Stroke of Luck Read Free Page A

but don’t fall down. Usually.”
    He shook his head. Annalisa didn’t know why, so she asked. “Do you have water in your ears? I know I do after that fall. I tried to knock it out but I don’t think I got it all.”
    He shook his head again, harder this time. “Water?”
    “Yes. It happens a lot. There’s a new report that says ‘swimmer’s ear’—which is when water gets into the outer ear canal—affects adults almost as much as children. It can cause some intense pain if not taken care of.”
    “I know what swimmer’s ear is. I’m not a swimmer. Rowers normally stay out of the water. That’s what the scull is for.”
    Annalisa smiled again. “Oh, that’s good. So, thanks again for returning my pass. I really wish you’d let me buy you a cup of coffee or something. And of course I’d still love to set up that interview. My news organization would love to have an exclusive as you get ready for the finals and then the games. The fans would love it as well.”
    Buchanan shook his head. Although he wasn’t smiling, Annalisa wanted to believe there was a hint of humor in his eyes. She really liked men who knew how to laugh, not only at life but at themselves too. She had a feeling about Robert Buchanan. Even though he was a bit of a grizzly on the outside, she’d seen a spark in his eyes. Her intuition was telling her that Robert had a highly developed sense of humor. He just didn’t show it.
    “No,” he said, staring hard at her. “Try to stay out of trouble.”
    He didn’t wait for her response to his order or his refusal as he backed away from her. She smiled once more and turned her back to him to go to the security checkpoint. She’d have to make her first stop the media center to see if they could either give her a new pass or fix her torn one. As she walked away, she hummed, thinking that she would have to be certain to return to the river the next morning to shoot the time trial.
    * * * * *
     
    There was something about that photographer that bothered the hell out of Robert. And it wasn’t just that he was certain she was going to be trouble. She was a looker, with long, blonde hair and witchy green eyes. The hair and eyes combination, along with a curvy figure that would have fitted on a pinup poster, made his dick ready to give a twenty-one gun salute.
    But Robert had seen beautiful women before and they hadn’t swayed him from his mission or his duty for a single nanosecond. Never mind that he wasn’t on active duty any longer—giving one hundred and twenty percent to this competition was the most important mission in his life now. Horny or not, he shouldn’t be thinking about anything but the next race. And he wasn’t, except going so far as to track this woman down to return her press credential. Damn it, he should have just given it to one of the event volunteers, or even one of the paid staff members. Hell, he could have just left it at the venue office and they’d have returned it to her. He cursed under his breath. What the hell was wrong with him?
    He walked with steely determination toward the shuttle stop to go back to the athletic dormitory section. The woman wouldn’t enter his mind again, he willed himself. He was here to do a job and for the remainder of his four days in Kingsport there would be only two things on his mind—winning the finals in the individual events he was entered into, and helping his team to post the best time in their events. After that, the next stop was the Olympics.
    It was something he’d vowed to do. For all the guys at Walter Reed who had helped him to come back from the shoulder injury in Afghanistan that had ended his Ranger career. For all the guys still in harm’s way there and in other places where freedom was only a dream. Finally, Robert admitted, he wanted to win the gold for himself.
    See? No room in his mind or life for one curvy and ditzy, blonde, trouble-making photographer.
    As he walked, he put one hand to the spot on his