Double Vision by Vicki Hinze Read Free Book Online

to use it.”
    “I don’t care what the circumstances were, Kane. Spend the fifteen seconds to throw on your clothes. Got it?”
    She nodded. “Is that it?”
    “Sir,” he reminded her again. “I’ll let you know when you’re dismissed. Until then plant your ass right where you’re standing.”
    She held her tongue and waited. It’d been far too long a day for this bullshit—and she’d address this rioting junk-yard dog as sir the very moment hell froze over and C-4 stopped exploding.
    “General Shaw’s put me on alert and ordered me to assist you here.”
    Oh, great. Fabulous. He’d slow her down and have her going nuts within an hour. And that innate feeling she’d had about her fate? She might as well put a bullet in her head right now. “I guess I’d better brief you then.”
    “It isn’t necessary.” He shoved a hand into his pants pocket. It was fisted.
    He clearly wasn’t happy about this order to assist her, either. “I’m afraid it is necessary, Major.”
    “Your commander is Colonel Sally Drake, action officer and commander of S.A.S.S., correct?”
    He’d already bitched about the shower strut to Colonel Drake. Even greater. More fabulous. Kate slumped. Maybe with a little luck, she’d get a chance to shoot him. “That is correct.”
    “Then we’re covered, Captain Kane.” He changed topics without so much as a pause. “My men are disciplined. They conduct themselves with integrity and their focus needs to stay right where it is—on their mission. Your parading through the post more naked than dressed doesn’t do a…”
    Kate tuned him out. After the day she’d had, she had one nerve left. It was raw and ragged, and Forester was strumming the damn thing. Worse, he was gorgeous, and looking at him—even when he stood ranting—stirred her in a way she didn’t want to be stirred by any man. For the first time since her split with Alan DeVane, a very talented surgeon who’d have to be neutered to be faithful, her hormones were in overdrive. Alan had been her one and only serious relationship ever, and it had been a mistake. Maybe she just needed a few more mistakes to numb her to reacting to men like this one.
    She gave him a slow second look. No, that wouldn’t help. Forester had too much going for him: great build,midnight-black hair, gorgeous blue eyes and a hard face that had known a lot of laughter and sorrow. He intrigued the hell out of her. Serious shame that he shattered the package’s appeal by having the temperament of a pig. Speaking strictly from a hormonal sense—a woman alone for more than a year couldn’t help but often speak strictly from a hormonal sense—Kate could overlook his oinker attitude but she couldn’t overlook the wedding band on his left finger. That kept rein on her hormones as nothing else could.
    Gaining the appropriate distance, she turned her tone stiff and formal. “I appreciate your concern and your assistance.”
    He frowned at her, clearly pissed and wanting her to say something, anything, to give him just cause to unload more on her. He wiped at his eyes with a forefinger, then flicked the sand onto the ground. “Conditions here are also tough enough without having half the brass in Washington crawling up my ass and down my throat. Next time you want help from me, Kane, leave your clout at home and just ask.”
    “I didn’t pull an end run around you, Major. I was satellite linked during the entire phase of my operation.”
    “In the future, link your ass to me. This is my operation and it’s critical. You come in here and screw things up, and you’re going to get a lot of good people killed. My people. If that happens, I’ll shoot you myself.”
    With her pride pricked, Kate glared up at him, grains of sand stinging her ankles and knees through her pants. “I’m not a rookie, Major, and I’m damn good at my job.”
    “Glad to hear it.” He shifted on his feet, turning his back to the brunt of the blowing sand. “Colonel