Do Opposites Attract? by Kathryn Freeman Page B

rescued more than were killed, but only just. The saving grace had been that the village buried under the mudslide had been small. Those who’d made it out alive were able to tell them how many people should have been there. He’d worked on much larger mudslides, when they had no hope of knowing how many people had remained buried. That made rescue work really hard, not knowing when to give up. Thankfully, this time, all the villagers had been accounted for, one way or another, by nightfall.
    Having showered off most of the grime of the day, Mitch made his way back to his tent. He was used to feeling tired, it was something that never left him when he was on site. Today though, the exhaustion was physical as well as mental. Pulling victims out of the mud had been a thankless task, one that had strained at every muscle and sinew. He stopped for a moment, rolling his shoulders to release some of the tension. That was when he caught sight of a slender female figure with her back against a tree. Her face was lit up by the amber glow of a cigarette. It was a face of great beauty, but tonight it held a hint of fragility. Of course the sensible course of action was to walk by and go straight to his tent.
    Right now he didn’t feel like being sensible.
    ‘They can kill you.’
    Brianna’s head shot up. ‘So I hear,’ she replied in her cultured voice.
    He wanted to dislike it, as he wanted to dislike her, but there was something about the posh husky tones that sent a shiver up his spine. ‘I didn’t have you down as a smoker.’
    She smiled slightly. ‘I’m not. At least not unless I’m very drunk, or emotionally overwrought.’
    He leant back against the tree next to her. Close, but not touching. ‘Well, unless you’ve snuck into my tent and pilfered my whisky supply, I guess it’s the latter that’s led you to nicotine tonight?’
    ‘Umm, but I wouldn’t mind indulging in some of the former right now.’ She took a long, deep drag. ‘I don’t know how you do it.’
    ‘Watching you smoke?’ he asked, deliberately misunderstanding her. ‘It’s hard, especially as I used to smoke and had a devil of a job giving it up.’
    She smiled, as he’d hoped she would. ‘I won’t offer you one then.’ She watched as the smoke trailed up from the end of the cigarette. ‘But that isn’t what I meant, as I think you know.’
    ‘It’s part of life,’ he replied simply.
    ‘But doesn’t it make you sad, or angry, seeing so much death?’
    ‘I used to get angry, on the battlefield. When I saw the body bags build because of a pointless war, it really got to me. This is just nature doing her thing. It’s tough on those caught up in it, but then life is tough.’ He gave her a sideways glance.
    ‘At least it is for most people. That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?’ Temper rippled through her, mixing with the sadness and anger he saw in her eyes.
    ‘Yes,’ he agreed, keeping his voice deliberately calm. He sensed she wanted to fight, but tonight he didn’t fancy being her punchbag. ‘Most people do have a tougher life than yours.’
    ‘You don’t know anything about my life. How can you stand there in judgement?’ He raised an eyebrow, daring her to continue. The temper fled as quickly as it had arrived and she sighed. ‘Okay, you’re right, I have had it easy.’
    ‘I didn’t say your life was easy,’ he qualified. ‘But I don’t think it has been tough.’
    ‘My first car was a Porsche,’ she admitted.
    Mitch felt his lips curve upwards. ‘Impressive. How long did it last?’
    ‘Two days. I crashed it into a ditch going round a corner too fast. I was grounded for a week.’ She caught his grin and smiled. ‘What was your first car?’
    Mitch settled further back against the tree. ‘Owned or borrowed?’ he countered.
    ‘Let’s go for borrowed.’
    ‘A Ford Capri, when I was twelve.’
    ‘I take it the owners didn’t realise you’d borrowed it?’ He just grinned, a flash of white