Page 70 of Do Opposites Attract?

‘He doesn’t find it easy to let people into his life, as you’ve already discovered. He’s never had anybody who really took care of him, made him feel loved.’ She looked down at the man in the bed. ‘I tried, but the damage had already been done.’ She transferred her gaze to Brianna. ‘I hope you can find a way to get through to him. He needs somebody like you, although he probably doesn’t realise it and certainly won’t thank you for it.’

The lump in her throat was so large Brianna had trouble swallowing. She certainly couldn’t talk, so she settled for trying to smile instead.

‘Well, dear, I’ll go now. I know he’s in good hands.’

With that Catherine vanished, leaving Brianna alone once more with Mitch. She held his hand and, curling up on the chair next to his bed, she dozed.

* * *

Mitch was struggling to come out of a huge black hole. He felt the pull of light and heard the soft sound of a female voice. He tried to open his eyes, to see who it was, but as much as he struggled to wake, the blackness kept descending. There it was again, a voice he recognised, a voice that spread warmththroughout his body. Forcing his eyes open this time he could just make out the outline of a woman’s face. Long, brown hair, high cheekbones, beautiful green eyes. They were gazing into his.

‘Brianna?’ He attempted to move, to get up, but the pain shot through him and he fell back with a groan.

The woman he thought must be Brianna was smoothing his brow, pushing his body back against the pillow. ‘Don’t try and move, Mitch,’ she murmured softly. ‘You’ve taken a bit of a beating. Do you remember? You were playing the hero when a building fell on top of you. You’ve broken a few bones, so you need to lie still.’

Mitch relaxed back against the mattress. He had a vague memory of trying to amputate a man’s foot. And then blackness. But he couldn’t work out what Brianna was doing here. ‘Where am I?’ he croaked, his voice unsteady.

‘You’re back in England, in hospital. They’ve operated on your brain, so you’ll be feeling a bit groggy for a while. Now just relax.’

Soothed by her words and her presence, he closed his eyes and allowed the blackness to take over once more.

When he awoke again, it was easier. He moved his head to the side and saw Brianna, asleep on the chair next to him. Memories of earlier came flooding back. He was in hospital, she’d said. He looked down at his body. Saw the plaster casts, the drips and the monitoring equipment. He must have taken quite a hammering. He could remember what had happened more clearly now, right up until the moment the building had started to collapse in on him, but he couldn’t recall anything of how he’d managed to get from there back to England. He glanced at Brianna again and smiled to himself. She looked so peaceful when she was asleep. Peaceful and achingly beautiful. He felt his heart lurch, but he quickly looked away. Wasn’t theirrelationship over? Hadn’t he ended it? He blinked, trying to clear his head. Then why was she by his bedside? From the way she was sleeping, she must have been there for hours. What was the point of sleeping in a chair in a hospital, when she had a perfectly good bed at home?

As if aware that he was staring at her, Brianna stirred and opened her eyes. ‘Mitch, you’re awake again.’ She unfurled her body gracefully from the chair. ‘How are you feeling?’

He grimaced. ‘Like I’ve been run over by a herd of rhinos.’

Laughing softly, she ran a hand gently across his forehead. ‘You have no idea how good it is to have you back.’

He tried to move, but found he didn’t have the strength so he fell back against the pillow. ‘How the hell did I get here?’

‘You needed an urgent operation. We got a plane to bring you back.’

He noted her discomfort; the slight flush, the way she twisted her hands. He wasn’t so groggy he didn’t know exactly what that meant. ‘You paid for an air ambulance, you mean.’

She flinched. ‘Yes. What was I supposed to do? Leave you to die out there?’

He was too tired to argue. ‘I guess I should thank you then. I owe you my life.’

Tears glistened in her eyes. ‘I don’t want your damned thanks,’ she muttered. ‘I just want you to get better.’

He cast his eyes sideways and caught sight of the giraffe, staring accusingly at him from the side of his bed.Why are you being so graceless?it seemed to be saying to him. ‘What’s that thing doing here?’ he demanded.

‘Tessa said she found it by your bed at the camp. She thought it might be important to you.’

Busted. What sane man has a stuffed animal by his bed? Only one who’s hopelessly attached to the woman who sent it to him. Something he wasn’t going to tell her. So he needled herinstead. ‘Why are you sleeping here, on that chair, when you should be at home, in bed?’

‘I wanted you to have somebody waiting for you when you woke up.’ Her face dared him to mock her.

Mitch remembered the last time he’d been in hospital. It was during his stint in the army, after his medical team had been ambushed. There had been nobody waiting for him then when he’d come round. He tried to reach out his good arm to touch her, to convey his gratitude, but the strain was too much. He let it fall back onto the bed. ‘Thank you,’ he whispered, before falling back to sleep.

Chapter Thirty-Two

The more Mitch improved, the grumpier he became. He was still prone to headaches, but was now thinking clearly, which only made him increasingly frustrated at the relative slowness of the rest of his body to mend. Brianna, his one constant visitor, took the brunt of most of his temper.

‘Why the hell can’t I get up and go to the toilet?’ he snapped at her. ‘It’s a man’s basic privilege, to go to the damn toilet. Peeing in a bloody bottle is degrading.’

Brianna tried to hide her grin. Now she knew he was going to make a full recovery, the sight of this strong man temporarily weakened was surprisingly cute. Even when he was being surly and bad-tempered. ‘I’m sure they’ll let you get up soon. I’ll go and see if I can find a nurse.’

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