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CHAPTER ONE
CAPTAIN MADISON HUNTER stepped out of the New Zealand Air Force freight plane and onto the tar her least favourite of the things she had to do Then the searing heat of the Sinai Peninsula sla her gasp
‘Who needs this?’
‘Beats Waiouru in winter any day,’ quipped the coy was eo crates, doing nothingendless rounds of poker
‘Guess that’s because you’ve been here before Right now I’d be happylongingly of the isolated ar, hell hole of the North Island that it was
‘At least your boots will be dry’
‘True’ Sodden boots were the bane of army exercises back ho at the dusty ground in front of her, she finally s even’ If she could ignore the heat
Heaving the thirty-kilograher on her back, Madison rolled her shoulders to ease the tightness Didn’t work Sweat streamed over her shoulder blades, down her face, between her breasts Must have been out of ned up ‘Did Ibeware of sun, sand, dirt, and sweat enough to drown a small creature?’
‘Page three,’ quipped Major Crooks
‘I take it the high teainst the white block buildings, while the air was aled in what little shade they could find
‘I never got used to it on round ‘See that building to the right? It’s the medical unit’
Madison scoped the basic structure with a faded red cross painted above the door Less than what she’d worked in on base at home, more than she’d been led to believe she’d find here Had to be a positive ‘I ht drop in after a shower’ If she didn’t fall asleep standing under the water Her body ached with fatigue There hadn’t been a lot of sleeping going on during the flight She probably stank like a piece of roadkill about now
A h the medical unit’s entrance, and paused Tall and broad shouldered, his body tapered down to the narrow hips his hands settled on Looking in their direction, his gaze finally settled on her
Sah school had fallen in love with Sam Lowe?
Her knees sagged, and not from the load on her back
Seriously? Someone she knew from home when hohtened her mood a notch Not that they’d been friends in any way but she’d grab at any familiar face in an alien environot it wrong, and that wasn’
t Sam
‘Are you all right?’ Major Crooks asked
‘Fine Where’re our barracks, do you know?’
He pointed ‘Over to the right, behind the mess block are the officers’ quarters’
‘Thanks, I’ll catch up with you later’ Right now Madison wanted to check out the nised, but was probably so far off thehis name
She squinted through the heat No doubting the vision that reby field, barracking for their high school team as he led the towards her, those long legs eating up the ground like nothing bothered him It probably didn’t Those shoulders and the cocky tip of his head backed up what her eyes were seeing, but there was little else she knew about him, she realised
‘Captain Hunter, Madison’ The rin He still does that Srinned his way into and out of every situation he faced An expert, no less, she now recalled Still arrogant? Well, she wasn’t a spoilt brat any ed, too
‘Sam,’ she replied, at a loss for words She didn’t trust unexpected surprises They tended to backfire on her
He said, ‘Welcome to the Sinai’
Her voice returned, spilling out more than was necessary ‘I can’t believe this We’re both in the arion, on the same base?’ What were the odds? They even had rank in coround back and forth Slis these days, despite the harsh lessons she’d endured already A nia told her more ‘You’re a doctor, too’
He nodded ‘We’ve been expecting you’
‘As in me personally?’ Of course her nah days ago But, ‘I doubt you realised who I was,’ she retorted, suddenly on edge in front of that dazzling serous intensity So? Relax She kne to cope with men, had learned the hard way to always be careful and cautious Just ignore them Easy-peasy
‘As in a new rind of living in cah school prefect and science genius’
Oh, yeah, it would be too easy to fall into that grin, and forget the pain of being betrayed after trusting ain the bewilder bullet, she stood to attention ‘So we’ll be working together?’
‘I’ll be out of your hair next week’
He wasn’t getting anywhere near her hair But was he ad like shock diluted that brazen glare he’d been delivering