“It’s okay,” Flann said through tight teeth. “Just get it done.”

With one final pull, the jeans slid down over her knees to the tops of her work boots.

“Almost there.” Abby unlaced Flann’s boots and steadied her with a hand on her good hip. Flann’s T-shirt came to the middle of her dark briefs. Her legs were lean and muscular. Abby focused on the ten-inch laceration angled across the anterior portion of her thigh, deep enough to have separated the tissue down to muscle. The saline had cleared most of the clot, but she couldn’t tell yet how serious it was. “Can you step out of your boots and jeans?”

Carefully, Flann eased one foot free and then the other.

Abby rose and slid an arm around Flann’s waist. Flann was pale, her pupils wide and dark with pain. Abby steeled herself against the surge of sympathy. She couldn’t stroke away her hurt the way she wanted to. She’d have to hurt her a little more before she could help her. “Come on, sit down so I can get a good look at it. I need to clean it up a little bit more.”

Flann looped an arm around Abby’s shoulders and leaned into her, a sure sign she was in more pain than she wanted to admit. “How’s your suturing?”

“Very good, as a matter of fact.” Abby recognized Flann’s attempt to deflect her attention with humor. Flann was very good at hiding her feelings behind a cavalier attitude, but that wouldn’t work here. “However, I don’t plan on sewing you up here. It’ll be easier in the OR.”

“It would be, if there were a surgeon around to do it, but there won’t be. I’m telling you, you and I and Harper, probably my father and a couple other local GPs who can get in to the hospital, are going to be it tonight. We’ll be swamped. We’ve got two choices—either suture it now or pack it open and suture it later.”

“If we don’t close it right away,” Abby said, propping a cushion against the arm of the sofa for Flann’s head as Flann slowly stretched out, “the scarring will be much worse and there’s a greater chance it will get infected.”

“I agree. So like I said, let’s get suturing.”

Abby didn’t intend to commit herself until she had a better look at the wound. Flann’s reasoning wasn’t bad, but she didn’t altogether trust her motives. Flann was the macho type, and she’d likely risk her own well-being and certainly risk being in pain for the entire night if it meant she’d be able to work. Abby had handled plenty of patients like her, and part of her job was protecting them from themselves. Although she doubted anyone had much success with Flannery, she intended to win this contest.

She found an impermeable drape in the med kit and slid it under Flann’s thigh to protect the sofa. After donning another pair of gloves, she soaked gauze with more sterile saline, carefully cleaned around the wound, and pulsed saline into it from a sterile syringe. Flann tensed as she worked but said nothing, and Abby ignored the fist of anxiety in her middle. She stirred up a little bit of bleeding, but it wasn’t excessive, and as she got a better look at the wound, her unease lessened. “Is there any sensory loss in your calf or foot?”

“No numbness that I’ve noticed. The leg feels weak, but I think that’s just me in general.” Flann laughed. “I missed dinner.”

Abby smiled faintly. “The wound is down to muscle but nothing major seems involved. It’s deep and long and will hurt like hell if you try to stand on it tonight. You know that as well as I do.”

“I know.” Flann sighed. “Look, I’ll get off my feet as much as I can, if I can.”

“If you agree to that, I’ll suture this here. But I’ll want you to check in with me every few hours.”

“If I—”

Abby rose and folded her arms. “No ifs, Flann. You come by the ER every two hours and let me check you over, or I tell Harper you’re not fit for duty.”

Flann’s eyebrows rose. “That’s blackmail.”

Abby shrugged. “Take it or leave it.”

“Harper always has lidocaine in her emergency supplies. You’ll find a suture pack in there too.”

Abby turned away to hide her smile. She drew up local anesthetic, changed gloves, and after wiping down the periphery of the wound with Betadine, anesthetized the laceration. It took her half an hour to close the wound with several layers of suture. While she worked, Flann lay back with her eyes closed. “I thought you’d be supervising.”

Flann kept her eyes closed, but her lips curved into a smile. “I trust you.”

“Why?” Abby asked absently as she tied and snipped a suture. She loaded the needle holder with nylon for the skin and started a running suture to close the long laceration. “You’ve only seen me work that one time.”

“That’s all I needed to see.”

“I could have terrible hands, though.”

Flann laughed. “Do you?”

“No,” Abby said, suturing steadily. “I actually have good hands.”

“Then why aren’t you a surgeon?”

Abby smiled. “I like the variety in the ER. There’s more patient education involved too. And I like working with doctors whose egos don’t come through the door before they do.”

“Yours seems pretty healthy.”

Abby laughed. “You noticed.”

Flann opened her eyes at the same moment as Abby looked up at her. Flann’s eyes had lost their sheen of pain. They were dark and intense again, the intensity Abby was coming to like when turned on her. She stilled.

“I noticed a lot of things,” Flann said softly, each word a subtle caress. “I noticed you’re smart and strong and compassionate.”

“You forgot stubborn and controlling,” Abby said, her throat tight.

Flann grinned that damnably charming grin. “No, I didn’t. I just didn’t want to make you mad.”

Laughter threatening to bubble out, Abby pulled her gaze away and went back to work. Flann was too good at distracting her. “That’s probably smart considering your position right now.”

Flann pushed up on her elbows and surveyed her leg. She nodded. “Not bad. I’d put you at about a third-year resident level.”

“Oh, please,” Abby said, snipping the last suture. “That’s as good as half the attendings you work with, I bet.”

“Three-quarters, maybe.”

Secretly pleased, Abby found gauze and wrapped Flann’s leg with the circular bandage. “I still would not recommend standing on that.”

“If I don’t, I’ll have a tough time keeping my balance in the OR.”

Abby stripped off her gloves, sat on the edge of the sofa, and rested her hand on Flann’s uninjured calf. “Be serious for a minute.”

“I’m always serious.”

“I doubt that you ever are,” Abby said with a snort, “but you need to be now. You’ve been through a lot. Your body has been bruised, battered, and exposed to the elements. That’s a nasty laceration on your leg and I know it hurts, even though you’re too macho to admit it. You won’t do anyone any good if you get halfway through a case and collapse.”

“What if I promise I won’t start a case if I don’t feel a hundred percent?”

“Do you mean it?”

“If I promise, I mean it.”

“All right then. Your word.”

Flann leaned over, grasped Abby’s hand. “My word.”

Harper came through the doorway. “What’s the verdict?”

Abby realized she was sitting with a half-naked Flann on the sofa, and Flann was holding her hand. She jumped up and started collecting supplies. “A deep laceration, but fortunately the muscle’s spared. We’ve closed it.”

Harper strode to the side of the sofa, jammed her hands on her hips, and stared down at Flann. “Are you bullshitting or can you really work?”

Flann pushed herself all the way up and eased her legs off the sofa. Her back ached, her shoulders ached, and her leg really hurt. “I feel like you kicked my ass like you used to do when we were kids playing football, but I’m okay. Do you hear anything from Dad?”

Harper shook her head. “I’ve been trying him and Mama and Carson, but I’m not getting anybody.”

“One of us should go by the house—probably you. Any of the urgent traumas will need me.”

“You’re right. I’ll go there, and then straight over to the Rivers. Presley needs to get to the hospital too.”

“What about the kids,” Abby said. “Are they both okay?”

“Fine.” Harper smiled wryly. “I had to make them promise not to go out kitten hunting.”

“They can stay here, and Presley, Flann, and I can go in my car to the hospital,” Abby said.

“That’s a plan,” Harper said.

“I need some pants,” Flann said.

“Might be a good idea,” Harper said dryly. “I’ve got some scrubs that I keep here to hang around in. They’ll fit you.”

“If you get them for me, I’ll get dressed and we can go.”

Abby packed up the rest of the supplies. “I want to talk to Blake for a minute. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

As Abby left, Harper said, “How’re you doing, really?”

“I’ll make it for a few hours. Abby did a good job.”

“I don’t doubt it. She’s solid.”

“Yeah,” Flann said slowly. “She’s something.”

“What are you doing there, Flann?” Harper asked.

“Not a thing.” Flann gave her a long, flat look until Harper shrugged and shook her head. Satisfied, Flann said, “How about you get me those scrubs so we can get to work.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“You should take the truck, Harp,” Flann said.

“Presley’s car will do me,” Harper said. “The three of you have farther to go.”

“Yeah, but the road’s likely to be washed out along the river. Presley’s car won’t handle that.” Flann got a stubborn set to her jaw, a look Abby was coming to recognize.

Flann was used to being in charge, of making decisions that no one—except Harper, apparently—ever questioned. Abby wondered if Flann had always been that way, or if her training or some other experience conditioned her to be most comfortable when she shouldered the responsibility for the welfare of others. She wondered too what happened if Flann was wrong—imagining those inevitable mistakes must eat at her. A wave of sympathy washed through her.

“No one should take any unnecessary chances,” Abby said. “We’re all going to be needed at the hospital.”

Presley slipped an arm around Harper’s waist. “I’d feel better if you took the truck.”

Harper caressed her arm. “Okay. But if the three of you run into any problems on the way in, you turn back, okay?”

“I’ll look after them,” Flann said.

Since Abby didn’t know what she faced, she could hardly object to Flann being Flann and assuming she was in charge, but she wasn’t going to be a bystander either. “How about Presley drives, and I’ll watch the roads for obstacles. Flann, you can stretch out in the backseat and keep your leg elevated.”

“Wait a minute,” Flann grumbled. “I should drive. I know the roads—”

“So does Presley.” Abby plucked Presley’s keys from the table, slipped them into her pocket, and gave Flann a no-discussion glare. “If you expect to work later tonight, you need to rest now.”

Flann scowled. “I can see how you got to be chief so fast.”

Abby grinned. “By being right, you mean?”

“I was thinking more like hard-as—” Flann glanced over at Blake and Margie, who didn’t seem to be paying them any attention. All the same, she muttered, “Not quite what I was thinking.”

Presley set the roast that was to have been their picnic dinner in the center of the big oak table. “Everybody should grab a sandwich. If the power is out at the Rivers, the cafeteria won’t have food for long. Grab water from the fridge too.”

“Double-check you have flashlights,” Harper said, slicing thick slabs off the roast as Presley set out bread and sandwich bags.

“Good idea.” Abby put together sandwiches. “Blake, Margie—come and eat.”

When they’d grabbed sandwiches, she made two more and handed one to Flann. “Eat this now. I’ll pack some more for later.”

Flann took the sandwich, her fingers grazing Abby’s. “Thanks.”

“Sure,” Abby said, not entirely sure why she’d made Flann’s without even thinking about it. And that was not anything she wanted to keep thinking about right then.

Inside of ten minutes, they were ready to go. Presley walked Harper to the back door and kissed her. “Be careful. I wish you weren’t going alone.”

“I’ll be fine,” Harper said. “I’ll meet you at the Rivers just as soon as I’ve checked the homestead. Don’t worry if you don’t hear from me. Phone reception is likely to be iffy.”

Presley nodded, her lips tight.

Harper hugged her, murmuring something too quietly for Abby to hear. Presley’s expression softened and she leaned into Harper for an instant, her arms locked around Harper’s waist. Abby looked away, directly into Flann’s eyes. Flann’s pensive gaze skimmed her face and settled on hers, capturing Abby again in the dark, seductive undertow Flann exuded with effortless force. Abby broke away reluctantly and physically turned aside, not trusting herself to resist the strange pull of Flann’s attention. “Blake, Margie—remember, no searching outside.”