Paramedic Partners Page 5

  ‘That is one side of the strategy. The other is that, instead of ambulances being called out from base, crews will be stationed at black spots—in other words, the areas where the most calls come from.’

  ‘These so called black spots will be chosen with facilities for washing and eating being available for our personnel while they are waiting to be called out, and if we find that one area is busier than another we’ll reschedule our resources accordingly.’

  He paused, then asked briefly, ‘Any questions?’

  ‘Yes. I have one,’ Kane said. ‘Where will those manning the fast-response vehicles be recruited from? Amongst ourselves? Or will they be new staff?’

  ‘Some of both,’ Mark said. ‘The positions will be more stressful, carrying more responsibility, and those involved will work shorter hours because of those factors. Why?’ he went on. ‘Are you interested in applying yourself?’

  Selina was surprised to find that she was holding her breath. They’d only just teamed up. If Kane went on one of the fast-response vehicles she would see little of him. Even more surprising was the thought that she didn’t want that to happen.

  ‘No. Not at the moment,’ the man on her mind said levelly, ‘but I think it only fair that we should all be clear as to what options we have.’

  The station officer nodded.

  ‘I agree. Anyone who has any queries about the new structure can refer to the notice that will be going up on the board shortly. Alternatively, they can come to see me.

  ‘In closing I want to say that our city is aiming to make what is already an efficient service even better, and having extra staff and vehicles will certainly help to accomplish that.’

  As they took their first call of the day a little later Selina said, ‘I would have thought working on your own would have appealed to you.’

  They were speeding to the scene of a motorcycle accident and he didn’t take his eyes off the road as he said, ‘Who says it doesn’t?’

  ‘So?’ she persisted. ‘Why did you tell Mark that you weren’t going to apply? It would solve the problem of having to work with me…a woman.’

  ‘Have I complained?’

  ‘Er…no. But I get the feeling that you’re not over the moon at the arrangement.’

  ‘The only time I would express my doubts about the setup would be if I found that you weren’t competent, and from what I’ve seen that isn’t likely to happen. Or maybe if you started coming on to me.’

  ‘Coming on to you?’ she gasped. ‘If that means what I think it does, you have some nerve! You’re just like the rest of the male population…under the impression that having lost one husband, I’m on the lookout for another…or the equivalent. I’ve already had two offers to ‘‘fulfil my needs’’ from guys I’ve met in the course of the job…and they were married! And as to those who aren’t, I would expect them to run a mile from a widow with a child.’

  Her voice broke on a sob and he flinched.

  ‘It’s not like that,’ she choked. ‘I just want to be left alone.’

  Kane bit into his bottom lip with even white teeth. If he’d wanted to break through Selina’s reserve, what better way could he have found? But what a fool he’d been to make such a comment!

  He’d made it sound as if he thought he was God’s gift to women when, if the truth be known, he’d felt anything but desirable with the stigma of recent events upon him.

  The nightmare of working with Eve Richards had been in his mind when he’d said what he had, but Selina knew nothing about that. She didn’t know what it was like to have to watch every word or gesture in case it could be used as part of a disturbed mind’s fabrications.

  Maybe it was just as well that for different reasons they both had no desire to get involved, but now, somehow or other, he had to make amends for his insensitivity.

  He reached out and took her clenched fist in his big, capable hand.

  ‘I’m sorry, Selina. I spoke without thinking about your situation. It’s just that in the past I’ve been propositioned a few times and, well, I don’t like it. So, please, dry your eyes and tell me that I’m forgiven for being an insensitive clod.’

  She threw him a watery smile.

  ‘You’re forgiven. I’m afraid that I’m very touchy these days. And, Kane?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’m not surprised that you’ve had to fight them off.’

  ‘Really? Well, the same applies to you. It’s no wonder that you’re seen as an attractive and available commodity in the world of relationships. And as to those who are already married, they’re just lusting cheats.’

  She was laughing now.

  ‘We are something else, you and I. One moment we’re at each other’s throats and the next we’re a mutual admiration society.’

  Yes, indeed, he thought wryly, but there wouldn’t be much admiration going around if she knew all there was to know about him.

  A young motorcyclist was lying beside his overturned bike when they reached the scene.

  ‘Seems that he swerved to avoid a child that had run into the road and hit the lamppost,’ a police sergeant told them as the WPC who was attending the injured man moved to let them get near.

  He was moaning faintly, his face white beneath his crash helmet, which was miraculously still in position. The policewoman had opened the front of his leathers and a huge blood stain was spreading across his shirt.

  As Selina started to cut the garment away, the man made a choking sound and Kane said swiftly, ‘Sounds as if his tongue’s gone back.’ Without further comment he pulled the man’s slack jaws apart and, sure enough, the throat was blocked with the tongue which had flipped backwards with the force of the impact.

  Part of the standard equipment carried by the ambulance was a laryngoscope. With it he lifted the biker’s tongue and brought it forward. Immediately the man’s breathing improved. Then Kane turned his attention to the gaping stomach wound that Selina had uncovered.

  ‘There’s a lot of blood loss here,’ he said crisply. ‘We need to move him fast. We’ll use the scoop stretcher for this one as I suspect there are fractures as well and I don’t fancy sliding him onto a backboard with that sort of stomach damage.

  ‘You drive,’ he continued, ‘while I try to stem the blood. And radio ahead to say that we’re bringing in a red alert with a serious stomach injury.’

  When Selina had passed the message on via the computer Kane nodded grimly and said, ‘At best this guy is going to need an infusion of saline solution to counteract the blood loss, and at the worst a transfusion…amongst other things.’

  The accident victim was lapsing in and out of consciousness and as they raced to the nearest hospital Selina was praying that they would get there in time.

  * * *

  The biker had been admitted and they were on their way back to base. An emergency team had been waiting to receive him and the treatment Kane had envisaged was being carried out, along with a CT scan to identify the extent of the stomach injury.

  ‘He’ll live, Selina,’ Kane said as he observed her anxious expression. ‘He’s got youth and fitness on his side…and the best A and E team for miles around attending to him.’

  ‘Yes, I know,’ she said sombrely, ‘but these are the times when I want to follow it through. The trouble with our job is that we’re only in at the beginning. We rarely find out what happens to the patient in the end.’

  ‘True,’ he agreed, ‘but we are there at the most important time for a lot of people. Console yourself with that thought.’

  But still in pensive mood, she asked, ‘How long did it take us to get to him?’

  ‘Ten minutes? Twelve at the most.’

  ‘We’re supposed to be there in eight.’

  ‘We have to allow for heavy traffic. The roads were very busy.’

  She nodded her head and the neat, golden ponytail moved with it.

  ‘Yes, I know, but he could have died before we got there.’

  ‘He could,’ Kan
e agreed, ‘but he didn’t, did he? With the new system we should improve on our response times.’

  ‘But supposing they have us positioned in the wrong place? It could take even longer,’ she persisted doubtfully.

  ‘No. I don’t think so,’ he said decisively. ‘There’ll be more of us, don’t forget, and they can radio through to move us around if they’ve miscalculated where the accident black spots are.’

  There was another thing about the new system that Selina wasn’t sure about, but she wasn’t going to bring that into the open.

  When they were waiting to be called out at the ambulance station there were lots of other people around—paramedics, trainees, mechanics, snack-bar attendants and suchlike, along with the station officer, who left his office occasionally to check on what was happening.

  With the new arrangements it would be different. She and Kane would be more isolated, just the two of them waiting for the call. What would they do during the quiet periods? What would they talk about? Would her awareness of him increase to such a degree that she couldn’t get him out of her mind?

  It wasn’t far off that state of affairs already. Which just went to show that she could still feel the kind of chemistry that ignited between the sexes.

  As they drove past a mediocre apartment block in the city centre Kane said with a grim humour, ‘That’s where my palatial apartment is. I’d invite you in for coffee but the cups have all got cracks in them.’

  ‘It sounds as if you really do need to move to somewhere better,’ she said. ‘Have you anywhere in mind?’

  ‘Mmm,’ he murmured. ‘But there are problems.’

  He received a quick slanting glance from violet eyes.

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘The location, for one thing.’

  She knew then that she didn’t want to know. If he told her that he wanted to move into the village, she would have concerns about them being too near…too disturbingly near.

  Yet she didn’t own the place and why should she begrudge this man, who seemed so much of a lone entity, the chance of enjoying the same country paradise as herself?

  So she said nothing and Kane didn’t pursue the subject. He just sat looking straight ahead until the big metal doors of the ambulance station lifted for them to enter.

  * * *

  Two weeks later the new system was functioning. There were two extra ambulances in the depot and staff numbers had increased accordingly to include an attractive, russet-haired paramedic by the name of Denise Hapgood.

  In a short space of time she made it known that she was unattached and open to offers, and Selina noticed that when such comments were made the newcomer’s glance was always on Kane.

  But he might have been deaf for all the notice he took, and Selina had to admit to herself that she was relieved. Maybe he really was loth to be involved with women on the job. Yet he seemed to have accepted her as his partner and it did occur to her on several occasions that he perhaps saw her as a safe option, with widowhood newly upon her and a young son to care for.

  Obviously something in the past had upset him with regard to the opposite sex and she would like to know what it was. He’d said that he’d been propositioned a few times. Whatever that meant. And she’d almost given the game away by telling him that she wasn’t surprised.

  She was attracted to Kane in spite of herself, and it wasn’t just because of his looks. The dark short pelt of his hair and his chiselled features were memorable enough, but it was his eyes that had the biggest effect on her. They were deep hazel with golden flecks in them, sometimes guarded and inscrutable, at others warm and melting—but not very often.

  It was irritating that she knew nothing about him. Whether he had family or friends. What he liked and disliked. Whether he was ambitious, eager to move up the healthcare ladder.

  He was the type who would have made a good doctor, unflappable, clever, dedicated, but for some reason he’d chosen the ambulance service. One day she would ask him why.

  * * *

  She’d been right about the times when there were just the two of them waiting for the call to come. Sometimes they were half an hour sitting side by side as they waited for a message to flash up on the computer screen.

  When it became too difficult to behave casually in his presence Selina made the excuse that she needed to freshen up or was gasping for a cup of tea. Anything to break out of the magical cocoon that wrapped itself around her every time she was with Kane.

  If he was aware of her feelings, he didn’t show it. He was cool and calm, and talked about everyday things mostly. He always asked after Josh. On one occasion when she happened to mention that the long school holidays would soon be upon them and, much as Jill and the girls loved having him, she felt it was a bit much, he surprised her by saying, ‘So why don’t we take the three little ones out on our days off? That would give your sister-in-law a break.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ she said hesitantly.

  Was Kane really happy to be with three young children and a woman who was still hurting from what the fates had doled out to her and her husband?

  It would seem that he was.

  ‘Yes. I’m sure,’ he said firmly. ‘I wouldn’t have suggested it if I wasn’t.’

  ‘That would be lovely, then,’ she told him softly, and for the rest of the day there was a warm feeling around her heart.

  * * *

  On a warm afternoon in late July Selina felt her eyelids drooping as they sat in the cab of the ambulance. She’d been awake most of the night with Josh, who had a feverish cold, and now lack of sleep was taking its toll.

  She’d been in a mad rush for the seven o’clock start as neither she nor Josh had wanted to get up when the time had come. Thankfully, as he’d climbed into her bed for a quick cuddle she’d discovered that his temperature had gone down and with the amazing resilience of childhood he’d almost been back to his normal self.

  The last-minute and the subsequent weariness after a broken night had given a bad start to the day and she’d had little to say for herself.

  Kane had eyed her questioningly a few times, but as no explanation of her lacklustre manner had been forthcoming he’d remained silent.

  But now, as he watched her fighting off sleep, he thought he had the answer to her unaccustomed low spirits. She was tired. Was she sleeping badly? he wondered. Or sickening for something?

  Being a single parent couldn’t be easy. She looked young and defenceless as she slid over the edge into sleep and he reached across and took her hand in his. His touch brought a sleepy response and on the breath of a sigh she murmured her husband’s name.

  Kane flinched. Supposing she woke up suddenly and found they were holding hands? Especially after she’d been dreaming about Dave.

  And supposing the station officer came along, as he sometimes did, to check them out. He wouldn’t be pleased to find a member of his staff asleep on duty.

  He knew that Selina trusted him to wake her up should they be needed. She wouldn’t have gone to sleep otherwise, but someone else wouldn’t see it like that.

  ‘Selina,’ he said softly. ‘Wake up.’

  ‘Mmm,’ she murmured. Raising the hand that was holding hers, she pressed it gently against her cheek.

  Kane groaned inwardly. She was in for a disappointment when she became really awake and found that it wasn’t Dave sitting beside her.

  Kane didn’t know it, but he was assuming too much. Selina often said her husband’s name as a reminder. She sometimes felt that the memory of him was slipping away and today had been one of those occasions. It hadn’t meant that she’d been dreaming about him and she wasn’t really asleep.

  It would never do to let that happen on the job. They had to be alert and ready for those who needed them. But she hadn’t been able to resist closing her eyes and slipping away for a few seconds.

  When Kane had taken her hand in his she’d felt her pulses leap and had become wide awake at the same time. But unable to resist seeing wh
at he might do next, she’d feigned sleep.

  However, the hand that she was holding against her cheek was being slowly withdrawn and she didn’t want that to happen. There was something about his touch that was different from anything she’d ever experienced before, and she wanted more.

  Her eyes flew open and met his and she saw consternation in them. He was pursing his lips in dismay and she knew why when he said, ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude into your thoughts about your husband. You looked tired and forlorn and I just wanted you to know that I was there.’

  Selina looked down at the floor of the ambulance. She didn’t know what to say. If she told him she hadn’t been thinking about Dave it would make his solicitous explanation seem unwanted. And if she were to tell him that he was the one who’d been on her mind, that she was so aware of him she couldn’t think straight, what would he do then?

  She didn’t know…and she wasn’t going to risk finding out. If he repulsed her, she would want to die. So she said quietly and truthfully, ‘Thanks for that, Kane. I try to keep his memory alive as best I can.’

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THAT evening Selina had a succession of callers.

  Charlie Vaughan arrived first, and when she opened the door she felt a rush of pleasure. As they chatted amicably while Josh played in the garden, it was clear to see that the elderly paramedic was enjoying his retirement. Fishing and bowling on the green in the park seemed to take up a lot of his time, but he still wanted to know all about what was going on at the ambulance depot.

  ‘How’s the new system working out?’ was his first question.

  ‘All right, I think,’ Selina told him.

  ‘It will throw the crews together a lot more,’ he said. ‘How do you feel about that?’

  ‘Fine,’ she said easily. ‘Why do you ask?’

  ‘No reason. I just wondered how you were getting on with this new fellow.’

  ‘Kane? No problem.’