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It was odd. When it came to working in war zones, or inhospitable environments, with malaria, or TB, or any one of a slew of diseases most of her colleagues wouldn’t have a clue how to deal with, Bea was a wonder. Strong, confident, funny. But when it came to confidence in a social setting, like a bar or a nightclub, she seemed to press herself into the surroundings as though she wished she were some kind of chameleon.
‘You’re stronger than you realise, Bea,’ she told her friend softly. ‘You know what they say, fake it until you make it.’
‘Yeah, well, I don’t know how to fake it.’
‘Sure you do.’ Mattie laughed. ‘Pretend you’re that bushveld lizard you told me about. The one that pretends it’s a boogies-oogie beetle, or something like that, to frighten away prey.’
‘Oogpister beetle,’ Bea corrected automatically, but it raised a chuckle from her just as Mattie had intended. ‘I don’t know what I’m more impressed with—your analogy, or the fact you even remembered my story.’
‘Both,’ she confirmed promptly, eliciting another chuckle. ‘But either way my brother will be there for any advice and support. Don’t be afraid to use him.’
‘Well, thanks.’ Bridget flushed then shook her head. ‘Anyway, enough about me. Can I get you a drink to say congratulations?’
‘Actually, it’s traditional for me to buy you guys the drinks since it’s my promotion.’ Mattie laughed, standing up and leaning over the table to address the group. ‘Same again?’
She was lucky to have such good friends, Mattie thought five minutes later, standing at the busy bar and watching as the flirty bartender got her drinks. She smiled back without fully engaging. The guy was cute, and definitely giving her more than just passing banter, but she wasn’t interested in some one-night stand. Her mind more focused on the new role she would be taking up in less than seventy-two hours.
The role that would lead to the biggest promotion of her career to Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps. The culmination of everything she’d been working towards for years. The only thing that mattered in her life.
‘Hello, Matz.’
Mattie didn’t turn.
But she exhaled. As though she’d been holding her breath ever since their encounter the previous day. And it was useless to pretend her ears—and something wildly traitorous inside her chest—hadn’t been straining for this moment ever since then.
* * *
‘Has it been another fourteen years already?’ she asked, but this time there was no bite to her words.
Perhaps there should have been.
She’d turned her head over her shoulder, raising her voice slightly to be heard. It was the closest she could come to bringing herself to face him without turning around.
‘I couldn’t wait that long,’ he murmured.
Enough to send a fresh trail of goose-bumps zigzagging over her skin. None of it helped by the heat from his chest that seemed to seep into her back, spreading a warmth which she couldn’t even pretend was unwelcome.
Something suspiciously like desire beginning to flood its way through her very veins.
‘Hayden is here,’ she managed, by way of distraction. ‘If you want to say hi.’
‘I didn’t come here to talk to your brother.’
She swayed. Dangerously. Almost leaning back into him. This had always been Kane’s power over her, and it revealed rather too much that she wasn’t immune to it even now.
She would call him a loathsome man, except that loathing wasn’t the sentiment that filled her at all. Not even close. Especially when he reached around her body to lean his hand on the bar top in front of her. And still, somehow, managed not to quite make contact.
Her body practically hummed with electricity.
‘How did you know I’d be here?’
‘You told me you were going to be out celebrating,’ he replied, and what did it say about her that she could actually hear the shrug in his voice, even though she couldn’t see him? ‘This town doesn’t exactly have that many places you could go.’
That much was true but, still, it made her feel good that he’d taken the effort to track her down. Her head was spinning. Did she stand her ground, or did she give into this thing that roared and howled inside her?
Did she give into wanting Kane?
Determined not to turn around until she knew what she was doing, Mattie forced herself to concentrate on the bartender, who was thankfully almost finished making her drinks. Although now, it seemed, she was also going to have to contend with a female bartender who, having caught one glimpse of Kane, was already sashaying over, ignoring the clamour of customers who had been waiting far, far longer.
