Lightning Strikes Part 2 (36 Hours) Read online

  “More than likely.”

  “Dr. Petrocelli!”

  All eyes whipped toward Beth, who was standing at the foot of the bed, her back to them. “The baby’s coming!”

  “Let’s get her up to Ob,” Amanda said.

  Petrocelli shook his head. “No time.”

  “But—”

  Petrocelli rushed back to the patient. Amanda followed him.

  “We’re going to make this as easy as possible.” The obstetrician smiled at Annie as Bethany mopped the girl’s brow.

  “Please—” Annie pleaded.

  Petrocelli smiled again. “Trust us, okay?”

  Amanda looked up and noted that Noah remained just inside the door, seemingly content to watch the birth from afar, which she thought was odd. But then, delivering babies was not his area of expertise.

  Still, something was not quite right. It was that look again, the same one that had been on his face moments ago. What was he thinking about?

  Amanda kept her gaze on him as he raked lean fingers through his already mussed-up hair while his eyes were intent and assessing. And wary, as he listened to Petrocelli talk to Annie, trying to get her to do her part.

  “The pain will soon be over,” Amanda said, smiling down at Annie.

  “Push!”Petrocelli encouraged.

  Though she screamed, Annie did as she was told.

  “Atta girl.”

  Just as the baby’s head crowned, Amanda’s gaze swung back to Noah in time to see him wince, followed by that same strange expression. She was clearly puzzled by his odd behavior, not having seen this side of him before.

  During their relationship, they both had had reservations about having children, especially Noah. Even at that, his attitude had never seemed negative. He’d said he wanted to make sure their careers were well established before they planned a family.

  So what was so different or special about this birth?

  “It’s coming!”

  Dr. Petrocelli’s calm but excited voice drew Amanda’s attention back to the task at hand, and she watched him lift the child for all to see. The baby was a tiny but healthy boy who, like his mother, had a strong set of lungs.

  Petrocelli handed the child to Beth, whose face was one big smile. Curious as to Noah’s final reaction to the birth, Amanda turned toward him.

  Her breath faltered. Noah looked ill. His face had a green cast.

  “I’m outta here,” he muttered unexpectedly, then pivoted on one heel and walked off.

  “Wonder what set him off?” Petrocelli asked, frowning.

  “Who knows?” Amanda replied, her lips stretched into a straight line. Good thing they hadn’t needed Noah’s help, she thought, fighting the urge to follow him and demand to know what was going on. The fire in her belly suddenly cooled, reminding her again that how he felt about anything was no longer her business.

  “Dr. Jennings, Dr. Sloane needs you in trauma three.”

  Amanda turned to Liz Roberts. “Coming.”

  Tony Petrocelli nodded. “Go ahead. All’s well here. Mother and baby are headed upstairs.”

  “Good.” Amanda faced the nurse again, her eyes questioning.

  “It’s a biker. He’s taken a nasty fall. I think Dr. Howell should come, as well.”

  “Call him.”

  “I did, only he hasn’t answered.”

  “He couldn’t have gone far. He just left.”

  Liz shrugged. “All I know is that he hasn’t responded.”

  Curbing her outward show of impatience, Amanda followed the nurse into trauma three where she pulled up short. To say the biker was a mess was an understatement. Blood covered him, or at least what she could see of his body. He was curled into a fetal position, moaning.

  “Let’s get to work,” Amanda said.

  Fifteen minutes later, after having cleaned him up and examined him thoroughly, Amanda found that he didn’t appear to be as seriously hurt as she had first thought. Still, he had to be X-rayed, and she wanted Noah to check him, which presented a problem. He still hadn’t returned to ER.

  After giving Dr. Sloane and Liz more orders for the man, she headed for Noah’s office. She knocked once, then pushed open the door.

  Later, she wondered at her nerve. At the time, she didn’t care-she went with her gut instinct. How dare he not answer his cell phone on a night like this.

  “What—” Noah began, only to break off when he saw who it was. His gaze narrowed on her.

  That was when she noticed the color of his skin hadn’t changed. Unfortunately, that wasn’t all she noticed. Her gaze locked onto the tufts of chest hair that showed above the V in his greens, hair that she once had buried her moist lips into….

  She pressed her knees together to stop them from trembling. “Why is your phone off?” she asked, her voice sounding unnatural to her own ears.

  “Didn’t realize it was.”

  Liar. “Well, it is,” she said flatly.

  “Sorry.”

  “Has something bad happened to Randi?”

  He seemed taken aback by her question. “No, at least not that I know of, though I haven’t heard anything.”

  The lights suddenly flickered. They both flinched.

  “Dammit, that generator’s going to crash,” Noah said. “I just know it is.”

  “Let’s hope not.”

  Silence.

  “What made you ask about Randi?” Noah’s eyes followed her nervous fingers before she jammed them into the pocket of her coat.

  “Because you’re acting weird, that’s why.” When he didn’t say anything, she went on, “Was there something special about that baby who was just born?”

  “You’re imagining things,” he snapped, not looking at her.

  “Am I?”

  “Yep.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  His skin changed color, then. It darkened.

  Was it possible that not only had he gotten married, but he’d had a child, as well? Amanda rebelled at such a thought, yet her mind wouldn’t let go of it. Suddenly, she was tempted to confront him with her suspicions, to demand he spill his dirty secrets.

  “I—”

  “Whoa,” he said, cutting her off. “I’m not in the mood to be questioned. Besides, it’s none of your—”

  This time she cut in. “You’re right. It isn’t any of my business.”

  “God, Amanda, I didn’t mean—”

  “Yes, you did, and it’s okay.”

  “Dammit, don’t make this harder than it is.”

  “You’re whining again,” she said, confident her choice of words would make him angry and give her back the upper hand.

  She was wrong. Noah’s lips turned into a lazy slant as he peered at her from his position on the couch, choosing that moment to cross one knee over the other. “That’s because I’m not getting what I want.”

  She nibbled on one corner of her mouth, but refused to respond to that loaded statement. Besides, her mind was on something else—the lean muscles of his legs that seemed longer and more powerful than she remembered. It was when her gaze strayed to the impressive swell visible under those greens that panic kicked in.

  She groaned inwardly, especially when she felt his eyes appraise her in much the same manner. Things were not going according to plan. Would he always have the ability to heat up her blood?

  Thank heavens she was wearing her lab coat as she felt her nipples push against the fabric of her blouse underneath. Even at that, she sensed she hadn’t fooled him, that his seemingly X-ray vision could see what was happening.

  Color blistered her face. He swallowed convulsively. For a moment, the tension in the room heightened. Then Noah rose, shattering the moment.

  Amanda mustered as much control as possible. Her sexual reaction to him had to stop. She’d made a fool of herself over him once. She wasn’t about to do so again.

  “I need you to examine a patient,” she said coldly.

  He stared at her a long moment, then s
aid in a thick voice, “Let’s get out of here.”

  She didn’t argue.

  Chapter Twelve

  Amanda watched through tired, frustrated eyes as Noah and Liz left with the gurney headed toward surgery. The biker just might be their second casualty of this long, harrowing night.

  When she had left ER and gone after Noah, the grisly looking man’s vital signs had been stable. A few minutes after she and Noah walked back to the trauma room, his condition took a sharp turn for the worse.

  Noah suspected his spleen was damaged. Thus the fast trip up to surgery. Would this night ever end? Amanda asked herself, pushing her disheveled hair out of her eyes. Not only were the emergencies continuing to come, both major and minor, they were taking their toll on the limited and embattled staffers.

  Tempers were close to flaring, hers included, and not just from overwork and the weather, though both were certainly contributing factors. Her mouth turned down. She hadn’t been able to conquer her reaction to Noah. He grated on her nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard. And there wasn’t one thing she could do about it. She was stuck with no way out. Damn, why couldn’t Malcom Riley have been the surgeon on call?

  He wasn’t, so that was that. If only she could get past the hot, rabid intimacy of her and Noah’s past affair. But every time she saw him, his presence rekindled old memories and created new ones. The fact that she kept noticing his body, especially his sex…

  Don’t! She was doing a number on herself that was unnecessary. She had someone else, Gordon, and apparently Noah did, too. That notion didn’t set well with her, either. The thought of him sharing his body and heart with another woman made her ill.

  She had known there would be some tough moments working together, and there had been. But considering the circumstances, she had made it through relatively unscathed. Ergo, she had to stop beating up on herself. Besides, she sensed this upheaval was a two-way street, that Noah wasn’t as immune to her as he’d like to be. For some perverse reason, that thought gave her satisfaction. But it was an empty satisfaction.

  Only the end of the storm would be her saving grace.

  “Amanda.”

  Suddenly realizing that she was standing in the hallway, using the wall as an anchor, Amanda straightened from a slouch into a full stance, then turned.

  Karen Sloane was standing a few feet from her, a puzzled look darkening her gray eyes. “Are you all right?”

  Amanda forced a smile, which she hoped removed some of the disturbance from her face. She must keep herself together and stay strong. After all, she was the one in charge. However, private practice was becoming more appealing by the second.

  “I’m hanging on, but no more so than the rest of you,” she said at last.

  “I hear that,” Karen responded, an answering smile removing the shadow from her eyes.

  “So who’s next?”

  “I hesitated even to bother you with this, but—” Karen broke off and moved closer.

  “Never worry about that.”

  “A man in cubbyhole two seems as addled as anyone I’ve ever seen.”

  “What happened to him?”

  The intern shook her head. “That’s the problem. He can’t tell us.”

  “Come on. I’ll take a look at him.”

  When Amanda walked into the room, the man sitting on the side of the gurney peered at her through dazed eyes. Other than a purple knot on his head and wet clothing, he appeared remarkably normal. But in his case, appearances were deceiving. He was anything but all right.

  That he was suffering from a mean lick on the head was Amanda’s first thought. Possibly amnesia, too.

  “I’m Dr. Jennings,” she said, approaching his side.

  “Hello,” he said in a cultured voice.

  The nurse had placed a blanket around him, so at least he wasn’t shivering, which prevented his teeth from chattering.

  As if Liz could read her mind, she said, “I tried to talk him out of those wet clothes, but he refused.”

  “All I’m worried about is my pounding head, Doctor,” he replied, following a cough.

  “What’s your name?”

  “I…don’t know.”

  Oh, boy. “Do you know how you got this nasty bump?”

  He didn’t answer for a moment—she could almost feel him straining to remember. She let him off the hook. “It’s okay for now. We can worry about that later.”

  “I want to know now.”

  Amanda’s response was to ask, “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

  “No. Just my head.” He stared back up at her, his expression still strained, but his tone hopeful. “I thought maybe someone here—you, maybe—might recognize me.”

  “No, I’m sorry, I don’t.”

  “Maybe I’m…not from around here.”

  “That’s a good possibility,” Amanda said mildly.

  He lifted a hand to the injured place, then grimaced. “Whatever or whoever gave me this did a good job.”

  “You got that right, which means we’ll need to get a CT scan of your head to be on the safe side.”

  “Doctor, what about my memory?”

  Amanda heard the frustration underlying his harshly spoken words and wished she could assure him that his memory would return. She couldn’t. She didn’t know under what circumstances he’d received the injury. Also, amnesia was a tricky thing. But she didn’t intend to alarm him further, at least not until she’d checked him out medically.

  “I do remember something,” he said suddenly into the silence.

  Amanda’s hopes surged. “What?”

  “Two people in a car.”

  “Can you remember where?”

  “On the highway, maybe.” His eyebrows came together in a troubled frown. “But hell, I’m not sure.”

  His impatience was evident in his tone and his mannerisms. She guessed this man was someone who was used to being in control and didn’t like giving it up.

  “They…asked if I wanted to get in the car with them.”

  “That’s good.”

  “No, it isn’t, because I can’t remember a damn thing more.”

  “Apparently, you were out in the weather and they were trying to help.”

  “Which means I could’ve had a wreck.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So where do we go from here?”

  “I told you, to X ray. And while you’re there, the hospital will do what they can to discovery your identity.”

  He blew his breath out. “Thanks, Doctor.”

  Amanda stepped back as an aide pushed a wheelchair to the gurney. Once they were gone, she picked up her phone and called the social worker on duty. She’d take over from here and contact the authorities.

  Afterward, she made her way toward the lounge, thinking how nice it would be to soak her tired body in a warm bathtub.

  Dream on, Amanda.

  * * *

  “It’s his spleen. It’s ruptured.”

  “You were right,” the surgical nurse said, staring at Noah across the table.

  “Let’s open him up,” Noah barked. “ASAP.”

  That was when the lights flickered.

  “Dammit!”

  The nurse looked up. “If the generator fails—”

  “Don’t even think about it,” Noah muttered in a dark tone. “When this crisis is over, I’m going before the board and raise hell.”

  “Get ‘em, Doc.”

  Noah smiled briefly, then concentrated on the job before him, which was removing the ruptured spleen.

  Several hours later, the biker was out of surgery and out of immediate danger. Like the Collier girl, his fate was now in the hands of a higher power.

  Although he had just reached his office, Noah thought about returning to ICU to check on Laura. At the moment, he simply wasn’t up to facing her frantic parents. Besides, he didn’t have anything to add to what he’d already told them.

  His top priority was to discard his bloody scrubs, shower, then head
for the cot for what he hoped would be a long breather. A cold beer would be nice, too, though he wouldn’t want to drink it alone. He felt a pinch in his gut as his mind conjured up a picture of the time when he and Amanda sat on a rock after hiking up a mountain. Between sips out of the same can of beer, they had licked the foam off each other’s lips….

  Noah cursed then strode into the bathroom for a shower. A short time later, he was out and drying off. What he should do was try and reach his mother at the lodge to check on both her and his sister. He couldn’t believe the events that had unfolded this evening and night. Looking back on everything that had happened in such a short span of time—the storm, Randi’s disappearance, his face-to-face collision with Amanda—seemed too bizarre to comprehend.

  Unable and unwilling to dwell on Amanda and his lack of control around her, Noah put on fresh scrubs and had his hand on the door when it opened. Malcom Riley stood on the threshold, a grim expression on his nondescript features that matched his nondescript personality.

  Super.

  Right up there with seeing Amanda was running into Malcom Riley, Noah thought with a groan. If there was ever anyone Noah had known who was the least likely person to become a doctor, it was this man. He had the sensitivity of a cockroach. In fact, he reminded Noah of one with his dark, beady eyes and his pear-shaped torso.

  But it was his cocky attitude that rankled, that made Noah want physically to knock the chip off his shoulder.

  “Well, well, if it isn’t Dr. Howell.”

  “Not now, Riley. I’m not in the mood.”

  Riley’s laughed turned into a sneer. “Do you think I care about your moods?”

  Curbing his itch to smack him for sure, Noah merely said, “Get out of my way.”

  “Not so fast. We need to talk.”

  “Dammit, man, are you nuts? Talk is the last thing we need to do, especially tonight. We’re up to our eyeballs in emergencies.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re having trouble handling your job.”

  Noah got in his face. “Look, you little son of a bitch, I don’t intend to take your bull now or later.”

  “You can’t talk to me like that!”

  “The hell I can’t. I just did.”

  “If you think for one minute you’re going to get the chief of surgery position, think again.”