Merline Lovelace - Course of Action - Out of Harm's Way / Any Time, Any Place

Madison felt like an idiot. “Oh,” she whispered. Lifting her head, she met his warm green gaze. “I was really pissed.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I’m sorry.” She rubbed her brow, feeling the grit beneath her fingers. “I seem to be saying that a lot with you.”

“You’re in an alien environment. I don’t expect you to know what’s going down. Just trust me, though, Madison, to get you home safely. All right?” Travis pinned her with a hard look. Her expression grew apologetic and he felt bad. Being out as a sniper for weeks on end, he wasn’t used to diplomacy. He was usually alone in a dangerous place with only his wits, his knowledge and hunting skills to keep him alive. “Don’t mind me,” he said. “I’m a little more tired than usual.” It was as close to an apology as she was going to get.

“I’ve been a real pain in the ass.”

She had a nice butt, no doubt about it, but Travis couldn’t go there and say anything. Right now, Madison was embarrassed and trying to find a way to make up for her anger about the horses. She’d stopped eating and Travis needed her to get her energy back as soon as possible. “My master chief said your father owned a horse farm in College Station?” Maybe getting her mind off her mistakes and on to something positive would help her rally.

“Yes, my father was on the Olympic cross-country team a few decades ago. He’d always wanted to bring Trakehners to the U.S., and he and my mom made it happen.”

“I don’t know much about the breed,” he said. “Quarter horses I know.”

“Texas is quarter horse central,” Madison agreed. “Trakehners are a European breed, very tall, beautiful and intelligent. They’re often bred to Arabians, Thoroughbreds and other warm-bloods to improve them.”

“And that’s why you were with that American delegation?”

Nodding, she began to eat once again. “Yes. My father was invited to go along but he broke his ankle and he asked me to go instead.” Chewing on her lower lip, she scowled. “I’m sure he’s sorry about it now.” Madison felt terrible for disappointing her father. They had put such high hopes on this journey to Afghanistan.

“I’m sure he’s relieved you’re safe,” Travis murmured, no doubt seeing the pain in her eyes.

Madison knew her father would be dismayed. Wanting to cry, feeling horribly vulnerable, she choked it all back down inside herself. Travis had done enough for her. He was charged with her safety. He didn’t need a crybaby on his hands, to boot. “You said your parents have a cattle ranch?”

“Yeah, Rush Springs. I grew up there and was a cowboy until me and my football buddies joined the military.” Travis smiled fondly. “I had six buddies on the football team, and we called ourselves the Sidewinders. Our team took the Class A football title for Texas and we were just this Podunk town out in the middle of scrub brush, desert and cactus.”

“You guys must have been really good,” Madison said, watching his face relax. It was a secret pleasure to watch him eat, the way his lips moved, sending heat sheeting down through her like a lightning strike. And his hands... What would they feel like, moving across her body? There was gentleness in him. He might have to kill the enemy, but his touch with her was always tender. She was shocked at her own sexual hunger for him. It was wrong, and she felt torn and guilty. He was more than likely married to a beautiful woman and had a couple of kids.

“We were a force to be reckoned with,” Travis agreed amiably. “All my buddies joined different branches of the military the day after we graduated. And we all ended up in black ops.” He smiled a little. “I just saw Duke Carmichael, one of the Sidewinders, a couple of months ago. We crossed paths at Bagram. He’s a black ops Air Force CCT, communications specialist. I was deploying into Afghanistan for six months and he was just leaving on another assignment. When we do cross paths, we catch up on one another’s lives.”

“Six months over here?”

“Yeah. SEALs are on a two-year cycle. We spend eighteen months back in the States and most of the time we’re renewing our skills, taking courses in our area of expertise and learning new weapons systems. Then, the last six months is rotation over here. I’m with Seal Team 3 and we’re always deployed to the Middle East. Other Seal teams take care of different parts of the globe.”

“I didn’t realize,” Madison admitted. “How do your wife and kids handle you being gone so much?”

He raised a brow and gave her an amused look. “SEALs have a ninety percent divorce rate. I’m in that statistic because I’m a SEAL.”

Her heart pounded a little. “Well, then,” she stumbled, “your girlfriend? A significant other?”

Travis just shook his head and paid attention to eating his MRE. “I have a lousy track record,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry,” Madison said quietly, holding his gaze. “You’re a hero in my eyes. That shouldn’t mean you have to be so alone.”

His heart squeezed unexpectedly beneath her sincere voice and expression. He could entertain having her as his woman, no problem at all. But as with all the rest of his experiences, women in his life went one way and he went the other.

“You get used to it,” Travis said, avoiding her searching blue gaze. The woman could melt rocks with those eyes of hers. Hell, she was melting him and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Did Madison know her own feminine influence over him? Oh, in his high school days, because he was part of a star football team, he hadn’t wanted for girls. Every cheerleader had set their sights on the Sidewinders. And Travis had enjoyed his high school years. “Why aren’t you hooked up with a guy?” he asked.

Blinking over the blunt question, Madison shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe too many hours of training our horses and showing them? Running a breeding facility?” She opened her hands and added, “I love what I do, Travis. There aren’t a whole lot of single guys my age that are in the horse business. Most horse farms and breeding facilities are family run.”

“What do you like to do for fun?” He had images of her jumping into a river and skinny-dipping. Madison might seem shy, but he’d seen her strength under fire. He liked her way too much. She was appealing to him. Somehow, this blond-haired beauty was turning his world upside down and making him think differently about settling down.

Shrugging, Madison said, “You’ll laugh at me.”

“No, I won’t.”

The sparkle of life came to her eyes for the first time and it damn near stole his breath. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes were so alive. An ache, a really crippling ache, grabbed hold of his lower body. Would Madison look at him like that as he made love to her? His mind and his body rocked on that heated, dangerous question. “Tell me.”

“I have two passions in my life,” she said, feeling his genuine interest, feeling warmed by that intense look that made her yearn to kiss him. “I love my horses but my hobby is sort of boring by a lot of people’s standards. My mom, who is a large-animal vet, taught me quilting when I was a teen. I love making quilts for the elderly. I belong to a local women’s quilting club and we get together once a week to work on our latest quilt to help those who have so little.”

“Are you a throwback to another era and age?” Travis wondered aloud. “My grandmother quilted. My mother never picked it up, too busy raising us kids on a cattle ranch.”

“Maybe the word old-fashioned fits me, then?” Madison felt shy and broke away from his burning gaze. God, she felt like the man had X-ray vision and could undress her with his eyes. She didn’t feel threatened, but rather, desired. Very desired. Was something going on between them, something invisible? Whatever it was, she felt shaky, needy and hungry. Granted, Travis Cooper was a man’s man. There was no strutting. No bragging. He was quiet. Confident. She’d not met many men like him. And it drew her powerfully.