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the ski lodge. The night was frigid, the air so crisp it tingled against her skin. The sky was impossibly
black, with stars so bright, and so numerous, it felt as if she were standing on the edge of heaven. Their
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breath left small clouds of white crystals in the air around them. Despite the temperature, she was not
cold. She had been waiting all evening for an opportunity to be alone with her security chief. Now that
the time had come, her pulse raised and her belly stirred with an excitement she tried to ignore.
"Card playing is a necessity for a Secret Service Agent," Cam responded seriously, although the corners
of her mouth turned up in a rare smile.
"Yes, I'm sure." Blair stepped closer until her body brushed the shoulder of the woman beside her. She
was surprised when Cameron did not move away. "Then again, I'm sure that Secret Service agents need
to be talented in many things."
Cam turned to face her, her eyes serious. "Ms. Powell, I know how difficult all of this is for you..."
"I don't think you do," Blair said, resting her gloved hand against Cam's shoulder. "It's damned
inconvenient finding a way to get one's security chief into bed without creating a national scandal."
"Perhaps there's a message there."
"There may be, but I have no interest in it. All I'm interested in is you."
Cam stepped back just enough to break their contact. Blair Powell was easily the most attractive
woman she ever known. If that weren't enough, Blair was touchingly vulnerable in her unguarded
moments. Cam wished there were some way to ease the younger woman's pain. But she could not allow
her sympathy to interfere with her effectiveness. She reminded herself that the beautiful seductress before
her was not truly interested in her, but rather wanted to use her as the tool to break the chains of her
invisible prison. Cameron knew this, and because she did, she ignored the hammering of her heart and
the rush of blood into her loins.
"I'm afraid you have mistaken my attentions. Your physical well-being is my only concern. I am not
interested in anything other than that."
Blair felt the words rip through her. Although her tone had been light and teasing, she had been serious
about her offer to Cam. She had not approached a woman with true desire in more years then she could
count. It hurt, this rebuke. Her pain angered her, and as she turned and walked rapidly toward the door,
she called caustically, "Don't mistake lust for affection, Commander. My interest in you, as I believe you
once said, is strictly biological."
Cameron watched her go, struggling with her own disappointment. Of course she knew that she was
only a potential conquest, but that did not lessen the pain of Blair's words.
**********
A knock on her door brought Cam from deep sleep into adrenalized arousal in an instant. She grabbed
her gun from the night table as her feet touched the floor. The bedside clock read 4:44 a.m. Cam looked
through the peep hole and cursed silently to herself when she saw the figure on the other side. She
opened the door an inch and whispered, "What is it, Stark?"
Paula Stark stared white faced at her boss. She swallowed once audibly, and licked her suddenly dry
lips nervously. "I need to talk you, Commander."
"Can't it wait?"
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"No ma'am, it can't."
Cam opened the door to admit her young subordinate, replacing her gun in its holster on her table. She
switched on the bedside lamp and motioned Stark to a chair at the small desk in front of the windows.
She sat down across from Stark and looked at her inquiringly. For a moment, she thought that Stark
might cry.
"I need to be transferred," Stark stated flatly.
"Is there some reason you felt you needed to wake me in the middle of the night to tell me this?"
Cameron asked sharply. She had a bad feeling she knew where this conversation was going.
"I needed to tell you now. I need to leave in the morning."
Cam sighed and leaned back from the table. She ran both hands briskly over face, then peered intently
at the pale young woman across from her. "Do you want to tell me what this is all about?"
"I--I don't feel I can continue to carry out my assignment."
"That's not what you told me two weeks ago," Cam stated.
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