Sea Strike

51

There was only a single occupant in the wardroom. Christine Rendino was stretched out comfortably on the couch; her deck shoes were kicked off and she was reading a thick, garishly covered paperback.

Amanda smiled. Chris would be good company just now.

“How’s the book?”

“Pretty good. The Lady Morwena is in just one hell of a mess. Lord Dalton, her dishy but distant fiance, is off putting down the Jacobite rebellion. She’s falling seriously in lust with Ian, the new head groom, and her evil uncle, the Baron Fitzhurbert, has convinced the local villagers that she’s a werewolf.”

“That sounds like quite a yarn,” Amanda replied. “I might want to borrow it.”

“You’re welcome. Just give me another day, or so, on it.”

“It’ll have to be after the operation, then.”

Christine had stopped reading and had come up on one elbow. “Anything new on the op?”

“Not particularly.” Amanda dropped down on the couch at Christine’s feet. “We’re getting updates from Seventh’s planning staff, but they seem to be pretty much following our outline. It’s out of our hands now.”

“At least until the shooting starts.”

“There will be that.” Amanda kicked off her own shoes and leaned back, closing her eyes.

Christine studied Amanda for a moment, then carefully marked her place in her book with a folded page corner.

Tossing the paperback onto the end table at the head of the couch, she returned her attention to her commanding officer and friend.

“Hey, Boss Ma’am, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“How long have you and Arkady been lovers?”

That brought Amanda’s eyes open again.

“How long have you known?”

“Well, I didn’t know for sure until just now.”

“Damn!”

“Oh, take it easy.” Christine sat up and swung her feet down onto the deck. “It’s not as if I’m going to be taking out ads or anything.”

“I know, I know,” Amanda said, rubbing her temples.

“This was bound to happen sooner or later. Who else knows?”

“I doubt anyone. You make a pretty good bedroom commando, Skipper. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“I’m serious, Chris. How obvious have we been?”

“You haven’t been obvious at all. Like I said, I don’t think anyone else knows. And if it weren’t for the fact that I’m an instinctive snoop, I probably wouldn’t have noticed anything either.”

“How did you figure it out?”

“A lot of little things,” Christine replied, sitting back onto the couch. “Like, for one, you aren’t a nun.”

“What does that mean?” Amanda demanded, settling on the couch arm.

“It means that ever since we got back to Pearl, you haven’t been spending time with any of your old and available male acquaintances. And when you have gone out of an evening, you’ve been butter-won’t-melt-in-your-mouth cryptic about it.

“Same thing with our Mr. Arkady. Big rep as a lady’s man, and yet, to the public eye, he hasn’t been doing any action either.”

Christine shrugged her slim shoulders. “Heck, I’ll play truth or dare, and even admit that I was tempted to try and toss a line in that particular pool myself. Never even got a nibble, though. For the sake of my own ego, I have to think that he’s either gay or he’s playing cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die with somebody pretty special.”

“How did you tie us together?”

“Mmmm, that sounds like fun.”

“Chris!”

“You guys were careful to never let yourselves be seen together, but you let yourselves not be seen together as well. First at Norfolk, and then back in Hawaii, the two of you developed a tendency to drop out of sight at the same time. You’ll need to watch that.”

“But there hasn’t been anything aboard ship?”

“Well, just a couple of things. But that’s only because I knew what I was looking for. You two tend to gravitate together in quiet little corners now and again. And a couple of times of late I have seen you exchanging glances that damn near make the air crackle. Jeez, I wish I could be a little fly on the bedroom wall when the two of you get back into port.”

“Chris. Damn it all! This is serious.” Amanda stood up again, trying to pace off her growing agitation. “Do you have any idea how much trouble I can get Arkady and myself in over this?”

“Oh, theoretically, a nice big blot on your copybooks,” the blond Intel replied, her chin cupped in the palm of her hand. “Stern warnings to both of you guys from the Powers That Be. Conceivably, even the loss of your ship. And your point?”

“The point is that I shouldn’t have let this happen. This affair is my responsibility, mine and Arkady’s, but primarily mine. I should have been strong enough to walk away from it. But I didn’t want to.”

“Oh, good grief.” Christine sprawled back on the couch. “Do you guys think that you are the only couple going at it hot and heavy aboard this ship? Do you know why that exercise mat happens to be stored down in the number-four ventilator room? Or what it means when a towel’s hung on the outside door handle of the Enlisted Women’s Showers? Men plus women equals sex. It happens. Get over it!”

“I can’t just ‘over it,’ Chris. And I am not just another member of this crew. I’m the captain of this ship.”

“And that means that you’re supposed be something other than a human being? Well, guess fuckin’ what!”

“I know. I know! This job would be a lot easier if I wasn’t so damned human.” Amanda dropped onto the couch beside her friend. The two women sat in silence for a moment, then Christine sighed and rested her hand on Amanda’s.

“Look, can you tell me one time when your relationship with Arkady has affected your judgment, or made you alter a command decision, or made you do anything that could have adversely affected the operation of this ship or the accomplishment of its missions? God’s honest now.”

Amanda smiled wryly. “Well, I can’t actually put my finger on anything specific. But I will say that I’ve had to do some heavy thinking at times.”

“Thinking doesn’t count. Now, how many times recently has it been easier for you to keep going because you’ve had a shoulder to lean your head on?”

“A number.”

Christine shrugged. “Hey-ho. There you go. Nature abhors a vacuum, and you’ve been walking around with a big empty space inside you for a long time. Filling it up doesn’t make you any weaker. Just the opposite.”

Amanda closed her eyes and let her head sink back. “Maybe not, Chris. I just wish that I knew where this was all taking me.”

“You’re just going to have to live it out and see.”