Her Hometown Hero(9)

Stopping at the punch bowl, he grabbed a cup of Martin's special  brew-he'd seen that she was gulping hers down mighty fast. Pasting on  his most charming smile, he approached her chair with his back to the  crowd, placing the two of them in a semiprivate bubble.

"How are you feeling, Sage?"

Her head whipped up and her eyes went left to right as if searching for  an escape route. Not the reaction he'd been hoping for, but he'd soon  have her changing her tune.

"Um . . . fine," she replied, refusing to meet his eyes. "I need to find  my grandma." She stood, which put her only inches away from him. He  could have backed up a bit to give her room, but he chose not to.

"I'm glad to hear you aren't suffering after the wreck," he said, just  in case she'd somehow forgotten he'd been the one to save her. He was a  hero-she should give him a break for not immediately remembering her.  After all, he'd seen a lot of faces over the years. He stretched a hand  out and ran it along her cheek, where only the barest trace of a bruise  remained. She jerked away from him as if he'd just hit her.

"I need to go."

"Let's sit and chat. Your grandmother is in good hands. I just saw her heading to the dance floor with Dr. Thompson."

"I don't want to sit and chat." She spoke between gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry I didn't recognize you after the wreck, Sage. It's been a  long time," he said as his eyes caressed her body. "And you've certainly  changed." There. That should clear everything right up. After all, he'd  apologized. That was gold in his book, because he didn't say he was  sorry very often.

She stared at him incredulously, further surprising him. Look, he was  letting her know that he liked what he was looking at. He had no doubt  that any other woman he gave his patented look to would be fluttering  her eyelashes about now.

Not Sage.

"Seriously, Spence? Does that look really work on women? You just bat  your pretty green eyes and they fall right in line with whatever you  want?" The words came out like honey, but he was searching for the angry  bees that were about to sting him.

"What has got you so pissed off? Just because I didn't recognize you?  Sorry about that, but it's been a while. I'm just trying to . . .  reconnect." He was beginning to feel irritation to match hers-her  behavior was incredibly rude. This was his home-well, his dad's  house-and she was a guest. She should be a little more polite.

"You are unbelievable. You walk over here, expecting what exactly I  don't know, and then get offended that I'm not charmed by you. I haven't  fallen for your charm since I was a pathetic kid, so you're wasting  your time. Why don't you go dance with Cindy? It looks to me like her  claws have come out and she's ready to sink them into some unsuspecting  man-or in your case, a suspecting one. The two of you seem to be  searching for the same thing tonight."

She tried to push past him, but his free hand shot out and he grabbed her arm.

"How about a dance?"

"Do you never give up? Is this because your ego is bruised? Sorry, but I  don't want to hang out. Find some simpering female who wants your  company."

"Did I personally offend you, or are you just one of those man-hating women?"

She stared at him with an open jaw for a moment and then closed her eyes  for the briefest second before opening them again and locking their  gazes. "I once had a crush on you. It's long past. I don't associate  with men who think dating and bedding a woman are the same thing. I also  don't date men who engage in adding notches to their bedpost as a  competitive sport. So tell me, Spence. Where do you expect this  flirtation to go?"

"Whoa, slow down," he said with a laugh. "I'm just trying to get to know  you." He was charming, dammit. Why wasn't she taking the bait?

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought maybe you were just hoping to get me into your bed," she said with a knowing look.

"Well, if we hit it off . . ." He quickly found out that wasn't a wise thing to say.

"We won't. Trust me," she said, her expression pure ice, before she  pushed him out of her way and sauntered off, mesmerizing him with the  sway of her hips. Little Sage had her own claws, claws much deadlier  than those wielded by the woman she'd spoken about so dismissively.  Sure, Ms. Banks was hot, but she obviously had mental issues. Maybe he  should just let this one go.                       
       
           



       

"Ouch! That looked painful," Austin said with laughter when he and Hawk came up.

"Standing nearby the whole time?"

"I'm just bummed I couldn't take video," Austin said with a shake of his head.

"I can't guarantee that I didn't," Hawk said.

"You both suck. I think my pride may be bruised," Spence said, though  they all knew he was far from a puppy who needed to lick his wounds.

"I guess you owe me fifty bucks," Austin said.

"And me," Hawk added.

"How about triple or nothing? This might take a little time, though."

"Game on!" Austin and Hawk exclaimed.

"Oh yeah. Game on." Spence wore a confident smile. This could be fun.





FIVE MONTHS LATER

"Code silver to ER room six, code silver to ER room six."

Dammit, Spence thought. It was the first time all afternoon he'd had a  chance to sit down with a cup of coffee and a bunch of charts. He was  six patients behind and needed to catch up. To make matters worse, he'd  just spilled his coffee. "Oh well . . . there's more where that came  from." Rising quickly from his chair, he began moving down the familiar  halls of the hospital he loved so much.

Walking to the code, he hoped this wasn't going to be a waste of his  time-codes of this type often turned out to be nothing. Not much  surprised him anymore. He'd seen it all . . . or so he thought. Turning  the corner, he found a crowd was growing outside one of the ER rooms.  When he pushed past the people, he discovered why.

Maureen-"Mo" as she was known in the emergency department-was a tough  veteran nurse. She had a reputation for eating doctors and nurses alive,  especially if they weren't doing the right thing for her patient. She  was either loved and respected or rightfully feared. Spence had heard  rumors that more than one new doctor ended in near tears telling them  how Mo had kicked them out of the room for being "chronically stupid."  Spence had liked her immediately from the very first shift he'd worked  at Sterling Grace Medical.

This, however, was not a situation Spence was used to seeing. A  "frequent flyer" psychiatric patient had Mo in a headlock while still in  his hospital bed, and he was holding a knife to her rib cage with his  other hand.

Looking more pissed off than scared, Mo kept him talking as calmly as she could, her voice lower than Spence had ever heard it.

"You don't want to do this, Mr. Ashton. I'm trying to help you."

"No, you're not. You're a part of them. The government sent you-I know  it!" the man screamed, his shaky hand bringing the knife's blade up to  the crucial vein in Mo's throat.

As Spence took a step closer to assess the situation, to figure out how  to save Mo, he noticed all eyes were on Sage Banks. She slowly walked up  to the patient, talking low and saying soothing things.

"Mr. Ashton, you need to be careful. Mo's husband, Vec, is a paralytic and she supports him."

Mo was eyeing Sage with a questioning look on her face as were the rest  of the staffers, including Spence. When a lightbulb of understanding lit  in the nurse's eyes, Spence tried to clue in to what was happening.

All of them knew Mo was a widow. As he watched the scene unfold before  him, he noticed Sage holding a small vial and syringe close to her leg.  He could just make out the word vecuronium on the vial, and Spence knew  instantly that Sage intended to paralyze the patient.

Sage was smart and could clearly think under pressure-this was the  perfect solution to a potentially deadly situation. The paralytic drug  would render the patient helpless but wouldn't cause any long-term  damage.

Sage inched closer to the patient, talking softly, without losing eye  contact, then picked up his IV tubing and injected the medication  without his noticing. Within seconds the patient's arms went limp, and  Mo was freed from his grip.

Spence ran forward, grabbing the nurse and pulling her from the room while the rest of the trauma team took care of Mr. Ashton.

"Are you okay, Mo? Wow that was a first," Spence said with a smile of disbelief on his lips.

"Are you kidding me? This was the second time that's happened to me  today," Mo said, trying to hide the fact that she'd been shaken up. She  wasn't about to show any weakness, especially in front of a mere man.

Her sarcastic remark left Spence with a grin on his face, grateful that  this had ended so smoothly. "I have no doubt you were in control the  entire time," he told her.