Snowbound with Dr Delectable

Kyle walked back to his skis. His knee would be screaming in pain by morning. He retrieved his skis and climbed back to Baylie and Levi. Laying his equipment on the snow, he slipped his feet back into the bindings. “I’m ready. How about you?” he asked the boy in an encouraging tone.

Levi regarded at him for a moment before saying with little eagerness, “Yes.”

“Good, let’s go impress the girls.” He winked at Baylie. Her eyes went wide for a second before one corner of her mouth lifted slightly.

For once she looked less than in control. Good.

Kyle took Levi’s hand and they headed toward the lift. At the top of the slope the boy balked. His small hand squeezed Kyle’s through both their gloves.

He looked down at the child. “You can do this, Levi. I’m going to be with you all the way. I won’t let you get hurt. Trust me?”

Kyle barely made out Levi’s nod.

“Okay, here we go.” Slowly Kyle led him down the beginner slope, making a crisscrossing pattern in the wide-open area. Baylie had moved away from the steeper slope. As they passed, she cheered and whistled. She skied down to meet them when they stopped and give Levi a high five. A huge grin spread across the boy’s face.

“Can I go again?” He looked up at Kyle.

“Sure. Let’s wait here until your instructor comes by and you can join your friends. You remember how to slow down and stop?”

Levi nodded.

“Good. No more flying down the slope. You have to ski in control. You can save all the zooming for when you make the ski team.”

The boy beamed.

Minutes later Levi rejoined his group.

Baylie’s look met Kyle’s. “There’s more to you than meets the eye, Dr. Campbell. You were great with Levi. And your skiing ability is far better than you let on. Few people could have caught him like you did. You prevented what could have been a disastrous accident. I’m surprised that with your talent you’re satisfied working the beginner slope.”

“You made that call.” He’d never let on how happy her assumption had made him. “If the boy hadn’t tried to go down the hill again right away he might never have tried to ski again.” In a number of ways, the same thing had happened to him.

“I appreciate what you just did. And I appreciate your volunteering this weekend.”

“You’re welcome. Now I’ll get back to my job. It’s a pleasure to know you.” To his surprise, it was. Baylie caused his hackles to stand at attention, but something about that was invigorating. She was someone he wouldn’t soon forget.

Baylie had just been dismissed. She didn’t particularly like the feeling. She watched the irritating, self-important man ski off as if he owned the mountain instead of just being here for an overnight stay. She couldn’t remember spending so much time calling one person so many negative names and still managing to be impressed by them.

Just what was under That thick skin of his? Something about him fascinated her, and that wasn’t a good thing. Anyway, he was leaving today. That would be the end of him. Even if she had been looking for somebody in her life—which she definitely wasn’t—the cocky doctor would be her last choice.

The afternoon went by with a few banged knees and scrapes to attend to in the clinic. Minutes after her final sweep of the slopes she noticed Kyle storing his equipment into a late-model SUV in the parking lot next to the patrol building. He seemed eager to leave. That would be the last she’d see of him.

Why did that thought bring a touch of sadness?

“Hey, Baylie, do you know someone named Campbell? There’s a call for him. The guy said he really needed to talk to him,” one of the longtime volunteers asked over the radio.

“Yeah, he’s right out here in The parking a lot. I’ll get him.”

Taking a deep breath, she whistled. The shrill sound echoed in the clear air. Kyle looked toward her. She waved an arm, indicating he should come to her, then put her thumb and pinkie finger out to form an imitation phone. He nodded and closed the hatch on the vehicle before walking toward her.

When he got close enough to hear she said, “You’re wanted on the phone.”

Kyle gave her a perplexed look and headed inside.

“Hello.”

“Campbell, that you? Metcalf here. I’ve been trying to get you on your cell for hours.”

“Didn’t have it on me. What’s up?”

“Man, I’m not going to make it back to take over. Had a car accident. Totaled. Everyone is okay but Robbie’s in the hospital with a broken arm.”

Kyle was glad no one had been seriously injured, but he knew he wasn’t going to like what was coming next. “I need you to finish out the week for me there. Price said he’d cover your call duty and with the clinic closed for Christmas we should be good. It’s slow because of the holidays anyway. I really wouldn’t ask except you’d said you weren’t planning to go out and see your sister until mid-January. Will you stay?”

Kyle gripped the phone. He couldn’t last seven more days. Heck, he wasn’t sure he could do one more.

“Come on, it can’t be that hard with your background. You know I’d be there if I could,” his associate said in a far too cheerful voice.

Kyle sucked in a sharp breath. He couldn’t see a way out of it without sounding completely heartless.

“I’m sorry about Robbie. I guess I’ve no other choice if we don’t want the clinic to look like we don’t honor our commitments. I’ll handle it. Baylie might not even need me.”

“Baylie? You found you a woman up there?”

“She’s the head of the courtesy patrol.” He worked to keep the displeasure at Metcalf’s implication out of his voice. Baylie wasn’t some bit of snow fluff. “Take care of your family.”

“Will do. Thanks, buddy.”

Kyle wanted to slam the phone down and say, “Right, buddy.”

He turned to find Baylie watching him with an inquisitive expression on her face.

“There a problem?” she asked.

“My partner, who was going to be here in the morning, isn’t going to make it after all.”

“I was really counting on him,” she said more to herself than to him.

“Yeah, I figured as much.”

She continued, “My staff is pretty thin during the week but the crowd will still be heavy because of Christmas.”

Baylie had no idea how uncomfortable he was with the idea of staying. One of the things that had made him so successful on the skiing circuit and later in medical school had been that he’d always risen to a challenge. This next week would be just that. A challenge to keep his fear locked away—and his hands off Baylie.

Baylie needed help even if it came in the form of this holier-than-thou doctor. He’d made it clear he was more than ready to be on his way. Still, she had to convince him to stay. Was he going to make her come out and beg him?

“Is one more going to make that much difference?” he asked in a formal doctor tone.

“I need your help.” Oh, how she hated to admit that to this man in particular. “That is, unless you have family plans.”