Jane's Gift (Lone Pine Lake 1)

The familiar antiseptic hospital scent made her stomach turn. Jane pressed her lips together, tried to hold her breath, but it was no use. Her stomach roiled, her vision hazy.

Oh, God, she thought she might faint. Blindly, she reached out, grabbed at Mac who grabbed her back, supporting her with his arm around her waist.

“Are you okay?” He sounded panicked, and she remembered her brother had never been good with upset women. Jane shook her head and leaned into him, grasping at the front of his shirt.

“I think—I think I’m going to faint.” Her words came out slurred and the rapid pounding of her heart beat an accelerated rhythm in her ears, making her head ring.

“Oh, crap. Are you serious?”

She leaned against him even more, rested her forehead on his shoulder, and breathed deeply once, twice, three times. Her head leveled out, as did her stomach, and when she opened her eyes, she could see the cream and gray speckled linoleum floor below. Cool and shiny with not a scuff in sight.

“Do you want me to get a nurse?”

“No, I feel better. I’m okay.” Slowly she lifted her head, thankful it had quit spinning. She stared at her poor, flustered brother, expelling a soft breath. “I think I had a minor panic attack.”

“It’s the hospital.” His green eyes, so similar to hers, went soft with sympathy and Jane stood straighter, told herself to knock it off.

“Probably. Let’s find Christian.”

With every step that brought them closer to Chris’s room, Jane told herself everything would be all right. She could get through this. She was tough. Accidents were rare in Chris’s profession; he’d just used up that one off-chance. He’d be fine now.

But niggling doubt stayed with her. It was a nagging little voice that whispered in her ear over and over. She’d worried before about Chris’s job as a firefighter, found it ironic she was interested in a man who fought fires for a living when she herself was deathly afraid of fire. She’d been burned, damaged by fire, scarred for life.

Fire was scary. Dangerous. Deadly. And Chris dealt with it every time he went to work. Could she handle this, being a firefighter’s girlfriend? Being a firefighter’s wife? Maybe she was jumping ahead of the game, but she had to look to her future.

And if her future consisted of this—visiting hospitals and constantly fearing for her man’s safety—well, she didn’t think she could take it. She’d already suffered once, and suffered mightily. She didn’t think she deserved to go through something like that again, no matter how much she cared about this man.

They entered his room, found him lying in bed, his eyes closed. He was hooked up to an IV, his head was wrapped tightly with a snowy white bandage, and a smudge of soot was slashed across his cheek.

He looked wonderful, terrible, and so beautifully alive.

Jane stared at him, the shock of mussed dark hair standing straight up above the bandage and the gash at his eyebrow. His left wrist was wrapped.

She and Mac both turned when they heard someone enter the room. It was Eric. “Glad you guys got here.”

“How is he?” Mac asked before Jane could. Her throat was too thick with emotion to speak anyway.

“He’s good, better than they thought. They’ve got the IV in him just in case of dehydration. He showed signs. He broke his wrist in the fall, cracked a rib or two, and he’s got a couple of gashes on his head, one of them they had to staple. He’s sedated right now. Pain meds knocked him out.”

“How long does he have to stay?” Jane croaked, then cleared her throat, feeling foolish. But she couldn’t stop the rush of emotions that flooded her at being here, at the thought of almost losing Chris.

“They’re keeping him overnight for observation because of the hit to the head, but they’ll release him tomorrow morning.” Eric nodded toward Jane. “He really wanted to see you. Maybe you should try talking to him.”

Jane’s mouth went dry. What would she say? Thank God you’re alive. I don’t think I can go through this again. I love you but I can’t stand the thought of losing you like this, so I’d rather walk away now.

How could she say any of that? How could she mean any of it?

But the thoughts wouldn’t stop tumbling through her mind, no matter how much she wished them away.

“We’ll leave you two alone,” Mac mumbled, squeezing her hand before he walked out with Eric.

Jane took a couple of steps closer to the bed and reached out to brush at his hair. She whispered his name, her voice cracking, and sh

e said it louder, firmer, wanting to wake him up. Then again, she didn’t want to wake him up. Then she’d have to face him. Face her fears.

His eyes slowly cracked open, bloodshot and oh, so weary. Unfocused for a moment, he squinted, his mouth curving into the smallest of smiles when he caught sight of her.

“Jane.” His voice was raw, scratchy, and he coughed. “You’re here.”