O'hara's Choice - Leon Uris [25]
“I think we are going too far with this conversation,” he said.
“You’re just like everyone else, Zachary, wanting to keep me locked inside a high square wall.”
“Amanda, I’m just a buck private.”
“I don’t believe that this is what God has in mind, to give us such tender feelings and not be allowed to explore them.”
Zachary stood and she stood with him.
“I’m very flattered, but there are some strict regulations against this,” he said.
“Then you are afraid . . .”
“Amanda Blanton Kerr and Zachary O’Hara together is rather ridiculous. This kind of . . .”
“Feeling,” she said.
“Yes, this kind of feeling is not for us.”
“But that’s not the way I feel at this moment,” she said softly.
They stood there silently and she nodded.
Zachary took off his gloves slowly, moved her dress down over a shoulder, and slipped aside her thin halter. Both of them took his hand to her breast and he felt it beautifully in rhythm with their gasping breath, then he kissed it and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her unconditionally. Before the fury came on, he took a step back and adjusted her clothing.
Zachary, she thought, this is everything!
Her gasps rose to a pant. She reached for him, but he held her off.
“I admire your confidence and candor, Amanda, and I appreciate your affection of the moment, but this is all we can have.”
“Touch me one more time.”
“No.”
“Then kiss me again.”
“Please, no.”
“Then you are a coward!” she said with sudden anger.
“Have you ever watched a man lashed with a cat-o’-nine-tails and seen what he looks like after a month in solitary on bread and water?”
“That is what it seems like for me to take on the curse of being a female. I exaggerate but I don’t look forward to a life of it.”
Giggles from the girls on the garden bench reached their ears and a resumption of the waltz flowed out from the great hall.
“Will I ever see you again?” he asked.
“You’re stationed in Washington. After your debut here tonight,” she said, “we are bound to run into each other. I don’t feel we have to go out of our way to avoid each other.”
Amanda had been given a dose of her own medicine, finding herself spiraling beyond her capacity to control. She had dared herself into a magic moment and knew instantly that she must continue to own those moments in the future.
But it was so good, a thrill so wild, that the Marine standing before her could well take her over.
Zachary’s mouth had gone dry. Fear? No, I’m not afraid, but was anything before ever like this?
“I don’t think we have to go out of our way to avoid each other,” she repeated.
“I want to hold you again,” he said.
“No.”
“It feels too good. You’re the one who’s afraid, Amanda.”
“Damn you, Zachary!”
“And damn you, Amanda!”
• 10 •
AMP
1888—Prichard’s Inn—the Next Night
The night was blustery and vile by the time Captain Storm arrived. After exchanging greetings, the stable boy brought in logs and renewed the fire as Tobias devoured his meal. Mr. Prichard, in his nightshirt, set out numerous bottles for them on the hearth and bid them good night.
The Gunny and the captain nailed their eyes to Ben Boone, who folded up a letter from the commandant.
“We’ve been aced out of an entire new class of heavy-armored cruisers. They’ll be carrying fourteen-inch guns, but no Marines.”
“So, I traveled all the way from China to hear this?”
“The navy set aside some space for us to hang up a few hammocks in case of emergency between the numbers one and two boilers and next to the powder store six decks down.”
“With a straw bottom to feed the sea horses,” Gunny said.
“How many years you got in the Corps, Gunny?”
He scratched his head and counted some on his fingers. “Twenty-six, maybe twenty-seven.”
“What about you, Toby?”
“Forty-four.”
“Count me in for forty-three,” Ben said. “What’s that come to?”
“A hundred and fourteen years,” the captain answered.
“You shipping over, Gunny?”
“Shipping out,” the Gunny corrected. “I’m looking forward to my thirty-year retirement