Officer, Surgeon...Gentleman!

Cole.

Her gaze went back to her father. Why wasn’t he screaming at Cole? Threatening to skewer him with a cooking utensil? Instead, he was chatting with him as if they were old buds. Where was the Twilight Zone music? Or maybe some camera crew was going to jump out and tell her she was on some hoax show? That she’d been had?

There had to be something, because everything about the scene was wrong.

So wrong she thought she might be physically ill.

Unless Cole had told the Admiral the truth about his and Clara’s canceled wedding plans.

Was he seeking her father’s forgiveness?

Had he known she was coming to her parents’?

Her legs wobbled and she grabbed hold of the frame of the sliding glass doors.

“Amelia?” Her father spotted her. “Don’t stand there at attention, girl. Get over here and grab a plate. The burgers are cooked.”

Would her legs even hold her up? Could she even put one foot in front of the other?

What was Cole doing at her parents’ house?

Could she pretend nothing had happened between them for her parents’ sake?

“Hello, Admiral.” Just as she’d been doing since she’d been old enough to walk, she saluted the distinguished-looking silver-haired man who, even surprisingly wearing a kiss the cook apron, could never be mistaken for anyone other than a man who commanded authority.

He saluted her back. “Hand me that plate, then tell me all about your deployment, Lieutenant.”

She couldn’t keep her gaze from going to Cole. “Perhaps you’ve already heard?”

Her father’s expression didn’t change. Not that she’d expected it to. None of the Stockton four could ever get so much as an eyebrow rise out of their father. Not that they’d done much to push their father’s buttons. High IQs ran in the family and they hadn’t wanted to die at a young and tender age.

But even under John Stockton’s eagle eye her brain cells all migrated toward Cole.

His blue gaze had settled onto her and she felt heat burning into her skin. He wore civilian clothes. A pair of khaki shorts and a T-shirt that showed off the shape of his chest and narrow waist. How dared he be in her parents’ backyard looking so comfortable? So gorgeous? So…like he belonged?

Why hadn’t she taken time to stop by the bathroom and wash her face? Wait a minute. What she looked like didn’t matter. He had left her. Again.

“I asked you to tell me.” Her father’s shrewd eyes held hers. “Unless there’s a reason you’d rather not?”

Her face flushed with embarrassment. Did he know what had transpired between her and Cole? She’d swear her father could see right through her, could read her mind. Hadn’t he always been able to?

“No reason, sir,” she said all the same, wondering if he’d call her on it.

He didn’t, just flipped the burgers one by one onto the plate she held. “Good. Now tell me.”

“The deployment was uneventful, sir.”

“Uneventful?”

“I worked, learned a lot, got to visit Singapore and made new friends, but you already know all that, sir.” Oh, and I slept with my sister’s ex-fiancé who is sitting in your backyard swing listening to every word I say. A man I happen to love and I’m not sure why he is here. Perhaps he came by to give me the opportunity to throttle him for once again breaking my heart?

“Singapore? I was on board Kitty Hawk when she made port call there when the port first opened. But you already know that.” Her father’s eyes narrowed and again she was struck with the idea that he knew every single thing that had happened between her and Cole. But that was impossible. Cole wouldn’t have told her father.

If Cole had, he wouldn’t be breathing.

To further confound her, her father took the burger plate from her. “I’m going to take these in to your mother.”

He was leaving her outside with Cole? Alone? Had he gone mad?