LITMIR.BIZ

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up with his calendar. “Uh—yeah. A couple of hours.” He glanced at his watch and rubbed the back of his neck. “Actually, I’m free now, if you have time.”

      “Now?” Kylie didn’t look happy at the abrupt change in plans.

      “We could wait until later. But you need to know patient care comes first. If I’m needed in the trauma room then we’ll have to reschedule anyway.”

      Cedar Bluff only had one hospital, and they provided the only level two trauma services within a seventy-five mile radius. They stayed busy—especially in the height of the tourist season.

      Seth swept a pointed glance around the momentarily empty trauma bay. “Your choice.”

      She narrowed her gaze, but nodded. “Give me a minute to talk to my partner, then.”

      He could wait, and he watched as she went back to talk briefly to the short guy who’d brought the patient in with her. Actually, now that the resuscitation was over he couldn’t even remember noticing the other paramedic at all, only Kylie. Perky ponytail and youthful face aside, Kylie had certainly taken the lead in the situation.

      He was glad she’d stopped by to talk with him.

      She returned a few minutes later. “Okay, I’m ready.”

      “Great.” He tried to soften her up with a smile. “My office is just down the hall.” He waved to a short hallway off to the right.

      She preceded him down the hall, and he had a hard time pulling his gaze from her swinging ponytail. He found himself thinking how to best approach her—because he was interested in getting to know young-miss-paramedic-liaison better.

      And, as he knew only too well, life was too short not to go after what you wanted.

      Kylie was far too conscious of Dr. Seth Taylor following behind her as she made her way to his office.

      Maybe he was a good-looking guy, with his broad shoulders, dark brown wavy hair and deep brown eyes, but she wasn’t interested. She’d just moved to the quiet rural town of Cedar Bluff from the crime-laden city of Chicago, and she didn’t have time for men.

      Of course if he knew she was the single mother of a six-year-old Kylie had no doubt Seth Taylor would back off in a hurry. Most men did. Which suited her just fine.

      She found his office and walked in through the open door, taking a seat as he made his way around to the other side of his desk.

      “So, Kylie.” His smile lit up his whole face. “How can I help you?”

      His smile was lethal, and she was shocked to feel the impact all the way down to her toes. She licked her lips and struggled to remember why she was here. Seth Taylor had the uncanny knack of making her feel like she was in high school again, garnering the attention of the quarterback of the football team.

      Focus, Kylie. Focus. She cleared her throat. “One of my goals is to revamp our training program, and I guess I’d like your opinion on any deficiencies you might have noticed in the crew.”

      “Deficiencies, huh?” Seth drummed his fingers on the desk. “One area we can all stand to review is how women suffering an acute MI present differently than men. Today was a prime example.”

      She nodded. “Yes, I’ve already made a note of that—considering how Jim thought I was crazy to think along those lines.”

      Truthfully, she hadn’t been too impressed with Jim’s performance today, and hoped he wasn’t an indication of how all the paramedics in Cedar Bluff worked. If so, she was in for a long haul to bring their skills up to what she considered an acceptable level.

      “What about intubation techniques? You questioned my placement of the ET tube.”

      “Kylie, don’t take it personally,” he chided gently. “Double-checking endotracheal tube placement is routine for any resuscitation, especially if the patient is experiencing persistent hypoxia. If you’re asking me if I’ve seen many tubes placed incorrectly by the paramedics, I’d have to say no, I haven’t.”

      “Then what have you seen?” she challenged. “There must be some areas for improvement you’d like to discuss.”

      “There are, actually, several areas of improvement needed.” Seth leaned forward, shooting another of his dazzling smiles. “But I’ll need some time to get my thoughts together. Maybe we can talk about this later—say, over dinner tonight?”

      What? Her mouth dropped open. Was he actually hitting on her?

      “I’m sorry, I’m not available this evening,” she said coolly. As a professional, she didn’t appreciate his assumption she’d be willing to drop everything to go out with him. What was it with some men? Ben’s father had been charming, too, but look how that had turned out. Not good. “However, I’d be happy to reschedule this meeting to another time that’s more convenient for you.”

      Seth stared at her for a long moment, and then flashed a cajoling smile. “I suppose lunch tomorrow is out of the question, too?”

      She narrowed her gaze, not finding his self-deprecating humor the least bit amusing. Seth Taylor was handsome, and obviously, from what she’d seen in the trauma room, a very capable ED physician. But why ask her out? Did he see her as some sort of easy mark? Or was he like this with all women? “Dr. Taylor, I’m not interested in sharing a meal with you. All I want to know is what areas of improvement you see for education and training in our paramedic crew.”

      “Okay.” He lifted his hand as if in surrender. “Let me think about this for a minute.”

      She was glad he dropped the flirtatious smile and sat back in his chair. He idly doodled on the slip of paper in front of him.

      “One thing that I’d personally like to see is for the paramedic crew to start using hypothermia on all resuscitated patients.”

      “Hypothermia?” Kylie sat up straighter, her interest piqued in spite of her annoyance. “In what way?”

      Seth lifted a shoulder. “There are devices that can be placed over a patient right in the field to start bringing their temperature down.”

      They’d been talking about instituting a hypothermia protocol in Chicago when she’d left. How amazing to discover that even small-town Cedar Bluff was up on the latest resuscitation techniques. “I’d love to institute some sort of protocol. Do you have one already written up?” “Not yet. But I’d be happy to work on one with you.”

      His smile wasn’t entirely innocent, yet at the same time she couldn’t let such a fantastic opportunity pass by. “I’d love to help create a protocol. Anything we can do in the field to save lives is worth the effort.”

      “I agree.” Seth raised a brow. “I’m not trying to cross your boundaries—clearly you’re already involved in a relationship—but my schedule is tight. We may need to meet over a lunch hour, since that might be the only available option.”

      Kylie stared at him suspiciously, wondering if he was really being sincere or if he was simply probing for more information. Either way, it didn’t really matter. This job was a promotion for her, and since her sole reason for taking the job and moving to a safe, rural area was to provide a better home life for Ben, she wasn’t about to do anything to mess it up.

      Which included falling for Seth Taylor’s not-so-subtle charm.

      “I do have a man in my life,” she said, playing along with his assumption. The man was her six-year-old son, but Seth didn’t need to know that. “I’ll try to be as flexible as possible, though, in order to meet your needs.”

      “Great. You’re a beautiful woman, Kylie, and I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” Seth pulled out his PDA and scrolled the buttons on the tiny screen. “Okay, how does next Monday work for you? Say about twelve-thirty?”

      Beautiful? He’d actually called her beautiful?

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