Page 3 of Dr. Alaska
He smiled. “You’re not really dressed for the elements, are you?”
Right then, a gust of wind-driven snow barreled right over them, chilling her to the marrow of her bones. Her toes curled in the snow melting inside her Gianni Bini leather booties. She had thought this choice of footwear would be professional, stylish, yet rugged.
Instead, they were damp and cold. And probably ruined.
“Come on, Bruce, let’s check you over,” Steen, the medic, said.
“I’m just a little banged up. No need to go to any trouble. I can walk back to town or wait for the sheriff to give me a lift,” he grumbled.
The EMT shook his head. “No can do, Bruce. Aggie would feed us to the brown bears if we didn’t do our job.” He motioned to his partner, a younger woman with dark hair in a ponytail that trailed from under a leather hat that had two fur-lined flaps pulled down over her ears. “Louise, let’s get him on the board.”
Lee maintained c-spine control while the two EMTs log-rolled and then secured Bruce onto the backboard. Only after they fastened the cervical collar and velcroed the orange foam blocks in place did Lee release in-line stabilization. Steen taped a thick gauze bandage on the bleeding head wound and secured it with Coban wrap, giving Bruce an old-school sweatband appearance. A quick pulse-ox check showed a heart rate of eighty-five and oxygen saturation of ninety-eight percent.
Bruce continued to answer questions. Heck, he continued to tell stories nonstop while the medics worked. He was cognitively intact. She sighed. Thank goodness.
The medics efficiently snugged all the straps on the board, then Lee grabbed an open handle slot near his knees and helped the medics lift the patient.
She wiggled her fingers in the cooling dampness and shivered. Her glove was likely ruined. What a great first day at her new job.
Bruce kept griping as they eased him, firmly secured, up the few feet of the bank. Lee pushed the end of the backboard as the medics pulled.
After the EMTs lifted the backboard onto the gurney, Steen turned back to her. Lee had little to no traction with the booties and was stuck at the bottom of the bank.
“Want help?” He knelt, took off his thick glove, and reached down.
Removing the glove that wasn’t saturated, she took the EMT’s offered outstretched hand—not EMT, paramedic. She’d read the lettering on the back of his coat when he set his bag down and turned. His grip was strong and steady as he easily pulled her up the last few slippery feet onto the highway shoulder. The sudden bout of breathlessness had to be due to the steep scramble.
He tightened his hand around hers. “Hey, thank you again for stopping. Not all citizens would have done that.”
“I’m not just a—” She took a deep breath, which unfortunately caused crystals to form in her nostrils, and she coughed for ten seconds. Finally, she managed to wave her free arm at him. “Sure. Glad to help.” The man continued to hold her hand, his other hand resting on her shoulder, steadying her. Those two pressure points were the only warm areas on her body right now.
“Uh, need help getting anywhere?” Paramedic Steen asked, a friendly glint in his glacier-lake blue eyes.
“Nope, just going to Yukon Valley.”
He frowned, then stepped away and pulled on his glove. “Up the road a few miles. Thataway.”
Then he pointed. Actually pointed. As if there were any other destinations on the only two-lane road in the middle of absolutely nowhere, which went to one place. Yukon Valley. Lee giggled.
A full-body icy shiver sobered her up in a hurry. Wow, she’d never experienced cold like this. She shoved her bare hand back in her glove and stared at his broad upper torso, which was where her eye level rested. How toasty it would be if Paramedic Steen were to unzip that safety jacket and tuck her against his chest. She swallowed. Talk about an inappropriate thought.
Besides, the guy had underestimated her.
Lee hated being underestimated.
The other medic prepared to load Bruce into the rig. Bruce winced as Louise peeked under the wrapped gauze on his forehead. Trussed with safety straps on the backboard, he had nowhere to go.
He blew a raspberry. “You’re not getting a five-star rating on bedside manner, Louise.”
“Tough.” She fake-swatted at him. “A minute ago, you were planning to walk home. Let me work, or I’m telling Aggie that you’re a terrible patient and you don’t listen.”
Bruce went stock-still.
Paramedic Steen pointed a thumb up and behind him, drawing Lee’s gaze from his chest to his sheepish grin. “So, I should…”
“Yes. Patient.” Her teeth started to chatter. Lee waved with her blood-soaked glove toward Bruce as she fished out her car keys from the coat pocket with her other hand. “Good luck to you, sir.”
Bruce wiggled a few unrestrained fingers in her direction. “I’ll be fine. No thanks to this guy. Look at him. He’s more interested in making goo-goo eyes at you than taking care of his mortally injured patient!” He hollered, “I’m suffering here, people!”
