The Right Stuff. Lori Wilde

told herself she’d embellished their attraction. That it was nothing more than the fuzzy sweet memory of a love that used to be. But here, now, feeling the raw, aching chemistry again, she realized she’d actually downplayed it.

      What was she going to do?

      She’d never bargained on running across him, on feeling like this; for a split second she thought perhaps Uncle Chuck was playing matchmaker, hooking her up with her old college sweetheart. Then she remembered that General Miller knew nothing about her youthful affair with Daniel. She’d never even told her father of their liaison because it had been too new, too romantic to share with a man who viewed love as something that had to be sacrificed. This hook-up was sheer, miserable bad luck.

      Or destiny, whispered a voice in the back of her mind.

      “It’s my duty to show you around,” he replied.

      She could tell from the sharp-edged light in his eyes and his pointed tone of voice that duty was not the word he really wanted to use. The military had disciplined him to hold his tongue. Not that he’d ever been great at expressing his feelings. Typical strong, silent type.

      But Taylor was a Milton born and bred. She could hide her real emotions just as well as he could. It was the one thing they had in common.

      But hiding her feelings took a toll.

      What she yearned to do was fling herself into his arms, tell him just how stupid she’d been to send him away all those years ago. Of course, she didn’t do that, instead, she called him on it. “You disapprove of my being here.”

      “Patrick is a restricted military base.”

      “Aren’t all military bases restricted?”

      “Civilians shouldn’t be allowed to go running around unchecked.” His chin hardened.

      “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m checked. You’re here to check me.”

      “You’re here because you’re throwing money at General Miller’s political campaign, that’s it.”

      “And that’s bad because…?”

      “Not everyone has your wealth and privilege. Not everyone has pockets big enough to support their whims.”

      That irritated her. “My business is not a whim.”

      He said nothing, just scrutinized her with those stalwart blue eyes that shook her up.

      Taylor forced a smile. She refused to let him rattle her. “So, tell me all about Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Daniel Corben. I’m assuming you’re married. Got a big brood of kids.”

      “No wife, no children.” Daniel shook his head and her foolish, foolish heart soared.

      “Oh,” she said, struggling to sound neutral, as if she didn’t care. But damn if she didn’t sound hopeful to her own ears. She felt hopeful, too. Why should she be hopeful when he’d made it clear he didn’t want her here?

       Stop it. There’s a good reason you broke up with him.

      But for the life of her—in that moment as her eyes drank him in—she couldn’t remember what it was, why she’d lied to him and told him their love affair had been nothing more than a fling. Why she’d walked away from the best thing that had ever happened to her.

      Pulse pounding, she searched his face. The years had been lavishly generous. Maturity had deepened his good looks, ripening his masculine appeal. He was bigger than she remembered. Taller, harder. He’d been handsome before, but now…?

      Now, he was extraordinary.

      His shoulders had broadened and so had his muscular thighs and biceps. His posture was ramrodstraight, his presence commanding. He wore a white lab jacket over his basic uniform. His face was attractively fuller, less rangy than it had been, but his waist was just as narrow. His hair was a bit longer than the buzz cut he’d had for military induction, but it was still quite short and tidy. She couldn’t spy even a hint of gray.

      And his eyes. His devastatingly gorgeous eyes were as impossibly blue as ever.

      “How about you?” he asked.

      “What?” She blinked.

      “Is there a Mr. Milton? Any little Taylors running around?”

      “Me?” Taylor laughed, desperate to appear casual and unaffected by this strange turn of events. How could she still be affected by him after all these years? “Not hardly.”

      “It’s a fair question. You’re thirty-three now. No ticking biological clock?”

      “That’s not any of your business.” The answer was yes. She did think about kids. Especially since her father had died, since she was all alone in the world, but she didn’t have to tell him that.

      “So you’ve never been married?”

      “No.”

      “Boyfriend?”

      “Not currently. You know me.” She laughed again, trying to sound carefree. “I’m not the kind to settle down.”

      “Still all about fun, fun, fun, huh?” He said fun as though it was a dirty word.

      “I do enjoy a good time.” She battered her eyelashes in a facetious gesture.

      He frowned. “I know.”

      Her pulse quickened. “I never made a secret of it.”

      “I never said you did.”

       If you only knew how much it hurt me to have to hurt you…

      She stifled the urge to jump into her Porsche and zoom away from the intensity of those snapping blue eyes. Eyes that seemed to possess a hidden meaning all their own. At the same time an equally compelling impulse had her wanting to kiss him with a fervency born of urgent familiarity.

      But she did neither.

      Thirty-three years as the only child of a billionaire airline executive had honed her ability to cloak her true feelings behind a happy-go-lucky facade. The skill had given her the strength to send Daniel away on the night of his graduation. From the looks of him now—disciplined, a doctor, a lieutenant colonel involved with the aerospace program—it had been the right decision. He had achieved all his dreams because she’d let him go.

      Taylor took a deep breath, steeling herself. She could handle this.

      And yet, the intensity of those blue eyes unsettled her in a way nothing else could.

      “I remember a lot of things about you,” he added.

      The criticism in his voice grabbed her in a stranglehold. She knew she’d hurt him, yes, but she’d been hurt, too. That part he didn’t understand. He stood looking at her, his expression a combination of judgment and annoyance.

      “You haven’t changed a bit, Taylor,” Daniel said. “Still beautiful and as inaccessible as ever.”

      “I…I’ve changed,” she said, denying his accusation.

      “Yeah?” He arched an eyebrow. “How’s that?”

       I learned how to live without you.

      Taylor drew herself up tall. “I’m running my father’s airline now,” she answered. “I’ve overhauled it completely and we’re more successful than ever.”

      “How is your father?”

      “Dad passed away four years ago.”

      “Taylor, I…I’m so sorry.” He reached out a hand, but seemed to think better of it, and let his arm fall to his side. “I know he was your only family. That must have been so hard on you.”

      His sympathy pushed a lump of unshed tears into her throat. “I managed.”

      Casually,