Heatwave

To complicate matters, he’d never expected to be cajoled by Velma into returning to the school to meet her granddaughter, Emily, and bring her to the hospital. When Emily had literally fainted at his feet, he’d had no other choice but to bring her to the ER. With the record high temperatures, dehydration or heatstroke were real possibilities, and he didn’t believe in taking chances.

Cale stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his navy uniform trousers. “Give me the condensed version. I’ve got a couple minutes until Brady finishes up.”

Just his luck, Cale wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon because his partner was damned thorough when it came to paperwork. “Someone passed out, and I was handy.” Drew opted for a minimal exchange of information. “Heat exhaustion, I think.”

Cale’s grin widened. “A woman someone, no doubt.”

Drew frowned. “Yeah, so?” He knew he had a reputation within the department as a ladies’ man, however unfounded in his opinion, but it wasn’t like that this time. He’d been doing someone a favor, and well, when a woman fainted at his feet, his training took over. Period. End of story. So what if he’d liked the way Emily Dugan’s big brown eyes sparkled when she’d looked at him? Was it a crime for him to appreciate a beautiful woman?

Cale’s laughter irritated Drew. “Only you, little brother, only you.”

Usually the ribbing he received from his brothers or the guys at Trinity Station failed to get a rise out of him. Unfortunately, today was a different story. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you don’t have enough women chasing after you, now you’ve got them falling at your feet.”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Really?” Cale crossed his arms, his expression skeptical. “Then how was it? It’s not like you to wait around a hospital to find out about a patient.”

“Like I said, it’s a long story.” One he didn’t care to share with his brother at the moment, not when he had a hard time explaining his actions to himself.

“An interesting one, too, I’ll bet.” Cale sobered. “What’s her name?”

Drew let out a sigh. “Emily Dugan, not that it’s any of your business.”

“She was brought in for heat exhaustion, right?”

At Drew’s nod, Cale spun on his heel and headed toward the examination area.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Drew asked, following his brother.

“I wanna see her.”

“Why?”

Cale stopped and let out a stream of breath. “Curiosity. There’s a damn good reason if you’re hanging around a hospital when you don’t have to be here.” He repeated the words slowly, as if Drew was being deliberately obtuse. “I’m betting she’s one hot reason, too.”

Drew could continue to argue with Cale, thereby raising his brother’s suspicions and determination, or he could drop the subject as if it held little importance. Either way, he knew from a lifetime of experience, Cale wouldn’t back off until he’d thoroughly satisfied his curiosity.

Drew followed Cale through the electronic glass doors into the heart of the ER. Nurses, orderlies and physicians moved at a brisk pace between curtained partitions, through trauma room doors or hovered around a large horseshoe-shaped desk area, filling in charts, speaking on telephones or viewing lab reports in an efficient display of organized chaos. Positioned at the counter in a pair of mauve scrubs stood Tilly Jensen.

“Hey, Tils,” Cale called to their childhood friend and neighbor. “Where’s the woman Drew brought in? The heat exhaustion.”

“Curtain three,” she told Cale.

Tilly glanced up from the chart she’d been reading, her gaze intent on Drew. He and Tilly had been best buddies from the time he and his brothers first went to live with their aunt Debbie. Tilly’s mother had died in childbirth, and the Perry boys had not only lost their mother, but their father, who had passed away less than two years later. The Perrys and Tilly had been kindred spirits, with Debbie Perry filling a void in all their lives.

“She’s going to be fine.” Tilly pushed a stray lock of her soft brown, chin-length hair behind her ear. “We don’t think it was the heat, but we’re waiting on labs just to be sure before we release her. It shouldn’t be much longer, then you can take her home.”

“Thanks,” Drew said, oddly relieved, yet frustrated with himself for even harboring the emotion. Heat exhaustion or heatstroke could easily be fatal if not immediately treated. He ignored the knowing lift of his brother’s eyebrows and attempted to convince himself the relief stemmed from the fact he’d been handy when Emily had needed someone with a modicum of medical training.

The argument was a hard sell, even to himself.

“What about her grandmother?” Drew asked. “Velma Norris?”

Tilly capped her pen and stuffed it into the front pocket of her scrubs. “She’s staying the night. Her burn isn’t too bad, but her doctor decided to keep her for observation as a precaution because of her age.”

A doctor motioned for Tilly. “Curtain three,” she said to Drew, pointing down a short corridor, before heading into another room.

Cale was unusually quiet as they neared Emily. Drew pushed through the opening in the curtain and his heart thumped heavily against his ribs.

Emily lay resting on a gurney. With her eyes closed and the cloud of wavy shoulder-length blond hair surrounding her face, she looked like something out of a fairy tale, waiting for the right guy to come along and kiss her awake so they could live happily ever after.

He didn’t believe in fairy tales.

She must have sensed their presence. Her lashes fluttered, and then Drew found himself drawn into a pair of big soul-searching eyes the color of sweet, dark chocolate. Cale’s assessment of hot didn’t exactly sum up Drew’s impression. Breathtaking did, however.

She looked from Drew to Cale, then back at Drew. The barest hint of a smile curved her lips. “Please, tell me I’m not seeing double.”

“Nah.” Cale stepped up to the gurney. “There’s two of us. I’m Drew’s older, much better-looking brother.”

Drew ignored that comment and adjusted the head of the gurney for Emily as she attempted to sit upright. “Emily Dugan, my brother, Cale. The maladjusted middle child.”

“Middle? You mean there’s more of you?” Her gaze scanned them both again. “And you’re both firemen?”

“Paramedic,” Cale said. “Drew here likes to catch firebugs, and Ben, our oldest brother, he’s the firefighter.”

Emily frowned and looked at Drew. “You’re an arson inspector?”

Cale slapped a hand down on Drew’s shoulder. “Yup, he knows what a fire thinks.”

“Don’t you have somewhere to go?” Drew asked his brother.

“Not at the moment.” Cale never could take a hint.

Drew decided to continue ignoring him. “Have they told you about your grandmother?” he asked Emily.

She nodded. “I’m going up to see her as soon as they release me. Do you know how it happened?”

He had a pretty good idea. Someone was setting fires. Until today, no one had been injured. Velma Norris’s burns might not be life-threatening, but next time she might not be as fortunate.

“A fire was smoldering in the trash bin outside the school,” Drew told Emily. “When your grandmother opened the bin, oxygen fed the flames. Her right hand and part of her forearm were injured.”

Emily opened her mouth to say something just as a young doctor pushed through the curtain. He glanced at Emily, then at Drew and Cale. “Which one of you is responsible for the patient?”

“I am,” Drew said, before he could stop himself. He wasn’t really responsible for her, but he sure felt as if he’d been assigned the task of taking care of her. Exactly why, however, remained a mystery, especially since rescuing damsels in distress was Cale’s gig, not his.

The doctor looked down at the chart, then back at Emily. “We have good news. Your labs came back in good order, and there were no signs of heatstroke. But I do suggest you take it easy and be sure to drink plenty of liquids as a precaution.”