Two Days Of A Dream (8 page)

Lieutenant Pendle emerged from her tent. She was an average woman, younger than Kelly, with a wide face and thin, hard lips, her mousy hair pulled back into a tight bun that made her look like a Gestapo agent.

Pendle glared at Kelly. "She's not one of mine."

"I didn't say she was,
Lieutenant
." His tone of voice reminded the young officer where her place was.

Pendle set her jaw. She didn't like being put in her place. Kelly knew how she felt, but also knew Pendle would take it just like Kelly did with her superiors. They were team players. The similarity with the hard woman didn’t give her comfort for some reason, something she would ponder over later.

"This is Kelly." He looked down for confirmation. "Right?"

Kelly frowned. "Yes." Now why couldn't he remember her name? It's not like he woke up every morning with a different woman in his bed. Did he? She mulled that over as she watched him from her peripheral vision.

"What?" She riveted her hungry eyes on Kelly. "Give me ten minutes with her, and I'll make her tell you anything you want."

Kelly cringed back into Cap’s arms, grasping his uniform tighter than when the bombs went off. Not many women got her full attention, but Pendle scared her.

He chuckled. "That won't be necessary. When the colonel is ready to interrogate, he'll call for her. Right now, he's too busy to even think about her. Do you have someone that could guard her?"

Pendle looked disappointed that she couldn't torture Kelly. "Just a minute, sir."

The younger woman huffed and stepped back into her tent, returning quickly with a clipboard. "Most of my women are involved with the clean up." Kelly wondered why Pendle wasn't also helping.

Pendle rifled through the papers before she looked up with what could only be classified as a wicked sneer. "Yeah, I've got someone. Private Coleman is off duty right now and can babysit your bundle."

"Lead the way."

"I'm sorry, sir, but you can't come any farther." She tossed the clipboard into the tent, onto what Kelly imagined to be a bed of nails. "She won't get away from me; I'll march her over to Coleman's tent."

Cap waved Kelly’s well pedicured, bright red toenails at Pendle. "She's barefoot. Of course, if you want to carry her to Coleman, that's fine with me."

The Lieutenant looked disgusted. "All right." She pivoted and marched down a row of tents, yelling, "Man in the compound!"

With each turn and loud warning, a few women popped their heads out along the way to see who could be invading their territory, but mostly the tents looked vacant.

Lieutenant Pendle stopped in front of the last tent on the second row. "Coleman, front and center!"

Kelly heard a muffled moan from inside, but the dutiful soldier quickly exited and stood at attention. She had on camo pants, military tan T-shirt, and boots. Her black, curly hair was pulled back into a ponytail, which allowed the beautiful, clear, milk chocolate skin of her face to be the center of attention. Even without make-up, her natural beauty was stunning. High cheekbones and big, wide brown eyes gave her an exotic look.
If I looked like her I could easily be happily married by now
, she groused. She couldn’t see what in the world Coleman was doing in the middle of a desert.
Oh yeah
, she remembered,
this is a dream
.

Lieutenant Pendle turned to Cap, and said, “She's all yours."

Coleman's eyes widened for a split moment before she composed herself. She pressed her naturally full lips into a hard line.

Next to Coleman’s tent was a small rug, upon which Cap dumped Kelly. "Private, Colonel Broan wants you to guard this woman until he has time to interrogate her."

"Sir, yes, sir."

"She doesn't have any shoes, so I guess she'll have to stay here. Whatever you do, don't lose her. I'm going back to my tent and clean up what's left of it, and then I'm going to get some sleep. If there's a problem, come get me. Understand?"

"Sir, yes, sir."

Cap seemed satisfied and turned to Kelly. "Don't give the private any trouble. I'll come get you once I’ve slept."

Kelly didn't want to be left there with the two angry women. "I could help with your tent." She acted cool and in control, though she was anything but.

"But ..." Kelly made the mistake of stepping off the mat. "Ouch!" She jumped back to safety with something stuck in her foot.

All three chorused. "Sand burrs."

Kelly tried to balance herself to remove whatever was in her foot but kept having to put the skewered foot back down on the small speck of carpet. Cap knelt and took her foot in his big hand while she steadied herself with his rock-hard shoulder. For a strong guy, he was surprisingly gentle, nimbly removing the offending burr.

"I wouldn't recommend walking anywhere," Pendle sniffed at Kelly.

Pendle deemed Kelly inferior. Kelly could have waved her diplomas at Pendle and told the cold woman all about her professional achievements, but she doubted Pendle would have cared. She decided that as long as Pendle didn't
interrogate
her, she didn't care what the Lieutenant thought.

Cap stood, boring his eyes into Kelly’s. The action turned her knees to jelly and made her heart take off in a sprint around her rib cage. Wow, did he ever have an effect on her. And she didn't even like the stiff and distant officer. He wasn’t as bad as her father but bad enough.

He pointed his finger at Kelly’s nose. "Stay out of trouble." Lowering his head he shook it before looking at her one more time. He opened his mouth to speak but apparently changed his mind and left.

Kelly stood there staring after him. She wanted to run after him and beg him not to leave her here. Groveling to a man was very distasteful, though he seemed almost worthy of the humiliation. Besides, she would just end up with two feet full of burrs. She had to salvage what was left of her dignity so she didn't get eaten alive by these women.

Pendle grinned and strode off to catch up with Cap, eagerly drawing up close to his side. What did it matter to Kelly whether Pendle was hot for this stone cold soldier with the broad shoulders and abs to kill for? Pendle could have him. But when Pendle glanced back at her with a smug, superior look on that plain face of hers, Kelly wanted to knock that infuriating attitude off and stomp it into the sand. But she knew Pendle would probably just break her in half.

Which left Kelly with Coleman.

Chapter Twelve

She hadn't fooled Duran with her act of being in control. He saw the fear in Kelly’s eyes. When she stepped on that sand burr, he had almost changed his mind. She had such small feet and that bright red nail polish didn’t quite fit her tough attitude. He wouldn't have figured her for such a bright color after the way she handled Broan. He sighed. No doubt, she was intelligent and knew her way around people, but she was out of her element here. Most people were.

Pendle chattered on about how she would keep an eye on Kelly and not to worry, the prisoner wouldn't escape from her. Duran knew from observing Pendle that she would have pawned Kelly off the first chance she got. Pendle was not a people person. She could be efficient enough, but he didn't care for her company. He knew that if Talbit, the ever-affable skirt chaser, didn't make passes at her, there was a reason. It wasn't much fun getting to know someone who always had to be right and in control of everything. The fact that she could take a man out with what she had in her pockets didn't help her case, either. Of course, Talbit might have made a pass at Pendle but then didn’t tell him about the unfortunate incident.

Duran left Pendle at her tent, glad to be rid of her and the crazy blonde. He needed a good twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep, but he’d be lucky to get four. He fought hard to keep his eyes open because half-mast wouldn’t do. Already on the verge of sleepwalking, he needed to at least appear to be awake.

When his tent came into view, it was up and in pretty good shape. Duran decided that the men under his command were the most awesome men in the entire Corps. He walked around and inspected all the supports. Two were bent but had been straightened and jerry-rigged with wire and pieces of metal.

Larsen was out front when Duran finished his inspection. "How's it look, sir?"

"Tell the men they didn't disappoint me, like usual."

"I'll be sure to pass that on." He grinned as he handed Duran a clipboard. "Here's the duty rosters and last night's report." He followed Duran into the tent. "Lieutenant Stover said he would bring the morning report by as soon as it’s done."

All of his gear, placed neatly by his cot, looked no worse for wear. He felt his steel body drawn to the canvas surface as though the cot were a super conductor. He needed to lie down.

Larsen caught the gun and put it on the footlocker before sliding the trunk under the cot, then asked, "What did you do with the lady?" He removed gear from a chair before Duran sat to take off his boots.

"Nothing sir, Coleman's a very good soldier, sir." He backed from the tent. "I'd better go so you can get some sleep, sir." With that Larsen was gone.

Duran was too tired to call Larsen back and question the sergeant’s odd behavior, so he just let it go. He would make Larsen explain himself once Duran slept, if he could remember the conversation when he woke.

Stripping to his skivvies for the second time this morning, Duran achieved unconsciousness before he felt the cot underneath him.

Chapter Thirteen

Kelly hazarded a look at Coleman. The private still stood at attention with her jaw set like granite. As soon as Cap and Lieutenant Pendle were out of sight, she unfroze with a fury. She balled up her fists and brought them down on a crate by the tent. Breaking it to splinters.

Kelly cringed to the far corner of the mat.

"ARRRRGH!!!!!" She kicked the rubble at her feet, pieces hitting the tent across the way. "She knew it was my day off!" Ignoring Kelly, Coleman paced in a tight circle stomping as she went. "Now I won't get anything done. ARGGH!"

Kelly tried to look around for an escape but couldn't take her eyes off Coleman for fear she might be mistaken for another crate.

Coleman stopped in her tracks, breathing heavy and staring at the ground. She fumed for a moment longer more before she remembered Kelly. Slowly she turned and looked, anger still heavy on her beautiful face. Kelly cowered back, stuck on the infuriatingly small, two-foot square area, nowhere to go.

Coleman breathed in deep, letting it gust out. Then facing Kelly squarely, she walked her tall slender frame up close and stood over the quaking woman. Staring up at her made Kelly feel even more afraid, having never stared up at a woman before.

Coleman narrowed her eyes. "Why am I babysitting you?"

Kelly shrugged. Shrugging was good, and it made her look less like a coward. "Because the colonel said a female had to guard me."

Coleman stepped back and laughed. She put her hands on her hips and looked at Kelly from her messy hair all the way down the oversized clothes to her painted neon toenails.

"You don't look like something that needs guarding. Putting on a shelf, maybe, but not guarding."

Kelly narrowed her eyes. "I don't sit on anyone's shelf!" She sounded brave even to her.

She should have pushed for angrier to set herself above Coleman, but instead Kelly felt relieved she had not been that defenseless crate and laughed when Coleman did.

"Well, it looks like you're going to be sitting on Broan's shelf for a while."

"Yeah, I guess so."

The tumult of Coleman's explosion had drawn stares from her few neighbors and she motioned to her tent. "Let's go inside, and you can tell me how you got me into this predicament."

From her safe spot, Kelly stepped gingerly past the flap that Coleman held back. She hadn't thought about stepping into the tent. Not usually this slow on her feet, Kelly chided herself.

Coleman tied the front and back flaps back. Kelly hoped a wandering breeze might cool the stifling tent. Two perfectly-made cots, a footlocker under each, flanked the tidy area. Two canvas camp chairs accompanied them. The tent was sparse but somehow homey.