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  “I love it. And all the time I thought you were utterly impervious.”

  “If I were impervious, I wouldn’t have called you on Christmas Eve.”

  “No,” he agreed, “I guess you wouldn’t.”

  His blue eyes were smiling and warm, their corners crinkled in the way she loved.

  “You’re going to hate me for this, Andrea.”

  “For what?”

  “I think you look cute in battle dress.”

  “Cute? In fatigues? Colonel MacLendon, sir, may I respectfully suggest that you’ve gone crazy? Nobody looks cute in fatigues.”

  “You do.” He nuzzled her cheek and blew softly in her ear, enjoying the way she shivered. “And you look adorable in your Academy sweat suit. Promise me one thing, Andrea. Promise me you’ll never stand at attention in that sweat suit again. I could hardly keep my mind on what I was saying because your breasts were—”

  She clapped a hand over his mouth. “Don’t say it! I’ll die of embarrassment.”

  “It’s humanly impossible to die of embarrassment.”

  She ducked her head. “No, it isn’t,” she said in a smothered voice. “God, I’ll never be able to wear my sweats again.”

  “You can wear them for me,” he suggested. “And stand at attention—”

  “Don’t.” But the eyes she raised to his were laughing despite the painful color in her cheeks. “All the while, I thought that wooden expression on your face was because you were mad at me.”

  “Never. I was trying not to pounce on you.”

  “I’ll bet. You were probably every bit as embarrassed as I am now.”

  “I don’t embarrass. Believe me, embarrassment was the last thing I felt. Actually, I was annoyed with you when I first arrived. Your conduct was unprofessional, you know.”

  “I know,” Andrea admitted. “I should never have called you cowboy. I don’t know what possessed me.”

  “I do. It’s that little imp that lives inside you. Every so often your imp gets out. Anyhow, I was annoyed, just a little. Nothing serious. And the whole time I was there talking to you, I was coming to like you more and more. By the time I left, I was laughing.”

  “You were not!”

  “I was. I just didn’t dare let you see it. I like your imp, Andrea.” He ran a gentle fingertip along her hairline to her ear. “I like every damn thing about you just fine. I wouldn’t change one hair, one eyelash, one thought in your head.” Which was not strictly true. There was a thought or two he had every intention of changing.

  Looking into his eyes, she almost believed him. Those blue eyes were warm, intense, determined. She wished she could believe him, but even so, she didn’t see how their careers would sustain any kind of a relationship, and she wasn’t about to sacrifice her life’s goals for anything. Of course, he knew that. So when he said he wouldn’t change one thought in her head, it could only mean that he was content with the way things were, that he accepted that it would all end when she left.

  Well, hey, she told herself bluntly. The man’s past forty, and he must have had numerous opportunities to remarry, if that was what he wanted. And to women whose career wouldn’t be a problem.

  Dare saw the sorrow slip across her face. “Did I say something wrong?”

  She shook her head. “I was just remembering that tomorrow always comes.”

  “Tomorrow we’re going to stay here,” he said firmly. “We’ll go back early on Monday morning.”

  “That isn’t what I meant.”

  “I know. I’m just trying to tell you that you don’t need to think about tomorrow. Don’t waste today thinking about what hasn’t happened yet, Andrea.”

  Nodding, she tucked her face into the curve between his neck and shoulder. “I’ll try not to. But it always comes, Colonel. Sooner or later, tomorrow always comes.”

  And he couldn’t have made it any plainer that he wanted no more than the moment from her. Well, that was what she wanted, too, she reminded herself. That being the case, why did she feel so sad?

  Monday morning came all too quickly, the way dreaded tomorrows always do. Once again Andrea was in uniform, sitting behind the polished expanse of her large desk, sipping coffee and trying to relegate the weekend to memory, where it belonged. Images insisted on flashing before her mind’s eyes, however, images of Dare stepping stark naked out of the shower and grabbing her, tickling her until she begged for mercy. Images of the way he threw back his head and laughed full-throatedly. Images of the way the hair on his chest arrowed down to the perpetually, suggestively, unfastened snap of his jeans.

  Her body remembered things, too: the way his hands felt sliding over her skin, cupping her breasts, grazing their peaks until she ached. The way his buttocks bunched under her hands when he thrust into her.

  “Damn it, Burke,” she said aloud. “Quit it!” Two solid days of lovemaking and laughter, and she was greedy for more. Unbelievable.

  It was with great relief that she heard Nickerson’s familiar knock on her door. Now maybe she would get her mind on work, where it belonged.

  Nick carried a large envelope with him, as well as his usual folder, and he handed the envelope to her.

  “For you, ma’am. It arrived just a couple minutes ago.”

  Andrea recognized Dare’s office code in the return address block. “What now?” she wondered, then shrugged, setting it aside. It could wait until after Nick brought her up to date. “What do you have for me, Nick?”

  “The usual.” He helped himself to coffee and took a seat. “Do you really want the litany?”

  Andrea had to smile. “Photocopy it and give me a copy. What’s on your mind?”

  “Did you hear what almost happened to MacLendon Saturday morning?”

  Andrea was surprised that Dare’s visit to the BOQ wasn’t all over the base by now. The military grapevine usually worked better than this. “I heard. Somebody punctured his hydraulic lines.”

  Nick nodded. “So he told you. I wondered if it was true.”

  “Yes.”

  “Begging your pardon, ma’am, but what the hell are we going to do about it?”

  “I told him I was going to investigate whether he liked it or not.”

  Nickerson nodded. “I’m glad you did, skipper. I don’t know who he called in to handle this mess, but I reckon it was OSI, and if you’ll excuse me for saying so, they ain’t accomplished diddly squat so far. I was going to ask for your permission to pursue an investigation on my own.”

  “I was going to ask you to join me in mine.”

  Nickerson smiled. “I’m with you all the way, Captain.”

  Andrea reached for the envelope and cut it open. Inside, as she had half expected, was an incident report on the events of Saturday morning. A hand-written note was attached.

  You said you were going ahead whether I wanted you to or not, so I thought you should have all the available information. Unfortunately I don’t have access to everything OSI may have learned, but everything we’ve been able to give them is here.

  Andrea looked up. “It’s all here, Nick, everything MacLendon can put together about what happened. After I read it, I’ll pass it on to you, but I don’t want anyone else to see it or to know that you and I are investigating.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Nickerson looked satisfied as he rose. “I’ll get you a copy of the weekend incident report.”

  Dare’s mood was, to put it mildly, crummy. He and the entire Wing were grounded as a result of Saturday’s events. No more flying until the culprit was found. The alert planes, the bombers that stood ready with nuclear weapons aboard, were surrounded by a tight cordon of security guards, some of whom were OSI. Dare had been angry enough on Saturday, but it was nothing compared to what he felt now at having his Wing’s operations hampered. One entire SAC bomb wing, an essential link in the nation’s defenses, had been brought to its knees by one or two crazies with a grudge. It was enough to make him crazy.

  The higher-ups didn’t like it, either. He ha