cove. I thought your plan included trekking in Nepal and base jumping in Norway.’

      He recognised the hurt in her eyes, hurt he’d help put there and she’d cemented in. ‘I did the base jump but I haven’t got to Nepal.’

      Her chestnut brows rose. ‘You’ve had two years, Gabe. What have you been doing? It’s not like you to let the grass grow under your feet.’

      Jenna’s blank face swam before his eyes and he had to work hard not to flinch. Just keep it light.

      ‘Oh, you know me, I go with the flow and it hasn’t taken me to Nepal yet, but one day it will.’ Knowing that in the past Elly had often lost her train of thought when he’d smiled at her, he gave her a full-wattage beam in a desperate attempt to derail her.

      She didn’t even blink. ‘But the flow has brought you here?’

      Hell, this was going to be harder than he’d thought. He refused to talk about the real reason he was in Midden Cove, not yet anyway, but he knew he had to give her something so the questions would stop. ‘There’s great sea kayaking around the peninsula.’

      ‘Isn’t that a bit tame compared with base jumping?’ Her usually open and friendly demeanour had a distinct chill.

      He opened the door to A and E and forced himself to lean back as she passed through before him. ‘Not when there’s a sou-wester