Christmas Kisses Collection. Louise Allen

with a flat roof. Instead of stopping in front of it, he drove under the awning with the word Emergencia on the sign.

      As the car came to a stop, Chance opened the door. He lifted Ellen into his arms and headed for the glass doors. As he came to a desk he said, “I’m Dr. Freeman. This woman needs medical attention now.”

      A nurse in a white dress came toward him with concern on her face. “This way.”

      Chance followed her down a hallway to an exam room that looked like something out of the nineteen-fifties, but it appeared clean and adequate. Beggars couldn’t be choosers and he was glad to have anything that would offer Ellen a chance to live.

      He placed Ellen on the examination table. “I need a suture kit. An IV set up. Any penicillin-based medicine you have. Stat.” He started unlacing Ellen’s boot.

      The nurse stood there stunned.

      A man in a white lab coat came into the room. “Who are you and what are you doing in my ER?”

      “Dr. Freeman, of the Traveling Clinic. My friend needs medical attention. She has been bitten by a spider. Her fever is high. Blood pressure up and her heart rate irregular. She is dehydrated, hasn’t eaten in three days and sunburned.”

      The doctor said something to the nurse but Chance paid no attention to their conversation.

      Chance was done explaining himself. He had Ellen to see about and no one was going to prevent him from doing so. After removing her boot and sock, he asked the nurse for scissors and she handed them to him. Without hesitating, Chance started cutting away Ellen’s pants leg. His lips tightened when he saw her wound. There was no way she wasn’t in extreme pain.

      “Help me roll her to her stomach.” He didn’t speak to anyone in particular but the doctor came forward to assist him. Together they settled Ellen so that Chance could see the wound clearly.

      What he needed to clean the wound showed up on the table beside Ellen. It wasn’t the sterilized plastic covered prepackaged set-up he normally used but he was glad to see the instruments. Over the next hour he opened and cleaned the wound. While he was busy the nurse took care of starting an IV. As he worked, he checked to make sure it was done to his satisfaction.

      Chance began preparing to bandage the wound when the Honduran doctor said, “The nurse will take care of that. It’s time you tell me what’s been going on and for you to be examined.”

      The idea of arguing with the doctor crossed Chance’s mind but by the determined look on the man’s face it wouldn’t make a difference. “Agreed. But I need to make a phone call first.”

      Ellen’s eyes flickered open. For once her leg wasn’t screaming with pain, taking her to the point of tears. The last thing she remembered was Chance carrying her piggyback.

      She looked around the room. It was a simple one with white walls and very few furnishings. A hospital room? It reminded her of the black and white pictures on the history wall of the hospital where she’d done her fellowship. Her gaze came to rest on a sleeping Chance leaning back in a chair far too small for him. Clean-shaven and dressed in clothes that were probably borrowed, he looked wonderful.

      When he woke would he gather her in his arms? She wanted that. Desperately.

      They were out of the jungle. Safe. He hadn’t been hurt. She was alive. They had shared something special. Did he feel the same way? By all his actions he must. He had cared for her tenderly. She remembered him brushing her hair back. Speaking to her encouragingly. Begging her to hang in there until he found help.

      But wouldn’t he have done that for anyone? Chance was a dedicated doctor.

      He’d said no promises. Had never spoken of tomorrow other than when they were going to get out of the jungle.

      Chance stirred. He blinked.

      “Hey.” Her voice was little more than a whisper.

      He sat forward. Urgency filled his voice as he asked, “How’re you feeling?”

      No sweetheart. She wanted to hear him say sweetheart. “Better. Thanks for saving my life.”

      He shrugged. “I’m just sorry you had to go through that.”

      Fear built, swirling around her. Why didn’t he touch her? Kiss her? Had something changed? She fiddled with the hem of the bedsheet. “I think we both went through it.”

      “You got the worse end of things.” He stood.

      Why didn’t he come closer? Chance walked across the small space. He looked at her.

      “It couldn’t have been great fun carrying me around on your back.” She paused. “Tell me what happened after I passed out.”

      He relayed what she was sure were the highlights and little of the drama that had gone into getting her to safety. “Where are we?”

      “San Pedro Sula for now.” He turned and paced the other direction.

      They were interrupted by a nurse entering. She spoke to Chance. “We are ready.”

      “Ready for what?” Ellen asked.

      Now he looked at her. “I called your father. He has sent a plane for you.”

      Ellen sat up in bed. “You what? You had no right to make that kind of decision for me.” Her head swam and she leaned back.

      “You need attention that can’t be given here. It’s my responsibly to see about you. You should be in a hospital in the US and checked out completely. Your body has been through a major ordeal. You need to be seen by a cardiologist.”

      “I don’t need you to see about me. I’m a grown woman who can make her own decisions.”

      “Yeah, and see where that got you.” He moved across the room again.

      “It could have been you instead of me who was bitten.”

      He gave her a pointed look. “But it wasn’t.”

      “What about you? Are you coming? You went through the same ordeal.”

      “The doctor here checked me out.”

      “But I’m feeling better.” She was weak but she wouldn’t admit how much.

      “You’ve been out of your head for most of two days. You need to go home and get healthy.”

      “When will I see you again?” Ellen reached out a hand. She saw the hesitation in his face before he walked over and took it. His hand was large, warm and safe. She never wanted to let it go.

      “I don’t know for sure.”

      “You’re running now. Just like you did when you came down here.”

      “What’re you talking about? I’m not running anywhere.”

      “You’re running away from me. You can’t hide here forever, you know. One day you’re going to have to face the fact that you have to take a gamble on someone again. We aren’t all like your mother and your ex-wife. Some of us can be loyal.”

      He pulled his hand away. “This is not the time or the place to be having this conversation. You don’t need to get upset.”

      Ellen wanted to snatch his hand back but he’d crammed both in his pockets. She didn’t care about anything but him. This was her heart on the line. “Okay, if we don’t talk about it now, then when?”

      He looked toward the wall instead of at her. “I don’t know.”

      “See, there it is. You’re shutting me out.”

      Chance’s look met hers. He growled, “I’m not! I’m thinking about your safety. You could have been killed out there.”

      “I’m