Twenty minutes later he stretched out on the floor, still damp from his shower. Dragging a sheet over him, he stuffed a pillow behind his head and glared at Donna. He would be damned if he would sleep in that bed while she slept on a chair.
Then, grabbing up a third pillow, he pulled it down over his face and ears, trying, without success, to drown out the blasted humming.
Two days later, back at the base, things weren’t running any more smoothly.
Donna gripped the receiver tightly and tried to keep her voice even. She’d learned long ago that in dealing with people, it never paid to lose your temper.
“Excuse me, Lieutenant Austin,” she interrupted the man’s apparently well-rehearsed speech. “You’re saying that there is base housing available, but we can’t have it?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, approval in his tone. “That’s it exactly.”
Donna sank back into her father’s burgundy leather desk chair. “Then what you’re really saying is, nothing’s available.”
“No, ma’am.” The faceless lieutenant sighed, clearly disappointed in her. “We have a house for you and the first sergeant, but you can’t have it for a day or two.”
“And why is that again?”
“Like I told you before, ma’am,” he said, “the house has to be cleaned, inspected and passed.”
“Can’t I hire someone to clean it?”
“No, ma’am, we have our own teams for that.”
Donna picked up a pen from the desk in front of her and idly began doodling on a nearby tablet. “When, exactly, will it be ready, Lieutenant? Can you tell me that, at least?”
“No, ma’am,” he told her.
She was really beginning to hate the word “ma’am.” “How about a hint?” she asked, desperate now.
He chuckled.
Donna snarled silently.
“If I were you, I’d count on Wednesday.”
Great. She couldn’t move into Jack’s apartment at the noncommissioned officers’ barracks. Strictly for bachelors. Her apartment was in Maryland. Hardly a commuting distance.
She looked around her father’s home office and muffled a sigh. Apparently they would be staying with the colonel a few days anyway. Since she and Jack were hardly talking, at least they would have her father as a buffer between them.
Images of the night before, their first night back from Laughlin, swam in front of her eyes. They’d arrived late, with everyone tired from the long drive and even longer silences. Jack had gallantly carried hers and her father’s bags into the colonel’s house and then promptly disappeared into the night. Oh, he’d mumbled something about going back to the NCO barracks for his things, but Donna recognized an escape attempt when she saw one.
Still, he couldn’t get away with staying at the barracks more than one night—not if he expected everyone on base to believe that they were the happily married newlyweds they were pretending to be.
Which brought her back to the problem at hand.
“That’s the best you can do?” she asked the beleaguered man on the other end of the phone.
“That’s it, ma’am.”
Donna cringed. “Thanks very much.”
“Yes, ma’am. Oh, and congratulations to you and the first sergeant, ma’am.”
Donna hung up and glanced at the notepad. While talking to the lieutenant, her subconscious mind had doodled a gallows, complete with dangling noose and three steps to oblivion.
“Now there’s a good sign,” she muttered. Standing, she tore off the top sheet, crumpled it into a ball and tossed it into the trash can beside the desk.
“Married?” Gunnery Sergeant Tom Haley shook his head, slapped his ear as if he’d heard wrong, and said again, “Married?”
Jack shrugged off his friend’s stunned surprise. Tom had been on leave, so hadn’t yet heard all of the gossip. Jack figured it would take at least another day for the latest piece of news to sweep across the base. “Will you stop saying that?”
“Sorry,” the other man said. “It’s just that I never expected to hear you say those words.”
“Yeah, well,” Jack muttered, “neither did I.”
“She must be something.” Tom’s blond eyebrows lifted high over blue eyes. “Who is she?”
Ah… Finally, the question he’d been dreading. He just knew that the minute his friends found out about him marrying the colonel’s daughter, his life would become a living hell.
“Her name’s Donna.”
“Donna what?”
“Harris.” He was stalling and he knew it.
Tom threw a pencil at him from across the room. It missed him, clattering on the linoleum floor. “I know that much. What was it before you married her?”
“Why do you care?”
“Is there a reason you don’t want me to know her name?”
There was just no way out of this, Jack told himself, and the longer he stalled, the more interested Tom would become. Besides, what was the point? In another day or so, everyone in his world would know. He braced himself for the merciless ragging he was going to take. “Fine. Her name was Candello.”
“Candello…” Tom leaned back in his chair, lifted both legs to the corner of his desk and crossed his ankles. Folding his hands atop his chest, he said the name again. “Candello. Now why does—” He stopped. His feet dropped to the floor with a thud and he sat up straight, a wild, disbelieving look in his eyes. “The colonel’s daughter?” he finally said. “Are you nuts?”
Certifiable, Jack thought. “Nope,” he said out loud. “Just married.”
“You gotta be out of your mind, man.” Tom jumped up from his chair and walked across the room. With both palms flat on Jack’s desk, he leaned in toward his friend. “Don’t you know the load of garbage you’re gonna have to take because you married a colonel’s daughter?”
Jack pushed one hand across the top of his head and leaned back in his chair. Staring up at Tom, he asked, “No, will I really?”
“I didn’t even know you knew her,” Tom went on.
“Yeah, well, I do.”
“Sure, now. But when’d you meet her?”
“Does that—”
“Must have been years ago,” Tom said more to himself than to Jack. “Didn’t you serve with the colonel back in ’90?”
“Yeah…” Of course, he’d never met Donna until a few days ago, but no one else needed to know that.
“Wow.” Tom grinned, sat on the edge of Jack’s desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “Imagine. You. And the colonel’s daughter.”
Jack frowned to himself. All right, it was unusual. And unexpected. But was it really so damn surprising that Donna Candello might actually find him marriageable?
Then he remembered that he and his blushing bride had agreed not to share a bed, and answered that silent question himself. Okay, the celibacy thing had been his idea. But she had sure agreed quickly enough.
“So?” Tom asked with a broad wink. “Think your daddy-in-law can pull some strings for you? Maybe get you your very own battalion?”
Jack shoved the man off his desk. “Shut up and get to work.”
“Wow,” Tom said between chuckles, “already, he has delusions of grandeur.”
Perfect, he thought as Tom, still laughing, booted up his computer and got back to business. If this was any indication, he was going to have a real good time over the next few days. All because he’d gone outside for a cigarette.
The damn things really would be the death of him.
Donna hadn’t been on base in four years.
She sucked in a deep breath, squared her shoulders and dug her fingers into the plush leather of her clutch purse.
Ridiculous to feel so quakey inside. She’d grown up on military bases—at least from the age of thirteen when she’d gone to live with her father. A brief smile crossed her lips and then faded. That had been a tough year, she remembered. Her father and she practically strangers, yet thrust on each other because her mother had sudd
enly gotten the urge to live in Paris and learn to paint. She’d died only a few years later.
But Donna and her father had gotten past the wary uneasiness. And together they’d found what they had both been missing. Family. Love. Trust.
Donna shuddered. If only she had trusted her father’s judgment four years ago, she could have saved herself a truckload of embarrassment—not to mention this marriage that wasn’t a marriage.
She lifted her chin and stared at the door not twenty feet from her. Just beyond that doorway, amid a bustle of marines, was her husband’s office. Unfortunately, Jack’s desk was depressingly close to her father’s. Which meant by going inside, she would be forcing herself to face the scene of her grandest error in judgment.
It was right after her engagement had blown up in her face. She’d been feeling fragile and decidedly unwanted—a dangerous combination, as it turned out.
Inside that building was the very desk where she’d tried to seduce her father’s assistant, only to have her dad unexpectedly interrupt her sad Mata Hari attempt.
She could still feel the heat of shame rushing into her cheeks. She saw the young corporal’s wide, horrified eyes as he’d stared at his commanding officer, and in memory, she would always hear her father’s quick intake of breath followed by the disappointed tone of his voice when he’d said her name.
Good Lord. She lifted one hand to shield her eyes as though it might block out the memory. How could she have been so stupid? And as if that wasn’t enough, she hadn’t even had the guts to stay and brave the situation out. No. Not Donna Candello. She’d jumped the first plane out of town and hadn’t shown her face since.
Until now, when she was around just long enough to screw up again.
“Ma’am?” A deep voice came from just to her right.
Donna half turned and looked at the marine staring at her in obvious concern.
“You all right, ma’am?”
“Probably not,” she said tiredly. “But thanks for asking.”
“Can I help in some way?”
Kind. The lieutenant was just trying to be kind. She knew that. Unfortunately, that didn’t change things.
“No, thank you,” she said with a small, halfhearted smile. “If there’s one thing I don’t need at the moment, it’s one more marine.”
He blinked, surprised, but Donna ignored his confusion and started walking toward the doors. Determined to face her ghosts before she could chicken out again.
Six
Jack glanced up as Tom Haley leapt to his feet, his gaze locked squarely on the doorway. “Can I help you, ma’am?” he said in a tone that was more eager than polite.
“I’m here to see Sergeant Harris,” a too familiar female voice answered.
Damn. Instantly it felt as though a lead weight had settled in the pit of Jack’s stomach. Yet at the same time a lower portion of his anatomy experienced a far different reaction.
Slowly, he swiveled his head in her direction. “First Sergeant,” he corrected automatically.
Twin black brows lifted slightly, arching over the dark brown eyes that haunted his sleep. What might have been a smile briefly crossed her lips before she said, “Right.”
Damn, why’d she have to look so good? Her deep green blouse, open at the collar, was tucked into the narrow waistband of a short black skirt that skimmed her hips like a lover’s hands only to flare out and swing about her thighs as she walked farther into the room. The tap of her high heels against the linoleum sounded like a heartbeat. Those legs of hers could be registered as weapons. As for her eyes…well, Jack didn’t even want to think about them for the moment.
Tom cleared his throat dramatically, bringing Jack back from fantasies he shouldn’t be indulging in anyway. Shooting his friend a frosty look, he scowled when Tom only grinned at him.
Apparently the man had no intention of going anywhere without an introduction. Standing, Jack said stiffly, “Donna, this is Gunnery Sergeant Haley—”
“Tom,” the other man interrupted with a smile that looked entirely too friendly.
Frowning, Jack finished the introduction. “Tom, this is my wife. Donna.”
All right, saying that word felt strange, but at the same time, he really didn’t like the look in Tom Haley’s eyes as the man studied Donna from head to toe. Though why all of a sudden Tom’s charm with women should bother him, he didn’t want to consider.
“It’s a pleasure, Mrs. Harris,” Tom said as he came out from behind his desk and crossed the room to her, one hand extended in welcome.
Donna placed her hand in his and said, “Please. Call me Donna.”
Jack frowned to himself as his gaze landed on their joined hands. He couldn’t help noticing that Tom held hers for just a bit longer than necessary.
His stomach churned and he knew it wasn’t because of the rot-gut coffee he’d been pouring down his throat all morning. Damn it, wasn’t it enough that he had to deal with Donna privately? Did she have to show up at his office, too?
But even as that thought crossed his mind, he had to admit that it wasn’t just her presence that upset his peace of mind. It was her. Period. Ever since that first morning when she’d faced him down despite an obviously painful hangover, he’d been intrigued. Okay, he admitted silently, more than intrigued.
Sober, she was even more disturbing.
Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to ask calmly. “Is there a problem?”
Donna flicked him a quick look. One eyebrow lifted slightly. “Just because a wife comes to her husband’s office, does there have to be a problem?”
“Yeah, Jack.” Tom joined in, guiding her to a chair. “Lighten up. Maybe she just missed you.”
“Yeah,” Donna agreed. “Maybe that’s why I’m here. I missed you.”
Sure. Like she’d missed a toothache. But he couldn’t very well say that in front of Tom. Not if they were going to keep up the pretense of being happy newlyweds.
She sat and crossed one incredible leg over the other. Her black stockings brushed against each other and the hem of her skirt fell back, displaying far more leg than Jack wanted Tom to see.
Turning to his friend, he snapped, “Don’t you have somewhere you have to be?”
“Nope,” Tom assured him, perching one hip on the edge of his desk.
Donna smiled at the man before turning her dark eyes back to Jack. He wasn’t blind to the fact that her smile disappeared at the same instant.
“Look, Donna,” he said, trying to keep his voice even and his gaze away from her upper thigh. “If it’s not important, I’ve got work to take care of.”
“Of course it’s important,” she said. Swinging her right foot gently, effectively drawing his gaze back to her legs, she went on. “I’ve been talking to base housing and—”
“You shouldn’t have to do that,” Tom cut in, reaching out to briefly stroke one of Donna’s hands. “Jack, why don’t you take care of all that for her?”
“Because,” he said tightly, “I’ve got other things to do.” Silently he wondered how many bones in Tom’s hand he could break with one quick move. Thankfully, the other man retreated, so it wasn’t put to the test.
Donna stiffened slightly. “And I don’t, you mean?”
“I didn’t say that,” he countered, meeting her dark eyes evenly. “It’s just that I have a job to do and—”
“And I’m unemployed?” she finished for him.
Hell, he didn’t even know if she had a job or not.
“It wasn’t an accusation,” he said.
“I happen to have a very good job,” she told him, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin just a bit higher.
“Really?” Tom interjected, pulling those eyes of hers to him. “Where do you work?”
She paused for a long minute, bit her lip, then answered, “Maryland.”
“Kind of a long commute,” Jack said.
Her gaze flicked to him instantly. Then, as if remembering Tom’s presence, she plastered a smile
on her face and cooed, “Naturally, I’ll have to resign. I hadn’t expected to spend my vacation being swept away by passion.”
Passion. The only thing she’d been swept away by was a pitcher of margaritas…which they were both paying for.
“I’m sure you’ll find another job soon,” Tom assured her soothingly, managing to irritate Jack at the same time.
A long silence filled the passing moments until finally, Tom pushed up from the desk, smiled at Donna and completely ignored his longtime friend. “I still say, if I had a wife as pretty as yours, Jack, I’d be doing everything I could to help her get settled in on base.”
And the chances of Tom Haley ever settling down with one woman were slimmer than Jack’s chances of being an astronaut.
“Thank you, Tom,” Donna said, giving him a wide, bright smile. One, Jack thought, she hadn’t seen fit to bestow on the man who’d saved her reputation and her father’s.
“You need anything, you just give me a call,” Tom told her before gathering up a stack of papers from the edge of his desk. “And now, if you’ll excuse me, maybe there are a few things I should be doing.”
Once he was gone, Jack turned to her. “What the hell was that all about?”
“What?” She shrugged, her foot swinging at a bit faster pace. “Your friend was just being nice. So was I.”
“Any nicer and he would have—” He interrupted himself, not wanting to go down that particular road.
“Jealous?” she asked.
That stung. “Now, why would I be jealous?”
“That’s what I was wondering.”
“Well, don’t,” he said quickly. “All I meant was, if we’re supposed to be happily married, you shouldn’t flirt with the biggest ladies’ man on base.”
“I wasn’t flirting,” she snapped.
“What do you call crossing your legs and swinging your foot like that?”
She shook her head. “I call it crossing my legs and swinging my foot.”
He rubbed one hand over his face and fought for control. Ridiculous. He knew he was overreacting and still he couldn’t seem to stop himself. But, damn it, watching Tom Haley watching Donna had been…unsettling.
The Littlest Marine & The Oldest Living Married Virgin Page 18