Summer of Love by Marie Ferrarella (easy to read books for adults list .TXT) 📕

chances of them finding the pair were very slim. She and Ryan followed the others along the track, scouring the land to right and left in the hope of spotting them. They came to a slight rise in the ground and Ryan suddenly stopped.

‘I remember this bit!’ he exclaimed excitedly.

‘How far is it from where you left your friend?’ Mike demanded.

‘Not very far, I think … ten, twenty metres, something like that,’ the boy told him.

‘Right then, let’s start shouting and see if they can hear us.’ Mike cupped his hands round his mouth. ‘Hello! Can you hear us? Are you out there, Doc?’

Emma held her breath. Ryan seemed so certain that surely he couldn’t have been mistaken? Mike shouted again but there was still no reply and her heart sank. They carried on for another few minutes and then Mike stopped and repeated the process. When a voice suddenly shouted back she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry because she felt so overwhelmed with emotion. It was all she could do to stumble after the others as they hurried towards where the sound had come from.

‘Am I glad to see you,’ Daniel began, standing up. He suddenly caught sight of her and Emma saw the shock on his face. It was blatantly obvious that he hadn’t expected to see her and all of a sudden she felt uncomfortable about her reasons for being there.

Crossing the narrow strip of ground that separated them, she crouched down beside the injured boy, busying herself with doing his obs while Daniel conferred with Mike. Although she could hear what was being said, it seemed to be happening at one step removed from her. It was only when Daniel crouched down beside her that everything snapped back into focus.

‘I’ll set up a drip,’ she said crisply, starting to rise, but he caught her hand and stopped her.

‘I didn’t expect you to come, Emma.’

‘No?’ She gave a little shrug, hoping it would convince him that her reasons had had little to do with him. ‘I thought you might need help, that’s all. With the boy.’

‘That was good of you. Thank you.’

His voice was low but she could hear the note it held and her heart reacted immediately to it. She stood up abruptly and hurried over to where Mike had left the bag of medical supplies. Saline, antiseptic wipes, cannula. She mentally listed all the things she needed because it was safer to concentrate on them than on anything else, far safer than letting herself think about the way Daniel had looked at her just now.

She took a deep breath, held it until she felt dizzy, then let it out as slowly as she could, but the thought didn’t flow away with it. It seemed to be stuck in her head, neon bright and incredibly scary: Daniel had been pleased to see her, surprised but pleased. What did it mean?

CHAPTER EIGHT

DANIEL could feel his heart thumping as he helped Emma set up the drip. It had been a shock to see her and there was no point denying it. Had she come purely to offer her services as a doctor, or because she had been worried about him?

His heart beat all the harder at that beguiling thought and he gritted his teeth. He was doing it again, letting himself hope for the impossible, and it was stupid to behave this way. Emma’s reasons for being here had nothing to do with him and everything to do with their patient!

He stood up abruptly and turned to Mike. ‘That’s about all we can do for him. The sooner we get him to hospital, the better his chances will be.’

‘The air ambulance is on its way,’ Mike informed him. ‘The problem is that it can’t land out here in the dark—it’s way too dangerous. We’re going to have to carry the lad to the nearest stretch of road and have him picked up from there.’

‘How long’s that going to take?’ Daniel demanded, his heart sinking at the thought of there being a further lengthy delay.

‘Fifteen minutes max,’ Mike assured him.

‘But it takes a lot longer than that to get back to town,’ Daniel protested.

‘It does, but I expect the team will use a different route to get him to the road,’ Emma said quietly beside him.

Daniel spun round, feeling his senses reel when he realised how close she was. Normally, she kept her distance, both physically and mentally, but she was standing so close to him now that he could feel the warmth of her skin. It was hard to concentrate when every cell in his body was so acutely aware of her.

‘Do you mean to say that I could have got help here sooner if I hadn’t sent Ryan into the town?’ he demanded, the force of his reaction making him sound—and feel—distinctly tetchy.

‘I doubt it. The nearest road to here is fairly isolated. There’s very little traffic uses it, especially at this time of the year, so the chances of Ryan being able to flag down a car were pretty remote. You did the best thing by sending him back to town to get help,’ she replied calmly, although Daniel couldn’t help noticing that she avoided meeting his eyes.

Was she equally aware of him as he was of her? he wondered, then had to swallow his groan when his heart set off again, pounding away as though possessed. When Mike came over with a foil blanket for him to wrap around himself, he barely managed to nod his thanks. Forget about feeling cold and wet—it would be a miracle if he didn’t have a heart attack at this rate!

It took them just under the allotted time to stretcher the injured boy to the pick-up point. The police were already there and had set up a landing site for the helicopter in a nearby field. It arrived a couple of minutes later and Daniel handed over his patient, briefly explaining to the crew what