Blue Christmas Read Free Page A

known that the hottest piece of ass in the whole of the U.S. Army was part of this operation, you’d have had every hound dog in the country begging to come aboard.”
    Col. Marion stepped back trying to hide his dismay—and also his grin.
    “I… I take it you’ve met Captain Anderson, Colonel?” He managed the understatement with a cautious wink.
    Brady set her on the floor and looked at her with obvious delight. Dropping his gaze to her chest, he quipped, “Hell, Colonel Marion, I’d know these… freckles… anywhere.”
    Knowing that her face was as red as her flaming hair, Tiffany did her best to recover. Ignoring the guffaws and surprised grins on the faces of the men she’d kept at a distance with her uber professional persona, she pinned Brady with a haughty glare.
    “Ah, yes. If it isn’t Col. Schaefer in the flesh. The terror of mothers and fathers of young girls everywhere, and the scourge of every ‘by the book’ commander.”
    Brady laughed, an infectious sound that made Tiffany smile in spite of herself.
    “Now, now, Tiff. Don’t oversell me. Although it’s been my experience that the mothers of said girls were as interested as their daughters.”
    Tiffany joined in the good natured laughter that followed his easy outrageousness, doing her best to recover from her shock. Listening to him take over the conversation, disarming the men with his quick grasp of the critical role he was to play in their dangerous enterprise, she tried unsuccessfully to squelch her memory of the previous evening, particularly the dream that wakened her this morning reaching for her vibrator. Knowing that the heat flooding her core had pinked her cheeks, she prayed to a nonexistent god that Brady’s vaunted ability to read a woman’s body didn’t include reading her mind.
    When they’d gone over the evening’s assignment, assessing and reassessing the potential dangers, and making the changes that Brady recommended, the team prepared to disband. Most of them would be working throughout the day putting in the safeguards to ensure that the two stars of the evening, Tiffany and Brady, would be as safe as a crack team of U. S. Army operatives could make them. But even with all the preparations, everyone agreed with Col. Marion’s assessment. Facing the group as they prepared to leave, he was solemn.
    “You are aware we are involved in a dangerous mission. If it wasn’t for all of you and the two people who will be in the thick of it, Col. Schaefer and Capt. Anderson, I would refuse to lead an operation potentially this dangerous to its members. But we have the opportunity tonight to break the back of one of the most violent—and successful—illegal arms dealers operating in the world today. While the Colonel and the Captain are in the most immediate danger, their success depends on you, the backup team. Don’t let them down, men. Be as courageous and as accomplished as you have been trained to be. Let’s show these vermin what happens when they poke a stick in the eye of the greatest fighting force the world has known.”
    Following this rousing reminder of what they were up against, Tiffany moved toward the door, preparing to flee to the gym, aching to pull on a pair of gloves and pound the hell out of a leather bag.
    But as she turned, she ran into a hard wall of a man who had no intention of letting her pass by.
    His voice had a teasing lilt that was belied by the serious glint in his eyes.
    “Uh uh, darlin’. You think I’m gonna let you go after three years of missing this hot little package? Not a chance, sugar. So park that glare in your fanny pack along with your Walther PPK and say good bye to your team. You and I are going to spend the day getting reacquainted before we take on the world’s evil men.”
    Tiffany struggled against him surprised at her desire to bury herself in his strong arms and forever close the door on their painful past. Instead she resorted to sarcasm as she usually did when