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  “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