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

For whatever reason, Madison pulled him. Hard. But she was too deep in shock and survival mode to do much else right now, although Travis could see the fear ratchet down just a little more every time he did touch her. He tried to tell himself he was just being a compassionate corpsman. Yeah, right. All he wanted to do was stare at her.

“It was a stupid mistake. I put a lot of people at risk doing what I did. All I wanted to do was go out and look at the Afghan horses in the corral. They were only a hundred feet away from the house.” Madison bit her lip, her voice dropping with despair. “I didn’t think it would harm anything. They were so close and I was dying to get a look at them, at their conformation....”

“Horse crazy,” he murmured, smiling a little. “My folks have a cattle ranch in West Texas and I grew up with quarter horses. I understand your excitement.” Travis could see the anguish in her eyes. “Don’t be hard on yourself. No one’s pointing the finger of blame at you.”

She sniffed and shored herself up. Every time Travis reached out with those long, large-knuckled fingers of his and grazed her hair, her scalp prickled with heat and pleasure. The look in his green eyes threw her off. She almost thought he wanted to... No.

She wasn’t emotionally stable right now. It would be easy to misread his face, his intentions. And yet, she felt such coiled power around him. He appeared casual and relaxed, but her senses, as muddled as they were, told her differently. It was as if he were a big, bristling guard dog watching over her. She was grateful beyond words.

What would it be like to kiss this man? Oh, she was really on emotionally rocky ground, for sure.

“Do you feel like getting something in your stomach?”

Nodding, Madison tried to sit up. To her chagrin, she found herself incredibly weak, as if her body had melted down on her and wouldn’t cooperate. “I hate feeling so powerless,” she muttered, pushing herself upright.

“Dehydration will do it,” Travis murmured. “Here, let me help you.” He slid his arm around her shoulders and propped her up against the cave wall. She was usually grateful for her strength. Someone who worked around horses became pretty physically fit.

Travis settled her against the wall as if she were a lightweight. And he was so close, his face inches from hers for those fleeting seconds. She felt his moist breath across her brow and cheek. So incredibly masculine, his scent drove her to distraction. Yeah, he was as sweaty and dirty as she was, but she found herself inhaling his scent as if it were a cologne. And it was doing wild, unbidden things within her.

Travis sat back on his heels, his hands coming to rest on his long thighs, watching her. Madison was aware of their attraction. He could have moved those scant inches and captured that soft mouth of hers. Kissed her. And she’d seen that awareness flare in his eyes when he’d drawn close to her. Damn, why couldn’t she have been less gorgeous? She watched as he hauled his ruck over and pulled out a protein bar. He handed it to her.

“Try this on for size. You’re in shock and shock does funny things to people,” he said. Their fingers met. Heat flared inside her. Travis added, “People get real emotional and they feel out of sorts. You probably will, too.”

“Thanks,” Madison whispered, her whole hand tingling. Travis had a working man’s hands. They were large, powerful and she saw so many new and old scars across them. When he’d handed her the protein bar, she’d noticed the thick calluses on his palm. Inwardly, her breasts tightened and she felt heat plunge into her womb. The man could melt her with his thoughtful green gaze.

“Take it easy eating it,” Travis warned her, pushing to his feet. He walked over and picked up his M-4 rifle, which was leaning against the wall. “I’m going to check things out and I’ll be back in about half an hour. You rest, okay?” The sunlight was making her blond hair gleam with gold, wheat and tawny highlights. How badly Travis wanted to slide his hand through her hair, feel the weight of it, smell it and allow the strands to glide through his fingers. Disgusted with himself, he left, making his way down the dark tunnel. He knew this area well and didn’t even bother turning on a penlight to show him the way.

What the hell was going on here? His mind spun with its own kind of shock. Okay, he’d been out here with his platoon for four months. There weren’t any opportunities to meet a woman at Camp Bravo, for damn sure. The women at the FOB were either Apache combat pilots or medevac pilots. Being on deployment was like turning into a monk. Until Madison dropped into his life. Hell.

Madison was sleeping when Travis returned. He entered the cave silently and saw her with her head on her arm, curled up in the fetal position against the wall. His heart twisted in his chest. He placed his weapon against the wall, took off his boonie and shed his gear. His gaze never left hers. That long, thick blond hair framed part of her face; her lashes rested against her pale cheeks. He grimaced and kicked himself for not thinking about giving her a sleeping bag. The IV was empty so he pulled on a pair of gloves and walked over to where she slept.

Feeling the pinch in her left arm, Madison dragged her eyes open. “Umm,” she managed. His fingers were on her arm, removing the IV.

“Sorry to wake you,” he said huskily. “IV’s done and I need to get your arm patched up.”

He tried to ensure his hands were tender. She closed her eyes, as if simply absorbing him. “I must have dozed off,” she said, her voice sounding wispy.

Travis dropped the IV at his side and pulled out a large Band-Aid, which he placed on the inside of her arm. “You’ll sleep a lot,” he told her. “Best way to get rid of shock is to sleep.” He watched her eyes open and God help him, he wanted to drown in that dark blue gaze. Her lips were soft, parted, and it would be so easy to brush that full lower one with his thumb. Travis thought reconnoitering for half an hour to make sure the Taliban had followed the horses would snap him back into his focus. But it hadn’t.

“I’m thirsty,” Madison whispered, watching him get up. “Is there more water?”

She noticed the frown on his face, the look in his green eyes. She swore she could feel him wanting her, man to woman. It must be the shock. Pushing up into a sitting position, she dragged the mass of hair across her shoulders. She felt so dirty, the grit rubbing inside her clothing, making her feel absolutely miserable.

Travis pulled another bottle from his ruck, opened it and handed it to her.

“Thanks,” she murmured.

Travis busied himself, pulling out his sleeping bag and unrolling it. He shook it out and opened it up so she’d have something to sit on besides dirt. Silently, Travis gave Madison credit. She wasn’t complaining. There was determination in her face. The woman had backbone. Out here, that counted.

She’d finished off the bottle of water—now he needed to get some food into her. Grabbing the empty bottle and some purification tablets, he walked over to the dripping water in the rear of the cave. There was a small pool of icy water, snowmelt coming off the mountain above them. He dropped the tablets into the empty bottle and filled it with water.

Madison sat on the soft, thin sleeping bag, grateful to be off the dirt. She watched, curious about everything Travis did. He seemed far away or preoccupied. When he sat down, crossing his legs and hauling his MRE into his lap and giving her hers, she screwed up the courage to ask him a question.

“Why did you let our horses go? I thought they were our way to escape.”

Travis opened the spaghetti. “We’re twenty-two miles from Camp Bravo, the nearest American forward operating base. There are several Taliban groups searching for us right now. I slapped the horses and made them leave because I was hoping the Taliban would follow their tracks. They’d lead them away from where we’re hiding. I’ve checked twice since we got here, and that’s what they did. They’re following those two horses to God knows where—and I don’t care where, so long as it’s far away from us.”