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up.” Ray’s voice drifted into the house.
    “Thought you were holding me up.” Rowdy’s laughter was muffled.
    Maria moved for the doorway and pulled it open with a quick jerk as Kelly rose from the couch to stand just inside the living room doorway.
    Her eyes met Rowdy’s as a slow, sexy smile curved his lips. He gripped his dad’s arm tighter and led him inside the house. Neither of them were too steady on their feet.
    “Maria, he’s a lousy drunk,” Rowdy grunted as his father threw his arm over Maria’s shoulder and planted a loud, smacking kiss on her cheek. “He didn’t even make it through the first bottle.”
    Kelly wrapped her arms across her chest, a smile tugging at her lips as Rowdy winked at her.
    “He never did, Douglas, you just keep forgetting,” her mother chastised him firmly.
    Rowdy winced. “That’s not my name.”
    “That’s what your birth record has. I didn’t see a Rowdy there anywhere, Douglas.”
    Rowdy gave her a mock glare. “You’re not being nice to me, Maria.”
    “That’s not my job,” she pointed out calmly. “Now move your big feet out of the way so I can get him upstairs. You two should be ashamed of yourselves.”
    -34-

    NAUTI BUOY
    “I can be ashamed later,” Ray piped in as she led him to the stairs.
    “Hell. We had fun, sweetheart.”
    “I can tell.” Maria laughed softly.
    Their voices lowered as they moved away, and finally disappeared. A few minutes later the door at the back of the hallway closed and everything was silent.
    Kelly watched Rowdy. His hair was still too short. The spiked military cut suit him, but she had loved his long hair when he was younger. The way it framed his face, emphasized his green eyes. He looked like a fallen angel come to tempt mortal women when his hair was long. Short, he looked like the warrior she knew he had to be. A fighter, a Marine. Tall and tough and hard.
    He turned to her, placing his hand over his chest, the dark blue material of his cotton shirt stretching across his shoulders.
    “Kelly darlin’, you look like an angel standing there.” His smile was a tad goofy and too damned sexy.
    Unfortunately, she knew better. She was wearing another of his shirts, one she had stolen the last time he was home. A pair of loose sweatpants and socks that bunched at her ankles. She looked messy and frightened, and she knew it.
    She licked her lips nervously. Facing him was one of the hardest things she had ever done, knowing he knew what had happened to her, terrified he would blame her. She blamed herself. What she had done was stupid, leaving that window up, stubbornly refusing to give up that pleasure despite the danger she had been warned of.
    “I missed you, Rowdy,” she whispered, trying to still the trembling of her lips. “I’m glad you’re home.”
    His expression sobered as he moved toward her slowly. She forced herself to stay still, not to retreat. But he was so big, and powerful.
    -35-

    Lora Leigh
    Strong. The memory of hard hands holding her down, a rough voice muttering in her ear as her face was pressed into the pillow, haunted her.
    “So why didn’t I get my welcome-home hug?” He stood in front of her, his arms at his sides, his eyes dark and glittering with hunger.
    He still wanted her. She could see it in his eyes, just as she had seen it during his infrequent visits over the last four years.
    “I…” She swallowed tightly, glancing away as her hands tightened on her arms.
    “Just a hug, Kelly-baby?” He whispered the words, his lips quirking gently. “I dream of your hugs, darlin’.”
    She stared back at him in surprise.
    “You don’t believe me?” He reached out, his arm lifting slowly, his hand moving to her as his fingers reached out to lift a strand of curls from her shoulder.
    She glanced quickly at where he held her hair, biting at her lower lip as she tried to still the pounding of her heart. She had dreamed of his touch for so long, waited for him, longed for him. Oh God,