North of Heartbreak Read Free

deep voice said. Its darkness made her shiver as she unwrapped the oxygen mask and tubing.
    “Yes, thank you.”
    Tommy just nodded.
    “What’s the situation with our patient? If you talk low he won’t hear us.”
    Willa repressed a jolt of surprise and dismay at hearing Mr. Handsome refer to Joe as “our” patient. Taking over already? “He’s holding his own for now, but the sooner we get to Fairbanks the better.”
    “What happened to him?”
    “Compound fracture of the femur. He was hunting, but luckily Tommy just finished his Wilderness First Responder training and got him to the clinic in good condition.”
    “Wilderness what? ”
    “Advanced first-aid training for when you’re nowhere near a hospital.”
    “That describes ninety-nine percent of Alaska, doesn’t it?”
    The pilot wasn’t quite accurate, but Willa didn’t have time to correct him.
    “Can you stop the bleeding?” he asked a moment later.
    “I’ve done all I can for now. If I put pressure on it, the bone splinters could puncture his femoral artery.”
    “Give him a unit of blood.”
    “I don’t have any.”
    “What kind of hospital has no blood?” His voice dripped with derision.
    Good grief, did Jason tell this guy nothing? “Stony Creek has no hospital, just a clinic.”
    “You’re a doctor then?” Mr. Handsome asked in a dubious tone.
    “A nurse-practitioner, specializing in obstetrics and family medicine,” Willa answered absently as she checked Joe’s vitals. “I can prescribe and treat minor injuries, but something like this…I can’t deal with on my own. He’s going to require surgery and a transfusion.”
    “Wait a sec,” Mr. Handsome said with enough emphasis to gain her full attention. “Are you telling me you work alone?”
    “I have a nursing assistant.”
    “What about him?” he asked, angling a thumb at Tommy who seemed more concerned with hanging on to his door and stomach than talking.
    “He doesn’t work for me. He’s the patient’s nephew.”
    “So, aside from a nurse’s aide, you’ve got no help?” Mr. Handsome shook his head. “There’s something seriously wrong with that.”
    A chunk of ice formed in the pit of her belly. “Like what?”
    “You’re so…” he paused, obviously searching for the right word, “…small.”
    Willa froze. It had been a long time since someone assumed her size meant she wasn’t capable of doing her job. At five feet even she’d had to fight for respect everywhere she went, but in the two years she’d been working in the Alaskan Arctic no one had implied anything remotely close. The people here cared about what you could do, not how you looked. Having this stranger judge her ability because of her size was worse than a slap in the face.
    “I assure you I’m quite capable of handling most of the emergencies I see.”
    He gave her a skeptical look. “I’m sure you’re fine with the medical stuff, but what happens when you have to move a two-hundred-pound man?”
    “I find a way.” She glared at him. “I’m not stupid.”
    “I never said you were.”
    “No, you said I was small.” It had taken too much hard work to build up her self-confidence after her disastrous marriage. She wasn’t about to let this man make her feel worthless. She maintained eye contact, daring him to keep arguing.
    “Sorry,” he said, meeting her gaze. “I’m sure you can take care of yourself.”
    But not someone else. He never came right out and said it, but the hesitation in his voice told her what he was thinking.
    Willa jerked her attention away from him. She had a patient to worry about. She went back to Joe, checking and rechecking his vitals.
    “You’ve been up here long?” Mr. Handsome asked a minute later.
    “Two years.” Let him find fault with that.
    “Two weeks for me,” he said, though she had no intention of asking anything so personal. “Jason said I’d have to get rid of a lifetime of preconceived notions when I got here.” Mr. Handsome