LITMIR.BIZ

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was something over his mouth and nose—something plastic and hard, and he tried to push it away.

      ‘Keep it there, Matt.’ He recognised the voice—Rob McDonald, the local police sergeant. ‘You’ve got a lungful of smoke and we’re giving you oxygen. Yes, Erin, if he’s capable of fighting off a mask, then I reckon he’ll live.’

      Matt thought that through, and it seemed to make sense. The gorgeous eyes were still looking at him. It was funny how he’d never noticed them before. Erin was grimy and smoke-stained and still looking frazzled, but suddenly he thought she looked the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Just like that butterfly at the fête, he thought dazedly. Gorgeous!

      Life was gorgeous!

      If she hadn’t come in to find them, he never would have got the boys out, he acknowledged. It had taken all his strength just to crawl those last few yards and he couldn’t have propelled the twins any further.

      ‘The twins?’ It was a muffled whisper under the mask, but Erin knew what he was saying.

      ‘They’re scared out of their wits but they’re fine. I need to go back to them. If you’re sure you’re okay…’

      ‘He’s tough,’ Rob growled. ‘The ambulance boys are just bringing the stretcher across.’

      That roused him. Hell, no. He didn’t need a stretcher. He pushed the mask away, coughed and coughed again, and finally managed to sit up. Rob stayed by his side, uneasy.

      ‘They told me to hold the mask over your face. Do you mind not getting me into trouble?’

      ‘I don’t need it.’ Matt coughed again, grabbed the mask and took two deep breaths to prove it. The improvement was immediate.

      Then he took a look around, and was astounded by what he saw.

      People were everywhere. The fire engine was parked almost beside him; there were men running, hoses uncoiling; the police car was there with its blue light flashing…

      Half of Bay Beach was here, he thought dazedly, and then he turned to the house.

      Helmut’s hose hadn’t been enough. The house was well alight and they’d be lucky to save anything. The bedroom where the twins had come from was now a charred shell, and the rest of the house was roofless and smouldering. There was little for the fire-fighters to do but to play their hoses over the ruin to stop sparks causing trouble elsewhere.

      Matt looked at the charred remains of the twins’ bedroom, and a shudder ran though his entire body. He’d been in there. The twins had been in there!

      The man beside him saw what he was seeing and guessed his thoughts. ‘You got the kids out,’ Rob said in a voice that was none too steady. His big policeman’s hand came down and grasped Matt’s shoulder. ‘I don’t know how you did it, mate, but you did. You’re a bloody hero.’

      ‘I don’t know how I did it either,’ Matt said. He gulped in two more takes of oxygen and focussed some more.

      There was something heavy and soggy in his shirt and he suddenly remembered the kids’ toy. Or whatever it was. He peered down his shirt in the combined firelight and floodlights, and was relieved to see a pair of grimy glass eyes staring up at him.

      It was just a toy, then. Great! For a minute there he’d thought maybe it was an unconscious pet, and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a dog or cat didn’t really appeal.

      Back to important stuff.

      ‘The kids…they really are okay?’

      ‘They really are okay. Thanks to you.’ Rob looked up as the ambulance officers approached and he gave them an apologetic grin. ‘He’s giving me trouble.’

      ‘He would.’ The ambulance officers were locals and they were mates of both Rob and Matt. Their smiles were wide as houses.

      In truth as they’d rounded the bend and seen the fire their stomachs had tightened in horror. Fire casualties were awful, and kids were the worst. Now, they were having trouble containing their delight that their only patient was a stroppy mate—a mate who looked like he had every intention of making it to old age.

      ‘Let’s get you loaded up and off to hospital,’ they said cheerfully. ‘Hey, we hear Nick Daniels is in there without his appendix. You can keep him company.’

      ‘I’m not going to hospital.’

      ‘Too right you are, even if we have to tie you down.’ Then they glanced up as a young woman came hurrying across the lawn toward them, her doctor’s bag at her side. ‘Doc, he’s saying he won’t come to hospital.’

      ‘Lie down, Matthew McKay,’ she said firmly.

      ‘But—’

      ‘Shut up and let me examine you or I’ll put you out for the count.’ Dr Emily Mainwaring knew her stuff, and she knew her patient. ‘Hurry up, Matt. They say you’re the one worst affected but I have five kids and Erin to examine, so let’s get this over fast.’

      He was fine. Excellent, almost.

      ‘You’ll live,’ she told him, tucking away her stethoscope and casting a brief yet horrified glance at the still-smouldering house. ‘Just don’t push your luck any further. You need antiseptic and a dressing on that burn on your head, but it’s superficial.’ Then she peered closer under his shirt and saw what he’d stuffed there. ‘What on earth is that?’

      ‘It’s a toy of some kind.’ Matt managed a grin. ‘It’s not a patient—thank Heaven.’ He put a hand down to haul it out but she stopped him.

      ‘No. If it really is a toy, leave it there and see if you can clean it up when you get home. If you leave it here it’ll get lost in this mess, and it just may be important. These kids have lost everything, and I suspect I’m not looking at long-term physical problems here, but psychological ones.’

      He thought that through and it made sense. ‘Okay.’ The toy could stay, soggy or not.

      ‘Can you dress that burn yourself? It’s not too bad.’ She was flustered, worrying about Erin and the kids and wanting to move on. ‘Good. Okay, you don’t need hospital, but I do want you supervised tonight. No going home to that farm alone. What about going to Charlotte’s? Shall I have someone ring her?’

      ‘No!’ For some reason that was the last thing he wanted. ‘I’m fine.’

      ‘You hear what I’m saying?’ she said fiercely. ‘Home with someone with you—or hospital. Choose.’

      ‘I…’

      ‘I don’t have time to waste,’ she said firmly. ‘Think about it while I check the rest. Though, thanks to you, I gather I hardly have a patient to contend with.’ She turned to the ambulance officers.

      ‘Hold him down, boys, and don’t let him go until he can give me a plan for this evening that doesn’t involve going home by himself, forgetting the antiseptic, having three stiff whiskies and passing out without anyone there to watch.’

      She meant it.

      Matt knew Emily well enough to accept that she was quite capable of trussing him to a stretcher, and he had enough wit—and he was feeling bad enough—to acknowledge that she was talking sense.

      So what were his alternatives?

      She’d suggested Charlotte’s, but the idea was distinctly unappealing. Sure, she’d put him up for the night, but she’d fuss.

      All he wanted was his own bed, he thought, and suddenly he wanted it very, very much. Shock was starting to hit home, and he had to clench his hands into fists to stop Rob seeing the sudden tremor that ran through him.

      But Rob wasn’t noticing. His mind had moved on.

      ‘What can we do with the kids?’ The police sergeant was still beside Matt, but he was speaking

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