âYouâre a lot more attractive than I expected.â
Charlotte couldnât look at him. No way. God only knew what it might give away. âIs that a problem?â
âI thought I had it taped but it seems like the jury just absconded again before the final verdict was in. I donât like distractions.â
âItâs up to you not to be distracted then, isnât it?â
âPrecisely. And thatâs something I can cope with unlessââ
Hawk must like being precise, Charlotte thought vaguely. She was trying to decide what had stirred up the butterflies again. There was something different about Hawkâs voice right now. Always deep, it seemed almost liquid right now. It was rippling over Charlotte and oozing into places that set nerve endings alight. This was crazy. She was not attracted to Owen Hawkins. Not like that, anyway. Charlotte almost gulped.
âUnless what?â
âUnless the distraction is mutual.â
As a member of an emergency response team, I love being able to include some of the drama this can involve in my stories.
My work as a paramedic gives me contact with other branches of the emergency services, so writing a miniseries involving police, fire and ambulance was exciting. I find the science involved in the branch of the police force that investigates serious vehicle crashes fascinating.
I have to confess that I also found my hero, Hawk, rather fascinating. Hope you do, too!
Happy reading!
With love
Alison
Look out for more stories in the EMERGENCY RESPONSE miniseries from Mills & Boon Medical Romanceâ¢.
THE picture was a long way from being pretty.
Travelling too fast to negotiate the bend in the road, the late-model, four-wheel-driveâs left front wheel had left the tarmac and touched the loose shingle on the verge. A hard jerk to the right on the steering-wheel had over-corrected the error and the vehicle had begun to yaw, slipping sideways whilst still hurtling forward. The height and weight of the model had contributed to the disaster and the vehicle had tipped and then rolled. It had flipped onceâ¦twiceâ¦three times before slamming to a halt against a tree. The image was a violent one of a scarred landscape, twisted metal and potentially fatal injuries to those unfortunate enough to be inside the vehicle.
âA local resident heard the impact and went to investigate.â Senior Constable Owen Hawkins turned his gaze away from the image being projected onto the large screen. âHe then dialled triple-one and alerted the emergency services.â
Representatives of two arms of those emergency services, fire and ambulance, were listening intently to Officer Hawkins.
âThe information given to the regional control centre was enough to activate the police departmentâs Serious Crash Squad, i.e. myself and my partner, Cam.â
Ex-partner. Hawk still couldnât believe that such a tight team could have been ripped apart so easily. It hadnât been entirely her fault, of course, but it was easy to assign blame when oneâs life was getting mucked around with to this extent. Having someone other than his best mate to direct his frustration at had helped him cope over the last week or two, but right now it wasnât going to aid his current brief of improving the liaison between the SCS and other emergency services.
âWhat makes this a serious crash?â Owen Hawkins threw the question into the group of a dozen or so fire officers and paramedics without targeting anyone in particular.
âVehicular rollover,â a male paramedic offered.
âTrapped occupants,â a fire officer added.
âHigh-speed impact.â The suggestion came from the only female present in the room, and Hawk was forced to acknowledge her in the brief silence that followed.
âHow can you determine the speed?â He hadnât meant his tone to be quite so challenging. He didnât have anything against female paramedics. He didnât have anything against women in general. Hell, he liked women. It was just their capacity to turn lives upside down that he didnât trust. Heâd got his life just the way he wanted it, thanks very much, and nowâthanks to one, no, two women, the wheels were falling off in a big way.
âItâs a rural road,â the woman responded. âWith an open-road speed limit. The vehicle was also travelling downhill into the bend.â
âDoesnât mean he hadnât slowed down.â Hawk stared back at the rather mousy-looking, bespectacled paramedic. She had a sweet smile so he didnât need to worry if he was coming across as being intimidating here: one of the men present would leap in to rescue her any second now.
To his surprise, however, the paramedic was not so easily silenced.
âThe vehicle has a deformity greater than half a metre. There is compartment intrusion of more than thirty centimetres thanks to that tree crushing the driverâs door. The front windscreen has a star pattern that was probably made by the driverâs head. Iâd be very surprised if he survived. And if he hasnât, that makes the potential for serious injury to his passenger that much higher. Any accident involving death or major injury is serious.â