Match Play Read Free Page B

still had that healthy glow that came from regular exercise and hours spent outdoors while her eyes…
    Christ, those eyes! How many times had Luke lost himself in their shimmering green depths? They’d been filled with such love and laughter then.
    They weren’t now. Flashing from fury to disdain in a single heartbeat, they raked him from head to toe.
    â€œHarper.”
    That was it. No “Hey, Luke. Been a long time. Hope you finally got your head screwed on semistraight.”
    â€œHello, Pud.”
    The pet name sent red flags into her cheeks, but before she could slice into him for using it, one of his buddies jabbed him in the ribs.
    â€œJeez, Harper, introduce us. Not that you need any introduction, Ms. Duncan.” Elbowing Luke aside, the lanky American thrust out his hand. “I was on leave in Athens during the last Olympics and saw you paddle across the finish line for gold. The name’s Alan. Alan Parks.”
    She shook his hand and relaxed into a smile, looking so much like the woman Luke had fallen for that his stomach pitched into a ninety-degree roll.
    â€œThese clowns,” Parks said, “are Gabe, Tucker and Dweeb.”
    â€œDweeb?”
    â€œHis call sign. Short for dumb-ass dweeber, after he missed a direct approach to a well-lit runway at a location that shall remain nameless.”
    â€œSo you’re all flyboys?”
    â€œWe are,” Parks confirmed. “We’re on an exchange tour, attached to RAF Leuchars.”
    By now the response was so automatic that it sounded authentic even to their ears.
    â€œWe saw some of the advance PR on TV about the women’s Pro-Am International,” Parks said, eyeing her golf bag. “I didn’t know you were competing in it, though.”
    â€œI’m a last-minute entrant. And I’d better hustle over to the driving range if I want to make it past the qualifying round. Nice meeting you all.”
    When she turned to Luke, all he got was a cool nod. He should have let it go with that. Like a fool, he didn’t.
    â€œGood to see you, Dayna.”
    â€œSorry I can’t say the same.”
    She walked off without a backward glance, leaving a stone-cold silence in her wake. Dweeb broke it with a low whistle.
    â€œDamn, Harper. What did you do to the woman?”
    Parks jumped in with a reply. “You haven’t heard the story? Dayna Duncan and our boy here used to get all hot and heavy.”
    â€œNo kidding?” Eyes wide, Dweeb followed her progress as she crossed the cobbled street. “What happened?”
    â€œWoman got smart and dumped him. Best I recall, it happened a few months before the 2004 Olympics. That right, Harper?”
    Parks had the year right but the rest of it wrong. Luke didn’t bother to correct him.
    Like a radar lock, his gaze stayed fixed on Dayna’s hip-swinging stride, trim rear and long legs. All the while his mind churned up memories of how those legs used to hook around his.
    They’d met during the last half of his senior year at the University of Colorado. Luke was in air force ROTC and had been selected for pilot training. Dayna was a junior. A star athlete in both golf and kayaking, she was already a prime contender for the Olympic kayaking team.
    They’d dated throughout the spring and into the summer, while Luke waited for an undergraduate pilot training slot to open up. Just the memory of those long, hot days and even hotter nights had him sweating under his leather bomber jacket.
    Dayna began her senior year about the time Luke left for pilot training at Columbus AFB, Mississippi. They continued a long-distance love affair throughout the fall and into the winter—until Dayna’s coach contacted Luke and bluntly informed him that she stood to lose both her scholarships and her spot on the Olympic team if she didn’t cut out the cross-country commuting and focus.
    Luke knew how desperately she wanted to make the team. He