move. They hesitated, looking to their skipper for confirmation, and Craig waved them away with his hand. They gave her a preferential nod and left.
“No, I’m not going to die—this time,” Craig admitted, his voice low and off-key. “But I thought I was….”
Gathering the necessary items, Susan placed the steel bowl next to Craig’s leg. It struck her, as she waited those few minutes, how lean and fit he had become. In Annapolis, he had been a boxing champion, but now his body was hard. Hard, tight and fit. She scrambled about for a safe topic—something to keep Craig’s mind off what she had to do, which would surely cause him pain. “Tell me about recons. What do you do? Why did Dr. Finlay say you’re like family?”
Craig took a deep breath, trying to steady his wildly fluctuating emotions and battle the receding pain at the same time. Why the hell wouldn’t she stop talking? Stop engaging him in polite conversation? Susan acted as if she’d done nothing wrong! Acted as if she had no conscience about tearing up his life four years ago and sending him hurtling down a path that had done nothing but create more emotional pain for him. “We work in teams of five,” he muttered unwillingly. “Each member is a specialist. I’m the paramedic on our team. Each team consists of an officer and four enlisted men. We’re dropped deep behind enemy lines to gather tactical information for our Intelligence unit.” Craig’s mouth curved downward. “The last thing we want to do is engage the enemy. Even though we have a radio, we’re often so far behind lines that a helicopter can’t make it to where they’d have to pick us up. So we’re like ghosts. We live and forage off the land, move quietly and shadow troop movements. After ten days in the bush—if we haven’t been discovered—we’re picked up at a prearranged spot by a special helicopter team.”
“I see.” Susan tested Craig’s leg again, and he didn’t flinch. Taking a deep breath, she warned him, “Since you’re a paramedic, you know what I have to do to clean this wound out. Are you ready?”
He dragged his arm away from his eyes and stared up at her. “Hell, yes!” He watched her eyes widen again with shock at his angry response. Automatically, he sucked in a breath, knowing the procedure would hurt like hell itself. But it couldn’t hurt as much as Susan being here. Despite all the years, Craig realized with a sinking feeling that he still hadn’t gotten her out of his system—or heart. The knowledge only served to make him more furious. When he saw the apology in her eyes, he managed a tight, one-cornered smile. “Go ahead,” he snarled. “It’s just one more way to get even with me.”
Get even? Susan closed her eyes, wavering before his obvious rage. “I don’t want to get even with you,” she snapped. She felt tears sting her eyes, and she looked away for a moment to get herself under control. Swallowing rapidly, she forced herself to act. Where was the friend she’d once had? The friend who’d always tried to make her feel better when she had a bad night at the dispensary? Now he was lashing out at her with anger. Well, she’d had more than enough of that in the last year of her life, and it struck a chord deep within her. She wasn’t about to take Craig’s inexplicable fury, Susan decided as she began the cleansing process.
“How you doing?” Karen asked, hurrying over to where Susan leaned over Craig’s wound.
Craig released a shaky breath when a blond woman-doctor leaned over him and smiled. “I want a different nurse,” he said between clenched teeth.
Susan jerked her head up and looked at him, her mouth open. How dare he! Before she could say anything, Karen stepped in, her voice calm and good-humored.
“Look, Captain, you’ve got the best right here. Just settle down and take it easy.” She watched Susan critically. “Looks like major surgery to me. Who made the decision to treat this injury as a local?”
Craig wiped the sweat out of his eyes with a shaky hand. “I did, Doc. I want to stay awake. I want to find out how my men are doing. They’re in surgery right now.”
“I told Dr. Finlay and he said it was all right, Dr. David.” Susan grimaced and drew in a trembling breath as she hurried to complete the cleansing of his wound. Hearing Karen cluck like a mother hen, Susan was relieved that her friend was here to run interference between herself and Craig.
Patting the marine’s shoulder, Karen said, “Now, Captain, you just lie here and relax. The worst is over. Susan, get a needle and thread ready, please.”
Craig watched the two women. Dr. David was confident, relaxed and smiling, with a distinct Midwestern accent. He liked her, he decided. Still, his gaze kept straying to Susan, who stood by, supplying the doctor with whatever she asked for. It gave him an opportunity to really study Susan for the first time since their unexpected meeting. Four of the longest years of his life seemed erased as he gazed up into her huge, and eminently readable, blue eyes. She never could hide anything from him when he looked into them, he thought, stifling a smile as he forced himself to concentrate on her rather than on the brutal pain. Not that Susan would lie anyway. But as he searched her features, his gaze came to rest on Susan’s set mouth. He vividly remembered that one innocent kiss they’d shared. He’d been so hungry to kiss her more deeply. Shutting his eyes, the agony shifting and becoming more intense as the doctor worked over him, Craig felt light-headed. Susan’s mouth was full, the lower lip soft, the corners turned upward to reflect her innate gentleness. How gentle Susan had been four years ago as he’d watched Steve bulldoze his way into her life, he remembered angrily.
Again the basic fact came rushing back: Susan was married. Married to Craig’s own former best friend. The friend who had crushed Craig’s fondest desire forever. Craig grimaced, wondering for the millionth time why Susan had stood him up on that long-ago night—that night intended to decide his future once and for all.
A groan ripped through Craig. Automatically, he gripped the sides of the gurney, the steel warm to his touch, his sweaty fingers sliding downward. Haziness replaced his sharply focused awareness. The pain was increasing by the second. Somehow, as his spinning thoughts collided with his tormented heart, Craig felt Susan’s hand grip his shoulder to give him solace. Miraculously, some of the agony disappeared, and he honed in on her stabilizing touch.
No, Susan had never showed up that night, leaving Craig foolishly waiting, clutching the symbol of his chance at a dream in his sweaty palm. Finally, defeated, he’d returned to begin packing to leave. Susan thought of him as a friend. That was all. Craig had gathered his gear, grabbed a military air transport flight for the West Coast and never seen or heard from either of them again. Until now.
“He’s going,” Karen warned grimly as Craig’s pallor increased. “The fool should’ve been given a general. This is too much for anyone to endure.”
Susan’s fingers dug into Craig’s shoulder as she felt him suddenly tense. His mouth opened to release a scream. Just as suddenly, he groaned and went limp beneath her hand. Quickly, Susan tipped his head back so that his tongue wouldn’t shut off the air supply to his lungs.
“It’s better this way,” Karen muttered. She wiped her forehead with the back of her sleeve. “Prep him for surgery. He’s going under whether he likes it or not.”
“Gladly,” Susan breathed.
“In the meantime, I’ll take a look at these other two guys,” Karen said, turning to Craig’s teammates.
Feeling as if someone had taken a bottle brush to her insides, Susan acted quickly, although she ached to stroke his close-cropped black hair. In unconsciousness all the harshness faded from Craig’s features. His lips, now parted, revealed his true vulnerability. A sudden heated memory flashed through her, of his mouth moving in reverent adoration across her own. How could she ever
