A Wicked Persuasion: No Going Back / No Holds Barred / No One Needs to Know

“Actually,” the colonel said, “her flight lands in about two hours and I’d like you to be there to meet her and get her settled.”

Chase frowned. The last thing he wanted to do was pander to some entitled celebrity and her publicist. “I thought you said she wasn’t coming for another three days.”

“Tenley Miles won’t be here for another three days,” the Colonel clarified. “Her publicist arrives today to scope things out. So … you have three days to tour three of our bases—Bagram, Camp Leatherneck and Kandahar, where you’ll rendezvous with the entertainers upon their arrival.”

Chase frowned. “Is that typical protocol for these kinds of events? To send a publicist or personal assistant—or whatever the hell she calls herself—over early to scope things out?”

“I guess that depends on the star power of the celebrity,” Colonel Decker said wryly. “And I’m not into the country-pop scene, but my understanding is that Tenley Miles is a very big deal.”

“So if the USO has run out of room, where am I supposed to put her?”

“I’ll leave that up to you. But keep in mind that how well you perform this assignment will determine how quickly I allow you to return to the field with the rest of your team.”

In other words, if he couldn’t handle these two women, there was no way he’d be allowed to oversee a covert Special Ops team.

“Just so that I’m clear,” he said carefully, “I have complete responsibility for this woman while she’s here, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“And if she’s not happy with the, uh, accommodations?”

“Then she goes home. Same thing for the singer. I won’t compromise their safety or the safety of the troops, so if either of them is unable to follow your rules, Major, then they’re on the next flight out. But you won’t let that happen. They will follow your rules, do we understand each other?”

Chase read the unspoken message loud and clear. If the women ended up leaving early, it would only be because he had failed in his assignment. And if that happened, he could expect to spend the remainder of his deployment chained to a desk somewhere. He considered the factors involved in the first phase of his assignment: one woman, three bases, three days. No problem. He hadn’t failed a mission yet, and he wasn’t about to start now.

KATE DECIDED THAT planning a trip to Afghanistan was a little like planning a trip to the moon. She had no idea what to expect and, therefore, little idea what to bring. In the end, she’d packed lightweight, practical clothing. She still believed that allowing Tenley to visit the troops in Afghanistan was the right thing to do, although seeing all the uniformed soldiers on the last leg of her trip had admittedly given her pause. They’d both be lucky if they didn’t get themselves killed, and after Tenley’s public meltdown, Kate thought they were probably in as much danger from the troops as they were from terrorists.

She had known it would take a long time to reach her destination, but she’d been unprepared for just how exhausted she’d be when she finally reached Bagram Airfield, more than forty-eight hours after leaving Nashville. Additionally, since she had been forced to make her own travel arrangements, there hadn’t been anyone to meet her at each location and direct her where to go next. At least when she traveled with Tenley, they had Russell to lean on. But after assuring Kate that she’d do splendidly on her own, he’d left her at the airport. Even Tenley hadn’t been overly interested in any of the travel plans, although she’d perked up a bit when Kate had told her they would be going to Afghanistan. But after breaking the news that there would be absolutely no likelihood of seeing her young soldier, Tenley had retreated to her bedroom in tears, preferring to be alone until she received word from Kate that she’d okayed the security setup and Tenley could fly over. For the first time Kate could recall, she was traveling completely alone.

She’d arrived in Kuwait the previous afternoon and had waited nearly fourteen hours for a military flight to Bagram Airfield. Now she watched as the base came into view on the ground below. From a distance, the place looked enormous, but for as far as she could see there were only unrelenting shades of brown, from the desert to the distant mountains, and even the base itself. Opening her shoulder bag, Kate looked again at the information that the Army Morale, Welfare and Recreation department had sent to her.

Over the course of a week, Tenley would perform concerts at three different American bases in Afghanistan, as well as conduct meet-and-greet sessions with the troops. The USO had assured Kate that someone would meet her upon her arrival, and escort her to each location. Kate had spent most of the flight writing Tenley’s speech, in which her sister apologized for her thoughtless rant and pledged her support for the men and women in uniform. Kate only hoped it would be enough.

The big jet touched down on the airstrip at Bagram Airfield, and Kate was surprised to see they would disembark directly onto the tarmac. Peering out the window of the plane, she couldn’t see any building that looked remotely like an airport terminal. The airfield seemed to be nothing more than an enormous airstrip alongside a cluster of tents and makeshift hangars, and a hodgepodge of other small buildings. Maybe this wasn’t the airfield at all. Maybe the plane was making an unscheduled stop at some remote base and then they would head on to Bagram.

The aisle of the plane was quickly filling with uniformed soldiers waiting to disembark. Leaning forward, Kate tugged on the sleeve of the nearest man. He turned and looked at her expectantly.

“Excuse me, but is this Bagram Field?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are you sure? I mean, have you been here before?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he assured her. “This is my third deployment.”

“Oh. Well, where exactly is the terminal? I mean, where do I pick up my luggage?”

Ducking his head to avoid the overhead storage bins, the soldier leaned across the seat and pointed through the window. “See that hangar, there? That’s the terminal. This is an airfield, ma’am, as in airfield. They’re not really set up like you’re used to at home. Look, they’re bringing the luggage out now.”

Kate watched as a group of soldiers began systematically dragging baggage from the cargo hold of the plane, only instead of stacking the items on a small trolley to be transported into the terminal, they literally threw the bags into one enormous pile right there on the flight line. When the mountain of duffel bags threatened to fall over, they started a new pile right next to it.

“Oh, my God,” she breathed. “How am I supposed to find my bag?”

The soldier gave her a grin and straightened. “Well, ma’am, that’s half the fun. Welcome to Afghanistan, and good luck.”

Kate watched helplessly as he departed, then scooped her shoulder bag up and fell into line behind the soldiers. As soon as she stepped out the door of the aircraft, the heat slapped her in the face like a hot brick. To compound the discomfort, the air itself was filled with a fine, powdery dust that immediately infiltrated her mouth and nose and sent her into a fit of uncontrollable sneezing.

“Oh, my God,” she gasped, when she could finally catch her breath.

The soldier in front of her turned around and gave her a quick grin. “You’ll get used it.”

Kate doubted it. She’d never experienced heat like this. It seemed to suck the very moisture out of her skin and left her gasping for breath. Even Las Vegas in the summer hadn’t been this oppressive. At the bottom of the airplane steps, she automatically turned toward the piles of luggage, but found her way blocked by a military police officer.

“Just follow the line for processing, ma’am,” he said briskly, indicating she should continue toward the nearest hangar. “You’ll be notified when all the baggage is out of the aircraft.”

In dismay, Kate saw that the line snaked across the tarmac and disappeared inside one of the makeshift hangars. It was moving at a snail’s pace, and Kate knew she would die of heat stroke before she ever made it into the building. She could almost feel the sweat evaporating from her skin as she stood under the baking sun.

Hefting her shoulder bag higher, she looked around her, astonished at the sheer number of men. There were men everywhere—soldiers who seemed to be waiting for transportation, soldiers sleeping or sitting upright against their gear, soldiers reading books, standing around in small groups, playing handheld video games or listening to music on their ear buds. There was a handful of female soldiers, but they were hugely outnumbered by the men. Kate couldn’t help but notice that all of them—male and female—carried some sort of weapon.

She was acutely conscious of her own vulnerability. She carried no weapon, unless you counted the Montegrappa pen that Tenley had brought back from Italy as a gift for her. She didn’t even possess a helmet or bulletproof vest. Who would protect her in the event of an attack?

“Miss Fitzgerald?”

Kate turned to see a soldier striding toward her—a tall, muscular soldier who looked like he kicked ass for a living. He had the easy, loose-limbed gait of an athlete, and as he drew closer, Kate swallowed hard. The growth of beard he sported couldn’t hide his square jaw or detract from the chiseled cheekbones and proud nose. With his broad shoulders and powerful arms, he looked more than a little dangerous. The thought flashed through her head that given a few spare hours, this guy could singlehandedly end the war.

“Yes?” Her hand went self-consciously to her hair, and she tried to ignore the way her pulse kicked up a notch.

As he came forward, he yanked his sunglasses off and she saw his eyes were a translucent green, startling in his tanned face. Her breath caught and she found herself helpless to look away. He was the stuff of heroic action movies, a combination of masculine strength and confidence all wrapped up in a mouthwatering package. She’d never had this kind of immediate reaction to a man before. Her heart raced, and her knees were actually wobbly. Feeling a little panicked, Kate tried to recall the last time she’d eaten. Her blood sugar must be low. Either that or she was dehydrated.

The soldier extended his hand and his eyes swept over her in sharp assessment. “Ma’am. I’m Major Rawlins. I’ll be your military escort for the duration of your visit.”

His hand gripped hers, and she barely had time to register how warm and callused his palm was against her own before he released her.

“If you’ll follow me, please.”

Without giving her an opportunity to respond and without waiting to see if she would do as he said, he turned and walked toward the hangar. Kate watched his retreating back, feeling as if she’d had the wind knocked out of her. Then, realizing her mouth was hanging open, she snapped it shut and stepped out of the line to hurry after him, her oversize shoulder bag bouncing uncomfortably against her hip.

“Major Rawlins,” she called as she caught up with him.

He glanced over at her but did not slow down. “Yes?”

“My understanding was that the USO would provide a civilian representative who would be my point of contact.” As he strode briskly along, Kate tried to simultaneously walk and fish through her bag for the paperwork she had received from the USO, but the task was nearly impossible given the pace he set. Maybe she’d misunderstood him. Maybe he was only her driver. Oh, God, please let him be the driver. She’d never felt so self-conscious or tongue-tied as she did with this guy, evidence that she’d gone too long without male contact. Or at least, gorgeous male contact.

“You understood wrong, ma’am,” he said smoothly, never breaking stride.

Abandoning the search for her papers, Kate concentrated instead on keeping up with him. Arriving at the front of the long line, she saw several military police scanning everyone’s identification cards. Flashing his own ID, Major Rawlins stepped into the front of the line and looked expectantly at Kate.

“You should have been assigned a temporary identification card when you arrived at the processing center in Kuwait,” he explained carefully. “Do you have it with you?”