Brooke came in and shut the door.
âI was looking for you.â
âYou were?â His surprise was genuine. For eight months heâd been bringing patients into West Central. For eight months sheâd been ignoring him.
âI wanted to tell you that your decision to underdose the morphine increased the odds in Haroldâs favor. Thank you. And thank you for sticking around after the handoff. I think the way you kept him calm also kept him out of severe shock.â
Sheâd never spoken two complete sentences to him. Zach wasnât sure what to make of it.
âNot a lot of people would have held a patientâs hand like that. Especially not a ⦠well, I was going to say especially not a man, but that would be gender stereotyping, wouldnât it?â
Gender stereotypingâdid she have to speak like a sexy schoolteacher as well as look like one?
âForget I said that. Job well done, whether youâre male or female.â Apparently done for the day, she started unbuttoning her white lab coat, starting with the button at her chest.
Damn, damn, damn. He was male, all right.
Texas Rescue: Rescuing hearts ⦠one Texan at a time!
Chapter One
She heard his voice before she saw him.
Through the constant hum of voices that formed the background noise of the emergency department at West Central Texas Hospital, his deep bass carried. Although he was a fireman by profession, his voice always made her think of cowboys. With its mild Texas drawl and the hint of a wink in the tone, his voice brought to mind a cowboy whoâd come to town looking for beer and girls and a good time. He wasnât a serious man.
She was a serious woman. Dr. Brooke Brown, emergency physician, could hardly be anything else. The buck stopped hereâright here, at the pen in her hand. When she wrote a medical order, it was followed, and the results sat squarely on her shoulders. Whether the patient lived or died was her responsibilityâmedically, legally, morally.
It stood to reason, then, that she was the one female employee in the emergency department that didnât get giggly-excited when the radio announced that the firefighters from Engine Thirty-Seven were bringing in another patient. Brooke had weightier things to think on than which team of Austinâs firefighters and paramedics had the most bachelorsâor which had the bachelor with the sexiest voice.
But Engine Thirty-Seven did.
Brooke would never acknowledge such a thing out loud, but the two women standing at the nursesâ station werenât so reserved.
âItâs gonna be a great shift,â one woman said. âThe studs of Thirty-Seven are here to kick it off right.â
âItâs Eye Candy Wednesday.â
âYesterday, you said it was Eye Candy Tuesday.â
âEvery day that Thirty-Seven comes here is an eye candy day.â
Ignoring their light banter, Brooke continued to listen to the distinctive rumbling bass of one member of the Eye Candy Engine. Firefighter Zach Bishop was rattling off the patientâs basic information to the triage nurse, his voice coming from just behind Brooke and to her rightâroom three, she was sureâcompound fracture of the tibia spoken in the same tone of voice as Mary Ellen, donât break my heart and tell me that diamond means youâre engaged, darlinâ.
Zach Bishop always conveyed the impression there was nothing to worry about. Nothing was unfixable or alarming. The patient could have confidence his injury was treatable. The nurse could flirt safely as she showed off her new engagement ring, knowing the firefighter with the movie-star looks didnât truly expect her to betray her fiancé.
Dr. Brown, however, knew there was always something to worry about. Specifically, Brooke worried about the people of Austin who came to the emergency room of West Central with their complaints, big and small. She had confidence that she could handle the medical complaintsâa professional confidence. Zachâs kind of confidence was personalâand masculineâand a distraction to the smooth operation of her department.
Was it any wonder that theyâd spent nearly a year as something close to adversaries?
Adversaries wasnât the right word. They worked together smoothly. He was a good paramedic, and his shameless appreciation of the female attention that was showered upon him always came second after the patientâs care. But as the handsome Mr. Bishop returned all the smiles that came his way, Brooke frowned in annoyance.