Danger Deception Devotion The Firsts

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  “Commander, she is disrespectful, flagrantly disobeys orders, and I haven’t hesitated to take her to task. But I can tell you, I’ve never behaved inappropriately with her or any of the female crew on my ship. Let me be candid with you, Commander. My feelings on women in the military are simple. They don’t belong, especially on a navy ship, and this incident with Carruthers only convinces me further. Mixing men and women in close surroundings… you’re asking for trouble.”

  Joe openly groaned at Eric’s blatantly politically incorrect words. He shot him a “What the fuck are you doing?” look as he shook his head.

  Joan didn’t seem offended in the least, and she offered a polite smile. “Captain, I understand your feelings, and I can assure you I will be conducting a thorough and fair investigation. I would actually like to get settled, and if it’s possible, I’d like to speak to Carruthers tonight.” She stood up and lifted her briefcase, tucking the file back in the side. “Captain, it is truly a pleasure to meet you.”

  Eric frowned and watched the woman with curiousity, because she truly sounded as if she were happy to meet him. Joe joined her and opened the door, holding it for her while she left and then giving Eric another one of those looks that said he’d put both his feet in it.

  “You are unbelievable,” Joe said, and he left, directing Joan down the passageway.

  Eric wasn’t about to apologize to anyone for who he was, even though Joe wanted to plant his foot in his backside right about now. But, hell, he was thrown. A woman, they sent a woman to investigate him?

  “Oh, sir, I almost forgot.” Joan popped her head in the door. Joe was right behind her, glaring at Eric with sparks shooting out of his eyes, as if warning him not to say anything else stupid. “I know this is very difficult, but I will keep you informed, sir.” Her reply was courteous and professional, betraying no resentment to the captain.

  Joe then said, “I’ll take you to see Gail Carruthers and then see that you get settled, Commander.”

  “That would be great. Thank you so much.” She grinned at first the captain and then at Joe, and she once again headed down the passageway. Joe let out a sigh and followed.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Joan sat on the dark green sofa in the guest cabin, which had a double bed and separate bath. She flipped through the piles of paper and notes, rereading the scribbled statements from each of the women. She placed them side by side along with her notes from her meeting with Gail last night. Gail had been downright defensive from the moment Joan had walked into her private cabin, which she’d been assigned after filing her grievance.

  She told Joan she had been treated unfairly, but she had also paced and snapped about the guard she was assigned, as if she were the criminal. She said that the guard even refused to leave her alone when she had to use the bathroom, saying it was for her own protection.

  Then she had snapped at Joan and said, “You’re protecting the captain, that man who hates women. Ah, the good ol’ Navy, such a boys’ club. So how long did it take you to find your way in?”

  “Excuse me?” was all Joan could say.

  “Well, I’m a lowly corpsman, an interloper who dared to accuse the renowned Eric Hamilton. I’m just refusing to let him get away with what he did, so now I’m being punished.” She’d paced the small boxlike room like a caged animal.

  “You’re not being punished, and I’d like to hear from you what happened,” Joan asked, digging really deep, trying to find a way to listen.

  “Why? It’s not as if this is really going to see the inside of a courtroom.”

  “Gail, I need to hear from you. Start from the beginning,” Joan directed her.

  Gail refused to look at her and gestured with her hand in the air. “Oh, well, when I walked in--”

  “Wait. I thought you were already in the room and he came in.”

  Gail squeezed her eyes shut. “Yes, yes, what I meant was that I was there when he walked in. He came right up to me, and I was over by the lockers. He leaned back and crossed his arms. He stared down at me and said that if I expected a promotion, I needed to go into the bathroom and let him fuck me.”

  Joan had stared at the girl because she thought that at one point, she sounded awfully calm, and not once would she look Joan in the eye. When she finished, she gave a nervous smile. Joan had scribbled down what she said but had been more interested in how she was reacting.

  Now, this morning, as she compared the filed report from Gail, she noticed some inconsistencies. In her filed allegation, Gail had said the captain had threatened to put her on report. Last night, she had mentioned a promotion. The problem was that this whole thing was far from neat and tidy. The girl could just be overstressed. Being dogged day and night by a guard and isolated on a ship like this would make anyone a little unsteady.

  But there was just something about her. She was by no means good looking: plain, ordinary, with small eyes, a pudgy nose, and thin lips, definitely not the type of girl guys went nuts over. However, when it came to sexual harassment no one was immune. But the captain, he was distinguished. Hell, Joan had been shell shocked when she met him. He was tall, by far one hunkiest and most well-muscled men she had met. She might have compared him to a Greek god, and she just couldn’t see why he would go for Carruthers. It made no sense. Did the man have some hidden perversion?

  But if this was fabricated, why would the girl do it? No, she needed to talk to all the crew, get a feel about the captain and Carruthers, and she needed to talk to the guard who was tailing Gail. Joan glanced at the big black watch on her wrist, which her father had given her when she joined the JAG corps.

  She had treasured it since he died a year later, one week before she won her first case. “Oops,” she muttered and scooted off the bed. Nine hundred hours, and she had a meeting with Joe and the captain.

  She packed up her files, including her notes. She had grabbed a quick bite with the enlisted first thing this morning in the mess hall, joining a table with mixed crew and listening. She hadn’t needed to ask too many questions because all the talk was focused on the captain, how long he’d get in Leavenworth, and when he’d be stripped of his command. One of the men actually spit on his plate when Gail’s name was mentioned, and another called her a skank. Everyone respected the captain, though. The women said he was opinionated, and the men all said there was no chance in hell that he would do something like this.

  One of the files Joan had ordered before she arrived on board slid on the floor as she packed up. She lifted it and quickly fingered through the papers. It was from Gail’s prior postings. What had troubled Joan were the three other accusations of sexual misconduct against Gail’s commanding officers. All of them had been buried, hidden, and never shared with her next posting.

  As she closed up the file and slid it in her briefcase, she realized that if this was another false report, it was going to hurt all the innocent violated women in the military, women who had been abused by their commanding officers. Any good lawyer could say the women in the military were filing these false charges to retaliate for a promotion they did not receive, or for being reprimanded in a way that made them feel slighted. “Not good, not good at all,” she said to herself while shaking her head.

  She clicked the lock on her briefcase and glanced in the mirror one last time. Her dark hair was neatly pinned up. Her blue eyes had a ring of violet around them, and the dark mole on her cheek that had once bothered her growing up now looked like a mere imperfection. Even her dimples, which the men seemed to love, she would trade in a second to be a Cindy Crawford lookalike.

  Joan grabbed her briefcase and headed out the door, her heavy shoes clicking down the passageway as she mentally planned her day. First, she had to meet with the captain and Joe, the good-looking XO—she smiled at that. Then she had to meet Petty Officer Johnson. She remembered an Abby who had been mentioned in the mess hall. Several of the crew whispered that she had been in sickbay when it happened. Joan smiled, because with all the gossip s
he could still pick up from the crew, they were worse than a bunch of women at a tea party. This always made investigations that much easier.

  She almost bumped into the captain when she rounded the corner to the wardroom. “Excuse me, sir.” Then she noticed the tall, dark, and extremely handsome XO behind him. He had the most amazing deep eyes, filled with a passion for life that her heart tripping over itself. She didn’t bother glancing at his ring finger, because sailors never wore rings.

  “Good morning, Commander. I trust you have everything you need,” the captain said.

  “Yes, thank you, Captain.”

  “We missed you at breakfast.” Joe indicated the wardroom they’d just come out of.

  “Ah, yes, well, I thought it would be more productive to breakfast with the enlisted and really get a feel for the ship and the crew. It helps with my investigation.”

  “Ah, yes, your investigation. Well, let’s go to my cabin, then, shall we?” Eric led the way, listening to Joe and the commander chat behind him. She had one of those pleasant voices that he didn’t mind listening to, and she didn’t prattle on and on like some women.

  Up ahead in the passageway, there were two enlisted persons scrubbing a side of the passage that had been clearly marked off. As he stepped closer, he didn’t miss the sway of long blond hair tied in a ponytail and the presence of a protruding belly on one of them. He had to blink a couple times before it sank in. He was standing right beside her, and Abby was scrubbing his floors. He was speechless. She looked up with widened eyes as she wiped a lock of blond hair that had escaped from the elastic holding her hair back. Eric knew no one was talking. He could feel Joe behind him, and he heard the commander gasp.

  “Commander, let’s continue on to the captain’s cabin,” Joe said.

  Eric glanced at Joan’s wide eyes and Joe’s flushed face. Joe gave him another look of “What the fuck?” and gestured with his head at Abby.

  Eric crossed his arms and blew out a couple breaths, then stared back at Abby, who held a scrub brush in one hand and was massaging her lower back with the other. He could feel a twitch in one cheek. It didn’t happen very often, only when his temper was pushed to the point where he was about to lose it.

  It was then that the young man with her leaped up. Seaman Recruit Jeff Taylor stood ramrod straight, his face pasty. Eric ignored the young seaman and let him stand there. He extended his hand to Abby, and she, being the very smart young lady he thought she was, put her hand in his and let him help her up.

  Without releasing her hand, he shot a warning glance at the seaman. “Report to my office in one hour. And you, come with me,” he growled while grasping Abby’s hand, tucking it under his arm and locking it there securely. Abby did not say a word as he took her into the now vacant wardroom and closed the door behind them. He put her in one of the big, comfortable leather chairs and then stood in front of her in a stance he used on deck. Then he leaned over, placing his hands on the chair arms, locking her in the chair. He brought his face within inches of hers.

  “Just what the hell do you think you were doing?” He didn’t yell but ground out each word as if he was chewing on bullets. He didn’t give her a chance to reply. He continued ranting. “For God’s sake, Abby, you’re about to have a baby. What are you doing scrubbing the floor, of all places, on my ship? Every time there is no guard at your door, you sneak out.” His voice became louder and louder, and he was unable to suppress his rage. “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”

  Crossing her arms, glaring, she appeared far from afraid. She watched with a toughness and stubbornness he hadn’t seen before, but he had known it was buried somewhere under all that hurt and subservient brainwashing that had been hammered into her. She said, “I was trying to help you.”

  Pushing up and away from the chair, he ran frustrated fingers through his hair, trying to comprehend what she was saying. “You were trying to help me? How?”

  Taking a deep breath and then smiling weakly, she explained, “I was trying to find out what’s going on, what you weren’t telling me, and I did.” Ungracefully, she managed to get up and out of the chair, then waddled over to him as a gray shadow fell over her face, betraying her frayed emotions. “Why didn’t you tell me that Gail filed charges against you for sexual harassment?”

  Closing his eyes tight, he turned away, shaking his head and feeling his heart rip open, as if a hundred bees had rammed their stingers into his heart. This was it, and he couldn’t bear to see the hate, the disgust that she’d have for him now. For a minute, he wondered what it would be like to slit his wrists and allow all the warm blood to drain out.

  “Eric,” she said softly as she touched the eagle tattoo and then ran her hand up to his shoulder. He slowly turned around and faced her, but he couldn’t look at her because he couldn’t bear to see it. “You don’t honestly believe that I’d think you even capable of something like that. God, how could I? You’re not a monster.”

  “Abby, how do you know I didn’t do it? You don’t know me that well.” His voice sounded odd, even to his own ears.

  “We haven’t known each other long, but I feel it right here.” She motioned with a hand to her heart. “And I’m not blind--I just don’t believe you’re capable of it. You have more honor in you than any man has a right to. You’re honest, maybe a little arrogant, but I’ve never met a man so secure in who he is. I know what a monster is, Eric, and I do know the type of man that could do something like that. And it’s not you. Gail’s not a very nice woman, and she hasn’t behaved honestly.”

  He was touching her face, running both his hands over her cheeks and just holding her so he could look into those heavenly blue eyes that had lassoed him and dumped him right over the side of a cliff. He was a goner. “Oh, Abby, what am I going to do with you?”

  Smiling, she whispered, “I just want to help. I won’t let her hurt you.”

  He couldn’t help it: He leaned down and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead and then rested his forehead against hers. She didn’t flinch but slid her hand up over his shoulder and held him to her.

  He was absolutely hooked to her. She was his. After a few moments, he let out a heavy sigh. “You surprise me, but for now I want you to get some rest. No more wandering my halls and scrubbing my floors.” He walked her back to sickbay, helped her onto the bed, and pulled a blanket over her. “I may not get a chance to come back until later. If the doc says it’s okay I’ll take you up to the bridge and on deck tomorrow.”

  “I would love to see your bridge, where you command everything,” she said. Then she winced, and her hand flew to her back.

  “What’s wrong?” Eric touched her back in the spot where she was digging in with her hand. He used his thumb to massage in circles.

  “Sometimes I think this baby is going to kick its way out of me. Don’t worry, I’m getting used to this.”

  “Let me call the doc and have him check you out.”

  “No! I’m fine, really. It was just a twinge. I have a lot of those lately. Besides, the doctor already told me this is normal at this stage of my pregnancy. I’ll be fine, really. I guess I shouldn’t have scrubbed the floor.”

  Eric shook his head. “Promise me you will stay here.”

  Abby laughed. “I promise. Besides, I’m tired. You’re right; I think I’d like to rest a bit.”

  Eric couldn’t help himself. He leaned down and kissed her cheek, then brushed his thumb over her cheek before he finally he stepped away. “Get some rest, my girl. I’m going to get the doc to come and see you.” With that, he left and closed the door behind him.

  Eric sat behind his desk, reviewing the reports of the day, trying to catch up on the endless paperwork. He couldn’t help smiling as he remembered Abby earlier in the day, on her knees scrubbing the passageway, and the expression on both the commander’s and Joe’s face when he finally joined them in his office. He’d sat back in his chair for a couple minutes and just listened to the two of them banter back and fort
h. They worked well together, and he’d been impressed by Joan’s work ethic. He’d damn near fallen off his chair when she slid two pieces of paper across his desk and used the end of her ballpoint pen to point out the inconsistencies in Gail’s statement. He’d been speechless. Joe had smiled, and when the two of them left, the poor seaman who had let Abby help him in the passageway had been standing out in the hall shaking. Joe had leaned in and mouthed, “Go easy.”

  Eric just waved him away. The poor kid stood ramrod straight, trembling, in front of Eric’s desk. For a moment, Eric worried he was being too hard on the kid, but then someone needed to teach the kid some values when it came to women. He listened when the seaman tried to explain how Abby had just appeared, offering to help. He had refused, of course, but she would not take no for an answer. Instead, she had picked up a scrub brush and just started to clean, and that was when the captain had come along.

  Eric didn’t yell. Standing up, he walked behind the kid and paced behind him. “Son, when you are a man, there are several things you do and don’t do. One of the things you never do is allow a pregnant woman, who’s not even in the Navy, help you scrub the floor,” he said. Then he had dismissed him. For a minute, he had thought the kid was going to burst into tears.

  He knew Abby wouldn’t have taken no for an answer and the poor kid didn’t stand a chance. He just shook his head, smiling. He wondered if he was starting to go soft.

  Stretching, he felt a weariness sink in, then decided he would turn in for the night. Gathering the papers together, he heard a soft knock on the cabin door. Taking a quick glance at his watch, he was shocked to realize it was just after midnight. Annoyed at the late hour, he wondered who would be disturbing him at this time of night. “What?” he barked, clearly annoyed.

  Eric looked up as the door opened, then stopped halfway. Walking around his desk to the door, he could not believe his eyes as he saw Abby clutching the door, hunched over and grasping her belly in obvious pain. Reaching her in a few quick strides, he didn’t need any doctor to tell him she was in active labor. As she struggled for breath, he scooped her up, knocking the door closed with the heel of his boot.