By Request Collection April-June 2016. Оливия Гейтс

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СКАЧАТЬ to kiss her, and the knowledge both thrilled and infuriated her, providing her with the courage to speak.

      “I saw you last night,” she blurted. “On my way back from the women’s showers.”

      He cocked his head and looked expectantly at her. “So …? Why didn’t you let me know? I thought we had an agreement that you wouldn’t walk to the showers alone. You should have called me.”

      Kate compressed her lips and stared mutely at him, willing him to come clean with her, and not continue this farce of pretending he had no idea what she was talking about.

      “I didn’t call your name because it was clear to me that you were preoccupied with kissing Captain Larson.” She shoved angrily at his chest, but he didn’t budge. “I saw you, Chase! I know you spent the night with her. The least you could have done is told me you were already involved with someone. Do you know how that makes me feel? Do you?”

      To her astonishment, he didn’t look guilty or ashamed at having been caught. In fact, his green eyes were alight with what might have been amusement and relief.

      “Tell me how it made you feel,” he said softly, crowding her with his body. “I want to know.”

      Kate couldn’t believe he could be that cruel. His demand was equivalent to emotional torture. Lifting her chin, she glared at him.

      “You want to know how it made me feel? Fine, let me tell you. It made me feel angry. And hurt. And stupid for having believed that you wanted me. And so mad that it took all my strength not to go in after you and scratch that woman’s eyes out!” She stared at Chase, her breathing coming in aggravated gasps. “There, are you happy now? I wasn’t even going to tell you that I saw you. I was just going to leave—go back to the States and pretend I never met you. But you—you—”

      She made a sound of extreme frustration and tried to break free, but he clamped his hands on her upper arms and hauled her up against his chest.

      “Katie,” he said softly, searching her eyes, “do you really think I could so much as look at another woman after being with you? Do you really have such a low opinion of me?”

      “I. Saw. You.” The words came out through gritted teeth.

      He considered her for a brief moment, then caught her by the hand and dragged her out of the room. “I want to show you something,” he said over his shoulder. “Then, if you still want to hate me, you can.”

      Kate hung back, not wanting to go anywhere with him, but resistance was futile. He hauled her effortlessly in his wake across the parade field and back to the waiting Humvee. “No, wait!” she protested. “Where you taking me?”

      “You’ll see,” he said grimly, and thrust her into the back seat, before climbing in beside her. “Take us to the flight-operations shack,” he said, leaning forward to speak to the driver.

      Kate stared at him in horror. “Oh, no,” she said, reaching for the door handle. “There is no way I am going to have a face-off with Captain Larson.”

      But Chase leaned across her body and covered her hand with his own before she could open the door and jump out. He searched her eyes, and what she saw in their depths made her pause. “Trust me, Kate, okay?” His voice was low and compelling. “Just give me this, and I promise I won’t ask anything more from you.”

      Slowly, she released the door handle and sat back, still staring at him. “Okay,” she muttered.

      Satisfied, he resumed his position beside her, and they drove in silence across the base to the flight line. But instead of pulling up to the terminal, the Humvee drove to a separate building with a sign over the door that read Flight Operations.

      Kate’s heart was pounding so hard, she thought for sure that Chase must hear it, but he seemed too intent on getting her into the building to notice. Inside, three soldiers sat in a reception area, fielding phone calls and monitoring computers. The first soldier looked up, his gaze flicking from Chase to Kate, and then back again. If he thought it unusual that Chase was dragging a civilian female into the flight-operations center, he was too well-trained to let it show.

      “The pilots are in the conference room,” he said without preamble.

      “Thanks,” Chase muttered, and pulled Kate along a corridor until they reached a closed door. Without knocking, Chase opened it just enough to poke his head inside. “Sorry for the interruption. Can I speak with you privately? Now?”

      Kate couldn’t see who he directed his question to, but knew it was Captain Larson. Drawing a deep breath, she mentally steeled herself to face the pilot, vowing that she would never speak to Chase again for putting her through this humiliation. But it wasn’t a female pilot who came out of the conference room.

      Kate stared in dismay at the tall, broad-shouldered man who stepped into the corridor and closed the door carefully behind him. He wore an army-green flight suit with the US flag on one shoulder and an insignia patch on the other. Kate gaped at him, and her eyes dropped to the name patch on the front of his uniform. Rawlins.

      “Oh, my God,” she breathed.

      She stared at him, registering the translucent green eyes, alight with interest, the square jaw and sensuous, smiling mouth and the deep dimples in each cheek. Like Chase’s, his brown hair was cropped close to his head, and Kate could see the bronze and gold glints in the short strands. He was identical, in every way, to Chase. Except that where Chase’s expression was grim and unsmiling, this man seemed to have a perpetual glint of devilment in his eyes. Now he looked from Kate to Chase.

      “Ah,” he said meaningfully and with great relish. “This has a distinct déjà vu feel to it.”

      “Kate,” Chase said, “I’d like you to meet my brother—my twin brother—Chance Rawlins. He arrived yesterday morning from Bagram Air Base. He’s an Apache helicopter pilot.”

      Chance gave her a winning smile. “I suspect that the reason you’re here is because you saw me with a certain female pilot and mistakenly believed I was Chase.”

      Feeling light-headed, Kate threw out a hand to steady herself, but Chase was already there, putting an arm around her back and supporting her. “Are you okay?”

      “I’m just … astonished,” she finally admitted, leaning against Chase. “I had no idea … you said you had a brother, but you didn’t tell me you were twins.” She passed a hand over her eyes. “I feel like such an idiot.”

      “Don’t,” Chance said, still grinning. “Not so long ago, Jenna—Captain Larson—actually propositioned Chase, believing he was me. Don’t worry, he turned her down. So this is all very cathartic for me. I don’t often get to see my brother in this situation.”

      “Careful,” Chase warned. He turned to Kate. “Are we okay? Are we good?”

      Something loosened and then broke free in Kate’s chest, and she felt her throat tighten with emotion. Chase hadn’t cheated on her. Unable to speak, she just nodded.

      “Okay, let’s get out of here,” he said. “Thanks for clearing things up, bro.”

      “My pleasure,” Chance replied, his hand on the doorknob. “Oh, and don’t forget my offer. Something tells me you’re going to СКАЧАТЬ