Love Under Two Flyboys [The Lusty, Texas Collection] Cara Covington (short story to read txt) 📖

for a moment, and there was enough light for Tamara to see her face wore a blush of embarrassment. Then she sighed.

“All right. Thank you.”

“No, thank you. Now what would you like to drink?”

“Just a cola, please, Adam.”

“That’s all I’m drinking tonight, too, so two colas coming right up.”

Ginny’s gaze followed him as he made his way over to where the bar had been set up. She shook her head. “Bossy as the day is long,” she said softly.

When she realized there were so many of his brothers close by, she got a stricken look on her face.

“They’re all bossy,” Tamara said. She waved her hand to include Jake, Jordan, and Peter, who were sitting on the other side of the table. “It’s in the genes I think. The secret to keeping your sanity is to understand they can’t help themselves. You have to just let them be bossy, and then carry on and do what you were going to do, anyway.”

“That’s the pure truth, Ginny,” Tracy said. “I’ve lived here all my life, and I can tell you there’s not a Kendall, Benedict, or Jessop male ever born didn’t excel at being bossy.” Then she grinned. “But you will note it’s the women—Kate, Bernice, Samantha and Anna—that hold the real power here. They make the men tremble in their boots.”

Tamara smiled at Ginny, pleased when the woman laughed.

Feeling a stare she looked up and encountered Jake’s mockingly fierce gaze. “You’ve been speaking to Mom, haven’t you?” he asked.

“Oh, you bet I have. At every opportunity.”

“Mom loaned Tamara her brand-new Caddy to drive. What does that tell you?” Henry asked his younger brother.

Jake smirked. “It tells me you and Morgan are toast.” He raised his beer bottle in salute.

Adam came back with two glasses of cola. He set one in front of Ginny and took the seat next to her. “Ginny, Mom said to tell you hi and hopes you’re still on for lunch tomorrow,” he said.

Morgan and Henry, along with Jordan and Peter, snickered. Ginny just grinned and ducked her head to try and hide it.

“Okay, what did I miss?” Adam asked.

Morgan took a sip from his bottle of beer then set it down. “Not telling, little brother. It’s one of those things in life that is better if you find out on your own. I’ll be back in a few,” he said.

Tamara watched him walk away, figuring he was making a trip to the bathroom. Instead, he headed toward the front of the center, and the door to the outside.

She turned to ask Henry where his brother was headed, but the band had returned and began to play.

“My turn to dance with a pretty woman,” Henry said.

It was really ridiculous, the ease with which he lifted her off his lap. “Hang on a moment.”

“I plan to hang on a lot longer than just a moment, don’t you worry there, Itty. I have no intention of dropping you.” Henry made that outrageous statement as he carried her to the dance floor.

“I wanted to ask you where Morgan went,” she said as Henry drew her close and began to dance with her.

“I know you did, sweetheart. I just preferred you do so here, where the others can’t hear us. He’s gone to check on something out at the airfield.”

“Now? It’s pitch dark out, and there’s a party going on. What does he need to check on now?”

“He set an electronic alarm on the door to one of the hangars. If triggered, it would send an alert to his cell phone.”

“And he’s going out there alone to check on it?”

“Well, I did think I would follow him in a few minutes. Not that I doubt Morgan can handle himself—he has had occasion to so in the past, on a regular basis. But he is my favorite brother, and I’d feel better having his back.”

“Tell me again there’re no black ops in the Air Force.”

Henry chuckled. “So after this dance I’ll return you to the table and head to the airfield to back him up. All right?”

“No. After this dance we’ll both head out to the airfield.”

“Tamara—”

“Don’t you ‘Tamara’ me, Henry Kendall. I brought that plane here. If there’s trouble because of it, then by damn I’ll help deal with it.”

“And you call us bossy.”

For once she didn’t let his grin affect her. She just kept giving him a level stare until he sighed. “You can come along. But damn it, woman, if I say duck, you duck.”

Tamara nodded, not because she agreed, of course, but because she understood. The flyboys felt bound and determined to act macho and keep the little lady safe.

Only trouble with that mindset was the little lady in question felt just as determined to protect them, too.

* * * *

Morgan didn’t see any vehicles in the compound when he drove past the airfield. The front gate appeared closed and locked, just as he’d left it earlier that day. Everything looked good and secure.

His instincts screamed otherwise. Something had set off the alarm he’d rigged just inside the hangar door, and he doubted it would have been anything as innocuous as a mouse or a stray cat.

He drove past the gates for another quarter mile before he pulled the car to the side of the road and turned it off.

He eased out of the vehicle, and only stopped long enough to pull a few necessary items out of the trunk of his car.

One was his Glock 9 mm handgun.

He changed out of his dress boots, slipping into his athletic shoes. Exchanging sport coat for sweater, he lowered the trunk silently then felt in his pocket for the small penlight he always carried. Clouds obscured the moon, which he counted as a positive. He’d use the light if he had to, but he doubted he would.

It didn’t take long to run the short distance back toward the airfield. He had the key for the gate but instead veered off into the bushes so he could climb the fence that