Storm looked up. Merlin was an unmerciful tease when he knew she was up for it. But one look at his open features and she knew he was leveling with her. She was one of three women in SAR at the air station. The other two women flew the sleek medium-range Falcon jets while she flew the helicopters. Merlin had been her flight mech off and on for two years and never said a word about this until now.
“What are you talking about?” she mumbled, brushing the unshed tears from her eyes.
Merlin grinned. “Hey, ever since you got assigned here, lieutenant, this place has really become a tight-knit family. You broke the ice, being the first woman pilot here. Not that we didn’t have a family feeling before. But having women of your caliber around has made a real difference. We all took pride in our birds before, but when you got assigned to this duty section and I got to fly with you, everyone was dying of jealousy. And I mean envy with a capital E.”
Storm forced a broken laugh. “Oh, come on, Merlin!”
“No, I’m tellin’ you like it is. Now just stand there and hear me out, will you? Maybe I shoulda said something sooner. Maybe you need to hear this so you realize how important you are to all of us poor enlisted slobs. The way a male officer treats a situation is different from how a woman officer treats it. A man might bull his way through a situation that requires a little finesse. A woman seems to automatically sense that a softer word will do it better.” Merlin grinned happily. “And I gotta tell you, lieutenant, we all like your touch. There ain’t a crewman here at the base that doesn’t love flying with you. They all know you’re tops.”
Storm felt heat rushing to her face. My God, she never blushed! Completely embarrassed by Merlin’s sudden praise, she became flustered. “That’s strange. I have a reputation for shooting straight from the hip.”
“Yeah, you ain’t one to mince words, lieutenant. But we all value your honesty. Just listen to me—what happened to Lieutenant Walker wasn’t your fault. You’re the best pilot here. You got a touch with a helo that no one else has. Why the hell do you think the commander is assigning the new guy to your duty section? He could have given you a seasoned copilot from another section.” He gave her a satisfied look. “So there! You just stop and think about that before you start nose-diving again. Commander Harrison wouldn’t be giving you a green copilot if he didn’t believe you could teach the young pup the ropes of SAR!”
“Excuse me,” a male voice interrupted, “I’m looking for Lieutenant Travis. Can you point him out to me.”
Both of them turned as if they had rehearsed the synchronized movement a hundred times before. Their looks of surprise were identical as they surveyed the stranger.
Storm had to look up. It was the same man in civilian clothes she had seen at the entrance of the hangar earlier. Her heart took an unexpected beat when she realized he was staring down at her with more than passing curiosity. Myriad impressions cartwheeled across her mind as she took stock of him.
He was tall and broad-shouldered. Or at least taller than she; he was probably around six-one. His massive chest and breadth of shoulders told her he could easily carry the weight of the world around on them if he chose. Her gaze ranged upward from the languid grace of the hands resting on his slim hips to his face. Midnight blue eyes coolly met her inquiring gaze. His face was square, holding a moderately strong chin and a nose with a bump on it that told her, from the looks of him, that he had gotten into a fight at one time and broken it. But it was his sensual mouth with one corner curved into a slight smile that made her pulse race. It was a face molded by experience, with featherlike lines at the corners of his eyes telling her he enjoyed laughing. Lines across his broad brow broadcasted the fact that he concentrated unerringly on given tasks. It was a face hewn from more than thirty years of life and yet, handsome in an unconventional sense.
Merlin chuckled, appraising the stranger dressed in a pale green short-sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans. “Him? This is Lieutenant Travis right here,” he said, jerking his thumb in Storm’s direction. Merlin chuckled again and gave Storm a merry look, climbing back up on the helicopter to complete the task of tuning up the engine.
Disbelief widened the stranger’s eyes as he stared down at her. The sudden thinning of his mouth placed her on guard. Pulling out a set of papers from his shirt pocket, he opened them, the frown becoming pronounced on his brow.
“The Operations officer assigned me to this duty section to be Lieutenant S. Travis’s copilot,” he growled.
She wanted to laugh but had the good grace to curb her burgeoning smile. It was a commonly made error that she tolerated with ease. She was used to being an oddity among the male populace of SAR. And who was this man assigned to her? Commander Harrison, the Operations officer, had said a green pilot fresh out of helicopter school was going to be assigned to her. She had expected some twenty-four-year-old boy. Her gray eyes became somber as she stared back at him.
“I’m Lieutenant Storm Travis. Who are you?”
His eyes flared with utter disbelief. “There’s got to be a mistake,” he growled.
If he weren’t so upset, Storm would have laughed. But right now his looks were turning thundercloud-black and she had no wish to provoke him further. In a gesture of defensiveness, she crossed her arms. “There’s only one S. Travis on this base, mister, and you’re looking at her. Now, who are you?”
He swore softly, looking down at the orders in his long spare fingers. “I don’t believe this. Somebody’s made a mistake.”
Merlin peered across his shoulder, then ducked back to his work, realizing it was a safer place to be at the moment. If that big guy thought he was going to start giving Storm a hard time, he’d better watch his step. Grinning, Merlin kept one ear keyed to the deteriorating conversation behind him.
“Mistake on what?” Storm demanded throatily.
He shoved the papers under her nose. “Here are the orders they cut for me out of helicopter school. I’m Lieutenant Bram Gallagher, the new copilot assigned to Lieutenant S. Travis’s duty section.”
Taking her time, she coolly read the orders and then looked up at him. What an arrogant macho male—
“No one’s assigning me to fly with a damn woman.”
Storm glared at him. “Too bad, Lieutenant Gallagher. The Coast Guard in all its infinite wisdom has done just that.”
Gallagher stared down at her, fists planted on his hips. He had come in a day early before having to check in to find out the lay of the land. At Base Security, he had gotten his new I.D. and decided to wander over the hangar area. This would be his new home for the next three years of his life. A woman? A damn woman was his aircraft commander? Of all the stupid, asinine things! He had heard the Coast Guard was moving to open more slots to females. But he never expected this! His nostrils flared.
“How many women pilots are stationed here?” he demanded.
“Three. And only one in helicopters. Me. Aren’t you lucky?” Storm chastised herself. Dammit, she was behaving like a brat toward him. This wasn’t the first time she had weathered grief from a stricken male ego bruised by her appearance.
He appraised her coldly. “There’s got to be a mistake,” he repeated unhappily.
Merlin chuckled and hunched deeper into the engine. Gallagher glared up at the flight mech and then turned back toward her.
“The only mistake is your attitude, Lieutenant Gallagher,” she reminded him sharply.
Bram took a step back, trying to adjust to the shock. Under any other circumstance, she would have been worth looking at. When he had been walking up to where she and the mech had stood talking, he thought she had nice well-shaped legs. Like a willow, maybe. And when she had turned toward him, her dove-gray eyes had taken his breath away. They were wide and vulnerable-looking, with a hint of darkness in their depths. He had thought there was an aura of sadness surrounding her, but she had swiftly changed her expression, hiding her real feelings.