LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter One

      “RAINE! You’re here? Working Trauma again?” Sarah greeted her when she walked into the trauma bay fifteen minutes before the regular start of her shift.

      Emergency nurse Raine Hart smiled at her co-worker. “Yes, I’m back. Working in the minor care area for a few weeks was a nice reprieve and a lot less stress. But I confess I’ve missed being a part of the action.”

      “Well, we sure missed you, too. And I’m so glad you came in early,” Sarah said, quickly changing the subject from Raine’s four-week hiatus from Trauma to her own personal issues. “I have to leave right away to pick-up my son, he’s running a fever at the day care and there’s a new trauma coming in.” Sarah thrust the trauma pager into her hands as if it were a hot potato. “ETA is less than five minutes.”

      “No problem.” Raine accepted the pager, feeling a tiny thrill of anticipation. She hadn’t been lying, she really had missed the excitement of working in the trauma bay. She scrolled through the most recent text message from the paramedic base. Thirty-year-old female with blunt trauma to the head with poor vital signs. Not good. “Sounds like it’s been busy.”

      “Crazy busy,” Sarah agreed. “Like I said, we missed you. Sorry I have to run, but I’ll see you, tomorrow.”

      “Bye, Sarah.” Raine clipped the pager to the waistband of her scrubs, and swept a glance over the room. It looked as if Sarah had everything ready to go for the next patient. She was secretly relieved to start off her first trauma shift with a new admission. She’d rather be busy—work was a welcome distraction from her personal problems. Raine was thankful her boss had kept her real reason for being away from Trauma a secret, telling her co-workers only that she’d been off sick, and then reassigned to Minor Care to work in a less stressful environment on doctor’s orders. After three weeks in Minor Care, she was more than ready for more intense nursing.

      So here she was, back in the trauma bay. Raine took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, determined to keep the past buried deep, where it belonged.

      She could do this, no problem.

      “No sign of our trauma patient yet?” a low husky, familiar voice asked.

      She sucked in a harsh breath and swung around to stare at Dr. Caleb Stewart in shocked surprise. According to the posted schedule, Brock Madison was supposed to be the emergency physician on duty in the trauma bay tonight. Obviously, he and Caleb must have switched shifts.

      “Not yet.” Her mouth was sandpaper dry and she desperately searched for something to say. Caleb looked great. Better than great. Better than she’d remembered. But she hadn’t been prepared to face him. Not yet. She hadn’t seen him since they’d decided to take a break from their relationship just over a month ago.

      She couldn’t ignore a sharp pang of regret. If only she’d tried harder to work things out. But she hadn’t.

      And now it was too late.

      Thankfully, before he could say anything

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