Point of Departure Page 15

  “Lieutenant Thorson was your next target, and you moved provocatively into his arms and told him you were known as the Ice Queen, right? Didn’t you say that you liked the fact he had a Corvette and Armani suits, and that you liked his style?”

  “Nothing could be further from the truth, Mr. Lewis, and I don’t see how you can stand there and defend such lies.”

  “Will you kindly tell us your side of it?”

  “Lieutenant Thorson reached out and grabbed me as I spun out of Lieutenant Oakley’s grip. He grabbed me and said, ‘Hey, look at this, guys—Ms. Ice Queen has fallen into my arms!’” Callie felt desperate. Her mind spun, looking for options, but there were none. She realized in despair that Ty Ballard could only do so much. For the next hour, she sweated out Lewis’s questions. Finally, he was finished.

  As Callie sat in the chair waiting for Lieutenant Oakley’s counsel, a lieutenant commander, to come and begin cross-examining her, she wanted to run. There was no place to hide. There was no safety in any sense of the word. Trying to gather her strewn composure to deal with the next broadside fusillade to be leveled at her by Oakley’s counsel, Callie wished that 1700 would arrive. That was the time the board would halt questioning, until 0900 the next morning.

  Ty could hardly wait for Commander Newton to close the hearing for the day. Callie sat pale and tense in the chair as the third counsel for the pilots finished questioning her. Her lips were compressed, and her hands remained in a knot on her lap. He could see the sheen of perspiration on her face and felt a mixture of anger and anguish. After everyone came to attention, Ty moved to where Callie sat. He placed his hand on her shoulder to signal that she was to remain sitting until the room emptied. Dr. Johnson also stood quietly beside her.

  When the pilots and their counsels had left, he touched her elbow and met her weary gaze. “Can you stand?”

  Just the touch of Ty’s hand sent a wave of stabilizing strength through her, and she managed a twist of her lips. “I don’t know how—I’ve been shot at and hit so many times, a corpse would feel better than I do.”

  Ty grinned a little, sympathy in his eyes, and helped her stand. He forced himself to release her elbow and she slowly straightened and smoothed her wrinkled skirt. Marlene Johnson gently touched her shoulder.

  “You did beautifully under the circumstances,” she said. “It’s not at all uncommon for counsels to take the position they did with you.”

  “They twisted everything around,” Callie said, holding the psychiatrist’s compassionate gaze. “Everything. It just blew me away. I wasn’t expecting it.”

  “You were expecting them to stay at least within the general realm of the truth,” Ty said. “And frankly, so was I.”

  Dr. Johnson shook her head. “No, that’s not the way it works, Commander Ballard. I tried to warn you about such tactics several days ago when you came to my office.”

  Angry with himself because he hadn’t listened to her he muttered, “I’m sorry I didn’t.” Giving Callie an apologetic look, Ty felt as if he’d abandoned her in some important way.

  “Even if you had believed Dr. Johnson,” Callie said softly, moving and stretching her tense, aching muscles, “it wouldn’t have done any good.”

  “Maybe not,” Ty said unhappily.

  “I think,” Dr. Johnson said, “that what you two need is a good meal in a private, quiet spot. Let down, relax, and then talk about tomorrow’s maneuvers. Commander, it will be up to you to try to force these four pilots into slipping up and mixing their story lines. Somehow, you have to create doubt in the mind of the board, or they will definitely buy their story and Callie’s career will be destroyed.”

  Glumly, Callie agreed. She stood next to Ty, adding her profound thanks to his as Dr. Johnson said good-night and left, agreeing to be back the next morning. The room was barren and silent. Callie glanced up, to find Ty’s face looking set and hard.

  “I feel for you,” she murmured. “This isn’t going to look good for your career, either. Lewis is a pro at this. He’s impressing the board no matter what you try to do.”

  With a nod, Ty touched her elbow. “I don’t regret being your counsel, Callie. I never will. We know the truth, and that’s what matters. Remember, my report is in the board’s hands, too. I saw it happening. They may want to discount your version because you’re a woman, but they can’t as easily discount mine, so don’t give up yet.”

  Callie walked slowly out of the room with him. She desperately wanted to escape the suffocating climate the room symbolized.

  “We’re lucky,” Ty said. “Since this hearing is being held on station, the press can’t get to us.” The passageway was devoid of people, narrow and silent. “Right now we could be swamped with cameras, lights and microphones stuck in our faces.”

  “I guess there is some good news,” Callie said glumly.

  He smiled slightly and pulled her to a halt. Making sure there were no prying eyes, he touched her arm. “I’ll follow you back to your apartment, and I want you to get into some comfortable old clothes.”

  Puzzled, Callie searched his face, which suddenly looked less harsh. Looking into his eyes, which sparkled with intent, she asked, “Why?”

  “Because,” Ty said, “I’m taking you to the ocean, to walk on the beach. We’ll stop at a delicatessen on the way and grab something to eat. A beach picnic. I think that’s what you need, and so do I.”

  Grateful for his care, his insight into her emotional state, which was completely frayed, Callie managed a soft, hesitant smile. “You really are a breed apart from most of these pilots.”

  Relieved that Callie was going along with his impromptu plan, Ty led her out of the Operations building and to the parking lot. Heat rolled in unrelenting waves across the black asphalt, while the sun hung low on the horizon.

  “Don’t judge all pilots by these four,” he warned her. “Most aren’t like Remington. Oh, we may be ignorant about what sexual harassment is really all about, but once we learn what it is, Callie, we aren’t going to continue our practices. Believe me.”

  As Ty opened the door of her car for her, Callie did believe that most of the navy pilots weren’t like Remington; she’d just had the bad luck of getting saddled with him at her job—and stuck in a situation where she had no choice but to fight back. As she leaned against the hot upholstery before starting the engine, she closed her eyes and allowed another layer of tension to dissolve. The ocean. How badly she needed to be there right now. Surprisingly, despite the trauma and tension of the day, Callie was looking forward to sharing it with Ty.

  “I’m so glad you thought of this,” Callie said as she sat cross-legged on a dark blue cotton blanket. Across from her, Ty, dressed in a white polo shirt and tan shorts, lay on his side, propped up on one elbow, eating heartily from the variety of food that sat between them. If possible, he looked even more appealing because he was barefoot, his feet large and wide, dark hair covering his calves and well-formed thighs. A boyish quality had replaced today’s hard, eaglelike demeanor. Callie wondered if this was the real Ty Ballard—the man who seemed at ease next to the ocean enjoying the call of the sea gulls, the crash of the surf and reveling in the aura of peace.

  “I’m glad I thought of it, too. It’s relaxing out here.” And they were alone. Most of the tourists were gone, since the sun was beginning to set. Ty reached for another sweet pickle and crunched it contentedly. The last hour had been bliss, in his opinion, although he didn’t share that thought with Callie. She sat facing the ocean, her legs drawn up. Wearing a loose, sleeveless plaid blouse and a pair of obviously old, tattered slacks that were frayed just below her knees, she presented a picture of tranquility to him. The soft, intermittent sea breeze ruffled her black hair and gave her a childlike look. Nowhere to be found was the navy officer who had graduated from Annapolis, and Ty was stunned by the change that the ocean brought in her.

  Callie nibbled at the beef sandwich on sourdough bread, not really tasting it. She knew she had to eat
to keep up her strength, that “round two” tomorrow morning would continue to shred her good name and career. Ty, on the other hand, was starved, and made no apologies for the fact he’d consumed two huge beef sandwiches, most of the sweet pickles and over half the potato salad. The bottle of wine was half-empty, and Callie picked up her plastic cup and sipped a little more of the rosñae liquid.

  “There’s something healing about the ocean,” she murmured, holding the cup in front of her legs. Resting her chin on her drawn-up knees, Callie added, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could take this feeling that exists here back with us to that hearing? There wouldn’t be any lies, any negativity.”

  Ty sat up and poured more wine into his cup. Callie’s voice was roughened with emotion, with a kind of hope that he knew didn’t exist for her in that hearing room. He ached to reach over and caress her pale cheek, smooth the tautness from her skin and take the darkness from her sad eyes.

  “I know this is going to sound stupid,” he said, holding her gaze, “but while you were being savaged by Lewis, all I wanted to do was jump up, punch the guy out and then make my way down the line, starting with Remington, and beating the hell out of each of them until they told the real truth of what happened.”

  A warmth touched Callie, and she drowned in the dark gray of Ty’s gaze. His voice was low, vibrating with feeling, and it made her feel better. For the hundredth time, Callie wanted to allow Ty to hold her, and yes, to kiss her again. His mouth was wonderfully shaped, the corners turning up a bit, giving him an impish quality. Ty had the ability to laugh, and that was something she felt was important. He also could laugh at himself. His ego was not as inflated as those of other pilots she’d known.

  “The knight riding to rescue the damsel?” she teased.

  “Something like that.” He sighed. “I guess old ways, ingrained habits, die hard, Callie. I found myself angrier than I’ve ever been in there today.”

  “This isn’t a hearing, it’s an inquisition,” she said. “I’m a modern-day witch to be burned at the stake in the name of maintaining male dominance. This isn’t about finding the truth, it’s about covering up so that men don’t have to pay for their behavior. Boys will be boys.”

  “I can’t disagree,” he murmured. “And I’ve got to tell you, I’m ashamed of what’s going on in there. I’m stunned that Remington would lie. That these pilots, who are supposed to be leaders showing the way to our enlisted people, are setting such a bad example.” With a shake of his head, he added, “I just wouldn’t have believed this unless I was there to see it.”

  “I know,” Callie said softly, “that a lot of guys don’t understand what their sexual harassment does to us, Ty. It’s terrible. If they’d just ask one simple question before they did it, I think it would solve a lot of problems.”

  “What question is that?” He took a sip of the wine, noticing how the pale gold of the sunset mirrored Callie’s beauty.

  “Would they say or do the same thing to their sister, their wife or their daughter?”

  “Good point. I see what you mean.”

  “And if they wouldn’t, then they shouldn’t be doing it or saying it at all.”

  Much later, Ty opened the door to her apartment for Callie. He didn’t want to leave, but knew he must. The shadowed look on Callie’s face convinced him she felt similarly. All evening he’d ached to hold her and kiss her. There was no one around the apartment, and Ty reached out and placed his hand on her upper arm.

  “Come here,” he whispered, and gently pulled Callie toward him.

  Her breath hitching, Callie moved into Ty’s embrace. Just the tenderness burning in his eyes made her forget everything—if only for a moment. How badly she had wanted this, wanted him. As he lifted his hand and caressed her cheek, she closed her eyes and pressed against his palm. A sigh escaped her as his arm tightened around her. His body was lean and strong. It was so easy to surrender to Ty’s touch, to his whispered words that spilled out near her ear.

  “I want you,” he rasped, as he felt her arms move around his waist. “Just as day wants night, and the ocean needs the sands to race up on….”

  Callie lifted her head and tilted it upward just in time to feel his mouth mold hotly against her own. The scent of Ty, his maleness, his tenderness as his mouth slid across hers, all combined to loosen her hold on reality. The board hearing no longer existed. Her career hanging in the balance no longer mattered. Just the hungry questing of his mouth against hers, his ragged breathing were important, and need thrummed through her.

  Moments stolen out of time grew molten as she felt his fingers move languidly against her arched spine, and a moan came from deep within her. He was strong, sure, yet sensitive to her as he monitored the amount of pressure he placed against her soft, opened mouth. As the tip of his tongue slid tantalizingly across her lower lip, Callie felt the world start to tilt wildly out of balance. She was no longer thinking. She was just intensely feeling each of his caresses, his hungry, searching kisses and the sensation that she was, indeed, well loved.

  Dazed, Callie pulled away and looked up at Ty’s dark face. Night had fallen and the streetlight to the left made his expression look like that of an eagle that had spotted its prey. But she felt anything but threatened in his arms, beneath his melting kisses and evocative touches. Her body vibrated with heat, color and rampant need. Never had anyone made her feel like this, and she sucked in a ragged breath.

  “Take it easy,” he said thickly, easing Callie into the foyer and nudging the door closed with his heel. Ty didn’t want to let her go. He wanted to love her completely. The luster in Callie’s blue eyes was touched with desire. Her lips were parted, moist and begging to be ravished again. His body throbbed restlessly beneath his steel control, and it took every ounce of Ty’s inner strength not to pick Callie up and carry her to her bedroom.

  The moments glided and dissolved together for Callie as she remained in Ty’s embrace. The gray of his eyes reminded her of a turbulent storm, and she, too, felt chaotic inside, her needs clashing with the pressures closing in around them. Where had the idea of being well loved come from? Tilting her head, she absorbed Ty’s hungry look. Could it be? But how? Callie had no answers, and she felt cheated by time, which wasn’t on their side.

  “I should go,” Ty rasped with a sliver of a one-cornered smile, “but it’s the last thing I want to do, Callie. The last.”

  She nodded faintly. Never had she wanted a man more than him, intuitively realizing that he wasn’t like the men of her past, but very different. “I—I know.”

  “You feel the same way?” He didn’t dare believe Callie felt as deeply for him as he did about her. Yet, as she lifted those thick, black lashes and looked up at him, Ty felt his breath being torn from him.

  “It’s so soon,” she whispered unsteadily. “I mean—” she avoided the burning look in his eyes “—I don’t normally fall like this….”

  Ty’s heart soared and he felt as if his life had finally—after more than a year of penance—been handed back to him. He framed Callie’s face, poignantly aware of the tears in her eyes. “I know you don’t,” he said raggedly. “But I don’t care, sweetheart. I do care for you, for what you want of me. All you have to do is say the word, Callie. I won’t push you. I can’t.” Above all, Ty recognized that something in her past would never allow him to push her beyond the pace she set for them. Grateful that she longed for him as much as he did for her, an odd contentment spread through him. This was the sweetest wait that he would ever undertake. To have Callie come to him, walk into his arms and share herself with him in every way was a dream he’d never dared dream.

  Reaching up, Callie touched Ty’s jaw. She felt the prickly beard beneath her palm and smiled softly. “It’s all so crazy.”

  “Yes, everything is crazy.”

  “Maybe it’s the situation,” Callie ventured as she allowed herself to explore his jaw and cheek. The burning light in Ty’s eyes made her feel bold in a new and exciting way. Eac
h time she caressed his skin, she felt him tremble against her, reminding her of a race horse straining to run.

  Ty shook his head and captured her hand. He kissed it. “The situation brought us together,” he said, “and if anything, I think it’s slowed down what would have happened if things were different.”

  Callie couldn’t argue with Ty’s insight. “From the moment I saw you in the parking lot, I knew I’d be safe,” she admitted. “It was you. The look in your eyes.”

  With a careless smile, Ty said, “Sweetheart, you hit me over the head with your beauty.”

  Callie had never thought of herself as beautiful, but the way Ty said it made her believe he really saw her as that—and more. Heat rushed up her neck and into her face. The smile on Ty’s mouth translated to his eyes and she knew he liked her blush. As if reading her intentions, he slowly released her.

  “Maybe when this board thing is over, we can get on with our lives,” Ty said, hope in his voice. “Would you like that?” Never had he wanted her to say yes more than now.

  Smoothing her hair across her brow, she said, “I think I’d like that.”

  “We need time,” Ty agreed. “And space.”

  Callie understood at that moment just how much the board hearing had impinged upon their burgeoning relationship. “But if it hadn’t happened, we’d never have met.”

  “That’s true,” Ty said. He reached over and gripped her hand. “Try and get a good night’s sleep tonight, all right?”

  Shakily, Callie nodded, unable to slake the hunger that prowled through her for Ty. All she had to do was look at his very male mouth, the way it curved so confidently at the corners, and she went hot with need all over again. “Yes…I’ll try….”

  Chapter Eleven

  “Commander Remington,” Ty began, “would you describe the philosophy you have toward women to the board?” He stood off to one side, his hands behind his back. Remington had just finished telling his version of what had happened, and it was Ty’s turn to cross-examine him. As expected, Remington had lied about everything, turning around what he’d done to Callie to make the board believe she had led him on instead. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Callie sitting against the wall, Dr. Johnson next to her. He was glad they’d had the opportunity to go to the ocean last night, because it had helped shore up Callie emotionally. Ty had wanted to spend longer at the beach, and he’d wanted to become more intimate with her after those burning kisses, but it wasn’t the right time. He’d spent the rest of the night, until about 0300, creating questions designed to show the board Remington’s real attitude toward women.