‘Coming on to you!’

Selina gasped. ‘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 of.’

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 to make such a comment!

‘I’m sorry, Selina. I spoke without thinking. It’s just that in the past I have been propositioned and…well, I don’t like it. So do please dry your eyes and tell me I’m forgiven for being such an insensitive clod.’

She threw him a watery smile.

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

‘What?’

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

Abigail Gordon loves to write about the fascinating combination of medicine and romance from her home in a village in Cheshire, England. She is active in local affairs and is even called upon to write the script for the annual village pantomime! Her eldest son is a hospital manager and helps with all her medical research. As part of a close-knit family, she treasures having two of her sons living close by and the third one not too far away. This also gives her the added pleasure of being able to watch her delightful grandchildren growing up.

Recent titles by the same author:

EMERGENCY RESCUE

THE NURSE’S CHALLENGE

Paramedic Partners

Abigail Gordon

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

CHAPTER ONE

THE breakfast pots had been washed, the beds made, the washer switched on, the letter from her father-in-law in the morning post dutifully read, and now Selina was about to top up her tan on a sunlounger in the back garden.

Creamed against the powerful rays of a midsummer sun and wearing a black bikini, she was looking forward to some prime time by herself. Shutting her ears to the noises coming from the main street of the village, which was only yards away, she sank down thankfully onto the soft upholstery.

Two whole days, she thought thankfully. Time to recharge her batteries before going back on the unit for night duty.

Tomorrow there was to be a fête on the village green they might go to, and there was a film on in the town centre that she wouldn’t mind seeing afterwards.

But today she was going to potter. Sunbathe for a while, have a leisurely lunch and then later make a nice meal for the two of them.

When the phone rang she groaned. Letting the magazine she’d brought out with her fall to the ground, Selina eased herself off the sunbed and padded inside.

The voice at the other end of the phone belonged to the head teacher at Josh’s school, and her face blanched as he said in subdued tones, ‘I’m glad I’ve caught you in, Mrs Sanderson. I’m afraid that your son has had an accident.’

‘What do you mean?’ she cried. ‘What kind of an accident?’

‘He ran out of the school yard onto the main road to retrieve a ball during breaktime and into the path of an oncoming car.’

Don’t let him be dead, she prayed as dread turned the blood in her veins to ice. Not my little one. I can’t take any more.

‘We’re not sure how badly hurt he is,’ he went on. ‘We haven’t moved him under the circumstances and an ambulance is on its way.’

So at least Josh was alive, she thought frantically, but for how long?

‘Tell the paramedics to wait for me,’ she shrieked into the receiver, and before he’d had time to reply she was flinging open the hall cupboard and throwing on a long raincoat to cover the bikini, at the same time forcing her feet into the nearest footwear to hand, which happened to be the trainers she wore for jogging.

She was at the junior school on the outskirts of the village within minutes, and she didn’t have to search for the scene of the accident. The ambulance was already there, standing purposefully at the kerbside outside the gates. Even if it hadn’t been, the crowd that had gathered would have been indication enough.

As she flung herself out of the car and began to push past the onlookers with frantic haste, Selina’s horrified gaze was on the small figure of her son, lying very still at the pavement edge.

A paramedic was bending over him and another was stepping down from the ambulance with a red response bag in his hands.

‘I’m his mother,’ she cried, falling to her knees on the other side of the small casualty with hands outstretched to do the things she’d done countless times…for other people’s children.

The man bending over her son was examining him with deft yet gentle hands. Beside herself with panic, she cried, ‘Have you checked that he’s breathing? For spinal injuries? That his tongue is free? That his tubes aren’t—?’

He didn’t lift his head.

‘Yes. I have,’ he informed her levelly, ‘as far as is possible under the circumstances. Now we need to get the boy to hospital as quickly as possible.’

‘Roll him onto a backboard,’ she ordered. ‘I don’t want Josh risking further injury by being handled too much.’

Selina wasn’t aware of the brief appraisal of a pair of dark eyes, or that the man’s voice when he spoke again wasn’t quite as impersonal as before.

‘We’re going to do that. So if you would, please, stand back?’

She could hardly bear to move an inch away from Josh, but heaven forbid that she should behave like other hysterical relatives she’d seen, hindering the progress of the ambulance team.

‘I’m coming with you,’ she cried.

‘Of course,’ he said crisply, and within seconds they were off, with the siren blaring and the light flashing above the fast-moving ambulance with its distinctive coloured flashes.

Instinctively Selina reached across for the advance support bag containing the equipment that would be needed if Josh went into cardiac arrest or if his airways became blocked. But a voice from beside her, which was heating up by the moment, cried, ‘Do you mind? I’m in charge of this vehicle. You may be the boy’s mother, but I’m the paramedic and I have everything under control. At least I would have if you could resist trying to take over. I understand your great anxiety but do, please, leave it to me.’

As if realising for the first time that he was in charge, Selina just sat and blinked at him.

‘As you can see,’ he continued, ‘we have your son on a backboard to prevent further spinal injury, should there be any, and we’ve tied his legs together as the left one is almost certainly fractured. The cuts on his head and arms are mostly superficial, except for the gash on the temple…and I will be monitoring his heart all the time we’re in transit. Does that satisfy you?’

The younger man, who had taken over the driving, turned his head at that moment. He could have been invisible for all the notice Selina had taken of him so far, but now he was registering, and when he spoke she recognised the voice and the face.

‘She’s one of us, Kane,’ Mike Thompson explained.

In his second year of training, and referred to by those in the know as an ambulance technician, he was a reserved sort of young man who never had much to say, but it was obvious that he felt some sort of explanation was due, and towards that end he went on to explain awkwardly, ‘Selina’s on the unit.’

The other man groaned, and said to Selina, ‘So that’s why you’re trying to take over. I get the picture.’

At that moment Josh opened his eyes, and as he did so both men were once more blurred figures on the edge of her nightmare.

‘Mum, I hurt all over,’ he said tearfully. ‘I was hit by a car. Where’s Dad?’ He’ll make it better.’

‘I know what’s happened, my darling,’ she said softly. ‘You’re in an ambulance on the way to hospital. They’ll make you better there.’

‘I want my dad,’ he wailed. ‘It’s not fair.’

Selina swallowed hard. In the shock of the accident Josh was trying to put the clock back and, aware of the man hovering watchfully beside her, she said soothingly, ‘I know. But you do know that he would have been here if he could, don’t you?’

Josh nodded glumly and turned his head into the flat pillow beneath it.

‘So he can move his neck,’ the strange paramedic said. ‘That’s good. And apart from the fractured limb, the rest of him seems to be flexible enough. They said at the school that the car driver wasn’t going very fast and that your son bounced sideways off the bonnet, which probably saved his life.’

Selina nodded bleakly. It was something to be thankful for, but there would be questions she would be asking about supervision in the playground. Though at the moment all that mattered was Josh.

The ambulance was turning into the hospital car park and as she raised herself from her kneeling position beside her son, the old coat that she’d flung on swung open and an expanse of bare midriff was briefly on view.

She must look like nothing on earth, she thought raggedly as she clutched it to her. Trainers, the briefest of bikinis…and a raincoat that didn’t button properly. A far cry from the neat navy trousers and crisp white blouse that would have been her normal attire had she been taking a call-out such as this while on duty.

As the bossy paramedic wheeled Josh into Casualty, Selina was beside him, holding his hand and hoping that Gavin would be on duty.

He was. He’d just come out of one of the cubicles, and as he swished the curtains together behind him he saw them.

His glance went first to Selina’s white face and then flicked to Josh.

‘What’s happened?’ he asked as he hurried across to them.

‘Josh has been knocked down by a car,’ she choked out. ‘The paramedic says he has a fractured leg and there might be other injuries.’

Light blue eyes in a tired face met hers. ‘And what’s your opinion?’

‘I’m so worked up I can’t even think straight.’

He patted her shoulder briefly. ‘Let’s get him sorted then, shall we?’

The moment Josh was rolled off the backboard onto the bed in an empty cubicle, Mike Thompson and his unknown colleague stepped back, their job done, and at that point Selina began to calm down a little.

Now that Josh was in hospital, with Gavin there to take over and with a nurse hovering, she was able to take stock of the man who must obviously be Charlie’s replacement.

Selina had worked with Charlie Vaughan ever since joining the ambulance unit, and now, at the end of her second year of training, she was having to part company with the man who had been with the ambulance service for thirty years and was about to retire.

If it hadn’t been for Charlie’s never-failing good humour and infinite patience during that time, both with herself and those he served, Selina knew she might have given up.

The hours were long, and there was always trauma of one kind or another awaiting them when a call came through, but there was job satisfaction, too…lots of it.

Charlie had said the other day that a paramedic from another area was to replace him and Selina had a feeling that the man eyeing her unsmilingly from the other side of Josh’s bed could be he.

He was tall and loose-limbed, with a shock of dark hair above a face that might have been described as hawk-like if it hadn’t been so arresting. His eyes were deep brown and very cool, his mouth a straight line, and she had a sudden sinking feeling that partnering this man was going to be a different ball game to working with Charlie.

‘Kane’s replacing Charlie,’ the monosyllabic Mike said, as if reading her mind, and Selina nodded, while the man in question continued to eye her silently.

What was the matter with him? she thought irritably. He’d had enough to say in the ambulance. Maybe he was waiting for some comment from her? Meeting his glance, she said stiffly, ‘I see. I thought that might be it, but I’ll have to ask you to excuse me. All I can think of at the moment is that my son is hurt.’ Her voice broke.

‘I took him to school myself,’ she croaked to no one in particular. ‘Saw him safely into the playground and watched his class file in and now…now I’m told that he’s been knocked down by a car.’

‘I’m sending Josh for X-rays on his leg and spine,’ Gavin said gently. ‘Buck up, Selina. He’ll be frightened if he sees you upset.’

She blinked back the tears that were threatening.

‘Yes, you’re right. Let’s go, then.’

The man in the white coat, who was as familiar to her as her own face, nodded. ‘I’ll be waiting when you get back,’ he promised.

When she looked up, Mike and the new man had gone. Back to base, no doubt, to await the next red alert or whatever else came through that needed their attention.

As they set off down the corridor, with the nurse pushing the bed and Selina holding tightly onto Josh’s hand, Gavin called after them. ‘By the way, I like the outfit, Selina.’

She managed a smile.

‘I was sunbathing.’

‘I’d never have guessed,’ he said with a smile of his own.

* * *

Josh had been lucky. The X-rays showed no spinal injuries, but he had sustained a fracture of the tibia of his right leg. The break was across the shaft, for which Selina was thankful as fractures of the lower part of the tibia often resulted in a fragmented ankle bone that had to be repaired by surgery, whereas in Josh’s case, a plaster cast on the leg for approximately six weeks should see the bone healed.

‘I’m keeping him in for a couple of days just as a precaution,’ Gavin said when the cast had been applied, ‘and as it goes without saying that you won’t be budging from his side once he’s settled into the children’s ward, why not go home and change out of your fancy dress? I’ll keep an eye on Josh until they find him a bed.’

‘I might just do that,’ she said. ‘I’d hate your staff to think that your sister’s eccentric…and, dear brother, am I glad that you’ve chosen to do a stint in Accident and Emergency.’

He shrugged. ‘In a crazy sort of way I’m enjoying it. It’s a case of you ambulance folks bringing ’em in, and my lot sorting ’em out.’

Selina shuddered. ‘And in this case it was Josh that they wheeled in. I can’t stop thinking that he might have been killed.’

As she was making her way to the main reception area to telephone for a taxi she saw the two paramedics coming towards her. Remembering how her introduction to the new man had been somewhat heated, Selina said awkwardly, ‘I see you’re back already.’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Another red alert came through before we’d got back to base and, having delivered the patient to A and E once more, we’re on our way back again. How’s the boy?’ he went on.

‘He’s got a fractured tibia, which has just been put in plaster, and my, er…Gavin is keeping Josh in for a couple of days. There were no obvious spinal injuries, but he isn’t taking any chances and wants to keep him under observation for a while.’

He nodded.

‘Good.’

Dark eyes were flicking over her and momentarily a smile tugged at his mouth.

‘I take it that you’re going home to change. We’ll drop you off if you like.’

‘I’m starving,’ Mike put in. ‘If you’re taking Selina home, I’ll have a bite in the restaurant here and you can pick me up on the way back.’

Selina hesitated. Another encounter with the man who was going to be featuring prominently in her working life in days to come didn’t appeal. But for him to take her home and bring her back almost immediately when he came to pick up Mike would be so much quicker than any other way, and she didn’t want to be away from Josh for a moment longer than necessary. He was happy enough with his Uncle Gavin, but it was her he needed the most…and his absent father.

But if she started thinking about Dave she would go to pieces completely and that wouldn’t help anybody, especially Josh.

She smiled.

‘That’s an offer I can’t refuse. I’m so anxious to get back to Josh.’ She looked down at the shapeless raincoat and, thinking of what it was concealing, told him, ‘I was sunbathing when I got the call from the school and I threw on the first things that came to hand. I don’t remember if I locked the door even, so I do need to go home for a few minutes.’

‘Let’s get moving, then,’ he said flatly, as if he thought she was gabbling somewhat.

When she climbed in beside him Selina was aware that, if what Mike had said was correct, this man was replacing Charlie. That was how it was going to be in future, and a bigger contrast to the amiable sixty year-old she couldn’t imagine.

As they pulled out of the city limits he said, ‘I suppose I’d better introduce myself.’ Taking a hand off the steering-wheel for a moment, he offered it to her. ‘Kane Kavener is the name, and the station officer has told me that you and I will be working together.’

His grasp was firm as they shook hands briefly. Selina thought illogically that it was like the man as there seemed to be nothing limp about…what was it he’d said his name was? Kane Kavener?

‘What they’ve told you is correct,’ she confirmed as their hands fell apart. ‘Charlie Vaughan, who I’ve worked with ever since joining the ambulance service, retired yesterday and so I’m short of a partner.’

‘So, what stage of training are you up to?’ he asked. ‘You’re not a paramedic?’

Selina shook her head.

‘No. Not yet. But I hope to be soon. I’ve done my year as a trainee and am almost at the end of a second year as an ambulance technician. As we both know, the next step is to take my paramedic exams.’

‘Who looks after the boy while you’re working?’ he questioned. ‘His father?’

‘Er…no. My brother and his wife live nearby and she looks after Josh, along with her own two children, while I’m at work.’

He nodded.

‘I see.’

Selina was observing him warily. What was he doing? Assessing her to see if she would be pulling her weight when they were on call-out? Or what?

‘How old is Josh?’

‘Nine,’ she replied briefly, ‘and he’s an only child.’

She was beginning to feel as if it was time that she did a bit of probing of her own.

‘Where have you moved from?’ she asked casually.

‘I’ve been living and working down south. This is my first experience of a northern city. I’d hoped to settle here a couple of weeks ago to give me some breathing space, but something cropped up and I only arrived yesterday.’

‘And you’re already on the job!’ she exclaimed. ‘That seems a bit much.’

He shrugged as if it was of no consequence. ‘My contract said that I start today, and today it is.’

She was giving him directions and he said, ‘I take it that working in the inner city is enough. You don’t choose to live there?’

‘That’s correct. I live in a Pennine village that isn’t too far away for commuting and is a better place to bring Josh up in.’

When they stopped outside the neat stone cottage, which had seemed like a paradise when Dave had been around and now was just a place to live, Kane settled back into the driving seat and said, ‘I’ll wait. Do whatever you have to do. If any calls come through, I’ll radio back to base and explain what’s happened and where I am.’

Selina hesitated. The least she could do was invite him in.

‘Don’t wait out here. You can make yourself a drink while I’m changing.’

‘You’re sure?’

‘Yes.’

He opened the door and stepped onto the pavement, observing the house as he did so.

‘Nice. Have you always lived in the area?’

She nodded, wishing as she did so that he would leave it at that.

He did and, after directing him into the kitchen and showing him where she kept tea, coffee and suchlike, she went into the hall and took off the drab raincoat.

Selina paused for the briefest of moments as the bikini was revealed. She sighed. It seemed like a lifetime since she’d padded out into the garden to sun herself.

Framed in the mirror opposite was a woman with straight golden hair fastened back in a ponytail, slender almost to the point of being too thin, with violet eyes behind long lashes and a kind mouth.

The men on the unit often joked that she should be on the catwalk instead of the paramedic treadmill, but she only laughed when they said it. Ever since she’d joined the St John’s Ambulance Service while still at school Selina had known where she was heading.

But her mother’s long illness, her father’s incapacitation until he, too, had passed away and then becoming pregnant with Josh almost as soon as she and Dave had married had put a hold on career plans until a couple of years ago.

At that moment the kitchen door swung back and Kane Kavener was standing there with the coffee-jar in his hands.

‘It’s empty. Shall I er…?’ His voice trailed away when he saw her, and there was something in his glance that made her face grow warm.

‘Open a new one? Yes. You’ll find one in the cupboard,’ she said quickly, and with an about-turn she ran up the stairs.

Within seconds she was back down, dressed in a white cotton top and denim cropped trousers, and carrying a small holdall.

He put down the mug he was holding and with the other hand replaced the photograph of Dave and herself that he’d picked up from the window shelf.

‘Your husband?’ he asked casually.

‘Yes,’ she told him quietly, ‘and if you’re wondering why he isn’t here when his son is asking for him…’

He raised his hand with palm outwards to halt the flow of words.

‘Not my business. It just seemed a shame, that was all. Josh wanting him and him not being there, but fathers have a living to earn. They can’t always be around.’

‘Dave is dead,’ she told him tonelessly. ‘He died of cancer a year ago.’

Kane’s face went slack. ‘I’m sorry. So sorry! It must be very hard for you.’

‘It is,’ she said simply. ‘But there has never been anyone to tell us that life is fair, has there?’

‘No, indeed,’ he agreed soberly.

Wishing that she’d been a bit less upfront with her affairs, she said, ‘Are you ready?’

‘Of course…and make sure that you lock up this time.’

Not another word passed between them on the way back but Selina thought that she’d said enough already, considering they’d only met hours ago. But at least he would have her sussed for when she turned in for duty—he would have found out her circumstances sooner or later.

Kane Kavener hadn’t been very forthcoming about himself, though, had he? A quick glance at his inscrutable profile was a reminder that if she’d been upfront about herself to the man who was to be her new partner, he wasn’t prepared to paint a picture of himself for her.

When he stopped on the hospital forecourt he spoke for the first time.

‘I’m told that you’re due back on duty the day after tomorrow, and that would have been our first day together, but obviously your son’s accident will have changed that.’

Selina nodded.

‘Yes. I’ll be staying with Josh until he comes out of hospital and will want to be with him the first few days after he comes home while he adjusts to the plaster cast and moving around on crutches. Once that’s sorted he’ll be all right with my sister-in-law, Jill.’ She cast an anxious glance at the door marked OUTPATIENTS. ‘Just as long as there are no unforeseen complications from the accident.’

‘I hope that won’t be the case for both your sakes,’ he said gravely, then added, with his voice lightening, ‘Can I take it that you won’t be bossing me about when we start working together?

She gave a weak smile.

‘You mean like this morning?’

‘Hmm. Although I do admit there were extenuating circumstances.’

‘You’ll have to wait and see, won’t you?’ she said smoothly, and on that note she opened the door and was gone.

Josh had just been settled into the children’s ward when she got there, and now that his leg was more comfortable and his cuts and bruises had been treated he was feeling more cheerful and ready to enjoy the novelty of the situation he found himself in.

When Selina appeared at his bedside he looked up at her with the bright blue eyes that were so like Dave’s and said, ‘I know that Dad is dead, Mum. I don’t know why I said what I did.’

‘You were hurt and frightened, my darling,’ she said softly, ‘and wanted your dad as well as your mum. It was understandable, and although Dad isn’t with us anymore he’ll be watching over you somewhere, I’m sure.’

He was smiling.

‘Do you think they have traffic accidents in heaven…like when they get onto the wrong cloud or have a skid on the Milky Way?’

Selina laughed and there was relief in it because he was joking about Dave now, not crying for him.

Gavin had gone off duty. By now he would be home and would have told Jill what had happened. Her sister-in-law, who was also her closest friend, would be horrified.

By nine o’clock that evening Josh was fast asleep after his distressing day, and one of the nurses on the children’s ward said, ‘He’s happy enough with us, Mrs Sanderson. Why don’t you go home and get some rest? We’ll ring you if there are any problems.’

‘All right,’ she agreed reluctantly, ‘but I’ll be here by six o’clock in the morning.’

* * *

Gavin and Jill lived in a big Victorian semi by the village green and, before letting herself into the cottage, Selina called in to see them.

‘How awful for you both!’ her petite sister-in-law said, hugging her close. ‘Whatever were the school thinking of to let Josh run out on to the road like that?’

‘I don’t know,’ Selina said sombrely, ‘but I have a feeling that it might have been his own fault. He tells me that when the ball went over the wall his friends were all urging him to go and get it and while the playground supervisor’s back was turned he lifted the chain off the gate and ran out. But even so I shall be having a talk with the headmaster once I’ve calmed down.’

Gavin sighed. ‘Show a boy a ball and he undergoes a complete change of personality. How is he now?’

‘He was asleep when I left him, but I’ll be back there first thing.’

* * *

In the double bed that she’d once shared with Dave, Selina found she couldn’t sleep. Pictures of the day’s happenings kept going through her mind like shots from a horror movie, and mingled with them was the memory of the meeting with her new partner, Kane Kavener.

Where was he sleeping tonight? she wondered. He would have finished the day shift at seven o’clock and what then? Gone for a meal? Finished his unpacking? Or was there someone waiting for him, eager to hear how his first day had gone?

Why had she been in such a hurry to tell him she was a widow? she asked herself. She hated the sound of the word. For one thing it was a reminder that Dave wasn’t around any more, and for another it was like having a badge pinned on her, indicating that she was once again available. A marriageable woman. But not without strings attached. The ‘string’ in her case was an adorable fair-haired boy, whom she could have lost if a certain motorist hadn’t been driving slowly…and hadn’t clapped on his brakes as fast as he had.

Maybe at the back of her mind, when she’d said what she had, had been the memory of a couple of passes that men had made at her in recent weeks.

She’d quickly rebuffed them and afterwards had thought tearfully that she hated being in the position of a lone woman.

And so why should it be any different with him? she asked herself. She didn’t know. But something about Kane had told her that he wasn’t the chatting-up type. And why, for heaven’s sake, was she taking it for granted that he might be even remotely interested in anything concerning her?

In the end she got up, showered, made herself a quick breakfast in the summer dawn, then set off for the hospital once more.

* * *

Josh was discharged on Sunday morning, and as he swung himself along the garden path on a small pair of crutches Selina was just glad to have him home again.

‘One of the paramedics came in to see me last night after you’d gone, Mum,’ he’d said earlier when she’d arrived on the ward.

‘Really! Which one?’

‘The new one…Kane.’

‘That’s strange!’ she exclaimed. ‘He would have been off duty by then.’

‘Mmm, he was. He brought me some comics and sweets…and told me to look where I was going in future. He asked where you were and I said you’d gone home to have a rest.’

‘I see.’

She didn’t really. It had been a kind thought, but was it because he was sorry for them both?

Jill, Gavin and their three-year-old twin daughters called round in the afternoon, and after the tension of the last few days it was nice to have the house filled with noise and laughter.

‘So what about next week?’ Jill asked as they were leaving. ‘When are you going back to work?’

‘Not until I’m happy to leave Josh,’ she told her. ‘You’ve got your hands full with the twins and I don’t want to make life difficult for you.’

‘You won’t be,’ Jill told her serenely. ‘We’re used to having him around and the twins are fascinated by the crutches.’

‘Then in that case I might go in on Tuesday. I should have been on nights today and tomorrow, but the station officer has arranged for one of the other trainees to fill in for me. Which means that I’ll be going back to day shifts.’ She paused and then added meaningfully, ‘With my new partner.’

‘And who might that be?’ Gavin asked.

‘The paramedic who came out to Josh.’

‘So you’ve already met?’

‘Yes, we’ve already met,’ she said glumly.

He laughed.

‘And what did he think of your trendy outfit?’

What had he thought? she wondered. Especially when he’d seen what had been under the raincoat.

‘Cheer up, sis,’ he said reassuringly. ‘Wait till he sees you in action. You’ll knock him cold.’

‘I hope not,’ she said with gloom still upon her. ‘He’s not exactly the warmest person I’ve ever met.’

CHAPTER TWO

AS HE’D let himself into a soulless flat in a high-rise block in the city centre on the Friday night, Kane’s mind had been on his meeting with Selina Sanderson earlier in the day.

First there’d been the ride in the ambulance when, mother of the victim or not, he’d wanted to throttle her for trying to take over.

At that time he hadn’t known who she was, and he’d been thinking ever since what a bizarre way it had been of getting to know each other.

Then there’d been the brief visit to her home and the glimpse of what she hadn’t been wearing beneath the raincoat. She was quite something in an understated way, he thought as he filled the kettle at a well-used stainless-steel sink.

It was sad that she’d lost her husband so young. Even more sad had been the youngster crying for the dad he wasn’t ever going to see again.

As he soaped himself under the shower it occurred to him that it was the first time in days he’d thought about anyone but himself.

It had taken the frantic young mother and the injured child to make him take a good look at himself, and he wasn’t too chuffed at what he was seeing.

You need to snap out of it, he told himself. It’s over and done with. You came out of it with your reputation untarnished, so what’s the problem?

It didn’t make him feel any less angry, though, and future working partners of the opposite sex would be kept at a wary arm’s length…even if they were leggy, blonde and appealing.

He’d never had trouble with women before. They were attracted to him for some reason and he’d had some pretty interesting relationships.

Yet they’d never lasted. There’d never been anyone that he’d wanted to make a commitment to. Of all things, he didn’t like to be pursued and that was how it had been with Eve Richards.

It still made his skin crawl when he thought about what she’d done, even though it had come to light that there’d been extenuating circumstances.

He’d decided to move as far away as he could get from her, and when she’d found out Eve had complained that she’d been sexually harassed by him.

If he hadn’t been so devastated it might have been amusing, as she had been the one guilty of that. From the moment she’d been assigned to him as an ambulance technician she had been like an infatuated limpet. Touching him whenever the opportunity arose. Buying him gifts. Inviting him out to lunch. And in the end blatantly asking him to sleep with her.

If she’d been the last woman on earth he wouldn’t have wanted to do that. She was reasonably attractive in a sloppy sort of way, but definitely not his type, and in the end he had asked for her to be partnered with another woman.

The station officer had been sympathetic, but new rotas and staff shortages had meant that the move had been a long time coming and in the end Kane had decided that the only thing to do had been to remove himself from her orbit.

There was a hysterical scene when she knew he was going and the next thing was the complaint against him. It was his word against hers and he knew with a sinking feeling that a woman was often believed in that sort of situation.

But where the station officer had been slow in the first instance, he moved quickly when the complaint was made and had the authorities delve into Eve Richards’s records.

They discovered that she’d been treated for a severe mental disorder in the past and it had been overlooked when she’d applied to join the ambulance service.

It made him feel less angry with Eve but furious with those responsible for him having to endure such harassment, even more so because their patients could have been put at risk by her unstable behaviour.

For weeks he didn’t know whether he was coming or going. Whether he would be suspended. Whether the position in the north that he’d accepted would be lost if he couldn’t take it up on the date specified.

A date for a disciplinary hearing was set and it was very near to the time when he was due to move to Cheshire to start the new job. He was summoned to attend and did so, angry at the kind of limbo he found himself in.

However, the medical evidence regarding Eve’s state of mind was so conclusive that before he knew it he was cleared of the charge.

The relief was exquisite, and though those in authority tried to persuade him to stay he was adamant that he was leaving.

And now here he was. In a dingy flat which was all he could find at such short notice.

He wondered if he would have been so aware of its shortcomings if he hadn’t been to Selina’s cottage in the delightful Pennine village. Maybe he ought to move in that direction when he started house-hunting…just as long as no one was going to get any wrong ideas.

With mother and child still on the edge of his consciousness, he popped in to see the boy on Saturday night when his shift was over.

It was done on impulse. He’d gone to buy an evening paper and had ended up buying comics and sweets at the same time, and as the hospital was only a few minutes’ walk from the flat he went round there with them.

There was no slender blonde beside the bed and he didn’t know whether to be glad or sorry. Josh told him that his mum had just left after being there all day, and that he was going home next morning.

‘Good for you,’ Kane said with one of his rare smiles. ‘I’ll bet your cousins are looking forward to seeing you again.’

‘Those girls? The twins?’ Josh said with boyish scorn. ‘All they think about are their dolls.’

‘And what is it with you?’ Kane asked, hiding a smile. ‘Footballs? Like the one you went on to the road for?’

Bright blue eyes refused to meet his.

‘I know. I was stupid. I won’t do it again.’

‘I should think not. Watch what you’re doing in future.’

As he got up to go Josh surprised him by saying, ‘When will I see you again?’

He hesitated. This visit was just a one-off because the lad was in hospital and because he lived but a stone’s throw away.

‘I’m not sure,’ he told him, ruffling the boy’s fair locks. ‘It depends on what your mother has to say.’ And he went on his way, thinking that it might be quite a lot, with words like ‘presumptuous’ featuring prominently.

* * *

As Selina walked Josh across the village green to her brother’s house early on Tuesday morning she was wondering if she’d done the right thing by agreeing that he could go to school.

He was getting around all right on crutches and in every other way was back to his normal self, but her confidence had been badly shaken by the accident and on Monday morning she’d been to see the headmaster.

It had transpired that the blame lay equally between Josh and the school. On his part because he’d unfastened the gate to get the ball, and on their part because the fastener on the gate hadn’t been completely childproof. There had also only been one playground supervisor on duty instead of two.

‘We admit that we are partly to blame, Mrs Sanderson,’ the headmaster had said, ‘but Joshua knew that he wasn’t allowed to leave the school yard and…well…we both know what happened. He got carried away in the excitement of the moment and all he could think of was to retrieve the football.’

‘What about the motorist?’ she’d asked and the head had smiled.

‘He was an elderly man passing through and, luckily for Joshua, a very cautious driver.’

She’d shuddered.

‘Yes, indeed.’

And now, in half an hour’s time, she would be back at the ambulance depot, and some time after that Jill would drop Josh off at school before taking the twins to their playgroup. And with Gavin already on his way to another day in Accident and Emergency, they would all be in their appointed places.

For some reason she was apprehensive about what the coming day might hold for her. She’d last seen Kane Kavener on Friday afternoon when he’d taken her home to change.

The circumstances under which they’d met weren’t what she would have wished, but there was no putting the clock back. And they were going to be workmates, for heaven’s sake! The best way to approach the coming meeting at the ambulance station was with pleasant, polite professionalism and see how that went down.

As soon as she walked into the staffroom behind where the ambulances were garaged, Selina was surrounded by those going off duty and those coming on.

‘How’s the boy?’

‘How’s young Josh?’

Their concern brought a lump to her throat.

These were people who were seeing pain and sickness every day of their lives, often in their more dire forms, and a degree of impersonality was the only way they could cope. But when it came to one of their own—and it was Selina, who had already had one awful tragedy to cope with—they were right behind her.

She was aware that Kane was on the perimeter of the group around her, standing to one side, aloof and silent as if he didn’t belong, but when their eyes met he smiled.

It wasn’t on a par with the morning sun, more a relaxing of the face muscles, but at least it was a welcome of sorts, and with a feeling that it was going to be a very interesting day she helped herself to a mug of hot tea and waited for him to make the first move.

He didn’t have to. She’d barely put the drink to her lips when the station officer appeared and beckoned her over.

‘I believe you’ve already met Kane Kavener, who is to replace Charlie Vaughan,’ fifty-year-old Mark Guthrie said. ‘You will partner him as you did Charlie…and, Selina, make him welcome. He’s a newcomer to the unit and a stranger in our town, and you know how keen I am to have harmony amongst the staff.

‘A couple of the other guys would have liked you to be partnering them, though I can’t think why,’ he went on, with a twinkle in eyes that could be as bleak as a winter day when things went wrong. ‘But Kane is here as Charlie’s replacement and you were his partner.’

The twinkle was still there as he said, ‘It’s not always wise to let you folks have all your own way. So just to be awkward I’m putting you with the one who isn’t too keen on working with a woman, and those who are bursting to turn out with you remain as before.’

There was a troubled frown on her face.

‘I don’t want to be an object of distrust…or desire. All I want is to do the job to the best of my ability and then go home to my son.’ Her voice was flat. ‘So Kane is putting up with me on sufferance? What’s he got against womankind?’

‘Probably nothing. He came with excellent references. Was a top performer at his last place. So perhaps—’

‘He thinks that the casualties we collect won’t be the only passengers?’ she said tightly.

‘I don’t know. But if he does, you’ll have to show him how wrong he is, won’t you?’

‘Yes, won’t I?’ she agreed, and as Mark departed for the inner sanctum of his office Selina went to face the day with a man she had been prepared to like but now wasn’t so sure.

But he had taken the trouble to visit Josh in the hospital and she couldn’t let it pass without thanking him. So as he turned away from the refreshment counter where he’d been chatting with Olga, the tealady, she said, ‘It was good of you to go to see Josh on Saturday night. He’s short of male company.’

That would let him see that even if he was sexist, she wasn’t. But then he wouldn’t know that Mark had just spilled the beans about him preferring a male partner.

‘It was my pleasure,’ he said easily. ‘I’m renting a flat that’s only minutes away from the hospital.’

‘And have you settled in all right?’

He grimaced. ‘It’s not exactly from the Better Homes Guide, but because of coming down here at the last minute I took the first thing I was offered. However, in the near future I shall be looking to change my habitat, maybe to somewhere in the vicinity of your delightful village.’

Long-lashed violet eyes observed him in surprise. That might have been nice to know if it hadn’t been for the fact that he wasn’t keen to work with her.

‘I’m sure you’ll find somewhere,’ she said casually. ‘Not everyone can settle into country life.’

It was his turn to stare. So that was it, he thought. She might have to put up with him workwise, but she didn’t want her home territory invaded.

Their first call of the day came through at that moment, putting an end to the stilted conversation. Kane was already moving, with Selina right behind him.

One ambulance had already gone out while Mark Guthrie had been talking to her and now it was their turn.

As they left the canteen Kane pressed the button to activate the machinery that would raise the heavy metal exit doors, and once they’d climbed aboard they were off within seconds.

They were allowed eight minutes to arrive at the scene of the emergency and by that time would have discovered from information received on the computer in the cab what degree of urgency there was in the request for an ambulance.

The most urgent, like heart attacks or chest pains that might lead to cardiac arrest or the sudden onset of other life-threatening illnesses, along with serious traffic accidents or major catastrophes, were classed as red alerts.

Less serious-sounding accidents, inside and outside the home, were amber alerts, and anything not so urgent, yet requiring the service of am ambulance, were logged as green.

Being prewarned about the seriousness of the incident that they were approaching gave the crews the chance to prepare themselves for whatever lay ahead.

Obviously there were times when a red alert had become amber or even green by the time they got there, or vice versa, but in the main the system worked for both paramedics and patients.

The one they were speeding towards had a seriousness all of its own—a house fire on an estate on the outskirts of the city.

Fire Services were already there and the ground floor of the property was well alight according to the message received at the ambulance station.

Selina had attended fires before with Charlie, and his calm skills had helped combat the horror of what they’d found awaiting them in many instances.

But today another man was in charge, an unknown quantity, and she hoped he was going to be as efficient as his predecessor.

‘Have you been out to a fire before?’ Kane asked crisply as she sat beside him in the passenger seat, deep in thought.

‘Yes. I’ve been to a few,’ she said quietly.

‘Any fatalities?’

‘Some.’

‘Not pleasant.’

‘No. Certainly not!’ she agreed with a shudder and a quick glance at his unrevealing profile.

Was this how it was going to be? Selina wondered. Staccato sentences, fired at her like bullets. Was it the moment to tell him that she’d heard he didn’t like working with women, and if that was so, it was just too bad as up to now she wasn’t over the moon with jovial Charlie’s replacement?

But the comment had come to her secondhand and Selina believed in making her own judgements. Kane had been kind to Josh and herself on two occasions when he’d barely known them, so what it was going to be like working with him was a matter of wait and see.

There was just one casualty, she was relieved to see—a man with burns to the arm and chest. The remains of a sweater of some sort were hanging loosely around him.

He was sitting on the grass verge outside the house while firemen were round the back, tackling the kitchen, which was burning fiercely.

It appeared that he was a night worker who had decided to make himself a meal when he’d got in at seven o’clock that morning. But tired after a long shift, he’d fallen asleep with the chip pan on and had only awakened when the kitchen had been ablaze.

He’d suffered what looked like second-degree burns as he’d tried to put out the fire, but on seeing that it was too widespread he’d run outside only just in time.

‘The wife’s at work,’ he croaked as they helped him into the ambulance. ‘She’ll never forgive me for this. I’ve burnt the house down and frizzled myself, all because I fancied some chips.’

‘She might just be glad that you’re alive,’ Selina said as Kane opened the water-gel kit they carried for emergencies such as this.

It was a big moist blanket made to cover burns, with a twofold purpose. It stopped the skin from drying and tightening and kept the air away from tissue that had been exposed in the fire.

Kane had said little, leaving Selina to offer what consolation she could, but he’d displayed a sort of speedy efficiency that had immediately made her think that Charlie must have slowed down somewhat in latter years.

Here was a man who was really into the job, she thought. It was the kind of call-out that she’d taken part in on many occasions, but with Kane it felt different. He was confident and obviously very experienced, so the fact that he wasn’t into the usual chit-chat didn’t really matter.

By the time they arrived at Accident and Emergency the burns victim was having rigors and Kane eyed him in quick concern.

‘He’s in shock and becoming dehydrated,’ he said as he leapt out of the ambulance. ‘Let’s get him in there fast, Selina.’

When they’d delivered the patient to the A and E staff and were about to return to the unit, Kane said, ‘I noticed that your doctor friend isn’t on today.’

It was said casually, but she couldn’t help but feel that there was a reason behind the comment, and when she said with equal nonchalance, ‘Gavin isn’t my ‘‘doctor friend’’, he’s my brother,’ he actually smiled.

‘Oh, I see. I thought it was handy if you had a boyfriend in A and E. Prompt attention and all that.’

‘I haven’t got a boyfriend anywhere,’ she said stiffly. ‘I have a child to care for, a house to run and a very demanding job, all of which leave me very little time for socialising. I lost my husband just twelve months ago, which isn’t a very long time in which to be thinking of replacing him.’

When the words were out Selina wished she’d been struck dumb before uttering them. Why was she justifying herself to this taciturn stranger? Was it because she felt that she had to make a stance? Clarify her position? Or was it because he had evoked anger in her with his tactless remark?

Kane could be excused for not knowing that Gavin was her brother, but as for the rest of it…Had he been given cause somewhere along the line to think that her sex couldn’t manage without a man?

‘I’m sorry,’ he said abruptly. ‘I didn’t mean to offend you and will bear your comments in mind.’

Selina groaned inwardly. Now he was making it look as if she was warning him off. As if she thought that every man she met saw an attractive young widow as easy prey.

Selina had no need to worry about him, Kane was thinking. He’d had enough aggro to last him a lifetime with the Eve Richards business. He was only just beginning to come up for air now that the taint had been removed.

* * *

If the first call-out they’d dealt with together had gone smoothly, it wasn’t to be so with the second. Before they’d got back to base another red alert came through on the dashboard computer.

A child was choking with a foreign object stuck in its throat at an address in a nearby avenue.

They were there within seconds, a flash of white shirts and navy trousers as they hurled themselves up the path with Kane in the lead and Selina following with the smaller of the two response bags.

The front door was already open and in a back sitting room a young mother was holding a small boy from behind. With her fists beneath his breastbone she was making frantic inward and upward thrusts to try to dislodge whatever it was that was choking him.

An agitated neighbour was hovering and when she saw them she cried, ‘Help the bairn, for God’s sake!’

He was blue in the face, eyes rolling in his head, and Selina knew that they only had seconds to free whatever it was.

‘Dean swallowed a plastic toy and it’s stuck,’ the mother screamed at them, becoming hysterical now that help had arrived.

As Kane snapped, ‘Forceps!’ Selina already had them in her hand.

‘Take him!’ he ordered with the same brevity.

Obeying, she grabbed the child out of his mother’s arms. As she did so he went limp.

‘He’s barely breathing!’ she said in low voice.

Kane nodded. ‘Lay him on the floor. As long as there’s some inhalation, however faint, I’m going to try to remove the toy before we start to resuscitate, otherwise we’ll be defeating the object. If I can’t get at it with the forceps I’ll have to do a tracheostomy.’

They were both on their knees now, Selina behind the child’s head and Kane at his side. As she held open the boy’s slack mouth, he shone a pencil torch into his throat.

‘Can you see it?’ she asked.

He shook his head.

‘No…Yes! Yes! I can! It’s bright green and oblong.’

‘Can you reach it?’ she gasped.

‘You bet I can,’ he said coolly. ‘Don’t let the boy move, Selina. I don’t want to push it further down than it is already.’

The only sound in the room was the sobbing of the distraught mother as Kane carefully lifted the obstruction out of her child’s throat. He held it aloft triumphantly, before throwing it to one side and ordering, ‘Oxygen, Selina. He’s still breathing but only just.’

* * *

An hour later they were back at the ambulance station. The little boy, with his relieved mother in attendance, had been admitted to the children’s ward at the hospital, where they were going to examine his throat for any damage from the obstruction and would monitor his breathing for twenty-four hours.

It had been Selina’s turn to be silent on the return journey and eventually he’d said, ‘So what’s the problem?’

‘There isn’t one.’

‘Oh, come on!’ he hooted. ‘Let me guess. You don’t like working with me. You prefer cheerful Charlie. You think I was too chatty with the boy’s mother on the way to hospital. Or maybe the opposite—that I’m not sympathetic enough with the public.’

‘You’re crazy,’ she said with a smile that took the sting from the words. ‘How can I know whether I like working with you? It’s only our first day together. As to Charlie, you’re faster than he was, but not as cheerful by any means.

‘And, no, I didn’t think you were too familiar with Dean’s mother. You were just trying to calm her. I haven’t had time to see how you treat the public in general, but it seems clear that you see me as a pair of hands rather than a person. Could that he because you don’t like working with someone of my sex?’

He eyed her sharply at the question.

‘And who might have told you that?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘No. I suppose not. But I’m not keen on having my likes and dislikes discussed in public.’

‘So is it true?’ she persisted.

‘Yes and no.’

‘Meaning?’

‘I once had an unpleasant experience.’

‘And have now tarred us all with the same brush?’

A smile tugged at the corners of Kane’s fascinating mouth.

‘You make me sound like a flattering combination of male chauvinist and bighead.’

Selina had to laugh.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. It’s early days for us, isn’t it? We’ll adjust to each other’s peculiarities in time, no doubt.’

As Kane’s cool, dark gaze took in the charms of his new assistant he knew that he didn’t find her peculiar at all. Unique maybe. She was beautiful in her golden slenderness, and tranquil with it, unlike a lot of women he’d come across.

Yet life had dealt her a poor hand so far. She’d lost a young husband and it stood to reason that they’d been happy. He couldn’t imagine a man being unhappy with a woman like Selina Sanderson.

He shook his head as if to clear it. He was getting soft, rhapsodising over a woman he’d only just met. And wasn’t he supposed to be watching his step as far as her sex were concerned?

When they arrived back at the station Selina said, ‘Let’s go and grab a coffee before we’re called out again.’

‘Good idea,’ he agreed equably, and it was as if their challenging discussion on the way back had never been.

* * *

During the next few days they established a situation they both seemed reasonably happy with. Workwise Selina was aware that Kane was extremely efficient, and under his brisk command they were offering a first-class service to sick and injured alike.

From a personal point of view she was curious about him. He hadn’t said so in so many words, but from the odd comment he’d made and his attitude in general she deduced that he had no ties, which was surprising as he was of striking appearance. Not attractive or handsome in the true sense of the words, but with a sort of dark magnetism that would instinctively appeal to womankind in general.

He was the complete opposite of Dave. He’d been fair-skinned, with light brown hair and boyish good looks, and as she dwelt on the comparison Selina was aghast at the channels that her thoughts were moving along.

Since losing the man who’d been her childhood sweetheart, no other male had invaded her consciousness until now. But, she told herself with calming reason, it was only to be expected that she would be aware of Kane if they were going to be working together for twelve hours at a time.

Charlie popped in for a chat and invited them all to join him for a farewell drink at a bar close to the station, and most of those who weren’t on duty agreed to go.

Selina and Kane were due for two days off and, knowing that Jill wouldn’t mind having Josh for this one evening, she accepted the invitation.

Kane had said nothing, obviously feeling that as a new member of staff it didn’t apply to him, but Charlie said, ‘You, too, Kane, if you feel like joining us. It’s no joke moving to a new town where you don’t know anyone, is it?’

Kane smiled, giving nothing away as usual, and said easily, ‘Thanks. I’ll bear it in mind.’

Selina felt guilty after that. Charlie was right. Kane was alone in a strange town. The station officer had reminded her of that on that first day. Though she’d like to bet he wouldn’t be alone for long.

At least she could offer him some hospitality until he’d made some friends. He’d said that he had a basic sort of flat somewhere near the hospital and that was all she knew about him.

‘I’ll be going to Charlie’s farewell tomorrow night,’ she said awkwardly as they set out on a call shortly after his visit, ‘but I’ve nothing planned for the night after and I wondered if you would like to come round for a meal.’

She could feel her face warming as he observed her with surprised dark eyes.

‘Just to show you some northern hospitality,’ she said quickly, ‘and I’m sure that Josh would like to see you again.’

‘Really? Well, on the strength of that I can’t refuse. What time?’

‘Seven?’

‘Yes, that will be fine.’

* * *

Later that night, sitting quietly in the summer twilight with Josh fast asleep upstairs, Selina was regretting her rash offer. Did she want another man eating at her table…in the house that had been hers and Dave’s?

She didn’t know whether she did or not, but she was about to find out. And, she reasoned, wasn’t she making too much of it? She’d asked Kane to dine with them merely as a gesture to a stranger in their town, not as a date.

When she’d asked Jill if she would mind Josh while she went to Charlie’s party her sister-in-law had said, ‘But of course. It’s time you had a social life. You haven’t had an evening out since Dave—’

‘I know,’ Selina had agreed softly, ‘and I haven’t wanted one, but I’m fond of Charlie…and I might as well tell you I’ll be socialising the night after, too, but here on my own patch.’

Jill’s eyes had sparkled.

‘Tell me more!’

‘I’ve invited my new partner round for a meal. He doesn’t know anyone in these parts and I thought I should show him some hospitality.’

‘Well! How old is he? What’s he like? Is he free?’

She had to laugh.

‘Hold on! He’s thirty-something. Darkly brooding. And I don’t know whether he’s free or not. That doesn’t come into it. I’m merely being hospitable…nothing else.’

Jill had given her a quick hug.

‘Yes, I know, my dearest one, but Gavin and I don’t want you to be alone for ever. Dave would want you to—’

Selina put a gentle finger on her lips.

‘I know what you’re saying, but he would be a hard act to follow…and then there’s Josh.’

‘What about him?’

‘He has to have a say in those sort of things.’

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