A Man To Tame - Rachel Lindsay (Roberta Leigh) (22 page)

‘
You
can't do anything in here. Get out.’

‘I’ll help you with this man
first.' She peeered around.
There must be two others nearby.'

‘I’ll find them.' Joshua leaned
forward. 'But I don't need you. The back end of the lab is boiling like a
cauldron. If's likely to go off like a rocket any
minute.'

Then you can't stay here either.'
Agitatedly, she began to pull at the injured man lying at her feet. 'If I held
yon we'll both get out of here more quickly.'

‘I don't need your help.' Joshua almost shouted the words as
he bent double and lifted the unconscious man. Holding his burden, he
straightened, and only then realised that this brought his eyes level with the
densest part of the atmosphere, where visibility was almost nil; yet he could
not hold his burden and walk in a crouching position, and he swore furiously
under his breath.

Aware of the reason for his anger,
Kate caught hold of his jacket and kept down on her knees. 'I'll guide you,'
she said huskily, and inched forward.

Their progress was painfully slow
and twice she went to stop as she stumbled over an inert form, only continuing
on her way as a quick feel with her hands told her she could do no good. As
they neared the shattered windows the smoke lessened and they were able to make
faster progress, though the door which Joshua said he had broken down was not
visible and she wondered if part of the roof had collapsed on it. But she had
no time to look and see, for they reached the nearest window where men were
waiting ready to take the unconscious figure from Joshua's arms.

‘You'd best come out, sir,' a man
in uniform urged. The firemen want to get the hoses on the back of the lab and
they can't do it while you're in there.’

They can't do it while my men are
there either,’ Joshua barked, 'I'm not sure they're all dead and until I am,
you keep those firemen away. Do you hear me?'

'All the bodies have been accounted
for,' the man said. Three of the firemen got in the back way.'

'You're lying,’ Joshua cried. 'I
didn't see anyone in the back of the lab.'

They didn't see you either,' the
man said. 'It's like an Inferno in there. Now come along, sir, before the whole
thing goes up in the air.'

There was a low moan behind Kate
and she turned and ran in its direction, losing sight of Joshua and the window
within a few seconds. The heat had intensified and the laboratory was as hot as
the interior of an oven. The smoke seemed to scorch her skin, but a man's cry
came again and she could not ignore it.

‘Where are you?' she called. 'I
can't see you. Please keep calling.'

Hands groping out in front of her,
she made her way from one workbench to another. The heat and smoke grew worse
and she knew that if she did not find the man soon she would have to get out
before she suffocated. Her fingers touched wetness and she gasped and bent
forward, her hands moving gently across a face and parted lips.

'Hello, Doc,' a faint voice said.
'Sorry I couldn't come for my medicine this~ afternoon.'

She gave a little cry. It was
Johnson, their chief malingerer. ‘You don't work in the lab,’ she gasped as her
hands moved skilfully over his body to see if there
were any bones broken. 'What are you doing here?'

'I had to deliver a parcel to one
of the technicians and I stopped to have a chat with him.'

'Do you think you can manage to
lean on me and walk?' she asked quickly. 'I don't think you have any bones
broken.'

‘Maybe not,’ he said dryly, ‘but I
can't move my legs. I don't feel them.'

Then I'll have to get some help.'
She turned and groped in the direction of the windows. 'Joshua,’ she called.
'Joshua!'

There was no answer and it was only
as she went to shout again that she became conscious that a crackling noise was
drowning her voice. She, looked over her shoulder and
as she did so, a huge timber beam crashed down from somewhere high above, releasing
a cloud of black smoke that was instantly punctured by a tongue of scarlet
flame that heated the air and sent it flicking warm against her skin like a
knife. She screamed and recoiled from it and in that instant felt a hard hand grip her shoulder.

'I told you to get out,’ It was Joshua, his voice thick with smoke.
_;

'I need help. Johnson's back there,’

‘I’ll find him,’ he said, ‘but for
God's sake get out!'

‘You won't find him without me.'
She turned and stumbled back the way she had come. Joshua tried to claw at her
skirt, but she evaded him and he was forced to come after her, cursing and
shouting that she was crazy, that he could manage on his own and she must climb
out of the window immediately.

Closing her ears to his frenzied orders,
Kate continued to inch forward. It was like advancing into the sun except that
she was not blinded by a brilliant glare but by the darkness of black smoke.
'Here he is,’ she cried, and touched Johnson's face.

'I'm still alive, Doctor,’ he
croaked.

'Of course you are,’ she said
throatily, 'and we'll have you out of here in a moment.'

'Easy does it,’ Joshua said as his
big strong arms enfolded the inert figure. 'Hang on to my jacket, Kate,' he
continued. 'If you let go of me I won't move another step.’

Knowing he meant it she had no
choice but to obey him. Eyes closed, she followed him, occasionally lifting her
lids in the hope of seeing someone, but every flicker of her eyeballs was
excruciating and there was the same stinging pain in her throat and nose which
made each breath an agony. She stumbled and almost fell, but remained clutching
at Joshua's jacket. Occasionally he too had to stop to shake his head and peer
round him like an half-blind man. Their progress was
slow and every yard.. seemed
like ten, but suddenly the air cleared and she could lift her lids and discern
figures moving in on her. Then there was a rumble in her ears and the earth
moved. Wind seemed to whistle round her and she felt hot, then cold as if she
were being lifted up and shaken like a leaf in the wind.

'Joshua!' she screamed, and as
timbers crashed in on her, knew no more.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

It was the pain in her hands which
finally dragged Kate back to reluctant consciousness and she fought against it,
keeping her eyes closed and hoping that the drowsiness which still engulfed her
would wash her back into a sea of oblivion. But it was not to be, for the pain
in her hands became a steady throbbing which was taken up inside her head, and
she muttered irritably and moved on the pillows. The movement instantly brought
someone to her side—a young woman whom she did not recognise, though the pale
blue dress was that of a nurse.

'Good morning, Dr Gibson. How are
you feeling?’

‘Terrible.'

I’m not surprised. You've been
pumped so full of drugs you're bound to feel a bit odd.
The nurse
touched Kate's wrist. ‘Would you like some tea?'

'Not particularly.'

I’m sure you'll enjoy it once you
have it. I’ll bring you a cup.' '

The nurse was proved right, for by the time Kate had drunk the tea and eaten a
couple of biscuits she was feeling considerably better. Slowly her brain began
to function and when the nurse returned to take away the tray, she asked how
long she had been here.

Three days. You had concussion and
your hands were badly cut.'

Kate shuddered. I’m not surprised.
The floor was like a glass carpet.'

'Don't think about it any more.
It's all over.'

‘Yes,' Kate echoed, thinking of
Joshua.

‘I’ve brought you a newspaper to
cheer you up.'

'I don't want to read anything,
thanks.'

'Just look at the pictures. There's
a lovely one of� you.'

'Of me?' Kate took the newspaper from the nurse and saw her own
face staring out at her from the front page. It was a picture she did not
recognise until she suddenly remembered that one like it had appeared in the
national press after the fire in the apartment block. 'Heroine of the inferno,'
was how it had been captioned then, though today's was only slightly less lurid
and referred to her as a doctor who went through fire for her patients.

'I do wish reporters wouldn't exaggerate,
^’
she said crossly. 'Anyone else in my position would have done the same.'

‘Maybe,' the nurse said doubtfully,
‘but the fact is that you did it—and for the second time in less than four
months. There's a whole story on the inside page about the first rescue you
did. They say you'll get a medal for it, and probably for this rescue as well.
It would be fantastic if you got two George Crosses.'

‘Fantastic,’ Kate murmured, and
closed her eyes.

‘I’ll leave you to have a rest
until lunch time,’ the nurse said, and rustled out of the room.

Kate was awakened by a tantalising
smell of food and, feeling considerably clearer-headed, was able to take
cognisance of her surroundings. She was in a large private room, simply furnished
but turned into a bower of flowers. She glanced from one vase to the other and
was still trying to count them when the nurse came in with her lunch.

‘I’ll do your hair and tidy you up
afterwards,’ she said, helping Kate into a sitting position. 'You'll be allowed
visitors this afternoon.'

‘I’d father not see anyone,' Kate
said quickly.

‘We can't have you lying here
getting morbid,’ the nurse replied, and picked up the knife and fork. I'd better
cut the meat for you, with your hands in bandages you might find it difficult
to do it.'

Kate thought she would find it
easier if she were left alone without the nurse's constant chatter, but she did
not say so and docilely allowed herself to be fed and
then have her face washed and her hair brushed. Unbidden the nurse brought her
a mirror and she was dismayed by her reflection: a pale face with dark shadows
under her eyes and the eyes themselves like huge silver, grey pools. Only her
hair seemed vivid, a shining cap that covered her head and clustered in curly
tendrils across her forehead and along the tops of her ears.

‘You have lovely coloured hair,'
the nurse commented, ‘We had to wash it for you. It was full of glass and it
stank of sulphur.' The nurse put the mirror back on the dressing table, then
took a filmy white bed-jacket from the top drawer and helped Kate to slip into
it.

It lay round her like a sheaf of
apple blossom, its silky folds deliriously cool
against her warm skin. She knew she had a temperature but not enough to make
her so agitated or apprehensive. No, these feelings came from the certainty
that Joshua would be coming to see her and the fear that in her weakened state
she might burst into tears at the sight of him.

She was so busy steeling herself up
for his entry that when he finally arrived it was something of an anticlimax. One
moment the room was quiet, the next it was dominated by a huge,
broad-shouldered, black-haired man, his arms filled with a sheaf of creamy
roses and a bottle of champagne.

‘Hello, Kate.' His greeting was
calm though the look in his eyes was not. There was a-strange sparkle in them,
a certain sharpness that made her wearily acknowledge that he was spoiling for
a fight. But he could not have come here to quarrel with her. Even Joshua knew
better than that.

‘You look beautiful,' he said
matter-of-factly, 'and about sixteen.'

‘I feel sixty.'

He smiled and dumped the flowers
and champagne-on the dressing-table before coming to stand at the foot el her
bed. She remained resting against the pillows, for
in
this way she could
see him without having to tilt her head and she saw his eyes move from her face
down her body to her bandaged hands which lay supine on the coverlet. Pallor
tinged his tan and when he spoke his voice was shaky.

'You could have been burned to
death in the laboratory. A minute after we got you out, the whole place went
up.'

'I remember hearing the explosion,'
she confessed.

‘You were crazy!' he said
violently. There were enough firemen and police to sink a battleship. Yet you
had to go in——'

'I could say the same of you,’ she
interrupted.

I’m a man,' he said violently, 'and
they were my employees trapped in there.'

I’m a doctor,' she replied, 'and
they were my patients.'

‘Rubbish.'

It was impossible for her not to
smile, though it was tinged with sadness. Even coming to see her in hospital he
could not refrain from losing his temper with her. But it was an odd kind of
temper, as was the way he was looking at her.

‘I suppose the whole laboratory is
a write-off?' she murmured.

'It's covered by the insurance so
it won't mean a financial loss.'

‘How many men were killed?'

‘Five.'

He half turned and stared through
the window. She had rarely seen him in profile and she enjoyed being able to
look at him without the fear of being discovered. Looking at him sideways, one
noticed his well-shaped head and the strongly defined line of cheekbone and
jaw.

'Janey sends you her love.' He
turned abruptly their eyes met. ‘She wanted to come and see you, thought you
wouldn't be feeling up to it. I said she would have plenty of opportunity when
I brought you home.'

'Home?' Kate echoed.

‘My place. You'll be better cared for there.'

‘Mrs Pugh wouldn't like to hear
that!'

‘She can come and look after you.
You'll probably find enough for her to do at the Manor for us to keep her on.'

Kate swallowed, thinking she might
not have heard correctly.
'I
—I would prefer to stay in my own house,’
she said huskily. 'It's very kind of you to suggest I stay with you, but—'

'It has nothing to do with
kindness,' he cut in roughly. I’m doing it for my own peace of mind. You're
staying ' with me until I can marry you—and that will be the minute you give
the word.'