Bold And Brave-hearted

“Sure.” Her lips had grown pale and that worried him. She was likely going into shock. Where the hell were his buddies? This woman was in deep trouble or would be soon enough if someone didn’t get her out of here. “So what would you like to talk about?”

“You. I often wondered what had happened to you. How’d you get to be a fireman?”

“Firefighter. That’s the politically correct term these days.”

Her smile was weaker than before. “So?”

“I figured eventually I’d rescue some damsel in distress and she’d fall into my arms pledging her undying love.”

“Count me in on that one, hero. What girl could resist?”

A lot of them, Jay suspected. Particularly those who knew his background—raised by a single mother on disability, the two of them living every day only inches away from disaster. A kid who had to work his way through high school, let alone community college, which he’d squeaked through during night classes, working extra jobs and trying to support his mother. Not exactly the kind of man who conjured up romantic dreams in the life of a high-school prom queen like Kimberly Lydell.

Damn, he’d wanted to know her so much better. But there hadn’t been time. Not between his classes and two part-time jobs. Not when he knew damn well she was dating the most popular jocks on campus.

He shrugged off his memories. What he needed to do now was to keep her alive until help came. That would take all of his concentration. The only thing that mattered.

Adjusting his hat on her head to shield her from the plaster dust that continued to drizzle from the ceiling, he sat back.

“I don’t think it’s quite my size,” she said as the visor virtually covered her eyes.

“Looks fetching though. Who knows, you could start a new fashion trend. You’ve always been the most stylish girl in town.”

Hesitantly, she slid her free hand into his again, slender and delicate in his much larger palm. “Jay, how badly is my face cut? It feels…I need to know.”

“Superficial.” He wasn’t a doctor but he suspected he’d just told her a lie. “You know head wounds bleed like hell and can hurt like crazy. You’ll be fine.”

She squeezed his hand tight, stronger than he had expected. “Thank you for being here.”

“All in a day’s work.”

IT TOOK the urban rescue unit an hour to extricate Kim from the wreckage of the building. Jay held her hand the whole time; she wouldn’t let him go until they lifted her into the ambulance.

Jay spent the night handling more calls because of the quake and couldn’t get to the hospital until his shift ended at eight the next morning. Still grubby from work, he went directly to the nurses’ station. His timing was perfect. The doctor was filling out Kim’s chart.

“How is she, doc?” Jay asked.

Harry Plum, an old-timer in the community and everybody’s favorite doctor, looked haggard. It had been a long night for the medics, too. “We’re not releasing any information to the media yet.”

“Doc, I was the one who found her in the building. I’d like to know.”

He nodded. “She’s in critical but stable condition.”

“Her legs?”

“Not so bad—extended loss of circulation in her right leg, but we don’t think she’ll lose it. Lucky you fellows got her out of there as fast as you did.”

That was a relief. “How ’bout her face? It didn’t look good.”

Plum turned his attention back to the chart. “Plastic surgery isn’t my specialty.” He shook his head. “I’m not optimistic. Some serious damage to her left cheek and the wound is ragged. They’ll do their best, I’m sure.”

Jay exhaled. He’d been afraid of that. “Any chance I can see her?”

“Not now. They’re just taking her up to surgery. The OR has been going full blast all night.”

The next day he tried to call Kim, but the telephone operator reported Miss Lydell wasn’t accepting calls. No visitors either. He sent flowers and included his phone number on the card.

But he didn’t hear back.

That was okay. She’d probably gotten hundreds of flowers from her fans. Jay was just another guy with a crush on her.

He didn’t even mind the guys at the station razzing him about rescuing the prettiest woman in town, at least not much. He’d been doing his job. That’s all any man could ask of himself.

And he’d do it all over again in a heartbeat if it meant keeping Kim Lydell safe.

KIM HAD STOPPED answering her door four months ago, right after she’d come home from the hospital. Isolated from the world, she’d been content with books to keep her company and her amateur efforts at sculpting clay to express her artistic nature. It wasn’t that she was vain, although she’d always taken pride in her appearance.

Despite the doctor’s best efforts, her scars hadn’t healed properly. Her fair complexion meant every jagged line showed even with heavily applied makeup—which only made her look like a wax reproduction, as though one side of her face ought to belong to a macabre clown.

No, she didn’t answer the door any longer.

Except whoever was out there now was damn persistent.

She slipped quietly to the window and eased back the curtain. The house she’d so proudly purchased when she’d first landed her job at KPRX-TV was small but secluded, perched on a hilly five acres covered with California live oaks. From her porch on a clear day she could see the sunset on the Pacific through a notch in the coastal range.

Unfortunately, a man now occupied that porch and he wasn’t one to give up easily.

She sighed. From her days of reporting local news, she recognized Paseo del Real’s fire chief, Harlan Gray. She couldn’t ignore him.

Opening the door, she stood back so he couldn’t see her clearly through the screen.

“Chief. What brings you out this way?” As far as she knew, no wildfire was about to burn over the top of the ridge. And she’d cleared the brush from around her house per local regulations.

He took off his hat, revealing a head of almost white hair that he kept neatly cut in a butch. “Good morning, Miss Lydell, it’s good to see you.”

“Is it?” Not everyone would think it a pleasure to look at her these days; certainly looking in her own mirror was a less than pleasant experience.

“I wonder if I could come in?”

“I’m sorry, Chief. I’m afraid I don’t entertain much these days.”

“I see.” Idly, he fingered his cap. “Well, then, did you happen to hear about the explosion at the plastics plant a few days ago?”

“I rarely watch the news any more.” It was too much of a reminder of the career she’d strived so hard to achieve and then had lost.

“One of my finest men was injured in that explosion. He’d given his helmet to a victim he was trying to get safely out of the building and some glass containers blew up on his face.”

“I’m sorry.” She was. Truly. But she was barely coping with her own disfigurement. How could she possibly help—