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In that one night he’d restored her confidence in herself as a desirable woman. A confidence which had been quashed for so many years—if she’d ever really had it at all. She supposed, whatever happened from here, she should hold onto that memory and be grateful to him for at least such a gift.
Instead, faced with this furious side of Fitz, she wished that night really had been all she had. At least that memory would have remained intact. Unblemished by this moment.
Lost in her thoughts, she barely noticed when he stopped without warning, and she ran into the back of him before she could stop herself.
‘My office?’ he demanded, this time less of an order and more of a question.
He was clearly irritable that he didn’t yet know his way around and, for some reason, that made her feel a little more in control of her skittering emotions.
Yes, all right, perhaps she should have told him she was an army doctor, but how could she possibly have known that Fitz would be the commanding officer of the squadron sent to work alongside a unit from the field hospital? Even so, indignation followed the guilt. He had no right to be so arrogant, as though sleeping with her was a black mark on his reputation.
Still, Elle schooled her thoughts, and her voice, determined not to let him see how much he affected her until she’d worked out exactly what it was she was going to say. For now, she’d resume a professional façade and get him back to his office, and then she’d get as far away from him as was possible in this confined place and try to regroup.
‘Your office is this way, Colonel,’ she emphasised.
Carefully, she manoeuvred past him and strode through the rabbit warren of old, partially damaged corridors, all of which looked the same, with none of her usual tour guide fun. Privately she decided she might even get a tiny, perverse kick out of seeing him get lost for the first couple of days. Finally, she stopped outside a nondescript door.
‘Your office, Colonel. The stairs are just there.’ She waved to the recess behind her. ‘And your sleeping quarters are first floor up and the third door down. Two doors down from mine. Although sleeping quarters makes them sound a lot grander than the bare concrete cell-like boxes which they actually are. This place is so rundown there isn’t a single one that hasn’t fallen into disrepair.’
At least, being a colonel, he had a room to himself while she shared with two other female majors, neither of whom were medical and who she didn’t know well enough to relax around.
Despite her admonishments to herself it seemed that the wicked streak Fitz had revealed in her had chosen this moment to reassert itself. Even as a delicious memory rippled through her, Elle mentally kicked herself for allowing Fitz to see precisely how he’d inveigled his way into her subconscious.
‘Come in and close the door behind you,’ he ordered, heading straight into his office and moving to the ancient, steel-framed industrial desk in the far corner. ‘I don’t want anyone overhearing our conversation.’
His brittle tone sliced through her, so cold it wounded Elle far more than any words could have done. She jutted her chin out, determined not to let herself lose what little ground she’d made on her self-confidence.
‘Is there any need for conversation, Colonel?’ she emphasised again. ‘I think we should just forget that night ever happened. It’s only for a couple of days, surely, while you check on your squadron out here, and then you’ll be back in Razorwire?’
‘Is that why you thought pretending we’d never met was such a bright idea, Elle?’
The emphasis of her name made it clear he intended to have this out with her. There was little point in continuing any charade. She exhaled a little shakily.
‘I thought it was the easiest solution. I’ve never been in this situation before.’
‘Neither have I,’ he bit out. ‘But I know that other officers saw us together that night. If we stick as close to the truth as possible then we can’t get caught out with people assuming there must have been more to it than there was.’
She couldn’t help that his words stung a little, as though the idea that it could have been more was preposterous. But at least the surprise admission that he hadn’t been in this situation before made her feel a little better. So there wasn’t a line of female officers he’d also slept with.
‘Fitz, is there really any need for this conversation? I think we both know what you’re going to say.’
‘Is that so? And what would that be?’
Elle pursed her lips. It was what they’d both agreed that night in the hotel.
Yet somehow it didn’t make it any easier.
‘That we agreed what we had was a...a one-night stand. That neither of us could have anticipated we’d end up work colleagues.’
‘Couldn’t we?’ he cut in abruptly. The chillness in his tone seeped through to her bones despite the forty-degree heat.
Elle tightened her arms around her body, as though to offer herself support.
‘Say again?’
‘Did you really have no idea who I was? I told you I was a colonel in the Royal Engineers and that we were deploying. Razorwire was an obvious possibility, you must have put two and two together.’
‘Actually,’ Elle shocked herself by interrupting haughtily, ‘you originally said you and your buddies were on a leaving do, and it was only after I challenged you about the army-issue trousers you gave that lad after he had that seizure that you told me you were a colonel, otherwise I doubt you would have said a word. And you certainly never mentioned you were Royal Engineers. If you’re going to berate me then you should at least be accurate.’
