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though he prefers to live in his village when he can—and near the project site.” Elliot frowned. “Hesam is an enlightened leader, you will find. His family has ruled the area for nearly five hundred years, and the people love and respect him. He’s got great curiosity about Americans and is pro-U.S.A. In fact, he’s done more in his province to support education of boys and girls than any other tribal leader in the country.”
    â€œSounds like a good man,” Pete said approvingly.
    â€œWell, yes and no,” Elliot countered. “He’s a despot at times. He’s king and he damn well knows it. Anything you need for your plant site must go through him first. You want workers, you seek an audience with Hesam. You have employee problems with a local villager, you take it to Hesam. If you try to leave him out of the core and take over, never forget he has a military on horseback that could easily murder every contractor and subcontractor onsite, including yourselves, with just a flourish of his hand. His people are loyal to him first, last and always.”
    â€œIt’s a fiefdom,” Cali explained, looking down the row at Pete, whose forehead was creased in a frown. “Loyalty in Afghanistan is predicated upon the family, the clan, the tribe and, lastly, their imams, who are speakers for Islam. But the sheik is the core person around whom all this revolves. And we need his support.” Before she got too distracted by Trayhern’s good looks, Cali turned away and focused on the entire group. “The first thing we have to do, Major, is get Baider Hesam on our side. He must be made to feel an integral part of what we’re doing there. Otherwise this project is doomed from the start.”
    â€œYou’ve worked in the Middle East, so you should know,” Pete replied. He wondered if he could trust her experience. But then, who else could he trust? Kerwin Elliot was a political operative in Afghanistan, not a construction expert.
    Trust Cali Roland? Pete’s heart pounded once as if to underscore that vital question. His history with women was a thorny trail filled with disappointment and pain. How could he trust this woman? Torn, he swallowed his frustration. He never attracted women who believed in trust, at least not on a personal front. In the military, professionally, he’d had no problem with them because all the women he dealt with were subordinates, as well as patriots with one focused cause. But Cali Roland wasn’t a subordinate; they were more or less equals on the project, with him having the slightest edge. Pete steeled himself. He felt like he was in the middle of a field of land mines at the moment, and Cali was one of them: lethal, explosive and dangerous.
    He’d be riding with her shortly to the site. During that time, Pete hoped to get to know her a little. Maybe she was married, which would make his life a bit easier. Pete refused to get entangled with a married woman; it just wasn’t his style. Cali had no ring on her left hand but that wasn’t uncommon. Many hard hats never wore jewelry in the field because it could get caught in equipment and they could lose a finger, a hand or worse.
    Gulping surreptitiously, Pete fought his attraction to this woman. She was trouble, all right. Why couldn’t she have been unappealing? Older? Nasty? Cali was none of those.
    Somehow, he was going to have to harden himself against her.

CHAPTER THREE
    â€œP ETE ?” A S Cali gently squeezed his broad shoulder, her fingers tingled. She moaned inwardly. Her attention to him was only getting worse, she realized in despair.
    With Ahmed driving the Land Cruiser, they had just arrived at the site. The mighty Hindu Kush Mountains cast deep purple shadows across the plain where a number of mobile trailers sat. Truth be known, Cali had wanted an excuse to touch Pete. Ever since their contact earlier, at Elliot’s office, Cali was