Mary Wine (18 page)

a week later, loren awoke to incoming aircraft.

the walls of the house actually shook. loren opened her eyes as rourke stroked her face one last time. she was draped across his bare chest.

raising her head, she looked into his eyes. dark shadows betrayed the fact that he hadn’t slept very much. early evening light filtered through the blinds as the windows rattled violently once again.

“here come the troops.”

her clothing landed on her bare body as loren brought her eyes around to rourke. his face was deadly serious as he efficiently donned his fatigues. his motions were razor-sharp.

kicking her legs over the edge of the bed, loren followed his example. the noise drifting up from the front of the house told her they had company and that the hourglass had run dry. she’d kept her word and failed to develop even the hint of a symptom of tai forest.

their quarantine was over.

rourke caught her against his body. his mouth captured hers in a deep kiss that lingered even after he pulled away.

“finish dressing and come out. it’s time to tie up the details.” still struggling with her bra, loren didn’t look up ‘til rourke had left.

she frowned

at the empty doorframe and reached for her shirt. the man transformed from lover into major in one second flat. the week they’d spent in bed evaporated with the morning sun.

the hallway was full of the sounds from the rotors of multiple helicopters.

loren followed the noise until she stood in the front doorframe.

technically, she was still in the house. the front drive now held three additional helicopters.

the men who stepped down from the aircraft were all wearing the green and brown fatigues. it was like she’d stepped into an action movie.

her white tee-shirt was the gleaming exception to the military dress code.

rourke lifted his head to focus his eyes on her. the man in front of him turned to eye her as well.

rourke was a big man. his companion was a giant. his eyes caught hers before he turned to walk toward her.

“lavender rain loren?”

“yes.” god, she hated her name! loren looked past the man for a moment as her father stepped down from one of the aircraft.

128

the small insignias sitting on the giant’s collar said he was a colonel-general. the highest rank a colonel obtained before getting his first star. it was an achievement most officers never got to wear.

letting her eyes travel over the collection of classified helicopters and armed men, loren decided finding a man here with this rank wasn’t really that surprising. add in the word psychic and she felt a little shiver shake her spine. top secret might be used in modern moviemaking, but this was the real thing.

that shiver left a tingle behind in her brain. loren considered the feeling as she looked around for rourke. no one brushed her mind like that except for him. instead she looked into another pair of emerald green eyes. these didn’t belong to another brother. loren found herself staring at a woman who was smaller than she was.

coal black hair was pinned on top of her head. she was inspecting loren with those eyes exactly like rourke did, only it was clear she held a wealth of experience in the art.

the corners of her mouth lifted as loren felt her releasing her hold on her mind. rourke stepped up onto the porch to offer the woman a hug. loren couldn’t help but smile. she was half the size of her son, but it was very clear that this was the woman responsible for raising rourke into the man that he was. she embraced her son with clear joy.

a man stepped forward and waited for his turn. he was the only one not wearing military fatigues. the tan uniform declared him to be from the local sheriff’s department. his face told loren that this was rourke’s father.

the men walked down the steps to join the group of military men. loren keenly felt her civilian status as she stood on the porch uncertain about what was happening. no one offered to fill her in, either. there was a clear line separating her from the current activity.

and rourke walked away with his men.

“i am grace campbell.”

loren turned and smiled at the first female she’d seen in almost a month, although rourke’s mother was certainly not in the same category as any woman that loren knew. there was an ease that she displayed around the military precision that surrounded them. she was part of the group that loren was excluded from.

“grace!” colonel jacobs aimed his voice up to the porch, making grace shake her head.

“we’ve been summoned.”

“i guess we’d better fall in then.”

grace didn’t agree but kept her mouth closed. her son was being stubborn and she wanted no part of it, but emotions often unsettled the most basic of people. when it came to love, even the most practical of humans reacted with disbelief.

grace considered rourke a moment, and thought that her son was very much like

his father. brice campbell had once declared that she would never outrun him and

129

grace decided

that loren would discover

that facet of

the

campbell

personality…firsthand.

everyone was loading into the aircraft. loren followed grace as the woman walked straight to one of the panthers and climbed aboard. a ranger held the rear door open

for loren, making her angry. she knew how to get into a helicopter all by herself!

she let her temper rise as the aircraft lifted off the ground. loren embraced the heat

of temper because otherwise she just might remember that rourke had boarded a different helicopter.

the black aircraft rose above the house where she’d learned so much, before they circled around to come back around to face the compound. two trails of smoke headed toward the house before the structure exploded into a fireball. flames shot up into the morning air as another round of missiles were fired at it.

loren slapped a hand over her mouth as she watched the complete destruction of every last thing that could remind her that rourke campbell had ever really existed.

the pilot turned the aircraft away from the fire. loren felt her emotions drain away

as the mountains gave way to the suburbs of the city limits. they touched down at a small city airport where the local sheriff’s department took charge of putting her onto a commercial plane.

toby didn’t even accompany her on the flight back to southern california.

instead loren stared at the letter that her son had written to her. dr.

jasper had decided it was time for her son to expand his mind at m.i.t.

it was better that way. loren folded the letter and tightened her resolve. she’d always known it had to end…and so it had.

130

“you know, for a man who just cheated death. you look mighty unhappy with the result.”

rourke tossed a blackened timber into a growing pile before growling at clay.

“shut up.”

clay laughed instead.

“clay, stop being an ass.”

jared campbell stepped up beside rourke to survey the remains of the house.

thin tapers of smoke still rose from the blacken skeleton. rourke lifted an eyebrow as he noticed that jared had come wearing an old set of fatigues. a pair of work gloves was half tucked into the waistband.

“you plan on helping this fool?” clay looked at the mess the fire had left and then back at his brothers. “can’t you two wait until it at least cools off completely?”

“no.” rourke went back to work. insanity was hot on his heels and he needed the work to help outrun it. there was an empty cavern in the center of his chest that was about to kill him.

“all right, let me call in some equipment.”

“my men will be here in twenty minutes with it.” jared yanked his gloves on and joined rourke as the two men began to break down some of the remaining plumbing. everything had to go before construction could begin on a new home.

rourke considered the look jared gave him. a grin lifted the corner of his mouth as

jared raised that eyebrow higher.

“you were right, it’s bloody intense.” jared laughed in a low rumble as clay joined the labor. “what’s intense?” rourke turned to look at his younger brother.

“you’ll know when you run into that preacher’s daughter.”

“let’s get one thing clear me hermanos… due to the fine example you two fools have set for me, i am never going to fall in love.”

“what’s the matter with love?”

brice campbell pulled a work glove onto his own hand as the mountain flooded with men all preparing to help out their comrade.

rourke watched clay roll his eyes as their father gave him the raised eyebrow of authority. love was overwhelming. it was digging a trench through his mind as he searched for the gentle touch that loren and he had shared only one short day ago. love was the gut-wrenching fear that she’d be happier back in her life.

131

love was goddamn intense!

fit for duty.

* * * * *

such a simple phrase. loren dragged her steps as she made her way toward the medical center lab. there was nothing familiar about the course. there should have been. an exam was routine in her high-risk profession. blood tests a monthly event. she suddenly felt like a stranger in the very hallways that she’d made into her home. the white tile of the hospital corridor was so plain. loneliness wrapped around her as silence filled her ears.

rourke campbell had filled every second of the day.

lifting her chin, she smiled. there were no regrets. she’d lay the memories aside and enjoy them one at a time for each night of her life.

the lab was efficient and handed over her results. loren scanned the numbers before she felt her heart drop yet again. negative. she was fit for duty.

she wasn’t pregnant. with that simple blood test, left the last hope she had of seeing rourke again.

“welcome back, loren, missed you.”

“thanks.”

“captain already has orders for you.”

“that so?” loren smiled at cammy, the senior lab nurse, before she turned toward the locker room. orders sounded great. having been off duty for a month, her position had been filled on the flight schedule. it would take another couple of weeks to rotate her back in. there was a waiting list a mile long for her position on the helicopter but she would get it back.

in the meantime, loren had feared she’d be delegated to emergency room duty. being stuck in the hospital was near drudgery. yup, orders sounded great! even doing elementary school fire awareness programs would beat er watch. that was a job they stuck the new emergency medical technicians on for them to gain experience in a place where there was someone to take up any slack they might leave.

she turned toward her locker. loren buttoned up her uniform and adjusted her badge before making her way to the captain’s office. the new firefighter stuck on desk duty smiled at her while his face was plastered with his boredom. the office had to be staffed by fire department personnel. otherwise they didn’t have a clue how to deal with the job. the young man on duty was clearly counting the days until he was finished and could report to a firehouse.

“loren, reporting for duty.”

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a yellow envelope was handed over. loren felt a true smile lift her mouth as she broke the seal. if the orders were sealed, the assignment promised to be something worth keeping quiet.

her face fell a second later. loren felt her blood freeze in her veins as she tried to absorb the three lines printed on the paper.

“loren! get your tail into my office!”

“yes, sir.”

she walked while still trying to understand her orders.

“who in the hell is sheriff brice campbell anyway?” captain murray hit the top of

his desk as he glared at her. “he’s got one hell of a nerve stealing one of my flight medics.” murray kicked his chair back and aimed a finger at her. “well, you don’t have to go. just say the word and i’ll call the stinking governor myself and tell him to go to hell. damn governor thinks he can reassign you because some washington sheriff wants a top of the line flight medic…well, he can find another one!”

loren didn’t say a word. instead she felt her body flush with warmth. in her hand was the ticket to join rourke…if she had the courage to take it.

“excuse me sir, but the helo is on the roof, looking for her.” the young firefighter ducked out of the door as captain murray exploded.

“they can rot up there!” murray shook his finger again. “a governor’s orders are mighty hard to disobey… but you call me and i’ll find a way to get you back.”

“hey, cap, don’t worry so much. i’ll handle it.” murray nodded as he mumbled about suits telling him how to run his station. loren turned and faced the elevator doors. in front of her stood a decision too large to grasp. if rourke couldn’t admit to loving her, she couldn’t hang around waiting for it. life was too short to waste on half-living. loren wanted it all or nothing.

she stepped out of the elevator and into the loud noise of a helicopter on the landing pad. her body fell into step out of memory but she blinked her eyes as she took

in the panther sitting on the pad.

the pilot cut the rotor as rourke jumped to the ground. his body was still the most amazing thing she’d ever set eyes on. strength radiated from him, making her smile.

he stopped and stared at her. his eyes were hidden behind mirror shades as he hooked his hands into his belt. he yanked the glasses off before talking the last step between them.

“i hate that uniform on you.”

he grinned at her like a boy even as his eyes returned to her badge and sharpened into slits. loren felt her emotions surge forward. but she clamped them solidly within her. rourke had never been a man to leave loose ends.

“i’m not pregnant.”

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“would you like to be?”

loren gasped. his voice offered a temptation so tempting, yet so unrealistic. his eyes watched hers with that razor-sharpness she knew so well. he offered his hand palm up.

“my dad is rather excited about having a real paramedic on duty.

benton is so remote, no one ever wants the job. but we’ve got the need for a modern department.” he grinned and offered his hand closer. “but i’ve got one condition.”

“that would be?”

“you have to make an honest man of me.”

“are you asking me to marry you?” loren whispered the words. her hope grew with each one that left her lips. rourke’s face fell into a solid mask as he reached forward and caught her chin.

“i’m asking you to get on that helo and follow me home. leave a posting you worked your butt off for and join a small-town fire department. move into my brother’s house because mine burned to the ground.” his fingers tightened on her jaw as his voice dipped into a low growl. “i’m asking you to let me spend the rest of my life loving you. to take a chance on marriage with a man who is demanding and stubborn but who loves you more then he can say.” tears burned her eyes. loren tried to force even a single word out of her throat, instead she simply smiled. joy radiated through her body chasing any doubt still clinging to her memories away.

life wasn’t

fair and

love wasn’t

predictable.

it

struck

without

warning.

transforming lives and merging souls.

“show me the way to the preacher…solider man.” 134

about the author:

i write to reassure myself that reality really is survivable. between traffic jams and children’s sporting schedules, there is romance lurking for anyone with the imagination

to find it.

i spend my days making corsets and petticoats as a historical costumer. if you send me an invitation marked formal dress, you’d better give a date or i just might show up wearing my bustle.

i love to read a good romance and with the completion of my first novel, i’ve discovered i am addicted to writing these stories as well.

dream big or you might never get beyond your front yard.

i love to hear what you think of my writing: [email protected].

mary welcomes mail from readers. you can write to her c/o ellora’s cave

publishing at 1337 commerce drive, #13, stow, oh 44224.

also by
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publisher ellora’s cave. whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit ec

on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.

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