Page 9 of Do Opposites Attract?

They seemed to have come to a sort of truce. Certainly on her part she’d started to develop a grudging respect for the man. He might be gruff, arrogant and lacking in manners, but he was extremely knowledgeable and seemed to genuinely care about the work he did.

With an effort she dragged herself out of bed and splashed cold water on her face from the jug left in her tent. With a quick flick of the hairbrush, she was ready to face the world again. It was a far cry from the hours she usually took to get ready at home. Here there wasn’t even a mirror to check her appearance, so she had to assume she looked okay. Even if she didn’t, there was no time to fix it. She didn’t need much of an imagination to picture Mitch’s face if she turned up late.

By the time she’d navigated her way to the Medic SOS tent — not as easy as she’d thought as one tent looked pretty much the same as the next — the team had already sat down. Thankfully they all seemed far too engrossed in what they were saying to notice her sneak in. Moving quietly to the vacant chair, she settled back to listen.

Much of what was said went over her head. They talked about patients she hadn’t met and medicines she’d never heard of. She was almost falling asleep on her chair when Mitch started to discuss the little boy who’d been brought in with hypothermia.

‘I’ve rung the hospital in the capital and they do have capacity to admit him,’ Dan was saying. ‘I think you were after a dialysis unit?’ he checked with Mitch. ‘Well, they do have one.’

‘What would that be for?’ Brianna asked. It was the first time she’d spoken since the meeting had begun.

‘In some severe cases, it can be possible to take the blood out, warm it up, and put it back,’ Mitch explained. ‘You can do that using a dialysis unit.’

‘Shall I sort out an air ambulance for him?’ Dan asked, looking at Mitch.

Mitch shook his head. ‘No,’ he replied shortly. ‘It’s not worth it.’

Brianna stared at him, aghast. Had he really said that? ‘What? You’re telling us this child’s life isn’t worth it?’ she exclaimed, horrified. ‘Do you mean not worth the expense, or not worth the hassle? Because if it’s the expense, I’ll flipping well pay for it myself.’

A hush came over the group. ‘Not every problem can be solved by throwing money at it,’ Mitch replied quietly.

The condescending sod. Brianna leapt to her feet. ‘Good God, I can’t believe I’m hearing this. I thought medicine was a caring profession. That you were in it to save lives. And yet here you are, casually dismissing the chance of saving the life of this young boy. You heartless bastard.’

‘Brianna, stop this. You’re getting over-emotional,’ Mitch told her roughly.

‘We’re talking about a child’s life here,’ she interrupted angrily. ‘Of course I’m emotional. You should be, too. Remind me never to get sick when you’re around. You might think I’m not worth the bother, too.’ Tiredness from the journey, coupled with the emotion of the situation seemed to strip away all her control. As the harsh words flew from her mouth, she stalked towards the exit. ‘Excuse me,’ she spoke into the now deadly silence. ‘Suddenly I have other things I need to do.’

A few moments later she was back on her bed, tears she’d been trying so hard to contain now gushing out, like water froma leaking dam. She cried for herself, because she felt tired and lonely, and she cried for the little boy whose life was slowly ebbing away.

When there were no tears left, she got back up and went to the ward. At least she could show the boy somebody cared.

Chapter Five

Mitch had watched Brianna stalk out of his meeting with an air of resignation. Why were people outside the profession unable to grasp that it was impossible to save everybody? And she’d twisted his words. He hadn’t saidthe boywasn’t worth it. Just that the exercise of calling for an air ambulance wasn’t worth it. Sadly they’d found the kid too late and Mitch knew no amount of effort was going to save him now. All moving him would do was make the poor soul less comfortable and hasten his departure.

‘I don’t think our visitor has been around death before,’ Tessa observed, speaking into the silence that had greeted Brianna’s departure. ‘Perhaps, in a few more days, she’ll come to understand that not everyone makes it.’

‘Perhaps.’ But Mitch had his doubts. He had a sense that if Brianna set her mind to it, she would never give up, never let go, whether that was on a project or a person. She was a determined woman, a quality he would usually respect. At the moment though, she seemed to have set her stubborn mind on going up against him. Perhaps because he didn’t tug his forelock every time he spoke to her.

They finished the meeting without any further histrionics. Gathering together his notes, Mitch wandered back out to the ward, his mind on Brianna. He had to admit her reaction had been a bit of a shock. He hadn’t expected to find her so concerned with the welfare of a child she didn’t know.

When he entered the ward and caught sight of her sitting at the boy’s bedside, he immediately thought his mind was playing tricks on him. He’d been thinking about her so much, now he was starting to see her. Then he heard her murmuring to the boy and watched as she settled one of her ridiculous teddy bears next to his face. The very real sight touched something deep inside him, a place that hadn’t been warmed in a very long time. Outof her comfort zone and exhausted from the travel, she hadn’t taken off to her tent as he’d thought she would, as she actually had a right to do. Instead she’d decided to offer comfort to a boy she’d never met. He liked to think he was a pretty good judge of character, but as he watched Brianna stroking the young boy’s hair, Mitch wondered if perhaps he’d misjudged her. Beneath the posh, glossy exterior there was clearly a compassionate heart. It was almost as surprising a find as the sharp brain he’d witnessed earlier.

Slowly he walked up to her. ‘Brianna.’

She looked up with a start, her dislike of him very much in evidence when her beautiful face turned from soft to haughty in the blink of an eye. ‘I know you believe he’s not worth any of your precious time,’ she told him in a voice so cold icicles seemed to hang off each word. ‘But you can’t stop me from being here.’

Frustrated, Mitch jammed a hand roughly through his hair. Then, acting on impulse, he reached out, grabbed her arm and dragged her off the chair and outside the tent. Although she protested, his grip was so tight she was unable to do anything but follow him.

‘Damn you, Brianna,’ he uttered under his breath. ‘You’re putting words into my mouth.’ He paused, fighting to control his temper. ‘I didn’t say he wasn’t worthy of our compassion, just that there was nothing else we could do to save him.’

Brianna looked down at the hand that gripped her arm. Mitch wondered what she saw. The strength? Or the fact that it was rough and calloused.

‘Let go, you’re hurting me.’

If she’d slapped him, he couldn’t have let go any quicker. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to.’ Angry red bruises marked the delicate creamy skin where his hand had been and he winced at his roughness. ‘I just wanted to make sure you followed me out,’ he tried to explain. ‘Although the boy isn’t conscious, nobodyknows whether he can hear or not. I didn’t want to subject him to this conversation.’

Brianna nodded briefly, then turned away from him and disappeared back inside the tent. Mitch was left standing outside like a fool, annoyed and frustrated. It seemed nothing he did was going to please the lady. It shouldn’t matter to him, but it did. And damned if that realisation didn’t escalate his annoyance and frustration.

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