Where The Heart Is

‘I know. She knows. They all know. Trust me, you don’t need to give them a lecture.’

Melissa came in and overheard Rowena’s last words. ‘Yeah. She’s already done it for you—in a nice way. I’m sorry. We all are,’ she said. She took Stephen’s hand. ‘Steve’s kid brother died from leukaemia,’ she said quietly.

Stephen opened his eyes. ‘Being here—we’re trying to do something to help, so it doesn’t happen to someone else,’ he mumbled. ‘Sorry I caused all this trouble.’

‘It wasn’t your fault,’ Melissa defended him. She turned back to face Luke and Rowena. ‘Steve was feeling a bit raw tonight, so we thought we’d cheer him up. We didn’t realise how strong those pisco sours were—or how near the edge of the lake we were. It won’t happen again.’

Rowena saw a muscle tighten in Luke’s face. He was clearly reining in his temper—but why? Had he seen someone die in the glacial waters around here? Or was it the story of Steve’s brother that had upset him? Had Luke lost a younger brother or sister?

It’s nothing to do with you, she reminded herself. Back off. And he hasn’t told you of his own free will, so prying is just going to hurt him.

In the end, Luke shrugged. ‘It’s getting late. You’d better get some sleep.’

‘I’d rather stay.’

‘It’s going to take a while until Steve’s warmed up again,’ Luke said shortly. ‘You’d be better off getting some rest. We’ve got a long day tomorrow.’

‘But—’ Melissa began.

‘Don’t worry, we’re going to keep checking his temperature until it’s back up to normal,’ Luke said.

‘We’ll call you if there’s anything we need,’ Rowena promised, seeing that the young woman was near to tears. ‘He’s going to be fine.’ When Melissa left, she glanced at Stephen, who’d dropped back into a doze, and said, ‘You didn’t need to be quite that harsh with her.’

Luke’s face said it all for him. Back off. Now.

She changed tack. ‘I don’t suppose there’s any chance of warmed, humidified oxygen?’ They’d need it if Stephen started to deteriorate, and she’d be happier if she knew it was nearby.

‘Put it this way, where we’re going tomorrow, the only contact we’ll have with the outside world is by radio,’ Luke said dryly. ‘We’re a long way from a state-of-the-art medical facility.’

‘Just wondered.’

‘If I think he’s deteriorating, I’ll call the air ambulance.’

Still that tightness in his voice. Something had clearly upset him, but she could tell that he wasn’t going to talk to her about it. She sat in silence with him, writing down sets of observations every fifteen minutes.

The next thing she knew, Luke was shaking her awake.

‘Huh?’ Then years of practice from her time as a junior doctor came to the fore, and she was awake instantly. ‘Sorry. I meant to stay awake, help you.’

‘No pasa nada. If you’re not used to being outdoors all day, the fresh air tends to make you sleep well at night.’

She flushed. ‘Even so. How’s Steve?’

‘His temperature’s back to normal.’

She glanced at her watch. As she’d expected, it had taken three hours. ‘That’s good.’

‘We’ll hand him over to Melissa now.’ He shepherded her out of the room and found Melissa, who was hunched over a half-empty mug of tepid coffee.

Melissa looked worried, as if she wanted to know what was going on but was scared Luke would bite her head off if she asked.

Luke obviously saw it, too, because his tone was gentler this time. ‘I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier. I guess being drenched in ice-cold water doesn’t do much for my manners.’

She smiled awkwardly. ‘Sorry.’

Luke put her in the picture quickly. ‘If you’re at all worried during the night—and I mean if anything doesn’t seem quite right to you—then I want you to call me. It’s unlikely he’ll develop any complications but if he does, the earlier we know about it the better chance we have of helping him.’

‘I promise,’ Melissa said solemnly. ‘And thank you. I know what happened was our fault, and we didn’t deserve…’ Her voice tailed away.

‘Hey.’ Luke squeezed her shoulder. ‘I was young once. I’ve got drunk and done stupid things. Though I drew the line at swimming in a glacial lake in the middle of winter.’

‘Well. Thank you anyway,’ she said, smiling through the threatening tears.

‘I’ll walk you to your tent,’ Luke said to Rowena.

She was perfectly capable of finding her own way back, but she found herself nodding. ‘Thanks.’

He waited until they were out of the refugio before asking, ‘So how come someone who’s “done some first aid” knows rather more than the average person about treating hypothermia? Are you on a mountain rescue team somewhere?’

‘No. I…’ She sighed. ‘OK. I’m a qualified doctor, too.’

‘How come the organising team didn’t know that?’

‘Because I don’t want to be responsible for other people. I’m here to walk, raise money.’

‘Mmm-hmm. And that’s why you waded right in just now.’

‘You were the one in the water,’ she pointed out.

‘Don’t split hairs.’ He gave her a sidelong look. ‘That’s the thing about being a doctor. You never quite switch off, do you?’

‘I suppose not,’ she admitted.

They walked in silence to her tent—a silence which grew tenser by the second. Rowena was beginning to find it hard to breathe. All she could think of was how it would feel to have his mouth covering hers. Hell. This was the last thing she needed. She dragged in a breath. ‘Thanks for walking me back.’

‘Least I could do.’

She hadn’t intended to meet his eyes. By starlight, they were very dark and very intense. And his mouth wasn’t that far from hers. She saw the instant he realised it, too, and she moved away before he could make the thought reality. ‘See you tomorrow,’ she said, knowing she was being a coward, and ducked into the safety of her tent.

CHAPTER THREE (#u2486aaf3-2402-5eb3-94ed-b3a8b83c2339)

ROWENA was a doctor, just like he was. So why hadn’t she said anything before? She’d claimed that she didn’t want to be responsible for others, but he didn’t believe that. When you were a doctor, being responsible for others was part of the territory. And hadn’t she stepped in to help when she’d been needed?

Maybe she was shy. He’d noticed that she either chatted to Carly or stayed on the sidelines of the group, not saying much. He didn’t think she wasn’t being snobby or standoffish—it was almost as if she didn’t know how to mix in, had never been taught how to be part of a group.

Not that it was any of his business. He should just follow her lead and back off.

Except he was sure she felt the same.