Do Opposites Attract? by Kathryn Freeman Read Free Book Online

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. Out of 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, nobody knows 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