Buch lesen: «Navy Orders»

CHAPTER ONE

CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER Miles Mikowski was in no mood to save a life this morning. He’d driven across Deception Pass Bridge onto Whidbey Island countless times, and while it was common to see walkers or runners working their way across the pass, nearly gale-force winds usually kept the bridge clear.

Not this morning.

His hands gripped the steering wheel of his truck as the image of a lone figure clinging to the bridge’s side rail morphed into the all-too-familiar Roanna Brandywine.

No, no, no!

“Christ.”

Regret tasted metallic in his instantly dry mouth. Not another one, not another sailor lost to the aftereffects of the war. He never should have stopped asking her to go out with him.

How had he not seen the warning signs with her? He couldn’t bear the loss of another warrior-in-arms to the war. No matter if the cause was a bomb, rocket-propelled grenade, bullet or PTSD.

Not on his watch.

Instinct took over as he floored his gas pedal to get to her. He slammed on the brake, unclicked his seat belt and burst out of the truck’s cab in one practiced motion. He’d already checked his rearview mirror and knew he had a clear shot across Highway 20 to Ro.

* * *

WIND RIPPED AWAY any warmth from the early-morning sunlight as Lieutenant Commander Roanna Brandywine walked across Deception Pass Bridge. She’d run four miles and looked forward to the hot shower she’d get at the base gym. But first, she needed to complete a mission she’d planned for weeks. Poised nearly two hundred feet above the turbulent passage that connected the Strait of Juan de Fuca with Puget Sound, she fingered the engagement ring that lay in the palm of her gloved hand for the last time.

Her desolation loomed large and real as she paused at the bridge’s midspan. The grandeur of Deception Pass never failed to make Ro feel at once small and insignificant yet able to conquer the world.

The small diamond that cut into her palm had been her link to what she thought a real, normal family life meant. Proof that she had somewhere else to go outside of the navy. That the navy wasn’t the only thing she’d ever succeed at.

Her illusion of having a happy, fulfilling personal life was just that. An illusion she’d strung out over several years and half a dozen navy postings. Her relationship with Dick had been part of her fantasy life away from the military.

Face it—the only part of your life that’s been real since you graduated from the naval academy nine years ago is your career.

She blinked.

No more.

She was done with pouring her emotions into the out-of-reach life that was never going to happen for her. Not in the way she’d planned it, anyhow.

So much of her pain was represented by this one tiny diamond.

She’d failed Dick. She should never have expected any man, especially a man who didn’t understand her need to serve her country and see the world, to wait years for her. Would she have waited years for a man who’d gone off like she had?

Dick knew her family as well as she did, and he’d loved her despite all its crazy ways. He’d fit in to her family so damn well, in fact, that he’d gone off and married her sister at the first hint of Roanna taking orders to Whidbey Island instead of getting out of the navy. Once her aircraft carrier pulled back into Norfolk, Virginia, they’d broken up.

Dick’s timing had been unfortunate, since he’d told her he was breaking up with her at the same time he revealed he’d married someone else.

Her sister.

Their last conversation still replayed in her mind, over a year later.

They were at a chain restaurant in downtown Trenton, New Jersey. Dick’s idea of a welcome-back-from-deployment meal. She’d been able to overlook his lack of planning even then. It was okay—he waited while she went off and fought wars and she put up with his not-so-desirable qualities when she came home. It was how they did things, both accepting less than what they deserved.

But then he’d revealed that their engagement was off. And, in fact, that he’d married the love of his life.

“Face it, Ro. We’re more like brother and sister than a couple. Have been for years.” He’d shot her a remorseful grin.

“I don’t know of too many brothers and sisters who sleep together,” she’d retorted.

Her bluster had been automatic, the reaction she knew she was supposed to have. In truth she’d been shocked at how little she’d cared. As if he’d done them both a favor. Maybe it was time for her to look at herself and even let go of whatever image she’d set out to achieve for her life.

But that would have meant she didn’t know where she was going next. Roanna always had a plan B, a safety net, and it had always been Dick. Plan A had always been whatever her navy orders said they were. The orders to Whidbey Island sent her three thousand miles from Dick. Did she really think he’d follow her out there and start a new practice in a strange state?

Again, her career was the one thing she’d been able to count on.

At Dick’s silence, her cheeks had grown warm, and then she’d started to shiver.

“I’m sorry if it wasn’t good enough for you, Dick.” They both knew she was talking about their sex life. At its height it had been a release from months of separation, a simple youthful yearning that demanded fulfillment in their teens and had turned into an obligatory ritual.

“Ro, don’t do this.”

“Do what, Dick? Get upset that you got married before you dumped me? Or feel hurt that you’ve been less than happy with our sex life?”

She’d sighed. Dick’s face bore an expression she’d never seen on him before—resignation. Maybe it’s time to grow up and move on, she’d thought.

“I’m sorry, Dick. This isn’t what I’d expected, but you’re actually right. We’ve been kidding ourselves for a long time, haven’t we?”

“I think so.”

The waitress had come and taken their orders. Ro had picked her favorite fish and chips basket while Dick—previously the king of junk food—ordered a grilled chicken salad, dressing on the side.

“So who is she, Dick? I’m impressed that she’s gotten you to eat healthier. She must be your soul mate.” She’d felt genuine when she’d uttered that, too. Really, it had become clearer as their conversation went on that Dick had saved both of their lives by finding another woman.

Dick had stayed silent. She’d felt a flash of compassion for him then, and for his new wife. Poor dears must have tortured themselves over how she’d take the news.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” She twisted off the small engagement ring they’d bought at the navy base exchange on one of his trips to Virginia Beach to see her. It had been inexpensive and tax-free, perfect for the young couple they’d been at the time.

“Here.”

He waved her hand, and the ring, away.

“No, no, I can’t take that, Roanna. Sell it or give it away, but it’s yours to do with as you wish.”

She’d held her hand out awkwardly for a few more heartbeats before she’d slipped the ring into the small front pocket of her jeans.

“So, do I know your bride, Dick?”

The guilt on his face had been palpable. She’d reached out to him and put her hand on his forearm.

“Dick, it’s okay. Cross my heart. I know you must think I’m in shock or something―maybe I am―but deep down I know this is the best thing for both of us. And I really, really want you to be happy. So who is she?”

His gaze had stayed downcast on the plastic ketchup bottle. It had seemed an eternity before he looked back up at her.

“It’s Krissy, Ro.”

Finally the shock hit her, followed quickly by despair, betrayal and a sprinkle of good old-fashioned outrage.

“Krissy?” She’d tilted her head and tried to smile. Her lips had felt frozen. She only knew one woman named Krissy.

Dick had sighed and bitten his bottom lip, garnering more courage.

“Your sister, Ro. Krissy, your sister, is my wife.”

Ro remembered that she stared at him for a good bit before she stood up without a sound and left the restaurant. She hadn’t known what else to do—she’d never seen this in a movie before, hadn’t practiced this type of exit strategy during any of her navy drills on the ship.

That was the last time she’d spoken to Dick. She’d refused Krissy’s calls, too.

The Pacific wind tore at her cheeks and brought her thoughts back to the present.

That had been fourteen months ago. She hadn’t spoken to her family since, except for holiday calls to her mother, and a brief visit from her a year ago. Mom had known all along about Dick and Krissy’s relationship and had never bothered to tell Roanna. She’d been deployed to the Persian Gulf, in the midst of a freaking war, and her mother hadn’t warned her.

No one had.

Why she’d kept the cheap ring this long was beyond her. Dick had certainly never offered her the family heirloom that her half sister, Krissy, wore on her petite left hand. Mom had let this tidbit drop last Christmas. It had been Ro’s first Christmas willingly away from her family and it had been her best. A bit lonely but she’d dined in the chow hall on base with other single sailors who worked for her and it had turned out to be a wonderful day.

Ro was the strong one in her family. The natural leader with common sense. The one who broke the mold, got away from the hell she’d known as a child.

But strength was the last thing she felt as she battled the wind and her emotions. The moisture from the mist started to form drops.

The sorrow, sense of failure and complete emptiness she experienced in the driving rain belied the professional reputation she’d built for herself. Clad in only her running tights, athletic shoes and weatherproof jacket, she felt smaller than usual. Her runs often took her across this bridge. Usually it was a place of solace and exhilaration, mingled with consolation. She’d chosen Deception Pass for the closure she needed. No more waiting. Her new life, her new attitude, started today.

She looked out over the edge of the bridge. White foamy water resembled the froth on a cappuccino. It was so far below her it made her dizzy. She grabbed the cold metal railing to keep her balance.

This is it.

She ungloved her right hand while keeping her fingers wrapped around the ring that pressed against her palm.

“Goodbye, Dick, goodbye, old Ro. Hello, new life!”

Before she allowed herself to reconsider, she held the ring out, ready to release it into the wind.

A sudden strong gust of wind forced her to use all of her strength to keep from falling over.

The ring fell out of her outstretched hand, into nothingness.

For a horrible moment it looked as if the ring was going to blow right back in her face—the gusts were that strong. Instead, it made it only halfway back toward her before it pinged against the metal edge of the railing and ricocheted into oblivion. She visualized its descent past the massive fir trees that covered the cliffs on both sides of the gap. A lone seagull floated on the updrafts and she imagined the bird cocking its head at the sparkle of sun glinting off the gem.

The sense of empowerment she’d anticipated was mixed with chagrin and anger that a gust of wind had turned her grand gesture into no more than an accident.

* * *

IT TOOK EVERY ounce of Miles’s explosive ordnance disposal training and prior experience not to scream at Ro to stay still and not—please, God, no—jump.

He was next to her in a few agonizing strides. He took in her stiff body, one gloved hand on the guardrail while the other lifted in front of her as if she were tossing her anguished thoughts away.

Only after he had his arms around her and they were falling toward the safety of the hard concrete sidewalk did he allow any words to escape his lips.

“Ro, it’s over. I’ve got you.”

* * *

RO REMAINED FROZEN as she tumbled with her assailant. The shock of being hit by a solid wall of muscle was as much to blame for her lack of response as her teeth-loosening collision with the concrete path.

The arms around her middle and shoulders, and the hand that cradled her head, kept her from a total loss of consciousness as sparks spewed in front of her vision.

“Stay with me, Ro. Are you okay?”

She blinked at the all-too-familiar baritone. A groan made its way past her clenched teeth. Only one man fit the bill of hero and rescuer, and had that deep sexy voice to match.

Navy Chief Warrant Officer and Explosive Ordnance Expert Miles Mikowski.

“Miles?”

“You scared the shit out of me, Ro.”

Her breath came back in gasps. Anger began to warm her from the inside out.

“What the hell are you doing?”

His face was a mere inch from hers, his weight hard but hot in contrast with the frigid ground beneath her. She’d never seen his eyes this close—his pupils were pinpoints of black heat in his steel blue irises as his breath warmed her wind-burned cheeks.

“Ro, it’s okay. I’m here, and you’re not alone.”

“Alone in what?” Their physical proximity started to register across all her senses and she squirmed. “Will you get off me?”

Had he lost his mind?

Slowly, as though she were a hand-blown Easter egg, he inched up and off her, all the while retaining a firm grasp on her arms, her hands. He rocked back on his heels in a crouch and pulled her up to a seated position.

The sound of car engines and the call-outs of drivers forced Ro’s glance away from Miles and to the highway.

“What’s going on, folks?” A uniformed state trooper stood on the street next to them. “Are you okay, miss?”

Ro looked at the officer, then at Miles.

“I’m fine, Officer. At least I was, until my...my colleague seemed to think I was in trouble. Miles?”

He shook his head.

“Tell me you weren’t about to do something really stupid, Ro.”

“The only thing I was going to do, I did. I tossed my old engagement ring.” She stood up and ignored the sharp cries of pain from her battered bones. She was going to kill Miles when she had the chance.

He stared at her as if he was seeing a ghost.

“Sir, are you okay?” The trooper turned to Miles, a hand on his hip.

“Yes, I’m fine. Sorry about any confusion, Officer.” Miles ran his fingers over his chin and Ro caught the grimace he was trying to hide.

Miles, embarrassed? This was new.

“I was in the war, and since I’ve been back a lot of vets have, ah—” he glanced past the trooper, to the vista of the Strait of Juan de Fuca “—I’ve seen a lot of vets with PTSD. I acted on instinct when I saw Ro on the bridge, in these winds, at this hour.”

“That true, miss?” The trooper deferred to Ro.

“Yes, yes. Miles is my work friend. He’s a good man, Officer, and wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt me.” She looked the trooper straight in the eye. No matter how much Miles drove her to distraction with his steady, determined attempts to date her, she knew he’d never act on anything other than honorable motives.

“Okay. I got a call from a concerned driver who saw you both take a tumble, and I had to ascertain that it wasn’t assault or a suicide attempt.” He paused, a slow grin overtaking his face. “Since you were just throwing away an engagement ring, we’re fine. I won’t write you a citation for littering, but toss the next ring into the trash can, all right?”

Ro smiled at him.

“No worries—there won’t be another ring.” Not for a very long time.

* * *

“GET IN BEFORE we cause an accident out here.” His booming voice brought more goose bumps to her arms than the Whidbey wind ever could.

She skirted behind his red Ford F-150 pickup truck. Sure enough, the morning commuters were already lining up behind him. Most were headed to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, where they would put in a full day’s work for their country. They were going to start honking their horns at any moment.

Her fists ached to punch the tailgate, kick the tires. Instead, she pulled the passenger door open and slid into the leather seat.

She slammed the door shut, as much as one could slam such a heavy piece of metal, and turned to glare at Miles.

“Just drive to the pull-off and let me out so the traffic can get by.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I didn’t ask for your help, Warrant.”

Light-headedness wasn’t familiar to Ro but sitting next to Miles Mikowski made her feel as though the air had been sucked out of the truck’s cab. The leather interior of the huge vehicle was roomy, even by American standards. Except when the likes of Miles took up the driver’s side. His long, lean yet muscular physique filled every inch. He had to be at least six feet four inches tall. Whenever she stood near him, which wasn’t often, he towered over her five feet six inches, normally a respectable height for a woman.

“You didn’t ask in words but being out on this bridge in these winds is begging for help, Roanna. Then to see you stopped at the high point like that.” He slapped the dashboard.

Guilt licked up her stomach and to her neck. Nausea threatened to overtake her anger. She had really frightened him. Miles, the man who’d already been through hell and back in the war.

“I know you like to run in the mornings but maybe you should check the weather report before you run onto the bridge in near-gale-force winds.”

His frequent use of her given name instead of her rank irked her. They were both officers, so of course it was okay to address each other by first name. Miles always addressed her as “Lieutenant Commander Brandywine” in public. Privately he used her name but only when he asked her out. And she’d always refused.

It’s not that he uses your first name. It’s how he says it.

The way her name sounded on his lips made her think of sex. Her awareness of him annoyed her, to say the least....

“I’m not an idiot, Miles. I’ve lived here long enough to know I need to be careful. I’m on my way into the base, anyway. I’ve finished my run. I was cooling down.” He stayed silent. “My car’s right over here in the parking lot.”

You’re starting a new chapter today. Be nice.

“I didn’t realize you live off-island.” She referred to the fact that he was driving toward Whidbey.

“I don’t.”

No other explanations. She squirmed. What he did in his personal time was his business.

“Don’t worry, I’m not courting anyone else, Roanna.” He shot her a quick grin, an attempt at a return to their normal banter, while he waited for the car in front of him to inch forward. “I had to get up early to deliver a dog to a rescue group in Anacortes. It was the only time the volunteer could take delivery and get her out to Spokane today.”

“You work with a dog rescue?” Chagrin struck her as soon as she said the words. She’d heard he’d lost his working dog in the war.

“When I can.”

Miles swung off the right side of the highway and pulled into the small parking lot that heralded the start of Deception Pass Park. She didn’t miss how easily he maneuvered the big truck among the smaller, more practical cars. Apparently EOD training included massive vehicle handling.

Her gaze went from his hands on the wheel to his legs. Clad in workout pants his prosthetic leg wasn’t visible. But she’d seen him running in shorts on the naval air station jogging path, and working out in the gym. He had a titanium prosthetic for running and a more conventional one for his uniform.

“Looks like you’re going to work out, too.”

“Yup, every morning before I report to the wing. If I don’t keep my muscles in shape I’ll lose them.” His left hand rested on the top of the steering wheel while he leaned on his right arm, which was way too close to her on the center divider of the cab. She could even make out the fine blond-tinged hairs that covered parts of his hand and fingers.

“Hmm.” She wanted to tell him that his obvious strength of character impressed the hell out of her, but that might make him think she cared. Or that she’d reconsidered his previous invitations to go out for a meal or cup of coffee together.

Not happening.

“Thanks for the ride.”

“Sure.”

She swallowed. “No, I mean it. You didn’t have to stop, didn’t have to give a damn. But you did. And I don’t have to be such a pain in the ass to you all the time.”

Now she had his attention. Bright sparks danced in his blue irises.

“So now, after almost a year, after I’ve made a fool of myself, you’re willing to be nice to me?”

“I’m sorry for the times I was rude, Miles. Truly.”

Before he made more out of this than necessary she pushed open the door, slid down from the high seat and got out of the truck. She was careful to appear casual as she shut the door and headed for her car. She noted that he waited until she was safely inside her car before he pulled out of the parking lot.

The drive into the base wasn’t going to be long enough to get his brilliant blue eyes and shy smile out of her mind.

Miles’s confident demeanor had pricked her bubble of I-don’t-need-a-man denial since the moment she’d met him the better part of a year ago. They’d first come face-to-face when her mother’s cat had decided to run up a tree. Miles had expertly scaled the tree and saved the cat. Unwittingly he’d also saved Roanna from her mother’s emotional fallout. It would have been pure hell if Henry the Eighth, Mom’s cat, had perished.

A week later he’d walked into the wing staff meeting as the new weapons officer and she’d been forced to acknowledge that he had an above-average physique. When she’d discovered he was an amputee she’d been in even more awe of his physical prowess, given the fact that he’d climbed such a huge tree.

But when he’d asked her out on a date she’d reeled in her drawbridge. No man was going to cross the moat she’d built around herself, especially not a man she found so attractive. Casually dating nonthreatening men was her modus operandi.

You played it safe with Dick and look where it got you.

Miles hadn’t given up on her right away, but at least now he appeared to accept that they were work colleagues, period. Another point in his favor, damn it. He was a nice guy.

* * *

RO WATCHED AS her best friend, Gwen, carried two cups of coffee from the on-base fast-food restaurant’s front counter. They had a standing appointment to meet each Friday morning, time permitting, to connect and see if they were going to do anything together over the weekend.

“Ah, heaven. Fresh hot coffee and it’s Friday!” Gwen smiled at Ro and placed the paper cups with steaming liquid on the table. Ro reflexively smiled back.

They’d met at the academy on the sailing team and had been good friends ever since. Gwen was a few years older, ahead of her in college, and her senior in naval year groups. They’d both been happy when Ro’s orders had come through for Whidbey—they hadn’t been in the same area for the past ten years. Ro, especially, had benefitted from having Gwen available to listen to her vent in person instead of on Skype as she came to terms with her new life without Dick.

Gwen’s frank gaze made Ro want to squirm.

“What? What is it you’re dying to tell me?”

“You could do a lot worse than Miles Mikowski, Ro. I know you didn’t want to go out with him, or anyone, when you first broke up with Dick and started this tour. But it’s been a long time. You finally threw away your past today, even if you couldn’t have chosen a stupider way to do it.” Gwen’s crooked smirk couldn’t erase her classic beauty. A tall, wispy blonde, she’d been the envy of the other female mids when they were in school. She’d done everything they did and still managed to look like a porcelain doll no matter how sweaty or dirty she got.

“You could have just told me you needed a girls’ night or weekend and we could have gone to Whistler for a spa weekend. There are plenty of high mountains to throw a ring off there, with no threat of being tackled by an EOD dude.” Gwen stirred two packets of sugar into her coffee. “You’re damned lucky the trooper didn’t haul you off for a psych evaluation.”

“Yeah, well, Miles could say the same. As for going on a trip, I had to do it on my own. You know that.”

“I do.” Gwen regarded her steadily with pine-green eyes. “This was better, wasn’t it? Being in a hotel in Whistler with your best friend wouldn’t have gotten you tackled by Miles.”