‘Could you check with X-ray to see if they’re ready for us?’ At least his mouth was working. ‘I think this will set with stabilising, without a trip to theatre, so as soon as we have the pictures then we’ll head to the plaster room.’

He caught the glance she slanted at him and the tiny smile on her lips.

Had that sounded like a come-on? His voice had dropped. Hurriedly he added, ‘To hand this guy over to the physios for some plaster.’

She flashed him a grin and turned for the phone. He watched her go and told himself it had just been a spur-of-the-moment connection. He’d already chosen to close that door. This had no future and the attraction was too strong to save them from hurt.

When she returned, he leaned towards her and said quietly in her ear, ‘I know already that this place works like a small town. Probably better not to mention we’ve already met to avoid unnecessary gossip.’

She raised her brows at him, then inclined her head. ‘Who’s our next patient?’ she asked slowly.

He’d just asked her to lie to everyone here and she’d only looked at him and moved on. He needed to do the same. He searched the room. ‘That guy just in on the spine board.’

That was the last time they had a chance to talk about anything other than work. They were too busy dealing with a neck-injury patient who needed a collar and a CAT scan before transfer, not to mention treatment for a slew of nasty glass cuts from his rapid exit through the broken back window of the bus.

‘Dr Logan?’ Ava called out to him from where she stood by the man brought in after falling from a tree. Zac had just handed the man over to Ava to admit for observation overnight for any further developing injuries. They could do further tests on him when the others had been triaged. ‘I think there’s a difference in air entry now. On the left side,’ she said.

Zac shifted back beside her and listened with his stethoscope. He met her eyes. ‘Great pick-up. There’s a definite change in breath sounds.’ He could hear the difference himself and noted the uneven chest rise as the lung began to collapse. ‘X-ray ASAP for pneumothorax.’ Zac looked down at the man and touched his shoulder. ‘Sorry, mate. We’ve more to do yet. Feeling breathless?’

The pale, quiet guy gasped a little and nodded, and Zac walked alongside his bed, heading for a phone, as the orderly whisked the patient towards X-ray.

‘I’ll set up the underwater sealed drain down there.’ Ava’s voice carried from the other end of the stretcher where she helped the orderly push the patient swiftly away. Zac nodded and picked up the phone to warn X-ray to clear for an urgent patient before he followed.