Dare she risk her heart with him—

All over again?

ER doc Brenna Williamson was heartbroken when her fiancé, paramedic Hunter Ford, left her behind to support his demanding parents. Now adrenaline junkie Brenna chases thrills but keeps her heart safe! Until Hunter, now a single dad, walks back into her life... Working together once again sets her pulse racing. There’s still chemistry between them, but dare she hope that this time he’ll stay—forever?

SUE MACKAY lives with her husband in New Zealand’s beautiful Marlborough Sounds, with the water on her doorstep and the birds and the trees at her back door. It’s the perfect setting to indulge her passions of entertaining friends by cooking them sumptuous meals, drinking fabulous wine, going for hill walks or kayaking around the bay—and, of course, writing stories.

Also by Sue MacKay

The Army Doc’s Baby Bombshell

Resisting Her Army Doc Rival

Pregnant with the Boss’s Baby

Falling for Her Fake Fiancé

Her New Year Baby Surprise

Baby Miracle in the ER

Surprise Twins for the Surgeon

ER Doc’s Forever Gift

The Italian Surgeon’s Secret Baby

Redeeming Her Brooding Surgeon

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Taking a Chance on the Single Dad

Sue MacKay

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09016-2

TAKING A CHANCE ON THE SINGLE DAD

© 2019 Sue MacKay

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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This one’s for Lynne Mark.

Thank you for your wonderful support of my stories.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

Extract

About the Publisher

PROLOGUE

LEADEN SILENCE CRACKLED down the line, turning the armchair Brenna had inherited from her grandmother from snug and comfortable to something resembling a hard plinth beneath the suddenly tense muscles of her bottom.

‘Hunter? I said I’m missing you.’

‘Missing you too, Bren.’

The tension didn’t back off. It ramped up. That was not the voice her fiancé used with her. At least that was what he would be if they actually openly acknowledged they were getting married next summer, and if they finally got around to choosing a ring to validate their enduring love for each other.

But Hunter seemed to have a lot on his mind at the moment that had nothing to do with them.

‘Tell me what’s happening in Kamloops. How’re your parents?’ she asked.

Again, that awkward silence. They didn’t do silences—usually had too much to say to each other.

‘Hunter? You’re scaring me.’

‘Hold on, will you?’

In the background she heard a door open, then shut, followed by footsteps on a wooden floor. Was he on the deck? Winter in the Okanagan wasn’t even close to tropical. What he had to tell her must be something he didn’t want his family to overhear.

Was his father in a worse state than his mother had indicated yesterday? All he’d said was that she had been in hysterics when she’d rung, saying the family orchard was in crisis and he had to get over there urgently for his father’s sake. He’d left Vancouver within three hours, an overnight bag and his laptop over his shoulder, despair in his eyes and a one-way air ticket in his hand. He hadn’t driven as snow had been forecast near the Rockies.

‘Bren, I was going to ring you later tonight. Everything’s in turmoil here.’ The harshness of his voice frightened her.

What was going on?

Talk to me.

But if she demanded information from him, he’d shut down. Shut down? It seemed he was already under lock and key. She looked around the familiar, cosy sitting room of the house she’d grown up in, her gaze not alighting on any one object for more than a few seconds, her heart pounding faster by the minute.

Finally she had to say something or go spare. ‘Do you want me to come across for the weekend?’

‘Bren, I don’t know where to start. Dad’s—’

She heard him swallow, and a gnawing feeling there was bad to come began deep in her stomach.

‘The business is on the verge of bankruptcy. I don’t know if it can be saved. The insurance company’s fighting paying out for the flood damage done last year. The same thing’s happening with many of the orchards in this area. I haven’t gone into the paperwork yet, but people are muttering about the company that owns the power station being at fault.’

‘Can’t the insurance company pay out and then go to the power provider for the money?’ Of course she knew that wasn’t how these things worked, but anything to delay whatever was about to slam-dunk her.

‘Insurance companies are not charities. If there’s an out they’re going to take it, and to hell with what Dad’s been paying them over the years.’

The bitterness in Hunter’s voice shocked her. But he was loyal to his parents so their troubles would be his, regardless of his own aspirations. Just like her and her family, especially her dad. She’d always been encouraged to follow her dreams.

‘I guess I’m aware of that. I was hoping for more, that’s all.’ A fairer outcome for Hunter’s family and a happy improvement in the way he was talking right now wouldn’t go amiss.

‘There’s a lot to do here.’

Here it comes. Brenna waited, tensing as though Hunter had a gun aimed directly at her chest. More specifically, her heart.

‘Dad’s worried he’s failed again. It’s like he doesn’t know what to focus on to get things sorted.’

Brenna swallowed hard. There was more to this—but what? ‘Darling, I’m so sorry. What can I do? For you?’

The sound of a long indrawn breath had her fingers gripping the phone, her thighs tight.

She hurried to add, ‘I’ll come at the end of my shift tomorrow night to be with you. I’ll pack more of your clothes too. Let me know what else you need. I can fill the car till there’s no room left but for me. Fingers crossed the storm will have passed through by then.’

‘No, Brenna. You can’t come. There’s nothing you can do here.’

‘I can support you—be with you. I love you. You know that.’

‘Yes, I do.’

Was that resentment in his quietly spoken words?

‘Hunter?’ Now her toes were tucking under and her knees were pushing together. There was ice in the air, yet the heat pump was blasting out a toasty twenty-two degrees.

He was dragging in a lungful of air. Then, ‘The only thing I want you to do for me is pack up all my gear and send it across. I am not returning to Vancouver.’

‘But what about your job? Your study?’ Me? ‘Vancouver’s your happy place. You’ve said so a hundred times. We’re a couple—we stick together through everything. I’ll do whatever it takes to help you through this.’

‘I have to move back to the orchard. It’s the only chance there is to make the place viable again. Mum and Dad need my support to get through this.’

Did he mutter again?

‘It’s not the first time I’ve had to step up for them.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s how our family works. Ever since that quad-bike accident they’ve made me think I owe them for the trouble it caused and that I can never repay them, but I keep trying.’

Hunter had just stolen any words she might have been about to utter. Their relationship wasn’t being taken into consideration. Not at all.

‘Hunter, we’re a couple—for better and for worse,’ she gasped through frozen lips.

It was happening again. Someone else she loved was deserting her.

‘Would you pack up and move out here to join me?’ he whispered.

Anger flared. How dared he ask her that? ‘You know I would—after I’ve finished my exams and when my dad’s...’

The thumping in her chest slowed, creating a pain under her ribs and a knot in her belly. Dad. Her mainstay as she’d grown up trying to understand how her mother could leave and never contact her again. Not once.

‘Oh.’

‘Exactly. We’ve both got too many commitments. I don’t want you putting aside your medical degree for me either. You’re an amazing doctor, Bren, and you have to finish what you’ve started.’

Did he have to be so nice when he was breaking her heart?

‘As for leaving your father now that he’s been diagnosed with dementia—that’s not happening. Not on my account. Nor can I see you doing it. Not easily, any rate.’

He had her there. Damn him. Tears spilled down her cheeks and she ignored them. Her dad needed her, along with her stepmum and half-sisters. She couldn’t walk away from being there for them through this black time. All the love he’d spoiled her with since her mother had run away had got her through the bad times; she intended doing the same for him.

But she loved Hunter. He was her mainstay. They were supposed to be getting married when she qualified. Hunter loved her. He’d said so often. Yes, he did love her. There’d never been anything false about his declarations. They could make this work. They had to.

‘Brenna, there’s no easy way to say this so I’ll be blunt. We are finished. We have to be. We can’t hang in limbo for the next however many years, until my family is back on track or things have changed for you. I am truly sorry, but there is no alternative.’

When Hunter called her Brenna there was no arguing with him. She’d tried and failed too often to risk it now. Though what more did she have to lose? Seemed she’d just lost the love of her life.

There was nothing else essential other than breathing. Dragging in air to make sure her lungs were still working, she closed her eyes and strove for something to make this all go away.

Not happening.

She could go crazy: cry and yell, plead and beg. Or she could dig deep for dignity, and not make Hunter glad he’d called it quits.

‘Bad timing, huh?’ she sniffed.

* * *

‘The absolute worst, sweetheart.’

The endearment curdled Hunter’s stomach. Brenna was the love of his life, the sunshine and the warmth, the reason he worked so hard to put aside money, so he’d be able to buy a home for her—for them—in the near future.

You don’t have a future with Bren any more.

The urge to hurl the phone across the yard had his arm lifting. He needed to hear it smash into a thousand pieces just as his heart was doing. But he held on so tight his fingernails were digging deep into his palms, the harsh edge of the instrument pressing into his ear.

It was the most awful timing possible to have this happen to his parents, to Brenna, to him. Bren didn’t know about his father’s mental instability in times of crisis. Neither did she know how controlling and selfish his parents had been with him as he’d been growing up, and that that had been his reason for moving to Vancouver. He’d thought he’d escaped, that they’d finally accepted he had his own life to live. He’d been wrong, had been drawn in once more to straighten out their messed-up lives regardless of his aspirations.

It was an insurmountable problem he couldn’t find a way around. He’d never forgive himself if he remained in Vancouver and his father carried out his threat to take his own life. And Brenna could not leave her father when he had dementia. Even with her stepmum and sisters there supporting him, Brenna was so close to her father she wouldn’t dream of moving away. Neither could he ask her to put her medical degree on hold with less than a year to go. He’d never forgive himself when she came to resent him for requesting that. It was bad enough his own paramedic training was going on the back burner.

‘Hunter? Stay in touch. Please.’

That would hurt worse than anything. To see Bren, talk to her, and not be able to share the future they’d started planning together would be hell on wheels. ‘No. I can’t do that. It has to be a clean break. Over and done as of now. So sorry, Bren, I really am.’

Do it. Now. Before you lose the courage.

‘Goodbye.’ His finger stabbed the off button, remained stuck to it, as though preventing him ever hearing from Bren again.

No woman had made him so happy and carefree and yet so determined to succeed. No woman, no person, had believed in him as much as Bren had. Her only expectations had been that he be himself, believe in himself and follow his own dreams—something his parents had never allowed.

He loved her beyond all reason, and yet he’d just put her aside for his family’s problems. Old habits did not disappear in a cloud of happiness after all. If only he could be that man Bren believed in. If only he could make his parents understand he’d been trying to help the day when he’d overheard his father bemoaning how he couldn’t shift the cattle himself because of his headaches.

Hunter had taken the quad bike out to round up the cattle and shift them to a field on the side of the hill. It had gone well until a bull had charged the bike. Only eleven, he hadn’t been able to control the heavy machine and it had rolled, leaving him with a smashed leg and angry parents who’d said he’d made things worse for them by not being available to help around the orchard while his bones healed. From then on, they’d continued to make him pay for his misdemeanour with more and more demands.

None of this made tonight’s decision about his relationship with Brenna easy. This time his father had threatened to swallow a bottle of paracetamol, and as he’d done it once before they couldn’t take any chances. Not that he was telling Bren about his father’s mental state. She might start watching him to see if he was unstable too. Not that she’d be seeing him again. He had to remain strong about that. He loved Bren with every fibre of his body.

His only hope was that by doing the right thing for his parents it would keep him focused in the months ahead when the going got tough. Because it was going to. Not a doubt in the universe. His own plans and needs and love would be shelved. Didn’t mean he had the right to ask Brenna to put hers alongside his.

The phone lit up. Bren’s number came up on the screen. Then the ringing began. He pressed Off. She tried again. And again.

Then Hunter did hurl the phone with all the frustrated strength he had. It soared over the back yard, across the fence to land with a splash in the trough.

‘Goodbye, Bren. Love you.’

The back of his hand slashed at his face as he hunched over, letting the rain soak his clothes, chill his skin further. Not caring what happened to him. But he had to. He was needed here. There was no choice.

CHAPTER ONE
Six years later...

HUNTER FORD LEANED his shoulder against the doorframe and watched his son’s tiny chest lift and fall under the light bedcover as he slept, and sighed with relief. ‘You’re happier already, aren’t you, my boy?’ he whispered through a thick throat.

Dylan’s grandparents had already started grooming him to be compliant by having him running around after them for the hell of it—something he hadn’t been able to prevent on the days he worked and Dylan didn’t have preschool.

‘You could learn something from him,’ Jess murmured beside him. ‘Stop worrying so much.’

‘You haven’t met Brenna.’

‘Surely she’s not going to kick your butt—verbally or physically?’ Dave’s wife never felt the need to hold back.

‘I’d handle that.’ Might even welcome it. But getting the cold shoulder from Bren would punch him hard. Neither did he relish the idea of being treated like a special friend who needed taking in hand to learn the ropes at the helicopter rescue base. Brenna Williamson. He knew nothing about what she’d been doing since that heartbreaking phone call. Had deliberately shut down on anyone telling him about her. He’d had to or go insane with grief.

Jess swiped his arm. ‘It’s been a long time. You’ve moved on, so will she have. Anyway, you can cope with anything. Look at Dylan. After everything he’s been through, he’s happy because of you.’

Hunter’s gaze was still fixed on that small body in the large bed, despite the picture of Bren in the forefront of his brain. ‘He trusts me to get it right for him.’

‘Get it right for yourself and the rest will follow.’

‘Is that your way of saying that if I’m happy Dylan will be happy?’ That was Jess all over. But, then, she was a psychologist.

‘At last something’s got into that dense brain matter. Now get a move on. You’re due at the base in twenty-five minutes, and even at five-thirty in the morning traffic around Kitsilano is more than what you’re used to.’

‘On my way.’ So much for having breakfast before he hit the road. He’d spent ten minutes watching and absorbing the sight of his son sleeping; Dylan was his world, and one of the reasons he’d returned to the city where he’d been happiest. The first time he’d moved here had been within weeks of leaving high school; his best friend, Dave, right beside him. They were going to conquer the world and put Kamloops into the only-for-visiting-the-olds file.

He’d truly believed he’d escaped his parents. More fool him. His dreams had begun falling into place, then his father had had yet another mental breakdown and he’d been expected to pick up the pieces. Now here he was back again, the dreams altered but still there. Everything he did, worked for, would be about Dylan, not his parents, other than to make sure they were safe and comfortable. His son was not growing up under the weight of his parents’ selfishness.

At last he’d learned to stop feeling guilty every time his father got ill. It wasn’t his fault, and he shouldn’t be expected to give up his life to fix their problems when they weren’t prepared to try and sort things out themselves.

Oh, just call Hunter, get him to do it.

Hunter swallowed hard. Coming here had been the right thing to do. For his boy, and for him. Time to start over with a clean slate. There’d be memories of Bren around every corner, which he’d have to ignore once he got today done and dusted. He was under no illusion. Seeing her for the first time would be difficult. Yet it had to be done, then he’d get on with settling into Vancouver, the place where he’d been so very happy so long ago.

Not that he was the young guy any more who laughed at everything, thought the world owed him, and believed there might be a chance that if he worked hard enough, he might achieve the life he wanted. No, but something from that time lingered and had drawn him back, away from Kamloops and the darkness and frustration that lurked around every corner.

Straightening up, he took one last look at his boy and strode away, his eyes moist. At the front door he paused, said, without looking back, ‘Jess? Go easy on him if he gets upset today, will you?’ It wasn’t Jess who needed reminding Dylan stressed at new settings with new people. It was him who needed reassuring that everyone had Dylan’s back while he went to work. Deep down he understood Dave and his family were there for his son. It was just that he needed reassurance that he had done the right thing, coming to Vancouver.

‘Get out of here, will you? I’m going back to bed to snuggle up to my man for half an hour. When you get out of my hair.’

Hunter was pushed out the door, and the lock clicked behind him.

‘I’m going, all right?’ Not that Jess would hear, but habit had him getting the last word in. Zipping his puffer jacket up to his chin, Hunter slid behind the wheel of his four-wheel drive and backed down the drive.

‘Here I go.’ He headed to SW Marine Drive, trying to ignore the confusion in his head, and failing. Shortly he was going to see Brenna, hear her voice, her laugh, and he had no idea how he’d react. He wanted to be cool, calm and friendly. That’s how he should be after all this time. Once they hadn’t been able to get enough of each other, had believed the future was theirs for the taking. Hunter shook his head abruptly in an attempt to banish those memories, which were probably rose-tinted anyway. He was meant to be looking forward, to settling down in a city he loved, to a life he chose and not one dictated by guilt and strained loyalties.

When he’d decided to make the move west, he’d thought through all the consequences and while accepting he’d once loved Brenna more than life itself, he believed she wasn’t going to be a problem—if he ever saw her. At the time he hadn’t known he’d end up working alongside her for four weeks.

He should’ve turned down the request to work on the emergency helicopters the moment he’d heard her name. Hard to do when the base director had all but gone down on bended knees begging him to give whatever time he could manage, they were that short-staffed. Anyway, he loved emergency medicine. The adrenalin shot when racing out to an accident always made him feel needed and happy to be helping people.

The position he was taking up next month at Vancouver General would have plenty of those moments, but there was something about getting into an ambulance and racing to help someone. Since arriving in town he’d been walking on hot coals every day with nothing more to do than wait for his hospital job to start and to move into his house on the settlement date. With Dylan happy at his new preschool he was redundant for hours.

Jess had told him about the rescue service’s need for a temporary paramedic and had offered to look after his son before and after school if he took it up. She was probably sick of him hanging around the house during the day.

The airport loomed ahead far too quickly, and Hunter was pulling into the rescue centre long before he’d prepared himself. Bren wasn’t just a part of his past. She was still real, and, for a few weeks at least, a piece of his life again. Hopefully she was still always late to everything, and he’d get a few more minutes to pull himself together.

His palms were damp on the steering wheel. His ears filled with a thumping sound coming from behind his ribs. Was she as beautiful as he recalled? Would that regret over what they’d lost, which he’d felt the day he’d married Dylan’s mother, return?

Would Brenna shoot him on sight just for turning up?

Hunter put the gear stick in Reverse. He was out of there. Doing a runner. He’d head for the hills until it was time to pick Dylan up.

His foot remained on the brake pedal. He had to stay and go into the hangar, sign on and do his job. Twelve hours and he’d be able to quit—until tomorrow, when it would be a little bit easier. The ice would be broken. With a sigh he turned the ignition off. Since when had he become so gutless?

Stepping inside the cavernous hangar, he headed in the direction of the voices coming through an open door. Kevin, the base commander, and—He stopped. It was Bren’s voice he was hearing. His skin tightened. Brenna. Not Bren. Those days were gone, over, finished, because he might stumble in his determination to make this move work if he allowed any feelings from the past to beat him around the head. As were the days over when he dropped everything and everybody to be there for his parents. He did love them, but they weren’t playing the guilt card any more.

Brenna was saying, ‘Sorry I’m late. A burst water main on my avenue had traffic diverted all over the show.’ A metal locker door banged shut.

‘You’re fine. Nothing’s happening so far,’ Kevin said.

She thought arriving right on time was late? Change number one.

‘Good. I want to go online and book the car onto the ferry before it’s too late. When I got home late from Whistler last night I was exhausted and figured I’d find time today. Mum was supposed to do it but she ran out of time too. She’s busier than ever now she’s retired.’ Brenna laughed.

That laugh, warm and endearing, and much too familiar, crunched Hunter’s gut. His feet dragged towards the doorway, her voice winding around him, reminding him of sultry nights between the sheets. Spinning around to run for the car park was tempting. Instead he clenched his hands and tightened his leg muscles. Running wouldn’t solve a thing. Beneath his ribs a heavy thudding felt as though he was being beaten with a stick.

This was far more difficult than he’d believed. The past would be harder to ascend than Mount Baker, and it seemed Brenna still had the power to make him aware of her. Right down to his toes. He’d once loved her with all his being. Now he didn’t. Didn’t? Or shouldn’t? His mouth dried. He still loved Bren? Had he been in denial all along? No. He couldn’t have. Then why these wild emotions brought out by the sound of her voice?

‘Find anyone to cover for Patch while that broken femur heals?’ she was querying.

‘Yes. I heard about the man who’s taking over as head nurse at the hospital’s emergency department next month. He’s had experience as an ambulance paramedic. Figured I had nothing to lose by approaching to see if he’d help us out. He was more than happy, which takes the pressure off for now.’

I’d still be a full-time paramedic if I’d been able to make the hours work around Dylan.

Hunter stopped in the doorway. Exhaled hard. His gaze was rooted to the woman before him. Beautiful, still as curvy. Those caramel eyes still sparkled with fun, her crazy curly auburn hair was still long and tied back in a ponytail, her mouth still soft and enticing and undeniable. Bren, as he remembered her, as he’d loved her. Brenna.

Tying up her bootlaces, she laughed. ‘The man never stood a chance once you got your teeth into him. Who is he? Anyone we know?’

That beating against Hunter’s ribs became a whipping. On a deep breath he stepped right into the room.

Kevin said, ‘Probably not. He’s shifted across from Kamloops. Name of Hunter—’

* * *

‘Ford,’ Brenna finished as she stared at the sexy apparition strolling towards her with all the panache of someone totally at ease with his world. Her head spun. This wasn’t a vision brought on by a restless night. Only one man she knew swung his left leg slightly outward as he walked, thanks to a quad-bike accident as a kid. ‘Hunter, what are you doing here?’ she squeaked, thoughtlessly launching herself at her past.

‘Hey, Brenna. Great to see you too. Oof.’ He put his hands on her shoulders, keeping her from plastering her body all over him.

‘I can’t believe it’s you.’ Damn it, she was pushing close, wanting to lay her face against his chest like she’d always done back when they’d been together. Then reality got in the way. She jerked backwards. Hunter had dumped her. He hadn’t wanted her any more.

Hunter gazed down at her, not a hint of enthusiasm in his eyes. ‘You’re looking good.’

Brenna took his reaction on board and reacted accordingly. ‘Why wouldn’t I?’ He wasn’t about to find out how hard it had been to get over him. ‘You’ve scrubbed up okay yourself.’

The boyish good looks of six years ago had hardened into a strong, handsome face. Looking closer, she noted the weariness blinking out from those steel-grey eyes where there used to be laughter shining. Then his apathy registered. They were not lovers, not even friends, nothing but colleagues for the next few weeks. Brain slap for being such an idiot. Throwing herself at Hunter like she’d been waiting for this moment, like she had to have him, was ridiculous.

Stepping away, she flattened her mouth, swallowed her annoyance at having been so stupid. This was the man who’d phoned to say that after three years together they were over. Finished. Told her to go get a life and forget him.

What did people say when they first met each other after a long time apart? With their history? She said tartly, ‘So you’ve returned to Vancouver.’ Hope fluttered awake. She squashed it. Don’t go there.

Hunter’s hands fell to his sides as he too took a backward step. ‘Yes.’ This man used to talk non-stop, not coming up for air for hours.

His reticence spurred her on. ‘How long have you been in town?’

Why haven’t you got in touch? This is me, us. I’m not going to blast your head off for walking away from what we had going. Or am I?

Six years ago, she’d wanted to, but not now. What was the point? It couldn’t be undone. Except there was a flame of attraction scorching her inside and out.

He left you. Don’t forget that.

Like she could.

‘We arrived ten days ago.’

We? Brenna stepped further away; widening the gap physically, if not mentally.

I threw myself at him as though we were still an item.

He had a significant other half in his life, and she’d done that. Her stomach shrivelled and all the moisture evaporated from her mouth. Her chest lifted, stayed there as a breath stuck in her throat.

I didn’t stop to think. Instead, the moment I saw Hunter I reacted like I used to. How bad is that?

Now he’d get the wrong idea. ‘How are your parents?’ Banal but safe. Unless... The air finally whooshed out of her lungs. ‘Sorry.’

‘They’re fine, living in a retirement village. Mum’s having a wonderful time. Even Dad’s happy. The orchard sold last year.’ Hunter didn’t look overly thrilled, but then he hadn’t looked too happy about anything so far. Including her. He hadn’t been surprised to see her. So, he’d known she worked here and had still taken the job.

Her teeth gnashed. He’d signed on despite the fact this was her space. About to spew her sudden anger at him, she bit down, kept herself under tight control. Having a spat wouldn’t change a thing, only make the coming weeks even more awkward than they were going to be. ‘That’s great.’ It was far from great, but it was better than saying what was really on her mind.

Kevin interrupted, looking pleased with himself. ‘So, you two know each other.’ Rostering staff problem solved?

Oh, no. She usually paired with Patch. She wasn’t working with Hunter. ‘It was a long time ago.’ Hunter was back in town. For how long this time? How permanent was his permanent job at the emergency department? Why did she even care? He wasn’t alone any more. Even if he had been, it still wouldn’t matter. She was not revisiting their relationship. He’d broken her heart once; she wasn’t handing it over to be devastated a second time.

‘Then you’ll have plenty to catch up on. Good thing I’ve rostered you together this week.’

Brenna tightened her mouth against protesting, and instead managed to say in a semi-steady voice, ‘There’ll be opportunities to talk over the coming weeks.’ Though hearing what Hunter had been up to since they’d split might help soften the blow seeing him had inflicted, she did not need to learn how in love he was with another woman.

She stared at this man she’d once believed would share her life right through to the rocking-chair days. The good looks that had women falling at his feet were still there, somewhat jaded now, but somehow that made her soften towards him. Silly woman. Note that wariness in his gaze. It was foreign to her. Seemed the years away hadn’t been kind to him. Through a sigh she asked, ‘Want a coffee before our first callout?’

That tiredness dipped further, tightened his face before he rallied. ‘Sure do. Might try to have my breakfast since I ran out of time at home.’ He shrugged off the small pack slung over his shoulder.

Heading for the kitchen, she asked, trying to sound, oh, so uninterested, ‘Is this a long-term move?’ Again, the question arose—how permanent was permanent in his book? At her side her fingers crossed. She wanted him to stay? Or to be heading away again? It wasn’t as though they would kick-start their relationship. That was finished. Besides, even if Hunter was available, she wasn’t prepared to get involved only to find herself coming second to someone or something else again. She’d learned that lesson the first time.

Hunter answered in a manner suggesting he was wondering how much to say. ‘The plan’s to settle here long term. I’ve bought a house in Kitsilano and take it over in a fortnight.’

She gasped. Of all the places to move to. Not only was Hunter back in town, but he was right on her doorstep, apparently settling in for the foreseeable future. Not fair. Once more she struggled for calm. ‘I can’t believe you’re here.’ True. ‘What’ve you been up to?’ Truly? She wanted to know? No. Well, maybe. Depended on what he had to say.

‘Nothing out of the ordinary,’ was Hunter’s acerbic reply. Followed by, ‘I didn’t expect to find you working on the choppers.’

‘Why not?’ she snapped, before engaging her brain.

Don’t let Hunter see how rattled you are.

Sure. Like that would work. This was the guy who could read her without a glance. Hopefully he’d lost that ability when he’d pulled the plug on their relationship.

‘More than anything you wanted to be head of an emergency department before you were thirty-three.’

He remembered. Why wouldn’t he? She had been driven about getting that position. Until they’d broken up and restless energy had overtaken her. Then she’d needed something more to her life than working in an emergency department. Not that that wasn’t drama personified, but she’d wanted something for herself and, adding in her passion for adventure photography, flipping around the sky in helicopters and whipping down hillsides on skis or a mountain bike had given what she’d hankered after. It made her feel exciting and not a woman intent on studying and being the best doctor with nothing else to her name. ‘I changed my mind.’

Tilting his head slightly to one side, he said, ‘I hope you haven’t regretted that. You were so determined I thought nothing else would do.’ Was there a hint of annoyance in that? Surely, he wasn’t thinking she could’ve moved to Kamloops to be with him instead?

‘Not once. Because it was easier on Mum being where she could reach me at all times, I continued working in the emergency room until Dad died three years ago.’ After her dad had gone her restlessness had become impossible to live with and that’s when she’d gone in search of adventure.

‘I heard about your dad. I’m sorry.’

‘He lasted longer than expected.’ Dementia was so tough. ‘It wasn’t nice towards the end.’ A familiar sadness rubbed at her. She hated that it had been a relief when her father had left them, but he’d have detested what his life had been reduced to if he’d been aware.

‘Dave told me. I would’ve come to the funeral but thought it might be inappropriate.’ Hunter watched her too closely.

She nodded once. It would’ve been. ‘How is Dave?’

‘Married with two kids, living in Kitsilano. Happy as a pig in mud.’

Was everyone from her past moving to Kitsilano? ‘Lucky guy.’ She’d always got on well with Dave but after Hunter had left town, she’d deliberately stayed clear of his best friend. Seemed easier than being reminded about him all the time. ‘Two anklebiters, eh? Who’d have thought?’ Dave being the focused, suit type at one of the country’s leading banks didn’t seem the man to change dirty diapers or calm a crying toddler to sleep. Guess some people shifted focus when needed.

One day she’d like to have children. If she ever again went out with a man long enough to establish a loving relationship. Which wasn’t exactly her life plan at the moment. Possibly never would be. Two failed relationships had kind of opened her eyes and brought caution to the fore.

‘His wife would agree with you. She pinches herself every morning.’

Did Hunter want a family? He used to say he did. But then he used to look happy. Her skin tightened. He’d said we, remember? He might already have a brood. It was none of her business. She had to remember this was Hunter, a man she’d once loved, and now didn’t. Though there was no denying how often she’d wondered if he still lived in the Okanagan, and if he’d continued training as a paramedic or had returned to his original career as a nurse. She’d be patient and who knew what she’d learn over the coming days?

As long as she remembered the past had to remain where it belonged, she’d be safe from the little vibe of heat trickling through her right now. Dropping the talk of family, Brenna answered his earlier query. ‘I like the challenges of rescue work. Landing in a field one day, dropping into the bush on a wire cable on another, bringing in a mum and her baby from an outlying sound in a storm.’

‘Seems like you’ve become an adrenalin junkie.’

‘It’s a way of using up excess energy.’ The one thing she was never short of.

‘Brenna, we’re on,’ Andy called from beyond the door. ‘There’s been a car versus bull out near Richmond.’

Relieved, Brenna placed the coffee jar back on the shelf and brushed past Hunter, aiming for the door, trying not to suck up a noseful of his scent. But he still used that spicy aftershave, the one she’d introduced him to as a birthday present during their first year together. Thank goodness she no longer sprayed the fragrance she’d worn back then over her skin every morning. That would be too much.

‘Let’s go,’ she snapped. Her head was pounding, and she needed to be busy.

Hunter followed, grabbing the pack she indicated with a tip of her head. She was running hot and cold with him. This was unknown territory. How did a person act towards the man she’d loved with everything she had after he’d walked away so long ago?

‘You want me in the back?’ Hunter asked as they approached the chopper.

‘Take your pick.’ She leapt aboard and stowed her bag before sinking onto a seat, clipping safety belts in place and donning a helmet. ‘Hey, Andy, how was your weekend?’

‘You missed a great party, Brenna. Like seriously great.’

‘Them’s the breaks. Anyway, we had quite the shindig at Whistler after the last race. Lots of ice cream and hot chocolate.’

Hunter joined her, pulled on his helmet, looking confident and relaxed, apparently not afraid to face the monkey in the small space. ‘You’re into ski racing now?’

‘Not quite. Photographing the participants is my thing. Which often means going as fast as the racers. I’m the doctor for a local school team and end up with more photos than broken bones at competitions.’ When Hunter’s eyes widened Brenna shrugged helplessly. This situation was spooking her. Made that morning’s traffic woes a doddle. Hunter was sitting beside her. Unreal. A deep breath and she spoke into the headset mouthpiece. ‘Andy, have you met Hunter? He’s covering for Patch.’

‘Welcome aboard, Hunter.’ The rotors were spinning, and the engine noise was increasing rapidly. ‘We’ll talk later.’

Brenna creased her brows together, clasped her hands in a tight fist on her lap and spilled the question that was itching like a hornet sting, ‘Why Vancouver?’ Why Kitsilano when there were lots of suburbs to choose from? ‘You get run out of Kamloops?’

He grimaced. ‘Not quite.’ Then his gaze met hers. ‘I’ve got through the last years by keeping the idea of returning here at the front of my mind.’

That bad, huh? Her heart melted a little for him. Then it froze up again. Had he not once thought how this might upset her? Obviously not. Then again, ask her an hour ago how she’d have felt about Hunter returning to her city and she’d have shrugged and asked, ‘What’s the problem?’

They’d first met in Vancouver General’s ED while working with a badly haemorrhaging patient. She’d been in her last year as an intern, gearing up to specialise in emergency medicine, and he had been tossing up where to go next. Hitting it off instantly, with sparks flying and the temperature rising, Hunter had asked her out for a drink at the bar next door where hospital staff flocked every day, and they had become inseparable overnight. Literally.

It had been wonderful. Until the day he’d received the call from his mother and had had to get home fast. End of relationship. End of story. Except now he was back on her turf, looking amazing. So strong, yet wary, sexy yet—Sexy. Her teeth ground together. ‘Sounds like you have unfinished business here,’ she muttered around the sudden yearning clogging her throat. That wouldn’t be her.

‘It’s more about being somewhere I’m comfortable. Some place I can make things work for both of us.’

Brenna’s face tightened at the reminder he wasn’t alone. The yearning slowly abated, and she began to focus on what she was here for. Pressing the button on her mic, she asked in a monotone, ‘What are the details, Andy? I didn’t get the brief.’ Too busy trying to ignore the fact she had to work with Hunter.

‘Three male teens in the car, going to the skating rink for hockey training. Rounded a corner and smacked into a bull that’d escaped from the field. The beast took out the right front of the car. An ambulance is there, along with the fire crew, who are cutting the vehicle apart so you can retrieve the lads.’

‘Messy,’ Hunter commented, sitting a little straighter, immediately focused on what lay ahead. ‘There’ll likely be blunt force trauma injuries for the two in the front seats. Are we the only air base responders?’

Andy answered, ‘The second crew’s warming up. They won’t be far behind us.’

‘You’d better be landing on the road,’ Brenna muttered. ‘There might be more bulls wandering around in the field.’ She wasn’t a big fan of cattle, or any livestock. A city girl through and through, she preferred sheep on a plate as chops, and her beef definitely as steak, medium rare.

‘I’ll see what I can find.’ Andy laughed.

Looking at Hunter, she grimaced. ‘You’ll be in your element.’ Having grown up in the country, he’d have no fear of animals with hard heads.

‘I learned to be cautious around cattle after my quad-bike accident.’

‘Here we go,’ Andy told them. ‘Looks like the beast’s been put out of its misery.’

Glancing down, Brenna noted the large animal on its side at the edge of the road, none of the emergency personnel taking any notice of it. Relief sneaked under her skin. Total focus was what mattered, and not on a bull. Nor on the temporary paramedic.

At the car wreck Brenna appraised the situation and listened to the ambulance officer’s observations. The teens looked too young to be driving but according to a fireman two of the boys were seventeen.

‘We’ll see to the front passenger,’ Brenna told Hunter. He’d taken the brunt of the impact. ‘Carl and Nick will see to the driver when they arrive. The ambulance crew will continue with him until they get here, then take care of the boy in the back. His injuries aren’t so serious and a road transfer’s possible.’

Hunter squatted down beside the lad she’d indicated as their patient. ‘Hello, there. I’m Hunter and this is Brenna.’ Hunter’s and her names in one sentence. She shivered. ‘We’re here to look after you. What’s your name?’

‘Johnny.’

‘How old are you, Johnny?’ Brenna asked. How alert was the lad?

‘Um, fourteen? Seventeen. Yes, seventeen.’ His mind was wandering, a sure sign of a possible neurological injury.

‘You were going to the skating rink?’ Hunter was digging into his pack for a neck brace.

Brenna began assessing Johnny’s injuries. This was like old times: different setting, same questions and empathy for their patient. Different feelings for her medical partner. Kneeling opposite Hunter, memories flooded in of them working together. It was a struggle to ignore the flare of awareness that came with those.

Patient first, Brenna. Patient second, and last.

They needed to put that neck brace on Johnny in case of vertebrae injuries before anything else. Together they got it on, then she put her finger on the boy’s pulse: rapid and erratic. Was he bleeding somewhere? With her other hand she felt under the boy’s body, touched a sticky spot.

Johnny cried out.

‘Easy. We’ll give you something for the pain shortly.’ In an aside she told Hunter, ‘Torn tissue on the left side of his thigh.’

He nodded.

‘H-how are my mates?’ His breathing was rapid and shallow.

Without checking, Hunter told him, ‘They’re doing okay.’

Good move. Johnny didn’t need anything else to worry about. ‘Breathe long and slow, try not to panic. We’re here to look after you.’

Hunter repeated a question to the teen, ‘Where were you guys going so early in the morning?’ By doing that, they’d know if he began losing awareness and if the neurological dysfunction had worsened.

‘Soccer. No, hockey practice,’ Johnny cried. ‘This isn’t fair. I’ll miss the championships and I’ve worked so hard for them all winter.’ He struggled to push up on his elbows and screamed as pain twisted his face.

Brenna gently pressed him back against the car seat, her fingers then doing a quick, light assessment of his left arm. ‘Don’t move, Johnny. I’ll get you something for that pain.’ They needed to administer morphine before he was lifted out of the wreck. In a quiet aside to Hunter she added, ‘Fractured left humerus.’ Glancing lower, she inhaled deeply. ‘Also the tib and fib on the same side.’

‘Add in some ribs where the airbag slammed him, I think.’ Hunter nodded grimly, then added in a quiet aside to her, ‘He’s got a tough road ahead before he’s back on the ice.’

‘Of all the bad luck.’ After Hunter checked the vial with her, Brenna began drawing up morphine. ‘Right.’ She leaned close to their patient. ‘Johnny, I’m giving you something to stop the pain. Just a little prick in your upper arm, okay?’

Johnny didn’t even murmur as the needle slid under his skin.

‘Ready to lift him out when you are.’ A fireman leaned down.

‘We need splints on the left leg and arm, then we’ll be good to go.’ Hunter took a cardboard splint someone handed him and nodded to Brenna.

Working in sync, the splints were quickly in place and Johnny was being lifted from what remained of his seat and laid on a stretcher, leaving behind a pool of congealing blood where he’d sat.

Hunter immediately hunkered down to begin taking more obs, asking the lad questions to keep him focused.

Impressed, yet not surprised, with his total concentration on the job, Brenna cut away Johnny’s track pants to ascertain the injuries to his thigh and buttock. Her fingers found the source of the haemorrhage, and instantly Hunter passed across thick cotton pads to apply pressure before taping them in place. It was like they were meant to be together. Each knowing what the other needed. Hell, they’d been like that in bed too. In most aspects of their lives. Except when he’d left her. Another shiver down her spine jerked her back to Johnny. She was the one who needed to concentrate.

‘How’s your lad?’ Brenna asked Carl over her shoulder.

‘Breathing difficulties, a piercing from the windscreen wiper in his chest.’ Then Carl added, ‘Air’s building up in his lungs. We need him on the way ASAP, before his lungs can’t take in any more oxygen.’

If the boy’s breathing had been compromised, then the lungs would eventually malfunction. She made an abrupt decision. ‘We’ll send him first. Just say when you need to lift him out of there.’

‘Now.’ Within minutes the second teen was out of the wreck and lying on a stretcher, being carried to a chopper.

‘What about the third boy?’ Brenna asked.

The fireman answered. ‘Loaded in the ambulance and about to go. He suffered whiplash and a bang to the head that might’ve caused concussion. He’s the luckiest of them.’

‘Johnny, open your eyes,’ Hunter said. ‘Johnny.’

Reaching for Johnny’s wrist, Brenna felt for his pulse. ‘Slow. Erratic. How’s that bleeding?’

‘I’m applying another pressure bandage over the top.’

‘We’ll load him as soon as you’ve done that.’ Listening to Johnny’s chest through her stethoscope, Brenna breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I don’t think there’s any damage to the lungs, but I still want him on the way ASAP.’

Firemen lifted the stretcher on board their aircraft. All the time Johnny was groaning as tears flowed down his cheeks. ‘I want to skate. Put my boots on.’

It wasn’t happening any time soon, but no one was about to tell him. It would be bad enough when the traffic cops talked to him later about his friend’s driving as the car had been seen by the farmer racing along the road moments prior to the impact.

In their helicopter Hunter continued talking to him, keeping him calm. Then he glanced up and nodded to her. ‘You okay with this?’

‘Of course,’ she told him, sitting back into her seat and buckling in for the flight. She kept watching from under lowered eyelids, as though her eyes were drawn to him without any input from her brain. The red overalls didn’t detract from the body filling them out. Like the exhaustion falling off him didn’t tone down the raw handsomeness of his face. A face that used to turn her on with a smile, make her blood boil with anger when he was being stubborn, show compassion when she was struggling to cope with study and her dad’s illness.

No wonder her next relationship hadn’t lasted. There wasn’t a man out there who came close to Hunter. So much for believing she’d got over him. There was still a way to go. Starting now.

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