Surprise Twins For The Surgeon

Dropping his hands, he stepped further away. ‘Take care, Alesha. Whatever you do, enjoy your time in Croatia.’ And on that dry note he left, feeling her eyes boring into his back until he reached the bottom step and let himself out onto the street. He didn’t know if she watched from above as he walked up the road, wasn’t looking back over his shoulder to find out. Alesha had come into his life with a problem. Now the crisis was fixed and with every step he took he was leaving her further behind, safe, out of his life, out of the way of temptation. He couldn’t fix her bigger problem.

‘Kristof, wait. Stop. Look up the road.’ Alesha was running after him. ‘I think there’s a fire further up.’ She had his arm now, was pulling at him and pointing towards the area where his mother’s house was.

A red glow backlit a building. Not his mother’s, but close. Someone’s house was definitely burning. ‘I’m calling the emergency services. You go back inside.’ He didn’t need to be worrying about Alesha while he tried to assess the situation.

‘I’m coming with you. There could be people inside.’

Arguing wasted time. ‘What can you do to help?’ It was an honest question. If she was hanging around there might be something she could do to help.

‘I’m a nurse, remember?’

‘Come on.’ There wasn’t time to argue, and she was right, she might be needed. He began sprinting up the road. Hopefully she wasn’t going to be required at the scene of the fire.

Puff, puff, from beside him. Not a fit nurse, then.

The emergency dispatch for the city answered his call, preventing him saying something he’d regret. Rattling off what he knew about the location, nothing specific but once the emergency crews got close they’d work it out, he punched the red icon and shoved the phone deep into his pocket, hoping it stayed there while he got on with helping out at the fire. Losing all his work contacts was not on.

You don’t want to lose Alesha’s number either.

Best if he did, then he couldn’t be tempted into calling her, asking her to join him for a beer or a trip into town for a meal during the coming week.

Kristof really was trying to fool himself. Who needed a number when he walked by the apartment complex every day? Which reminded him. ‘Did you remember your keys?’

She gaped at him, her eyes wide and filled with disgust. ‘Guess it really isn’t my day.’

They weren’t going to call Karolina out a second time. ‘There’s a spare bed at my mother’s.’

Laughter filled the now smoky air. ‘I meant there went my opportunity to crash at your place. I have keys and phone buttoned into my back pocket.’

He looked. How could he not? Yes, there, on that smooth, curved outline of her backside, was the obvious shape of a phone and a bundle of keys. ‘Well done.’

Damn.

CHAPTER THREE (#u14f67799-5401-5654-ab68-8263a6b9faf2)

ALESHA DREW DEEP breaths in an attempt to stop puffing so hard. Time to find a gym if this was what a short run up a gently sloping hill did. Beside her Kristof was barely breathing any faster than normal.

‘Bystanders are saying there’s a family of four inside,’ he told her. ‘I’m going to see how close I can get.’

‘Be careful.’ Look out for yourself, don’t get injured. Clench, clench went her stomach for her new—What? Friend?

She couldn’t hear any sirens. ‘How far away is the fire station?’ She picked her way through the crowd behind him.

‘Ten minutes. Stay back here.’

‘And if you find someone in need of medical attention?’

‘We’ll bring them out here and you can help me.’

‘We?’ That was when she realised two other men were pushing ahead on the same track Kristof was following. ‘Fine.’ She was wasting precious time, holding him back from possibly saving someone. ‘Go.’ Her heart sank. If there really was a family in that inferno their chances of survival were slim, and getting smaller by the second. When she was training back in Christchurch she’d worked in a burns unit and had hated it. The stench, the raw agony, the horror in her patients’ eyes as they stared at their scars, had drained her emotionally in a way no other field of nursing had.

Around her people were talking as they gaped at the scene. Unfortunately she couldn’t understand a word. Someone pointed towards the house and there was a shout as a burning piece from the roof plunged to the ground. Kristof towered above everyone, making it easy to keep an eye on his progress.

Be safe, please.

He was in charge. No doubt about that. He seemed the kind of guy who’d take note of the situation and still charge in to save whoever he could with little regard for his own safety. Not that she could explain why she felt that, she just did. He’d impressed her with the way he’d looked after her earlier. No one had ever gone out of their way for her before, and it made her feel special, as if she counted for something. Then she’d repaid him by coming on to him. It was a wonder he’d spoken to her at all after that.

‘Does anyone know if the family was definitely at home when the fire broke out?’ she asked without thinking, and got a surprise.

‘The mother and son came home thirty minutes ago,’ the woman beside her answered. ‘The husband and other son are still out.’

‘Two safe. That’s a start.’ Where had Kristof gone? There was no way he could get inside. Not and survive. It was a furnace in there.

‘I hear sirens,’ said the woman.

There was movement ahead, and the crowd parted. Kristof strode towards her, a body in his arms. ‘Alesha? I’ve got the lad. He’s unconscious.’ Kneeling down, he laid his precious bundle on the ground.

Running forward, she dropped to her knees, ignored the gravel digging into the earlier bruises. ‘That’s a nasty cut on his head.’ Blood oozed through the lad’s hair. Her fingers gently probed, touched swollen flesh. ‘Something must’ve fallen on him. Where did you find him? You’d better not have gone inside.’ What did that matter now? If he had he was out safe.

‘On the back porch lying half out the door.’ Kristof began checking the boy over, gently rolling him onto his right side. ‘Burns to his back and left arm.’

‘Don’t pull that shirt off,’ she warned. They didn’t need to cause any further damage.

‘Agreed.’ Kristof was feeling the bones in an oddly shaped elbow, a competent doctor at work. ‘Fractures for sure. He’s got cuts as well as massive trauma bruising. Someone mentioned an explosion.’

‘Do people here use gas for cooking?’ That could explain the injuries and the fire.

‘Yes.’ He gave her a nod of acknowledgment. ‘You know your stuff.’

‘Worked in a burns unit. He has respiratory problems, probably due to smoke inhalation.’

‘I’ll check his heart.’

Cardiac arrest often followed respiratory failure. ‘Will an ambulance come with that fire engine?’ A defibrillator wouldn’t go astray right now, just in case of the worst-case scenario.

‘Of course. From what I’m hearing two fire trucks and one ambulance have just pulled up. The good news is the hospital is only a mile further up the road.’

‘Knowing the lingo is a plus.’ Never had she felt so useless. Not understanding what was going on was disturbing. But she did understand this boy’s dilemma and that was all that really mattered. He needed her help, not her doubts and frustration.

‘Great nursing skills don’t need interpreting.’ Kristof underscored her thoughts as his hand touched the back of hers briefly. Except she hadn’t thought great was true, just thorough.

Someone in uniform knelt beside her, asking rapid questions in Croatian. No doubt a paramedic. She locked eyes on Kristof. ‘You take this.’

He was already talking to the other man. She continued taking the boy’s pulse for a second time. ‘Slower.’

Another person in ambulance uniform joined them and Alesha was nudged aside. Her back cricked as she stood up and looked around. ‘What about the mother?’

Screams rent the air. Someone was pushing through the crowd. A woman. In her late thirties? The boy’s mother? Alesha crossed her fingers. That would mean she was safe and not inside. The woman dropped to the ground beside the boy, crying and shouting, reaching to touch her son, being gently held back by Kristof and another lady.