Two Days Of A Dream (5 page)

He took one of her soft, not wanting her to run any farther. She didn't fight him or Larsen, who took the other arm. They watched her shocked face. A couple of guys took a few steps toward them, but Duran waved them off.

She obviously didn't understand the Marine's code of respect for women, even when they were ditzy blondes. She turned her wide eyes on him, and he had to fight the urge to protect her. Protect her from what, he didn’t know.

She quietly groaned as she went slack. Duran caught her limp body and lifted her into his arms. She wasn't thin and frail like his wife ...
ex-wife
, but she certainly couldn’t be called hefty either.

Without much effort, Duran returned to his tent and laid the woman on his cot. Though it covered her, the thin gown didn't hide the contours of her body. It had been a long time since he held a woman in his arms, and he'd taken a lot of cold showers since his divorce. He covered her with the thin blanket from the foot of his bed.

No use torturing myself
.

He picked up his uniform with two days of sweat and put it back on. While pulling on his T-shirt, he realized he had closed his eyes and almost couldn't pry them open again.

Man, I need sleep.
He rubbed his eyes with his palms.

Duran was lacing up his boots when Talbit showed up with his med kit and his usual sarcastic grin.

"Where's the woman who collapsed in your tent?"

Duran pointed to his cot, and Talbit took out his stethoscope, halting as he got a good look. "Larsen wasn't kidding when he said she was pretty."

Talbit was taking her pulse but ran his eyes down her again. "She looks very healthy. Man, why don't I have this kind of luck?"

Duran huffed, Talbit could be infuriating. "Luck? I wouldn't call this luck, unless you mean bad luck. I should be sleeping right now, not having to deal with some crazy woman."

"Well, if you don't want her I'll take her."

"I wouldn't give you Osama Bin Laden."

"I wouldn't
want
him."

Chapter Nine

Kelly was in a tree. High above, her true love sat on a roughly made platform, and all she could see was his outstretched hand, ready to pull her up. The smile in his voice took away her fear of heights as he called her name.

"Uh huh." The older voice didn't sound convinced, and Kelly tried to ignore them but couldn’t get back to her other dream.

She peeked through her lashes but all she could see was someone's camo shirt. It wasn't one of the two talking; they were farther away, she thought. This one held her wrist and adjusted a wet cloth on her forehead. The stethoscope was an obvious clue.

"Colonel Broan, sir, I went to sleep this morning alone."

The guy she could see put her wrist down. "Is it your birthday, Cap?"

Cap? Ah, yes, the big man from earlier
.

Kelly's eyes flew open. "How dare you! That's a terrible thought!" She pulled the wet cloth from her head and threw it at the man. "Me, someone's birthday gift? What an insult!"

Talbit, a wiry fellow with a mischievous grin to match his impish green eyes, leered down at her. An easy read, Kelly knew exactly what he wanted. She would avoid him. The last thing she needed was to get involved with a man like him.

The other two crowded around, making Kelly self-conscious at being towered over. She pulled a light blanket from her waist and tucked it under her chin and laid back. Between the men and the blanket, the airflow was cut off, ratcheting up the heat. She wanted desperately to uncover to cool off. She concentrated on the fuming older man—Broan, she thought they said—to take her mind off the heat.

"What's your name?" Broan demanded. His frown reminded Kelly of her stern father and she jumped.

It surprised her when she flinched, his bark brought back memories from her childhood. She didn't understand why at thirty she was still cowering from her father. How pathetic.

She didn't want to tell him anything but felt it prudent not to make him any angrier until she had a handle on him. "Kelly," she snapped back.

"You don't know how you got in my tent or into camp?" The captain's brow raised, but he showed no other emotion. Cold as a rock.

"I don't even know how I got into Iraq," she confessed with a shrug.

"What!" Broan bellowed, turning redder in the face just like her father. Uncanny. Obviously this was the colonel the young sergeant had spoken of. No wonder the captain had jumped at his command; Broan had an air of authority about him. "What kind of cock and bull are you trying to feed us!" His tenuous control cracked in his voice.

She saw Cap frown as she straightened her shoulders. "I'm not trying to feed you anything! Last night I went to sleep in my bed in Lincoln, Nebraska.This morning I woke up here." The truth was the truth and even this clone of her father should be able to see that. If she had thought about it, she might have laughed at the absurdity of such an assumption. Her father never understood anything. Her father couldn't have seen the truth if it bit him.

Persperation beaded on the colonel’s forehead and a wet stain had developed under his arm pits. Perhaps now would be a good time to chip away more of his control and turn some of this conversation back on the red-faced colonel.

With her chin up she returned his glower. "What kind of place is this that anyone can get past security?"

Broan's jaw dropped. Direct hit!

She waited for it. Ah, there it was, the red deepened and Broan's eyes bulged. His sputtering went up an octave when he couldn't find anything to throw back at her. It was good to know she was one of the few to buck him. That would give her an upper hand, but she tucked that tidbit of information away to use later, if she really needed it. Meanwhile, she would let him huff over this new encounter for a while; it was good for him. It was good for Kelly, too. It gave her time to study him.

The captain eyed her. The frown was gone but now he showed no emotion. There weren't many she couldn't read, but this one wasn't revealing anything. What was he thinking? She'd always had trouble with the cold ones. Another one for her to stay clear of.

The colonel opened his mouth to yell at Kelly, but the doctor interrupted what most definitely would have been a tirade. Her father used to blow up like that all the time.

The doctor held his hand up then spoke, leaning closer to her. "How do you think you got here?"

She might as well tell them the truth; it didn't matter anyway. "This is a dream, and I'm going to wake up soon.” Then back to her dull, predictable life. "So all this yelling isn't necessary."

The doctor snorted. "You think you're dreaming?"

She nodded once, curtly, but what she wanted to do was hit him with something. She looked around, hoping to find something suitable to throw at the obnoxious doctor, but nothing close by was small enough for her to lift, so she settled for ignoring the odious man.

The colonel glared. "When I find out who did this, I will kick his butt all the way to a court martial!"
He sure wants to wring someone’s neck, since he can’t have mine
, Kelly thought, smiling inwardly. She had him.

The doctor with the mischievous eyes leaned into her. "Were you drinking last night?"

Kelly frowned as she perceived the doctor was searching for buttons to push. His rehashing the idea that she could be a birthday present more deeply insulted her.

"I don't drink." Kelly couldn't afford to be out of control and still keep her edge. "Drinking is for second place."

Cap raised his eyebrows, nothing else.
What did that mean?
she wondered, frustrated at not being able to read him.

"This is ridiculous." The colonel was redder in the face.

It was uncanny how alike the colonel and her father were. She always knew when her father was about to blow up by how deep the shade of red became. The colonel was redder than her father had ever achieved, and she wondered how deep the shade would get before this one blew. The thought of pushing Broan harder just to see how he reacted played through her mind.

Broan built up his air supply, but the captain cut in first. "Wait, Colonel, there's got to be a perfectly logical explanation. Maybe her convoy was attacked and in shock she got lost."

The air rushed from the older man’s lips, and the colonel raised his bushy salt-and-pepper eyebrows. "A convoy!" His voice was thick with derision. "Dressed like
that
, Captain!"

Now that the captain had diverted the older man’s attention from Kelly, she would have to set up another chance to test the colonel. She layered her stern voice with authority. "Stop talking about me as though I'm not here." She watched Broan closely.

"According to you, you're not! Remember, you're just dreaming." Ah, the red deepened.
Good
.

She held the blanket tighter. "Obviously, I'm here in this dream!" The man was so much like her father that it was too easy.

A younger soldier stepped in, breathless. "Colonel, sir, forgive the interruption, sir."

Shoot! Another diversion.

She fanned the covers while they were distracted. Talbit ogled her now bare leg and grinned wider. She didn't care about the doctor; she was boiling in this oven.

Broan looked at Kelly. "Now, how am I supposed to explain
this
to command?" The Colonel turned his anger on the captain. "You find out who did this."

"Yes, sir."

The way the doctor was leering, Kelly was afraid he might try climbing in with her, so she pushed him off the cot. He landed with a thump, knocking over his medical bag.