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“And not at all because you get to play with the snowmobile for longer.” Yeah, right.
The American grinned before gunning the engine and heading up the street. Rainne shook her head as she watched him go. It was hard to believe Mitch spent most of his time in business suits and board meetings.
She pushed through the door to the converted Victorian house that was now the town’s only medical facility, and the noise hit her. Shouting, complaining, swearing. Rainne raised her eyebrows at the nurse, and doctor’s wife, who was behind the desk.
“What’s going on?” Rainne said.
Janice rolled her eyes. “It’s a guy called Reynard. Megan shot him in the backside and he’s not happy. The police were in to question him. They want to move him to Fort William now that the road’s open but we need to wait for an ambulance and a police escort to take him.” She grinned. “He can’t sit in the standard police van. The seats are too hard and would hurt his sore bum. We wouldn’t want the mastermind behind the attack on our women to get uncomfortable in any way now would we? While we’re waiting for his ride, I’m making sure to take really good care of him.”
“He’s getting a lot of sympathetic treatment, then?” Rainne said.
“Oh, aye.” Janice nodded solemnly.
Rainne grinned at the woman’s faux innocence. “Where can I find Alastair?”
“Room two, and he’s grumpy as well. Men. Whether it’s a broken limb or a paper cut, it’s all the same. If they spent five minutes dealing with labour pains they might have a better understanding of what real agony is.”
With a laugh, Rainne headed to Alastair’s room, attempting to tamp down her nerves by counting backwards from twenty while breathing slowly. It didn’t help. She pushed open the door to find him lying in bed, eyes on the wall-mounted TV, remote in hand. He didn’t look happy.
“Hey, how you doing?” Rainne said as she entered the room.
She stood a couple of feet from the bed, unsure of her welcome.
“Rainbow, am I glad to see you. Get me out of here.” He started to sit up, but a machine attached to his thumb by a clip began beeping and the door banged open.
“Stay in bed,” barked the doctor.
“I feel fine. I want to go home. With Rainne.”
Alastair’s skin was grey, his eyes were tight with pain and his hair was matted. Yeah, he looked fine.
“Not going to happen.” Doctor Murray put a hand on Alastair’s shoulder and firmly pushed him back into the bed. “Stay,” he ordered. “You have a tube in your chest, your arm in a cast and you have two broken ribs. You’re not going anywhere. Not before the chest drain comes out.”
“When will that be?” Rainne asked as Alastair growled like a trapped animal.
“Tomorrow, probably,” the doc said. “The damage to his lung was minor. It should be healed by then. Well, healed enough to stop from leaking air. His ribs will take a lot longer to mend. And moving around won’t help.” He glared at Alastair.
“I hate being in here,” Alastair said.
“And we hate having you in here.” The doc slammed the door when he left.
Alastair watched him go. “He’s a bastard when he doesn’t get any sleep.”
“Or he’s fed up dealing with unreasonable men who are clearly injured and won’t listen to expert advice.”
He scowled at her, and Rainne ignored him. Instead she tugged at the white cotton blanket and tucked him in.
“You’ve only been here a few hours. Talk about a drama queen. This is pathetic. Just sit back, watch TV and you’ll be free soon enough.” She refilled the plastic beaker beside his bed with ice water as she wondered why every hospital room she’d ever been in was painted mint green. She imagined someone thought it would be soothing. It wasn’t.
“When I see this colour now, I think of hospitals,” she said. “Don’t you think a nice patterned wallpaper would be much more welcoming?”
“I don’t want to be welcomed. I want to go home.” His head thumped back onto the pillow.
There was more shouting and cursing from the room next door.
“Maybe once that guy goes you’ll be able to relax,” Rainne said.
“I’m never going to make it.” Alastair looked up at her. “I’m going stir crazy. And we need somewhere private to talk.”
