“Maybe that’s a good thing.” At Tory’s surprised glance, Nita shrugged. “Reentry must be terribly disorienting. One minute, she’s half a world away in the middle of a war. Added to the pressure of keeping other people from being killed, she must have been worried about her responsibilities to you—and then she’s wounded and captured. A few days later she’s home again. God, my head is swimming even thinking about it.”

“You’re saying that the best thing for her is just that she’s home,”

Tory mused aloud, although she was really talking to herself. “That she gets used to being here, back in her life, our life, for a while before she… we…make any decisions.”

“I think so.” Nita leaned forward. “Even though she’s terribly busy, I imagine it feels good to her to be surrounded by people she loves, doing the work she loves.”

“Why didn’t I see that?” Tory said reproachfully.

“Because she scared you to death and you thought you were going to lose her, and none of us sees too clearly when we’re terrifi ed.”

“I think you’re good for me.” Tory smiled and wagged her fi nger at Nita. “Now you have to stay.”

“I’d like that,” Nita said softly, feeling just a little bit better for the last few moments of connection. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed that.

• 147 •

RADCLY fFE

“So? Are you going to get out of here before it’s too late to go out and have fun?”

Laughing, Nita threw up her hands. “I’m going. I’m going.”

“Good,” Tory said, rising. “Let loose a little.”

“Whatever you say,” Nita said, laughing too.

“I don’t want to see you back here until Sunday afternoon,” Tory said on her way out of the room.

When Nita contemplated the next thirty-six hours, she wondered how she would fi ll them. Of one thing she was certain. Letting loose was the last thing she wanted to do.

❖

Tory arrived home an hour later, and the house was dark. Her heart sank as she climbed the stairs to the rear deck. Reese must be working an extra shift again. She wondered how long Reese could keep up the relentless pace without folding. Even her formidable will and strength couldn’t hold up forever.

“You need to stop worrying so much,” Reese’s voice came to her through the dark.

“You can’t see my face, and I know I’m not talking to myself,”

Tory said, now able to make out the image of her lover reclining in a lounge chair. Already, her heart felt lighter. “So how do you know what I was thinking?”

“You were sighing.” Reese reached out to her.

Tory laughed and clasped Reese’s hand. “Up. If I lie down there with you, I’m going to fall asleep or want to make love. Unfortunately, I’m tired enough for the fi rst and too tired for the second.”

“I’m not sure I followed all of that,” Reese said, unfolding her length from the chair and rising. She slipped her arm around Tory’s waist. “But I got that you’re tired. Want a glass of wine and a soak in the tub?”

“Oh God, that sounds good,” Tory murmured, resting her cheek against Reese’s shoulder. “Yes to the wine, but can I have it in bed?”

“Leg still bothering you?”

“A little.”

“Then why don’t you go upstairs and I’ll be up in a few minutes with your wine.”

• 148 •

Winds of Fortune

Tory kissed her, lingering on her mouth and lightly teasing just inside with her tongue. “Thank you.”

A few minutes later, Tory stretched out in bed and murmured appreciatively as Reese handed her a glass of red wine. Sipping slowly she watched with pleasure as Reese stripped and joined her beneath the sheets. “How’s Reggie?”

“Talking up a storm.” Reese took the glass when Tory offered and tasted the wine. “Words are right around the corner. It’s amazing.” She watched the red wine swirl in the glass. “She changes so quickly. I would have missed so much if I’d been gone longer.”

Tory turned on her side and smoothed her fi ngers through Reese’s hair. “Your mother told me your father was gone most of the time when you were this age. It must have been very hard for him.”

“Maybe. I’m sure part of him was happy doing what he was trained to do. Not being deployed to Iraq this time is driving him crazy.”

“I guess I don’t quite understand anyone wanting a war,” Tory said quietly.

“Wanting to test yourself, to do what you’re trained to do, isn’t quite the same thing as wanting a war,” Reese said, “although I know it probably sounds that way.”

“It’s a distinction that’s very hard to grasp.” Tory stroked Reese’s arm. “But you didn’t want war, and you’re as much a marine as he is.”

“Thanks.” Reese leaned close and kissed Tory briefl y. “I’m a peacekeeper, and that’s different than wanting to engage the enemy. I never needed a war to do what I thought was important.”

“You’re a peacekeeper here,” Tory pointed out. “Not only do you keep your community safe, you help train the young to be strong and self-confi dent and self-reliant. You’re a role model for young women and men just like Bri. This community needs you.”

Reese cupped Tory’s cheek and kissed her. “One thing’s for certain. I don’t want Nelson’s job. A few weeks of dealing with the paperwork and bureaucracy is enough to convince me of that. I need to be on the streets.”

“Until Nelson is back on his feet, you can’t do both jobs.” Tory held up an index fi nger in warning. “I mean it. There’s nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise. As long as you’re acting chief, you need to cut back on the street patrols. Please. Before you get hurt.”

Reese grimaced, but nodded. “All right. We’re starting to get things

• 149 •

RADCLY fFE

running smoothly again, especially now that Bri is back on duty.”

“How is she doing?”

“She’s a little distracted, a little tired, but Allie’s watching out for her. She’s okay.”

“Good.” Tory took the glass, fi nished the wine, and set the glass aside. “Nelson will be home in a few days and that will make it easier for her.”

Reese rested back against the pillows and drew Tory into her arms. She kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair. “Speaking of fathers, mine called today.”

Tory struggled not to pull away. She smoothed her fi ngertip along Reese’s collarbone, noting that the swelling at the site of the fracture was better. “Oh?”

“There’s a post open in his department at Strategic Planning in DC. He thought I should take it when my medical leave is over.”

“DC.” Tory willed herself to think—think, not react. “Not Iraq.”

“No, not Iraq. Tory—”

“DC isn’t so far. You’d get home sometimes, right? Or we could come—”

“Baby, I’m not going.”

“I know it’s a desk job and you hate that, but—”

“I told him I hadn’t changed my mind,” Reese said before kissing Tory into silence. She drew Tory on top of her and spread her fi ngers through Tory’s thick auburn hair. “I told him I wanted him to fi nalize the paperwork for my discharge.”

“Be careful of your collarbone. I’m too heavy to be on top of you just yet.”

Reese laughed and kissed the tip of Tory’s chin. “You’re not heavy, but you are very sexy. How tired are you?”

Tory tilted her hips into Reese’s crotch. “I’m waking up.”

“So am I.”

“Did he argue?”

“He said we’d talk again.” Seeing the look of concern fl ash across Tory’s face, Reese said quickly, “It’s okay. He’ll do whatever I want.

He’s just going to take a little convincing.”

“I love you,” Tory said softly. “I will support you in anything you need to do.”

• 150 •

Winds of Fortune

“I know.” Reese caressed Tory’s back and cradled her butt. “Right now, I need you.”

Tory leaned up and turned off the light. Then she settled once again on top of Reese. “Darling, you never need to ask.”

❖

Nita walked past the Vixen without a glance. At midnight on Saturday night, Deo was undoubtedly there if she hadn’t already found company for the evening. Nita didn’t want to chance another encounter, because she could never be certain how she was going to respond to her. She couldn’t afford a repeat of the previous weekend’s performance. Her life hadn’t felt this off-kilter since the early days of her relationship with Sylvia. She could barely think, she couldn’t eat, she couldn’t sleep.

Ten minutes later she paid her cover and worked her way through the throngs of dancing, laughing women at the Pied. It was a little smaller but had the advantage of an outside deck right on the harbor and, after securing a drink at the bar, Nita walked outside and leaned on the deck rail. Sipping her drink, she let the sea breeze cool her heated skin. She was warm from the walk through town and her thoughts of Deo.

As disconcerting as it was to be plagued by the insistent thrum of unsatisfi ed arousal, she felt alive in a way she hadn’t for months. And despite her regret over giving in to her urges with Deo, she wouldn’t lie to herself and say that it hadn’t been wonderful. For one blazing instant, riding the crest of nearly unbearable pleasure, she had felt completely free.

“Excuse me, but I was wondering if you’d like to dance?” a woman asked from quite nearby.

Nita didn’t recognize the short-haired blonde with the pleasant smile, which was good. She had come out looking for a diversion, and she preferred to fi nd it with someone she wasn’t going to be seeing around town on a regular basis. “Yes. Yes, I would.”

The tempo of the fi rst dance was fast and the music too loud for conversation, but Nita managed to get a name and a few other snippets of vital information, the most critical of which was that Beth was in town

• 151 •

RADCLY fFE

for the week on vacation. One song segued into another until eventually the rhythm slowed enough that they could dance close. Twice in less than a week Nita found herself with her arms around a near stranger after having gone months without touching another woman. Beth was an inch or two shorter than Deo and thinner, lacking her hard muscles, but curving in all the right places. Nita enjoyed the swell of soft breasts moving against her own and the subtle press of Beth’s thigh between hers as they danced. She was pleasantly aroused but in no danger of losing control again. When Beth deftly maneuvered them into a corner of the room and kissed her, Nita found Beth’s soft lips and gently probing tongue enjoyable, but she felt none of the urgency she had with Deo. After a minute or two when Beth moaned softly and tightened her hold, Nita gently pulled away.

“I think I need to slow this down,” Nita murmured.

“Sorry,” Beth said breathlessly. “I don’t usually—”

“Don’t apologize. I’m not the least bit upset.” Nita smiled. “I enjoyed the dance and the rest of it.”

“Any chance we might get together sometime this week?”

“Give me your number. I’ll call if I can.”

“I don’t have anything to write with,” Beth said.

“Don’t worry, I have a very good memory.” After Beth recited the fi gures, Nita repeated them mentally, then kissed Beth lightly. “Thank you. And thank you for the dance.”

Pleased that her restlessness had dissipated, Nita decided she’d achieved her goal and made her way to the exit. She had just stepped out into the narrow passageway that led to the street when Deo caught up to her.

“I take it the blonde wasn’t to your liking?” Deo said.

Nita slowed, taking in Deo’s tight white tank top, form-fi tting black jeans, and boots. The shirt left nothing to the imagination, and even in the murky light cast by the neon signs on the street, Deo looked sleek and sexy. In one beat of her heart to the next, Nita became completely aroused.

“On the contrary,” Nita said coolly, desperately trying to smother the fl ames licking at her insides. Several women left the bar together and she stepped off the wooden walkway to let them pass. Deo followed until they stood in the shadows of the building. “She was very pleasant.”

• 152 •

Winds of Fortune

“Pleasant.” Deo said the word as if she were speaking of something that should be crushed under her boot. “You don’t want pleasant.”

“You don’t know what I want.”

“Sure I do.” Deo leaned into her until their bodies touched. “You want the burn. You want the fi re.” She stroked Nita’s cheek with one fi nger. “So do I. Come home with me.”

“No.”

“Why not? You came out looking for more than a kiss, and I never got a chance to touch you last week.” Deo skimmed her hand lower, tracing Nita’s throat with a gentle caress.

Nita’s heart felt as if it might pound out of her chest, and she was glad Deo couldn’t see her face very clearly. She doubted she could hide how badly she wanted Deo to keep touching her. “I told you, it was a one time thing.”