Page 25 of Do Opposites Attract?

‘No!’ Tessa rushed up and, none too gently, pushed Brianna out of the way.

‘He needs to go to the toilet,’ Brianna explained with more patience than she was feeling. ‘I was just helping him.’

Tessa gave a stern shake of her head and eased the man back into bed. ‘He mustn’t try and walk.’ Reaching down, she handed the patient a urine bottle from under the bed, speaking to him in fluent Spanish.

When the patient had understood, Tessa took Brianna’s arm in a firm grip and led her away. ‘Didn’t you see the notice on his bed?’ the nurse fumed at her, gesturing to the clipboard. ‘For God’s sake, stop interfering in things you’ve no training in.’

‘What’s going on here?’

Brianna glanced up to see Mitch staring down at them. Just what she needed. It wasn’t enough that she’d been humiliated by the nurse, now she faced a tongue lashing from him, too.

‘I caught Brianna helping a patient out of bed who shouldn’t be walking. It’s time you reminded her she’s only here to observe.’

Several of the team and quite a few patients were now watching with undisguised interest. Beyond embarrassment, Brianna avoided Mitch and glared straight back at the nurse. ‘Thank you, Tessa. I think even someone of my limited capabilities has received that message now.’

She turned and walked out of the ward with as much dignity as she could muster. When she was sure she was out of sight, she ran the rest of the way to her tent and collapsed, crying, onto the bed. Damn the woman for making her feel totally inadequate.

* * *

Mitch stood at the entrance of Brianna’s tent, listening to the muffled sobs. ‘Can I come in?’ he asked through the canvas wall.

‘Help yourself,’ came the voice from the other side, followed by a loud sniff. ‘But I’m warning you, there’s no way you can make me feel any more useless than I do already. So if you’ve come to yell at me too, you’re wasting your time.’

Cautiously he walked into her tent. He took one look at the slender figure sitting on the bed and his heart went out to her. It had been one hell of a long day, for all of them. Of course he and the team were used to it. Brianna wasn’t. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her glorious eyes looked utterly miserable. ‘I’m not here to shout,’ he replied gently. ‘I’m here to check you’re okay.’

‘Thank you, I’m fine.’

She looked anything but. With a sigh he sat down next to her on the bed. ‘Tessa didn’t mean to embarrass you like that. She was just concerned for the patient.’

Brianna glared at him. ‘Yes, she was concerned for the patient. But she sure as heck enjoyed humiliating me, too.’

Mitch shook his head. ‘No, Tessa’s not like that.’

‘Are you really so clueless? Tessa fancies you.’

An uncomfortable flush crept up his neck.

‘Yes she does,’ Brianna insisted. ‘Consequently she doesn’t like me. She sees me as a threat.’

Embarrassed, Mitch leapt up off the bed. ‘That’s ridiculous. Tessa doesn’t think of me in that way and I certainly don’t think of her that way.’

‘What about me, Mitch?’ she asked softly. ‘Do you think of me that way?’

Hell’s teeth. This was no longer embarrassing, it was excruciating. He thrust his hands into his pockets. ‘You know I do.’

Instantly the atmosphere in the tent changed. Tension, dark and heavy, mixed with the spark and crackle of sexual chemistry.

‘Then what are you waiting for?’ she whispered.

Mitch tried to take his eyes away from hers, he really did. Somehow they wouldn’t budge. He couldn’t seem to force them to look at the floor, at her chin. God, anywhere but at those dazzling green emeralds that were telling him, quite clearly, what she wanted. ‘We’ve been here before,’ he told her thickly.

‘I believe we’ve solved two of your issues. Nobody can see us here and my mother has nothing to do with you and me.’ Slowly she stood and walked towards him. ‘Of course we are still in the middle of a disaster-stricken area . . .’ she left the sentence hanging.

Mitch swallowed. Then swallowed again. This stunning beauty was practically offering herself to him on a plate. What the blazes was he meant to do now?

Chapter Twelve

Brianna’s eyes were still on his, her body close enough he could inhale her wild flower scent. Her lips so damn close, Mitch could almost taste her. Call him selfish, but right now he wasn’t thinking about the patients lying in the ward. He wasn’t thinking about the bleep in his pocket either, destined to go off at any time. All he could think about was the woman who stood in front of him. He only had to stretch out his hand and he could touch her. She was his for the taking.

---