The Fling That Changed Everything

Good grief... Was that oddly unsettling flash something other than disappointment? Jealousy, even?

‘Sam didn’t get the memo.’ Jack was trying to rescue him. ‘And, I have to admit, it’s the first time we’ve had a female paramedic as a FIFO.’

‘First time for a male nurse, too?’ Matt was smiling. ‘Good thing we’ve come, then, isn’t it, Lia? Time the glass ceilings were broken around here.’

They all laughed, which broke the awkwardness. The distraction of having to check the delivered supplies off against the order form took a few more minutes and by the time the FIFOs’ luggage was brought out from the back of the compartment, Sam was ready to make amends for his faux pas.

‘It is a good thing,’ he told Matt as the new nurse retrieved his backpack. ‘We’re trying to encourage more islanders to train as nurses and you’ll be a role model that might open a few eyes. How would you feel about dropping into the high school over on Atangi and giving a bit of a career talk?’

‘I’m up for anything,’ Matt said. ‘I love my job and I’d be only too happy to encourage the lads.’

‘Hey...I love my job, too.’ Lia was beaming at Sam. ‘Maybe I could come and inspire the girls?’

Jack was grinning again. ‘You up for anything, too, huh?’

The flirting was unmistakeable. The flick of the long braid Lia now had her hair confined to was also an obvious message. And she could deal with more than the weather.

‘Anything professional.’ Her tone was a warning. Romance had been the last thing on her mind when she’d decided to take this job. It was the last thing on her mind any time these days, thanks to the time and emotional energy her family required. And even if she had been interested in meeting someone, it wouldn’t be Jack. She’d met his type too many times before. Dated them. Been dumped and hurt when they moved on—as they always did if it looked like the girl was getting serious.

Had she been too abrupt? Lia softened her tone. ‘I’m up for the new experience and if I like it I’ll come back next time. Sounds like the guy I’m replacing got a nasty leg fracture and won’t be back for a while.’

‘I told him paragliding was a dodgy hobby.’ Jack reached out as if he was going to offer to carry Lia’s pack but then changed his mind and adjusted his sunglasses instead.

Sam hid a smile. So Lia could look after herself.

‘Not that he wasn’t good at it.’ Jack seemed to be scanning the clouds now. ‘Just got unlucky, I guess.’

‘Lucky for me...’ Lia hoisted her backpack as if it weighed nothing. ‘Especially the timing. Who knew they paid so much more for coming here in the cyclone season?’

Sam’s inner smile vanished without a trace. The disconcerted look on Lia’s face made him realise that something of what he was feeling must be showing but he didn’t care. He had better reason than most not to care about someone to whom money was all-important, hadn’t he? He turned away.

‘Let’s go,’ he told Matt. ‘I’ll show you your accommodation and then give you a tour of the hospital.’

* * *

What had just happened there?

Lia had her backpack settled onto her shoulders and she was ready to go. Didn’t she have accommodation to see? Wouldn’t a tour of at least the emergency department of the hospital be appropriate for someone who could be delivering seriously unwell people to a place that might be short on staff experienced in dealing with resuscitation?

Maybe it had something to do with that very unsubtle attempt at flirting that had come from Jack. Of course she’d knocked him back. She was about to spend two weeks working with the man and the only relationship she wanted was a professional one, hopefully based on mutual respect and trust.

And what about that reaction to Matt being the nurse?

Lia’s high spirits dimmed a little. Was it expected to be part of the deal? Did FIFOs get paid so well because it was assumed they would provide a bonus service to men working in isolated places?

They probably did when they were working with Sam Taylor—if he was single, that was, which seemed unlikely. How many men who were that good-looking were still unattached in their midthirties, as he looked to be?

Mind you, there was something unusual about him. Something that didn’t quite fit the picture she might have expected. Something that made him look almost as if he was here by mistake.

Not like Jack, who had the rugged good looks of a pirate and a cheekiness that suggested he liked to live on the edge, which made wanting to live in an isolated place like this quite plausible. But Sam? He looked like he was playing a role—that was it. With his sun-streaked, floppy dark blond hair and blue-grey eyes, he could easily be a film star cast as a doctor in a tropical paradise.

Intriguing.

She wasn’t interested in meeting someone, she reminded herself.

But if she was, there would have been no contest between Sam and Jack, so it was probably just as well Sam hadn’t shown even a glimmer of interest in her. Quite the opposite, in fact, judging by the way he’d turned his back and walked away.

‘Looks like we’ve been abandoned.’ Jack shrugged. ‘Want to have a look at the helicopter before I give you the grand tour of everything else?’

‘Sure.’ Lia turned her head, her smile polite. ‘It’s a BK117, isn’t it? Fully specced?’

‘We’ve got everything your paramedic heart could desire. Even a portable ventilator and ultrasound.’

‘Awesome. The only other thing I need is a pilot with exceptional skill.’

‘At your service.’ Jack tugged at his fringe. ‘I might push the boundaries but I’m not about to risk killing myself or any of my crew.’ He returned her smile. ‘And, judging from your CV they sent through, you’re going to be one of the best I’ve worked with. And...um...sorry about, you know... I’m not usually a jerk. This job is my life. Maybe I got a bit overexcited about meeting someone who has the same passion.’

He wouldn’t be trying it on again, either. This time her smile was genuine. ‘We’re going to get along just fine, Jack.’ She couldn’t help turning her head to where a golf cart was sending up a cloud of dust as it carried Sam and Matt away from the airstrip. The question of how well she might be going to get on with the medical staff here was an entirely different matter.

‘Are we...um...going to have a look around the hospital some time, too?’

‘It’s our base.’ Jack nodded. ‘We hang out in the staffroom on our downtime so that we’re within coo-ee of the radio. You’ll probably get roped in to help with some of the medical stuff, I expect. We always seem to be a bit short-staffed.’

So she’d be seeing Sam again. Probably quite a lot of him.

Not that it should matter. If anything, it should be something that could be seen as a potential conflict, given the odd vibe he’d put out.

So why were her spirits lifting again?

Because she couldn’t resist a challenge? It was intriguing, that was all. She wouldn’t mind finding out how he’d ended up here and why he’d stayed.

And she’d definitely like to rub his nose in that attitude to how capable a female paramedic could be.

Yep. That would be a bonus.

And Lia was very good at rising to any challenge to prove herself.

She followed Jack towards the helicopter, which was well anchored to cope with the rising wind gusts. Not that they were likely to be flying anytime soon in these conditions, but the sooner the better, as far as she was concerned.

She could feel her fingers curling into fists.

Bring it on...

CHAPTER TWO

‘WHAT’S WITH THE white coat, Sam?’

‘It’s my doctor coat.’ The grin on his favourite nurse’s face was irritating. ‘You get to wear a uniform every day, Ana. What’s wrong with me looking a bit more professional? Besides, I never realised how useful all these pockets were. Look—I can fit my diary and phone and even my stethoscope in here...’ Sam pulled some sterile gloves from the wall dispenser and shoved those in another pocket. ‘I’m ready for anything.’

‘You look more like you’re about to front an advertisement for washing powder or something. You know...’ She dropped her voice. ‘Laboratory tests have proved Wonder Wash to be a thousand percent more effective than other leading brands.’

Sam snorted. ‘You’ve changed, Ana. You used to show a bit more respect.’

The grin widened. ‘Maybe it’s because I’m a happily married woman now.’

He had to smile back. ‘You are. And it’s great. I’m really happy for you, even if you didn’t invite me to the wedding.’

‘Like you would have dropped everything and come all the way to London for a few days. It was hard enough persuading my mother to be there. And you’ll get your wedding fix soon enough.’

‘True. Is it next week that Caroline and Keanu are tying the knot?’

‘The week after. Oh...who’s this coming in with Jack?’

Sam turned his head. Sure enough, there were two people entering the wide walkway that linked the three wings of Wildfire hospital around its lush tropical garden. Something in the garden had clearly attracted Lia’s attention and they had paused as she’d pointed. Maybe she’d spotted an exotic bird near the pond in the garden’s centre. Sam found himself checking that the lapels on his white coat were sitting flat. Not that he was about to tell Ana but there was a reason he’d wanted to look particularly professional today.

‘That’s the new FIFO paramedic. She came in yesterday with the new nurse. Have you met Matt yet?’

‘Of course. He’s giving Rangi his bath.’ Her lips twitched. ‘It may take a while. There’s a lot to wash.’

‘We’ve got to try and get his weight down. The diabetes and skin sores are only going to be the start of his health issues.’

‘Mmm. I have to say it’s going to be a treat to have a male nurse on board for a while. Matt didn’t even need the winch to get Rangi out of bed.’ But Ana’s interest was elsewhere for the moment. ‘Has our new paramedic got a name?’

‘Lia...something. Sounded Italian.’

‘She looks Italian. And...gorgeous...’

It was Sam’s turn to make a sound of feigned interest but he had to turn his head again. Jack and Lia were much closer now and it was no wonder Ana was impressed.

The short shorts and wild hair he remembered from the airstrip yesterday were gone. Lia was wearing long, dark cargo pants and the black T-shirt with the red emblem of Wildfire’s rescue service. Her hair sat smoothly against her head with a complicated braid arrangement that went from her forehead on both sides to merge into a thick rope at the back.

She looked...professional.

‘Hey, Ana. This is Lia, my new crewmate. Lia, this is Anahera Kopu, one of our permanent nurses.’

‘It’s Wilson now, Jack. I got married, remember?’ Ana held out her hand to shake Lia’s. ‘You’ve got to show me how to do my hair like that. It’s amazing.’

‘It’s dead easy. And...um...congratulations? I’m guessing your wedding was recent?’

‘A couple of months ago. I just got back from London. And a honeymoon in Paris.’

‘Wow... Two places I’d love to visit.’

‘You haven’t been yet?’

‘Travelling’s never been in my budget.’ But Lia was smiling. ‘That’s why it’s so exciting to be here.’

Because it was a new country or because it was adding to the reserves in her budget? The knot of tension in Sam’s gut was as unfamiliar as the starched fabric of the coat sleeves on his bare arms. He started rolling the sleeves up a bit.

‘We’ve got an outpatient clinic to get started, Ana.’ He nodded at Lia. ‘Has Jack got you settled in all right? Happy with your accommodation?’

‘It’s fantastic. I love it. I woke up this morning and looked out at the view of the sea and all those islands and couldn’t believe how beautiful it all is.’

It wasn’t just her eyes that shone with pleasure—her whole face seemed to light up. It was impossible not to smile back.

‘Looks better on a nice day.’ He turned to Jack. ‘Are you up with the forecast? How’s that cyclone tracking?’

‘Bit too close for comfort, this one. We could be in for a rough few days.’

‘I’d better check the stocks in Emergency,’ Ana said. ‘We always get a rush on dressings and sutures and things in a cyclone. It’s amazing the debris that people can get hit with.’

‘Hettie might be able to do that when it’s quiet later. She’s on the afternoon shift, isn’t she?’

Ana nodded. ‘I’ll see how many people we’ve got in the waiting room for the clinic, then.’

‘I’d love to have a look around your emergency department,’ Lia said. ‘If that’s okay?’

In the tiny silence that followed her query Sam realised that the question had been directed at him. If he was honest, though, he’d known that already. He could feel Lia’s gaze on his skin.

‘Sure.’ He met her gaze long enough to be polite. ‘Jack knows his way around. Feel free to explore the whole—’ The sound of his telephone ringing stopped his invitation. He delved into his pocket to extract the phone from the tangle of his stethoscope and that was irritating enough to make him loop the stethoscope around his neck with one hand as he answered the call with the other.

He’d been expecting this. ‘Yes, it’s all sorted, Pita.’ He stepped away from the others and lowered his voice. ‘I’m tied up in a clinic this morning but I’ll leave it beside the radio in the staffroom. White envelope with your name on it.’

He heard a burst of laughter behind him but he kept moving as he ended his call. He had work to do and he knew the waiting room would be filling up fast. He didn’t have time for any social chitchat. His visit to the staffroom would not even include stopping to make a coffee.

Not that being busy was enough to explain the odd tension he was aware of. Maybe that had more to do with the fact that he could still feel Lia watching him as he walked away.

* * *

Déjà vu.

Lia watched Sam walking away. Maybe she would have to get used to feeling like she wasn’t overly welcome here.

She certainly needed to get over letting it get to her. She pasted a smile on her face as she turned back to Jack and Ana, but they were looking at each other.

‘What’s with the white coat? Has Sam been down in the lab already this morning or something?’

Ana shook her head. ‘Not that I know of.’ She grinned at Jack. ‘He said that he just wanted to look professional.’

Lia caught her bottom lip with her teeth to stop her saying anything. Like confessing that she had started the day in exactly the same way. The French braiding of her hair hadn’t been nearly as easy as she’d implied to Ana. It had taken ages and it had been Sam she’d been thinking of as she’d stared into the mirror and tried to perfect her professional look.

Had he done the same thing with that pristine-looking coat?

And if so...why?

To impress her?

He was still within sight on the walkway. In fact, he’d stopped in his tracks and was staring at something outside in the garden. Lia had been entranced by the flock of rainbow-coloured parrots she’d seen earlier and had had to point them out to Jack, but he’d been far less interested because it was something he saw every day so they would be unlikely to have attracted Sam’s attention, either.

‘Ana?’ Sam’s call was calm but they could all sense the urgency. ‘Grab the resus trolley, will you? I can see someone lying on the path.’

He disappeared behind the greenery of the lush shrubs hedging the walkway and Lia’s reaction was automatic. As Ana raced down the walkway to vanish through a door, Lia ran in the opposite direction—to follow Sam. She could hear the rattle of trolley wheels behind her as she pushed through the hedge to where Sam was now crouched over a sprawled figure.

‘Is he breathing?’

‘Can’t tell. Help me roll him over.’

He was a large man and it needed them both to roll him onto his back. Lia immediately tilted his head to make sure his airway was open and then she put her cheek close to his face and laid a hand on his diaphragm to feel for any air movement.

‘He’s not breathing.’

Sam had his fingers on the man’s neck. ‘There’s no pulse.’

Ana had had to go further down the walkway to find a gap to get the trolley through, and Jack was helping her, but there was no time to wait until they were there with the life pack and the bag mask. Lia already had her hands positioned in the centre of the man’s chest and she began compressions without waiting for any instruction from Sam.

‘I wonder how much downtime there’s been already.’

‘Not much, I hope. I think it was the sound of him falling that made me look over the hedge. He broke a few branches on the way down.’

She could feel Sam watching her as he spoke. Assessing her performance. Fair enough. This was a big man and it took a lot of strength to be able to make sure she was pushing hard enough to create an output from his heart. She could feel a sweat breaking out but she kept her arms straight and kept pushing. Hard and fast. At least a hundred compressions a minute, she reminded herself. And a third of the chest for their depth.

Ana threw a bag mask to Sam as she stopped the trolley. He caught it easily and in one swift movement had the mask over the man’s nose and mouth. He hooked his fingers under the chin to help press hard enough to create a good seal and then flicked a glance at Lia, who paused her compressions to allow him to squeeze the bag and deliver a couple of assisted breaths. The chest rose and fell twice and she started compressions again as soon as she saw the chest falling for the second time. Her arms were aching with the effort now but she knew she couldn’t slow down, even as Ana was cutting the man’s T-shirt to pull it clear and sticking the defibrillator pads on the side just below his heart and beneath the collarbone on the other side.

She began counting aloud to let Sam know when it was time to deliver another breath. Jack had attached the oxygen bottle to the mask.

‘Twenty-eight...twenty-nine...thirty...’ She held her hands clear as another two breaths were delivered.

The static on the defibrillator screen was settling and they could all see that their patient was in the potentially fatal rhythm of ventricular fibrillation.

‘Come and take over the airway,’ Sam instructed Ana. ‘I’ll get an IV in after the first shock.’

Lia could hear the tone of the life pack charging.

‘Stand clear,’ Sam ordered. ‘Shocking now...’

The rhythm didn’t change.

‘Do you need a break, Lia?’ Sam was pulling IV supplies from the trolley.

‘No. I’ll let you know when I do.’

‘You’re doing a good job. I’ll take over after the next shock.’

The praise was enough to banish the ache in her arms and to ignore the sting of perspiration getting into her eyes.

Clearly hampered by his white coat, Sam stripped it off and shoved it onto the bottom of the trolley. Then he moved swiftly enough to have an IV line inserted and the first dose of drugs on board before the end of the two minutes of CPR that meant another shock was due to be delivered.

‘Who is he, do you know?’ Jack asked.

‘He’s Rangi’s brother, Keoni,’ Ana said. ‘And I think he had an outpatient appointment this morning. Sam wants to test the whole family for diabetes.’

‘Stand clear,’ Sam ordered again.

Lia sat back on her heels this time, ready to move out of the way so that Sam could take over the compressions.

But this time the spike of the shock being delivered on the life-pack screen gave way to a blip of a normal beat. And then another and another.

‘He’s gagging,’ Ana said a moment later. ‘I’ll take the airway out.’

‘We’ll need a bed,’ Sam said. ‘And a few extra hands to move him.’

‘I’ll get Matt,’ Ana said, scrambling to her feet. ‘And anyone else I can find. Or do you need me here, Sam?’

Sam caught Lia’s gaze. ‘No...you go, Ana. We’re fine.’

The eye contact was only there for a moment but Lia felt like she’d passed some sort of test.

And she’d got good marks.

It was always a bonus to cheat death like this and have a successful resuscitation from a cardiac arrest but this felt even sweeter than usual. And the good marks went both ways. This success had been a team effort and Sam had shown himself to be a calm and competent leader.

‘We’ll get him into our intensive care unit,’ Sam said. ‘You may as well join us, Lia, and start your tour of the hospital with the pointy end.’

‘I’ll help you move him,’ Jack said. ‘And then maybe I should let them know that the outpatient clinic will be starting a bit late.’

‘Give Keanu a call. He can come in early and get things started.’ Sam was adjusting the wheel on the IV tubing to change the rate of fluids being delivered from the bag of saline he was holding up. His smile was wry. ‘It looks like it’s going to be another one of “those” days, all right...’

There was a gleam in his eye that suggested that those sorts of days were actually the ones he liked best and Lia found herself smiling back at him. She loved the adrenaline rush of dealing with emergencies, too. And the challenge of multi-tasking when it looked like there might be too much to handle but you knew the buzz of being able to cope was well worth the stress levels.

To be honest, smiling at Sam Taylor was no hardship. He looked so much better now that he’d discarded the formal white coat. His short-sleeved, open-necked shirt exposed tanned skin and he must have pushed his sun-streaked, floppy hair back from his forehead a few times during that intense scenario to have made it look so spiky and slightly disreputable.

And even with the wry twist to that smile, it was irresistible. What would he look like if he was really amused and those crinkles at the corners of his eyes deepened? What would his laugh sound like?

Lia suspected it would be a very contagious sound. Had her early impressions been unjustified? Maybe Sam was actually quite a nice guy. He was certainly a very good doctor and that was more than enough to chase away any doubts that she might not enjoy working here.

* * *

Extra sets of hands were arriving from all corners of the hospital and Sam had more than enough to do, coordinating the helpers to lift Keoni onto the bed and arrange the equipment carefully so it didn’t get disconnected. He put the life pack on the bed between their patient’s legs so he could keep an eye on the rhythm on the screen. The bed didn’t have an IV pole attached so someone had to carry the bag of fluid high enough to keep it running. It was logical to give that task to Jack, who was the tallest person there apart from himself.

Their patient was beginning to take breaths unaided but not at a fast enough rate so he needed someone who could move alongside the bed, holding the mask in place to deliver oxygen and to assist his breathing when needed by compressing the bag attached to the mask. At any other time Sam would have asked Ana to do that because she was the most experienced nurse when it came to any protocols to do with resuscitation or post-resuscitation care. But Lia had been doing that since Ana had gone to look for extra help and she’d proved herself to be more than competent. It would be rude to push her aside and he’d invited her to come to his intensive care unit anyway.

Besides...despite how focused he was on transferring a patient who was still critical and could potentially arrest again at any moment, there was a part of his mind that was aware of appreciating Lia being there.

It wasn’t due solely to the competence she’d displayed in handling an emergency situation and it certainly wasn’t because of some masculine instinct that simply enjoyed having an attractive female nearby. Maybe it was his better nature asserting itself and being prepared to give her a chance to prove his first impression wrong.

Or maybe it had something to do with that smile...

‘If I was at home, I’d be transporting to a facility that had a cath lab,’ Lia said as they manoeuvred the bed into the walkway. ‘Do you have the capacity to do angiography here?’