Free Letters to Her Soldier by Hazel Gower Page B

next week. ”
    Bianca shrugged before
silence settled between them once more.
    “I was shocked
to read about your parents.   I’m sorry. ”
    “Don’t be.   My parents were miserable together.   Mum’s having a ball going on cruise ships with
some of her friends and my sister.   Dad…well, I’ve never seen him so in love.   He worships Katarina.   It did take me a while to get used to it at
first, what with the almost twenty-year age gap, but he’s so happy and she
seems to genuinely love Dad. ”
    Bianca relaxed
into her seat.   She was happy too. She’d
been on two dates with a wonderful man.   Dr.   Mathew Ross was a children’s doctor at the
hospital she volunteered at sometimes.   An image of Mathew popped into her mind, and
she bit her cheek to hold back a groan.   He was everything a woman could ask for—tall, dark,
and handsome.   Mathew had been trying to
get her to go on a date with him for months.   She’d been putting him off.   It wasn’t until recently when she knew she was
ready to move on because it had finally sunk in that Caleb was out of her
league and she’d never be with him, that she agreed to go on a date.   It’d been fun, but he just wasn’t what she
wanted.   He wasn’t the man currently
sitting beside her.
    Maybe she could
let whatever Caleb had in store run its course.   When he was finished with her and had his fill,
she hoped she would be too, and she could move on.
    “What? What’s that look for? You’re not telling me something. ”
    She forced a
smile on her face and turned down towards the barracks.   “Don’t worry. It was nothing.   Look, we’re getting close to the gates.   Do you need to get anything out?”
    Bianca could
feel his penetrating stare as he seemed to debate whether to ask more questions.   She kept the smile in place until he
reached behind them and rummaged through his bag.
    He sat back in
his seat with some papers and ID.   She
slowed as they reached the gates, and she stopped as two men came over to the
car.   Caleb rolled down the window, handed
over the paperwork, and held out his ID.   The men came to attention as soon as they read
everything and checked the ID.   One
walked away to an office and came back before passing two envelopes to Caleb.  
    “Afternoon, Warrant
Officer Sutten . ”
    Caleb nodded, and
the men returned to their posts.   He looked
down at the paper.   “Turn left.   Our house is down at the end. ”
    Bianca ignored
the way he said “our house” and followed his instructions.  
    “Number
thirty-four . ”
    She looked at
the basic houses as she went along.   They
got better the farther she went down.   At
the end of the street, she pulled into a neat, two-story, cream-colored
weatherboard house.  
    Caleb got out of
the car, grabbed his backpack, opened one of the envelopes, and pulled out a
bunch of keys.   He walked to the door and
tried a couple before getting the right one and opening the door.  
    Bianca sat in
the car watching him, unsure of all her plans now.   Maybe she’d imagined his kiss.   Maybe she’d imagined him caging her against a
car.   She debated for a good couple of
minutes while Caleb was in the house.  
    Then her eyes
widened as Caleb came out with no shirt on, wearing only his uniform pants.   Oh God.   He must have had some spare time in
Afghanistan because he’d bulked up a lot more than she remembered.   He was friggin’ huge.   And right now he was stalking her way with
determination in his eyes.   Crap.   What the hell was she supposed to do?
    ****
    Caleb stalked
his prey. For the last six years, he’d received letters every week from Bianca.   He knew it was his sister’s doing. Greta
sent over a picture of Bianca on the car her parents had bought her, telling
him about all the antics they were getting up to now that they had wheels and
she didn’t have to beg their parents to borrow the car.  
    He’d needed
something back then, and he let