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A few terrifying minutes later and helping hands were reaching out, pulling them into the safety of the helicopter. For a moment, Georgie lay in a heap, just getting her breath. It wasn’t as bad in the helicopter as she had feared. She couldn’t see outside and she could almost make herself believe that they were on the ground.
‘You okay?’ Logan Harris was searching her face. ‘You looked in real trouble there for a moment.’
Well, that was one way of putting it. If Logan Harris and the crew of the helicopter hadn’t risked their lives to get her off the mountain, God only knew what would have happened. She hugged her legs to her chest as a wave of nausea washed over her. Now she was off the mountain, she couldn’t stop shaking.
‘By the way, this is Toby.’ Logan indicated the man who had helped them on board. Toby flicked his finger at his helmet in a brief salute. ‘We dropped Jack off at the bottom. The ambulance is going to take him to Fort William General. He’ll be there by now.’
‘What about Jack’s mother?’ She managed to force the words past numb lips.
Logan’s radio buzzed and he listened intently. Then he and Toby moved to the open door and scanned the ground.
‘What is it?’ Georgie asked.
‘A call just came in. The hospital’s managed to get some more information from the boy. Apparently his mother’s definitely still out here. No one has reported a woman looking for the boy.’
‘She must be hurt. Probably unconscious. There is no way she wouldn’t have noticed what was happening with her son otherwise. She would have phoned for help at the very least.’
Georgie glanced at her watch. ‘It’s been an hour since we got the call about the boy. That means the mother’s been out there for at least that time.’
She and Logan looked at each other. If the mother had a head injury, time was critical. Georgie didn’t want to think of the alternative.
Suddenly Toby pointed to something. Two figures on the ground were waving their jackets furiously. It could only mean one thing.
‘I see her,’ Logan said.
Georgie crept across to the open side of the helicopter. Once again a wave of vertigo slammed into her as she saw the ground far below. What was going on? This had never happened to her before. The thought of being in a small plane again nauseated her, but she’d hoped it would be different inside a helicopter. But there wasn’t time to think about that now. The crewman was pointing to a flat piece of ground not far from where a body lay in a crumpled heap.
‘We can land there,’ he said, and spoke into his radio.
Mist was already covering the tops of the mountains, snaking ever closer to where the woman lay. Time was of the essence. If the mist got any thicker, visibility would make everyone’s job much more difficult. It was even possible that the helicopter would have to leave and they’d have to attempt to get the victim to hospital on foot.
As soon as the helicopter touched down, Logan jumped out. Georgie ran after him, struggling to keep on her feet in the wind of the slowing rotors.
The climbers, a man and a woman, had stumbled across the inert form a few moments earlier. It was a good thing they had, as Jack’s mother must have fallen some distance and had come to rest almost underneath an enormous boulder. It was unlikely she would have been spotted from the air or that a rescue team on foot would have found her either. The passing climbers had covered her with jackets, but looked relieved to have help.
‘I don’t know what happened. I think she must have slipped on the scree and banged her head, but I can’t be sure. I can see blood underneath her head, but we didn’t want to move her,’ the female climber told Georgie and Logan.
Georgie dropped to her knees beside Logan and the injured woman. Logan was checking her face. ‘Her airway is fine and her breathing seems to be OK too,’ he told Georgie.
‘Hello,’ she shouted into the woman’s ear, while Logan was searching for a pulse. ‘Can you hear me? My name’s Georgie and I’m a nurse. There’s a doctor here too. We’re going to help you.’
There was no response. ‘Pulse is weak and rapid.’ Logan said. ‘Can you check her level of consciousness?’
Georgie pressed the woman’s fingernail firmly. She groaned softly and pulled her hand away slightly. Good. At least she was responding to pain.
A spreading red stain under the woman’s head made it obvious that, whatever other injuries she had, she had taken a nasty blow to her skull and possible brain injury would be the main concern. Georgie slipped on gloves and felt around the back of the unconscious woman’s head to feel the extent of the blow. Her fingertips came away sticky with blood, but it was hard to tell how badly she had cracked her skull.
Logan was feeling along the woman’s chest and abdomen, checking for other injuries. ‘Nothing obvious,’ he said. Georgie knew that didn’t mean that there wasn’t something going on internally, though. Only a full examination at a hospital could verify that.
The unconscious woman groaned softly. Logan whipped out the small torch from the medical bag he carried with him and shone the light in her eyes. Although the pupils responded, the left pupil was bigger than the right.
The woman needed to get to hospital—and fast. Her initial head injury was bad enough but if there was more swelling inside the skull, the pressure would build up, causing permanent brain damage, possibly even death.
‘Has she been conscious at all?’ Georgie asked the climbers.
They shook their heads. ‘Not since we got here.’
Georgie put her mouth to the mother’s ear. ‘You’re going to be all right,’ she said, unsure whether the woman could hear her. ‘Jack’s okay. He’s off the cliff and being checked over in hospital. But he’s going to be fine.’
Without knowing more, Georgie knew they had to suspect a spinal injury. The sooner the woman was in a specialist unit the better. An A and E nurse she might be, but working in a well-equipped unit was entirely different from being outdoors in dying light in the wilds of Scotland with a woman who shouldn’t be moved unnecessarily until a proper asessment had been made of her condition. Thank God there was a doctor with her who obviously knew what he was doing. It was a good thing too that the RAF helicopter was standing by. If it wasn’t here, they’d be in much greater difficulty than they already were. She looked up to see Toby returning with a stretcher.
‘We need to get this lady straight to the Glasgow City General’s neurosurgery unit as quickly as possible. If we take her to the Fort William General she’ll only have to be transferred to Glasgow later. It’ll be risky lifting her onto a stretcher from here, but I don’t think we have a choice.’
While Logan spoke he was fitting a neck brace. ‘I can’t tell at this stage whether there’s a spinal injury. We’ll have to immobilise her as best we can for the trip.’
By this time, Kirk had joined them. He gave his sister a quick hug then stood back to let them get on with seeing to the fallen woman. He must have realised that, with his broken wrist, he would only get in the way if he tried to help.
Quickly Georgie, Toby and Logan, with the help of the two passing climbers, slid the stretcher under the injured woman, taking care not to cause any unnecessary movement, and strapped her in place. Moments later, they were loading her into the helicopter.
‘Do you want a lift?’ Logan asked. Once again he grinned and a dimple appeared in his cheek. ‘The weather’s closing in and you must be exhausted.’
She summoned the biggest smile she could manage. Apart from having Jess waiting for her at home, the last thing she wanted was to go up in the helicopter again.
‘The trip back down is a piece of cake,’ she told Logan firmly. ‘You just get Jack’s mum to Glasgow and don’t worry about me.’
Kirk stepped forward and placed his uninjured arm around Georgie’s shoulders. ‘She’s right. Georgie is the last person you have to worry about on these mountains. She’s like a cat,’ he said. ‘I’ll make sure she gets down in one piece.’
Logan seemed doubtful. ‘It’s getting dark.’ He jumped into the helicopter where Toby was securing the stretcher.
‘Hey, Georgie and I could go down this mountain blindfolded. Couldn’t we, sis?’ Kirk said.
Logan glanced up at Kirk, obviously noting the family resemblance for the first time. While Kirk’s hair wasn’t nearly as red as hers, it had the merest hint of russet in its dark depths. Apart from that, Georgie knew she and her brother had almost identical eyes.
‘I don’t like it, but who am I to argue? You two obviously know what you’re doing.’ Then he grinned at Georgie and unbelievably her heart did a crazy little dance in her chest. It was still beating rapidly as the helicopter lifted into the air, taking with it Dr Logan Harris.
‘Good work, sis,’ Kirk said once the helicopter had disappeared from view. ‘Are you okay? It looked a little hairy back there.’ He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. ‘It was a brave thing you did.’
Brave? Was it brave to do something when you had no choice? She had been terrified, but she had coped. She felt the old familiar surge of satisfaction. And, God, she had missed being out on the mountains, had missed being part of the mountain rescue team.
‘Let’s get out of here. I don’t know about you, but I could do with a pint.’ Kirk gave her a final squeeze before releasing her.
It wasn’t a pint Georgie could do with. Quite frankly a magic wand to miracle her to the bottom of the mountain was what she needed. Now it was over, her legs had turned to jelly and she wondered if she could keep them working long enough to make the descent. She also knew that if she couldn’t, Kirk was perfectly capable of carrying her down—plastered forearm or not—on his back if necessary. But she couldn’t do that to him. One way or another she would have to force her mind away from the climb and the feelings it had brought flooding back and focus on something else. Like Logan Harris, for example, a little voice from nowhere chirped in her head. Think of him. Think of eyes the colour of the moor in winter and a fleeting grin that could stop a heart.
CHAPTER TWO
ONCE they were down, all Georgie wanted to do was collapse in a heap. And hug her daughter. But before she could do either, she wanted to go to the hospital and check on Jack. The little boy was bound to feel frightened and lonely, especially without a parent to comfort him. She also wanted to reassure him that his mother would be okay. If Jack were her son, she’d want someone to do the same.
But first she needed to phone her mother. Mary had come with her to Fort William for the two-week holiday and would have heard her children were involved with a rescue. She’d be worried sick and Georgie couldn’t blame her. Ian hadn’t been the only member of the mountain rescue team to have lost his life in recent years.
Sure enough, Mary’s relief when she heard both her children were safely off the mountain was palpable.
‘Are you all right?’ she said anxiously. ‘I mean, I know you’re safe now, but it couldn’t have been easy for you. Not after…’ She didn’t have to finish her sentence. Her mother knew she had sworn never to go on a rescue again and although she regretted the reasons for Georgie’s decision, she had been grateful she would have one less child to worry about. If her mother had her way, Kirk would give up his position with the mountain rescue team too. Not that that was ever going to happen.
‘I’m okay, Mum. I was just glad I was there to help. I kept thinking if it were Jess up there, alone and frightened.’ She shivered. ‘How would I have felt if no one had gone to help her? And that’s why I want to go and check on Jack myself. They had to take his mum to a specialist unit in Glasgow, but he was taken to the Fort William General. He’ll be alone, worried about his mum and bound to be shaky after his experience.’
‘Of course you have to go and see him. Wee Jess is tucked up in bed fast asleep,’ Mary said. ‘She won’t even know you’re not home. I’ve kept supper for you and Kirk. It can go in the microwave when you get back.’
Trust Mum to be worried about their supper. She had never accepted that both her children were grown up and able to look after themselves. Except they weren’t. At least she wasn’t. After Ian’s death, her mother had insisted on leaving her home here in Fort William and moving to Glasgow to help Georgie look after Jess. Her mother had given up her comfortable life without a thought so she could be with her daughter when she needed her, and had stayed. The only time her mother returned to her home town was when, as now, Georgie and Jess came too. Georgie was grateful. She’d never be able to work without her mother’s help and support. Apart from Jess, work was what had got her through those terrible months following Ian’s death.
But Georgie knew it was time she persuaded her mother that she could cope on her own. Jess had just been offered a place at nursery, starting in the autumn. With Jess at nursery full time, Mary was no longer needed as much to help with the child care. Although she would miss her mother terribly, she had to persuade her to come back here where all her friends and interests were. Georgie smiled. Kirk would become the full focus of Mary’s attention for a change. Although he loved their mother dearly, she was always going on at him to find a good woman and settle down. And Kirk wasn’t a settling-down kind of guy.
It took her another hour before she was able to leave the clubhouse. The rest of the team, who had returned from their rescue, were full of questions and refused to let her go until she had given them a blow-by-blow account. Like Kirk, they knew she hadn’t been out on a rescue since Ian had died and were concerned and anxious to hear how she had coped.
‘I’m okay,’ she reassured them. ‘It got a bit dodgy, but it all turned out okay.’
She couldn’t bring herself to tell them about the few minutes when she’d been terror-stricken and unable to move.
‘Does that mean you’re back with the team, Red?’ Mike, one of the guys she had climbed with many times before, asked.
‘No, Mike. Remember I live in Glasgow now? So it’s hardly going to happen.’
But apart from the fear, she had felt exhilarated—once it was all over. In many ways she had missed the companionship of the team as well as the adrenaline rush of climbing. But, she reminded herself, that life was finished. She had a daughter who needed a mother to be around for a very long time to come.
All in all it had been a couple of hours since the helicopter had left with Jack’s mother. By now there should be news of how she was doing. Perhaps the nurses at the Fort William General would have heard? Leaving Kirk and the rest of the guys, who were planning to move on to their usual watering hole, Georgie jumped into her small car and headed for the hospital, her mind still inexplicably filled with images of a dark-eyed man with a heart-stopping grin.
Georgie knew the staff at the Fort William General well. After all, she had worked with them for six years before moving to Glasgow. Whenever she was visiting Kirk in Fort William, she always dropped in for a cup of coffee.
Lindsay was on duty in A and E and after a brief hug and a disappointed look over her shoulder—she had always carried a torch for Kirk—led her to the cubicle where Jack was in the process of having his broken leg put in a cast. Jack looked up and his face broke into a smile. But it was the man sitting next to him playing on a games console who stopped her breath. Logan Harris! What on earth was he doing here? It was almost as if thinking about him had made him appear. He had peeled down his flying suit to his waist, revealing a hard, taut chest and powerfully muscled arms under his T-shirt.
Behind him, Lindsay wiggled her eyebrows questioningly and grinned. Like everyone else who knew about Ian, she was always telling Georgie it was time to date again.
‘Have a coffee with me if you have time?’ Lindsay said before she disappeared.
Logan got to his feet and held out his hand. ‘I just came to tell Jack about his mum,’ he said. ‘But I’m pleased to meet you properly.’ He shot another devastating smile in her direction and Georgie almost reeled from the force of it. Without his helmet she could see him properly, and if it were possible he was even more attractive than she had thought at first. Although not conventionally good-looking—his features were too rugged for a start—he had a charisma and easy confidence about him that suggested he was used to women finding him attractive. His hair was cropped short, military style, and his face was sculpted over high cheekbones. Only a scar, running from just underneath his cheekbone to the corner of his mouth, marred his good looks, but in some obscure way it only made him more attractive in Georgie’s eyes. Add a six-foot-something frame and a dose of sex appeal Georgie had only ever associated with film stars and it all added up to a mind-blowing package. All of this didn’t tie in with a man who would take the time out to stay with a frightened boy. Georgie was intrigued. And how on earth had he got back here from Glasgow? If he’d driven he must have raced along the roads at breakneck speed.
Long fingers grasped her hand in a firm grip, and sparks shot up Georgie’s arms.
‘Georgie McArthur,’ she said faintly. She dragged her eyes away from him and turned to Jack.
‘Hey. How’re you doing?’
‘Dr Harris says Mum’s awake, but still in Intensive Care in Glasgow. He says she’s going to have to stay in hospital for a day or two, but she’s going to be okay.’
The terrified little boy of earlier was gone. Now he knew his mum was going to be all right, excitement had taken over.
‘What about your dad?’ Georgie asked. ‘Wasn’t he with you?’ The light went out of Jack’s eyes.
‘He lives in Edinburgh. Mum and him aren’t living together right now. They say they’re having a little break from each other. But I don’t believe them. I think they’re getting a divorce. Mum’s been crying all the time. I made her come up here to try and get her mind off it and look what happened. If I hadn’t done what she told me not to, she wouldn’t have tried to come after me and fallen.’ His lips trembled as he remembered his terror.
‘Hey,’ Georgie said soothingly, ‘accidents happen. Your mum will be proud of how brave you were—I promise.’
‘Anyway, Dad’s with her now. He came from Edinburgh as soon as he heard she was hurt. He can’t come and see me ‘cos he doesn’t want to leave Mum on her own.’
Georgie read the hope in his eyes. It didn’t take a mind reader to know his nine-year-old mind already had his parents back together. Georgie prayed he wasn’t going to be disappointed.
‘The hospital says I have to stay in tonight. But Dr Harris says he’s going back to Glasgow tomorrow, so he’ll go with me in the ambulance car if I want.’
Georgie shot a surprised look at Logan. Surely such thoughtfulness was beyond what was required?
‘His mum was taken directly to the head injuries unit at Glasgow City. It seemed sensible. If we’d stopped here and she’d ended up having to be transferred there anyway…’ He lifted an eyebrow slightly, not wanting to complete the sentence in front of Jack.
‘I really, really want to see my mum—and dad.’ Jack’s lip trembled and Georgie’s heart went out to him. She knew he wouldn’t believe his mum was okay until he saw her for himself.
Georgie smiled reassuringly. ‘The Glasgow City just happens to be the best hospital in Scotland for people who have hurt their heads,’ she said. ‘I work there. So I know your mum is in very good hands.’
Logan looked surprised. ‘You do? Work there, I mean?’ He eyed her speculatively. ‘I assumed you were a nurse here.’
‘I used to be, until a few years ago. I’m just here on holiday. I’d take Jack myself but I’m not going back to Glasgow until Sunday night.’
‘I’ve got to go back there tomorrow anyway,’ Logan continued. ‘So it makes sense for me to go with Jack. It would save his father from making the three-hundred-mile round trip. I spoke to him on the phone and he’s relieved to have that taken care of.’
‘Don’t you have to go back with your crew?’ she asked. ‘To HMS Gannet? Isn’t that where the RAF is based? Aren’t you with them?’ A sticker on his T-shirt bore the name Major Harris.
‘I’m not actually with the RAF. I just happened to be visiting their base when the call came through and I was happy to volunteer my services.’
‘So how come you’re here? Didn’t you go with Jack’s mother to the Glasgow City General?’
‘We were heading in that direction when the Fort William General radioed to let us know they had a visiting neurologist from Glasgow who was spending the day teaching some junior doctors here. It made more sense for her to go with Jack’s mother and there are people I need to talk to here. So the helicopter picked her up and dropped me off. She phoned a few minutes ago to give us an update. That’s how we know she’s doing okay.’ He winked at Jack.
Georgie was more and more curious. She waited for him to continue.
‘And, since you are obviously interested, it so happens that the Glasgow City General is going to be my home for the next three months.’
Georgie’s cheeks grew warm. It was a Highland habit she hadn’t ever really managed to lose—this interest in other people. City people thought it was nosy to ask questions, Highlanders knew it was only polite interest—or at least that’s what they told themselves and each other.
Logan slid her a look and the wheels clicked into place. There had been talk in the A and E department of a consultant from one of the forces coming on loan for three months to look into setting up an emergency medical retrieval team similar to the one the army had perfected. Could it be this man? Georgie had expected someone a lot older for some reason. Someone closer to retirement age. Not this hunk.
‘Are you the doctor who is coming to set up the new emergency service?’ she asked bluntly, ignoring the way her heart was doing a little dance behind her ribs.
‘Got it in one.’ He moved his hand in a mock salute. ‘Major Harris at your service. How did you know?’
‘As one of the A and E nurses at the Glasgow City General, I’d heard the rumours, but I don’t make it to the inter-departmental meetings as often as I should so I’ve only gathered bits and pieces.’ She blew out her cheeks. ‘I’ve been on holiday here for the last couple of weeks, so I must have missed the latest.’
He grinned back and her heart did that complicated manoeuvre inside her chest again. ‘I’ll be there on Monday,’ he said. ‘I’ve a bit of information gathering still to do, including forming links with the other emergency services in the area. Which reminds me, I don’t suppose you have a number where I can get hold of the mountain rescue team leader, do you?’
She raised an eyebrow.
‘We’ll be working with them at some point, so I want to talk to them. I might as well do it now, seeing as I’m here for the night. No point in wasting an opportunity.’
Georgie thought for a moment. Jess would be fast asleep and likely to remain so for the remainder of the night. Kirk and the rest of the team would still be hanging out at the inn where they met most evenings to dissect the day’s climbing and the rescue. She could just give Logan Kirk’s telephone number and leave him to make his own arrangements. But that would be churlish. She made up her mind.
‘You met the team leader earlier—my brother Kirk. I can give you a lift to where he and the rest of the team will be, if you like.’
He smiled broadly. ‘I was hoping you’d say that.’
Georgie and Logan left Jack, who had dozed off while they’d been speaking. Georgie breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Lindsay was no longer outside in the A and E area. She must have gone for her break, which was just as well. Georgie knew her ex-colleague’s curiosity would have known no bounds had she seen her leave with Logan.