Oath of Honor

the only other approach by sea. They had the Coast Guard patrolling

that. There was even an expansive lawn big enough and clear enough

to accommodate Marine One, so no motorcade route to secure. The

nearest hospital was a short helo ride away. All in all, today looked

• 17 •

RADCLYfFE

routine, but that wasn’t a word in her vocabulary. Complacency bred

error. And she didn’t make mistakes.

“That was pretty fast,” Gary said. “Getting her on board.

O’Shaughnessy hasn’t even been dead two days.”

“It’s not like they could leave the spot open,” Evyn said darkly.

Except why the hell the powers that be had gone outside to bring

in a complete novice was beyond her. They already had a field-

tested, experienced battle surgeon who could have stepped into

O’Shaughnessy’s shoes without a ripple in routine. Instead, they

dropped an unknown into their lap. Hell, they hadn’t even been briefed

she was going to show up today.

“Is Pete pissed he got passed over?” Gary asked.

“You know Pete. He’s a team player. But that job should’ve been

his.” Evyn could be mad for Pete if he wasn’t going to be mad for

himself. After all, that’s what friends were for, and even though they’d

only worked together two years, they were tight. They shared a near-

maniacal need to win at everything, which had been obvious the first

time they’d played cards on an overnight flight to some now-forgotten

destination. She came by her competitiveness growing up in a family of

super-achievers, he by being the first American-born child in a family

of immigrants. Pete had to be disappointed he didn’t get the job, but he

didn’t let on. So she’d be disappointed and pissed off for him. “Who

knows what strings got pulled? It’s a political appointment—probably

someone somewhere knows someone who owed somebody a favor.”

“Happens all the time on the Beltway,” Gary said.

“Yeah, I know.” She rarely paid attention to politics—who had

time? And if this appointment hadn’t affected her so personally and her

job so intimately, she wouldn’t have cared.

“Younger than I thought she’d be,” Gary commented casually.

“Kind of…interesting.”

Evyn didn’t react to his not-so-subtle probing. Hell. She

couldn’t argue. The captain was younger—and way hotter—than

O’Shaughnessy. She still couldn’t take in that O’Shaughnessy was

dead. He’d only been in his early fifties and a good-looking fifty, still

fit and trim. Ran five miles every day. Didn’t smoke, hardly drank.

Who would have expected him to drop dead in the gym? She’d figured

his replacement would be closer to his age, not almost two decades

younger, like Captain Wesley Masters. The navy doctor was a lot

• 18 •

Oath Of hOnOr

more than interesting too. She was five feet ten inches or so of sinewy

grace, capped off by golden brown hair shot through with sunlight

and wheat and cut a bit rough-and-tumble around her face and throat.

The effect was a little casual and a lot sexy. And her eyes, even on a

gray, overcast day, were heather green. Spring-kissed. Gorgeous. Evyn

grimaced. She’d rather have to dislike someone who wasn’t so damn

good looking, but she’d manage.

“You know,” Gary said, “it’s probably not her fault she got tapped

for the post.”

“Never said it was,” Evyn said sharply. Of course Gary would

pick up on the slightest sign of attraction—the guy was a sponge when

it came to reading people. Never missed anything. She had to stay

on her toes all the time or he’d be watching the X-rated fantasies she

occasionally played in her head to pass the time standing post.

“Just saying,” he went on, “since we have to work together and

all. Might be smart to play nice.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I can work with her just fine.

As long as no one expects us all to be one big happy family.”

“Kind of works better when we are, considering…”

Evyn folded her arms across her chest and made another visual

sweep of the area. “Then they should have given Pete the job. After all,

he earned it.”

v

The Secret Service agent who escorted Wes to the building was

silent as they strode up the meandering flagstone walkway between

snow-filled sunken pools. The manor house rose suddenly from the

late-morning mist, a sweeping three-story stone edifice sitting high

above cascading dunes that fell away to the ocean’s edge. A white-

pillared wraparound veranda, which she imagined was the perfect place

for summer entertaining, was empty now except for security posted

at regular intervals along its perimeter. The muted rumble of voices

carried through the carved wooden front doors as the agent opened

them for her.

“Thank you,” Wes said, stepping inside.

A white-jacketed valet appeared instantly at her side. “May I take

your coat, Captain?”

• 19 •

RADCLYfFE

She shrugged out of it, said, “Yes, thank you,” and handed it

over.She continued down a wide hallway, following the murmur of