*
She started doing chest compressions, letting her doctor mode send her into automatic pilot while every other part of her being screamed out loud.
She loved him. She hated him. She couldn’t possibly be with him. But did she really want to live without him when he’d connected with her in ways she’d never felt before?
The pain in her chest was immense. Stress, fear and terror all at once.
She could feel the movement of his chest beneath her palms. His color hadn’t improved. He wasn’t breathing. She couldn’t feel the beat of a heart beneath her hands.
A tear dripped down her cheek and landed onto his chest.
This couldn’t be how this ended. It just couldn’t be.
She wouldn’t let it.
She couldn’t let it.
CHAPTER TEN
ONE SECOND HE was trying to contain himself; next second he was watching the mass of boulders and tree slide toward them as he dived on top of Amber.
He couldn’t remember anything after that.
Except that his chest hurt. A lot.
And so did his shoulder. And so did his head.
He blinked, then squinted at the bright white that met his eyes.
A face appeared above him. “Oh, you’re back to the land of the living. About time. I know someone that will be pleased.”
His brain was still trying to focus. She was vaguely familiar. “Please don’t make me do neuro obs on you, Jack. You haven’t exactly been the easiest patient these past few hours.”
She winked at him and something flooded into his brain. “Lana?” The ER nurse who had been sent out with him and Amber.
Amber. This wasn’t a flood; this was a tidal wave. “Amber? Where’s Amber?” He tried to sit up in the bed, yelping as his shoulder let him know who was in charge.
Lana smiled. “Oh, good. No neuro obs. You do know who we are.” She pointed to his shoulder. “You dislocated that. It will probably be sore for a few days. And you’ve got a few cracked ribs where someone got a little overenthusiastic when you needed CPR.”
“What?” He sagged back on the bed and put his hand on his chest. That was why it was so sore.
“As for Amber.” Lana nodded over her shoulder. “Don’t let it be said we’re not accommodating. She’s just back from Theater. Her ankle needed to be pinned. She’s just about ready to wake up.”
Jack turned his head to the side. There, in the bed next to him, lay a very pale-faced Amber, her dark hair fanned around her, doing her best impersonation of Snow White.
He shook his head, but, no, even that hurt. Lana walked over and lifted a cup with a drinking straw. “Try some water. Then we can chat. Do you need some more analgesia?”
He shook his head. “What…what happened? Last thing I remember was the landslide.”
Lana nodded. “I think I’ll leave Amber to discuss that with you. She used a few choice words.” Lana laughed; her eyes were twinkling. “Give me five minutes to wake her up.”
Lana pressed a button and the top of Jack’s bed rose behind him, giving him a better view of the room. From the noise outside, the hospital was still crazy. He should be helping. He shouldn’t be in here as a patient.
But he couldn’t deny the pain in his chest. His heart gave a leap as he heard a few quiet words from the bed next door. He could hear Lana speaking to Amber. “Yeah, I’m the girl with all the gifts. I’ve been in the ER, Maternity and Surgical in the last day. I just go wherever I’m needed.” Lana glanced over her shoulder and gave Jack a wink. “Here, have a little drink and I’ll sit you up. Your partner in crime has woken up too.”
“He has?” Jack’s breath caught at the tone of her voice. She sounded almost…happy?
Lana stepped back and glanced from one to the other as she placed a buzzer next to Amber’s hand. “Okay, people, things to do. Ring if you need me.” She was laughing to herself as she walked out of the door.
For a few seconds there was silence. And Jack was glad of it. He was just so glad to see her there. Seeing that giant amount of earth moving toward them had terrified him. There had been no chance to move Amber out of its path. He might have had a chance to run for it. The firefighters next to him had run like lightning, carrying the patient in the rescue litter. He only hoped they’d managed to get out of the way of the landslide.
“You made it,” he finally said, his voice breaking a little.
“Of course I made it,” she snapped. “I haven’t finished being mad at you yet.”
He rested his head back against the pillow, closed his eyes and smiled. Just the way he liked her.
“What are you smiling at?”
He put his hand to his chest. “I’m just thanking someone up above that we’re both still here.” He opened his eyes again. She was too far away to reach out to. But that didn’t stop him wanting to.
She cleared her throat. “I’m still mad at you.”
He met her gaze. Somehow he’d never seen anyone look quite so beautiful. “I get that. Do you think being mad could last a lifetime?”
Confusion swept her face. “What are you talking about?”
He breathed slowly, then winced. He should have remembered about the ribs.
“Are you okay?”
He shook his head. “Just feels like someone has been tap-dancing on my chest. I broke a few ribs, and dislocated a shoulder. I still have no idea how we got out of that.”
She blinked. Her eyes looked wet. “Sorry. My technique might be off.”
Something clicked in his brain. “You did CPR on me?”
She let out an exasperated laugh. “Well, you’d shielded me from a landslide. It would have seemed kind of bad to leave you there when you—” her voice broke “—you weren’t breathing.” He saw her try to take a deep breath. “Blue really isn’t your color.”
His brain was trying to compute. He’d just figured that one of the search and rescue guys or gals had pulled him from the landslide.
She kept talking. “How could I walk away? You tackled me to the ground like you were some kind of superhero. Then you just threw a coat over us and didn’t let go all the way down the mountainside.”
He wasn’t imagining it. A tear was sliding down her cheek.
“Some people are worth holding on to,” he said softly.
Amber shook her head. “But we’re wrong for each other. You don’t believe in me. You second-guess me. You make me feel as if I have to prove myself around you.” Her head-shaking got fiercer. “That’s not what love is about. That isn’t how someone who loves you should make you feel.”
He could see it. The pain on her face that had been etched there since he first met her—always just hiding beneath the surface as she slipped on her bravado and her game face.
“Is that how I make you feel, or is that how you already feel, Amber?” he probed gently. “Because I think you’re a wonderful doctor. I’ve seen you in situations that should be completely out of your comfort zone and taking it in your stride. Am I a control freak? Yes. I’ve lived the past eight years in a place where discipline and control is everything. But where acting first is sometimes the only chance you get. I know that. I recognize that.
“I’ve had a situation where everything was out of my control and I woke up the next day having lost someone that I loved. How do you think I felt when I saw you put yourself in danger? Did I overreact? Probably, yes. Will I do it in future? Maybe. It doesn’t make me a bad person. It makes me know that I feel again. That I love again. Do you think I could bear waiting to see if something might happen to you? I saw that ground start to move, felt the rumble beneath my feet, and there was no way I was letting go of you.” He could feel his hands start to shake again. It was almost as if all his emotions were finally coming to the surface.
“Love isn’t perfect, Amber. I don’t even know if I’m any good at it. I just know I want to try. And I want to try with you. I know we’re right at the beginning. I know anything can happen from here. I just want
you to give me a chance. I just want to try.”
“You love me?” She said the words in disbelief.
“Of course I love you. What’s not to love? You fight with me. You tell me I snore. You tease me. You make me work harder. You challenge me at every turn.” He gave her a smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone so perfect for me in my life.”
Tears were tumbling down her cheeks. “But…but…”
“But what?”
He fumbled around the edge of the bed until he found the button that lowered the side. He swung his legs to the edge of the bed and waited a few seconds while his head spun, then yanked the blood-pressure cuff from his arm.
The first step was shaky. The second was determined. Nothing would keep him from being by her side. He reached the edge of her bed.
“Tell me how you feel, Amber. Tell me how you feel about me. I might be completely crazy here.” He lifted his hand to the bandage on his head. “Maybe I’ve got a head injury.” Then he took his hand back down to his chest. “Or maybe I’m finally listening to my heart.” He reached over and brushed one of the tears away from her cheek. “I’ve spent the last two years focused on work. Locking myself away from everything and everybody.” He held up his hands and smiled. “Here. This place.” He laughed and shook his head, ignoring the pain. “We came here expecting a busman’s holiday. Expecting the beauty and wonder of Hawaii. Instead we got this. A hurricane. Chaos. A landslide.” He moved closer and took one of her hands in his. “I’m glad, Amber. I’m glad. Because something brought us together. And whatever you want to do in the future, wherever you want to be—” he smiled at her “—I’m just praying you’ll let me tag along.”
He moved his other hand over hers too. “I’m not your father, Amber. I’m not your ex. I’ll never be those people. I’m Jack Campbell from a tiny mining village in Scotland. Auchinleck. I’ll teach you how to say it. I’ll take you there. I can promise I’ll introduce you to things you’ve never seen before.” As his mind filled with the thoughts of his village back home and the characters it was filled with, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “They’ll love you. Just like I do.”
Amber’s tears were flowing; she started to laugh. “I wanted to shout at you. I’ve wanted you to wake up so I could tell you how mad I was at you.”
He leaned one arm on the side of her bed. “And what exactly were you mad about, Dr. Berkeley?”