A Military Match

“Well, well, well,” Avery said. “What do we have here?”

Jennifer raised her hand, palm out. “Stop. Don’t say anything that will make me regret coming here more than I already do.” She took a deep breath. “Do you still want a riding coach?”

“Maybe.”

“If I give you lessons, I need something in return. I need to learn how to use a sword.”

“Why ask me?”

She hesitated, then said, “My mother’s instructor is unavailable. I called your captain to ask about your unit’s saber instructor.”

“Which is me.”

Her gaze locked with his. “If you’re worried our past relationship will get in the way, I can assure you it won’t. You want to win the Sheridan Cup. I want to keep my mother’s commitment. We can work together to make this happen or we can fail separately. It’s up to you.”

“No strings attached?”

“None.”

Jennifer ignored the nagging little voice that said keeping things businesslike might prove more difficult than expected.

PATRICIA DAVIDS

Patricia Davids continues to work as a part-time nurse in the NICU while writing full-time. She enjoys researching new stories, traveling to new locations and meeting fans along the way. She and her husband of thirty-two years live in Wichita, Kansas, along with the newest addition to the household, a stray cat named Spooky. Pat always enjoys hearing from her readers. You can contact her by mail at P.O. Box 16714, Wichita, Kansas 67216, or visit her on the Web at www.patriciadavids.com.

A Military Match

Patricia Davids

The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.

— Proverbs 21:31

This book is dedicated to my brother, Bob Stroda—

a real cowboy and a funny, funny guy. Thanks

for putting up with your bossy big sister and for

making me laugh more times than I can count.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

“S tay here…and honk if you see anyone going inside.”

Jennifer Grant pushed open the door of her old dark blue pickup, but paused to glance at her passenger. “Got it?”

Fifteen-year-old Lizzie Grant, the second of Jennifer’s three younger siblings, hooked a lock of curly brown hair behind one ear. She didn’t bother looking up from her math book. “I’ve got it.”

“I’m serious.” Jennifer stressed each word.

Lizzie shut her book and pulled her pink T-shirt collar up to cover the lower half of her face, mocking her sister’s intensity. She glanced in all directions. “Have no fear, Agent Double oh six, Double oh seven is on the job.”

“Don’t be a smart aleck.”

Dropping the fabric, Lizzie opened her book again. “Fine. Then stop acting like a wimp. If I see Avery, which is who you’re really trying to avoid, I’ll honk three times so you’ll know your ex-boyfriend is coming.”

“Very funny.” Jennifer gave her sister a dour look, but knew in her heart that Lizzie was right. Private Avery Barnes was exactly who she wanted to avoid.

“Why do we have to do this now?” Lizzie demanded. “It’s Saturday.”

“Because Dr. Cutter needs the follow-up films on Dakota’s leg done today.” And because Avery should be away from the stable for at least another hour.

Sighing with teenage impatience, Lizzie focused on her homework once more. “Is it going to take long? I don’t want to be late and neither should you.”

“It’ll take ten minutes, tops. I can get you to your chess meeting, drop the films off at the Large Animal Clinic and still get to my horse show on time.”

Jennifer was used to making the most of the limited hours in her day. To save time, she was already dressed in her tan riding breeches and white shirt beneath her pale blue lab coat. Her black show jacket hung in a garment bag behind the driver’s seat. Her knee-high riding boots, polished to a high shine, sat ready to be pulled on before she took the field.

After she stepped out of the truck, Jennifer pulled a large yellow case from the front seat and glanced around. The narrow strip of white gravel between the close, single-story stone buildings reflected the heat of the warm September morning. The parking area contained only a few cars, but one was the sleek lapis-blue Jaguar she knew belonged to Avery.

Glancing into the horse trailer hitched behind her truck, she saw McCloud, her gray ten-year-old gelding, standing quietly, his head up and eyes alert. It was a sign he was ready to get down to business. Both of them needed to be on their game today or she would have wasted an entry fee.

Money was tight in the Grant household, and the possibility that she could earn an extra five hundred dollars in prize money wasn’t to be taken lightly. Her riding, plus her work for Dr. Cutter, were paying her way though vet school. This semester’s fees were due in the next few weeks and she didn’t yet have the full amount she needed.

She walked quickly to the wide doorway of the old limestone and timber stable, pausing to check down the dim, cobblestone paved corridor. It was empty. She glanced over her shoulder at a small building a dozen yards away. It housed the offices of the Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard at Fort Riley, Kansas.

No one stepped out to greet her. She relaxed and blew out the breath she had been holding. She had permission to be here, she just didn’t want to encounter a certain soldier.

The men who made up Fort Riley’s unique cavalry living history unit should be at their training corrals now. When the unit wasn’t performing around the country they practiced daily to hone their exceptional equestrian skills and train their horses. She didn’t expect anyone back for at least another hour.

Part of her was glad that the maddening Avery Barnes was nowhere in sight. Another part of her half-hoped she’d be able to show him exactly how little she cared if he was. Grasping her equipment case tightly, she walked down the corridor to the last stall on the left.

Inside the old building, the air was cool and laced with the smell of horses, hay and oiled leather. All scents she loved. Opening the upper half of the Dutch door, she spoke softly to the brown horse dozing with his head lowered near the back wall. “Hey, Dakota. What’re ya doing?”

When his head came up and she was sure he wasn’t startled by her presence, she opened the lower half of the door, stepped inside and held out her hand. Dakota whinnied and came to collect the slice of apple resting in her palm.

She patted his neck as she checked behind her. There was still no one in sight.

“Okay, fella, let’s make this quick. I want to get done before you-know-who shows up.”

Dropping to her knees, she felt along Dakota’s leg, checking for any tenderness or swelling. To her satisfaction she didn’t find anything but a nicely healed scar on the big bay’s pasturn. She popped open the fasteners on the cumbersome yellow case and removed the new portable X-ray machine her boss and mentor, equine surgeon Dr. Brian Cutter, had entrusted her with.

It only took a few minutes to set up and position the machine, and get Dakota to stand with his foot on the X-ray cassette. Taking the series of shots Brian needed to monitor the healing progress of Dakota’s fractured leg took only a couple minutes more. She propped one used cassette against the side of the stall behind her so she wouldn’t accidentally take two exposures on it, and set up for one final shot.

“Well, well, look who’s here. If it isn’t my darling Jenny.”

As always, the broad New England accent in his deep voice did funny things to the pit of her stomach. Apparently just telling herself she was over him wasn’t enough.

When Avery had asked her out the previous winter, Jenny had been flattered but cautious. His playboy reputation was no secret. She’d accepted because she’d sensed that beneath that smooth charm was a lonely man who needed her, and God, in his life.

Getting Avery to open up proved more difficult than she had imagined, but because she cared about him, she hadn’t been willing to give up. Jennifer Grant never walked away from a challenge.

In the end, she’d turned to a mutual friend, Lindsey Cutter, for help. Avery and Lindsey had served together in the CGMCG. Lindsey told her that Avery had joined the army after a falling-out with his only remaining family member, his grandfather.

Sensing she had found the key to understanding him, Jennifer had tried repeatedly to talk to Avery about his family, but he shut her out. After wrestling with her conscience, she’d made the decision to contact his grandfather herself. Her good intentions blew up in her face. Avery had found out and had been furious.

Their breakup that day at her clinic was both public and humiliating. Then, as if to prove he’d never really cared about her, Avery spent the next several weeks dating a series of Jenny’s classmates.

Which only confirmed that he didn’t care about me.

Choosing to ignore her reaction to the sound of his voice, Jennifer snapped the last shot, braced herself, then rose to face him.

Lizzie was in so much trouble. A heads-up really would have been nice.

Leaning with his tan forearms resting on the half door, he grinned at her with a cocky smile that had probably melted more female hearts than she could count. It had certainly softened hers the first time she saw it. Fortunately, she knew him better now. Un fortunately, the lesson had been an emotionally painful one to learn.

He wore the unit’s standard issue red T-shirt. His matching red ball cap was pushed back on his head revealing his military-cut dark brown hair above his deep-set hazel eyes.

Eyes that a woman could get lost in—if she didn’t have the good sense to see Avery Barnes for what he was—a playboy who broke hearts without a second thought.

“I’m not your anything, Private Barnes, and you know that I don’t like being called Jenny.”

It had taken months, but she had patched her heart back together with will power and hard work. She wasn’t about to let him think she still cared. She didn’t. She was so over him.

“It’s Corporal Barnes now. I’ve been promoted since we last met and now that you mention it, Jenny, I do recall that you don’t like being called Jenny.”

“I’m busy. Go away if you can’t be nice.” She imbued her voice with as much toughness as she could muster.

A second soldier came up to stand beside Avery. Jennifer recognized another member of the mounted color guard. Private Lee Gillis was dressed in the same red shirt with the unit’s logo embroidered on it. His smile, unlike Avery’s, showed genuine warmth.

“Hi, Jennifer,” Lee said brightly. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be riding in the Deerfield Open today.”

Lee, like many soldiers assigned to the CGMCG, had never been on a horse before his transfer into the special unit a year ago. Everyone who came into the unit trained in cavalry tactic from manuals the U.S. Army had used during the Civil War. Once exposed to the world of equestrian sports, Lee had quickly become a fan of all things horse related, particularly show jumping and dressage. Jennifer often saw him at the local events when she was competing.

“Yes, Jenny, what are you doing here?” Avery interjected with mock interest. “Besides looking for me.”

“I have absolutely no interest in seeing you. Dr. Cutter sent me to take Dakota’s follow up films this month and if you call me Jenny one more time, I’m going to make you regret it.”

Avery shook his head as he gave her a reproachful look. “Shame on you—threatening a member of the U.S. military. I could get you in serious trouble for that.”

Jennifer smiled at Lee. “You’ll short sheet his bed or put a large snake in it for me, won’t you?”

Lee’s eyes brightened. “Gladly.”

Folding her arms over her chest, she said, “You see, Avery, I can get to you whenever I want.”

“Lee, do you know why she doesn’t like to be called Jenny?”

Holding up both hands, Lee took a step back. “I think you two should leave me out of this.”

“Because a jenny is a female donkey,” Avery said with a smirk. “Can you see the resemblance? Cute, with big ears and a long nose that gets into everyone’s business, and too stubborn for her own good—that’s my Jenny in a nutshell.”

“I didn’t come here to be abused by you. I’m here to do a job and you’re interfering. Do I need to tell Captain Watson that you’re ignoring your own work and keeping me from doing mine? I’m sure it won’t be the first time he’s heard that you’re slacking.”

“She’s got you there, Avery.” Grinning, Lee slapped his buddy on the back then walked away.

“You can tattle to the captain if it makes you feel better, Jenny, but the truth is I’m not doing a thing to prevent you from working. I’m just standing here watching.”

Jennifer bit back a retort. The last thing she wanted was to get into a verbal battle with the man. Instead, she turned away and stuffed the X-ray machine into the carrying case before snapping it shut. “I’m finished anyway.”

Picking up the case, she spun around and marched toward the stall door. Avery pulled it open, swept his arm out and bowed low in a courtly gesture as she passed. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard him chuckling behind her.

The man was insufferable. Why she had ever considered him handsome and interesting was a complete mystery.

The bright sunshine made her squint after the dimness of the barn’s interior. She shaded her eyes with one hand as she crossed to her truck and yanked open the door. After depositing the equipment inside, she slid behind the wheel.

“Thanks a lot, Lizzie. I thought I told you to honk if you saw anyone coming.”

Tapping her lips with her pencil, Lizzie frowned at her book. “I didn’t see anyone.”

Jennifer took a few deep breaths before inserting her key in the ignition. “Dr. Cutter is just going to have to get one of his other students to come do these films.”

“Didn’t you volunteer to do them?” Lizzie scowled as she wrote in her notebook.

“I did, but good grades are only worth so much aggravation.”

“Oh, he was there.” Lizzie turned the page and copied a set of numbers on her paper.

“I could care less about Avery Barnes,” Jennifer stated firmly, hoping to convince herself as much as her sister.

“You were drooling over him last winter when the army had Dakota at your clinic.”

“I don’t recall drooling over anyone.”

“You went out with him last winter and every other word out of your mouth was Avery this and Avery that and Avery is so charming.”

Jennifer still wasn’t certain how she could have been so mistaken about him. Her first impression had been that Avery was devoted to his friends and to helping care for injured animals. Both were qualities she greatly admired. She had sensed something special in him. She had begun to see a future with him.

A future, as it turns out, based on foolish daydreams with no basis in reality.

“He’s charming all right. He’s also as shallow as a petri dish. We saw each other for a few months, but then I learned how superficial and self-centered he really is.”

“Why? Because he stopped asking you out?”

Her sister’s comment hit a little too close to home. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”

Rolling her eyes, Lizzie said, “Whatever. If we don’t get going, I’ll be late for my chess club.”

Jennifer started the engine and checked her rearview mirror as she pulled away from the stable, but she wasn’t granted another glimpse of the unbearable Avery Barnes.

Which was just as well, she decided as she headed toward the checkpoint at the east entrance of the post. If she never had to see him again, it would be too soon.

Chapter Two

A s Avery listened to the sound of Jennifer’s truck driving away, he tried to ignore the ache in the back of his throat. He rubbed his hands on the sides of his jeans and hoped the fact that she still took his breath away had gone unnoticed. Acting like a jerk wasn’t usually so hard.

He hadn’t expected to see her again after the painful brush off he’d given her. Certainly not here in his company’s stable. The harshness of his behavior after their breakup pricked what little conscience he had left, but he tried to ignore that, too.

He thought he’d put his feelings for her behind him. Now, standing here with the lingering scent of her perfume filling him with warmth, he knew he hadn’t. It had been a long time since a woman had affected his equilibrium the way Jennifer Grant did.

It wasn’t that she was such a knockout in the looks department. She wasn’t overly tall, but she had a trim figure and a self-assured way of tossing her blond hair back with a flip of her hand that made a man sit up and take notice. Her nose had a little bump in the middle that the women in his circles would have had smoothed out by a plastic surgeon before they finished high school.

Jennifer’s appeal wasn’t in her deep blue eyes or in her looks. It was how she looked at others. Her kindness and her compassion lit her from the inside like a candle in the darkness. She was unlike anyone he had ever met. The only trouble with Jennifer was that she never knew when to quit.

His first reaction when he saw her today in Dakota’s stall had been a surge of happiness. He was thankful her back had been turned and he’d had time to school his features into a smirk he knew would annoy her.

What he should have done was keep walking and let her leave without speaking to her. Even now he wasn’t sure why he’d felt compelled to engage her in conversation. He knew she wouldn’t have anything nice to say to him. Perhaps he had been hoping for a tongue lashing from her. Maybe he even had it coming.

Dakota thrust his head out the stall door and whinnied after Jennifer. Avery reached up to scratch the horse behind his ear. “Sorry I ran her off, big boy. I know you like her.”

Dakota had gone through a rough time after his fracture the previous autumn. For a while, it had looked like the horse wouldn’t survive. Jennifer had been one of the people involved in his care, and his recovery was due in part to the hours she spent helping take care of him.

Avery remembered Dakota’s stay at the Large Animal Clinic with more fondness than the circumstances warranted. It had been Jennifer’s company, her upbeat attitude and her bossy but kind nature that had helped everyone from the mounted color guard cope during those difficult days.

It was only later that Avery had realized what a danger she posed to his peace of mind. She was far too likable—and good. Definitely not what he looked for in the women he dated.

He patted Dakota’s neck. “If she wasn’t so cute when she gets mad I might have been able to stop egging her on. Did you see the way that fire leaps in those deep blue eyes?” Giving himself a mental shake for discussing Jennifer with a horse, Avery walked on toward the equipment room.

Lee came out of the door with two long-handled pitchforks and handed one to Avery. It was their turn to muck out the stalls before the rest of the unit returned from exercising the horses.

“Why do you razz Jennifer like that?” Lee asked as he pushed a wheelbarrow toward the first empty stall.

Avery wasn’t in the habit of sharing his feelings or explaining his actions. He shrugged. “She can take it.”

“And dish it out, but you seem to take a special delight in ruffling her feathers. What did she ever do to you?”

“Nothing.”

“I seem to remember that the two of you had a thing going for a while. What happened?”

“We went out a couple of times. It didn’t work.” Avery began pitching the straw from the first stall into the wheelbarrow.

Lee stopped and grinned at him. “She dumped you.”

“Get real. Women don’t dump me.”

Only one had. After that, he never gave another woman the chance. He was always the first to call it quits in a relationship.

“Jennifer didn’t fall for your smooth-talking ways, did she? That must have bruised your ego.”

“My ego is unscathed, thank you. It just so happens the woman can’t leave well enough alone.”

“What does that mean?”

“She wanted me to go to church with her.”

Lee resumed his work. “I go to church. It wouldn’t hurt you to give it a try.”

“Believing that someone or something is in charge of my life doesn’t do it for me. Anyway, she didn’t stop there. After I turned her down and expressed my views on the subject, she made a point of telling all the women at the clinic to steer clear of me.”

“So that’s what the big ears and long nose comment was about?”

“She thinks she knows what’s best for everyone.” She thought she knew what was best for him.

“I heard she was the one who got Dr. Cutter and Lindsey Mandel to patch things up. Now look at them.”

“Exactly. They’re married. In a year they’ll both be miserable and filing for divorce because they hate each other.”

Lee paused and leaned on his pitchfork. “Not every marriage ends in misery.”

“Enough do. If flying in a plane was as risky as marriage, nobody would be racking up frequent flyer miles.”

One look at his parents’ marriage and his own near miss proved his point.

“That’s a grim view.”

“I call it like I see it.”

“I wonder if that’s true.” Lee propped his pitchfork against the wall and lifted the handles of the wheelbarrow.

Avery looked at him sharply. “What does that mean?”

“It means you might not want to admit it, but you’ve still got a thing for Jennifer.” Lee maneuvered the loaded cart out the doorway, leaving Avery to stare after him.

Jennifer pulled up in front of the youth center at the Community Christian Church and checked her watch. “See, I told you I’d get you here on time. Is your math done? You know I’m not going to let you shirk your school work just to have a wild time with your chess-loving friends.”

Lizzie scribbled one more number on her sheet and snapped the textbook shut. “I’m done.”

“Okay, but I still need to check it before I turn you loose.”

Handing over her work, Lizzie said, “Like that’s a surprise. You’re way stricter than Mom is.”

“That’s because, unlike our mother, I believe your education is more important than a silly hobby.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Jennifer’s conscience pricked her. She shouldn’t be criticizing her mother’s behavior, or calling her sister’s hobby silly.

Still, Mary Grant’s obsession with history and re-enacting the life of frontier widow Henrietta Dutton had been taking up more and more of her time. Her involvement with the local historical society’s plans for the town’s upcoming Founder’s Day Festival had turned into a time-consuming passion that left all of her kids feeling ignored.

There were times when Jennifer wondered if the line between reality and re-enactment were blurring a bit too much even for their eccentric mother.