He wasn’t leaving this OR. He wasn’t going to leave Shane Draven behind.
He didn’t even know her name and he didn’t care; she seemed to be competent. That was all that mattered.
When the surgery was over and they were wheeling Shane to the ICU, Luke gave up his perch in the OR. He planned to be on that ICU floor and personally monitoring Shane until he came out of the woods, as it were.
Dr. Ralston is a fine surgeon and a heck of an officer.
Only that wasn’t entirely true. Not anymore. He wasn’t an officer anymore. He’d given it all up. He didn’t renew his commission because his wife was done being an army wife, but then Christine had left him. He did it all for her and for nothing.
Luke shook that thought from his head. Nope. He wasn’t going there, because he wasn’t going to let that happen again.
No one was going to dictate how his life should be again. Which was why he wouldn’t settle down into a practice with Carson. It had been Christine’s wish after he finished his tours of duty. He’d partner with Carson, raise a family with Christine and do what he loved, practicing medicine. He’d been planning to do that. Luke was going to give up the army for his wife to make her happy. At least that had been the plan.
Then it all went to hell in a handbasket.
Christine left him when he finished his second tour, for his best friend, Anthony.
He cursed under his breath as he walked down the hall to the ICU. He was angry at himself for allowing those thoughts to creep into his head again. To let her creep into his thoughts again. It was because he was in a hospital again.
Surrounded by people.
On his mountain it was just the sky, the wind, the trees and the majestic behemoths rising from the earth toward the clouds.
On his mountain he was himself and he had no one to answer to. No one but him controlled his life, his fate, his destiny.
“Hey!”
Luke spun around and saw a woman in surgical scrubs and cap approach him. The physical attraction was immediate. Full red lips, which were slightly pouty. White-blond hair peeked out from under the scrub cap and big blue-green eyes sparkled with annoyance.
Oh. No.
It was the spitfire surgeon. He’d only seen her over the surgical mask. Now seeing that she was a gorgeous woman with a strong personality to boot, well, that was a dangerous combination for Luke.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
She crossed her arms and sized him up. “I’m looking for a Dr. Ralston. Do you happen to know where he is?”
Luke took a step back, in case she started swinging, but then the words sank in and he realized she didn’t know who he was. But then, he’d been wearing a surgical mask, cap and gown when he’d been in the OR with Shane. And this surgeon wasn’t a local surgeon. She was visiting. She wouldn’t recognize one person from another behind a surgical mask, because not being at this hospital every day he certainly didn’t.
This could be fun, one part of him thought. While the other part told him to walk away and not entangle himself with her, because he knew she spelled danger.
“Why do you need him?”
She huffed. “If you see him tell him Dr. Ledet is looking for him.” She turned to walk away and for a brief moment, one fraction of a second, he saw himself grabbing Dr. Ledet and pulling her into his arms, kissing her. Forcing the image away, he overcame the urge to taste those soft, moist lips, running his hands through her blond hair.
Maybe doing a little bit more than that.
Definitely dangerous.
“Where can he find you?” Luke asked.
She glanced at her watch. “After eight he can’t. I’m flying back to New York.”
“New York?”
“Yeah, I was here on business and decided to lend a hand for an old teacher. A fat lot of good that did me when I had to deal with an arrogant jerk like Dr. Ralston.”
“Well, if I see him before eight I’ll tell him.”
She didn’t thank him, just nodded curtly and walked away.
A New York surgeon, eh? Well, that was too bad, but it was for the best.
He’d never see her again.
It would’ve never worked anyway and not because of the distance, but because he would never let it.
Six months later, mid-January, Crater Lake, Montana
I HATE THE COLD. I hate the cold.
Sarah thought coming from New York she’d be used to the frigid temperatures of northwest Montana. New York State bordered Canada, too; it should be the same, but it wasn’t. Not at all. This was a different kind of cold. There was no moisture in the air and as she tried to shake the remnants of bone-chilling frigidity from her brand-new office, she couldn’t remember why she’d decided to take this job in Crater Lake, Montana.
Dr. Draven.
Right. Her teacher from medical school. Dr. Eli Draven. She didn’t study under him, because she didn’t have an interest in becoming a cardio-thoracic surgeon, but she remembered him clearly from her days at Stanford.
He was a good teacher, if not a bit full of himself. He’d taken a shine to her until she’d decided not to pursue cardio; then she was no longer his star, but he still spoke highly of her and when this job was offered to her by Dr. Draven’s brother, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity, because she was more than ready to get out of New York and out of her father’s iron grip.
No matter what she did, nothing was good enough for her parents.
They still saw her as their baby.
And they wouldn’t be happy until she was living a pampered life in a Central Park West penthouse, married to an investment banker or a lawyer or even a doctor.
She couldn’t be the doctor, however.
That was unacceptable.
Why do you need to work, pumpkin? Your husband, if you marry well, can take care of you.
Her mother’s archaic way of thinking made her shake her head. Sarah peeled off the thick parka she’d bought when she moved out to Montana and hung it on the coat rack in her office. There were no cabs in Crater Lake, unless you counted the very unreliable Bob’s Taxi, and she didn’t.
At least she’d bought a car when she first landed in Missoula and had snow tires put on it.
