No Going Back. Karen Foley

we are,” he said briskly, getting out of the vehicle and retrieving her duffel bag and his backpack. He waved the driver on, and Kate watched in dismay as the Humvee rumbled out of sight along the dusty road.

      “What do you mean, ‘here we are’?” she asked, coming to stand beside him.

      She stared at the nearest tent, which Chase silently acknowledged looked as if it had seen both world wars. The canvas was faded in spots and sported patches and duct tape where the fabric had ripped or the tent had sprung a leak. The outside had been stacked with sandbags for protection and for insulation, as the temperatures could drop below freezing at night. Several female soldiers came out of the tent, their weapons over their shoulders. They gave Chase and Kate curious looks as they passed. Chase could hear feminine voices from inside.

      “This is the best the USO could provide for sleeping quarters,” he explained. “I hope you don’t mind bunking with the troops for one night.”

      He watched as Kate pushed back the flap that covered the entry. Two dozen or more army cots were lined on either side of the interior. Several female soldiers were stowing their gear in foot lockers, and the floor was covered with duffel bags and military gear. The women gave Kate a nod, but otherwise ignored both her and Chase. One cot was conspicuously free of gear, with only a pillow and a tightly rolled sleeping bag placed at the foot.

      “I’m assuming that’s where I’m sleeping?” Kate asked Chase, eyeballing the empty bunk.

      “You would assume correctly.”

      Kate gave him a helpless look that went straight to Chase’s protective instincts. He silently cursed Colonel Decker for giving him this assignment, because he was within two seconds of telling her she could bunk with him in his CHU. Or without him in his CHU. He’d pretty much give her whatever she wanted if she would just stop looking at him like that. He reminded himself that he was an Army Ranger, a member of an elite force able to operate in any environment. Unless it was within fifty feet of a woman like Kate Fitzgerald.

      Kate put her hands together and drew in a deep breath. “Okay. This is okay. I can definitely sleep here. Can you tell me where my client and her band will sleep when they arrive?”

      “The concert will be held over at the parade field. There’s an administrative building nearby that the USO will use to house the bands while they’re here, but it hasn’t been converted yet.”

      “Would it be possible to see it?”

      “Absolutely,” he assured her. “Why don’t you stow your gear, and then we’ll grab something to eat at the dining facility before we head over there? I don’t know about you, but I could use a good meal.”

      Hefting her pink duffel over her shoulder, Kate walked into the tent, and Chase could almost read her thoughts as she stared around her. The walls were reinforced with plywood, and army blankets hung from the roof supports between several of the cots, providing a minimal amount of privacy. As she stepped inside, Kate’s footsteps echoed on the plywood floor.

      Seeing it through her eyes, Chase had to admit that it looked pretty bleak. Overhead, a large, flexible tube ran the length of the tent and pumped in cool air, but it couldn’t compete with the blistering temperatures outside and the interior was stifling hot and smelled like musty canvas.

      Dropping her duffel bag onto the empty cot, she turned to him with an overly bright smile. “This will be great,” she assured him. “After all, it’s not like I’ll be doing anything except sleeping, right?”

      He had another decadent vision of her, this time straddling his hips as he lay on one of the narrow cots. Oh, yeah. He’d been outside the wire for way too long. He’d told Kate point-blank that he had no intention of sleeping with her.

      He’d lied.