Oath of Honor

Wes hadn’t expected the question and hesitated before she

answered. Getting the third degree from her family about her personal

life wasn’t unusual, but after she shrugged off their good-natured

queries with some standard answer, the conversation usually moved on.

This time, the questions felt different, or maybe she was the one who

was different. She didn’t have a pat response, and the old explanations

rang false, even to her. “I don’t know. I’ve never given it much thought.

My work makes me happy—”

“Satisfaction isn’t happiness,” Doris said.

“No, maybe not,” Wes said, “but it’s always been enough.”

“Things change, you know,” Denny said. “Don’t miss the chance

for more than satisfaction if it comes along.”

“Okay, enough. Message received.” Wes squeezed Denny’s hand,

kissed her mother’s cheek, and stood. “You’ve got a two-hour drive and

• 205 •

RADCLYfFE

I’ve got a ton of things to do.” At her mother’s frown she added quickly,

“And I promised Emory I’d go out with her and Dana tonight. So I do

have a social life, you know.”

“Are you taking a date?” Denny asked, an eager glint in her eyes.

Wes instantly thought of Evyn. Like every time she thought of

her, the memory of Evyn pressed close in the night flooded through her.

Pleasure warred with pain, and she schooled her face to remain neutral.

“No.”“Huh. What aren’t you telling us?” Denny narrowed her eyes.

“Nothing. I’m just getting together with some friends.”

“Let her be, Denny,” Doris said.

Her mother studied Wes with that laser-beam look that made Wes

think her mother could see inside her head. Considering all she could

see was Evyn naked—moving under her, rising above her, crying out as

she came—she slammed the mental door as quickly as she could. Some

things her mother definitely did not need to know.

“She’ll tell us when she’s ready.” Doris rose and gathered her

things. “She always does.” She kissed Wes on the cheek. “You’ve

always done more than you were asked, and you’ve always been asked

a great deal. They couldn’t have chosen anyone better. We love you.”

“Thanks,” Wes said, her throat tight as she hugged her mother and

sister good-bye. “I love you all too. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

She had a couple of hours before she was due to meet Emory and

Dana at the Black Fox. She would have canceled, but she knew Emory

would hound her for her reasons. And what could she say? She was

beat after a lousy night’s sleep when she couldn’t stop thinking about

a woman who disordered her orderly world—a woman she’d be much

better off not thinking about at all? No. She’d go out with her best

friend and her lover and do her damnedest to put her night with Evyn

in the past.

She headed to the House. Work might not be everything, but it was

everything she’d always had. Work had always defined her—her goals,

her sense of self, her pleasure, and often her pain. There was comfort in

the familiar, and as her family drove out of the city and the loneliness

seeped back and lay heavy in her throat, she needed a little comfort.

v

• 206 •

Oath Of hOnOr

The door opened behind Evyn and she didn’t bother to turn around,

saying to Gary, “You’re early.”

“For what?” Wes said.

Evyn jerked and twisted in her seat. She hadn’t expected to see

her—they didn’t have anything scheduled. Just the night before, she’d

submitted her report to Tom. The long and short of her assessment was

that Wes was not just qualified, she was an excellent choice to head the

WHMU from an operational standpoint. She worked well with a team,

didn’t buck the chain of command, and knew when to take charge when

medical issues demanded. She didn’t have an excuse to spend extra

time with Wes any longer. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

Wes, in dark trousers and a pale blue shirt open at the throat, stood

just inside the door, looking better than Evyn remembered, and she’d

been remembering a lot. The instant her eyes had opened that morning,

like most every morning, she’d thought of Wes. Wondered what Wes’s

day would be like, if she’d moved yet—if she needed help. If she’d

call. And in her next breath, she’d remembered how she’d lain in the

dark torturing herself—rekindling the fire Wes’s hands had ignited in

her belly, savoring the slow buildup while replaying the sound of Wes’s

murmurs in her ear, her low moans, the quick gasp as she orgasmed.

She’d fallen asleep on the crest of her own orgasm with the memory

of Wes’s mouth moving over her skin, so knowing and so sure. She’d

awakened ready for another and would have indulged again if her cell

phone hadn’t vibrated with a message from base advising her she was

needed to fill in because POTUS had decided to go OTR. At the sight

of Wes, the low-level arousal that she had lived with all day, every day,

leaped to life. She worked on sounding casual. “Did you get moved?”

“Just this morning.” Wes headed for the coffeepot, poured a cup,

and gestured with it toward Evyn. “Refill?”

“I’m good.”

Wes put the pot back and gathered herself. She hadn’t expected