Strategic Engagement

Mary Elise straightened in her seat. Daniel looked deeper into those lush green eyes that had once been so expressive and wondered when she'd learned to close herself off.



"I'll make a list." Her cool efficiency almost covered her underlying edginess. Almost. "Starting with Austin's EpiPen."



"Eppie what?"



"Epinephrine injection pen. Medicine in case he accidentally eats something with nuts or peanut oil or—"



"Stop." He made a giant T with his hands. "Time out. You can compile lists all day long and it won't change the fact that I have no experience with kids. I need help settling the boys."



She pleated her pants between fidgety fingers. "You haven't made any accommodations for them?"



"Hell, Mary Elise, I was a little busy planning how to smuggle them out of Rubistan without getting our asses shot off."



"Oh."



"Apology accepted."



Her hands flattened on her trim thighs, a smile playing with her lips. "Uh, sorry?"



He winked. "No problem."



A smile and a wink linked them more than all his earlier speeches.



The deafening din of engines and the closed curtain offered a bubble of privacy and protection from being overheard. Not that he had thoughts of unrolling the past with her. He hadn't been much for emotional sharefests then, either.



Besides, he didn't want to trek back to the past. Too many memories waited there of a time he'd been less of a man. Too much his father's son—seducing an innocent, betraying a friendship. His father's wedding had marked a time of rotten decisions for everyone.



Halfway into a bottle of champagne, Daniel had found himself watching nineteen-year-old Mary Elise with new eyes. Another shared bottle and some consolation later, Daniel had found himself looking at all of Mary Elise with new eyes.



"What happens now?"



She'd asked him that then as well. What do I do now, Danny?



God help him, he'd shown her.



He'd been so pissed at his old man for going the whole trophy wife route. He didn't deal well with emotions on a good day, and a bad day had a way of playing hell with a man's self-control. Today marked another one of his worst days on record, but he wouldn't screw up this time. No matter how enticing the image of draping that red hair over his chest. Mary Elise over him.



Mary Elise sighing.



"Danny?" She flung her hair over her shoulder in a crimson waterfall. "If you haven't made arrangements for the boys, what do you propose we do once we land?"



"Hell if I know." Then or now. "And it doesn't look as if Trey knows what to do about me any more than I know what to do about him."



Her brows pulled tighter, deepening her perpetual frown. "You aren't going to give them up. Are you?"



"No. Absolutely not. I'll figure it out. Soon."



"Once you're through worrying about our asses."



He did not want to think about her ass. "Right." Daniel scrubbed a hand over his bristly chin. "I have leave time built up. I'll take it now until the boys and I can work out a plan. But I sure would appreciate your help for the next few days. Since you're an American Express card short of being able to check into a Motel 6, I'm thinking we can make a trade."



She shot him a disapproving look that had likely commanded boardrooms, then later classrooms. "Or you could do the gentlemanly thing and loan me a couple hundred bucks."



Already he could feel her slipping away. Damn it, the boys needed her. And while he might not be Captain Communication, he wasn't walking away without finding out what had her forehead trenched deeper than a fresh-plowed field. "Sure, I could loan you the money."



"But you don't want to." Mary Elise willed away the rogue twinge of excitement. She wanted to say her good-byes. Right? Danny had been a generous friend. An exciting lover.



And a lousy boyfriend.



Once that boyfriend/lover line had been crossed, recapturing the friendship became impossible. She knew keeping her distance now lent more credence to her feelings all those years ago. But her heart bore too many scars to risk opening it again.



All the same, guilt nudged her to say, "The boys do need me."



"Yes, ma'am, they do," he continued with a sincerity too reminiscent of past times conning his way out of trouble. "This is about more than asthma and EpiPens. Trey and Austin are alone and scared. They don't know me from Adam."



She didn't buy into the Danny-perfected con tones for even a minute, but his logic had merit. Turning away from Austin crying in the crate hadn't been an option. Why did she think now would he any different?



Scar tissue also made a person tough. She would hang on to that for the next few days with Danny and the boys. "Okay, okay! I actually agreed two arguments ago. You always were persistent."



"And you were always too nice."



Watching the dimples creep into Daniel's cheeks and past her defenses, Mary Elise decided "nice" didn't factor anywhere into her swirl of emotions. "Nice? Careful, Danny, or I'll change my mind."



"So you'll help me for a couple of weeks?"



"A couple of days." Hopefully enough time to formulate a new plan.



"Until I find another nanny."



Which would take at least a week. "For the boys."



"I never thought otherwise."



He ducked back into the crew compartment, leaving her alone with her thoughts and two sleeping children. The cubicle echoed without him, the repercussions of her decision crowding the confined space. Since Kent didn't know her location, a week should be safe before she risked alerting him by withdrawing money from her account. She could use the time to decide where to go and what to do with her life.



A week to stay with those two boys who'd first tugged her heart because of Daniel and then stolen her heart by being themselves. She wouldn't even let herself think about being a surrogate-mother figure to them. Her dreams of family were dead, thanks to Kent.



Mary Elise leaned forward and tucked the sailboat blanket around Austin, his puffy breaths whispering over her wrist. She started to pull away, but he grappled for her hand without waking.



Stroking a thumb over butter-soft skin, she studied the miracle of five tiny fingers and couldn't stem memories of all the babies she'd miscarried. She'd wanted to adopt, but Kent had insisted they keep trying for a biological child. She'd gone on the pill, anyway. For all the good it had done her. Then the surprise pregnancy had lasted longer than any of her other four first-trimester miscarriages.



She'd finally dared to hope.



Losing her son at twenty-four weeks had almost destroyed her. Discovering Kent had replaced her birth control pills with placebos months earlier finished the job.



Weariness swamped her along with the memories. She surrendered to the need for sleep and the tug of a chubby little hand. Mary Elise slid into the bottom bunk, curving herself protectively around Austin.



No, Kent had never raised a hand to her, which somehow made his menacing plans after she left all the more chilling. Hindsight told her she should have seen the warning signs. He'd been abusing her and controlling her in other ways for years, culminating in that final violation of her body and trust.



Now she had one week to find a new safe haven. And pray seven days of playing house with Danny and two precious boys wouldn't slice past her scar tissue into what little soul she had left.



One booted foot resting on the bottom crew bunk across from him, Daniel sprawled in the unrelenting seat. Well, as much as a guy could sprawl in the tight space. Another half hour and he would take over flying while Wren sacked out.



He should he sleeping, but couldn't. Too wired. Seeing Mary Elise now when he was still reeling from his father's death rattled him. No question.Daniel studied the three sleeping figures that had thrown his life into chaos. Sure he didn't give a damn about ironing his uniform or eating on a schedule, but he was in charge of his world and his emotions.



Or he had been until Mary Elise and the boys.



In the past hour he'd made strides in regaining control. She was staying. The boys would level out. And somehow that still didn't unkink the knot in his neck that had started right about the minute she'd turned those deep-green eyes his way for the first time in eleven years.



No risk of seeing her eyes now. She lay sleeping on the bottom bunk, her back to him, her body curved around Austin. Her hair tangled around the child and over the edge of the bed. The little guy snoozed on with his knees tucked to his chest, his blanket gripped in a white-knuckled fist.



Leaning, Daniel captured a lock of her hair and tested the silky texture between two fingers. He'd done the right thing asking her to stay. The boys had already lost their parents. They needed a familiar person to ease them through the transition.



On the top bunk, Trey rolled and shifted until he settled onto his back. All three, dead to the world.



Thank God they weren't dead period, only exhausted from the long hours and ordeal. A few more minutes of staring at them and he would have his balance back.



A shadow slid through the doorway. Daniel glanced up to find Tag waiting silently.



The Senior Master Sergeant nodded toward the bunks. "I'll watch over them if you need to catch some sleep."



"I'm set until we land. No worries."



Tag studied him silently, gaze falling to the lock of hair still twined around Daniel's fingers.



Well, hell.



Daniel dropped the strand. A lone determined hair clung to the wrist of his flight suit like before. He didn't waste energy refuting Tag's all-knowing expression. Why bother when he actually appreciated the older man's no-bull approach to life? The man appreciated facts and the uncomplicated.



Years of working top-secret test projects at Edwards AFB in California had honed Daniel's instincts. He didn't think of those instincts as anything of a woo-hoo nature. Rather, he made observations and processed them quickly. Efficiently. Two weeks into his transfer to Charleston AFB in South Carolina, Daniel had realized Tag was a troop to trust.



Even with something as important as Mary Elise.



"You know, Tag, I believe I'll take you up on that offer in another half hour." Daniel flicked aside the hair on his wrist. "I don't need sleep, but I have to head back up front soon and I'd rather not wake Mary Elise. So, yeah, I would appreciate it if you kept an eye on them in case one of the boys rouses before her."



Tag lumbered in through the door, curtain closing behind him, and lowered himself into the other seat. "Small world, her showing up on this flight."



And an even smaller world on base. No doubt, gossip would make the rounds three times over by the next nightfall. Not from Tag, but Bo would have a helluva time sharing the inside scoop at the club.



"Family connection. We knew each other a long time ago." Daniel shot him a half smile. "That 'Danny' of hers probably gave us away."



"Ah, so you're old friends."



Daniel hesitated a second too long.



Tag's quirked brow shot up toward the older man's salt-and-pepper hairline.



Finally. Daniel settled for, "We have … history."



Tag nodded again. Waited. Studied the sleeping trio. Finally shifted his attention back to Daniel. "Is the older kid yours?"



The notion blazed across Daniel's mind in a flash of horror. Had she faked a miscarriage? He'd never seen Trey's mother pregnant. He could imagine selfless Mary Elise cutting him free so he could complete his senior year at the Academy.



Simple math severed the irrational thought. Trey was over a year too young. "No. Trey's not mine." Daniel's head thunked back against the bulkhead. Damn it, why couldn't Tag have shown up fifteen minutes later once the world had stopped rocking under his boots? "Ours would have been ten now."



Hell, he hadn't told anyone about that time with Mary Elise. Something about the way Tag didn't push made it easier to talk during a day when the past crowded his brain.