“Yeah. You’re right. Iamactually pretty cold.” He shivered, although part of that wasn’t even an act. “It wouldn’t hurt me to head to the hospital.”
Mason nodded at him, hiding his grin from the others as he barked orders to the emergency crew.
“Two to transport,” he said.
Damn, it felt good to have brothers looking out for his best interests.
CHAPTER 20
Petula couldn’t remember ever beingthis cold. She was freezing from the inside out.
She was covered, head to toe in thermal blankets, and the emergency technicians had placed heating pads on her chest, stomach, and groin, but was it helping?
She could barely feel them.
Her teeth had started chattering again, however, and the rescue people saidthatwas a good sign.
Julian was sitting right beside her as they headed for the hospital in the ambulance. She couldn’t begin to say how thankful she was that he was here. Without him, she would have been scared, but his presence soothed her.
He’d scooted one hand beneath the blankets and threaded his fingers through hers once the crew had finished with her and hadalsoattended to him. Like Petula, he’d been outfitted with heat packs for his core, but now they were putting a warm bottle of something into his free hand. Something they’d just removed from a small microwave that nestled—almost unseen—between their banks of equipment.
Julian took a long chug, then must have seen her staring at it.
He gave her a questioning look, and she licked her lips in response. She was really tired, but she was also very thirsty, despite the room temperature bottle of water she’d already downed.
“Can she…?” Julian asked the woman EMT, tipping the drink in Petula’s direction.
“Give me one minute.” The technician took her vital signs again for what seemed like the tenth time in the short period Petula had been lying prone, and smiled.
“She absolutely can,” the woman returned cheerily. “She’s already responding well to her slow re-warm.”
Petula truly didn’t feel like moving, but she was dry as a desert, and Julian looked so hopeful and expectant that she couldn’t deny either one of them.
She dug deep and nodded at the bottle in his hand.
The woman attending lifted Petula’s head and Julian held the drink to her lips. She took a sip, and…
Wow.
Had anything ever tasted so good?
It was some kind of tea, with honey or an ingredient equally as sweet that made her smack her lips. It tasted fantastic, and felt so damned good going down her cold throat.
“More,” she requested.
“Only one sip,” the EMT warned. “Then we’ll give you more room temperature water if you want. We can’t have you warming uptoofast.”
She had a feeling they were erring on the side of caution, but still…
Petula was aware, being a Mainer born and bred, that mitigating hypothermia symptomstoorapidly could result in cardiac arrest.
Just the fact that she could recall that bit of knowledge, told Petula that her body and mind were already coming back on line.
Obediently, she took one additional, small swig, then laid back down.
So tired.
“Is it okay if I sleep?” she asked, not sure she could stave off the inevitable even if she was told, no.
