Er Doc's Forever Gift. Sue MacKay

it easy.’ He pressed her back against the ground with that firm hand she was beginning to recognise for its warmth and strength.

      Sienna hadn’t realised she’d moved. ‘Tell me.’

      But he’d turned away to talk into the radio that had crackled into life against his expansive chest. ‘Yo... What’s happening up there?’

      ‘Weather bomb coming in fast. You’re going to have to hang in on your own for a period yet. We’ll be back ASAP.’

      She mightn’t know the voice but she sure knew that warning. ASAP meant ‘in a while, even a long while’. ‘Isn’t there another way out of here?’ There was a road just above them.

      Harry was shaking his head. ‘Afraid not. You picked about the worst spot on this road to fall off. The slope is all but vertical. Hauling you up it is not an option. We’re going to have to wait it out. The thermal blanket will protect you from the wind and keep you warm.’

      The wind had picked up, and now rain slashed at them, driving in sideways. Sienna shivered. Every part of her body hurt, some worse than others. She wanted to cry from it all but instead drew a deep breath and held on—just. Things kept going from bad to worse, and she only had herself to blame. ‘But if there aren’t any broken bones or internal injuries I can give getting to the top a crack. Better than lying here.’

      ‘You banged your head, remember?’ He was removing nasal prongs from a container. ‘Do you remember what happened?’

      ‘I—’ lost focus and rode into the middle of the road then executed an abrupt dodging movement when a car came up behind her ‘—made a mistake.’

       Thinking about my job. About you.

      Really? She’d been thinking about Harry while riding? Yes. She had. Which went to show how easily she could be distracted. ‘Are you giving me oxygen?’ Of course he was.

      ‘Your breathing’s a little rapid. Best we get that settled.’

      ‘Got an electric blanket in that pack?’ Shivers were taking over.

      ‘Sure have.’ He locked that dark gaze on her. ‘Relax. We’ll get you out of here, and in the meantime I’ve got you. Don’t worry about a thing.’

      Had she been that transparent? Worry about her injuries despite his optimistic assessment was building like a volcano about to erupt. This could’ve been a disaster, might’ve been the end of everything, and she was afraid of tempting fate by accepting she hadn’t been seriously injured before the hospital gave her the all-clear. With effort she hunted for something to talk about that might keep those concerns a little quieter. ‘You’re Australian.’

      ‘Well spotted.’

      ‘Where from?’ Hard to concentrate when her mind was trying to shut down, but the longer she stayed awake the more she might learn about this man. Because despite—or was it because of?—being stuck on the side of a hill going nowhere in a hurry, she wanted to learn more about him, to make up for the weeks they’d been neighbours and strangers.

      ‘Melbourne.’ He wasn’t making it easy.

      ‘City or beyond?’

      ‘City. The swanky part of town. Boys’ college, box seats at the MCG, and all the rest of it.’ A lime would be sweeter than that tone.

      ‘Why Auckland now?’

       Answer fast before I fall asleep.

      ‘It’s where the next job came up.’

      That woke her a little. ‘You move around a lot?’

       Like my dad does?

      ‘Depends on what turns up.’

      If she could move she’d shake him, but then she’d already known how irritating he could be. Worse, he was sounding more like her father with everything he said. ‘You ever just talk for the sake of it?’

       To keep your patient distracted from her situation?

      ‘I have been known to.’

      She gave up. That darkness was pressing in, relieving her of any control. Don’t think about that. Sienna groaned and slurred out a question that was totally irrelevant to anything. ‘What time is it?’

      * * *

      ‘Five thirty.’

      Harry continued tucking the thermal blanket around Sienna, all the while keeping an eye on her. It wasn’t hard. Even injured and stranded out in the middle of a storm she was beautiful, and stirred his blood relentlessly. Once they got out of this mess he was going to have to do something about Dr Frosty, who wasn’t as frosty as he’d first presumed.

      She used it to cover real emotions. Emotions he’d noticed flitting across those stunning blue eyes during the time they’d been together on the hill. He’d seen how her decline into sleep had briefly halted when he’d answered her question about moving around a lot in the affirmative. Had someone important kept moving away from her when she needed them? A partner; husband; lover? He could keep guessing or get on with being the emergency doctor he revelled in being. ‘Have you got an underlying condition I should know about?’ he asked without any hope of getting an answer. The shock had caught up and she was that far gone now.

      But, ‘N-no-o.’ Sleep slurred her speech.

      He could relax on that one. ‘Good. You’re safe at the moment. Our pilot’s one of the best and he’ll return the first instant he can. We’ll get you out of here in one piece, Sienna.’ But only when it was safe to do so. Another helicopter crash was not on the cards.

      ‘Safe?’

      He nodded. As if she saw that. ‘Very safe.’

      Her eyes opened, surprise momentarily replacing the other emotions swimming there. ‘Am I really—?’ She swallowed, tried again in that slurred whisper. ‘In one piece? You weren’t feeding me the happy-clappy line to keep me calm until we’re away from here?’

      ‘I wouldn’t insult you. Nor would I feed you expectations that could be stomped on once you’re in hospital. You have mostly bruises,’ he repeated his earlier diagnosis to shore up her failing confidence. ‘Lots of them. I still don’t think there’s anything to worry about regarding your shoulder except severe bruising. Possibly some rib damage, but I’d say you’ve come off lightly.’ When her eyes widened with hope, he rushed in. ‘Not lightly enough that I’m about to haul you up the bank with a rope around your waist. We’re still at the bottom of a precipice with a summer storm rampaging around our ears.’ Was that hail? It wouldn’t surprise him, given the ferocity of the wind and rain pounding them. Thunder backed him up; no lightning flashes but then the clouds delivering the icy pellets were hiding that. Auckland was known for its short, sharp seasonal storms. In this case, not what the doctor ordered, but then when did anything ever go completely right on a job? It was the nature of the urgent scenarios to throw spanners in the works. Big ones mostly. And often through weather.

      Digging into the pack, his fingers closed around a concertinaed umbrella which he pulled out and opened to hold above his patient, shielding her from the worst, angling it so a gust of wind didn’t turn it inside out. It would be best if Sienna slipped into unconsciousness again so she didn’t feel discomfort and had no idea of the time ticking by as they waited for the chopper to return. He could only hope it was today. The weather reports had forecast more storms over the next twelve hours at least.

      Beside him Sienna moved. Trying to roll over? Harry placed his free hand on her good shoulder. ‘Easy. Don’t move.’ Their ledge wasn’t as wide as he’d like. Sienna had been extremely lucky that that tree had halted her tumble.

      ‘Mmm...umm...’

      So she was out of it, unaware of where she was, and more importantly getting a break from the pain. Good. He tied the umbrella to the base