Officer, Surgeon...Gentleman!

“Obviously.”

She hesitated a moment, her expression softening, reeling him in without even realizing that’s what she was doing.

“Thanks for not making a scene in front of the patient. I was afraid you’d insist on checking her.” She met his gaze. “I appreciate that you did the right thing, letting me do my job.”

At her tentative smile, the ship shifted beneath his feet. “When is she coming back for follow-up?”

Again, a slight hesitation. “She’ll come back if needed, but she’s putting in for a reassignment.”

A reassignment? “Sea life not for her?”

“Not everyone takes to ship life.”

Which they would have discovered during the many training exercises prior to deployment. Interesting.

“She was suffering from seasickness?” he asked, wondering if Amelia would lie to him. Although he didn’t know what had been bothering the woman, he did know seasickness wasn’t a likely diagnosis.

“No, she’s been aboard the ship for some time, but…” She paused, glanced at him and then shrugged. “Let’s talk about something else. How are you holding up? Lots of viral patients?”

Cole studied her, admired her for protecting her patient, even though she should know she didn’t have to protect the woman from him. Probably an STD, likely pelvic inflammatory disease or something similar, possibly even pregnancy, since Amelia was being so secretive.

“More than I’d like. If we can’t get this quarantined, we’re going to have an epidemic on our hands.”

She ran her fingers through her ponytail then tightened the elastic band. “That’s what I’m afraid of. I saw mostly viral patients during sick call this morning, too. The senior medical officer has put out an advisory for everyone to come in at the first sign of symptoms so we can stop the spread.”

Watching the play of light hit her shiny dark hair, wishing he could run his fingers through the silky gloss, could lean down and breathe in the scent of her shampoo, the scent of her, Cole gave a wry smile. “Which means the medical crew is going to be all the busier.”

Returning his smile, she nodded. “Yes, sir. You sure you want to stick around for this?”

His gaze met hers, sent a thousand silent messages, asked a thousand questions, all of which Amelia didn’t respond to. If only she’d tell him what was in her mind. Did her body heat up the way his did any time they were near each other? Did every sense become sharper, more alert, more aware, the way his did?

Of course, she didn’t answer any of those questions and he couldn’t voice them. Not yet. All he could do was smile at her and hope that with time whatever was between them would come to a head and free them both.

“There’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here,” he admitted, watching the color of her eyes darken to rich melted chocolate, watching her full pink lips part, and a short gust of air escape. “With you, Amelia. Nowhere else.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

ONE day at a time, Amelia reminded herself later that day. One day at a time. That’s how she’d deal with Cole. How she was dealing with him, and how she’d continue to deal with him.

So far she was six weeks down and twenty more to go. That was only one hundred and forty days, give or take a few pending either of their reassignments.

Not that she was counting.

Sighing, she glanced across the sick ward to where he stood, laughing at a joke the physician assistant had told. Tracy, Richard, Peyton and a couple of nurses and corps-men stood with them. So did the senior medical officer. Despite the crazily busy day they’d had, they all looked relaxed, if a bit tired. They all looked toward Cole with respect and admiration, with friendship.

Cole belonged on board the USS Benjamin Franklin as much as if he’d been there from the day the ship had first sailed for training exercises.

As much as she hated to admit it, she’d grown to appreciate his presence in the sick ward, too.

They’d had another swamped sick call, which had run over into the scheduled appointments. A nasty upper respiratory virus was running rampant across the ship. If Cole hadn’t been there to help, following his surgery clinic, none of them would be anywhere near finished. They’d all had their hands full, mostly with viral patients but also with the usual plethora of cases as well.

Then there had been the young lieutenant who worked in the ship operations department and suffered from abdominal pain. Although the carrier intelligence center officer’s diagnosis hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary in the grand scheme of life occurrences, the diagnosis wasn’t one Amelia commonly made. Actually, she hadn’t diagnosed a pregnancy in months.

The woman hadn’t wanted to put down that she thought she was pregnant, had begged Amelia to keep her secret until she’d figured out the course of action she wanted to take and for Amelia to please honor her wishes. The woman had likely had an on board affair with another officer and was fearful of both of them facing dishonorable discharge.

Regardless of her reasons, Amelia had hedged the best she could. Only she and the lab technician who’d performed the test knew the woman’s real reason for visiting the sick ward.

She partially owed thanks to Cole for that. Had she realized the woman’s true reasons for the visit she wouldn’t have requested the consult, but she hadn’t known prior to their private discussion.