Two Days Of A Dream (11 page)

"First off, this is a dream. Second, she's all show and blow. I'm protected and she knows it. By the time Broan gets around to interrogating me, my annoying alarm clock will go off."

Coleman dropped her shoulders. "You are
so
crazy."

Kelly smiled. "You're not the first to think so." Coleman leaned her head back and breathed deep a few times. The tense episode had
apparently
upset her. "So, are you going to write those letters?"

"So, sometime next year you want to go for a walk?" It felt good to tease Coleman, and it helped to release some of the tightness in Kelly's chest.

"Very funny.” Coleman stretched her neck and rolled her shoulders. “I think I'll read my new book. After that, I'll clean my rifle and pistol. That always calms me down."

"Yeah, cleaning a deadly weapon does that for me, too. Gotta bazooka for me?"

Coleman finally smiled. "I'm not going to give you a bazooka. You'd probably shoot yourself
and
me."

The heat in the tent was affecting Kelly. "You're really getting to know me." She yawned.

Coleman grinned. "Didn't get any sleep in Cap's bed, huh?"

Kelly looked at her for a moment before she understood Coleman's insinuation. She felt the heat that had nothing to do with the desert.

"No, it wasn't anything like that." Kelly smiled through her embarrassment. "Although I have to admit I wouldn't mind losing some sleep with him." She felt a need to clarify. "I mean as a number three." This was a dream, so she could be honest with Coleman and herself.

"Yeah, uh-huh." Coleman chuckled and nodded her head in agreement as she dug in her footlocker. "Yeah, you and half the women in camp." It didn't sound as though Coleman included herself in that statement. "Pendle would be at the front of the line … as long as she could be on top."

Kelly laughed despite herself. "That's the way I had Pendle pegged, too." She eyed the cot next to her. "You mind if I lay down?"

Coleman sat in her chair. "No, go ahead."

Kelly nudged the flip-flops off her feet and kicked them under the cot so they wouldn't be in the way. Moving her gown to the chair, she stretched out on the hard canvas. But no matter how she lay, she couldn't get comfortable in the bulky, hot clothes and tossed around a few times. Finally giving up, she sat on the edge of the bed.

"Would you mind if I changed into my gown? I just can't seem to get comfortable." She pulled the sweaty fabric from her chest.

"A what? Oh yeah, number three, husband." Coleman had a lot of questions on her face but she didn't speak. Kelly was thankful for her silence, because the subject of her romantic life was painful to think about, dreadful to talk about.

Kelly stretched back across the cot. Rolling to her side, she looked at Coleman, who went back to reading. Kelly was surprised at her own fatigue. Sparring with Pendle had really taken it out of her. But this was a dream, and she didn't think she should be tired.

Yawning, Kelly allowed her curiosity to take over. "Coleman, how come someone as beautiful as you is in the military, in Iraq, and not married?"

Coleman smiled over her book. "I want to go to college …”

Sleep overtook Kelly and she was drifting. She would have to apologize to Coleman when she woke up.

Chapter Sixteen

Duran’s eyes flew open to find blond hair askew across his arm and pillow. Shifting his position, careful this time not to jostle her delicate sleeping form, he looked down the length of the cot. Larsen’s proof lay beside him. Her head rested on his bicep with one soft hand caressing his neck.

With his slight movement, she nuzzled his chest, trying to get closer, tightening her fingers at the base of his skull. Every nerve in his body begged to let her stay, to let him sleep comfortably for the first time in many years. Unfortunately, his well-ingrained officer rose above the ruckus of his body and took control. A part of him wanted to knock the officer away, just for a little while. But
no, not in a war zone,
his officer side reminded him.

She sighed, her breath rushing across his chest. "I don't know. My dream changed.""What?" The woman was definitely crazy.

She scrunched up her nose before relaxing back into his shoulder. She fit nicely and felt so good right there, as though that’s where she belonged. He shook himself internally.
This is not the time or the place,
his officer side reminded him.
You don’t want a psycho woman,
his sane side chimed in.

"What do you mean 'she just disappeared'?" he sighed,
I’m too tired for shenanigans
.

Coleman grimaced at Kelly, almost … what … afraid?
Cap wasn’t sure and was quickly distracted by the soft, pale skin of Kelly’s neck that lay bare to him. He could have leaned his face down and kissed it … but he didn’t. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. Duran knew he needed a cold shower, or he was going to make a stupid mistake.

Coleman hazarded a step forward, her voice picking up speed. "Sir, she doesn't have any shoes and she's wearing her nightgown, but no one saw her in camp."

"Huh?" That caught his attention.

"I asked everyone I passed if they saw a blond woman in a white nightgown and no one had. Larsen was sitting in front of his tent, just down this row and didn't see her."

He thought a moment as he pulled her tight in his arms. "It’s tempting to keep you here," he whispered louder than he intended.

She snuggled in, grasped his dog tags and pulled them under her chin where she tucked her small hands. "That's fine by me."

Oh, how Duran wanted to keep her here. "But it’s not going to happen." His statement was as much for himself as for Kelly's sake. He pulled the covers off and released her, before he became weak and change his mind. "Coleman, take her back to your tent." He clutched the side of his cot so he couldn’t reach out and pull her back to him.

"Yes sir." The private held her hands out as though he were going to hand her the woman. He would have laughed, but he was even too tired to hand her a decision.

Coleman looked at Larsen, who shrugged.
That's right. Larsen hadn’t been here for Talbit's bad joke.

Duran nudged her head with his shoulder. "Out."

Her lip protruded further before she quickly sucked it in. If he’d judged her right, she wouldn't plead with him; she was too proud for that. It was lucky for him that she was.
She’s the type who would want it done her way, on her terms. Well, she’d be waiting a long time for that
, he thought as he smiled to himself.

With some effort she turned over in the small space. Every movement zinged through Duran’s body. As she stood up, Coleman handed her the clothes he had lent her and an old pair of those rubber open sandals.

I’m certainly not going to leave my own tent.
He smirked. "It's just a dream, so it doesn't matter if I watch."

She stood straight for a moment. "That's true, I hadn't thought of that."

Was she serious? She couldn't really believe this was a dream? She turned her back to Duran and pulled the sweats on under her gown. Duran realized, as she pulled her gown over her head, she could most definitely be serious.

He squished his eyes shut and clamped his hand over them as a second precaution. He tried to force the sight of her creamy bare back from his mind. He hadn’t been fast enough to avoid a scene that would haunt him for a long time. Her face floated across his eye lids, her eyes becoming bigger and bigger until that was all he could see.

A small snore and then a snort jerked him awake. He blushed at the realization that the awful sound had come from him. He moved his hand and struggled to open his eyes. Blinking a few times, his vision cleared.

Kelly didn't move fast enough, so Coleman dragged the smaller woman out. Kelly's eyes were soft as they lingered on Duran. He had wanted to pull her back to him but had kept his arms rigidly at his sides. He didn't need a crazy woman in his life; he needed sleep. Or so he kept telling himself.

Chapter Seventeen

Kelly had an overwhelming urge to go back to Cap, to hold and rock him to sleep. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to mother him or wife him. Hmmm. That deserved further thought.

She had been shocked that he’d hid his eyes. A gentleman and honorable, too, a rare trait, she knew all too well.

Kelly felt a twinge of guilt for having been the reason for waking him. If only Larsen and Coleman hadn't come to tell Cap, she could still been wrapped in his strong embrace. But now that he knew, he wouldn't let her stay in his tent, and surely he wouldn't let her climb back into bed with him. She had felt very safe there … Yeah, he was very honorable.