Full Throttle & Wrong Bride, Right Groom Page 3

  His new roommate broke the small silence. Lifting an arm, McIver waved him over. “Hey, Scott. Bring your beer and join us.”

  “Thanks.” Puffs of sand swirled under Dave’s feet as he crossed to the table. “It’s your beer, by the way. I’ll contribute to the fund or restock the refrigerator as necessary.”

  “No problem.”

  The others shifted to make room for him. Like Dave, they’d shed their uniforms. Most wore cutoffs or jeans. Kate Hargrave, he noted with a suddenly dry throat, was in spandex again. Biker shorts this time. Black. Showing lots of slim, tanned thigh.

  Damn!

  “We were just talking about you,” she said as he claimed a corner of the metal bench.

  No kidding. He hadn’t been hit with a silence like that since the last time he’d walked in on his brother and sister-in-law in the middle of one of the fierce arguments they pretended never happened. As always, Jacqueline had clammed up tight in the presence of a third party. Ryan had just looked angry and miserable. As always.

  Jaci was a lot like Kate Hargrave, Dave decided. Not as beautiful. Certainly not as well educated. But just as tough and very good at putting a man in his place. Or trying to.

  “Must have been a boring conversation,” he returned, stretching his legs out under the table. “I’m not much to talk about.”

  “We were speculating how long it’s going to take you to get up to speed.”

  “I’ll be ready to fly when Pegasus is.”

  Kate arched a delicately penciled auburn eyebrow. “The first flight was originally scheduled for next week. After Bill’s heart attack, Captain Westfall put it on hold.”

  “I talked to him late this afternoon. He’s going to put the flight back on as scheduled.”

  The nonchalant announcement produced another startled silence. Cody Richardson broke it this time.

  “Are you sure you can complete your simulator training and conduct the necessary preflight test runs by next week, Scott?”

  Dave started to reply that he intended to give it the ole college try. Just in time, he bit back the laconic quip. It didn’t take a genius to see that this gathering under the stars was some kind of nightly ritual. And that Dave was still the odd man out. He’d remain out until he proved himself. Problem was, he’d long ago passed the point of either wanting or needing to prove anything. His record spoke for him.

  “Yeah,” he answered the doc instead. “I’m sure.”

  The talk turned to the machine then, the one that had brought them all to this corner of the desert. Dave said little, preferring to listen and add to his first impressions of the group.

  There were definitely some personalities at work here, he decided after a few moments of lively discussion. Caroline Dunn, the Coast Guard officer, looked as if a stiff wind could blow her away, but her small form housed a sharp mind and an iron will. That became evident when Russ McIver made the mistake of suggesting some modifications to the sea trials. Dunn cut his feet right out from under him.

  Then there was the site’s top cop, Army Major Jill Bradshaw. Out of uniform, she lost some of her cool, don’t-mess-with-me aura. Particularly around the doc, Dave noted with interest. Yep, those two most certainly had something cooking.

  Which left Kissable Kate. Dave would be a long time getting to sleep tonight. The weather scientist did things to spandex that made a man ache to peel off every inch of the slick, rubbery fabric. Slowly. Inch by delicious inch.

  So he didn’t exactly rush off when the small gathering broke up and the others drifted away, leaving him and Kate and a sky full of stars. Dave retained his comfortable slouch while she played with her diet-drink can and eyed him thoughtfully across the dented metal tabletop.

  Light from the high-intensity spots mounted around the compound gave her hair a dark copper tint. She’d caught it back with a plastic clip, but enough loose tendrils escaped for Dave to weave an erotic fantasy or two before she shoved her drink can aside.

  “Look, we may have gotten off to a wrong start this morning.”

  “Can’t agree with you on that one,” he countered. “Scooping a beautiful woman into my arms ten seconds after laying eyes on her constitutes one heck of a good start in my mind.”

  “That’s exactly what I mean. I don’t want you to make the mistake of thinking you’ll be scooping me up again.”

  “Why not?”

  The lazy amusement in his voice put an edge in hers.

  “I made a few calls. Talked to some people who know you. Does the name Denise Hazleton strike a bell?”

  “Should it?”

  “No, I guess not. Denise said you never quite got around to last names and probably wouldn’t remember her first. She’s a lieutenant stationed at Luke Air Force Base, in Arizona. You were hit ting on her girlfriend the night the two of you hooked up.”

  “Hmm. Hooking up with one woman while hitting on another. Not good, huh?”

  “Not in my book.”

  Kate hadn’t really expected him to show remorse or guilt. She wouldn’t have believed him if he had. But neither was she prepared for the hopeful gleam that sprang into his eyes.

  “Did I get lucky with either?”

  Well, at least he was honest. The man didn’t make any attempt to disguise his nature. He was what he was.

  “Yes, you did,” she answered. “Which is why…”

  “What else did she say?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Denise. What else did she tell you?”

  A bunch! Interspersed with long, breathy sighs and a fervent hope that Captain Dave Scott would find his way back to Luke soon.

  “Let’s just say you left her with a smile on her face.”

  “We aim to please,” Scott said solemnly, even as the glint in his blue eyes deepened. Too late, Kate realized he’d been stringing her along.

  “The point is,” she said firmly, “I was married to a man a lot like you. A helluva pilot, but too handsome for his own—or anyone else’s—good. It didn’t work for us and I want you to know right up-front I’ve sworn off the type.”

  One sun-bleached eyebrow hooked. He studied Kate for long moments. “That flight I told you about? The one I took a year or so ago with the air force Hurricane Hunters out of Keesler?”

  “Yes?”

  “Your ex-husband was the pilot.”

  Kate’s mouth twisted. Obviously she wasn’t the only one who got an earful. “You don’t have to tell me. I’ll just assume John implied I didn’t leave him with a smile on his face.”

  “Something along those lines.”

  She cocked her head, curious now about the workings of this man’s mind. “And that didn’t scare you off?”

  His grin came back, swift and slashing and all male. “No, ma’am.”

  “It should have. As I said, it didn’t work out between John and me. Just as it wouldn’t work between the two of us.”

  “Well, I’m not looking for a deep, meaningful relationship, you understand….”

  “Somehow I didn’t think you were,” Kate drawled.

  “But that’s not to say we couldn’t test the waters.”

  “No, thanks.”

  She scooted off the end of the bench and rose. She’d said what needed saying. The conversation was finished.

  Evidently Scott didn’t agree. Uncoiling his long frame from the opposite bench, he came around to her side of the table.

  “You’re a scientist. You tote a Ph.D. after your name. I would think you’d want to conduct a series of empirical tests and collect some irrefutable data before you write us off.”

  “I’ve collected all the data I need.”

  “Denise might not agree.”

  There it was again. That glint of wicked laughter.

  “I’m sure she wouldn’t,” Kate agreed.

  “Then I’d say you owe it to yourself to perform at least one definitive test.”

  His hand came up, curled under her chin, tipped her face. Kate knew she could st
op this with a single word. She hadn’t reached the rank of lieutenant commander in NOAA’s small commissioned-officer corps without learning how to handle herself in just about any situation.

  She could only blame curiosity—and the determination to show Dave Scott she meant business—for the way she stood passive and allowed him to conduct the experiment.

  Chapter 3

  He knew how to kiss. Kate would give him that.

  He didn’t swoop. Didn’t zero in hard and fast. He took things slow, easy, his mouth playing with hers, his breath a warm wash against her lips. Just tantalizing enough to stir small flickers of pleasure under her skin. Just teasing enough to make her want more.

  Sternly, Kate resisted the urge to tilt her head and make her mouth more accessible. Not that Scott required her assistance. His thumb traced a slow circle on the underside of her chin and gently nudged it to a more convenient angle for his greater height. By the time the experiment ended, Kate was forced to admit the truth.

  “That was nice.”

  “Nice, huh?”

  “Very nice,” she conceded. “But it didn’t light any fires.”

  Not major ones, anyway. Just those irritating little flickers still zapping along her nerve endings.

  “That was only an engine check.” His thumb made another lazy circle on the underside of her chin. “Next time, we’ll rev up to full throttle.”

  It wouldn’t do any good to state bluntly there wouldn’t be a next time. Dave Scott would only take that as another personal challenge.

  “Tell you what.” Deliberately, she eased away from his touch. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready to rev my engines. Until then, we focus only on our mission while on-site. Agreed?”

  “If that’s what you want.”

  She leveled a steady look at him. Ignored the little crinkle of laugh lines at the corners of his eyes. Disregarded the way the deepening shadows cast his face into intriguing planes and angles.

  “That’s what I want.”

  Kate had almost as much trouble convincing her roommates she wanted to stick strictly to business as she had convincing Dave Scott.

  Cari and Jill were both waiting when she returned to the modular unit that served as their quarters. The unit was functional at best—three cracker box-size bedrooms, an even smaller kitchen and a living area equipped with furniture more designed for utility than for comfort. The three women had added a few personal touches. Kate had tacked up some posters showing the earth’s weather in all its infinite variety. Cloudbursts over the Grand Canyon. Snow dusting the peaks of the Andes. The sun blazing down on a Swiss alpine meadow. Cari had added a shelf crammed with the whodunits and thrillers she devoured like candy. Jill stuck to her army roots and had draped a green flag depicting the crossed dueling pistols of the Military Police over one bare wall. The result wouldn’t win any house-beautiful awards, but the three officers had grown used to it.

  They’d also grown used to each other’s idiosyncrasies. No small feat for women accustomed to being on their own and in charge. Still, their close quarters made for few secrets—as Cari proceeded to demonstrate. Curled in her favorite chair, the Coast Guard officer propped the thick technical manual she’d been studying on her chest and demanded an account. “Okay, Hargrave, re-port. What’s with you and the latest addition to our merry band?”

  “Other than the fact he drove me into the compound after my tumble this morning, nothing.”

  Polite disbelief skipped across Cari’s heart-shaped face. Jill Bradshaw was more direct.

  “Ha! Some weather officer you are. We all heard the thunder rumbling around you and Scott. You sure lightning isn’t about to strike?”

  “I should be so lucky.”

  Kate plopped down beside her on the sofa and yanked the clip out of her hair. Raking her fingers through the heavy mass, she gave the cop a rueful smile.

  “I’ll tell you this much. Dave isn’t like Cody, Jill. You struck gold there.”

  “Yeah, right,” the blonde snorted. “I had to put him on his face in the dirt before either of us got around to recognizing that fact. Not to mention almost arresting him for suspected sabotage.”

  Kate’s smile dimmed at the memory of those tense days when a mysterious virus had attacked one team member after another. As chief of security, Jill’s investigation had centered on the Public Service officer—who just happened to be one of the country’s foremost experts in biological agents.

  “Besides which,” Jill continued with a shrug, “Cody and I are doing our best to play things cool until we wind up the Pegasus project.”

  It was Kate’s turn to snort. “The temperature goes up a good twenty degrees Celsius whenever you two are in the same vicinity.”

  Loftily, her roommate ignored the interruption. “From where we sit,” Jill said, including Cari in the general assessment, “your Captain Scott doesn’t look like he knows how to cool his jets.”

  “First, he’s not my Captain Scott. Second, we conducted a little experiment a few moments ago, the nature of which is highly classified,” she added firmly when both women flashed interested looks. “Bottom line, the captain and I agreed to focus solely on Pegasus while on-site. As the three of us should be doing right now.”

  Jill took the hint and stopped probing. An intensely private person herself, she hadn’t looked forward to sharing cramped quarters with two other women. After weeks with the gregarious Kate and friendly Caroline, she’d learned to open up a bit. Falling head over heels for the handsome doc assigned to the project had certainly aided in her metamorphosis.

  “Speaking of Pegasus,” Cari said, patting the thick three-ring binder propped on her stomach. “Captain Westfall sent over a revised test plan while you were out, uh, experimenting with Dave Scott. Our air force flyboy starts simulator training tomorrow morning.”

  “Yikes!” Kate’s feet hit the floor with a thud. “I’d better get to work. I want to input a different weather-sequence pattern into the simulator program. Talk to you guys later.”

  Heading for her bedroom, she settled at the small desk wedged in a corner and flipped up the lid of a slim, titanium-cased notebook computer. The communications wizards assigned to the Pegasus project had rigged wireless high-speed satellite links for the PCs on-site. Kate could access the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency databases from just about anywhere in the compound.

  The databases were treasure troves containing information collected over several centuries. Kate took pride in the fact that NOAA could trace its roots back to 1807, when President Thomas Jefferson created the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, the oldest scientific agency in the federal government. Congress got involved in 1890 when it created a Weather Bureau, the forerunner of the current National Weather Service. In 1970 President Nixon combined weather and coastal surveys, along with many other departments to create NOAA.

  The major component of the Department of Commerce, NOAA had responsibilities that now included all U.S. weather and climate forecasting, monitoring ocean and atmospheric data, managing marine fisheries and mammals, mapping and charting all U.S. waters and managing coastal zones. Counted among its vast resources were U.S. weather and environmental satellites, a fleet of ships and aircraft, twelve research laboratories and several supercomputers.

  Civilians constituted most of NOAA’s personnel, but a small cadre of uniformed officers served within all components of the agency, as well as with the military services, NASA, the Department of State and the new Department of Homeland Security. A privileged few like Kate got to fly with the Hurricane Hunters based out of the Aviations Operations Center in Tampa.

  Kate hadn’t intended to join NOAA or its officer corps, had never heard of the agency when she started working part-time in a TV station while still in high school. Before long, she was helping analyze data and put together weather reports. She didn’t seriously consider a career in weather, though, until Hurricane Andrew devastated her grandparents’ retirement community just outside Mi
ami. She spent weeks helping the heartbroken couple sort through the soggy remains of fifty-two years of marriage. The experience gave her keen insight into the way natural disasters impacted people’s lives.

  After that wrenching experience, weather became not just a part-time job, but a passion. Kate majored in meteorology in college, served an internship with the National Weather Service’s Tornado Center in Oklahoma, went on to earn a master’s and then a doctorate in environmental sciences. Now one of the senior scientists assigned to NOAA’s Air Operations Center, Kate regularly devoured materials on everything from tidal waves to meteor showers.

  Captain Westfall had handpicked Kate for the Pegasus project based on her expertise and her reputation within the agency for always producing results. Pegasus wasn’t designed to fly or swim through hurricanes, but it was expected to operate on land, in the air and at sea. Kate had drawn on NOAA’s extensive databases to design tests that would stress the vehicle’s instrumentation and its crew to the max in each environment.

  For the land runs, she’d simulated sandstorms, raging blizzards, flood conditions and blistering heat. For the airborne phase of the tests, she planned to subject the craft to an even more drastic assortment of natural phenomena.

  Her fingers flew over the keyboard, reviewing the test parameters, adjusting weather-severity levels, adding electronic notes to herself and the senior test engineer who’d have to approve any modifications to the plan.

  A final click of the mouse saved the changes. Kate sat back, a small smile on her face.

  “Okay, Captain Dave Scott. This little package ought to put you through your paces. You and Pegasus both.”

  Still smiling, she changed into a well-washed, comfortable sleep shirt. It was early, not quite ten, but she’d have to be up by six to squeeze in her morning run.

  Usually Kate zonked out within moments of hitting the sack. Tonight she couldn’t seem to erase the image of a certain pilot. Or the memory of his mouth brushing hers. Damn, the man was good! Despite her every intention to the contrary, he’d certainly left her wanting more.