The Gauntlet

Molly knew from long practice to walk in on an all-male class as if she owned the place. She was grateful for the four years of experience Annapolis had provided, because as she opened the door, fourteen male stares met her. A blond-haired lieutenant nearest her smiled and thrust out his hand.

“You’ve gotta be Molly Rutledge. I’m Leland Bard, hoping to become a flight engineer, too.”

Bard’s infectious smile was just what she needed, and Molly shifted her load of books to her left arm to shake his hand. “Hi, Leland.”

“My friends call me Lee.”

“Great. Call me Molly.”

He gestured toward two desks. “Have a seat. I guess the festivities will be getting underway shortly.”

Relief was sweet for Molly. She had a friend already, and it helped break the ice. Before, Dana and Maggie had been like bookends, protecting her. There was something to be said for the Sisterhood, if only for providing companionship in very exclusive all-male surroundings.

Lee sat down, stretching out his short legs in front of him. “You weren’t what I expected.”

Molly slid into the desk next to him and neatly stacked her books under it. “Oh?” She opened her notebook, her pen ready. Soon the commandant and instructors would file in and be introduced. Then the students would be assigned to them.

“I was expecting some hard-charging, gung-ho ring knocker to make an entrance.”

She grinned, noticing the volume of conversation in the room was getting back to what it had been before she entered. She saw Martin on the other side of the room with a small, tightly knit group of what she was sure were pilots. His scowl had deepened upon her arrival. Devoting her attention to Bard, who appeared to be in his late twenties, Molly said, “I’m hard on myself, not others.”

“In this place, that’ll count. I understand there are eight flight-engineer students and eight test-pilot candidates. You realize only four from each group will make the grade?”

“Makes me nervous.”

With a sigh, Lee nodded. “I got here a couple of days ago. My wife found an apartment in Lexington Park for me and our two kids. Housing’s at a premium around here.”

Molly agreed. Without her considerable monthly allowance from her father, she couldn’t have afforded the apartment she’d rented. “It’s rough.”

“Gonna get rougher.” Lee leaned toward her, his head cocked but his gaze roving around the bantering student groups. “I think we’re lucky.”

“Why?”

“There’s a Marine Corps captain here by the name of Cam Sinclair—a TPS instructor. They call him ‘the Glacier.’ I guess he’s been here two years and is a hard-nosed bastard, failing sixty-five percent of the pilots he instructs.”

“Sounds like Lieutenant Griff Turcotte,” Molly said, thinking of Dana’s flight instructor at Whiting Field. She explained her comment to Lee.

“Well—” Lee chuckled after hearing about Turcotte “—we can thank our lucky stars we don’t have Sinclair. They say his face is made of granite. He never smiles, cracks a joke or does much of anything except stare you down. Ice in his veins in the cockpit and ice on the ground. Guess that’s why he’s a Marine—they drain the blood out of them during their swearing-in ceremony. Then they inject them with Marine Corps juice or something. At least, that’s what I’ve heard,” he said with a smile.

Molly smiled in return, and the image of the officer leaning against his doorjamb came to mind. His face had been utterly devoid of expression. Even Griff Turcotte, as much of a bastard as he’d been to Dana, was human, his feelings readable on his face. “I’m finding in this business that jet jocks hide a lot under that mask they wear.”

“Yeah, but Sinclair’s reputation is awesome. I mean, what happened to the guy to make him like that? Frankly, I’m glad we don’t have to interface with him much.” Lee grinned. “We just have to contend with these jet jocks who think they’re the greatest.”

“From what I hear,” Molly said, “we’re the power behind the scenes. The tests we design are the ones that make or break the whole thing. All those jocks do is drive the bus.”

Tittering, Lee replied, “Don’t let those boys overhear that comment, Molly…. Heads up—here come the instructors. Time to get this dog-and-pony show on the road.”

The small groups of students quickly took seats, and silence fell over the room as six officers dressed in flight suits filed in, somber expressions on their faces. In the second row, Molly was close enough to read the black leather patches sewn above the left breast pocket of each flight suit. Each instructor’s name was stenciled there in gold lettering.

The last man to enter was the one she recognized from earlier. There was a tight, coiled explosiveness to the way the officer walked; an internal tension was reflected in each of his brisk movements. Curiosity ate at Molly, and she quickly scanned the instructors’ name tags.

Her heart thudded once, underscoring her intuition. The last pilot was Cameron Sinclair, “the Glacier.” Those ruthless, roving, light blue eyes looked over the crop of students almost with disdain, she thought. Lee was right: the instructor’s face was absolutely expressionless.

But she would rely on her own internal radar, a special intuitive ability she’d had since birth, to make her final decision about Sinclair. She thought of Maggie’s contention that all women had this ability—something special passed on to them in their genes. If Molly ignored the obvious and allowed herself to experience the energy that surrounded Sinclair, she felt no fear of him, only compassion. Why? Her left brain, that portion of her that used only logic, was stymied.

The instructors sat down in chairs facing the students. As the commandant got up to speak at the podium and introduce each instructor, Molly zeroed in on Sinclair. Once he’d perused the group, his eyes became unfocused, looking above the group at the wall behind them, as if he had mentally checked out, wasn’t really here at all, Molly noted. She sensed sadness around him. It wasn’t anything more specific than that. His eyes were opaque, hiding any feelings he might be experiencing. His generous mouth was flexed into a tight line, the corners drawn in, as if he were in pain.

Pain? Confused, Molly knew Sinclair had to be in top physical shape or he’d never be here at TPS. It couldn’t be physical pain. Her heartbeat suspended itself when Sinclair slowly turned his head and pinned his gaze directly on her. Heat swept up Molly’s face, and she quickly averted her eyes, nervous as she’d never been before. Had he sensed her perusal of him? He must have! Sinclair might be stone-faced, but his own intuition was very much up and functioning to feel her inspection of him so immediately.

Cam scowled, his focus remaining fixed on Molly Rutledge. Somehow he’d felt her gaze on him. When he’d shifted his eyes from the wall to where she sat, a sweet ribbon of discovery had flowed through him when he realized she had the most beautiful green eyes he’d ever seen. They were distinctly green and gold, like summer leaves kissed by sunlight. How intelligent and compassionate she appeared to be, he reflected, as her eyes widened when he caught her staring.

Disgruntled by his own thoughts, Cam wondered how he could really “know” that about Molly. Molly… Now he was calling her by her first name. Snorting softly, Cam pulled his gaze away from her. She had looked down quickly to avoid his stare, and Cam couldn’t resist looking at her one more time. Her cheeks were stained a flaming pink, her delicious mouth was compressed. There was such softness and openness to Molly that Cam continued to stare at her like a starving man. What the hell had gotten into him? Other women officers worked at TPS in various billets. He didn’t stare at them like a slavering wolf on the prowl.

When she licked her lower lip with her tongue, Cam groaned inwardly. It was such a sensual motion. Did she do it on purpose, knowing somehow that he was still watching her? No, Cam decided sourly; Molly Rutledge didn’t possess that kind of guile. Besides, Martin’s accusation that she’d slept her way into TPS was sheer stupidity on the student’s part. No one got to TPS without damn good grades and top qualifications.

Molly wasn’t the “type” to be at TPS, Cam decided finally. He knew that someday a woman would succeed at the male-dominated bastion that was TPS. Brutally honest with himself, as he’d always been, he admitted he’d expected a more assertive type of woman to beat down the door, not this angel face. How Molly would survive here was beyond Cam. And the way she’d handled the confrontation with Martin had been all wrong. She should have nailed him right between the running lights with equally harsh words, so Martin would respect her and back off. As it was, Molly was inviting another attack.

Well, she would have to learn to protect herself. Flight testing was a world that involved brash egos, keen intelligence and plenty of macho hustle. If she indeed had what it took, then that soft exterior was either a lie hiding a shark beneath it, or a facade to throw everyone off about her true strengths. Still, as Cam sat there waiting to be introduced and give his five-minute spiel, he wondered what Molly Rutledge really was made of. It wouldn’t take long to find out—TPS began in earnest tomorrow morning. From that point on, every student was in a life-or-death struggle to come out on top of the stack. Second place would never do.

Refusing to look up at the instructors, Molly could feel Sinclair’s cool, continuous appraisal of her. He was the last to speak, and she felt it safe to lift her chin and look at him then. His carriage was proud, his spine ramrod straight, his shoulders thrown back, shouting a justifiable self-confidence. As he wrapped his long fingers around the lectern and shifted his weight to one booted foot, Molly had her first opportunity to fearlessly study Sinclair.

She didn’t listen to his words as much as their inflection, the emotion behind them. There wasn’t much of that, she admitted. As Lee had said, he appeared to be a machine with no heart. Molly didn’t want to believe that about anyone. Still, Sinclair never cracked a joke, as the other instructors had, to put the students at ease. Nor did he smile. He was the only Marine Corps pilot up there; the rest were U.S. Navy personnel. Maybe it had something to do with interservice rivalry among the branches. The Marine Corps was a branch of the Navy and paid by the Navy. Molly smiled. No self-respecting Marine wanted to admit it; they were far too independent and arrogant to acknowledge that fact.

After the welcome-aboard speeches, it was time to meet her instructor. Molly liked First Lieutenant Vic Norton. One of two flight-engineer instructors, he was short and compact, with curly black hair and a round face that was sober looking, yet friendly.

As Molly prepared to leave the room after a round of introductions with her fellow flight-engineer students, she felt an odd sensation. Turning her head, she saw Sinclair’s blue gaze locked on her, even though he was standing with a group of aspiring test pilots clear across the room. Sudden heat threaded through her, shakiness following in its wake. No man had ever had such a hpowerful effect on her.

Turning, she bumped into Lee. Her books went flying. All conversation in the room halted. Molly died inwardly.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to Lee, and crouched down to retrieve her books. When feeling particularly vulnerable, Molly had a terrible tendency to become clumsy.

She flushed with embarrassment as Lee bent over to help. “My fault, Molly.”

“No, it was me,” she murmured. All eyes were on her, and Molly tried to blot them out. What must Sinclair think of her? Did he realize how much he’d shaken her up? He probably thought she was a brainless idiot. And why did she care what he thought anyway?

Lee restacked the books into her arms and Molly quietly thanked him. Gradually the noise level in the room returned to normal, and she retreated as quickly as possible. The library was on the second floor, and that was where she wanted to be—alone. Lieutenant Norton had given them a huge reading assignment to prepare them for tomorrow morning’s class, and she wanted to take advantage of the extra time. The library would be a perfect place to read. At least there, she could escape Sinclair’s scathing blue gaze.

* * *

“Hey, Cam, take a look at this.” Vic Norton handed him a thick file marked Rutledge, M.

Cam took the folder, gesturing for Vic to have a seat in his office. The flight engineer shut the door. “What’s this?”

“The lady’s file. Man, it knocked my socks off. Now I know why she got assigned to TPS. Take a look.”

It was normal procedure for Cam to acquaint himself with all the students’ files. He tried to tell himself he hadn’t particularly been looking forward to reading up on Molly. Opening the file, he quickly scanned the important data. His brows rose.

“She got washed out of flight school?”

“Yeah. Hung in for six weeks and then got deep-sixed. Still, the IP’s evaluation shows she’s got good aptitude, if she wanted to leave the service and go for a commercial pilot’s license. I think I’ve got a pretty good prospect in her.”

Frowning, Cam continued to page through her file. “You really think so?”

“Yeah, why?”

“She’s a cream puff, Vic.”

“Oh?”

“Look at her face.”

“Good-looking as hell.”

Cam glanced over at his friend. “Is that all you swabbies have on the brain—sex?”

Grinning, Vic shrugged. “Hey, I’m happily married, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still appreciate women. And Rutledge is definitely worth appreciating.”

Cam read some of her bio. “Comes from a well-to-do background.”

“More like a silver spoon, I’d say. Her father owns one of the hottest brokerage firms in the Big Apple. She’s got his genes. I’ll bet beneath that sweet face of hers is a real hustler. Those jet jocks think she’s soft, too, but my money’s on her to fool every last one of them.”

“She’s had it easy,” Cam remarked, handing the folder back to Vic. He wanted to hold on to it, but it would have appeared unusual. “It’s my experience that people who’ve had it easy don’t make it when the chips are down. I don’t think that face is skin-deep. She’s soft.”

“Naw, I think you’re wrong.” Vic grinned and tapped the folder against his knee. “I overheard one of your students bitching about her.”

“Martin, by any chance?”

“Yeah. He’s already bad-mouthing her to the other pilots.”

Frowning, Cam rubbed his jaw. “I saw him nail her in the hall. I’m his instructor.”

“He’s going to have to learn to keep his mouth shut, and if he’s got a problem, go to you.”

“Hmm.” Martin was one of those jet jocks who contended women were worthless—except in bed.

“Glad he’s your problem and not mine,” Vic said airily, rising. “Eat your heart out, Sinclair. I think Rutledge is gonna make the grade.”

Cam shook his head. “Never.” After all, his just looking at her in the classroom had made her drop her books, he thought. After Vic left, Cam sighed. For some damned reason, he couldn’t get enough of looking at Molly Rutledge. Why was he so drawn to her? Looking at his watch, he saw it was 1700. Time to eat. He wasn’t really hungry—he’d lost twenty pounds after the death of his family. The paperwork on his desk begged to be done. He’d go over to the restaurant on the base, get a take-out order and go to the TPS library. That was his place to hide. No phone to answer, no people dropping in unexpectedly to disrupt him. He could finally get his work done.

* * *

Molly’s stomach growled ominously. The library, small and intimate, was empty. She’d gotten interested in one of her textbooks on software programming, and time had gotten away from her. Looking at her watch, she realized it was 1730. Her back was to the library entrance, and she heard the door open and close. Her scalp prickled and she twisted around in her chair to see who had come in.

Her heart dropped hard in her chest. It was Cameron Sinclair. He stood, a scowl working its way across his broad brow. In one hand he held a sack of food, in the other an armful of files.

“You.”

Molly blinked at the whispered word. Said as a curse? Searching his hard, unyielding face, she wasn’t sure. His pale eyes pinned her, and she felt like quarry.

“I…uh, is the library off-limits after 1700, Captain?” She’d already screwed up, judging by the dark look on his features. Maybe at night the library was for instructors’ use only. She rose suddenly, her thigh brushing the desk, and two of its four legs jerked off the carpeted floor.

Her books went flying, sailing gracefully across the aisle to thud like small explosions into the row of library shelves.

Cam watched the unfolding events in disbelief. Molly had jumped up, almost toppling over the desk. Her hands flew to her cheeks as she stood watching her books fly. To compound the error, she stepped back, almost falling over her chair, which didn’t slide well against the carpeted floor. His own hands full, Cam was helpless to do anything but watch. Molly caught her balance, but the chair tipped over backward, crashing to the floor. Cam’s heart wrenched in his chest as he saw her eyes fill with utter embarrassment.

“Klutz,” she said apologetically, kneeling down in front of the shelves. “I’ve always been a klutz, Captain. I’m sorry. Libraries are supposed to be quiet.”

Cam sensed something sad in Molly’s apology. He set his sack and files on another desk. Her gold hair swung effortlessly, like a curtain, hiding her bright-red features, and Cam found himself wanting to reassure her that her very human reaction to him wasn’t bad or wrong.

“You don’t need to apologize.” God, he sounded hard and unforgiving. The thought was validated when she twisted a look up at him, her blond bangs thick and barely touching her brows, a panicked look on her face. Groaning to himself, Cam felt pulled into the shadowed worry of her now dark green eyes.

“My father always says when I get nervous I’m like an elephant in a china shop,” Molly offered breathlessly, reclaiming her books and stacking them back on her desk. As she leaned down to retrieve her pen and notebook, her hip caught the desk’s corner.

“Ouch!” Molly bit back the rest of her retort, dolefully rubbing her aching hip, sure a bruise would appear shortly.

Tucking her lower lip between her teeth, she avoided Sinclair’s searching gaze. Before she could bend down again, he was there, picking up her pen and notebook. Molly stared at his hand. His knuckles were large, the fingers long. Pilot’s hands. Strong, guiding hands. Forcing herself to look up, she expected accusation from him and tried to prepare herself emotionally for his censure.

“Here, take these before you do any more damage to yourself.”

Oddly, his eyes weren’t hard-looking any longer. Molly reached out, her fingers brushing his. The sensation of contact was sharp and warm. “I— Thanks, Captain.”

“First days are always nerve-racking.” Cam suddenly felt nervous, almost shy, about being in her presence. How could that be? He had more questions about his unexpected reaction to Molly Rutledge than he’d ever had about any woman in his life.

Gripping the notebook, Molly nodded and managed a slight smile. “The last couple of months have been all of that and more,” she admitted wryly.

“You always drop things when you’re in a clinch?”

His voice was hard again. Molly nodded. “I thought when I grew up, I’d leave the bumping and running into things behind. I guess I’m a born klutz.”

Her honesty unstrung him. Cam stared down at Molly, noticing every nuance. Her blond hair was fine, reminding him of spun sunlight. The lashes framing her eyes were long and curly. She wore no makeup, yet her lovely sculptured lips were cherry red. Her skin was flawless and velvety. The urge to reach out and brush her fiery-colored cheek was very real. Cam ruthlessly squashed the idiotic yearning.

Abruptly he turned away. “I’ve got work to do,” he informed her gruffly. “And to answer your question, the library is open to everyone. It’s not considered off-limits to students at any time.” Molly Rutledge was, indeed, a cream puff. And—God help him—he felt protective of her. What would happen when Martin or another of the test-pilot students blamed her for his poor grades? How could she possibly stand up to the withering cross fire that took place in a flight debriefing?

Feeling as if she’d proved to Sinclair that she was a loser, Molly turned and went back to her desk. As quietly as possible, she packed her books into her huge black leather briefcase and prepared to leave. Sinclair seemed to want to be alone, she thought. She felt like an intruder in his space, his territory. Dejectedly, Molly walked to the door.

“Good night, Captain Sinclair,” she said softly.

Cam looked up, her contralto voice moving through him like a warm memory of happier times, of times he knew would never again come into his life. “Good night, Ensign Rutledge.”

With a small sigh, Molly left. Outside in the hall, she stopped and took a deep breath. She’d felt eviscerated by his opaque gaze. She was a klutz, incapable of being calm and in control during a critical situation. Would Sinclair talk about her to the other instructors? Would they get a good laugh out of her clownlike antics in the classroom and library? Turning, she walked down the empty hall, no longer hungry, just sorely disappointed with herself.

Chapter Three

Molly was in the computer room, working on her very first flight test at one of the many terminals. Lieutenant Norton wasted no time getting his students busy programming. The large room had a tile floor, blue walls and overhead fluorescent lights that bothered Molly’s eyes. Every chance she got, she took the ream of papers spewed out by the printer into the library and worked on her budding flight test there, instead.

Without fail, TPS closed at 2100 every night. Only the instructors had keys to the massive facility. Once students left, they couldn’t reenter the building until 0600 the next morning when the instructor on duty reopened it. A number of other flight-engineering students shared the computer room with Molly, working laboriously at their terminals until 1700, chow time.

Left alone, Molly worked through dinner, time slipping away from her. It was Thursday, and she knew that test-pilot students would be assigned to them. Molly only hoped Chuck Martin wouldn’t be assigned to her. Obviously he hated her with a passion. Every time he saw her in the hall or in an adjacent classroom, he’d glare ominously. Not wanting to feed the flames of animosity, Molly refused to react at all.

The glass door to the computer room opened and closed. Molly sat at the terminal desk, calculator in hand, rerunning her mathematical figures to compute with the variable of the F-14 Tomcat fighter, which would be utilized in her particular test. It was a simple test in her estimation, getting her used to folding in knowledge of aerodynamics with edge-of-the-envelope testing on this particular aircraft. All Norton wanted from her was a series of high-altitude climbs, leveling off the plane and utilizing degrees of climb.

“Rutledge?”

Molly cringed inwardly. She’d recognize Martin’s grating voice anywhere. Lifting her head, she saw his angry features shadowed under the harsh lighting. He stood imperiously, hands on his hips, while he glared down at her.

“Yes, Lieutenant Martin?”

“You see the pair-up list?”

Molly hesitated. “You mean who we fly with?”

“Hell, yes. That list, Rutledge!”

“Lieutenant, there’s no need to shout. Obviously, you’re upset about something.”

His nostrils flaring, Martin jabbed his finger in her direction. “Damn straight, I am. You’re assigned to me for the first test flight on Wednesday.”

Molly saw the door open, and Cam Sinclair silently enter the room. Her lips parted, and she looked between the two men. Cam stood just inside the door, poised and listening. Evidently, Martin hadn’t noticed his entrance. “I don’t make up the schedule, Lieutenant Martin,” Molly said without rancor.