Desperate (Harris Trilogy Book One) Read Online Free PDF

practiced marching and drills. There were men cleaning guns, some washing uniforms. She had never seen such a multitude of men in one place in her life.
    White dog tents dotted the g rounds as far as she could see. She never realized there were this many men in the world. Some were still just boys, maybe fourteen, or fifteen. Some were older, maybe, as old as fifty.
    Someone finally noticed her , and pointed her to the center of camp where the new recruits were to gather. Laying down her pack, Kate lined up with the other young men. A tall, handsome man with thick black, curly hair stepped in front of the group of men. Firm muscles rippled under his uniform and she could tell his body was magnificent. The bluest eyes she had ever seen scanned the group of men. He cut a find dashing figure in his gray uniform. Suddenly Kate realized she was openly staring at him. Never feeling lust before, she was shocked. She had never been attracted to anyone until she laid eyes on this perfect man. In fact she couldn’t take her eyes off him. 
    “I’m Captain David Harris. We will whip you boys into shape and get you ready for battle. We only have a couple of weeks before you will be on the battlefield so we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
    The tall man stopped right in front of her. He looked her up and down. Kate’s stomach began to roil, frightened he would know she was a female, she began to tremble.
    Captain Harris tried to look into her e yes but she kept them downcast. “What’s your name, on?” 
    She took a deep breath and tried to talk as deep as she could. “Jake Monroe, Sir.”
    A black eyebrow arched as he ordered, “You should look the officers in the eye when you are being spoken to soldier.” Kate peered into Captain Harris’ eyes and saw the amusement. He chuckled, “How old are you, Private Monroe?”
    “Seventeen, Sir.” She felt the color leave her face, she was so nervous.
    “Son, you don’t ha ve any peach fuzz on your face. You don’t look old enough to be off your mama’s tit.” The other men began to laugh.
    The urge to run away and hide was strong, but that was not possible. To keep everyone from being suspicious, she stood her ground. She could feel her face turning red. Glad when Captain Harris moved on to check out the rest of his recruits, some of the tension lifted.
    After standing in one place for more than an hour, Kate felt better when formation was over. A sergeant showed her and the other privates to their tents.
    She dropped her things onto the tiny cot she assumed was hers. The other cot had a body in it. She sat on the cot and wondered what she should do now. Minutes passed as she fidgeted trying to get comfortable.
    The young man sleeping in the cot sat up and rubbed his eyes. Not wearing a shirt, his white chest showed when the sheet fell away. Kate’s first impulse was to turn away, and then she remembered she was suppose to be a man and shouldn’t feel ashamed when she saw a male chest. “Hi, I’m Jake Monroe,” Kate stood and held out her hand to shake the young man’s hand. 
    He gave her a genuine smile as he took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake. “Adam Williams.” He yawned and threw his legs over the side of the cot. “I had guard duty last night and thought I’d catch a little shut eye.”   
    “How long have you been i n the infantry?” It took a lot of effort to keep her voice deep, but Kate knew, to maintain her disguise, she must keep her voice sounding manly.
    “One year now. I’ve been in the same outfit the whole time. How ‘bout you?” Adam asked.       
    “I’ve just joined. This is my first time ever leaving home.” Kate did not want to answer questions. Answering questions made her nervous. She was always afraid she would slip up and cause suspicion. “It’s a little tight in here. I think I’ll step outside and get some air.”
    “No, problem. It takes a while to get use d to camp life, Jake. If you need anything, let