for a fool five years ago and he really shouldn’t care what she did!
‘Are you sure you’re up to handling this situation?’
He looked round when Shiloh approached him. ‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s obvious there’s still something going on between you and Kasey Harris so I’d understand if you decided to delay the trip until another anaesthetist can be found.’
‘No.’ Adam was shaking his head even before his friend had finished speaking. ‘There’s no way that I’m putting it off for Kasey Harris or anyone else, for that matter. I’ve spent months planning this visit and if we don’t go now, we might not get another chance.’
‘Fair enough but just go easy on yourself, eh.’ Shiloh clapped him on the shoulder. ‘None of us are immune when Cupid’s arrow strikes. I should know because the last thing I’d intended was to fall head over heels in love when I met Rachel!’
‘I’m not in love with Kasey!’ Adam denied hotly.
‘No? That’s OK then, isn’t it.’
Shiloh didn’t say anything else before he left. However, Adam knew that his friend hadn’t believed him. He sighed as he shut the door and sat down behind his desk because he couldn’t help wondering what he was going to do. He wasn’t in love with Kasey any more but he did still have feelings for her; that was obvious. He wasn’t sure exactly what sort of feelings they were but he would have to be on his guard from now on. He’d be thrown off balance by seeing her today but from this point on he would think of Dr Kasey Harris as just another member of his team. And if she didn’t come up to scratch, she would have to leave because he certainly wasn’t doing her any favours after what she’d done to him!
He groaned because his resolve to treat her as just another member of the team had lasted the whole of ten seconds. How on earth was he going to get through the next four weeks?
Kasey was the last to arrive at Worlds Together’s headquarters the following evening. Although, Shiloh had given her instructions on how to find the dockside warehouse, she must have taken a wrong turning somewhere along the way. She groaned as everyone sent up a resounding cheer when she walked into the building.
‘Sorry. I’ve no excuse for being late. I’m just a really rotten map reader!’
‘So long as you made it in the end,’ June said cheerfully. ‘Anyway, you’ve not missed much. Adam was just running through the rosters although they’ll probably change in a couple of days’ time. Once the heat’s on, everyone just mucks in and gets the job done.’
‘Fine by me,’ Kasey agreed, sitting down on a packing case. She glanced at Adam and raised her brows when he gave her a cold stare. She’d made up her mind last night that no matter what he said or did, she wasn’t going to react. Cool and professional seemed the best method of approach so she would stick to that.
‘Over to you then, Adam,’ she said sweetly.
‘As I was saying, we’ll work the usual twelve-hour shifts to start with. The important thing to remember is that we have to pace ourselves. I don’t want any heroics and people trying to prove they can do the job better than anyone else because it will cause more problems than it will solve. We need good, steady work and that’s all.’
He ignored her as he looked around the assembled group but she could tell from his tone that his remarks had been aimed at her. After all, she was the only one without any experience of working in the field so he didn’t need to remind the others about what was required of them. Her temper moved a notch up the scale although she forbore to say anything. If Adam was trying to provoke a reaction, he’d have to try harder than that.
‘I’m afraid that conditions are worse than I thought. My contact, Matthias, managed to get a message to me last night to warn me that there are several rebel groups still active in the area where we’ll be based. The Mwurandan government is doing everything it can to restore order but there’s no guarantee they’ll have the situation under control by the time we arrive.’
Once again his gaze swept over them and once again he ignored her. Kasey’s temper moved another notch up the scale.
‘This mission is going to be both difficult and dangerous,’ he concluded. ‘So if anyone wishes to back out, now is the time to do so.’
This time his gaze landed squarely on her and her spine stiffened when she saw the challenge in his eyes. It was obvious that he didn’t believe she was up to the job and it stung to know what a poor opinion he had of her.
‘If that was directed at me, Adam, then I hate to disappoint you. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.’
‘It wasn’t directed specifically at anyone. I just want to be sure that everyone understands the problems we will have to face.’
She flushed when she heard the dismissive note in his voice. She knew that he’d used it deliberately to cut her down to size and didn’t need the sympathetic smile June gave her to prove that. The meeting broke up shortly afterwards but she knew that she had to sort out the situation soon. It would be hard enough to cope with the pressures of the job without having Adam getting at her all the time. When he left the main part of the warehouse, she followed him.
‘We need to talk—’
‘I haven’t time to soothe your injured feelings,’ he said shortly, striding into the office. ‘If you don’t like the way I treated you then you know what to do.’
‘And that’s what you want, is it? You want me to leave?’
‘Frankly, I don’t give a damn what you do, Kasey. What I won’t put up with is you expecting special treatment.’ He sat down behind the overflowing desk and picked up a bundle of papers. ‘You’re just another member of the team as far as I’m concerned so don’t go getting it into your head that I’m singling you out.’
‘Rubbish! You wouldn’t have spoken that way to any of the others.’ Her anger rocketed the rest of the way up the scale and she glared at him. ‘You don’t want me on this team because of what happened five years ago so don’t try telling me that you aren’t singling me out when it’s blatantly obvious that’s exactly what you are doing. You haven’t forgiven me for what I did to you, have you, Adam? You can’t accept that I got the better of you!’
‘You’re wrong. I accepted it at the same time I accepted what a fool I’d been to think I was in love with you.’ His eyes grazed over her, filled with such contempt that her heart trembled with sudden pain. ‘The truth is that I was never in love with you, Kasey. The woman I loved was an illusion, someone you conjured up to pay me back for what you mistakenly believed I’d done to your brother. And that Kasey Harris doesn’t exist.’
He pushed back his chair and stood up. Kasey didn’t move as he brushed past her. She couldn’t because movement demanded too much effort. What Adam had accused her of doing was true. She had set out to make him fall for her because of what he’d done to Keiran. What he was wrong about was that she’d taken on a different persona or, as he’d put it, conjured up a different Kasey Harris. She hadn’t needed to do that because from the moment they’d met she had responded to him instinctively.
A sob welled to her lips but she bit it back because there was no point crying now. It wouldn’t help and certainly wouldn’t change what had happened. The truth was that the
