No Quarter Given. Lindsay McKenna

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СКАЧАТЬ wasn’t going to put it exactly like that.”

      “You wouldn’t. You’re too kind, Mol.”

      Giggling, Molly bandaged her arm. “Maggie would wrinkle her nose.”

      “And roll those big green eyes of hers.”

      “She has great body language,” Molly agreed.

      “I feel better already.” Dana sighed. With her two friends, she felt a safety she’d never before been able to achieve. She felt encroaching exhaustion. “Listen, I think after a bath, I’m going to crash and burn. Which bedroom is mine?”

      “The last on the left. It has a lovely dusty-rose carpet. We’ve already got the beds put together. While you’re getting your bath, I’ll put sheets and a blanket on it.”

      “Thanks.” Only Molly would notice such details as carpet color. Dana wasn’t as attuned to such subtleties as Molly or Maggie. No. All her sensory abilities centered on her survival mechanism. Sometimes Dana wished she could ease her guard and enjoy the things her friends did with such relish. Her defensive nature had relaxed some, thanks to them. Still, Dana knew she had a long way to go. She wondered if she’d ever lose her wary attitude toward all men.

      After her bath, Dana went straight to her new bedroom. Her face was aching again. The ice pack had helped tremendously, and as Dana settled into her double bed, Molly brought her a second pack.

      “Listen, you sleep all you want. We won’t wake you for dinner. Okay?”

      Dana put the pack on the pillow and laid her injured cheek against it. “Fine….”

      Molly quietly closed the door.

      Outside the open window, Dana could hear the cheerful call of birds. Beyond that, she heard airplanes in the distance. She was sure it was the trainers from Whiting Field and nearby Pensacola Naval Air Station. The spring air was humid, and she could smell the ocean in the breeze from the gulf. Just as she slipped into a deep, healing sleep, Griff’s face appeared once again. This time, Dana wasn’t jerked awake. She lost herself in his dove-gray eyes, which radiated that incredible warmth. For the first time in her life, she had felt safe with a man—a stranger she’d never meet again.

      * * *

      Dana awakened slowly, realizing it was dark in the room. Her head was throbbing, and she sat up groggily, holding her injured, puffy cheek. It felt as if it had grown in size. Damn the man who’d hit her. She took some small satisfaction in the punch Griff had returned. Maybe there was a little justice in this universe.

      The door to her bedroom opened quietly. Dana looked up to see Maggie, her long, lean face shadowed by the light spilling into the room from behind her.

      “I’m awake,” Dana muttered. “Come on in.”

      Maggie slipped in, worry showing on her face as she came forward. “I was starting to fret about you. It’s 2200. Molly kept saying you were just sleeping, but I thought you might have suffered a concussion from that hit you took.”

      “I’ve got too hard a head for that.” Dana crossed her legs. It hurt to move her head. Maggie sat down facing her. She was wearing a T-shirt and baggy jeans, her shoulder-length red hair mussed. Dana could only admire the strength and confidence that Maggie radiated. She was first-generation Irish, and the youngest of four redheaded daughters who had all entered the various military services. Dana saw the feisty look in Maggie’s glittering green eyes.

      “I hope like hell you pulverized that jerk who nailed you.”

      “I didn’t have to. Griff did.” Dana began telling her the story.

      Maggie shook her head after hearing the full account. “I’d like to hunt that bastard down and let him have it, anyway.”

      Dana grinned. “Your Celtic warrior side is showing again, Maggie.”

      Nostrils flaring, Maggie growled, “No man has a right to strike a woman or vice versa.”

      “Is that an old Celtic law?” She loved teasing Maggie, who was intensely proud of her heritage.

      “No, that’s Maggie’s Law.”

      “Griff took care of him, believe me. I heard the guy’s nose crack.”

      “At least there’s consolation in that,” Maggie muttered, reaching out and gently patting her knee. “Listen, Molly tore through every box she owned until she found her granny’s remedy journal. She’s out there in the kitchen right now concocting some god-awful paste that’s stinking up the entire apartment. We’ll be lucky if the landlord doesn’t throw us out for contaminating the atmosphere. He might even call in the Environmental Protection Agency.”

      It hurt to laugh, but Dana did anyway. “Mol didn’t know which box her journal was in.”

      “I told her to index those boxes!”

      “I know. But she was more concerned about getting our houseplants down here uninjured.” Molly had driven her sensible station wagon loaded with plants and breakable items to make sure they arrived in good shape. She didn’t trust moving vans.

      Maggie smiled fondly, looking toward the open door. “If she wins her wings, I think we ought to call her Mom or Mother.” Every pilot who graduated came out of flight school with a nickname that stayed with him or her forever.

      Dana’s smile disappeared. “I worry about her, Maggie. Everything we’ve heard about flight school being twenty times more demanding than the academy worries me.”

      Maggie snorted. “I’m worried for myself, too. At the grocery store I bumped into a sixth-week student from Pensacola. He told me ninety percent of his class had already been washed out.”

      “Wow!” Dana clenched her fist. She had to make it!

      “I’m just glad the three of us are going into this together.”

      “Yeah. Misery loves company.”

      Grinning, Maggie got up. “You’re feeling better, I can tell. You’re back to your usual pessimistic sense of humor.”

      Dana slowly got off the bed, feeling a bit light-headed. Maggie came to her side and slipped her arm around her shoulders.

      “I know…you can make it on your own,” Maggie chided, leading her toward the door. “But suffer my help, Dana. You look like hell.”

      “Thanks.”

      The bright light hurt Dana’s good eye. Her other eye was swollen shut. She bowed her head and allowed Maggie’s lanky frame to offer partial support. “This hasn’t been one of the better days of my life.”

      “Don’t we know it. Come on, let’s go out to the kitchen where Dr. Molly is stirring up her brew. I wonder if you have to drink it? The cure may be worse than the black eye.”

      It hurt to grin, but Dana couldn’t help it. The kitchen was huge, with a highly polished light green tile floor. Molly was working furiously over the stove, a white apron wrapped around her tall figure. The apron looked funny with the short shorts she СКАЧАТЬ