So she couldn’t think about Luke that way.
She just couldn’t.
IT HAD BEEN three days since she last saw Dr. Luke Ralston and that was a good thing after the torment he’d put her through up on that high mountain trail. He hadn’t been kidding about a simulation. When they’d got to the mannequin, it had been half-buried in ice and under a tree trunk. There had been broken skis and fake blood.
Sarah had never picked up an axe before, but she did that day. She had the blister and the splinters to prove it.
Even though she’d wanted to tell Luke his simulation was cracked, she hadn’t backed down. She knew that he thought of her as some kind of spoiled rich girl and that was far from the truth. So she’d learned quite quickly how to use an axe. She’d shown him a thing or two.
She’d also learned how to make a makeshift gurney out of broken skis, rope, a tarp and duct tape. After assessing the mannequin’s ABCs, they’d got him on their gurney and down off the mountain.
There had been quite a few stares as she’d come down to the lodge with a mannequin on a stretcher splattered with craft-store paint. Still, she’d done it and he’d grudgingly admitted that she’d done a good job and that was the last she’d seen of him.
She thought she was going to be put through some more training, but so far she hadn’t seen him. She should be happy about that and she was, but she wasn’t totally. She looked for him everywhere, as if he were going to pop out of the shadows and frighten her. The thought of seeing him actually made her excited, as if she were some young girl with a crush.
There was no denying Luke was handsome. She’d thought that the first moment she saw him. But there was something else about him. A lone wolf quality. He was a man who didn’t want or need anyone else. The kind of man who was completely untamed.
He was a challenge, and she’d always liked a challenge.
Focus.
She couldn’t think about him that way. Distance. That was what she needed. Right now this time was about her. Career was her life.
If she got together with someone, her parents would never believe she could function on her own. That she was a surgeon.
Even then, she wasn’t sure of anything. Everything she’d thought she earned had really come because she was Vin Ledet’s daughter. Her father knew people on the admissions board at college. She’d fought so hard for her MCAT scores, achieving one of the highest that year, which should’ve been enough to get her into medical school, but apparently not enough for her father. Then her residency and her fellowship, her father had had a hand in that. Everything she’d pursued in her medical career her father had had a hand in.
No wonder her belief in herself was fleeting.
Except this place.
She’d earned this on her own by saving Silas Draven’s nephew Shane in Missoula.
Silas and her father moved in the same circles and never saw eye to eye.
Sarah knew it wasn’t because of who her father was. This job was because of her own merit.
Someone believed in her abilities and she wasn’t going to let them down.
She could do this.
This was her focus and she was going to prove to everyone she was up to the task. This clinic was going to be her pride and joy.
Her clinic had opened a bit earlier than she’d planned, but Silas Draven had had a large party of tourists coming in and he’d wanted to make sure that it was up and running. He wanted his resort to be all-inclusive, and didn’t want his guests having to go into town and wait at the local clinic.
Even though the resort hadn’t officially opened, the large party of skiers was certainly giving her a run for her money. Her clinic had been full the two days she’d been open. It was usually just minor stuff, cuts and sunburns, but she was enjoying the work and, the best part, it was honest work. Though, she missed surgery, the rush of the hospital, but this job she’d got on her own.
Her parents didn’t have a hand in it.
Really, Sarah? Sunburns? The only sun you should think about is evening out your tan.
She cursed under her breath, trying to shake away her sister’s annoying voice. Her sister had never said those exact words, but she could almost picture her, standing in the waiting room and saying them, because her sister had nagged her about similar things before.
“Patient ten?” Sarah briefly looked up from her chart, to the busy waiting room at her clinic. “Patient number ten?”
A man with a very red face stood up and walked toward her. He nodded and winced. “I am Mr. Fontblanc.”
Sarah smiled. “I know, we just use a numbering system here to keep anonymity.”
“Ah, oui. Merci beaucoup.”
“You can have a seat in exam room one. I’ll be with you momentarily.”
Mr. Fontblanc nodded again, shuffling off down the hall. She looked at her chart one more time and was about to call the next victim of a really bad sunburn when the door to her clinic burst open. Luke strode into her pristine clinic, dirty and breathless.
“What’re you doing?” he asked.
“I’m seeing patients,” Sarah said, trying not to look at him. Distance was the key.
“Good, I have a patient for you.”
“What? Where?”
“He’s in the lobby.”
“In the lobby? Why is he in the lobby?”
Luke rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Would you stop giving me the third degree and just come to the lobby?”
“I have a patient waiting in my exam room. I can’t leave him there.”
“Is your patient bleeding profusely with a head injury?”
“That’s confidential.”
Luke shook his head and pushed past her into the exam room.
“Dr. Ralston!” Sarah tried to stop him, but he was in the exam room. Mr. Fontblanc looked a bit stunned.
“Sorry to keep you waiting …” Luke peered at the man. “Too much sun?”
“Oui … uh, yes.”
“Vous êtes Français?” Luke inquired in perfect French.
“Oui.”
Sarah stood back, stunned. She didn’t know French at all. Spanish, she knew quite a bit, but French, she was at a loss. Luke seemed to know it. He questioned the man briefly and then pulled out a tube of topical cream from her medicine cupboard, handing it to her patient and then patting him on the back.
The patient still seemed shell-shocked, but overall was happy.
“Merci.”
“Pas de problème,” Luke said.
The patient left the room and Luke turned back to her. “You ready to go and help the patient in the lobby now?”
“What just happened here?” She watched as Luke began to grab suturing trays, gauze and a bolus for an IV. “What’s going on? Why are you stealing my supplies?”
He groaned and grabbed her hand.