‘I never promise what I don’t intend seeing through.’ Harry’s radio crackled into life. ‘Yo, how’s things looking?’
‘We’re coming in to get you. Ten minutes out,’ was the reply.
Sienna sighed. Back to reality, and a challenge she’d initiated. Seemed if she was going out with a bang it was with someone sexy and good-looking and intriguing. And if she felt things were getting out of control too fast, Harry would be leaving in the not too distant future, so she wouldn’t have time to make a dreadful mistake about getting too close to him. It took months for that to happen with her. Not weeks. Or days.
‘You hear that?’ Harry asked, already packing the kit.
‘We’re going home.’ On some days hospital was as much home to her as her apartment, probably more. The only difference tonight being that she’d get to use a bed. Hopefully briefly.
‘You’ll be lifted up first. Do exactly what Connor says and you’ll be fine.’
‘That come with a guarantee?’ Now was the time to find out how scared of heights she was. For one, she’d be totally reliant on other people, and she didn’t do that very well. Hello? Bungee-jumping would be the same. She was going to be all right.
‘Written? Or will you take my word for it?’ Harry asked as he attached the harness that’d take her away.
‘Get me out of here,’ she smiled. At least she tried, but it was feeble. Now that the hill was about to be left behind she should be letting go of some of the restraints keeping her tense, but it didn’t come naturally. She hadn’t been in real danger of falling further, but she’d had no control over what happened to her. Still didn’t, but she was headed to an environment she understood more than just about anything else. Time to find out every last detail about her injuries.
Then she was spinning in slow circles as the ground dropped away. A gasp escaped. That tree that mashed her helmet had saved her life. Beyond the pine was—nothing. A large, open space that didn’t stop for metres, and then at a rocky outcrop. A shudder tore through her, another gasp drew air into her already full lungs. Definitely learning to fly. Or getting a pet cow or...
‘Hello, Sienna. I’m Connor.’ Already he was swinging her inside the helicopter. The clips keeping her harness and the rope joined were undone and dropped downward again, and she was lying on a stretcher, with tiredness seeping into every muscle, in her head, her mind.
Harry had barely clambered inside when Sienna felt the sway of the chopper as the pilot took them away from the hill.
‘Last stretch.’ Harry gave her a heart-warming smile. ‘Soon you’ll be back in control.’
He got that? This man was too good to be true. Or too risky. She didn’t want anyone being able to read her so easily, or so accurately.
Harry leaned closer. ‘I didn’t ask. How did you get out to Titirangi to go cycling?’
See? She really wasn’t up to speed. ‘I drove out. Did we bring the bag from my bike with us?’
Relief nudged her when Harry nodded. ‘We did.’
‘Thank you.’ She owed him. ‘Maybe I should be the one bringing the wine.’
‘Your keys in this?’ He held up the small bag that had been around her waist when she’d gone flying over the edge.
Her turn to nod. ‘And phone.’
‘I’ll sort something to retrieve your vehicle tomorrow.’
‘You don’t have to do that.’
‘You’re right, I don’t. But I will.’
She had no energy to argue. Nor any better ideas. She could ask Anna, but she’d said something about finalising a case for Monday. ‘If you take me I can drive it home. What about my bike? Is it worth trying to get that back?’ It had cost a small fortune.
‘And risk falling down the hill again? I don’t think so. Best talk to your insurance broker.’
There was that. The pitch of the rotors changed. ‘We’re at the hospital already?’
‘Yes. Let’s get you inside to the warmth.’ Harrison began preparing to disembark her. ‘By the way, you won’t be driving your vehicle tomorrow. If nothing else you’ll be stiff and horribly sore.’
‘That’s for me to decide.’ But he was right. Driving was out for a day or so.
‘We’ll talk about it later.’
She wouldn’t be seeing him later, not even in ten minutes’ time. Thank goodness. He had a habit of pushing her too far when he wasn’t happy with what she said. Once she’d been offloaded he’d be back in the air, heading to base and signing off his shift, which actually finished at least an hour ago by her estimate, and she could arrange things re the SUV to suit herself.
An annoying grin came her way. ‘Lost for words? I don’t believe it.’
‘Get me out of here.’
Within minutes she was being wheeled into the emergency department by one of the nurses and—Harrison. Seriously? The guy had a cheek. He’d told the crew to head back to base without him, that he’d sign off on line. He was chatting non-stop to the nurse, of the female variety, and reporting Sienna’s obs and injuries, or lack thereof.
She’d be lucky to get any proper attention. The nurse was all but panting as she listened to every word he uttered.
Remind me not to let my mouth hang open next time I’m thinking Harrison is hot. It’s so unbecoming. Not to mention embarrassing.
‘That’s it,’ Harry wrapped up and handed the star-struck woman the notes he’d filled out throughout their time on the hill. ‘Who’s on tonight?’
‘Amy Roberts and Josh Barrett, and there are two house surgeons. One of those two will attend Dr Burch.’
‘I’ll see about that,’ retorted Harry as he took over pushing her bed into a cubicle.
A thrill of amusement made Sienna’s eyes widen.
Don’t open your mouth.
She wasn’t the only one Harry annoyed just by being himself. This man who alternated between irritating and distracting was going to get her the best care available. Or he was going to try. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had looked out for her in this way. Her father had used to when she was a child, and Mum, even Bernie had in the beginning, but since the demise of her engagement there’d been no one covering her back. Probably her own fault, since she’d been so intent in standing tall and in control, to save getting walked all over once more. This felt...?
Good. Lovely.
Oh, give over.
It was exciting. Until she wriggled her legs to get comfortable and the throbbing that had been going on in her calves upped the tempo and the pain, reminding her there were more important issues at stake right now.
A large hand landed lightly on her arm. ‘Take it easy. You’re not ready to go dancing yet.’
‘I wish.’
Don’t take your hand away. It turns me to jelly, sure, but suddenly I’m not minding.
And the look of disappointment on the nurse’s face was priceless. For once Sienna liked the sensation of coming first with a man, even if only for few minutes. By the time the doctors had poked and prodded her she’d be wishing to be alone with her aching body, and hopefully going to sleep. By then Harrison would be kilometres away, probably getting ready for a night on the town.
‘You like dancing?’
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d let loose on a dance floor. Looking up at him, she admitted, ‘I used to.’ She’d been nimble on the floor, had an ingrained sense of timing, and always lost herself in the music. Put dancing on the list. Suddenly the reason she was in the emergency department on a bed struck her, and she turned her face sideways into the pillow. Her spine was in working order, there didn’t seem to be any serious internal pain anywhere, just around her ribs, her skull wasn’t mushed, but what if they were wrong? What if—?
‘Stop it.’
Her eyes blinked open.
‘You’re not doing yourself any favours concoct
ing all sorts of scenarios where you can no longer cycle, work, or dance.’
‘Damned know-it-all, aren’t you?’ Sienna snapped, but some of the knots growing in her belly backed off. Some of them.