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gung ho career woman—or are you?"
    "What do you think?" Pepper would play his game against himself. She wasn't about to become cannon fodder for him or any military man stuck in the "women should be barefoot and pregnant" mind-set.
    Jim rubbed his jaw and held her gaze. "I don't know what to think about you—yet," he admitted. "I know what I thought you were, but my original assessment isn't turning out to be as accurate as I expected."
    "I'm sure you expected me to come striding in here wearing men's clothes and acting like ‘one of the boys.'" Pepper countered. "Well, I would have at one time, Colonel—back in my army days. I became that way to protect myself from the men who wanted to tear me down and make me quit." With a slight shrug, she added, "When I joined the Smokeys , I lost that facade. I discovered that the men and women who jumped into fires didn't care what gender I was so long as I could do the job. I was allowed to be myself, to flourish and grow into the woman you see now." Her smile was frank. "I think it's nice to be a woman and do a first-rate job, whether it's perceived as masculine or not. Don't you?"
    "Touché."
    "An honest answer. How refreshing, Colonel. Be careful, it could become a habit."
    Instead of being stung by her rejoinder, Jim laughed. And it felt damn good to laugh, as if an incredible weight he'd been carrying on his shoulders had slipped free for just a moment. That load had been there in some form ever since Laura had married Morgan, he realized. Getting up, he went over and poured himself a cup of coffee. Silence flowed back into the room, but the atmosphere was less tense than it had been.
    "Since we're exploring each other," he said, coming back to the table, "tell me a little about yourself. Do you have a significant other?" He wondered what kind of man would be drawn to her.
    Pepper slid her fingers quickly through some strands of hair. "No…not anymore."
    Jim heard the pain underlying her soft answer. He also saw, for the first time, a look other than happiness in her eyes. Pepper had a real vulnerability to her, even if she held down a decidedly male career with success. In his experience, the military molded women into a male image in order to help them survive. The military was unforgiving if someone—man or woman—showed vulnerability of any kind, so he was fascinated by Pepper's ability to maintain that quality.
    Pepper struggled with a sudden deluge of emotions that brought back her raw, unhealed past. She saw at least a shred of real concern mingled with the curiosity in Jim's eyes. Afraid to release that genie of past suffering from its well- stoppered bottle, she straightened her spine. "Since we've both laid our cards on the table, why don't we get down to the real business?" she said, her voice suddenly brisk. "What's on the agenda today? I'm sure you've got something up your sleeve."
    Jim pulled himself from his reverie, realizing he was staring at her. Embarrassed by his own breach of officer-like etiquette, he murmured, "We're going over to my office at the Pentagon. My attaché called to say they've got reconnaissance photos of Nevis Island taken by a U-2 flyby."
    With a shake of her head, Pepper got to her feet and slipped the purse strap onto her shoulder. "Amazing how all that old military lingo I thought I'd forgotten comes right back."
    "Once in the military, always in the military," Jim said as he opened the door.
    Pepper's smile was still laced with pain. "There are some parts of it I wish I could forget," she muttered, slipping by him and out the door. In the front office, she saw Wolf and Jake, their heads bowed together over some military information, talking in low tones. She went over to Wolf and touched his arm. The civilian clothes both men wore couldn't hide their military bearing.
    "Wolf, I'm going with Colonel Woodward over to the Pentagon."
    "Fine…we'll see you when you get back." Wolf gave her a brief, assessing look. So did Jake, who