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They both knew, as CO, she couldn’t do that. It was an odd quirk of the British army that a commissioned officer wasn’t permitted to drive themselves around in military vehicles.
Any accident—even the one they’d just had involving the young corporal—would result in being called in front of the driver’s commanding officer for an investigation pending disciplinary action. For the corporal, the CO would be his own officer-in-command, a major. For an NCO as senior as Kane, his CO would be a lieutenant-colonel.
But she, as a commissioned officer, would be called in front of the brigade commander—a general—and that could be the difference between her getting a promotion or not.
If she’d no driver and no choice, that would be different, especially in an exercise area. But when she was standing right in front of an NCO...well, it was pointless to risk her career just to prove a point to Kane Wheeler.
Glowering at him, because he was enjoying himself rather too much, Mattie swung back down and made a point of shutting the vehicle door as she turned her back. Not a slam, but loud enough to rock the four-by-four. She could hear Kane’s deep, rich laugh as she stomped across the uneven terrain and stepped out in front of the four-by-four. Then, watching each step but more conscious of his eyes on her backside, she began to walk back to the track, making sure the ground was firm enough to take the weight of the vehicle as she went.
And if she put a little extra pizzaz into the swing of her hips, thrusting her hands into her pockets to hug the otherwise unflattering material tighter to her backside, so what?
Besides, Kane probably hadn’t even noticed. He’d barely looked at her twice in the past couple of days and she hated to admit that it was galling to realise that he’d been finding it so easy to ignore the attraction that still burned low in her, whether he was around or not.
So, really, why not sashay a little? After all, what was the worst that could happen?
CHAPTER TEN
CONCENTRATE ON THE damned ground.
Gripping the wheel tighter, Kane fought to drag his gaze from that peachy derrière and back to the task in hand. The last thing he wanted to do was repeat the mistake the corporal had made, but Mattie was hardly making it easy for him to stay focused. Especially because the fading light had caused him to have to turn the lights on, illuminating her—and her delectable rear—like a Christmas tree.
Worse, he didn’t want to stay focused. He just wanted Mattie. And the more time they spent together, the stronger that emotion was becoming. It had been like a slow burn from the moment they’d agreed to keep things strictly professional. In some ways, he’d welcomed the challenge—being this close to her but controlling the tumbling desires. Proving to himself that he could. Like some exquisite torture.
But now it was just plain torture and there was nothing exquisite about it. Being cooped up with her in the back of the four-by-four for the past day, her leg or hand brushing him every time that corporal had driven over a bump—and there were plenty of them out here, in this rough terrain—had been enough to kill him. He’d spent most of the day uncomfortably hard.
And now she was swinging that backside from side to side, practically driving him insane. He couldn’t get them back to the main track quickly enough.
‘Get in,’ he growled to her, leaning out of the driver’s window as soon as the vehicle jerked from the rough off-road terrain to the slightly less rough track.
‘Problem?’ She turned slowly, sweetly, before sauntering around to the passenger door and pulling herself up gracefully.
He wasn’t fooled. So she had known what she was doing. Was it wrong that it gave him a kick, low in his gut, to know that she’d done it deliberately? That she’d wanted to turn him on. The corners of his mouth tugged upwards.
‘No problem for me. You?’
She’d been doing such a good job of acting professionally over the last couple of days that he’d really started to believe she wasn’t finding it anywhere near as difficult to resist temptation as he was.
Her gaze caught his. Sparkling. Fun. The Mattie he’d never been able to refuse. Never wanted to.
‘None at all.’ She grinned, and a lick of heat swept over him.
He could just stop the vehicle right here. No one was around. The temptation was almost overwhelming. Kane scrabbled to keep a grip on reality.
‘That said, I want to check the underside of this vehicle to make sure no real damage was done in the accident, but the light is already fading. And out here it fades fast.’
‘Oh, do you think there was damage?’ she asked seriously, the sexual tension between them mercifully, regrettably broken.
‘I don’t know.’ He navigated the uneven ground around the hill. ‘But it wouldn’t hurt to check. Preferably on flatter ground and whilst we still have some light.’
Mattie peered through the windscreen, the land beginning to flatten and fall away as they crested the hill.
‘Wait, what’s that?’
He stopped the vehicle and followed the direction of her gaze, squinting to see better.
‘Looks like a collection of old farm buildings,’ he hazarded, turning as Mattie looked up from consulting the map.
‘There looks to be something of a track although it isn’t marked on the map. But this place is so vast not everything can be. Want to check it out? It’s a damn sight closer than the area we were originally heading for.’
