Had he missed her as much as she had him?

Jack glanced across to her, a wry expression in those eyes. ‘Did I pass my first test?’

She held her hand out flat and wiggled it side to side. ‘Maybe.’

Annoyance flickered across his face. ‘I’m being serious, Ruby. You made it abundantly clear you’d be checking me out, so I’ve the right to know what you’re going to tell Dave when we’re back on the ground.’

Whoa. Who was this angry guy? No one she knew. For someone who wanted to be mates he didn’t seem to understand when she was teasing him. ‘I couldn’t fault you. Okay?’ It had been a straightforward job but she refrained from pointing that out.

‘Thank you.’ He studied her for a long moment before returning to reading the notebook in his hand.

Prickly so-and-so. Jack would have to learn everyone on the base teased each other every opportunity they got. It helped ease the stress levels. Pulling the boss card wouldn’t keep Jack safe at all, but he could learn that from the others. Right now she wanted out of this confined space so she could breath some Jack-less air, could look in any direction and not have her sight filled with a hunky, mouth-watering vision, could move without fear of bumping into him.

As the helicopter settled gently on the ground and the rotors slowed she stood and ran her hands down her thighs, ready for a quick escape.

‘Do we need to take that bag inside to top up or is it all right for me to bring out replacement equipment?’ Jack asked.

Peering down at him, Ruby was disconcerted to find him watching her rubbing her thighs. Tucking her hands behind her back, she answered quickly, ‘It’s fine to bring what’s needed out here as long as it’s done immediately.’ Did he remember smoothing her thighs, running exquisite circles on her skin with his forefinger? Why would he, when she’d only just remembered?

‘Then that’s what I’ll do,’ he snapped back. Unlocking the door, he dropped to the ground and strode towards the hangar.

Ruby lowered herself down, mindful of her now throbbing knee. Sucking in her stomach, she concentrated on walking without limping and trying to force Jack out of her mind.

Except he wouldn’t go away. She’d angered him again. Since when had he had such a short fuse? He’d been the one to tell jokes and tease people, and had happily accepted the same in return. Had something happened to him during the time she’d been away? Had someone hurt him? Apart from her? Another woman? Ruby stumbled. He could be married by now—to Blondie. No wedding ring meant nothing. Not all men wore them. He was very desirable and she hadn’t been the only nurse to set her sights on him in the A and E department. A smug smile tugged at her mouth. She’d been the one to win him, though. Her smile flicked off. That was then. Now was different. He wouldn’t let her close a second time.

The sound of her pager snapped through her thoughts. ‘Here we go again.’ Reading the details coming through, she turned back to the helicopter and clambered inside.

Jack was right behind her, breathing heavily. He slammed the door shut and dropped onto the seat he’d only moments before vacated. ‘What have we got?’

Ruby pushed to the front and read back the details coming through on the electronic screen. ‘“MTV on the Rumataka Road. Female, thirty years, minor injuries but trapped. Stat two. Female, six years, serious facial injuries, possible brain injury. Stat four.”‘

‘Do we pick them both up? Or just the child?’ Jack asked.

‘Just the child at this stage. Being a status four, we can’t afford to wait until the mother is freed. The mother will be transferred to Hutt Hospital by road.’

‘Will we take the child to Hutt Hospital or back to Wellington?’

‘It’s not our call, but most likely Wellington, where they’ve got an excellent neurological department. It’s only a few minutes’ extra flying time.’

‘Every minute can count.’ Jack’s eyes darkened. ‘More than anything else, that mother’s going to want to be with her daughter.’ He twisted around to stare out the window, his hands clenching and unclenching on his thighs, his mouth a white line in his pale face.

‘Jack?’ Ruby leaned closer, put a hand over his. What was wrong? It couldn’t be the flying, he’d been okay on the last trip, and anyway he was training to be a private pilot.

‘I’m fine.’ He slid his hand out from under hers, and continued staring outside.

If she hadn’t been looking so hard she wouldn’t have seen the way his bottom lip quivered ever so slightly. ‘Sure.’ She had no idea how to get him to open up. Once she’d stupidly thought that if Jack had something to say he’d say it, but now she realised he’d never told her anything that involved his feelings.

Minutes ticked by. Then he coughed. ‘I always struggle with seeing kids injured.’ His fingers flexed, fisted, flexed.

‘I think we all do.’ Ruby thought back to when she’d worked alongside Jack in A and E. Had they ever worked together with a seriously sick child? Her mind threw up a memory from her first week in A and E with Dr Forbes.

‘Ruby, for God’s sake, hurry up with that suction. This kid’s going to choke to death.’ Jack whipped the tube out of her hand. ‘Turn it on. Now.’ He whisked the end of the hard plastic around the little boy’s mouth, gentle but firm, sucking up the blood and mucus that filled the cavity. ‘Damn it, kid, don’t you die on me now.’

Nurses worked around them, stemming blood loss from the child’s legs and head, cutting away clothes and ordering X-rays. Ruby smarted as she tossed the boy’s now useless trousers into the rubbish bin. She’d reacted instantly to Jack’s command to suction the boy’s mouth. What was his problem? ‘I was doing just fine,’ she snapped at him. ‘I can take over now.’

‘Press on that leg wound. It’s bleeding again.’ Jack continued suctioning, his fingers unsteady and his mouth a white line in his pale face. He issued orders to the senior nurse about getting the oxygen mask ready, ignoring Ruby.

Later that night, when they knocked off work, Jack said, ‘You’ve got to learn not to answer back in those situations. Whatever I say goes. Understand?’

She’d nodded. ‘Sure.’ But she’d been shocked at the way he’d snatched that tube out of her hand.

‘Ruby, we can always discuss a case afterwards.’ He turned for the door, spun back. ‘You did well in there. If I seemed a little abrupt I have my reasons.’

He’d never told her what those reasons were. That had been before they’d got together so she’d put his reticence down to not knowing her very well. Wrong. It was just how he was. Had something dreadful happened to Jack as a trainee? Had he lost a patient in circumstances he blamed himself for?

In her ear Chris’s voice was an abrupt interruption. ‘ETA one minute. I’ll land on the road above the crash site.’

‘Right.’ Ruby prepared to leave the helicopter the instant it was possible.

As they raced towards the squashed car, their packs banging heavily on their backs, oxygen tank and defib in Jack’s hands, Ruby checked him out. She sighed with relief. Whatever had been disturbing him had gone, replaced with a professional, caring expression and the urgent need to help the little girl they were there for.

A policeman lifted the tape protecting the scene from the crowd of onlookers for Ruby and Jack to duck under. ‘I think you’re wanted at the ambulance.’

Changing direction, they crossed to the paramedics, who were working with a small patient on a stretcher. Ruby’s heart ached when she saw the small, blood-soaked child. A quick look at Jack but, apart from a whitening of his face, he was in full control of himself.

They listened carefully to an ambulance officer’s report. ‘I’ve given her a second bolus of saline as her BP keeps dropping. GCS is nine. She’s got a poor airway and I couldn’t intubate.’