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The corporal’s voice sliced through Mattie’s thoughts, jolting her back into action. Hastily, she reached out and tried to lever herself up.
Only when she braced her hand this time, it was against a hard, muscled thigh—something decidedly Kane-like.
Shocked, she snatched her hand back as though burned, fire racing to her cheeks. It was one thing knowing he was as affected as she was, but it was something else feeling the indisputable proof of it so hot, and full of promise, against the palm of her hand.
Knowing she couldn’t do a single thing about it.
‘I’m sorry... I...’
‘It’s fine,’ he cut her off tersely, jerking his head towards their driver in silent caution, but it was the look of intensity in his expression that reached into her chest and tugged. ‘I suggest we stop and get out. Maybe have a look for ourselves rather than suffering this.’
Mattie fought to wrest her tongue from the roof of her parched mouth.
‘I agree. At least it will afford us an oppo
rtunity to look for higher ground. It wouldn’t take more than a few inches to get us out of this marsh.’
And give Kane and her a chance to get out of earshot of the young corporal, who would have to stay with the vehicle. Although what she was supposed to say after...that was unclear.
‘Shall I stop, ma’am?’
‘Yes, Corporal. Stop here.’
He obeyed, apparently only too eager to end the torture for himself, and Mattie took the chance to jump down from the back, giving Kane a moment longer to sort himself out.
Grabbing a day sack, she started to head off across the ground, knowing he would catch up with her when he was ready.
‘The buildings should be over there...’ She indicated a few moments later as he stepped alongside her. ‘Just over that small rise.’
Her cheeks still felt like they were on fire, but there was no need to prolong the moment. In truth, the best thing they could do would be to get this mission done and over with. It was increasingly clear to her that the longer she and Kane spent together, the stronger their attraction was growing.
And the more she didn’t want it to stop.
Forcing herself back into the moment, she turned to speak to Kane just as he was peering into the distance.
‘It doesn’t look promising.’
‘Ground conditions are less than ideal,’ she noted.
‘For you medics perhaps,’ he noted evenly. ‘This is why the infantry come to places like this. To train over all kinds of terrain.’
‘Yeah, yeah, you’re all as hard as nails, I know.’ And before she could stop herself, she was teasing him again.
Crossing that line. Again.
Biting her tongue, she concentrated on walking over the uneven terrain, reaching the top of the rise. Another step and she’d see over the low brow.
‘Oh.’
Damn.
‘That’s disappointing.’ Kane blew out heavily as they both stopped. ‘You could lose whole tanks in those depressions. The helicopters will never be able to land.’
He was right. The ground had folds in it that would never have been picked up on the map. Worse than that, though, was the fact that piles of stones lay where the collection of buildings was supposed to have been.
‘They’re more than just ruins.’ Mattie exhaled. ‘They’ve practically crumbled to the ground. There’s no shelter there for any medical triage area. I don’t mind rewriting scenarios on the fly, but there really ought to be something they can use as makeshift shelter.’
‘Yeah, this location is a dud. Shall we try the next? The next one we identified is only a couple of clicks that way on the other side of that wood.’ He gestured to a treeline further into the distance. ‘We could walk it, or get back to the main track and see how far it takes us around by vehicle.’
