The Last Santini Virgin. Maureen Child

that he had some small chance of winning.

      “We’re not good enough,” he said flatly, and started for his car again, hoping she’d drop the subject.

      He should have known better.

      Right behind him, he heard the heels of her shoes tapping against the asphalt as she trotted to keep up with his long-legged stride.

      “We could be,” she said, “good enough, I mean.”

      Nick laughed shortly.

      “All we’d need is extra practice.”

      “Yeah,” he agreed, “for a year or two.”

      “For Pete’s sake, General,” Gina said, and stepped in front of him, bringing him to a quick stop. “Do all Marines give up as easily as you?”

      A quick flash of irritation swelled up inside him.

      “Marines do not give up, princess,” he said, and loomed over her, which wasn’t hard since she was so darn short. “We simply choose our battles.”

      “Uh-huh. Apparently only the ones you’re sure of winning.”

      “Look,” he said, and threw his car a longing glance before looking at Gina again. Obviously, he wasn’t going to get out of here without yet another argument. And to think that only a moment ago he’d been bothered by the thought of never seeing her again. God. What had he done in his life to deserve this irritating, too-damned-attractive woman? Answer: he’d thrown a major’s wife into a punch bowl. “You said yourself all we do is argue. Do you really want to spend more time together?”

      She folded her arms under her breasts and he absolutely refused to look. It wasn’t easy, but he kept his gaze locked with hers. One of her finely arched eyebrows went just a bit higher. “We wouldn’t argue so much if you weren’t so stubborn.”

      “Hah! I’m stubborn?”

      She gave him a look that would have fried a lesser man’s soul. Then, clearly disgusted, she asked, “Why am I even talking to you?”

      “You got me, princess.”

      “Will you stop calling me princess?”

      “As soon as you stop acting like one.”

      Her big brown eyes widened and then narrowed dangerously. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

      Well, hell. He hadn’t really meant to say that out loud. “Never mind.”

      “Oh, no, you don’t,” she said. “Explain.”

      “There’s no reason to go into any of this,” he hedged. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings. He just didn’t want to enter that blasted contest. “It’s late. I’ve got to get back to base.”

      She leaned back against his car and shook her head. For such a tiny woman, she had the look of an immovable object.

      “You started this, Sergeant. Now you finish it.”

      This was his own fault, he told himself. He never should have said what he was thinking. But Gina had a way of irking him like no one else he’d ever known.

      He swept his gaze up and down her compact, curvy form before coming to rest on those beautiful brown eyes of hers. And damned if she didn’t know just how pretty she was, too. Oh, not that she seemed conceited, but there was a confidence about her that came from knowing she presented a hell of a picture. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized how right he was in his assessment of her. Pampered, spoiled, obviously used to getting her own way, she was completely unprepared for someone—anyone saying no to her.

      “So, General,” she said, “do you explain, or do we stand here all night?”

      All around them their fellow students were leaving the tiny parking lot. Overhead, dark clouds sailed across a black sky, obliterating the stars and threatening rain. Even in southern California, January weather could be unpredictable. And just in case it was going to start raining anytime soon, he decided to end this debate once and for all. If she wanted the truth that badly, she could have it.

      “It means that I know you better than you think I do.”

      “Oh, really?”

      It didn’t take a rocket scientist, he told himself. She was Italian. So was he. And if there was one thing he knew, it was Italian families.

      “Youngest in your family, weren’t you?”

      She flinched slightly. “So?”

      “The apple of daddy’s eye?”

      She straightened up away from the car. Squaring her shoulders, she lifted her chin, glared at him and asked, “Your point?”

      Ah…direct hit.

      “My point is that you’ve spent your entire life getting exactly what you want just by batting those gorgeous eyes of yours.” He leaned in closer and knew instantly it had been a mistake. Her perfume distracted him, but he steeled himself against that potent scent and finished what he had to say. “Well, it’s not gonna work with me, princess. We’re partners on that dance floor, because we’re stuck with each other. But you can save that wide-eyed, innocent look for the college boys, all right?”

      It took her a minute to calm down enough to talk.

      Then she started sputtering. “You are the single most irritating, annoying, overbearing, insulting—” She paused and bit her bottom lip.

      A bottom lip he suddenly wanted to kiss more than he wanted to draw his next breath. The other couples were driving away, and the flash of headlights skimmed across her face and faded again, leaving only the dim glow of the yellow fog lights in the parking lot. Streamers of gray, damp fog drifted in from the ocean and twined around their legs, linking them together in an otherworldly grip.

      Seconds passed, ticking by as they stared at each other. She was so close. Close enough to kiss. To touch. He lifted one hand, and as she leaned in toward him a car horn sounded, shattering the weird spell that had been cast over them.

      She shook her head as if coming up out of a dream. “I, uh, have to go.”

      “Yeah. Me, too.”

      She opened her mouth to say something more, but snapped it shut again a moment later. Then, without giving him another look, she turned around and marched off across the shadowy parking lot toward her car.

      Nick watched her go and told himself he was only keeping an eye on her to see that she made it into her car safely. After all, a pretty woman, a deserted parking lot, it was the decent thing to do. But he was still standing there, staring after her, long after she’d pulled out of the lot and driven off.

      The next day after work, Nick entered the Staff NCO club and headed down the wide hallway. Absently he took the short flight of steps, passed the small reception area and climbed five more steps to the darkened ballroom. As he stepped into the familiar club, he turned to his right and stopped just at the long mahogany bar. His gaze swept the shadow-filled room. A huge place, it looked nearly empty, with just a sprinkling of tables dotting the floor. But when the room was decked out for a ball or a party, the old club shone like a gem.

      The few noncommissioned officers seated at the tables barely glanced his way. He recognized a few familiar faces in the bunch. But on a base the size of Pendleton, it wasn’t unusual to see a lot of strangers as well as friends.

      He leaned his elbows on the bar, ordered a beer and, as he had been doing all day, relived those last few minutes in the dark with Gina. Gritting his teeth, he told himself for the thousandth time that he’d had no right to stomp on her feelings like that. So what if she irritated him? That didn’t give him leave to fire mortar rounds at her heart.

      And, damn it, he was sure he’d seen her eyes go all teary.

      Great, he thought as the bartender slid his beer in front of him. Big, strong Marine had