Fiona Lowe - Australian Bachelors - Outback Heroes - Top-Notch Doc, Outback Bride / A Wedding in Warragurra / The Outback Doctor's Surprise Bride

‘Jack, here, squeeze this bag firmly to push the fluid in,’ Matt directed, handing over the IV set to the cattle farmer.

One of the station hands came back down from the house to inform them, ‘The flying doctor’s diverting here. They should be overhead in about ten minutes.’

‘Good,’ Matt said, and inserted a second IV line into the other arm, and got the station hand to hold up the IV fluid bag.

Matt knew he had two more bags of saline in the kit which would hopefully be enough till help arrived. The flow of blood had now stopped, at least externally.

‘OK, all we can do now is hold the fort and support his airway and circulation till we get more gear,’ Matt said. ‘I’ll take over ventilation, Kellie. Can you do his obs?’

‘Sure,’ Kellie answered, becoming even more impressed at Matt’s level-headedness under intense pressure and circumstances that were far from ideal. The dust and heat was bad enough but with the stickiness of blood the bush flies were starting to swarm around. ‘Pulse is 120, BP 80 systolic,’ she said. ‘The first bag’s through. I’ll put up the next one.’

Seemingly from nowhere, the roar of a plane at low altitude passed directly overhead, en route to the airstrip on the other side of the homestead.

‘Thank God.’ Matt breathed a sigh of relief. ‘We might just pull this off yet.’

The final bag of saline was almost through when one of the station’s four-wheel-drive vehicles arrived with the air ambulance crew in the back, together with a stretcher and several emergency kits. One of the ambulance crew jumped out, carrying two packs of equipment.

‘Hi, I’m Marty Davis. We haven’t got a doctor—he’s in Roma with a placenta praevia. They’ve got things under control there but we’re on our own here. What have you got?’

‘Brayden Harrison, one of the jackaroos, has been gored by a bull and is in very bad shape,’ Matt informed him. ‘He’s in haemorhagic shock, he’s got a haemothorax and an open abdominal wound. Have you got any plasma expander? We’ve just exhausted our normal saline and we’re still way behind.’

Kellie connected both of the bottles Marty produced to the IV lines while Matt instructed Marty and his partner, Helen, to position the stretcher beside the patient. While Kellie took over ventilation, Matt supervised the transfer onto the trolley and into the back of the four-wheel drive.

‘He’s still bleeding internally. I want to get him to the plane and put in a right intercostal catheter to re-expand his right lung. Have you got underwater drainage?’ Matt asked.

‘Yes, we’ve got a full set of stuff for chest wounds on the aircraft,’ Helen said.

‘Let’s go, then,’ Matt said. Exchanging a quick glance with Kellie, he asked, ‘Are you OK to fly with me to Brisbane? I’ll need you to ventilate him while I manage his IV fluids and abdominal wound.’

‘Of course,’ she said, although she could feel her stomach already beginning to tighten in apprehension.

Once they reached the aircraft, the two ambulance personnel loaded the patient, while Kellie and Matt set up the intercostal tray.

Kellie helped Matt wash his hands with some sterile water and surgical scrub solution.

‘Thanks,’ he said, locking gazes with her momentarily before he donned sterile gloves.

She watched as Matt prepped the right side of the chest before performing the necessary procedure that would stem the flow of blood. Some tense minutes later when he unclamped the tube, about 300 ml of blood drained into the bottle, with a small ongoing leak of blood after that.

‘Hopefully his chest bleed will stop,’ Matt said as he fixed the tube to the skin with a heavy suture and sticky plaster.

‘You did an amazing job back there,’ Kellie said, meeting his eyes across the now relatively stable patient. ‘You stayed so calm and in control.’

Matt gave her a quick movement of his lips that could have almost passed for a smile. ‘You were a damned good assistant,’ he said. ‘It makes a huge difference when everyone knows what to do and when to do it.’

‘Thanks,’ she said, feeling a blush spreading over her cheeks. ‘But I was glad you were the one in charge.’

‘I’m sure you would have coped just as well,’ he said, checking the patient’s condition again. ‘Come on, Brayden, hold it together, mate. Not long now.’

Kellie heard the slight note of desperation in Matt’s voice. ‘Do you know him personally?’ she asked softly.

His eyes connected with hers before looking away again to focus on the young man lying between them. ‘I met him a few months ago. He came to see me about a plantar wart on his foot.’ His frown deepened as he continued, ‘He’s nineteen years old. He was a little undecided about what to do after he finished school, so rather than waste his parents’ money at university doing a course he might never use he came out to the bush for a gap year.’ He let out a ragged sigh as his eyes came back to hers. ‘He’s just a kid …’

Kellie put her hand on his arm. ‘He’ll make it, Matt,’ she said. ‘You’ve done everything possible to get him this far. He has to make it.’

Matt looked down at her smooth hand resting against the dark tan of his skin. She had pretty fingers, long and slender with short but neat nails. The skin of her palm was soft and warm, and he found himself wondering what it would feel like to have her massage the aching tension out of his neck.

He pulled his hand away as if by doing so he could tug himself away from where his thoughts were wandering. It had been so long since he had felt a woman’s touch. He had locked his physical needs away the day Madeleine had died. For six long lonely years he had ignored the natural and instinctive stirrings of his body, distracting himself with work until there hadn’t been time or energy to think about what he was missing.

No one in all that time had made his skin lift and tighten simultaneously at the merest touch. No one’s eyes had met his and seen more than he’d wanted them to see. No one’s smile had melted or even chipped at the stone of sadness that weighed down his soul.

But Dr Kellie Thorne with her feather-light touch and brown eyes and beautiful smile certainly came close.

Perhaps a little too close.

ONCE the patient was transferred in Brisbane to the nearest trauma centre, Matt looked up at the flight information board and frowned. ‘I hate to be the one to tell you this but it looks like we’re going to have to cool our heels here for a while.’

Kellie looked up at the screen. ‘Why?’

Brian King, the pilot who had flown the patient down, came over to where they were standing. ‘There are electrical storms all over the region,’ he explained. ‘Most of the regional flights have been grounded overnight.’

‘Overnight?’ Kellie blinked a couple of times. ‘But I’ve got nothing with me. Look at me.’

Both men turned and looked at her.

Kellie felt her face go red when Matt’s dark blue gaze lingered the longest. ‘I’m covered in blood and dust,’ she said, and added mentally, And I’m wearing a pair of ripped high-cut running shorts and a vest top, and I haven’t had a shower and I’ve never felt so unfeminine and unattractive in my life. ‘Anyway, where would we stay?’ she asked.

‘There’s a hotel close to the airport we use at times like this,’ Brian said. ‘They do a cheap rate for medical personnel. I’d offer you a bed at my place but we’re in the middle of renovations.

There’s barely room for the wife and kids.’ He turned to Matt. ‘Will you stay at your … er … fiancée’s parents’?’

‘No,’ Matt said, his expression as blank as a bare wall. ‘They’ve got relatives staying with them this week. I’ll be fine at the hotel with Dr Thorne.’