Blogger Bundle Volume VIII: SBTB's Harlequins That Hooked You

by Jennifer Crusie

  “All right, darlin’. No more. Just know that I think you’re pretty damn special.”

  He felt her arms tighten convulsively around his neck, and he smiled against her ear. She was so small, so soft, so sweet, his lovely Captain Burke. And she would probably kill him for even thinking such a thing.

  “Let’s go to bed, sweetheart,” he said. “I need to get as close to you as I can.”

  Much, much later Andrea said, “You never told me about your childhood.”

  They lay snuggled together under a down comforter, basking in the afterglow while the wind keened noisily around the corner of the house and rattled the windowpanes.

  “There’s not much to tell. I grew up with three brothers, working hard and playing harder. It was a good life for a kid. Plenty of fresh air and open space, horses to ride and a creek to fish in. My brothers are still on the ranch, and their kids are playing in the creek now.”

  “How come you didn’t stay on the ranch?”

  “I just always wanted to fly. To hear my father tell it, I was plane crazy from the age of two. I can’t remember ever wanting to do anything else.”

  “Did it ever wear off?”

  “A lot of things wore off, especially in Nam, but I still love being all alone at forty thousand feet in a clear sky.” Turning onto his side, he wrapped his other arm around her.

  “What about you, Andrea? When did you make up your mind to go to the Academy?”

  “As soon as they announced they were going to take women as cadets. Before that I’d planned to go ROTC in college.”

  “But why?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I wanted my father to have to salute me.”

  There was a laugh in her voice, and Dare smiled. “But you could have done so many things. Why this?”

  “I just never seriously thought about doing anything else. I don’t know why. Maybe it was because I grew up with the Air Force. I just wanted to do it, and do it well.”

  “You certainly do it well. Why didn’t you want me to notify your family when you were shot?” As he spoke, he stroked the puckered scar on her shoulder with a gentle finger.

  Andrea sighed. “Because my dad would have gotten on my case again about resigning, settling down and having a family. Because he would have said I wouldn’t have been shot if I’d been doing my job right.”

  “You don’t believe that, do you?”

  “No. I know better. That’s just my father.”

  Dare kissed her. “Do you want a family someday?” He nearly held his breath.

  “I never thought about it.”

  “Never?”

  “Never. Why? Do you?”

  “I think about it.” Though she didn’t move a muscle, Dare could feel her withdrawal. “You could have a family, you know,” he said quickly. “Lots of career Air Force women do these days.”

  “Child care would be a pain,” Andrea said distantly. “Base day-care isn’t open in the middle of the night.”

  “Are you planning to do this without a husband?”

  “I’m not planning anything at all!”

  She was rigid in his arms now, and he could tell she felt cornered, but he couldn’t understand why.

  “Easy, honey. This is just a theoretical discussion.” With one hand he kneaded her shoulders, willing her to relax.

  “It may be theoretical,” she said stiffly, “but I’m a realist. You can’t expect me to believe any man would tolerate being a baby-sitter while his wife went running out in the middle of the night.”

  Dare held his peace, stroking her soothingly.

  “Well,” she said after a moment, “it doesn’t matter. It’s all academic.”

  He wanted to shake her then, shake her until her teeth rattled. It doesn’t matter? It’s all academic? Never had mere words cut him so deeply or hit him so hard. Take it easy, MacLendon, he warned himself. Take it easy or you’ll drive her away.

  Andrea bit her lip, sensing that she’d angered him, stunned to realize that she wanted him to argue with her, to tell her it wasn’t academic. To say he wanted her to have his children.

  But he hadn’t said it. He’d been the one to say the discussion was theoretical, and he hadn’t argued with her. All of a sudden she was terrified in a way she’d never been terrified before. Everything was out of whack, as if she’d become a person she hardly recognized. All those things she’d never thought she would want had suddenly become paramount. She wanted to talk about them, argue about them, hammer them out until she’d built a modified version of her future that included Alisdair MacLendon.

  “You’re mad at me, Dare.”

  “No, I’m not mad.” Just frustrated all to hell. He forced himself to relax and resume caressing her back.

  Presently he remarked casually, “You know, I learned a long time ago that if a person feels they’re sacrificing too much they become bitter. I had a bitter wife.”

  “That wasn’t your fault.”

  “I could have given up the Air Force. I didn’t. I wouldn’t. And I wouldn’t ask anybody else to do what I won’t do.”

  “But some compromises have to be made.”

  “Sure, but the compromises can’t be all on one side.”

  Unsettled, Andrea moved even closer, seeking comfort. Dare turned a little to accommodate her. What compromises would she be prepared to make, she wondered, if she could have Dare? Could she set her sights a little lower and not work quite so hard? Well, of course, if she had a home to come back to each night she might be a little more eager to knock off at the end of the day. And a little less eager to go to work on weekends. But that couldn’t possibly be enough, could it?

  “Take it easy, Andrea,” Dare said. “I was just talking generally, not trying to upset you.”

  “Weren’t you?” The challenge was out before she could stop it, and they both froze. Dare spoke first, his tone dangerously silky.

  “Do you want a confrontation, Captain?”

  Andrea pulled out of his arms and sat up. “Yes!” And then, swiftly, before he could respond, “No! No, I don’t.”

  Dare sat up, facing her, and saw the minute quiver to her lips and chin. God, she was upset! He really hadn’t meant to upset her. “Andrea—”

  “I’m sorry,” she said unsteadily. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

  Her distress tugged at his heart, creating an ache deeper than any he’d ever felt before. Reaching out, he lifted her onto his lap and cradled her close.

  “Don’t worry about anything, Andrea,” he said gently. “Just let me love you. Everything will be all right.”

  Before she could register his words, he bent his head and captured her mouth in a deep, soul-searing kiss. His tongue teased hers, incited hers, until hers followed his blindly into the consuming, hungry warmth of his mouth. She became his willing prisoner, surrounded by arms that were powerful yet gentle, held by hands that were strong yet caring. When he lifted her so that he could capture her breast with his lips and teeth, she groaned and threw her head back in utter surrender.

  “Dare,” she begged. “Dare…”

  Carefully he lowered her to the bed, his every muscle trembling with the strain of his restraint. Her hand blindly sought and found the rigid proof of his hunger for her. He groaned, nearly losing his grip on his massive self-control.

  “Not yet, honey,” he whispered hoarsely, and gently removed her stroking hand. “Not yet.”

  Surprising her, he captured her small feet in his large hands and kissed each of them gently on the arch and instep. Then his mouth found her delicate ankles, his tongue her shapely calves.

  “I’m going to kiss you from head to foot,” he said in a passion-rough voice. Turning her, he found the backs of her knees and the sensitive undersides of her thighs.

  “You’re beautiful, woman,” he said roughly. “God, you’re beautiful!”

  She writhed and whimpered, everything forgotten in the tidal waves of yearning his caresses caused in her. Her hands grip
ped wildly at the bedsheets, at the headboard, and finally at him. When at last Dare covered her, she was so open, so receptive, so defenseless, that it was as if there was no skin to separate them. His pleasure was hers, and hers was his. They sighed as one, and cried as one, and found completion as one.

  Chapter 14

  Dare’s parting kiss was still warm on Andrea’s lips when she settled behind her desk on Monday morning of her last week. Her last week. Those simple words held all the threat of a death sentence. She didn’t know how she would bear the separation, let alone the inevitable end of the relationship. For it would end. How long would he continue to fly out to Minot to visit her when, right here, there were any number of warm and willing women? Women who were more feminine, who could provide all the things that men seemed to want from women.

  Andrea couldn’t begin to imagine what it was that had drawn Dare to her in the first place, and being unable to imagine that, she couldn’t imagine that he wouldn’t swiftly tire of her. She must simply be a novelty to him, she thought. He was caring and kind, but that was because he was a decent human being. He treated her with the same consideration he would show anyone. Their relationship wasn’t casual, because he wasn’t a casual person, but that didn’t mean he cared about her the way she cared about him.

  And so she would leave, and time and distance would slowly sunder them. How was she ever going to bear it? Yet how could she not? She couldn’t sacrifice everything she’d worked for, everything she believed about herself, every need of her own.

  “Morning, skipper,” Nickerson greeted her as he entered her office. “We had a surprisingly quiet weekend, all things considered.” He set his list on the desk in front of her and poured coffee.

  “Nick, skip the weekend incident report. I want to discuss something with you.”

  Last night, Andrea thought, it had all been so clear and certain. Now she was uneasily aware that she might be making a gigantic mistake, one that could conceivably stain her career. Her conviction that Halliday was involved in these incidents was a guess supported only by the slenderest thread of evidence. The entire premise behind her idea of setting a trap was equally shaky. There was certainly no sort of discernible logic behind the sequence of events.

  For a long moment she hesitated, uncertain whether to go ahead with this. She would be leaving in a week, after all. No one would condemn her for letting events unfold in their normal course. No one would condemn her for failing to risk everything on a last-ditch attempt to solve the mystery before she departed.

  But she would condemn herself, Andrea realized. Looking at Nickerson, she plunged ahead.

  “Nick, we’re going to set a trap for the saboteur.”

  Nickerson nodded approvingly. “Who’s in on it?”

  “You, me and MacLendon. I don’t want anybody else to know what’s really going on. We’re going to use the dogs, because it’s a hell of a lot harder to slip past a dog than a tired human. And I’m going to need you to handpick me a group of the most trustworthy cops in the squadron.”

  Nickerson chuckled unexpectedly. “Now ain’t that ironic, skipper?”

  Andrea looked blankly at him. “What’s ironic?”

  “Oh, it’s just that Halliday and his crew have really ticked off the dog handlers a few times. Halliday’s always insisting that the dogs are a waste of government money, that his electronic gizmos can do the job a hundred times better. I finally shut him up by asking if he had a gizmo that could sniff drugs or explosives half as good as a dog.”

  “So why is that ironic?” Andrea asked, wondering if Nick also suspected Halliday.

  “Because,” Nick said, “when push finally came to shove around here, his electronic gizmos failed and we’re turning to the dogs. He’s not gonna like it.”

  “He damn well better not know about it,” Andrea said sharply.

  Nickerson lifted a brow. “No, ma’am. Not until it’s over. You made that clear.”

  Asking for input, Andrea laid out her plan to Nick: the dogs on each plane to prevent any more sabotage to them; the phony news of a congressman’s impending visit; the staged generation. Nick was concerned that the magnitude of the security preparations alone would tip the perpetrator to the trap. Andrea had already considered that.

  “He’s got to pick up on something or this whole thing will fall through. Look, Nick, if a congressman were really coming on Wednesday and a generation were planned, we’d be up to our eyeballs in security preparations after what’s happened around here. I suggest you just start arranging additional security and fit the real briefing to the dog handlers somewhere in the middle so it doesn’t stick out. Once our man thinks he knows what’s going on, he’ll buy whatever cover story you give our operatives.”

  Nick nodded. “I figure I’ll order the dogs out on night patrol in the family housing area. Then, during shift change tonight, we can move ’em onto the planes. It’ll sound okay that we’re putting the dogs in the housing area, because we’ll be calling in every available man for added security.”

  “What about patrols in the housing area? We can’t leave every family on this base without police protection. I realize almost nothing ever happens out there, but if we leave them unprotected, you can bet your boots something will happen.”

  “I thought of that. I plan to peel off a couple of regular patrols to replace them. The problem is explaining why we’re mobilizing all the dogs, and a patrol in family housing is the best I can come up with that doesn’t sound suspicious.”

  “Okay. You get started on preparations, Nick. I have to go to staff conference.”

  The weather, which had turned thoroughly inhospitable on Friday night, remained so. Dry crystals of snow blew in a hazy, hissing cloud that resembled a light fog. The drift at the end of the building had reached ten feet in height, but the walk in front of the building was dry, with the snow snaking across it in undulating lines. Andrea unplugged her truck’s engine block heater from the pole in front of her parking slot and ran the engine until the cab was warm enough that she could pull off her snorkel hood. While she waited, her breath formed a mist of ice on the driver-side window, and she had to scrape it off.

  Boy, did Florida sound good right now, Andrea thought as she wheeled out of the parking lot. Instead she got Minot.

  Twenty minutes later, Dare dropped his bomb at the staff conference.

  “Well, people, on Wednesday we’re receiving an unofficial visit from Bill Thomas. In case some of you don’t know, he’s the senior member of the House Armed Services Committee. He’ll be on base for approximately two hours, and for his benefit I’m scheduling a generation.”

  The reactions were immediate and negative, but Dare waved them aside.

  “Look, folks, this one’s on my head. SAC left it to my discretion, but I think you realize the higher-ups aren’t going to be very happy if Thomas discovered that an entire bomb wing is out of operation thanks to what seems to be a solo saboteur.”

  “The rock and the hard place,” remarked his deputy commander. “Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

  “Essentially,” Dare agreed. “Anyhow, this visit is not to be officially announced. The fewer people who know, the better. Maybe we can keep our troublemaker from finding out. Burke?”

  “Sir?”

  “I expect you to step up security accordingly. Even if we can’t catch this guy, I want things tight enough that we’ll get wind of anything unusual. If there’s a whisper of anything out of line, I’ll cancel the generation.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Maybe we’ll luck out and have a blizzard,” Captain Bradley remarked.

  Dare snorted. “That would be lucky only if it kept Thomas from getting here. Those planes are supposed to be able to take off under all conditions, Bradley.” He looked down at the pad on the table before him. “I think that covers everything I’ve got. Anything else, people?”

  No one had anything else to bring up.

  “Dismissed, then,” Dare s
aid. “Burke, I want you in my office to discuss security.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Dare’s office was larger and more impressive than Andrea’s, complete with wood paneling, and his desk dwarfed hers. Perks of rank, she thought as she closed the door behind them.

  As soon as the latch clicked, Dare turned and tugged her into his embrace.

  “God, woman,” he said gruffly, “it drives me crazy to be in the same room with you and have to stay cool.”

  Resting her hands on his upper arms, she smiled up at him. “Me, too.” It did indeed, and it thrilled her to know he felt the same.

  “I want like hell to kiss you, but I can’t have you walking out of here looking thoroughly kissed.”

  “Just a little one, then,” Andrea said, rising on tiptoe to brush her lips lightly against his. She felt the tension in him, the control, and everything inside her clenched with the pleasure of knowing she was desired.

  Dare sighed and released her. “Okay, back to business.” He rounded his desk and took his chair, then motioned her to do the same. “I’ve cleared this little operation of yours with SAC HQ. We’ve got the go-ahead for just about anything short of actually launching a generation.”

  “Good.” Andrea nodded her pleasure, but suddenly had one of those schizophrenic moments when she saw everything from a different perspective. She was busting her behind to try to reach Dare’s position, yet he was sitting here and telling her that he’d had to clear everything with his superiors. She’d cleared it with him, he’d cleared it with them, and maybe they’d cleared it with somebody even higher. In other words, no matter how high you got, there was always somebody higher to appease. Was it worth the effort? Unsettled, she shook herself.

  “Are you with me, Andrea?”

  Blinking, she looked at him. “Yes, sir.”

  “This is the part you’ll like. SAC HQ notified OSI that this is your baby. They can cooperate at your request, but they’re not to interfere in any way.”