The Heart Beneath by Lindsay McKenna

Author:Lindsay McKenna [McKenna, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, General
ISBN: 9780373244867
Publisher: Silhouette Books
Published: 2001-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

January 3: 0600

Wes jerked awake. He’d been sleeping in the driver’s seat of the Humvee for the last three hours. The dawn was a turgid gray-brown color. Ugly looking. Sitting up, he rubbed his face. He needed a shave, but there was no way to get one at the moment. Water was precious and conserved for drinking only. Last night, the Huey had delivered the new rescue team, along with tents, cots, a few more medical supplies, food and water. At the hotel, he had seen a woman and her German shepherd moving carefully throughout the rubble, and he had figured it was Sergeant Lucy Perkins. The last thing Wes had ordered his sergeant to do before he knocked off and got a few hours of badly needed sleep was to erect the tents.

As he sat up, Wes saw that the camouflage green-and-brown tents, which held two cots, had been erected next to the Humvee, on the other side of what had been a sidewalk. Wes had given orders not to be woken up. He saw the booted feet of his men at the open flap doors. Everyone needed to sleep.

Rousing himself, Wes quietly turned around in the seat. Directly behind him was Callie. She lay on her back, her hand gently curled near her head. She was an angel, he decided. Even as dirty as she was, he saw the soft beauty of her parted lips, the shallow rise and fall of her breasts beneath the blanket, and the way her thick, pale lashes fell against her cheeks. She was so small, tiny yet courageous. Who would have thought she’d risk her life as she had last night?

Wes smiled slightly. Dusty, her dog, lay snoring loudly at her side. The dog was as much of a hero as she was. Without him, they’d never have found Laura Trayhern.

Wes couldn’t help himself; he wanted to touch Callie again. He wanted to kiss her awake. He wanted to make love to her..to satisfy his desire for her and share everything with her.

Reaching between the seats, he grazed her uncombed hair before forcing himself to stop. If he didn’t, well…he was the C.O., and military-wise, it wouldn’t look good. No, he’d have to suffer in eloquent silence while other, more important things were attended to.

Easing out of the Humvee, Wes closed the door quietly in an effort not to waken Callie or Dusty. Stretching in the damp, cold air he looked around. The sky heralded another murky day, and that depressed him. Odors from a nearby burning oil refinery clogged the air. He saw small fires on some of the lawns of civilian homes down the block, the people huddled around the flames for warmth. Walking over to the first of the newly erected tents, Wes shook his sergeant’s boot to wake him. They had to saddle up. Time wasn’t on their side in terms of finding survivors. Every hour that ticked away, could mean another life lost. And he wanted to introduce himself to the new dog rescue marine as soon as possible.

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