A Soldier's Christmas Read online

  When he went into the bedroom, that suspicion turned to rock-hard certainty.

  She was waiting for him, still wearing the towel, but she'd added to it. A bright red ribbon circled her neck. The bow fluffed just under her chin.

  Laughing at his expression of comical delight, Abby strolled across the room. Her green eyes danced as she rose up on tiptoe and hooked her wrists behind his neck.

  "Merry Christmas, Major."

  His mouth curved. His arms went around her. His big hands cupped her bottom.

  "Back at you, Captain."

  When his mouth came down on hers, a fierce, urgent need slammed into Abby. There was nothing polite about it, nothing coy. She wanted his touch, his teeth, his tongue, with the same greedy hunger he wanted hers.

  All too soon, even that wasn't enough. Her hands roamed his damp back. His did the same on hers. The towels disappeared, and the heat surged.

  Abby was on fire when he scooped her into his arms and headed for the bed. Impatient when he made a detour to the wardrobe and rooted around in one of his uniform pockets. Amused when he fished out a condom.

  "Remind me again," she said on a sputter of laughter. "What's the motto of Air Force Special Ops?"

  His teeth flashed in a wicked grin. "Anytime, Anywhere, sweetheart. Anytime, Anywhere."

  When they tumbled to the bed in a tangle of arms and legs and still-damp bodies, Dan fully intended to take his time with her. He'd fantasized about getting Abby Trent naked and under him too many times in the past week to rush this moment.

  He'd reckoned without the smooth, slick satin of her skin, however. Not to mention her breathless little gasp when he took her nipple between his teeth. And when her eager palm closed around him, Dan abandoned any attempt at control.

  Kneeing Abby's legs apart, he positioned himself between her thighs and thrust home. She welcomed him with a joyous gasp.

  Dan's last thought, while he could still think at all, was that he would remember this Christmas for a long, long time.

  * * *

  WHEN DAN AND ABBY ARRIVED AT THE hospital, he still wore a silly grin and she carried the stuffed animal tucked under her arm. To his acute disappointment, she'd insisted on retying the red bow around the pony's neck.

  Dan himself lugged the giant-size basket of infant clothing, blankets and disposable diapers the hotel concierge had hastily scrounged up for the baby. He was in a downright mellow and distinctly holiday mood until they reached the maternity ward.

  The doctor who'd helped deliver her baby walked out through the swinging ward doors just as Dan and Abby prepared to walk in. The colonel's face was a study in frustration.

  "There you are," he exclaimed when he spotted them. "I was just going to try to find you."

  "Is there a problem?" Abby asked sharply.

  "Yes."

  "Is it the baby? Or Maria? Are they okay?"

  "They're both fine," the colonel assured her. "But, well…"

  He raked a hand through his hair. His Santa Claus hat, she noted distractedly, was stuffed half in and half out of his pants pocket. The fluffy white pom-pom at its tip looked incongruous against his black-and-green camouflage battle fatigues.

  "This is a Turkish air force hospital," he explained. "We just use their facilities. I had to notify the hospital commander when I brought Maria and the baby in. He in turn was required to notify the civil authorities."

  "And?"

  "And they're wanting to know what name to put on the child's birth certificate. They're also wanting to know if Maria is married."

  Abby's stomach did a sudden flip-flop. In keeping with Turkey's rich heritage, its people were a mix of East and West, European and Arab, Christian and Muslim. She didn't know what stigma might attach to an unmarried girl who gave birth in this country. She only hoped the consequences weren't as severe as in some Arab nations, where the women could be tried as adulterers and stoned to death.

  "What did Maria tell the authorities?" she asked the doctor anxiously.

  "Nothing yet. I stalled them by saying I didn't feel she was strong enough to talk to them."

  Abby thought for a moment. She was darned if she was going to let some bureaucrat brand either Maria or her baby as outcasts. Or worse.

  "Is Nedim with her?"

  "Yes."

  "What about a translator? Do you have one handy?"

  "I can round one up."

  "Good! We'll meet you inside."

  Chin set, she pushed through the swinging doors. If Maria's wild shriek when she spotted Nedim was any indication, the girl was in love with him. His bemused expression when he'd climbed into the ambulance with her indicated the feeling was mutual. Abby figured Father Dominic could take it from there. First, though, she had to make sure the young couple wanted a Christmas wedding.

  They did. They most definitely did.

  Nedim looked too young to shoulder the responsibility of a family. According to the translator, however, he was nineteen, had inherited a patch of a farm from his grandfather and was willing to pay any dowry demanded by his bride or her father, when he returned. If he did not…

  The grave, solemn young man squared his shoulders. He would provide for Maria, Constantine and the son that God had blessed them with.

  When asked her druthers, Maria poured out a torrent of passionate assurances. She'd loved Nedim all her life. They'd grown up together. She'd turned to him when her father was taken and wept a thousand tears when Nedim, too, was marched off at gunpoint.

  At which point she burst into sobs and added considerably to the tally. Her cries woke the baby tucked in the crook of her arm. He scrunched his face until it went beet red. His tiny fists beat the air. Opening his rosebud mouth, he let loose with a high, reedy wail.

  "Wow," Dan said admiringly. "That's some set of lungs the kid's got."

  Instantly alarmed, Maria and Nedim cooed and clucked to their child. When his wails continued unabated, Abby thrust the stuffed pony in Nedim's hands.

  "Try this."

  Popping his tongue to make the sound of a trot, the young rebel jounced the pony along the bedrail. The baby's fists stilled. His face unscrunched. His cloudy brown eyes weren't focused, but he responded to the noise and the moving blur with hiccupping silence.

  "Well, whaddaya know," Abby said smugly. "Chargin' Charlie to the rescue again."

  "We've got a chopper waiting to take us back to the site," Dan reminded her in a drawl. "If we're going to have a wedding here, we'd better get with it."

  "Right. My radio won't transmit back to the site from here. We'll have to get your Special Ops command center to patch me through."

  "No problem."

  Within moments, Abby had Sergeant Davis on the link.

  "Yo, Cap! Hear tell you've had quite a Christmas."

  Heat flamed in Abby's cheeks until she realized he was referring to the bridge, the rebels and the baby. Not her recent tussle between the sheets.

  "It's been interesting," she admitted. "I need you to drive down to the village and find Father Dominic. Like fast."

  "Father D? He's right here. He came up to check on you and the maj and the girl."

  "Great! Put him on the horn."

  Father Dominic grasped the gravity of the situation at once, but it took the combined efforts of Abby, Maria and Nedim to convince him to conduct a wedding ceremony via satellite.

  Abby and the translator acted as witnesses. Dan stood as Nedim's best man, or what they explained was the rough equivalent. Once Father Dominic blessed the couple, a relieved Doc Donaldson produced the birth certificate.

  "All right! Father's name?"

  Prompted by the interpreter, Nedim spelled his first and last names.

  "Mother's name?"

  "Maria," the girl whispered, blushing when she added her new family name.

  "And the baby?"

  The newlyweds put their heads together. After a whispered consultation that went on for some minutes, Nedim shrugged and Maria spoke a few, shy sen
tences.

  "She says she wants to give the baby your name," the translator informed Abby.

  "No kidding?"

  An unexpected lump formed in her throat. She wouldn't hang a label like Abigail on the poor boy, but the shortened version would work just fine. Choking down the lump, she spelled it out for the doctor.

  "That's A-b-i."

  "Ab-i," Maria echoed softly, drawing a knuckle down her son's cheek.

  "Ab-i," Nedim repeated, appearing pleased with the choice.

  Dan joined in the chorus. His blue eyes held a special glint as he tipped her a salute.

  "Nice goin', Ab-i."

  CHAPTER SIX

  Abby and Dan arrived back at the site late Christmas afternoon. Despite the knuckle-cracking events of the past twenty-four hours, she felt revived and rejuvenated. The impromptu wedding, naming the baby and the full-course turkey dinner Dan insisted they down at the Special Ops mess hall before jumping aboard the chopper had put a decided spring in Abby's step.

  Ha! Who was she kidding? As she ducked under the rotor blades and waved to the aircrew, she knew darned well she owed most of that bounce to that incredible session in Dan's hotel room. The question whizzing around in her mind now was how they would revert to their previous, all-business, let's-get-the-job-done personas now they were back on-site.

  Dan, apparently, had no problem with the transition. Hefting the gear bag he'd hauled back with him, he headed for the tent he shared with the Red Horse crew.

  "I'll dump this and meet you in the operations tent. We might need to revise the layout for the mobile-aircraft arresting systems based on the new deployment information I got back at base."

  "First things first," Abby said crisply. "I asked Father Dominic to stand by until we returned to the site, remember? He's going to conduct a nondenominational service for the troops."

  Abby knew the members of her sixteen-person team regarded the religious significance of the holiday in individual and very private ways. She wasn't about to impose her beliefs on any of them, but it was her duty as officer in charge to offer those who wanted it the opportunity to attend services on this of all days.

  "I'll meet you in the ops tent after the service. Unless, of course, you'd like to join us," she tacked on politely.

  Dan got the message. They were back on Abby's turf. She was responsible for the morale and welfare of her troops. He liked that she didn't hesitate to exercise her authority on their behalf. He liked even more the way the wind whipped color into her cheeks and ruffled the stray strands of her fiery hair. Clenching his fists against the memory of thrusting his hands through her wet, silky mane, Dan nodded.

  "Good enough. Father Dominic first, the mobile-arresting systems second."

  Buoyed by the easy victory, Abby took a moment to savor it. She hugged her arms against the cold and turned in a slow circle. The flat plain they'd surveyed and sited for the Special Ops forward operating element lay glinting under its thin coat of frost. The mountains surrounding it loomed stark and formidable against the sky.

  Slowly, she completed the circle. Eyes narrowing, she tracked the course of the ice-crusted river that had carved the pass through the mountains untold millennia ago. There, far below, were the scattered ruins of the village that straddled the river. And the ruins of the bridge.

  With a wry smile, Abby eyed the one remaining stone column and the arch that now soared into empty air. The engineer in her ached to restore the ancient structure to its former permanence and beauty. The floating ribbon bridge she hoped to convince headquarters to send in with the second-echelon Red Horse team was functional, but it was also temporary.

  Maybe one day, she thought. When she decided what the heck she was going to do with the rest of her life.

  A piece of the puzzle dropped into place when she entered the mess tent and received a rousing welcome from her team. Most of them were there. Sergeant Davis. Sergeant Oakes. Senior Airman Joyce Carmichael. Everyone except the troop detailed to stand guard duty and the one manning the communications equipment.

  A surge of emotion rushed through Abby. As she returned their greetings and filled them in on the details about Maria and the baby, she knew she was home.

  * * *

  ANOTHER PIECE OF THE PUZZLE DROPPED into place later that evening.

  Exhaustion had pretty much wiped out Abby's euphoria over the incredible events of the day and the peace she'd derived from Father Dominic's simple, moving service. Her tail was definitely dragging when she made her way to the operations tent.

  Dan was waiting for her, his laptop open and booted up. "Headquarters is testing a new mobile emergency arresting system as we speak," he said by way of greeting. "They gave me the specs on the new system and want to know if we can employ it at this site."

  "That depends. Does it need to be installed on concrete pads, below grade or in semi-pits?"

  "This one is trailer mounted, air-transportable to remote locations, and installed with earth anchors in an expeditionary configuration."

  "Well, that makes things easier."

  Her interest piqued, Abby peered over his shoulder. The schematic on the screen showed a retractable steel cable housed in a compact casing. According to the specs, the cable could stop anything up to and including a jumbo jet. Abby seriously doubted any jumbo jets would be touching down at this remote mountain site, but it was nice to know they could stop one if it did.

  "I'll have to feed the specs into my site layout plan," she told Dan, "but I don't see any problem installing the new system here."

  "Good. When you're done, I'll forward your assessment to my headquarters. They can coordinate with yours."

  He popped the CD containing the specs out of his computer and passed it to Abby. Smiling, she tapped it against her closed fist. "Looks like Santa brought you Special Ops pilots a new toy for Christmas."

  Dan tipped his chair back. He speared a glance at the communications tech hunched over the console on the far side of the tent and dropped his voice to a low growl.

  "Santa already delivered one helluva present to this particular Special Ops pilot."

  Abby's smile slipped. She'd had time to think about what had happened between them earlier. Not a lot of time, to be sure, but enough to realize that world-class sex did not a relationship make. Nor did different goals, separate careers and long-distance phone calls.

  "Yes, well, we need to talk about this afternoon."

  Dan hooked a brow at her reserved tone. Shutting down his laptop, he snagged his bomber jacket from the back of his chair. "You're right. We do. Let's take it outside."

  Swallowing a sigh, Abby followed him into the frigid night. It was the only place they could find some privacy, but she'd bet her toes were beginning to believe she'd condemned them to a permanent state of icy numbness. Once she and Dan stood under the brilliant canopy of stars, though, she forgot her toes. She forgot everything but the strong, square line of his jaw and the way the skin at the corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled down at her.

  "About this afternoon…?" he prompted after several moments of silence.

  "Right. This afternoon." She cleared her throat. "That hour in your hotel room. It was, uh, great."

  It was better than great. It was the most spectacular hour of Abby's life. No sense letting the man's ego slip completely out of control, though.

  Her deliberate tactics didn't work. Hooking his thumbs in his jacket pockets, Dan rocked back on his boot heels. His mouth kicked up in a smug, male grin.

  "Yeah, it was."

  "The thing is, we both got caught up in the rush of the moment."

  "We got caught up in something," he agreed, his eyes glinting.

  "It was this whole Christmas thing. You know, the holiday spirit, the mistletoe."

  "Let's not forget the bridge collapsing under us," he put in. "That certainly added to the rush."

  "And Maria and the baby. I'm glad you understand. That way you won't get nervous when I tell you I've decided to
stay in the reserves."

  The grin fell off his face. "What?"

  "I'm going to tell my boss I want that promotion he offered me, along with command of a Red Horse Two unit."

  "When did you decide that?"

  "A little while ago."

  Actually, the urge to stay in uniform had been creeping up on her for weeks. She'd just needed a push to recognize it.

  He cocked his head, studying her through the screen of his lashes. "And your decision to stay in the reserves would make me nervous because…?"

  "Because there's a chance my boss will put me in command of the second-echelon unit coming in here."

  She sensed rather than saw a sudden quickening in his expression. His voice was level, though, when he acknowledged the possibility.

  "Putting you in charge of the RH-2 would make sense. You know the area. You did all the prep work."

  "It would also mean we'll both be on-site for several more weeks, maybe months. If so, we can't…We won't…That is, I don't…"

  His eyes narrowed. "Spit it out, Abby. You don't what?"

  "Okay, here's the deal. I don't want you to think what happened between us this afternoon in any way obligates you to a repeat performance at some unspecified date in the future."

  A stark silence followed. Ten seconds. Twenty. Abby was wishing to heck he would say something, anything, when he blew out a ragged breath.

  "Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to keep my hands in my pockets right now?"

  Her heart skipped a couple beats. "No. Tell me."

  "Let me put it this way. If we weren't at a remote site with no privacy and if you didn't have to set an example for your troops and if I didn't respect the hell out of you as both an officer and an engineer…"

  "Yes?"

  "I'd be kissing you senseless right now."

  "You would?"

  "Yeah," he drawled, "I would."

  "Well…"

  Abby put her neat, precise engineer's mind to work on the problem.

  "We'll finish the site prep in the next couple days," she reminded him. "If my boss approves my extension and if I get command of the RH-2, I'll have to fly back to base to put together my team and inspect the prepackaged, transportable construction kits. You, I'm guessing, will have to coordinate the follow-on deployment schedule for your unit."