Love On Call

Erotic Interludes: Change of Pace

Radical Encounters

Edited by Radclyffe:

Best Lesbian Romance 2009-2014

Stacia Seaman and Radclyffe, eds.

Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments

Erotic Interludes 3: Lessons in Love

Erotic Interludes 4: Extreme Passions

Erotic Interludes 5: Road Games

Romantic Interludes 1: Discovery

Romantic Interludes 2: Secrets

Breathless: Tales of Celebration

Women of the Dark Streets

Amore and More: Love Everafter

Myth & Magic: Queer Fairy Tales

By L.L. Raand

Midnight Hunters

The Midnight Hunt

Blood Hunt

Night Hunt

The Lone Hunt

The Magic Hunt

Shadow Hunt

Acknowledgments

A return to the Rivers series is like coming home to friends, family, and warm fires (or sunny afternoons, as the season dictates). The challenge of the familiar, in life as in fiction, is to embrace change as we preserve what keeps us strong. In the romance documentary Love Between the Covers, Jayne Krantz makes the point that readers find in romances the core values they aspire to emulate or experience in life, not “just” love and passion, but valor, loyalty, bravery, and heroism. What I love about writing and reading romances, whether stand-alones or a series romance, is the story of two people overcoming obstacles in their journey toward commitment within the context of a larger duty—to family, community, and the world we live in. Our romances tell powerful stories of individuals who risk all to live honest and meaningful lives. The Rivers community is one born of history, heritage, and inclusiveness. I hope you enjoy your time there.

Many thanks go to: senior editor Sandy Lowe for a partnership that keeps BSB running smoothly while I write, editor Ruth Sternglantz for never missing a beat, editor Stacia Seaman for her irreplaceable expertise, Sheri Halal for a perfect cover, and my first readers Paula, Eva, and Connie for encouragement and aid.

And as always, thanks to Lee for her indomitable spirit of adventure. Amo te.

Radclyffe, 2016

To Lee, for always answering

Chapter One

Glenn opened her eyes in the dark, not awakening so much as emerging from a void. She didn’t have to look at the clock to know it was two thirty. No matter what time she fell asleep, she always opened her eyes at two thirty. She didn’t dream, had taught herself not to. Sleep was a blank, an enforced respite from thought and memory. An absence of awareness wasn’t exactly restful, but her body required the recovery time in order for her to perform at peak efficiency, so she maintained a regular sleep schedule, even if the actual hours she slept were erratic. She turned on her side. Two thirty-seven.

Outside the open window, the night was silent. If she listened very hard she might hear some distant sound—a freight train chugging along the river, a coyote or two calling for the pack, a branch falling from the big pines that bordered the parking lot behind the empty store beneath her apartment. Not tonight, though. The night was as empty as her dreamless sleep had been.

Her cell phone emitted a series of staccato beeps, the closest approximation she’d been able to get to her field radio, the familiarity an odd comfort. She reached for it with a quick easing of the heaviness in her chest.

“Archer.”

“Hey, Glenn.” Cindy Ames’s soft voice was instantly recognizable. Cindy was the head night nurse in the ER, and she and Glenn had spent many hours working together over the last three years. “I’m really sorry to wake you up.”

“No problem. I was awake.”

Cindy laughed briefly. “If you were, I hope you’re doing something fun. But I’m in a jam and I know you’re not on call for surgery anymore, but—”

“That doesn’t matter.” Phone to her ear, Glenn slid naked from beneath the sheet and pulled scrub pants from the neat pile she’d left on the straight-backed wooden chair next to her bed. She’d planned to wear them her first day on the job as director of the physician assistant program in the morning. “What’s going on?”

“Flann’s in the OR with Pete doing a blocked A-V shunt, and I can’t reach Dr. Williams. He’s backup for surgery tonight. I’ve got a lady here whose foot looks really bad. I’d wait for Flann, but—”

“I’ll come over and take a look. Be there in ten minutes. Did you get X-rays?”

“Yeah, I did, and something is weird.”

“Okay, you know what to do until I get there.”

“You’re a savior,” Cindy said.

“Yeah,” Glenn said flatly as Cindy rang off.

A savior.