Dare To Love

“You want children someday?”

“Absolutely.” And then she shared a shy smile with him. “If I can find a man who doesn’t love his aircraft more than me.”

“Maybe you’ve limited your field of choice. You could marry a civilian.”

“Are you joking? What civilian male is going to get up and leave his steady, secure job every three or four years when I get orders to transfer to another military base?”

“Women do it for men all the time. Why shouldn’t a man do it for the woman he loves?”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

It was Matt’s turn to smile. “Sure am.”

“You’re one of the few men I’ve met who hasn’t hidden behind that particular double standard, then.”

“I’m the idealist now,” he admitted. “Marriage means compromises. It won’t survive without them.”

“You’re talking from experience.”

He nodded. “I was married once. We each had certain priorities that had to be met. We found ourselves bending and giving. It wasn’t so tough. Matter of fact, it made the marriage better.”

Her eyes grew troubled. All of Kai’s instincts told her Matt Taylor was a rare human being. Now her assumption was being proven. “With that kind of attitude, I don’t think you’re divorced.”

“No, I didn’t divorce.” His voice softened, and he shook off the powerful feeling of loss. “Let’s talk about you. I’m a boring and depressing subject.”

“On the contrary, you’re intriguing. I have a feeling you’re hiding much more than you’re telling me.”

“Wouldn’t you if you were in my place? When this is over, you could get me identified to the cops on the basis of what we’ve talked about. I can’t risk that. It’s safer to talk about you.”

Kai glanced at her watch; nearly an hour had passed. She felt more emotionally stable. “If I get out of this,” she told him throatily, “I’ll never forget you or your kindness.”

“You’ve struck a soft spot in me, Kai Easton.” Matt appeared embarrassed. “I don’t know why or how, but you have. Maybe it’s your pretty green eyes affecting me.” Or maybe it was her, the woman who had reached out and touched the hidden chords of his heart and filled him once again with a vibrant life. “What do you do in your time off?”

Kai leaned against the wall, sliding her arms around her drawn-up legs. “Behind the apartment where I live there’s a wooded, hilly region. I love going for long walks just to get rid of the tension. I try not to think about my patients then.”

“You take your work home with you?”

“There’s no one to divert my attention from it. Sometimes I’ll invite a couple of guys who are on the mend home on a Saturday afternoon and treat them to a home-cooked meal.” She smiled. “Most of them have been confined to a bed for at least three months and are then transferred to a wheelchair. They haven’t seen much sunshine or been outdoors, and they have very few visitors. I try to get them out of the hospital for a couple of hours.”

“That way you maintain some semblance of home life for yourself.” Matt grinned. “Makes me almost wish I was one of your patients. But not quite.”

“I’d rather you be my patient than my kidnapper.”

“I’m not the type that likes to be mothered.”

Kai gave him a veiled look filled with irritation. “I’m not a frustrated mother or housewife.”

“Oh?”

There was a glitter of anger in her emerald eyes as she met his indecipherable look. “I would hardly ‘mother’ the man in my life, for your information.”

“Really?” Matt baited.

“There’s a huge difference between mothering a man and being a friend to him.”

“I’m teasing, Brat. Although,” he drawled, “you look pretty when you get that Irish dander of yours up.”

The glimmer left her eyes. “Or are you just trying to get my mind off the present situation?”

A slow smile crept across Matt’s sensual mouth. “Could be.”

“Why are you afraid of being known as a good guy?” Kai demanded.

He rosé stiffly to his feet. “Haven’t you heard? Good guys finish last.”

“Not in my book.”

He gathered up the blanket. “Don’t put me on any ‘good’ list. I’ve got feet of clay just like everyone else. Maybe more so than most. Why don’t you lie down and rest? I’ll leave the sack of food by the bunk in case you get hungry later.”

Fear leaked into her voice, and she stared at him with wide eyes. “Where are you going?”

“Not far. Just out into the warehouse. You’re looking tired, and I want you to get some rest.” Matt leaned down, brushing the area beneath her left eye. “You’re starting to get shadows. Angels of mercy like you need their sleep.”

Her flesh tingled wildly where he had grazed her skin. Kai’s heart pounded briefly. Matt was a kidnapper. But the evil surrounding his deed didn’t fit the man who had just touched her. Kai was clearly confused, and she saw a slight smile pull at one corner of Matt’s mouth. She knew he wasn’t going to tell her anything he didn’t want her to know. He was a man of infinite depth, of many secrets. And judging from the look in his bloodshot eyes, all the secrets he carried were either sad or dangerous in nature. Wordlessly Kai lay down, drawing the blankets up over her shoulders.

As she closed her eyes, Matt rearranged the covers a little and tucked her in. The light was snapped off, and Kai heard him whisper, “I’ll check in on you a little later. Try and rest.”

4

BOYCE AND WRIGHT looked up as Matt emerged from the room. The pounding rain was unrelenting, sending the hollow, pinging sound throughout the darkened interior. It increased Matt’s moodiness.

“Get a little while you were in there, Taylor?” Boyce snarled softly.

“Shove it.”

Boyce grinned, watching Taylor in the semidarkness. The flicker of a Coleman lantern drove away the circle of blackness that surrounded them. “When you got a good-looking broad like her around, that’s all I’d think about.”

Matt rubbed the bruised, bloodied knuckles on his right hand. Boyce appeared more subservient after the fight. Maybe it had been worth almost busting up his hand, after all. The swelling around Boyce’s left eye had blackened; the eye was nearly shut. “You’d better be thinking about contacting Easton again. It’s almost seven o’clock.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Boyce griped. He threw the cards down on the table, picked up his jacket and shrugged it over his meaty shoulders. “I’ll be back.”

Matt walked silently around the warehouse, checking out the possible entrance-exit points. The cops of Houston would be looking for them in earnest. And so would the local FBI agents. He stopped, thrusting his hands into his jeans’ pockets, surveying the steel girders above his head in the gloom. His mind swung back to Kai and their discussion. Why couldn’t they have met under different circumstances? He was drawn to her, rightly or wrongly, as sunlight was to warm, fertile earth. She was like the earth, he thought, continuing his sentrylike duty inside the building. There was a natural sensuality to Kai.

Matt could imagine the military men who had been injured in the line of duty responding to her wonderful smile and melodic voice. Kai’s touch would be sure. His mind wandered over the prospect of what it would be like to love her. He imagined what her thick hair would feel like as he ran his fingers through it. He imagined the velvet feel of her pliant, youthful skin against his own. Kai was fascinating. She was the only woman since Maura who had intrigued him enough to make him want to think about living again instead of just surviving. Dragging in a deep breath, Matt forced himself back to his duties. He halted, studying an old door half torn off its hinges. The rain was slashing in, leaving large puddles on the cracked concrete floor. He stared at them in thoughtful silence.

Was life always a road map filled with contours, wrong turns and dead ends? His eyes narrowed as he studied the lines radiating from beneath his feet. Didn’t it ever have a foreseeable beginning and ending, without the obstacle course that would eventually change life’s direction? No, Matt reminded himself, life was little more than a survival school composed of one gray day after another.

He ambled toward Wright, who remained seated. How did Kai interpret the world? Obviously quite differently than he did. Where he saw perpetual darkness, she saw light. She did her best to heal men’s broken, torn bodies and urge them to reach out and live once more. He smiled slightly as he completed his tour.

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