PROLOGUE

      “GET OUT OF my OR!”

      “Not on your life.” Luke stood his ground. He wasn’t about to be pushed out of the OR by the arrogant upstart trauma surgeon at the hospital. “I got him off the mountain and I’m not going to let him die on my watch. So if you want me out of your OR you’re going to have to physically remove me.”

      Those blue-green eyes behind the surgical mask glittered with barely concealed rage and Luke smiled behind his own mask, knowing he’d pushed the surgeon’s buttons. She was some hotshot surgeon from out east. One who had been teaching a workshop in Missoula and got called in when Shane was brought in, because Missoula was slammed.

      There had been several landslides after a small earthquake rocked the area. All hospitals in a hundred-mile radius were overflowing with the injured. If Luke had the supplies he could’ve set up a mobile OR in Crater Lake. He’d worked in worse conditions in Afghanistan.

      Only, he hadn’t practiced surgery since his honorable discharge and he certainly wasn’t going to start on Shane Draven. He did surgery when needed, but he preferred practicing in the wilderness. So in this situation he’d rather this trauma surgeon work on Shane.

      Still, she needed to know he was just as capable as her. He would have done the surgery another way. That was why he was questioning her.

      She was cocky and full of herself. She definitely needed to be taken down a peg or two and he was just the guy to do it.

      He might not practice as a traditional doctor, but he was just as much a surgeon as this woman. He had spent time on the front line, patching up soldiers in the midst of fire. How many lives had he saved? He wasn’t sure, because he didn’t keep score. All that mattered was saving lives. That was why he’d joined the army, it was what he’d wanted for so long, but he’d given it up for another.

       Don’t think about that now.

      This surgeon had sized him up the moment he’d rushed in with Shane Draven’s stretcher. She thought he was nothing but a first responder or a paramedic. Obviously a surgeon who didn’t know any better. Paramedics were on the front line.

      Usually he wouldn’t question another surgeon in the OR, unless the patient was at serious risk, but the moment he walked into the OR with Shane she’d been treating him like a second-class citizen. Which was why he decided two could play at that game. So he questioned her every move.

      She wanted a fight? Oh, he’d give her a fight.

      “I will physically remove you,” she snapped.

      “I’d prefer you focus on my patient, Doctor, rather than argue over my presence here.”

      Her angry gaze met his. “You’re questioning my skill, Mr… .”

      Luke grinned smugly. “It’s Dr. Ralston.”

      Her eyes widened in obvious surprise. “Doctor? I thought you were a paramedic.”

      “Looks can be deceiving, I guess, but I am a doctor. Though I’m not insulted you thought I was a paramedic, but I suppose that’s the reason why you feel I should be kicked out of your OR.”

      She cursed under her breath. “Doctor or paramedic, it doesn’t matter. I won’t have you undermining my authority in my OR.”

      “This isn’t your OR. You’re not from around here.”

      “When I’m operating it’s my OR, whether or not I’m from here.”

      Luke had to admire her spunk. And she was right. Perhaps he’d been undermining her a touch, but this was a man he’d pulled off the mountain and Dr. Eli Draven was this patient’s father. He had made it clear that he was going to hold Luke responsible if Shane died, because Luke had allowed Dr. Petersen to place the chest tube.

      Luke didn’t know what Dr. Draven had against Dr. Petersen and he didn’t really care. He’d pulled Shane down off the mountain. He was responsible for Shane’s life. Dr. Draven had been throwing his weight around in the Missoula hospital, because the chief of surgery was one of his former students.

      Besides, Shane was also the nephew of Silas Draven, who was sending Luke the most work up on the mountain, and Silas Draven was someone he didn’t want to mess with. Luke appreciated all the work, but still he felt responsible for taking care of Shane. Luke, his brother, Carson, and Dr. Petersen were all instrumental in getting Shane Draven to Missoula alive.

      Luke hadn’t left Shane’s side since they were airlifted off the mountain and he wasn’t going to leave him now.

       No man gets left behind. Every life gets saved.

      Luke’s commanding officer’s words rang true to the credo he lived by and it wasn’t going to change now. He’d served two tours of duty as an army medic. Even when he couldn’t live by that credo, when life couldn’t be saved, it still drove him.

       Don’t think about losing patients now. Not with Shane on the table.

      He shook those thoughts away. There was no place for them here.

      “I got this man down off the mountain. He’s my patient whether this is your OR or not.”

      “If you stay, Doctor, keep your opinions to yourself, then.” She looked away and continued to work on Shane. A true hardened trauma surgeon, as he’d been once.

       Damn, she’s a spitfire.

      He admired that about her and if circumstances had been different, meaning if he had any interest in pursuing a relationship again, he’d go after a strong-willed spitfire woman like her, but she was off-limits.

      All women were.

      He wanted to say more, but he knew when it was best to keep his mouth shut. As long as Shane’s life was saved, and then he could get Eli Draven off his back, but he still watched the surgeon like a hawk.

      “Yes, Doctor.” And he gave her a little salute.

      The surgeon mumbled a few choice words under her breath, but continued working on Shane.

      Luke tried not to move toward the side of the table, where the lead surgeon stood, because if he did that then she would have grounds to throw him out of her OR.

      He might be a bit of a control freak when it came to his patients, but there was no way he’d push it any further. He wasn’t leaving this OR. He wasn’t going to leave Shane Draven behind.

      He didn’t even know her name and he didn’t care; she seemed to be competent. That was all that mattered.

      When the surgery was over and they were wheeling Shane to the ICU, Luke gave up his perch in the OR. He planned to be on that ICU floor and personally monitoring Shane until he came out of the woods, as it were.

       Dr. Ralston is a fine surgeon and a heck of an officer.

      Only that wasn’t entirely true. Not anymore. He wasn’t an officer anymore. He’d given it all