Gemma bristled irritably.
“Since when did you lot become soft on women? Things must have changed drastically since I was in the army. You guys couldn’t wait to cast blame in a woman’s direction back then. Have you had some kind of directive that says that you all have to play Prince Charming now?” She climbed in behind Jason and moved to the back of the big car.
Ben sniggered.
“You’ll have to give us all kisses to see who turns from frog to Prince. I’ll go first.” He volunteered as he closed his eyes and puckered up his lips.
Gemma had the inclination to wipe the smile from his face with her fist, but she resisted with some difficulty. With her clenched hands in her lap, she stared out of the window, ignoring all the jibes coming her way.
William nudged her in the shoulder as he sat down beside her.
“Hey Gem, have you already teamed up with someone for the cook off? I’d love for you to be my partner.”
Gemma turned back to him. He was staring hard at her as if concentration would make him see any better. She pulled his broken glasses from his face and wiped the sand off with her sleeve before resting them back on his nose while making a mental note to order him another pair. There was a spare set at the château, but one set clearly wasn’t enough.
“Sorry, Will. I already said I would be Aaron’s partner. I can ask him if he wants to swap.”
William shook his head and sat back in his seat.
“Nah, don’t worry about it. He’s probably not going to be with us for very long. His injuries look like they are clearing up nicely. As soon as he has that final skin graft on his hand he’ll probably be back in action in no time. I’ll have a chance to cook with you another time.”
Gemma suddenly began to feel sick. Her hands became clammy and beads of sweat broke out on her brow. She lowered the window as she tried to get a hold of her erratic emotions, but the thought of Aaron being back in the firing line was almost too much to bear. She knew exactly how deadly a helicopter could be. There was virtually no way out of one if it went down and so many things could cause their failure. Engines seized up and stalled, a damaged rotor spelled disaster; even a dust storm could wreck the simplest of flights.
She shuddered as she tried to imagine how Aaron had ever landed his last mission and only suffered a broken ankle and damaged hand. She knew that he must be one hell of a pilot, but that didn’t make it any easier for her. The memories came sweeping up at her. As the wind blew through the car window she shuddered and relived the moment the rotor blade came swirling through the air towards her, slicing through everything in its path.
She closed her eyes and tried to forget as she let the cool draft waft over her. The grounded pilot’s square jaw and piercing aqua eyes took over and flashed into her imagination. She stifled an involuntary groan as she relived their dance together. His taught thighs had brushed hers only once or twice as they had kept at a respectable distance, but it had been a difficult task to remain so. If she was honest with herself she could admit to wanting to move her hand slowly down his back towards his fabulously tight backside. She had wanted him to grab her in much the same way, had wanted to be dragged from the dance floor and towed up to his bedroom where they could discover whether this wild attraction that seemed to bubble between them every time they met was anything more than some lust filled brief encounter. As it was, their single dance had shown her enough to know that they would fit together perfectly.
She opened her eyes to dispel the image of her naked limbs entwined with his and discovered that the other men were all staring at her. Jason had turned in his seat and even Joe was looking curiously in the rear view mirror. She felt her cheeks heat as she realized that she probably hadn’t stifled the groan as much as she thought.
She rubbed her temples as a cover for her lapse.
“Today has given me the worst headache. I think I’ll stay up in my room and make a quiet night of it. I could take a few recipe books up and maybe have a look at some ideas for the cook off next week.”
There were loud protests as the men reminded her about dressing up and playing cards and she let out a heavy breath. She knew that she couldn’t really get away with it. It was part of her job to help rehabilitate these men, though for the life of her she couldn’t see that they needed much assistance, especially from her, but she gave in as their protests became even louder
“Okay, okay! I’ll come down for an hour...” The men let out great whoops of delight, but their cries of triumph soon quietened and turned into groans of disappointment as she read all of their thoughts and added a condition.
She grinned slyly. “But I absolutely refuse to play strip poker!”
Chapter Seven
Aaron looked up as he heard the commotion outside. He glanced out of his window and noticed that the Land Rover was back on the drive. He listened to the general stampede up the stairs and waited until the voices had disappeared and he heard a lighter tread. He opened his door and caught Gemma staring at him. He gave a quick smile.
“You’re late. I thought you were only going to be three hours, not most of the day.”
Gemma was about to query how he knew about Joe’s time limitation on the walk when Aaron held up his three fingers as Joe had done that morning.
“Oh, you were watching then?” There was an accusing note in her tone.
He shrugged unapologetically.
“Waiting actually. Well, just wanting to know what time you might be back. I had stuff to do that I couldn’t leave anyway.” He looked at her bloody t-shirt. “What happened to you?”
Gemma walked towards him.
“Stupid really. I should have seen it coming. Jason fell over on some really sharp rocks and twisted his knee along with scraping his nose and hands. We had to take him to hospital. The guys insisted on carrying him all the way. It was probably quicker than calling an ambulance, though as you can imagine, what with all our original injuries, we caused a bit of a stir at A and E. They thought there had been some kind of vehicle pile up.” Her insides twisted with guilt again, but Aaron just laughed. He had heard Jason coming up in the lift and knew that there wasn’t too much of a problem.
“Huh! I’ll bet you did. They must have thought there had been a massacre! Doesn’t sound like it was too serious though. I heard the guys talking about his date with some nurse as they came up the stairs. Ben was saying that she has a sister. He wants to know if she’s single too so it sounds like it could have been a lucky fall.” He gave a small cough and changed the subject. “I picked up some recipe books and wondered if you wanted to take a look later.”
She gave a small smile.
“I need to freshen up and change. I’ve promised the guys a few games of cards after dinner. I really wanted a quiet night, but I don’t see why we couldn’t have a look later. Unless you would rather play poker with the others of course. I think that’s what they had intended, however I put a bit of a damper on that by refusing to play strip poker. I’m absolutely useless at the game.”
Aaron laughed.
“I don’t think any of them stripping down to their smalls would do it for me, but then maybe I am just more discriminating.” He grinned as his eyes wandered over her entire body and even though she was dressed in sandy, baggy trousers and a blood speckled t-shirt his heated gaze made her heart jump wildly.
“Probably wouldn’t do it for me either...” She gave him a hot stare back, “though Will has a very cute backside and the muscles in Jason’s arms, phew!” She fanned her face with her hand. “I wouldn’t mind...”
Aaron was suddenly very close to her. His smile had vanished to be replaced by a burning glare.
“No!” He wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her close. “No, that’s not happening Gemma. I won’t let it.” His minty breath and masculine scent filled her as he ground out his words and leaned in close. Her hands spread across his chest and then reached up to his shoulders. She felt herself pulling him closer and he wasn�
�t resisting.
She looked up into his beautiful eyes. There were flecks of gold caught within the bright blue. He stared at her intently before his gaze dropped to her lips. She licked across them self-consciously. They tasted salty and dry but Aaron hadn’t seemed to notice.
“Gemma...” he breathed softly and his eyes drifted closed as his lips descended.
She pulled in a soft gasp and waited for his kiss but suddenly felt herself being propelled backwards. Her shoulders hit the wall opposite and the heat of his body was gone. It took her a few seconds to realize that he was now several feet from her.
Simone walked along the corridor and smiled uncertainly as she passed between them. She hesitated as she looked at Gemma’s bloodied top.
“Are you coming for dinner? It will be served in a few moments. The men are about ready and will be down very soon.”
Gemma glanced along the corridor and realized why Simone had stopped as the stampede began again. She had saved Gemma and Aaron from having an audience.
She nodded quickly and glanced up at Aaron who stared intently at the floor. As the men approached she turned towards her own room. She closed the door behind her and walked straight to her bathroom. Furious with herself, she ripped the t-shirt from her shoulders and then stood staring at her own reflection in the mirror.
What the hell is wrong with me? She had been about to kiss Aaron, had wanted him to kiss her. If anyone had seen her she could have kissed her job goodbye too. She sat down on the toilet seat and took some rapid breaths before she leaned over and turned on the shower. Maybe she was tired or feeling a bit low. It had been a long, worrying day, but that was no excuse for her behaviour. Aaron was a guest, a patient. She shouldn’t be encouraging him, though she knew that he had initiated the move in the corridor. She gulped as she remembered his near growl as he had pulled her into his chest. He had sounded positively predatory when she mentioned the other guys, though she still failed to see what Aaron found attractive about her. All the guys she had even known previously had always treated her like one of the lads. She had even felt like one of the lads until she’d had her makeover. Now she did feel more womanly, more attractive even, but she didn’t think the change was that dramatic.
The way the men at the centre acted around her was confusing. They clearly liked her, thought she was a bit of a laugh and always up for one activity or another, but then they had all gone soft on her as soon as she had her hair and nails done. It was only Aaron who hadn’t changed. He’d called her beautiful before any of the other men had barely even thought of her as a woman, or that was how it seemed.
Her heart stuttered beneath her ribs and then lurched as she lifted her finger and touched her lips. He really had been about to kiss her and she had been desperate for it, wanting to feel how that beautifully arched mouth would feel against her skin. She could feel the pulse at the base of her throat pick up speed and she had to take a few calming breaths.
She lifted her head as she heard the church bells along the road ring out across the bay. It was already dinner time and she needed to shower. She had to shove all thoughts of Aaron out of her mind and concentrate on the evening ahead.
She removed her arm, checked her skin and cursed. There was some chaffing where sand had crept beneath her arm socket. It wasn’t too bad, but it needed cleaning thoroughly and then treating gently for a few days. Although she had remembered not to let her prosthetic get wet she remembered digging in the wet sand with her other hand to release Jason’s foot. She hadn’t needed to help carry him as the men had done that, but she had held his boot and prosthetic foot and the boot had been covered in damp sand. She berated herself for not realizing the damage it could have caused.
She quickly eased her trousers and underwear from her legs and walked under the warm water. Reaching for the soap, she lathered all over her body, paying special attention to her arm. She rinsed quickly, not wanting her skin to soften too much and stepped back out of the spray. She immediately wrapped her arm in a warm towel and another around her body.
She opened her bathroom cabinet, rummaged for the antiseptic cream and smeared great dollops across her skin. She wrapped her arm in a clean bandage and covered it with a short stocking. A sigh left her lips as she glanced through her selection of clothes. There was nothing suitable for dressing up in while her residual arm looked like a turkey drumstick. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. She knew that she was being ridiculous but she couldn’t bring herself to appear at dinner with just a stump of an arm. She flopped back onto the bed and reached for the telephone to advise Amy that she was too drained to make it, but she stopped as her bedroom door clicked open.
Aaron stood on the threshold and then glanced behind him before he stepped through and closed the door.
She sat up quickly.
“You shouldn’t be in here, Aaron. I’m not coming down anyway. I’m too tired.” Gemma pulled her towel tightly around her.
Aaron stared down at her. He was dressed in dark blue, fitted jeans and a white linen shirt and looked so handsome that Gemma could hardly bear to return his gaze. He moved towards her slowly with a patient look on his face.
“I don’t believe you’re that tired. I want you to come down to dinner with me. I’ve been waiting ages for you to come out of your room and now I can see why you’ve been delayed. Big problem?” He nodded towards her bandaged arm.
She shook her head.
“It will be fine by tomorrow, but it’s grazed up. Some sand had worked its way into the socket fitment. I’ll have to leave my prosthetic off tonight so that it has chance to heal up. I only wrapped it so that it wouldn’t get any fabric stuck to it from my clothes, but I don’t have anything suitable to cover it anyway.”
Aaron screwed up his face as he moved to squat in front of her. He caught hold of her hand.
“Why do you need to cover it up? Everyone knows that you have a false arm, it’s hardly news to that lot downstairs.” He jerked his head in the direction of her door.
Gemma sucked in her bottom lip again before she looked away from him.
“You wouldn’t understand.” Her words were a whisper, but Aaron leaned forwards and took a gentle hold of her chin.
He held his scarred hand out for her to see. His long fingers and hand were patched with what looked like almost transparent skin. His knuckles had puckers across the tops and his nails were lumpy and uneven. When he turned his hand over and peeled back his glove Gemma gulped. The tendons and veins were clearly visible beneath what looked like a thin layer of clear plastic. In comparison to his uninjured hand it looked like something from a horror movie.
He waited until he knew that she had taken a good long look.
“Okay, so I know that it’s not quite the same thing as losing your arm, but it’s still pretty grisly. It’s a new treatment. The skin should be growing by now but it’s either failed or isn’t working quite yet. I’ll have another set of skin grafts to cover it after they are sure my tendons are healed if nothing starts growing soon, however that’s not really what I was getting at. Just think of those men sitting there waiting for you to join them. All of them have dreadful injuries, none of which they could hide even if they wanted to, but you can bet your life that none of their injuries would stop them coming down for dinner or from trying to see you. You know how much they love your company. You make things easier for them to bear and you can’t let them down over a little thing like this.”
Gemma scowled at him.
“That’s not fair. It’s not the same. I’m a woman. I should look beautiful and perfect. I shouldn’t have chunks of my body missing.”
Aaron raised an eyebrow before he spoke firmly.
“Look, apart from the fact that you are beautiful and perfect, you knew the risks when you signed up. Women have wanted to be part of the forces for years; well, now you have to take the consequences of getting your wish...” He held up his hand to stop her when she was about to speak. “Look Gem, none of us want bits
blown off, or chopped off, or whatever, but it happens in war zones. You don’t hear any of that lot downstairs complaining about what actually happened to them. They might not like the results of front line action, but they don’t complain about their actual injuries. Accept it like the soldier you were and move on, or wallow in the fear of what others may think of you and let it get you down for the rest of your life...it’s your choice.”
Gemma cringed inwardly. She knew his words were a challenge.
“Are you calling me a coward?”
He raised an eyebrow and kept quiet.
Infuriated, Gemma launched herself from the bed. She marched to the wardrobe and began throwing dresses out, muttering about arrogant men all the while. Aaron dodged a few and caught others until she came out with a cream coloured short sleeved blouse that was gathered gypsy style around the neck and a long flouncy skirt that was made from a multitude of woven coloured threads. She turned on Aaron and pushed him back towards the door. He dropped the dresses on her chair and backed away quickly.
Gemma waggled her pointed finger under his nose.
“Five minutes, just wait five minutes.” She ignored his chuckle as she slammed the door in his face and stomped back towards the dresser. She lugged out fresh underwear and slapped on her make-up before donning the clothes, shoving her feet into some flat pumps and hauling the bedroom door back open.
Aaron stood right where she had left him. She glowered up at him, but he simply grinned and held out his arm for her to take.
“There, see, that wasn’t so difficult.” He smiled down at her.
“Don’t be so bloody condescending. You have no idea how this makes me feel.” Tears gathered in her eyes as she vainly tried to tug the short sleeve of the blouse over her bandaged arm. She knew that he was right. It was well past time to put it all behind her and move on.
Scarred Survival (Scarred Series Book 5) Page 12
