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He says, “After the waror after our tour of duty, ratherChanning Crawford, William Peterson and Derek Fulham decided to stay back and fortify Iraq, or so they claimed They went East while the rest of our division went back to Baghdad Channing was joined by his brother, Hugh, asn’t a soldier but flew in for the spoils “
She listens with bated breath
“No one quite knohat happened there, of course But word aht in a crossfire where they were They got out, but he didn’t”
“Where were they?” she ventures to ask
Fred crinkles his brow “It was soe”
‘Desert Rose’ She savors the naold like all the rumors said they did?”
“Gold was not the only thing they found” He shakes his head “I’ve said tooyourself Don’t tell hilance
“I won’t,” she promises She deliberates for a while, and when he starts to ?”
Fred raises his eyebrows as if to say, You are clearly his lover, and you don’t know?
Yes, she wants to whimper I am clearly his physical lover in every sense, but I don’t have a fucking clue about the man
Her expression st and frustration because he takes pity on her
He says, “Anyone can say anything about the man and what he did in ‘Desert Rose’ – and no one knohat he did for sure – but I would take a bullet for Channing Crawford any day We were behind ene I couldn’t walk We were surrounded by eneht I was done for
“Channing cae of enemy fire He liftedat anything thathere I owe hiave me back to them”
He takes a deep breath “I’d kill anyone who tries to hurt him”
His suddenly savage expression seems to say ‘And that includes you’
2
Channing didn’t specify where she should sleep, so she goes back to the bedroom she boarded herself up in And promptly falls asleep in her shift
Her drea
She is in the desert in front of a huge, baked brick citadel Everything has a h rose-tinted lenses The citadel is large, forbidding and ancient Its parapets areout of their backs
She is wearing her sexy maid’s outfit – the one that allows her naked breasts to be lifted suggestively by its whalebone pushups and her bare pussy to be exposed beneath its flouncy black taffeta skirt She walks towards the citadel as aher brown tresses into ahalo
“Channing?” she calls
She knows he is in there instinctively, in this citadel called ‘Desert Rose’ Is he in trouble? Is he being tortured?
The iron gates of the citadel are closed, but now an ancient mechanisates whine open to reveal a yawning gloom
The clouds of ure walks out It is clearly a man As he strides towards her, she can e frameand then his clean, handso in all white It is Channing and yet not Channing His long wavy hair whips in the wind behind his well-shaped scalp He resembles a biblical prophet
He holds a fla torch in his hand
She wakes up, screa She bolts up in bed, her skin feverish and damp from sweat A hand immediately reaches out and clasps her arm She freezes
“Susan?” It’s Channing’s voice in the dark “It’s just ”
“Channing?” Her voice is nervous, querulous She can never be sure anymore Their voices are the same
“Yes”
She hears sounds of ht floods the bedroo is on his elbow beside her in bed, his close-cropped hair gleaht He is naked from what she can see above the covers His forehead is creased with concern
“You OK?” he asks
She’s not She’s still spooked by her nightmare She’s spooked by this entire house
“Yes,” she lies, her heart beating rapidly She can hear its thud-thud-thud in her ears a of her blood
“It’s only a nightht here”
He turns to switch the light off and they are in the darkness once ht in theoutside is a pale shadohat she’s used to, as though the night too is bleached of all color He settles down beside her His large hands are surprisingly gentle as they wind themselves around her shoulders and ease her head onto his chest