Oath of Honor

“Thanks,” Wes called after him. She headed for the locker room

to store her gear. After the exercise had ended, their SUV had turned

around and followed the limo back to DC. She hadn’t seen Evyn since

she’d left her on the sidewalk, but if Evyn wanted her for anything else,

she’d no doubt find her.

The locker room was empty, except for a navy blue polo shirt and

khakis folded neatly on a bench in the center of the room. The shower

ran in the adjoining room. Those clothes were most likely Evyn’s. She’d

seen a few other female agents in the halls, and they’d all been dressed

the way Evyn usually was—in jackets and pants. She wanted Evyn’s

take on the morning’s scenario, and she didn’t want to spend the rest of

the day with the mental image of Evyn bleeding out on the street. She

knew it was all a fabrication, but on some instinctual, primitive level,

she couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling she’d let her die.

Wes leaned against the lockers and reran the incident again.

She’d been doing that all the way back in the SUV while the agents

relaxed, cracked jokes, and gossiped. Someone had speculated on

where Evyn had spent the night of the storm, noting she’d turned up for

work wearing her emergency change of clothes and they hadn’t had an

emergency. Wes tried to tune out the good-natured griping about some

people having all the luck. If Evyn had spent the night with someone,

it was no business of hers. She blocked the chatter the way she did the

constant hum of voices during a trauma alert and concentrated on what

she had done earlier, and why. She still wasn’t happy with the choice

she’d made, despite knowing she’d made the only choice open to her.

And would make it again.

“You planning on taking a shower?” Evyn walked in with a white

towel wrapped around her torso, covering her to mid-thigh. She pointed

to a closet. “In there.”

“No, I’m fine. I wasn’t out there long enough to work up a

sweat.”

“I wish I had.” Evyn opened a locker across from the pile of

clothes on the bench and stowed a bath kit on the top shelf. “I froze my

ass off lying on that sidewalk, and it was wet.”

“And of course, there was the blood.”

“Since it wasn’t real, it wasn’t even warm.” Evyn glanced at Wes

over her bare shoulder, loosened the towel, and let it drop to the floor.

“You sound a little pissed.”

• 113 •

RADCLYfFE

Wes jerked her gaze up to Evyn’s face, but not before she’d taken

in the entire naked panorama of Evyn’s back and backside. Smooth

skin, toned muscles, all blending into inviting tanned curves. “Not

exactly pissed. Just not sure of the point.”

“I thought the point was obvious—GSW is still the most likely

form of assault on POTUS.” Evyn slid black panties from an open

nylon bag inside the locker and pulled them on. They were cut high on

the sides, accentuating the expanse of honed thigh from hip to knee.

“And do you really think if I’d been briefed beforehand, I

would have reacted any differently?” Wes shook her head. “I’m sure

you practice that scenario regularly—knowing what is coming—and

without the benefit of simulated blood.”

“You’re right—we do. Dozens of times, for months, before we

ever ride in a vehicle on PPD.” Evyn grasped the khakis, pulled them

on, and slipped the polo shirt over her naked chest. “You haven’t.”

Wes watched. Evyn didn’t seem to mind, and pretending she

wasn’t watching would only make her interest even more apparent.

Evyn was beautiful and looking at a beautiful woman came naturally.

Pretending she didn’t want to would be unnatural, and she wasn’t any

good at pretending. That’s what bothered her about the morning. She

had done the right thing and her instincts screamed otherwise. “Had it

been real, you would have died out there.”

“This is where I say something like, ‘That’s my job. You shouldn’t

worry about it.’” Evyn regarded her across the small room. “Do you

believe that?”

“Yes, and I respect your bravery.”

Evyn waved her off with a snort and tucked her shirt into her

pants. She zipped and buttoned and sat down to fish socks and shoes

out of her locker. “It’s not a matter of bravery, it’s a matter of training.

When you’ve done it enough times, you don’t think about it. Isn’t that

the way it is for you?”

Wes moved down the row of lockers, wanting to see Evyn’s face as

they talked. “Yes, that’s exactly how it is for me. Only my training says

I don’t leave a seriously injured patient in the field when my attention

could make the difference between life and death.”

“You see,” Evyn said lightly, “that’s the whole point. Your training

might get in the way, and we can’t let that happen, can we?”

“You’re purposely being obtuse.”

• 114 •

Oath Of hOnOr

Evyn grinned. “Is that painful? It sounds painful.”

Wes smothered a laugh. Evyn was very, very good at deflecting the

conversation from topics that touched on the personal. “Any emergency

physician could have handled that situation this morning. And any ER

doc—”