Red Tail. Lindsay McKenna

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СКАЧАТЬ sir,” Gallagher mimicked, giving her an equally viperous glance in return.

      * * *

      Once outside the building, Gallagher reached out, pulling her to a halt. “You’re enjoying this a little too much, lieutenant.”

      “Am I?” she asked coolly. Storm forced herself not to react to his firm, arousing touch.

      “Yes, and if I didn’t know better, so are your shipmates.”

      “You brought it on yourself, Gallagher.”

      His features darkened as he regarded her. “I’ve never seen men so protective of a woman in their ranks before. What’d you do, bed down with each one of them?”

      Her response was instantaneous and totally instinctive. Storm’s palm caught his cheek in a glancing blow, the slap sounding sharply. Startled, Storm took a step away from him, her face flushed scarlet. She stood there, hands clenched into fists at her side, breathing hard. Gallagher ruefully rubbed his reddening cheek. My God, she had never struck anyone in her life! She began to tremble from the surge of adrenaline flowing through her body.

      “How dare you,” she quavered.

      A slight grin pulled at his mouth and he gave her a sheepish look. “Guess I had that coming, didn’t I?” And then his blue eyes darkened. “Storm’s a good name for you,” he said in a husky voice.

      The suggestive tone was overpowering to her shattered senses. Storm was angry at herself for reacting like a woman instead of an officer who was supposed to be in charge. What the hell was the matter with her? Shape up, Travis, she berated herself. Her gray eyes narrowed.

      “It’s obvious you don’t care for me as your superior, Lieutenant Gallagher,” she told him through clenched teeth, “but that’s something you and I are just going to have to suffer through. I don’t like this any more than you do. And what’s more, you had damn well better pay attention to my orders when I give them while we’re in the air. The first time you even think of disobeying me could cause us to be killed. I won’t stand for that. You can hate me on the ground but up in the air, mister, I’m the AC and what I say goes. Do we understand each other?”

      Bram stared down at her. He lost his smile, aware of the steel backbone she possessed. The problem was that he liked her as a woman; already she had intrigued him. He had barely slept all last night thinking about her. A new glint of respect shone in his eyes. “Okay, I can buy that, lieutenant. In the air, you’re the queen. I won’t ever disobey an order you give me—that’s a promise.”

      She eased upright, realizing she had hunched over into an almost attacklike position. She stabbed a finger toward him. “You’ve got a lot to learn, Gallagher. You jet jocks in the Air Force are used to one-man shows. Here in the Coast Guard, we work as a close-knit team. In the air, I’m not the queen. I’m just part of the coordinated flesh and blood team that’s flying that helicopter toward a rescue. And one more thing. All I want from you is your respect. Hate my guts, but respect the knowledge I’ve accrued.” She marched toward her blue sports car, then spun on her booted heel, glaring at him. “I’ll see you over at the Ops center. We’re due for our 1330 briefing by the Section Duty officer.”

      What the hell had she done? Storm groaned, forcing herself to slow down on the way over to the hangar area. Her face was hot with mortification. I’ll bet Gallagher thinks I go around slapping men all the time. Why should she care what he thinks? And that look Captain Greer had given her…he knew the fur was going to fly. She ran her fingers haphazardly through her ginger hair in an aggravated motion.

      * * *

      The ten Coast Guard pilots sat with their cups of coffee in hand as the SDO, LCDR Mike Duncan passed out the assignments. Storm sat rigidly next to Gallagher. She had endured his stare when he was the last to enter the Operations area. Storm had noticed that all the normal congenial noise died down to silence when he entered. A part of her felt compassion for him. He was new, and an outsider, not only because he was a green helicopter pilot, but because he was from another branch of the service. Grimacing, Storm glanced over at him. His probing blue eyes met hers. She quickly refocused her attention upon Duncan.

      “Storm, you get to take those five loads of pallets from supply and drop them over at the staging area.” Duncan, a man of forty with prematurely graying hair, gave her a slight smile. “Maybe you can show Lieutenant Gallagher the finer points of sling ops.”

      She nodded. “Okay.” Great, they got the trash run today. Did she have a black cloud hanging over her head or something?

      After being dismissed, Bram followed her to the line shack that sat near the Ops building. Bram came abreast of her and slowed his pace. Automatically Storm allowed the rest of the pilots to amble on by them. She glanced up at him.

      “What’s wrong?” she asked.

      “Nothing. Just wanted to apologize for what I said earlier outside Admin to you,” he murmured. “It was a cheap shot.”

      She bit back “You’re damn right it was.” Instead she shrugged. “Apology accepted, Gallagher.”

      An elfin grin pulled at his mouth. “You have one hell of a right cross, lady.”

      It was her turn to smile as they walked down the sidewalk toward the line shack. “I’ve never slapped a man in my life. You were the first. And you’ll be the last,” she promised throatily.

      Bram pulled the glass door open. The surprised look she gave him told Bram she wasn’t used to that kind of help from a man. Too bad, he thought. I’m going to treat you like a lady whether anyone likes it or not.

      All the duty section pilots milled around the cramped confines of the line shack. It sat next to the ramp area where serviced and repaired aircraft were parked.

      Storm pulled over the maintenance book on CG 1378 and opened it up. Bram moved beside her, squeezing into the small counter space between the other pilots. She was vividly aware of his male strength, his body hard from being physically fit. Collecting her scattered thoughts, Storm pointed down at the log.

      “We always check this to mark any discrepancies or problems with the helo, Bram. It’s up to us to record them and then sign for the helo we’ll be using that day.”

      The press of bodies, the good-natured gibing and jokes, filled the line shack. After signing out CG 1378, Storm shut the log, handing it back to the warrant officer behind the desk.

      “Let’s go,” she said, giving him a slight smile.

      Bram returned it, remaining at her side, and then pushed open the door. The muggy afternoon air hit them as they walked around the corner of the building and onto the concrete ramp.

      Storm began to relax. This was her home, the one place where she felt comfortable since the loss of her husband and Dave Walker. Merlin was waiting for them, over by CG 1378, throwing them the customary salute.

      “Afternoon, Lieutenant Travis, Lieutenant Gallagher,” he said gruffly.

      “Afternoon, Merlin.” Storm smiled, taking the mandatory baseball cap of dark blue off her head. Unzipping a large pocket on her left thigh, she stuffed it in there. The breeze was light, coming in from the Atlantic Ocean, and she inhaled deeply of the salt-laden air. She made formal introductions between Merlin and Bram Gallagher. Storm smiled СКАЧАТЬ