The Daddy Salute. Maureen Child

      “Yeah, well.” A splinter of guilt poked at him. “I’ve been busy. Work’s piling up on base…” That sounded lame even to him. But what should he do? Admit to her that ever since meeting his new neighbor, he’d lost interest in the other women he knew? Hardly. The fact was almost too humiliating to admit to himself.

      “Are you too busy to eat dinner now?” she asked.

      He shifted slightly to take a look at his kitchen—a small, dark room where no pot bubbled on the stove. Across the hall, Kathy Tate was busy ignoring him, and soon he’d be contemplating which frozen entrée to zap in the microwave. So why was he even hesitating? A dinner invitation should sound to him like a gift from the gods.

      After all, it wasn’t as if he was making any headway with Kathy. And why shouldn’t he have a nice dinner with a gorgeous woman rather than sit here alone regretting the fact that his legendary charm hadn’t succeeded in breaching Kathy’s defenses? Besides, he hadn’t gone anywhere but to the base in the past four weeks.

      “Bri,” Dana asked, “are you still there?”

      “Yeah,” he said, “I’m here.” Then before he could change his mind, he added, “And soon to be there.”

      “Really?”

      “Why not?” He forced a smile. “What are we having?”

      She laughed, and the throaty sound that used to kick his hormones into high gear now seemed forced and just a bit theatrical.

      “Let me surprise you,” she said.

      All kinds of invitations were included in that one sentence, and it really irritated the hell out of him that he wasn’t filled with expectation. Was this some sort of weird cosmic justice? Was the perpetual ladies’ man destined to lose his heart to the one female who didn’t want it?

      But even as he entertained that notion, he discarded it. Hearts were not involved here. And if, a few weeks later, he would look back on this moment and wonder how he could have been so stupid…well, he was blissfully in the dark now.

      “I’ll be there in half an hour,” he said, and hung up. A quick shower and he’d be on his way. And hopefully an evening with the delectable Dana would push Kathy Tate out of his mind.

      Fifteen minutes later, Kathy heard his door slam and braced herself for the sound of a brisk knock at her own door. Brian Haley apparently didn’t want to take “No, thanks” for an answer.

      But his footsteps went off down the hall.

      “Well,” she said aloud, and was glad there was no one to hear her, “that should teach you a little humility.” Without even thinking about it, Kathy walked across her apartment to look out the front windows.

      Turning back the edge of the curtains with her fingertips, she looked down onto the residential street below. A group of kids riding their bikes in the late summer sun raced along the quiet street and disappeared, leaving echoed hoots of laughter in their wake. An ocean breeze rattled the leaves of the old poplar trees lining the sidewalks, and somewhere in the distance a lawn mower growled and dogs barked.

      She stiffened when Brian hurried down the front steps and along the curving walkway. Following him with her gaze, Kathy didn’t miss his crisply ironed blue sport shirt and the tan khaki slacks. Looked like date clothes to her. “I’m glad to see rejection doesn’t keep him down for long.” She shook her head and went up on her toes to see him better. He moved quickly, like a man on a mission. “Anxious, isn’t he?” she muttered through gritted teeth.

      So much for her theories about her own irresistibility. Not only wasn’t he pining from her lack of interest, he’d gone directly from flirting shamelessly with her to a date with someone else.

      Unlocking the door of his black Jeep, he slid inside, fired the engine and was gone a moment or two later.

      Only then did Kathy notice her grip tightened on the curtains, pressing dozens of wrinkles into the sheer fabric. She smoothed them out as best she could, then turned around to face her empty apartment.

      This was a vindication, of sorts. She’d known all along that Brian Haley was what her mother would have called a womanizer. So she’d done the right thing in standing firm against his flirting and turning down his less-than-subtle invitations to get to know him better.

      “I win,” she mumbled, and tried not to wonder why victory tasted so much like defeat.

      Three days later Brian looked up from his computer screen as First Sergeant Jack Harris walked into the office. “You’re late,” he said.

      “Shoot me,” Jack told him, and crossed the room to his own desk.

      “Trust me. Today, you shouldn’t tempt me.”

      “Oh, aye, aye, Gunnery Sergeant Haley, sir.”

      Brian shook his head. “Shut up.”

      Jack laughed shortly, flipped on his computer and glanced at his friend. “What’s the matter with you?”

      Brian scrubbed his hands over his face and mumbled. “Nothing.”

      “Good,” Jack said. “I need to see those finished fitness reports today.”

      “Thanks for the concern,” Brian said, “but I’ll be fine.”

      Jack laughed shortly, leaned back in his chair and said, “All right, let’s have it.”

      “Have what?” He bit the words off.

      “Could this be…” Jack said, his expression mirroring his amusement, “dare I think it…lady troubles?”

      “Who said anything about a woman?” he grumbled from behind his hands.

      “You didn’t have to,” Jack told him. “I recognize the signs.”

      “What signs?” He dropped his hands to his desk and glared at the other man.

      “Signs that a man’s been lying awake at night thinking about a woman he can’t have.”

      Brian had been around in the early days of Jack’s marriage to Colonel Candello’s daughter, Donna. And he remembered vividly how on edge Jack had been then. He also recalled not having had a lot of sympathy for the man. Ironic.

      Still, this situation was entirely different. Brian wasn’t married. Hell, he hadn’t even had a date with the woman slowly driving him nuts. Irritation swelled inside him, and he shot his old friend a dirty look. Pushing away from the desk, he folded his arms across his chest, glared at Jack and demanded, “Why do you automatically assume that I’m having a problem with a woman?”

      Jack turned away from his work and grinned. “Maybe because I saw the way you looked at Kathy Tate…and the way she avoided looking at you.”

      “Thanks for nothing.”

      “No problem.” Jack was enjoying this, and it showed. “So tell me. I saw strike one for myself. Was there a strike two in the past few days?”

      “Why in hell did a nice woman like Donna marry you?”

      “She refused to settle for less than the best.”

      “And yet she picked you.”

      “You’re stalling,” Jack said, pointing a finger at him. “Afraid to admit you’ve finally found a woman you can’t charm?”

      “You’re a laugh riot, Jack.” Disgusted, Brian snatched up the first of the fitness reports and made a great show of reading it over.

      “This is no laughing matter,” Jack said soberly and Brian shot him a look in time to see the smile on the man’s face. “There’s a pool, you know.”

      “A pool?”

      “Yep.” Jack rocked easily in his chair, folded his hands atop his chest and studied the