‘That was Ambulance Control on the phone. There’s been an incident on the canal, along that stretch which is being refurbished about ten miles south of here. One of the cranes has collapsed and there’s at least a dozen people injured, apparently.’
‘Have they despatched the rapid-response team?’ Ross demanded, standing up.
‘Yes, but there’s a snag. It appears there’s some sort of a problem with the fuel they use for the ambulances and other emergency vehicles. The whole fleet is off the road, apart from one paramedic car.’ Matt grimaced. ‘Ambulance Control has called for assistance from the neighbouring authorities but it’s going to be a while before they can get any ambulances here.’
‘And in the meantime they want us to do whatever we can,’ Ross guessed.
‘Exactly. I know it’s the worst possible day for something like this to happen, but we don’t have a choice, do we?’
‘No.’ Ross headed for the door. ‘I’ll get straight over there and see what I can do. Ben’s at my house, luckily enough, so I’ll pick him up en route.’
‘That would be a real help. I’ll phone Rachel and the others and follow you down.’ Matt turned to Gemma. ‘We’re going to need all the help we can get from the sound of it, Gemma, so can we count you in?’
‘Of course.’ Gemma jumped to her feet and hurried to the door.
‘Why don’t you come with me?’ Ross suggested as they all trooped into the hall. He paused, forcing Gemma to stop to avoid bumping into him. ‘That stretch of the canal is quite difficult to reach. The fewer vehicles that are there, blocking the way, the better.’
‘That’s a point,’ Matt concurred. ‘Heaven knows what sort of machinery they’ll need to shift that crane but there’s no point cluttering up the area. I’ll pick up Rachel and the others and that will help to keep the number of vehicles to a minimum.’
It was all sorted out without Gemma saying a word, not that she could have objected to going with Ross—that would have been too difficult to explain. She could hardly have admitted that the thought of being in the car with him was giving her hot and cold chills.
She slid into the rear seat, murmuring something about leaving the front passenger seat free for Ben. Ross obviously saw nothing strange in that, but he had no reason to be suspicious. He didn’t know that the thought of sitting next to him would have been torture for her. To feel his shoulder brush against hers, to smell the scent of his skin, to absorb the powerful force of his masculinity would have been both heaven and hell, and she couldn’t handle it. Not today. Not this day when he should have been on his way to church to marry her best friend.
She needed time to gather her thoughts and return them to the box mentally marked ‘Forbidden’ where they had resided for the last three years. Only then would she be able to cope, when Ross was back in his rightful place as her best friend’s fiancé… Only he was no longer that, was he? He was neither engaged to Heather nor married to her. To all intents and purposes, he was a free agent now. Available. Obtainable. Although not for someone like her. Not for a woman whose body had made men recoil in revulsion.
Pain speared through her heart as she stared out of the car window. She could only ever love Ross from afar.
CHAPTER THREE
GEMMA had been seventeen when her whole life had changed. She had been in her first year at sixth-form college and just finding her feet as an adult. She had been enjoying her studies and enjoying the new opportunities to socialise. Life had been exciting, exhilarating, fun.
When her friend Katie suggested that they go to Sheffield to see a concert, Gemma was thrilled. Katie had passed her driving test a few months earlier and the plan was that she would drive them there. Gemma pleaded with her parents to let her go and in the end, they agreed. They knew Katie and trusted her.
The concert was as good as they had hoped it would be. Gemma and Katie were on a high as they drove home afterwards, singing along to a CD of the bands they had seen that night. They were within a mile of home when a car suddenly pulled out of a side road and rammed straight into them.
Gemma took the brunt of the impact. Part of the door embedded itself into her side, slicing through her left kidney and damaging her spleen. There was extensive tissue damage, broken ribs, bruising to her spine, although, mercifully, she was unaware of how severe her injuries were. The long weeks she spent in ICU were a blank. She remembered nothing about them, although her parents told her later that twice they were warned to prepare themselves when it looked as though she was about to lose her battle to survive. Yet somehow, against all the odds, she pulled through.
Once she left Intensive Care she underwent months of physiotherapy plus more surgery. Her kidney had needed to be removed as well as her spleen, but the surgeons assured her that she would be able to function perfectly well without either organ. What they couldn’t do anything about was the extensive scarring from the many operations she’d needed, but that seemed relatively unimportant compared to the fact that she was alive. With the support of her family, Gemma resumed her studies and soon discovered that the plans she’d made for a career in law no longer appealed. She decided to train as a nurse and help people like herself who had been injured.
It was during her final year in university that she started dating one of the other students. Up till then she’d been more concerned about catching up with her peer group, but when Mike Walsh asked her out, she accepted. Within a couple of weeks Gemma knew that she was falling in love, and the wonderful thing was that Mike felt the same way. She had told him about the accident, glossing over the fact that she still bore the scars from it because they hadn’t seemed important; they were just part of her and that was that. Mike, however, viewed them in an entirely different light.
Gemma was stunned by his reaction the first time they slept together. Although he tried to hide it, she could tell he was repulsed by the sight of her damaged flesh. Every time they made love after that, she was aware that he averted his eyes from the left side of her body and never, ever, touched her there.
It was inevitable that their relationship would fail. Neither of them could cope with the continual stress. By the time they parted, all Gemma felt was relief that she would no longer be made to feel like a freak. However, it proved one thing to her: no man would find her attractive undressed. And that was when she made her decision to save herself a great deal of heartache by never having a physical relationship with a man again…
‘I’ll just fetch Ben. Is there anything you need? A coat, a sweater, gloves?’ Ross frowned when he saw Gemma jump. She hadn’t said a word on the drive to his house. She’d been so quiet, in fact, that he’d wondered if she had fallen asleep at one point. However, a glance in the rearview mirror had soon dispelled that idea.
His frown deepened as he recalled the expression on her face. She’d looked so lost, so lonely, so much in pain, and he couldn’t understand it… Unless she was upset about the wedding being cancelled? Gemma’s ability to empathise with people was legendary in the surgery; all their patients remarked on how sympathetic she was. Now he couldn’t help feeling guilty that she was suffering because of him. If he’d thought long and hard before he’d asked Heather to marry him, based the decision on his emotions rather than ticking all those wretched boxes, a lot of people might not be feeling quite so upset today.
It was galling to admit that he was at fault. Ross got out of the car without waiting to see if Gemma was going to take him up on his offer of extra clothing. He would take some stuff with him and she could choose what she wanted, he decided as he let himself into the house. Ben was just hanging up the phone—he grimaced when Ross went in.
‘I’ve only managed to contact about half the people on this list.