first instinct was to run, but then common sense intervened. He was a doctor, apparently, possibly their new registrar, and he was offering to help, and that made him definitely her type. The mind-numbingly gorgeous packaging didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was here, on a day when their staffing levels were stretched to the limit, and frankly if he’d had two heads she’d welcome him with open arms. But—sheesh. Did he have to be quite so luscious?
She resisted the urge to fan herself with the notes à la Kate and found her voice from somewhere.
‘Maybe. Don’t know much about it yet. Child versus car, possible head injury, but that’s all we have as yet. ETA any second.’
She stuck out her hand to him, determined to behave like a grown-up and not a hormonal teenager, and tilted her head way back to meet his eyes. ‘I’m Annie Brooks, by the way,’ she said, proud of her voice for not coming out like a demented squeak. ‘I’m job-sharing with Andy Gallagher. And you are...?’
‘Ah. Sorry. Ed Shackleton, James Slater’s new specialist registrar,’ he confirmed, those heavily lashed eyes the colour of storm clouds meeting hers and holding them. A warm, strong hand engulfed her own as that firm, chiselled mouth tilted into a smile, and everything inside her lurched.
Her pulse spiked, and she could feel heat spreading out from her hand, all the way up her arm, settling in the region of her locked-down diaphragm like a fireball.
And she was blushing.
No. Not a blush. A flush.
Different.
Worse, the heat from the fireball was spreading upwards now, creeping up her body towards her face.
Could he see it? Please, God, no—
Breathe, Annie!
The sound of the siren penetrated the swirling fog that was her brain, and she sucked in a breath and snatched her hand back, resisting the urge to wipe it on her scrubs, as if she could wipe away her reaction to his touch.
‘Sounds like we might be in business. Are we ready?’
One look at Kate and it was clear that she was. Ready for anything their new SpR cared to throw at them—unlike her. She was blushing and flushing and generally getting in a dither. Oh, this was ridiculous...
But Kate’s sensible self was back in charge, thank goodness, and she nodded briskly. ‘We’re good to go.’
‘Right.’
The sirens screamed to a halt, leaving a shocking silence, and her brain finally snapped back to life.
‘OK, we’re on. Let’s go and find out what we’ve got.’
‘Mind if I tag along?’ he asked quietly. ‘I’m Paeds trained.’
‘Sure. Feel free. We can always use another pair of hands.’
She pushed the door out of the way, oddly desperate to escape the confines of Resus. She didn’t do this—didn’t get hot and flustered and all quivery inside.
Ever. At all. Men were firmly off her menu, now and into the hereafter. Maybe longer.
And Dr Gorgeous was definitely a man.
She took a deep breath and walked briskly out to the ambulance bay, deeply conscious of the man keeping pace by her side. The doors of the ambulance flew open, the steps flipped down and the doctor in her kicked in.
At last.
She forgot all about him, forgot everything except the sobbing child and the look of terror on the face of his mother as the paramedics who’d brought them in reeled off his stats and the treatment to date.
And as she nodded at the paramedic and smiled at the mother, she could see Ed scanning the child with his eyes, assessing him rapidly. Good. She turned her attention to the mother.
‘Hi, I’m Annie, I’m a doctor, and this is Ed. We’re going to be looking after your son. What’s his name?’
‘Cody,’ his mother said unsteadily. ‘Cody Phillips. Oh, please, help him.’
‘We will.’
The calm, confident voice came from Ed, who was leaning over the trolley as they pushed it in, looking down at the boy. Cody’s right eye was swollen shut, a blue stain under the skin of his temple and cheek, and he was sobbing, but Ed just smiled and held his hand as if it was all fine. ‘Hi, Cody, I’m Ed. It’s all right, you’re in good hands. We’ve got you, mate. We’ll soon make you feel better.’
The low, quiet voice was reassuring, and Annie felt the tension drain out of her. Kind as well as gorgeous. Now to check out his clinical skills to see if they matched up. He was certainly doing all right so far.
‘You can lead if you like,’ she said, and he nodded.
‘Will you do the FAST scan, please?’
‘Sure.’
Like a well-oiled machine, the team went into action, and gradually Annie felt herself relax.
He was good, she realised. More than that, he was very good. She stopped watching his every move, and concentrated on what she was doing.
* * *
‘Results are through.’
‘And?’
He moved up behind her, so close she could feel the warmth coming off him. She forced herself to focus on the screen.
‘Well, according to the report he’s got no obvious brain injury and there certainly doesn’t seem to be any sign of it, but he’s got a fracture of the right orbit.’
Ed was looking over her shoulder at the MRI scan images, his head just in her line of sight, and he winced. ‘Must have been quite a whack. I wonder if he’ll end up with any loss of vision. The swelling could put a lot of pressure on that eye.’ He leaned in closer, bringing him right up against her. ‘Am I imagining it, or is the orbit slightly compressed?’
She shifted sideways a fraction. ‘Possibly. What a shame. Poor little Cody.’
She turned but Ed was still right there, studying the images on the screen, his chest just inches from her nose. She sucked in a breath, but that was a mistake, because with the air came a faint trace of soap and red-blooded man.
‘Want me to talk to the parents?’ he asked, the tingle of chilli in that low, melting-chocolate voice setting fire to her nerve endings again.
‘No, I’ll do it,’ she said briskly.
She ducked past him, and he followed her back to the child’s side where Cody’s parents were waiting anxiously for the verdict, his mother’s eyes brimming with fear as she watched them approach.
It wasn’t surprising. Cody’s father had arrived shortly after the ambulance, and although they’d eliminated any other injuries in the last hour, this was the thing that was
