Sue MacKay - Resisting Her Army Doc Rival

Sam Lowe? As in the guy every girl from high 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 home had been Christchurch? Now, there was a surprise that lightened her mood a notch. Not that they’d been friends in any way but she’d grab at any familiar face in an alien environment; until she’d settled in, any rate. Unless she’d got 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 man she thought she recognised, but was probably so far off the mark she’d sound stupid uttering his name.

She squinted through the heat. No doubting the vision that reminded her of standing on the side of the rugby field, barracking for their high school team as he led them to yet another win. It was definitely Sam Lowe striding 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 man had the nerve to snap to attention in front of her. And grin. He still does that. Smiled and grinned 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 more—if she’d ever been—so possibly he’d changed, 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 army, posted to the same region, on the same base?’ What were the odds? They even had rank in common. Her teeth ground back and forth. Slim to zilch. Showed how wrong she got things these days, despite the harsh lessons she’d endured already. A medical insignia told her more. ‘You’re a doctor, too.’

He nodded. ‘We’ve been expecting you.’

‘As in me personally?’ Of course her name would’ve been on the staff list that’d have come through days ago. But, ‘I doubt you realised who I was,’ she retorted, suddenly on edge in front of that dazzling smile, and needing to shield herself from its dangerous intensity. So? Relax. She knew how to cope with men, had learned the hard way to always be careful and cautious. Just ignore them. Easy-peasy.

‘As in a new medic, fresh from home and not worn down by the day-to-day grind of living in camp.’ He widened his grin. ‘And, yes, as in Madison Hunter, high 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 a man with her heart once already. Reining in the bewilderment overtaking her faster than a speeding 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 admiring it? Yeah, he was. Something like shock diluted that brazen glare he’d been delivering.

Fair cop. She did look very different these days. Her waist-length hair had fallen prey to the hairdresser’s scissors the day after she’d joined the army. Crawling under barbed wire through mud and snow while dressed in full army kit had made the thick locks she’d considered her best feature very unattractive and in need of constant attention. What had Sam been talking about? Apart from hair? ‘So you’re one of the medics I’m replacing.’

‘Afraid so.’ His shoulder moved, oh so nonchalantly.

That grin was now crooked. Instead of loosening the hold it held over her, she was drawn in deeper. It was beguiling and threatening in an I-can’t-afford-to-check-this-out kind of way. Desperate for a distraction—no, Sam already had that role—Madison glanced around the compound. She checked out the perimeter fence and saw women, men and children sitting in a huddle, resignation on their faces.

‘Why are there civilians waiting outside the camp?’

‘They’re hoping to see a doctor or nurse.’

Her heart tightened for the sad-looking bunch of people. They appeared helpless, lost even. It took all her willpower not to drop her pack and race across to ask what she could do for them. That was one of the reasons she’d joined the army after all. ‘I want to help them.’

‘It’s not that easy, Madison.’

‘Why not?’ She flung the words at him. ‘It’s why I became a doctor. Isn’t it the same for you?’

He took her question on the chin. ‘I understand, but out here you’re a soldier first, doctor second.’

‘So you’re saying we ignore those people?’ Her hand flapped through the air in the direction of the perimeter. ‘Seriously?’

‘No, I’m not.’ Sam’s mouth tightened as his gaze stopped on the people she’d noted. ‘We do see some of the locals under a strict system involving body searches and metal detectors before bringing them in.’

‘We don’t hold regular clinics?’ She’d been told she would be attending to outsiders, and had been keen to get amongst them.

‘More than enough,’ he grunted, ‘but so many people require medical attention it’d be a never-ending stream if we allowed it.’ Sam locked his now fierce eyes on her. ‘We do our share. Remember why you’re here, Captain.’

‘But there are children out there.’ She couldn’t help wanting to help each and every person in that crowd waiting quietly as though they had nothing better to do, but especially the children. They were pulling at her heartstrings already. It would be a struggle not being allowed to put her medical skills to good use as she wanted when there were people needing them. That was why she’d trained in the first place, to make life better for others, especially children now that she likely wouldn’t be having any herself.

‘Yes, there are. Cute as buttons some of them, too.’ His face softened briefly.

‘They look so desperate.’

Sam shook himself and growled, ‘Don’t be fooled. They’re not all what they seem.’ He started walking again.

‘They’re not?’ But he didn’t, or chose not to, hear her.

On a sigh she changed the subject. For now. ‘I’ll see you around. I need to find my quarters.’

‘I’ll—’

‘I don’t think so. Major Crooks gave me directions.’ Then she added lamely, just in case Sam didn’t get the point, ‘He’s been here before.’ Having this man escort her through the camp was not happening. She required a few minutes to put her left-field reaction to him into perspective. He might be a sight to behold, and a face from the past, but she had to learn to stand strong and inviolate. Vulnerability might’ve become her norm lately, but it was one of the things she was working hard to overcome. So when her danger sonar said be aware of this man, she was going to push him away.

‘I was about to say I’ll see you later in the medical unit, where I can introduce you to everyone.’ He stared at her, annoyance vying with interest in those eyes that appeared to notice far too much, his mouth flat at last.

While her mouth ached with the tight smile she was trying to keep in place. Her eyes had better be fierce, not showing her true concerns about this exchange. Having anyone know her inner turmoil would see her back on that plane, heading home. ‘Yes, Captain.’

His face instantly became inscrutable, every last thought and emotion snapped off with the flick of a switch. Her tense muscles tightened further. She’d gone too far. He didn’t deserve her attitude, but a woman had to look out for herself. Especially in a place she did not understand. In a fit of pique for coming second to her in an exam result Sam had once told her she was a spoilt little rich brat, and right now she was proving him correct. He’d also said she knew nothing about the real world. If only he knew. Back up. She didn’t want him to know about the disaster that flipped her life upside down.