Page 14 of Do Opposites Attract?

With trembling hands the mother reached for the rabbit, tears running softly down her face as she cuddled it to her. ‘Gracias, gracias.’

Brianna reached over to give her a hug. She had nothing else to offer.

Suddenly the tent door swished open and Mitch walked in. Dressed in green overalls, sweat beaded across his forehead and locks of sandy hair plastered to his face. He looked shattered. ‘He’s stable.’ He spoke the words softly in Spanish to the parents, but Brianna got the gist of what he was saying from the look of relief on his face, and delight on theirs.

The couple hugged each other tightly and then went to shake Mitch’s hand. ‘Doctor, you save his life, you are miracle worker,’ the father told him.

Mitch shook his head. ‘I’m afraid not. He still has a long way to go, but you can see him now.’

He took them off to see his young patient and Brianna collapsed back on one of the chairs. She felt exhausted too, though all she’d managed to do was get in the way. Leaning forward, she put her head in her hands and closed her eyes.

* * *

As Mitch left the parents with their son, he noticed the mother tuck a toy rabbit into the boy’s arms. It was the same rabbit he’d seen in Brianna’s hands as they’d left what had remained of the family’s home. For some inexplicable reason, it made him smile. Damned if she didn’t have a real thing about stuffed animals. He went in search of her and found her sitting where he’d left her, though now she was hunched over, head inher hands. Glorious chestnut hair straggled out of the confines of its band and escaped in ribbons over her face.

‘Tough afternoon.’

Brianna looked up with a start. Her face was so pale. Far too pale. ‘For you and his family, definitely,’ she replied softly.

Mitch looked at her through narrowed eyes. ‘For you too, I think.’

‘A bit.’ Squeezing her fingers together, she sat back in the chair, her face suddenly alive with a mixture of anger and disgust. ‘You were right, damn it. I shouldn’t have gone. You nearly had two casualties on your hands.’

Mitch went to sit next to her. ‘Don’t be so hard on yourself,’ he told her quietly. ‘Seeing a person so badly injured is incredibly traumatic. Even more so when that person is a child. It would knock anyone sideways.’

‘Which was why you didn’t want me to go.’

‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘But you’re not used to doing as you’re told, are you?’

Her eyes flickered with a hint of amusement. ‘No, I guess not.’

He held her gaze. It was the first time he’d really looked into her eyes, at least when they weren’t spitting anger at him. They were beautiful. Clear and as green as a forest on a sunny day. He felt drawn to them and to her. Alarmed at the thought, he abruptly rose to his feet. ‘Go and get some rest,’ he told her roughly. ‘And this time, do as I damn well say.’

Brianna smiled, producing pretty grooves on either side of her mouth. Grooves he wanted to run his tongue over. She was one hot lady, but that was a big part of the problem. He was anything but a gentleman. ‘Yes, sir,’ she replied mockingly.

‘That’s more like it.’ He looked at her a moment too long and felt a kick of desire. Sharply he turned and retreated to the safety of his tent.

Chapter Seven

Mitch was catching up on his paperwork when Brianna strolled, unannounced, into his tent. Although he’d done the same to her the previous day, her cockiness rankled with him. This was his turf and he didn’t take kindly to people walking in and out as if they owned the place. Even people who looked as gorgeous as she did.

‘Dan asked me to invite you to come out with us tonight.’ She stood confidently in the middle of his tent, hands on hips, a disarming smile on her face.

He dragged his eyes away from her and back onto his notes. ‘Thank Dan for the invitation, but no, not tonight.’ A night out with Brianna was the last thing he needed. She irritated the hell out of him, but maddeningly at the same time he wanted her. It was an urge he had no intention of following up on.

‘God, are you always this boring?’ she asked in exasperation, green eyes mocking him.

He darted another glance at her. ‘Are you always this rude?’ he countered evenly.

She shrugged nonchalantly and his eyes were drawn to her slender shoulders and the glossy hair cascading over them. He imagined running his hands through that hair. Placing his hands on those shoulders and pulling her tightly against him. Shit. What in God’s name was he thinking? Clearly he’d been without a woman for too long.

‘You know the saying,’ she continued, thankfully oblivious to his train of thought. ‘All work and no play.’

Mitch turned away again and sighed. She was right of course. Hadn’t he told himself a few days ago he was getting too dull? When was the last time he’d been out for a drink with his colleagues? After the day he’d had, a night out would do himthe world of good. As long as he kept away from Brianna. ‘Okay, okay, point taken. Give me five minutes and I’ll be there.’

With a nod of her head and a confident sway of her hips, she was gone. Mitch sat back in his chair and let his mind play out their conversation. Had he just been smoothly railroaded into going out tonight? Reluctantly he laughed, admiring her style. In fact, the more time he spent with her, the more he found to admire. She still had the arrogance of the fabulously wealthy, but even he had to acknowledge part of his resentment towards that came from knowing his own roots were very different. Wealth was only part of the picture. He’d never had the luxury of a proud heritage, something the Worthington name gave her. Even he, a fashion philistine, had heard of it. But he respected that she’d been prepared to rough it out here for a week and take an interest in the charity. On a baser level, he also admired the way her smooth rounded buttocks pulled on her canvas trousers. And the way her breasts jiggled invitingly under her T-shirt.

Desire washed through him once again and he growled in frustration. It was time to get his libido in check. He valued his job far too much to want to risk a quick tumble in the sheets with the patron’s daughter. No matter how sexy she might look.

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