The Doctor's Guardian. Marie Ferrarella

toes. At her tallest, she measured five foot six, the ceiling was at least a good foot and a half above her, if not more.

      Nika continued looking up at the trapdoor. That had to be what it was. What other use could it have? If she jumped up, she thought, rising to her feet, she just might be able to push it open—provided the door wasn’t bolted down.

      Of course it was bolted down, she silently argued, mocking herself. Why wouldn’t it be?

      But then, she’d just seen a memo that said the elevators were scheduled to be renovated in another month. The rest of the hospital had already gone through a makeover, but the elevators had been left out of the last two updates. Consequently, they were all incredibly old-fashioned. Maybe the bolts or screws or whatever it was that held that section of the ceiling in place were weak, ready to break.

      At the very least, even if she couldn’t get out, if she jarred the trapdoor open she’d be able to get some air into the stifling elevator car.

      The promise of that was all the motivation she needed.

      Bracing herself, Nika jumped up, her hand outstretched above her head. Missing contact, she jumped again. And then a third time, managing to stretch her fingers up a little farther each time.

      On her fourth jump, she screamed. Half in triumph and half in stunned amazement.

      The section she was trying to move moved all right. All the way off.

      The next second, there was a man hanging upside down in the immobilized elevator car. His dark brown hair flowed away from a chiseled, hard-looking face. It was the kind of expression that inspired instant obedience. Oddly enough, she wasn’t afraid.

      “Give me your hand,” he ordered gruffly.

      The words, Come with me if you want to live, echoed mockingly in her brain.

      This was no time to recall movie trivia, Nika upbraided herself. And yet, there it was.

      Because this definitely felt like a scene out of some old action movie.

      Chapter 2

      Nika snapped out of her semi-dazed state a moment later. “What?” she cried.

      She was fairly certain that an elevator repairman would have been trying to do something with the cable’s mechanisms in a far more stable, accessible place, rather than lowering himself into the stalled elevator car like a frustrated trapeze artist trying to make a dramatic comeback.

      Blood rushed to Cole’s head. This was not exactly an ideal position to be in and definitely not something he would have chosen to do if there was any other way to go. But according to the nurse he’d talked to on his grandmother’s floor, the company that handled maintaining the elevators wouldn’t have a repairman out for at least another hour. That was completely unacceptable to him. He needed to speed things along and this was the only way open to him: rescuing the trapped doctor.

      Stretching his hand out toward the stunned blonde looking up at him, his legs securely wrapped around the cable, which was most likely permanently staining his gray slacks with grease, Cole could only reach down so far. She would have to make up the difference. “I said, give me your hand.”

      He had to be kidding, right? “Who are you?”

      “The tooth fairy,” Cole growled.

      He was in no mood for twenty questions. He wasn’t sure just how much longer he could hang down like this. Each second that passed by made it that much harder. The hastily conceived plan was to pull her up out of the elevator car and get her to stand on top of it. From there, he was fairly sure he could get her out to the fourth floor. Fortunately, the elevator had gotten stuck closer to the fourth floor, rather than right in between the two floors. Every little inch helped.

      “Now give me your damn hand,” he demanded. “Unless you want to stay inside this box until that mythical repairman turns up.”

      He had a very persuasive argument. There was no way she wanted to stay here a moment longer.

      “No!” Nika cried.

      She stretched first both hands up, and then leaned into stretching just one. That got her a tiny bit closer, but she still couldn’t reach him. Standing on her toes didn’t help. It was a matter of “almost, but not quite.”

      Frustration raked over her, making her thin blouse stick to her skin as perspiration slipped over her. Dropping her hands to her sides, she looked up at him. “How…?”

      He anticipated her question. Extending his hands down as far as he could, he ordered, “Jump up! I’ll grab your arms.”

      Another question occurred to her but Nika bit it back. There was no point in showering him with queries. Anxious to leave her confinement, she would have been willing to jump up and grab hold of the devil himself if he’d just get her out of here. Even with him hanging upside down, she could tell that this handsome, although unsmiling and gruff, man wasn’t the devil.

      At least, not exactly.

      Whatever else this man might be as he went about his life, right now, at this moment, this Flying Wallenda wannabe was the answer to her prayers.

      Nika squared her shoulders. “Ready?” she asked him, bracing herself.

      There was more than a shade of impatience in his stony face. Nika could recognize it even upside down. “Lady—”

      “You’re ready,” she pronounced. Blowing out a breath, she gave it her all and sprang up as high as she could, her hands reaching up for the sky.

      It amazed her that he caught both of her hands on the first attempt. It also amazed her that her shoulders weren’t pulled out of their sockets. The jolt had her biting down on her lower lip to keep from yelling out in pain.

      Holding on to her hands tightly, the knight in tarnished armor raised her up. She could see his forearms straining. They were bulging and looked rock hard as he pulled her to him. He was still hanging upside down, but he raised her up to him until they were all but face-to-face.

      He was breathing heavily.

      As for her breath, it had gotten completely stuck in her lungs as she found her lips less than an inch away from his mouth.

      Was that a heart palpitation? Or just adrenaline rushing through her? For simplicity’s sake, she decided to go with the latter.

      “You’re not moving,” she managed to point out. If it wasn’t for the way his forearms were straining, it would seem as if they were frozen in midair.

      “I’m not a contortionist,” he retorted. She could feel his forearms working, could feel a tremor begin to rumble through the taut, hard muscles. “Climb up!” he urged her.

      “Climb up what?” she cried in complete confusion.

      Was she an airhead? Had he just gone through contortions to rescue someone who was just as likely to harm his grandmother as help her?

      “Me,” he snapped, “damn it. Climb up me.”

      She hadn’t the slightest idea how to do that from this position. “You’re kidding.”

      “If I were given to kidding,” he told her tersely, “which I’m not, this wouldn’t be the time for me to do it. Now, get moving,” he ordered sharply, “or we’re both going to fall into the elevator and one of us is going to land headfirst.”

      That would be him. Not exactly the best way for this to end. Oh God. She could feel herself weakening.

      Not now, Nika. Not now.

      “Right.”

      Taking a breath, she released his hand and immediately grabbed hold of his torso, holding on tight.

      One hand free, Cole reinforced his hold on her other hand, using both of his.

      “Keep going!” he shouted at her.

      She