Thunder Running Read Free

head. This was seriously unfair.
    â€œHello? Earth to dirtbag, come in, Sergeant McKinley.”
    His eyes popped open. She’d moved—her hand was on her hips, those sensuous lips set in a hard line.
    â€œYou’re here. It’s really you.”
    â€œWere you expecting someone else? How many ex-wives do you have?”
    He shook his head. “Not ex. We’re still no-shit married.”
    â€œAnd you no-shit left me without a backward glance. What the hell, Chance?”
    Her voice was level, but that tiny hitch on the last word betrayed how close she was to falling apart. He nearly laughed in disbelief at the thought—harder-than-cement Tara Lambert shedding a tear over his lost affection? Not in this lifetime.
    Her lower lip trembled. She bit it so hard he bet she drew blood.
    His heart fell into his feet. I did this. He’d hurt the one woman he thought was impenetrable, dented the only girl he’d ever met who seemed as unyielding as the asphalt beneath the soles of his shoes. He thought he was the only one who wore a scar from those two nights together. He was wrong.
    And he was an idiot.
    â€œI thought we were just having fun,” he lied. “It was a stupid bet. I figured you’d sober up and have the marriage annulled.” So I left you sleeping, saving myself from watching you realize that you were legally bound to a combat-addicted nutcase. Because I couldn’t stand to watch that newborn love drain from your eyes, not then, and not three or ten or seventy days later when you finally realized what you’d done.
    â€œA marriage prompted by a roulette spin is still a marriage.”
    Carl snorted at his elbow, drawing Tara’s hostile stare.
    â€œYou laughing at my legally sworn union, GI Joe? You think it’s funny that your good-for-nothing friend up and left me in the marital bed? So help me, I’ll wipe that smug smile off your face if you so much as—”
    â€œWhoa, calm down.” Chance took a step toward his erstwhile bride, nodding at Carl to proceed without him. His fellow NCO shot him a look that promised he’d be watching from inside, then pushed through the door of the bar.
    â€œCalm down,” Tara echoed mockingly. Her arms were crossed so tightly he feared for the blood supply to her fingers. “Reunited with his wife after ten months and what does he say? Calm down, like I’m some overexcited filly.”
    Chance frowned, sweeping his gaze from her feet to her face and back again, trying to collect his thoughts and put the facts in a row. Tara was here. She’d clearly worked hard to find him. And she was pissed. Why?
    â€œAre you pregnant?”
    â€œNot unless you’re in the habit of poking holes in your own condoms.”
    â€œHow do I know you aren’t?”
    Dark eyes narrowed. “Jesus, I hope they don’t put you in charge of counting how many bullets are left. What did I just say? Ten months. If you’d knocked me up back in December I’d be rocking the proof to sleep by now.”
    â€œWhat took you so long, then?”
    â€œBeg pardon?”
    â€œLike you said, ten months since our wedding. Fort Preston’s only a couple hours’ drive from Kansas City. Why’d you wait almost a year?”
    â€œI didn’t think my car would manage the drive to Afghanistan.”
    â€œI’ve been back for six months.”
    Her jaw slackened, offering the barest flash of soft tongue, moist pink mouth. His groin twitched unhelpfully.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou heard me. I got back in April.”
    â€œThe hell you did. You said it was a nine-month deployment.”
    â€œAnd in December I was on R&R, halfway through.”
    Her shocked silence gave his mind the space it needed to produce a new, deeply cynical thought. It was his turn to cross his arms over his chest.
    â€œI know why you’re here. You think you’re going to collect my combat pay while