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Cal looked down at Sky. Her eyes were tightly shut, her hands knotted against her breasts, her nostrils flared, trying to slow her breathing. He moved his hand over her belly and she opened her eyes, meeting his gaze. “How are you doing?”
“Better,” she managed, trying to stop the fear soaring through her. “I’m so afraid I’ll lose our baby, Cal… After,” and her voice cracked, “after we’ve gone through so much…”
“Hush,” Cal ordered her gruffly, leaning over, kissing her brow and cheek. He could feel her tears on her warm flesh. Inhaling her scent, Cal dragged it into his lungs as if breathing for the first time since her kidnapping. This was his Sky. The wonderful, feminine scent that was only hers. Cal studied her eyes. They were shocky and wild looking, as to be expected. She had had no idea they were coming to rescue her. Moving his hand lightly across her belly, he felt her truly begin to relax beneath his light, tender ministrations. Alex continued to take her blood pressure about every ten minutes. He kept her covered with the dry, warm blanket. Cal could see he was worried. He hoped Sky couldn’t see it. She had closed her eyes, sunken back, utterly exhausted, her lips slightly parted. He knelt there, a thousand questions in his mind. Had Sky been raped? Tortured?
Cal could see bruise marks around her throat. It sent terror through him.
Sky reached out, placing her hand on top of his. “There. Right there. Just keep your hand laying there. It feels so warm. So good.”
Alex nodded to Cal, saying nothing.
“Anything you want,” Cal told her quietly, smiling down into her barely opened eyes. Sky was painfully thin. He’d felt her ribs through her robe when he had been carrying her. She was lighter. Twenty pounds if he was correct. Cal knew Sky’s body. Knew it intimately. He held on to his rage over what Alexandrov had extracted from her. Cal knew something horrible had happened. He just didn’t know what. Now, as they sped toward the GPS coordinates to rendezvous with the incoming Black Hawk, Cal had to shift out of rescue mode and into caring for Sky. She looked worn out, dark smudges beneath her beautiful eyes. Her skin was so tight across the bones of her face, telling Cal about the tension she’d lived under for a month with that bastard, Alexandrov. He tried to not remember what Vlad had done to her. He was the son. This was the father. What had Yerik Alexandrov done to the woman he loved?
Cal knelt there, his hand lightly on her belly, knowing she carried their baby. He was far more comfortable pulling an op, going into a hot firefight, than shifting to face the dark, nightmarish possibilities and the unknown that lay ahead of them. Loving Sky with every breath he took, Cal watched her drift off to sleep after a while. Alex threw him a thumb’s up, happy that she was resting. Her breath had returned to normal. Her hand was over his hand. It felt so damn good. Life affirming. Yet as he glanced over at the medic, Cal saw something he couldn’t interpret in his eyes. Was Alex lying to Sky? Was she miscarrying their baby even now? Had he told Sky everything was all right to try and save the baby inside her that was perilously close to being lost? Cal didn’t know. And he wasn’t about to ask Alex in front of Sky.
His heart ached with dread. With unsureness. Sky was here, with him. But what part of her soul had Alexandrov stolen from her? How much had he taken out of the woman he loved? A sense of helplessness overcame Cal. There was no easy fix for a human who had been traumatically injured emotionally and psychologically. Cal was sure Sky had suffered both. The question now was: how bad was it? How damaged had she become from it? He slowly threaded his fingers through her damp, mussed hair, wanting to soothe her. Cal knew she loved having her scalp massaged by him. It always relaxed her. How could one person’s touch make such a powerful, positive difference in another person’s life? Cal close his eyes for a moment, internally trying to prepare himself for whatever would happen next aboard the Navy carrier floating fifty miles offshore of Costa Rica.
Cal watched Sky carefully once she was taken to the naval dispensary on board the carrier. They placed her in a blue curtained cubical. He remained at her side while Alex waited outside for the doctor. As a combat medic, he had to provide his examination assessment and other information that would be helpful to the physician assigned to her case.
“Doing okay?” Cal asked her, standing near her head, holding her hand. Sky still had her hand over her belly.
“Just… incredibly stressed out… exhausted,” Sky whispered.
“You’re safe now. That’s the biggest step,” Cal murmured, giving her a slight smile. He watched her rally beneath his voice and touch. She loved him and he could see it in her dark, fatigued eyes.
A male doctor stepped into the cubical. He didn’t stop to talk to Alex at all. Scowling, Alex followed the doctor in, moving protectively to Sky’s side opposite of Cal. He automatically placed his hand on her shoulder to keep her calm.
“I’m Dr. Vincent,” the fifty-year old man said. He glanced over at Cal.
“I’m staying. She’s my fiancee,” Cal growled.
Vincent looked over at Alex with a pointed stare.
Alex said, “You need my report on my patient, Doctor. I am the combat medic who cared for her in the field.”
Shrugging, Vincent said, “I’ll take over now. You’re dismissed.”
Cal felt Sky tense. Worse, he saw fear come to her eyes.
“Don’t touch me!” she cried out, shrinking away from the doctor.
Vincent scowled, staring down at her. “Excuse me?”
Cal watched Sky begin to breath unevenly. What the hell was going on here?
Alex lorded over the shorter physician. “Doctor, do you have a WOMAN physician on board this carrier? She is pregnant and has been through a lot. She is in deep shock. I think it best if a woman examines and treat her. Not you. You are a man. And it is men who have hurt her.”
Cal got it. His heart twisted. His gut tightened. My God, had Sky been raped? Men scared her now? Yet, she didn’t withdraw from Alex, who had suddenly become a bristling, snarling guard dog on her behalf. Cal nailed Vincent with a glare. “Get a woman physician in here, now. You’re not laying a hand on her.”
Vincent sniffed and jerked around in a huff, leaving the cubical.
Sky relaxed a little. “Thanks, Alex,” she whispered tiredly. “I-I just don’t want to be poked and prodded by a man.”
“I understand,” Alex said, patting her shoulder gently. “Just rest. We will find a woman on this carrier who will be of help to you.”
Cal sent Alex a silent but grateful look. The medic was damned intuitive. He, on the other hand, was a mass of unraveling emotions and not thinking clearly at all. And Sky was looking more and more distressed. He couldn’t blame her. She’d been through so much. He leaned over, kissing her lips softly. As he raised his head, he rasped, “I’ll get you home just as soon as possible, sweetheart. Just hang in there with me…”
CHAPTER 20
