Dare saw the look on Nickerson’s face and gave Andrea high marks for redirecting his attention.
Andrea returned with a heaping plateful of home fries and scrambled eggs. Dare’s lips quirked in amusement, and he wondered how she stayed so lean if she ate like a football player.
“Do you always eat like this?” he asked her.
“Like what, sir?” She didn’t even look up, occupied with peppering her potatoes.
“Never mind,” Dare said. “Just finish so I can get you safely dumped off at the BOQ with orders to stay in bed today.”
“That’s really not necessary, sir,” she said coolly. Of course, she couldn’t see the purple rings under her eyes.
“I don’t recall asking for your opinion on the subject, Captain.” Dare’s voice had suddenly taken on a note of command. It startled her; she’d never heard him use quite that tone before. He generally seemed to manage men with an easy style and didn’t have to bring authority to bear.
“Sorry, sir,” she said promptly.
Dare might have relented if Nickerson hadn’t been there. As it was, he left the colonel and the captain once again firmly in their places. There was one advantage to being Andrea’s CO, he thought ruefully. He could shut her up when he had a mind to.
The morning of Christmas Eve, Andrea arrived at her desk to find a summons from the CBPO, the personnel office. Her heart quickened at once. That kind of summons usually meant only one thing: a new assignment. She indulged a few moments of speculation, thinking that there could be worse Christmas presents. It would get her away from Dare, who continued to have the most devastating affect on her tranquillity in spite of the fact that they had kept strictly to business since the night they had gone off the road. In fact, they hadn’t even discussed spending Christmas together, as he had once suggested, and she gathered he planned to spend the holiday in solitude, just as she did.
She was grateful to him for letting the matter drop. Grateful and annoyed. On the one hand, a relationship with him was impossible, given the circumstances, and she was honest enough to admit to herself that if he’d pushed the matter, she would have given in eventually. On the other hand, she wished he had pushed it. In all honesty, while she might have hated herself for it afterward, she would have loved to be swept off her feet, pushed past the decisions and problems, and brought to a fulfillment she still could only imagine. He had begun to invade her dreams, had Alisdair MacLendon, and she was getting tired of waking in the morning with an ache in her heart and soul that made her want to weep.
Dare. Even his name was a challenge, and she felt like a coward for not daring to meet it.
Sighing, she grabbed her parka and headed for personnel. With her luck, they’d probably be sending her to Alaska. She hadn’t had a single warm assignment since joining this damn outfit.
It was an assignment. The sergeant she spoke with handed her a stack of rosters with a laconic, “Merry Christmas, Captain. You’ve won an all-expense paid trip to Minot, North Dakota.”
Andrea looked down at the inch-thick stack of orders. “Somebody must love me.”
The sergeant grinned. “If it’s any consolation, ma’am, while the climate won’t improve, you’ll be in command of a larger squadron.”
Andrea hardly knew whether to laugh or swear. She would be moving to the other end of the state to command the larger security squadron at Minot, but she’d have the same North Dakota winters to contend with, the same missile fields, the same problems. It hardly seemed worth the effort of moving her. Shrugging, she headed back to the Squadron HQ, telling herself that this was a big step up in her career. The climate didn’t matter.
She walked back into the building and lifted the stack of papers as she passed the front desk. “I got orders,” she said. The cops at the desk grinned.
“Where to, ma’am?” one of them asked.
“You’ll never believe it.”
“Hawaii?”
She shook her head. “Minot.”
Their roars of laughter followed her all the way down the corridor.
Back in the privacy of her own office, however, she didn’t feel like laughing, and a step up in her career suddenly seemed relatively unimportant. In five weeks she would be leaving. In five weeks Dare MacLendon would be gone from her life. She’d told herself that nothing could ever have come of it, but that didn’t stop her from feeling cheated.
Resting her elbows on the desk and steepling her hands, she pressed her fingers against her lips and closed her eyes. She felt—and no amount of internal argument dispelled the feeling—that she was about to lose an opportunity that came only once in a lifetime. But what could she do? Orders were orders.
Twenty minutes later, Dare was on the phone. “You got orders?” he asked, hoping it wasn’t true.
It never failed to amaze Andrea how fast gossip traveled. “Yes, sir. I’m leaving January thirtieth for Minot.”
“Minot, huh.” Dare forced a laugh into his voice. “Luck of the draw, Captain. Just one of the wonders of GI life. You could say you’re so good at what you do that they just don’t want to waste you.”
“I could also say somebody doesn’t like me.”
“You could.” He could say the same about her departure, but he figured she was in no mood to hear it. He doubted very much that Minot was on anyone’s Dream Sheet of preferred assignments. He opted instead to tease her. “Next Christmas, I’ll send you a set of red long johns. Just don’t get caught in any ditches with any colonels.”
A gleam came to Andrea’s hazy green eyes. “I don’t repeat my mistakes, Colonel.”
The ensuing silence was so long that Andrea realized Dare hadn’t liked her teasing remark. Good Lord, did he think she was saying he was a mistake? That the little bit of human warmth they’d shared was a mistake? Her mind began to scramble for a way to explain herself while a mocking little voice said, What’s the matter, Burke? Isn’t that what you’ve been saying all along? That it’s one big mistake?
It was Dare, however, who broke the silence. “I’ve got this problem,” he said. Quietly. Gravely.
Andrea’s heart nearly stopped as she waited tensely. “Oh?”
“I’ve got a Christmas tree to decorate tonight. Funny how I haven’t gotten around to it yet. And I have a bottle of B&B, but I hate to drink alone.” He sighed. “That’s the problem with giving twenty years of your life to your career. You wind up drinking alone.” With that, he hung up.
And left Andrea to wonder if she had just been given an invitation.
She struggled with that possibility for the rest of the day and right through dinner. Along about seven o’clock, it occurred to her that her orders had just set her free from a whole boatload of problems. Some of the other bachelors stopped by to invite her to come along to the Officers’ Club, but she turned them down, saying she had been invited to a friend’s home for the evening.
Suddenly excited, she dug a seldom-worn royal blue jersey dress out of the closet, along with a pair of stiletto-heeled pumps. She even managed to find a little eyeshadow and mascara and a pale lipstick, left over from so long ago that she wasn’t sure they were still safe to use. It was only when she stood at the door, parka in hand, that she questioned the wisdom of what she was about to do.
If she parked her car at Dare’s place, the entire squadron would know it. The patrolling cops would recognize it. She might as well take an ad out in the base newspaper. And it was too cold to walk over there dressed like this, with nothing between her legs and frostbite but a layer of nylon mesh.
Sighing, she turned back, ready to relinquish the whole idea. And then she saw the telephone. Why not? said the daring voice that had carried her through the academy and into a career that was unusual for a woman. Why the heck not?
She dialed Dare’s number and didn’t begin to get nervous until she heard his voice.
“Hello?” he repeated when she didn’t immediately answer.
She found her voice at last. “It’s Andrea,
” she said.
“What’s up?” His voice told her nothing; indeed he sounded businesslike, as if he thought she were calling about work.
“Uh, I wondered if you wanted any help with the tree.”
“I’d love some.” His voice grew warm, and it caused something inside her to quiver. “Come on over.”
“Uh, my car—” She couldn’t lie, but she couldn’t explain her reasoning, either. It sounded so dumb.
“I’m on my way,” he said briskly. “I’ll pull up right out front.”
Shrouded in her parka with the concealing snorkel hood pulled up, she darted through the empty hallway and down the back stairway to the parking lot. She might have been any of the thirty female officers in residence in the BOQ, and there was nothing about Dare’s Bronco to set it apart from dozens of others on base. Five minutes later she was climbing into the warmth of his car, somehow feeling that she had just burned a bridge behind her.
Chapter 8
Dare’s Christmas tree stood in front of the curtained patio doors. He had already strung the lights, and they were twinkling gaily. While Andrea admired the tree, Dare admired her.
A new side to his Captain Burke, he thought. She looked so soft and womanly in that clinging blue jersey that he didn’t know how he was going to keep his hands off her. He had held her in his arms three times, yet he’d never really realized just how perfectly she was constructed. The full skirt and high heels accentuated a pair of legs that were long and exquisitely formed. All the boyishness she ordinarily presented had vanished.
Or maybe he was just besotted. He didn’t care. Stirring himself, he poured a B&B and handed it to her.
“It’s a lovely tree, Dare,” she said shyly.
Dare? Pleasure swooped through him. This was promising indeed. He’d been feeling gloomy all day because she was leaving in a month. For the first time it occurred to him that those orders might be a blessing.
“I baked some cookies earlier,” he said, feeling suddenly awkward. “I’ll go get some.”
“You baked cookies?” She looked surprised.
“Now who’s being the chauvinist?” he asked wryly. “It happens I like Christmas cookies.” He enjoyed the blush that suffused her cheeks for a moment and then forced himself to go get the cookies. Keep it cool, MacLendon, he warned himself, or she’ll turn into Captain Burke again and start yes-sirring and no-sirring you to death.
While he was in the kitchen, Andrea set her brandy down and went over to the couch to peer into the ornament box. She noticed he had a new painting on the wall over the couch, a scene of the desert Southwest at twilight. Done in oils, it conveyed the texture of the scene, as well as its wildness and beauty. Forgetting the ornaments, she lost herself in the painting. One of the many things lacking in her life, she realized suddenly, was art. Good music, good painting, good books.
“Like it?” Dare asked. He stood at her elbow, a plate of cookies in his hand.
“I love it.” She smiled at him, her shyness forgotten. “It’s beautiful.”
“Have a cookie.” His eyes were warm, making her feel warm, too.
He put a record of Christmas carols on the stereo and then handed her a box of ornaments. “These are my favorite ones,” he said. “You do the honors.”
His taste in Christmas ornaments surprised her, too. Each was unique; all were handmade of wood or fabric or stained glass. There were sleighs and skiers, Santas and bells and trees. Some were shapes she didn’t recognize, and he told her they were Indian good luck symbols. Before long she was as excited as a child herself, each new ornament a surprise.
Finally it was all done. Dare turned out all the lights, and they stood side by side in the dark, admiring the tree.
“It’s so perfect,” Andrea said in a hushed voice. “I’ve never seen such a beautiful tree.”
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Dare slipped his arm around her shoulders. And as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Andrea leaned against him.
“Andrea?”
“Hmm?”
“Who are we tonight?” He had to know. There was no way he was going to stumble around blind tonight, perhaps offending her, perhaps losing her. He had to know where he stood. He heard the catch of her breath and tensed, waiting for her answer. After a moment, she turned slowly to face him. He looked down into her eyes, dark pools in the dim light.
She spoke steadily. “I left my uniform back at the BOQ, sir. Just for tonight, I’m nobody at all.”
“You’re not nobody, Andrea,” he said huskily. “You’re the most enchanting, bewitching woman in the world. Just for tonight,” he added, seeing the sudden flicker of concern on her face. “Just for tonight.”
She relaxed then, a small smile lifting the corners of her mouth. What a role reversal, Dare thought, with a brief sense of the wry humor of the situation. She was concerned that he might be hurt. She was the one who wanted no strings to interfere with her future, no obligations to bind her. Quite a man, his Captain Burke.
“I am so very glad,” he said, spacing his words as his blue eyes fixed on her mouth, “that you left your uniform behind.” It was such a soft, inviting mouth, he thought, and it had started to tremble ever so slightly at the corners. “You don’t need to be afraid of me, Andrea.”
“I’m not. At least, not exactly.”
“Nervous?”
“A little.”
Lightly, as if he were touching the wings of a butterfly, he brushed his thumb across her lower lip. “What are you nervous about?”
She blinked and gnawed the lip he’d just caressed. “Everything,” she answered finally.
“Everything?” He moved a little closer. “That’s an awful lot to be nervous about. Just how inexperienced are you?”
She blinked twice this time, rapidly, and had to clear her throat before she could speak. The low intimacy of his tone made strange things happen deep inside her, as did the feathery caress of his fingers on her cheek. “Very inexperienced,” she croaked.
“Tell me, Andrea,” he coaxed. “I have to know, for both our sakes.”
Her courage failed her at last, and she closed her eyes tightly. “Never,” she whispered, and wondered how long her rubbery knees would hold her. She wouldn’t blame him if he backed off right now, but, oh, now that she’d finally come to this point, she didn’t think she could survive the disappointment.
A virgin. He’d suspected as much. As if she were glass that might shatter at a careless touch, Dare wrapped his arms carefully around her and drew her head into the comforting hollow of his shoulder. Hearing her shaky sigh, he sought to soothe her with a gentle kiss to her temple.
“I’m going to try very hard to seduce you, Andrea.”
“Yes, sir.” Her voice was little more than a choked whisper.
“But,” he said softly against her hair, “I have very strict rules about seduction. Would you like to hear them?”
“Mmm.”
“First of all, I won’t do anything you don’t want me to. That’s a promise, Andrea.”
She made a small sound of acknowledgment.
“Secondly, you can tell me to stop at any point, and I won’t get mad.”
She nodded.
“Finally, you have to enjoy this and want this every bit as much as I do, or I’ll stop. This is supposed to be a mutually wonderful experience. I’ll do my best to make it that way for you, but I don’t want you to feel pressured in any way.”
Slowly Andrea’s hazy green eyes opened, and she looked up at him. “I believe I called you, sir.”
Dare smiled. “So you did. You’re still allowed to change your mind. I don’t take this lightly, so I don’t expect you to. I want you to be very, very sure about this.”
Lifting her right arm, she wrapped it around his neck, looking at once shy and brave.
“Colonel MacLendon?”
“Yes, Captain?”
“I believe I’m already seduced.”
His h
eart slipped into high gear at that admission.
“Oh, no, Captain,” he whispered huskily, zeroing in on her mouth. “I haven’t yet begun to seduce you.”
He stole her breath in a kiss that left her shaken. He knew her mouth now, knew just what to do to send electric shocks racing through her, knew just how to make her shiver and burn.
My God, thought Andrea, if he learns any more about me I’ll be defenseless. But she wanted to learn those very things about herself as much as he wanted to discover them. Tightening her arm around his neck, she stood on tiptoes and murmured deep in her throat at the pleasurable feeling as her breasts were crushed against the hard wall of his chest.
Oh yes, thought Dare. Oh yes. It seemed as if he’d been aching all his life to hold this woman, and the thin jersey was little barrier to his hands as they stroked her back from neck to hip. Each time he held her, he was astonished anew at how small and delicate she felt. He’d seen the way she carried herself and talked with her troops and faced things straight on, and nobody in the whole world would think to call Andrea Burke either small or delicate.
Nobody except Alisdair MacLendon when he held her close and felt every delicate bit of her womanliness. That slender waist was almost small enough for him to span with both hands. Those shoulders disappeared in his grasp, and the curving line of her back and hips had all the grace of a swan. She was lovely, his Captain Burke, and he said so.
Looking down at her flushed face and dazed eyes, Dare swept his hands from her neck to her hips one more time. This time, however, he went farther, bending a little as he cupped that sweet, soft bottom that had been driving him crazy for months and pulled her snugly up against him. Andrea’s breath caught in her throat as she felt his unashamed arousal hot against her abdomen.
“Dare…” she breathed in wonder. Her fingernails bit into his shoulder as slowly, slowly, he rocked his hips against her and groaned. Her breath stopped, and perhaps her heart, too, as the ache in her was at once answered and worsened.
Groaning again, Dare stilled himself, or tried to, but Andrea could still feel minute movements against her as if two forces were in opposition and one was just a little bit stronger. Why was he stopping? She didn’t want him to stop. She wanted every bit of his hunger. The thought that she excited him so greatly thrilled her every bit as much as his kisses did.
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