she said. She was a nurse with a bloody lip, she was sure she didn’t need to take up anybody’s time for that. And then she remembered what she’d been doing before she’d been distracted by the appearance of a handsome pilot in her path. ‘But there’s a girl back here with a broken wrist, I was looking for a paramedic.’
‘Can you take me to her?’
She nodded. ‘It’s this way.’
She retraced her steps and he fell into step beside her.
She watched the ground to make sure she didn’t tread on anything dangerous. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought to put her sandals back on her feet, but it also kept her attention focussed on the job at hand. She’d never realised she could be so easily distracted.
Within moments they were back in the shadow of the plane and the handsome stranger picked up his pace and ran the remaining few steps.
‘Lisa! What happened?’
‘Harry!’
Emma heard the happiness in the girl’s voice even as she registered that her name was Lisa. Lisa and Harry. Lisa knew Harry. Harry knew Lisa. They knew each other.
Good, Emma told herself. This handsome stranger was nothing to her. It was just the adrenalin that had caused such an unexpected physical reaction, just the adrenalin that had left her short of breath and made her skin tingle. She could ignore the little flutter of excitement in her belly, the little increase in her heart rate. Even if she’d been in the market for a man, and she wasn’t, it looked like this one was well and truly off limits.
‘I got caught in the wrong position. I wasn’t braced properly,’ Lisa replied. ‘It was stupid of me.’
‘Let’s get you to an ambulance,’ Harry was saying, and before Emma could blink he’d crouched down and scooped Lisa into his arms. He stood up again, lifting her as if she weighed no more than a three-year-old.
‘Thank you for your help.’ He was holding Lisa in his arms but he was talking to her. Emma was surprised—she hadn’t expected him to remember she was there. ‘Do you think you can follow the others to the terminal?’ he asked as he inclined his head to his left.
Emma wondered if she shouldn’t offer to help other passengers. Surely any help would be gratefully received but as she looked around, now that the dust had settled, she could see paramedics attending to those who needed them and there was a line of uninjured passengers making their way across the dirt towards a small building. Things looked to be under control.
She nodded. She was fine. She could walk. She just needed to put her shoes back on. Her sandals were still lying on the ground and as she bent to retrieve them she caught sight of her filthy clothes. In the few minutes that she’d been out of the plane she’d become covered in a layer of red dust. She slid her dusty feet into her sandals and glanced back up at the man standing before her. His clothes were immaculate, clean and crisp and she wondered how he had managed to stay so pristine.
‘Yes, I can,’ she answered as she deliberately straightened her shoulders. She was okay. She could manage. ‘I’m fine. Go, get Lisa to the ambulance. I’m fine,’ she repeated, aware that she didn’t need to monopolise any more of his time.
Emma turned and walked away so that he was free to leave. She followed the crowd towards the terminal and left the gorgeous stranger behind in the red dust, making herself look straight ahead even though she wanted to turn around for another glimpse. No doubt he was already whisking Lisa off to the paramedics and would have no time to give her another thought. She wondered if she’d wake up tomorrow and think this was all a dream. Or if she’d run into him again.
As she entered the little terminal building she couldn’t resist a final glance over her shoulder but he was nowhere to be seen, already absorbed into the throng that remained gathered around the stricken aircraft.
Inside the terminal a representative from the airline was issuing instructions, handing out paperwork and getting details on whether passengers wanted to wait for their luggage or have it delivered. Emma was swept up in a sea of red tape and it was many minutes before she had a chance to wonder where Sophie was.
She searched the area for a familiar face but she couldn’t spot her cousin anywhere. She frowned. With all the drama of the crash landing she would have thought Sophie would be front and centre, waiting to welcome her. Was she in the right place? Was there more than one back of beyond in Outback Australia? God, imagine if she’d crash-landed in the wrong town!
She pulled her mobile phone out of her handbag and switched it on. She was almost certain she was in the right place. There was bound to be a reason Soph wasn’t here. Perhaps she’d left a message.
Sure enough, her phone beeped as soon as it came to life.
So sorry, Em, clinic running late, will be there by six. S xx
Emma shrugged her slim shoulders and sat down to wait. There was nothing else for her to do. She watched the other travellers coming and going, their numbers dwindling as the terminal building emptied out. Everyone else seemed to have someone to meet them or somewhere to go. The ambulances had long since departed and Emma wondered how Lisa was and what had happened to the pilot.
She watched as the fire engines drove away from the scene, leaving the plane stranded in the middle of nowhere. She knew how it felt. She wondered how the plane would be moved and assumed it would be towed somewhere, somehow. It was sitting abandoned. Had the luggage been retrieved? What had happened to her bag?
She frowned and started searching for a baggage carousel even as she realised she hadn’t seen one. She should go and fetch her bag. She stood up. She would need to make some enquiries.
The first person she saw was the ruggedly handsome pilot. Harry, Lisa had called him. He was walking towards her. He walked quickly, his long strides eating up the distance between them, and she expected him to continue on past her as he looked as though he was walking with a purpose, but he came to stop in front of her.
‘Are you still here? Is someone meeting you?’ He assessed her with his blue gaze as his eyebrows came together in a frown.
Emma looked up at him. He towered over her, but his size wasn’t intimidating, in fact she found it oddly reassuring. He gave off a sense that he was a man who could be relied on, a man who would get things done. Maybe it was just the uniform, she’d always seen uniforms as a symbol of order and control, but she sensed that with this man it was more about his personality and less about his attire.
‘Yes, but they’re running late,’ she replied. ‘I’m just going to look for my bags while I wait. Do you know where the baggage carousel is?’
‘First time in Broken Hill?’ he asked.
He was smiling and by the expression in his bright blue eyes she could tell he wanted to laugh. At her. She couldn’t imagine what there was to laugh about but whatever it was that amused him he at least had the good grace not to laugh out loud.
‘Yes, why?’
Harry watched as Emma straightened her slim shoulders and lifted her chin and he knew she was just daring him to make fun of her. He wasn’t about to take the mickey out of her, not when she’d just had a less than stellar welcome to the Hill, but he always found it amusing to see how first-timers coped with Broken Hill. Listening to her English accent,
