A Doctor's Dilemma Read online

  Ethan needed this, not just for himself but for his daughter. She couldn’t help remembering how the hard planes in Ethan’s normally stern expression had softened when he’d spoken to his little girl.

  Kate firmed her resolve. Carly, like any other child in the world, needed smiles and laughter and fun, too.

  Chapter Two

  Ethan mentally counted slowly to ten, trying to ease the weight of his personal problems from his mind. His daughter was fine, even if Mrs. Vanderhoff wasn’t. His little minx had put sugar in the salt container, messing with Mrs. Vanderhoff’s eggs and endangering her health because, of course, she had diabetes. How the woman could’ve eaten almost all of the eggs without noticing the switch was beyond him, but that wasn’t the point.

  Why did Carly constantly get into trouble? Every day with the nanny was a new adventure, one he was very unprepared for. He wanted to bang his head against the wall in frustration. The one thing Carly really wanted, he couldn’t give her.

  He couldn’t bring Carly’s mother back from the dead.

  So now, thanks to Mrs. Vanderhoff giving her two weeks’ notice, they were stuck searching for nanny number five. The weight of responsibility lay heavily on his chest.

  His gaze slid to Kate, who intently completed what she could of the flight report. Even with the clunky headgear on, he could see the golden hue of her skin, softened by the blond strands of hair escaping her helmet. He felt a twinge of guilt for the way he’d snapped at her. She hadn’t deserved his anger, but then again, she didn’t realize how much her simple presence was getting to him.

  Maybe once, a gazillion years ago, he would’ve been very interested. Kate oozed a sensual appeal he secretly craved. She was happy and open and honest, representing everything he couldn’t have. Her inner glow was so bright it hurt to look at her, much less get close, like a moth too stupid to know the light would burn. He had more problems than he knew how to handle, without adding a woman like Kate to the mix. Her constant cheerfulness was wearying. He secretly thought of her as Polly, short for Pollyanna.

  But he probably shouldn’t have been so blunt. She had seemed more than just a little interested in him, personally. But maybe he’d misunderstood. Hey, for all he knew, Kate was friendly to everyone, sharing her strange sense of humor with whoever would listen. An odd thing for a nurse working in trauma. He marveled at the contrast.

  Frankly, he’d never met anyone quite like her.

  “ETA five minutes,” Reese’s voice hummed through his headset.

  “Roger.” He risked another glance at Kate. She was staring out the window, her normally bright hazel eyes dull and serious. He inwardly groaned. Her bummed mood was his fault for losing his patience. Why was he constantly surrounded by things he couldn’t have? Other people had lives outside work. Lives that didn’t include reining in an unruly daughter.

  He was immediately ashamed of his thoughts. He loved Carly more than life itself, even if he hadn’t been home as much as he should have been while she was growing up. She had had a tough year, adjusting to their new, seemingly empty household. How many other five-year-olds have watched their mother die? During Carly’s infant and toddler years, he’d spent too many hours working. Now he and his daughter were strangers when she needed him the most. She needed him more every day. Maybe she was constantly misbehaving while he was away, but at night she often awoke crying from her dreams.

  Her nightmares.

  There was no point in wishing things could be different. He needed to find someone talented enough to firmly yet lovingly handle his scheming daughter.

  No, he amended swiftly, what he really needed was the woman who could fill the void left by Carly’s mother. He didn’t want a wife, not after the way he lost his first one, but there was no question his daughter needed a mother.

  He’d do anything for Carly, even marrying someone he didn’t love. He wasn’t in the market for love anyway. Love hurt too much. But he’d find some woman to marry if that was what was best for his daughter.

  “Ready?”

  Ethan glanced at Kate, who was looking at him oddly. He hadn’t even realized they’d landed. “Yeah.”

  Before he could unfasten his safety belt, Kate jumped out, rounded the helicopter, opened the hatch, and pulled out the gurney. She snapped the empty stretcher to its full height with one smooth, impressive move. He jogged to catch up as they approached the scene.

  “Over here.” A firefighter motioned them over. “The female passenger is okay, just shaken up a bit and covered with road rash. At least she was wearing a helmet. The driver isn’t so good, though.”

  Ethan instantly saw what he meant. The male driver appeared to be a huge, overweight man in his early 40s, with a big bushy beard. He was wearing an Orange County Choppers T-shirt despite the cooler temps. Unfortunately, the T-shirt was soaked with blood from the gaping laceration in his scalp. Kate knelt beside him, clucking under her breath as she connected their patient to the portable monitoring equipment.

  “Now you did it, big guy. Got your blood, dirt, and stones from the road matted in your beard. Gotta tell you, this was not a good idea.”

  For a moment, Ethan fought the insane urge to laugh. Kate was talking to the guy as if his worst problem was going to be soaking the blood and debris from his beard. Ethan grabbed a handful of gauze and began to bind the guy’s oozing head wound. The laceration wouldn’t be sutured until the patient was in the emergency department where they could clean it properly.

  “Pulse brady at forty-five, BP barely hitting eighty systolic. He needs more fluid, and I only have one good line.” Amazingly, Kate’s voice didn’t betray the barest hint of stress. Considering her quirky sense of humor, she was surprisingly cool under pressure.

  “I’ll start another IV on the side.” Ethan tried to concentrate on the task at hand. Thankfully, the guy had ropes for veins, enabling him to start a second IV without a problem. The moment he had the catheter in place, Kate handed him the IV tubing.

  He glanced up, caught off guard at her efficiency. “Thanks.”

  “No problem. Let’s get him on the gurney.”

  “First put a C-collar on him. Does he have any other obvious signs of broken bones?” Ethan took the collar from her hands and helped slide the hard plastic into place.

  “Yeah, I think he might have a femur fracture on the right, and his wrist looks messed up. Must’ve been the side they fell on. The woman’s road rash is mostly on the right side too.”

  Ethan finished his assessment, then with the firefighters’ help, managed to get the hefty patient placed on the gurney. Kate was much stronger than she looked.

  “Ready to go?” He strapped the patient onto the gurney.

  “Yes, sirree.” Kate lifted the monitor onto the stretcher and slung the supply pack over her shoulder. They wheeled their patient toward the waiting helicopter.

  The noise of the chopper kept them from conversing as they lifted the patient inside through the back hatch. Kate nimbly jumped in after him. Ethan averted his gaze from her lithe figure, nicely displayed in the navy blue flight suit, as he closed the hatch behind her, then rounded the chopper to climb into the side door.

  Absolutely no point in longing for a pretty but impractical toy, especially one he couldn’t afford.

  Even five-year-old Carly knew better than that.

  Ethan tried without much success to block out the sound of Kate’s voice echoing through his headset.

  “So, big guy, what happened? Did you lose control on your motorcycle, or did someone cut you off? Hope you weren’t drinking, my friend, or you’ll find yourself in a heap of trouble when you come to.”

  “Kate, will you please stop talking to him?” Ethan couldn’t stand one second more. “He can’t hear you, and if he can, for sure he can’t answer you.”

  She fell silent for a moment, then grinned. “You’re right. I need to focus on the positive side of things.” She turned her attention back to the patient. “Come on, big guy. You
need to wake up, or I might be tempted to shave your beard.”

  Did she have a strange beard fetish? Ethan shook his head. Never mind, there was no logic in her chatter, so why was he looking for some?

  Without warning, their patient thrashed heavily against the belt Kate had loosened around his legs to free the IV tubing pinned beneath. Ethan laid a firm hand on the guy’s shoulder since he was positioned at his head. But Kate, who was seated on the bench seat running alongside the patient, was no match for the biker’s flailing limbs. She tried to reach down to grab his ankle, but at that exact moment, his non-injured leg kicked up and his knee slammed her shoulder with enough force to send her flying off the bench.

  “Oomph,” she groaned as she staggered back up to her seat. Holding a hand over her shoulder, she gave their patient an exasperated look. “Ouch. What did you do that for? I was kidding about shaving you.”

  “Are you all right?” Ethan leaned on the patient harder and reached over with his other hand to tighten the safety straps. He wanted to give her a hand but didn’t dare let go.

  “Fine, I guess.” Kate quickly secured the strap over their patient’s legs, before reaching up to rub her shoulder. “Boy, did he wake up fast. I can believe he heard me.”

  Ethan barely refrained from rolling his eyes. “I doubt he heard you. His pupils are unequal; he’s got a head injury.”

  “You don’t know these biker dudes.” Kate jotted more notes on her clipboard. “They are fanatical about their beards, something I learned the hard way. During nursing school, I accidentally shaved a biker’s beard because it was in the way of starting a central line. Never mind we saved his life, he roared with anger once he woke up to find his beard gone.”

  Ethan had to suppress another urge to laugh. He could just imagine her as an eager young nursing school student shaving some biker’s beard. Then he frowned when he noticed her massaging her shoulder again. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Just a little sore.” She rotated her arm, wincing as she did so. “Uh-oh, there he goes again.”

  Their patient shifted on the gurney again. This time, though, they had him securely strapped so he couldn’t hurt anyone. Ethan had seen many head injury cases, and this agitated phase was always the worst. Their patient snaked out his good arm from under the safety strap. Luckily, Ethan grabbed his hand just in time to prevent him from yanking out anything important.

  “Get wrist restraints, the safety straps aren’t enough to hold him. We can’t lose this endotracheal tube. He could die.”

  Kate was already wrapping one cloth restraint around the patient’s ankle and securing the other into the frame of the gurney. “He’s not gonna like this,” she predicted. “It may cause him to thrash even more.”

  “Too bad.” Ethan was sweating from holding the guy down with one hand and keeping the breathing tube in place with the other.

  “There, all set.” Kate smiled again after she’d secured the patient’s non-injured hand. “At least his vitals are stable. The fluids are keeping his blood pressure reasonable. Hopefully, he’ll be okay. Could be worse.”

  Ethan scowled again. Yeah, Polly, things could be worse. Like he could let himself imagine what kind of fun he could have going out with pretty Kate Lawrence. That would be worse. A lot worse.

  “ETA five minutes.” Reese’s voice in his headgear was a welcome diversion.

  “Thank goodness,” Ethan muttered.

  Kate strapped herself in for the landing. He noted she was still favoring her left shoulder. Once they had their patient safely transferred, he’d make her fill out an accident report.

  Reese lightly landed the chopper. Closest to the door, Ethan jumped out first. Kate followed, and they both rounded the helicopter to pull the gurney out of the back. In the middle of pulling the guy out, Kate’s left arm gave out, and the gurney tilted dangerously to one side as she nearly buckled beneath the biker’s weight.

  Ethan used all his strength to hold the gurney steady until they managed to get their patient safely on the ground with the gurney at its full height.

  “Sorry,” she mouthed. The rotating blades of the helicopter created such a racket they couldn’t communicate verbally.

  Nodding to show he understood, Ethan tugged on the frame and wheeled the gurney away from the helicopter.

  Inside the trauma elevators, he glanced at Kate as they both ditched their helmets. Her brow was damp with sweat, and there were tiny brackets of pain at the corners of her mouth. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “Fine.” She avoided his gaze as they descended to the lower level, housing Trinity Medical Center’s emergency department. She kept pace with him, helping to wheel the patient into the closest trauma bay.

  She gave an updated condition report, and within minutes they had the patient transferred onto the emergency department equipment. On their way out toward the elevator, Ethan reached out to grasp her hand on the opposite side of her shoulder injury.

  Huge mistake. Her hand radiated heat, and when his fingers closed around hers, she stumbled toward him, coming close. Way too close. He could see the light sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her upturned nose. Her lushly curved mouth parted in surprise. Ridiculously, he noticed how her eyes had turned a deep emerald green before sanity returned with a rush.

  “Get that shoulder of yours looked at!” His voice was louder than he intended. “You almost dropped him!”

  “But I didn’t.” Her response was quick, but the flash of guilt in her gaze belied her words. She shrugged off his grip, the corners of her mouth dipping into a frown. “My shoulder is fine. Just dandy.”

  “No, it’s not. You need to file an accident report, too.”

  “Why are you so crabby? He didn’t kick you.” She jabbed the elevator button, and the doors closed, locking them in.

  He struggled to breathe something besides the lemony citrus scent clinging to her. He wasn’t crabby. She hadn’t even begun to see him crabby. Slowly, he counted to ten, a trick he learned in dealing with his daughter. Counting to ten helped him regain a measure of self-control.

  Kate leaned toward him. He swallowed a surge of panic and forced himself not to step back. Her eyes weren’t green anymore but a bright, mischievous blue. Distracted, he stared. Did her eyes always change color with her mood?

  “Thanks for your kind concern, Dr. Weber, but you’re not getting rid of me so easily.” The words had to be pure bravado, but her wide smile sent a flash of desire punching straight to his gut, tipping him off-balance worse than anything else could have.

  Self-control? What self-control? Who was he kidding? Around Kate, self-control was a complete illusion.

  Katie tried to ignore the ache in her shoulder, but pain dogged her every step. Ethan shoved an accident report form under her nose when they returned to Lifeline, so she filled the stupid thing out. But then they’d argued over her ability to work the rest of her shift.

  For someone who made a dedicated effort to remain cheerful, she was failing miserably.

  Maybe Ethan was the type of guy who loved to argue, but she was not in the mood. He was still cranky, but at least this time he was preoccupied with the severity of her shoulder injury rather than simply being upset with her.

  “I’m calling Jared,” he threatened.

  “Oh, come on,” she scoffed. Dr. Jared O’Connor was the medical director for Lifeline and their boss. “It’s Sunday. Do you really want to bother him at home? For what? Who’s going work the rest of my shift? Not his wife, Shelly, especially since she’s been so sick with her pregnancy. But if you want to pull Jared away from his family on a weekend, go for it.”

  Ethan picked up the phone, then slammed it down the moment she finished speaking. Kate couldn’t help but grin. She figured her last line had done it. The throbbing wave of pain hit her hard, but she had a wince and resisted the urge to rub her shoulder. Ethan wouldn’t hesitate to use her weakness against her.

  What she needed was a good laug
h, but she didn’t think Ethan would cooperate by distracting her with jokes. Not his fault, really, and he didn’t seem to know how to laugh.

  The pain in her arm wasn’t getting any better, so working really was a bit of a problem. Maybe they wouldn’t get any more calls. A faint hope, but one she clung to anyway. Daytime on a Sunday could sometimes be quiet.

  “Look, this isn’t personal, but I need a flight partner who can lift patients.” Ethan’s voice was calm and rational. “I can’t do this job myself.”

  Kate sighed, heading to admit Ethan was right. She glanced at her watch. There were at least five more hours until the end of their shift. “Who is scheduled for night shift? I can see if that person can come in a few hours early.”

  “And if they can’t?”

  “Gee, Weber, don’t be such an optimist. Your cheerfulness is overwhelming.” Kate tried to ignore his dour expression as she dialed Jessica’s number.

  Jess didn’t answer, but Kate left her a message before hanging up. Ethan’s scowl only served to make her feel worse. “You know, Reese would help with the lifting if we get another call.”

  “That’s not in his job description,” Ethan shot back.

  Kate rolled her eyes at his negative attitude. She knew Reese Jarvis well enough to know the pilot possessed a strong sense of teamwork. “Trust me, Reese won’t mind. Besides, what other options do we have? Until someone else can come in, you’re stuck with me.”

  Ethan turned away, and Kate figured he felt as if being stuck with her was the worst thing he could imagine. She wished she could find a way to reach him. So far, she wasn’t being very successful with her mission.

  They didn’t need to test Reese’s willingness to lift because after an hour Jess returned Kate’s call, agreeing to come in early to cover her shift. Kate tried to remain positive, to look on the bright side. Ethan would be better off having a flight partner who could lift. And this was the perfect time to step back and regroup. How was she supposed to teach him the value of laughter when she could barely dredge up a smile herself?