The Captain's Baby Bargain. Merline Lovelace

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      “Supposedly,” Dingo said, “Gabe’s deep-sixed his half-formed plan to get married again.”

      Her reaction was instant and visceral. A brief flicker of sadness for her ex. A surge of guilty relief. And stupid, irrational, completely selfish joy. She wallowed its incandescent glow for several moments before guilt pushed front and center again.

      “Did Cowboy say why he called it off?”

      “No.”

      Dingo knew, though. Or guessed. She saw the speculation in the look he leveled at her. To deflect it, she waited until the server took their order, then turned the tables.

      “What about you and your oh-so-delectable Vegas showgirl? Last I heard, you and Ms. Chelsea were heading right for hot and heavy.”

      “We’re there. Or we were.”

      The slow tide of red that darkened his cheeks surprised Swish. In all the years she’d known Blake Andrews, she’d never seen him flustered or fidgety. Until now. He shifted in his seat. Crossed his knee. Uncrossed it again. Returned her gaze with a scowl.

      “That woman has me wrapped six ways to Sunday. Every time I think I’ve got a handle on her, she goes off in a totally different direction. Like the last time I flew into Vegas to see her.”

      His tone vectored toward petulant. Fascinated, Swish watched his facial expressions follow the same downward trajectory.

      “I bought a ticket for the show at the Wynn. Paid top dollar for a VIP seat, right up front. I was going to surprise her with dinner and...well...whatever afterward.”

      “From the sound of it, I’m guessing ‘whatever’ didn’t happen.”

      “The show didn’t happen! Or Chelsea’s part in it, anyway. Took me three calls and a face-to-face with the production supervisor before I found out she damned near drowned in her last appearance. He fired her. So what does she do?” he demanded fiercely.

      “I can’t even begin to imagine.”

      Swish couldn’t. She really couldn’t. She’d met the flamboyant, long-legged dancer for the first time at this year’s Badger Bash, a mere three weeks ago.

      Three weeks since she’d driven home in the early dawn. Three weeks since she’d spotted Ole Blue across a deserted intersection. Three weeks since she’d come to the bitter realization that she still loved her husband. Ex-husband, dammit. Ex!

      “She goes to work at Treasure Island, that’s what happened!”

      “I hear they have a great magic show,” she commented, scrambling to catch up.

      “They do, except Chelsea’s not in it. She’s one of the outdoor pirates who swarm the English warship. She swings across the lagoon on a damned rope. Every hour on the hour.”

      “Not a great gig for a dancer,” Swish agreed weakly.

      “Ya think?” He leaned forward, his gray eyes shooting ice chips. “The fool woman can’t swim.”

      “So why do they keep hiring her for these aquatic gigs?”

      “She’s got friends. Lots of friends.”

      “Well...”

      “Well nothing. She’s an idiot, as I tried to point out last time we were together.”

      “Uh-oh.”

      Last, Swish bet, being the operative word. Dingo confirmed that with a frustrated slap of his menu on the colorful tile table.

      “Uh-oh is right. She axed me, just like Gabe axed his almost-fiancée.”

      And me, Swish wanted to add. He axed me, too. She couldn’t put all the blame for their last split on him. Still...

      “Enough about Chelsea and me,” Dingo said, recovering his customary cool. “What’s going on with you?”

      “Not much, aside from a massive fuel spill, an around-the-clock recovery effort and feeling totally wiped most of the time.”

      “Wiped? Captain Superwoman? What happened to the inexhaustible energy that made the rest of us groan and beg for relief while you were just getting wound up?”

      “Guess I just don’t wind as tight as I used to.”

      He sat back, studying her with the beginning of a frown. “You look a little wiped, too. Still gorgeous, of course, but tired. Maybe you should see a doc.”

      “Nah.” She forced a smile. “It’s just the spill. It had me going day and night there for a while. I’ll be fine now that we’ve got a handle on it.”

      * * *

      Except she couldn’t seem to reclaim her usual levels of energy and enthusiasm. Even Mike Gentry commented on it when he and Swish drove out to check on the removal of the last of the booms the following week. May had melted into a June that was as hot as only Arizona could bake it. The lake surface was diamond-bright, the fumes that had formerly hovered above it gone, thank God.

      “Breathing through a respirator would’ve been torture in this heat,” she remarked, leaning a hip against Mike’s vehicle.

      “It’s pretty well torture anytime.” The bio-environmental engineer slanted her a quick look. “You okay, Captain? You look tired.”

      “You’re the second person who’s told me that.” She made a face and tucked a loose strand of hair back into the bun at the nape of her neck. “I’d better start taking vitamins or gulping down some Power Red.”

      “You might want to have the doc run a few tests,” Mike commented. “You may have sucked in some fumes.”

      She hadn’t exhibited any of the classic symptoms, like irritation of the eyes or nose, coughing or blood in her sputum. But she couldn’t deny feeling a little out of breath at times. Especially in this heat. And she was too smart to brush off the possibility that she had sucked in some toxic fumes. Back at the office, she made an appointment with her primary care manager at the base hospital.

      * * *

      When she walked up to the entrance of 56th Medical Group’s sand-colored two-story facility the following morning, the sun burned in another blistering blue sky. The fat, prickly pear cactus that stood sentinel beside the hospital’s front door was taking the heat better than Swish was.

      “I don’t understand it,” she told Dr. Bhutti. “I pulled two deployments to Iraq, one to Afghanistan. The heat didn’t bother me half as much at either place.”

      The dark-eyed physician looped her stethoscope around her neck. She and Swish had formed a tight bond at their first meeting, having both served in combat zones.

      “Are you hydrating adequately?”

      “Forty-eight to sixty-four ounces every day, although lately I seem to be more thirsty than usual.”

      “Alcohol СКАЧАТЬ