Navy Grooms, page 37
The passenger door opened, and Catherine slipped inside. She had barely had time to sit down when Royce reached for her chin, directing her mouth to his for a surprisingly brief, but thorough kiss.
“Royce,” she cried, alarmed. “What are you doing?”
“Kissing you.” He took advantage of her open mouth by giving her a fleeting taste of his tongue. Despite the fact there could be several important people watching them who wouldn’t take kindly to this public display of affection between two officers, one subordinate to the other, Catherine found herself drifting toward him.
“Hold on,” he said, shifting gears so hard and fast they ground angrily. The car shot forward. Royce didn’t take her far. Just to the other end of the parking lot where it was dark and private. “There’s no need to be so impatient,” he said, reaching for her even as he spoke. “You’re going to have the opportunity to make love to me every night for the rest of our lives.”
Eleven
“Have you gone out of your mind?” Catherine demanded with a free-flowing happiness that refused to be contained.
Royce eased to a stop at the red light, leaned over and kissed her soundly. Once more he used his tongue to tantalize and tease. His eyes were closed when he pulled away. “I am crazy,” he murmured, unwilling to deny it, “crazy in love with you.”
Catherine felt as though she were in a haze. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Believe it.”
The light changed, but Catherine was convinced that, had it stayed red much longer, Royce would have reached for her a second time.
“Just where are you taking me?” The joy seemed to bubble out of her like fizz from an expensive bottle of champagne. If Royce had claimed he was headed for the moon, she would have held on for the ride.
“My house,” he told her without hesitating.
“Your house,” she repeated slowly.
“Kelly’s going to want to be in on this. If we wait until morning to tell her, she’ll be furious.” Royce’s gaze momentarily drifted away from the road, and his rugged features relaxed into a coaxing smile. “I’m convinced Kelly knew there was going to be something between us even before we did.”
Catherine sighed and rested her head against the hard cushion of Royce’s shoulder. It felt so incredibly good to be with him, so incredibly wonderful. There was nothing in this world to describe it.
A couple of minutes later, Royce eased his Porsche to a stop in his driveway. He turned off the engine and in one smooth movement reached for her. He kissed her hard and fast, and Catherine kissed him back with every ounce of her being.
Royce moaned as he deepened the contact. His tongue dipped to hungrily drink from her love. His hands were in her hair, and when he drew himself away, it was as though he were forcing himself to walk away from the gates of paradise.
“Let’s go inside,” he suggested, as though they’d best do it soon or else pay the piper.
Catherine nodded. At the moment, formulating words was beyond her passion-drugged brain.
The babysitter, a neighborhood teenager, was slouched across the sectional in the family room, watching television and drinking Pepsi. She looked mildly surprised to see Royce home so early. Her gaze left Royce and rested with candid curiosity on Catherine.
“Kelly’s asleep,” the teenager explained, her gaze drifting away from Catherine long enough to speak to Royce.
“Fine, thanks for coming, Cindy,” Royce said, pulling out the money to pay her. He walked her to the door, opening it for her. “Goodbye, now.”
“Bye.” Cindy peeked around the door at Catherine one last time. She raised her hand. “Bye,” she said, directing the comment to her.
“Bye,” Catherine said, raising her fingertips.
Royce eased the door closed and locked it after the teenager. When he turned back, his smile was gone. He murmured something Catherine couldn’t understand. “I apologize for not introducing you, but there’s a very good reason I don’t want Cindy to know who you are.” He rammed all ten fingers through his hair in an exercise of ill-gained patience. “Although heaven knows she’s probably already guessed.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Catherine stepped forward and pressed the tips of her fingers over his mouth. It didn’t take much for her to figure out that Cindy was the daughter of someone who could make trouble for them. “I’m not going to let anything or anyone ruin this night.”
Gripping her by the shoulders, Royce braced his forehead against hers. “Have I told you how much I love you?”
“Yes, but I’d be willing to listen to it again if you’re inclined to tell me.”
“I’m inclined,” he murmured, his mouth brushing hers. “Get ready because it’s going to take me a lifetime to say it properly.”
They kissed again. The moment was gentle and sweet, so sweet that Catherine had trouble believing everything that was happening between them was real.
“I better get Kelly,” Royce said, unwillingly easing himself from her. “While I still have the strength to pull away from you.”
Catherine didn’t know who found it more difficult, Royce or her.
“Wait here,” Royce said, positioning her at the bottom of the carpeted stairs. “I’ll be back in just a moment.” He kissed her once more and raced up the stairs, taking them two and three at a time. Catherine could hear Royce talking to Kelly, but as far as she could tell the conversation was strictly one-sided.
Royce appeared at the top of the stairs a few moments later, a sleeping Kelly draped over his shoulder. The youngster had on her robe, one patterned with the faces of her favorite rock group, and her feet were dangling with hastily donned fuzzy slippers.
“Kelly?” Catherine coaxed softly. “Your father and I have something important to tell you.”
Yawning, the sleepy-eyed girl slowly lifted her head from her father’s shoulder. “Catherine?”
“I told you she was here,” Royce reminded his daughter.
Rubbing her eyes with small fists, Kelly straightened. “But you said Catherine couldn’t come over anymore. I’m not supposed to phone her or even say her name unless you tell me it’s all right first.”
Royce looked downright chagrined. He cast an apologetic glance to Catherine, cleared his throat and explained, “Your name came up far too often.”
“No, it didn’t,” Kelly denied, placing her head back down on Royce’s shoulder as he carried her down the stairs.
“That’s all going to change,” Catherine told the youngster. “Real soon.”
“I asked Catherine if she’d marry me, and she’s agreed,” Royce said. A brilliant smile sat contentedly at the edges of his mouth.
Kelly’s head came off Royce’s shoulder so fast it was downright comical. “You’re going to marry Catherine?” she cried, then squeezed her dad around the neck. Royce’s shining eyes met Catherine’s, and he stuck out his tongue as though he were in danger of being strangled.
“Oh, Catherine, I’m so happy.” Kelly broke away from her father, twisted around and reached for Catherine, squeezing her equally hard. “I can’t believe it! This is the happiest day of my whole, entire life. I’m not dreaming, am I?”
“No, sweetheart,” Royce said, sharing an intimate look with Catherine, “this is very real.” He set a squirming Kelly down on the carpet.
“This is great. This is really great.” Kelly slapped her hands hard against the sides of her legs. “What I want to know is what took you guys so long?”
“Ah...” Catherine hesitated.
“I realize there were a few minor problems, but as far as I could see you both stretched everything way out of proportion. Heaven knows how long it would have taken you to come to your senses if it hadn’t been for me.”
“That’s true,” Royce agreed, looking to Catherine and poignantly rolling his eyes. He moved to her side and slipped his arm around her shoulder with a casual easiness that suggested he’d been doing so for a good long while. “The thing is, sweetheart,” Royce said, his eyes dark and serious, “we’re going to have to keep this a secret. Understand?” The entire wedding would need to be handled discreetly.
Kelly nodded, then pretended to zip her lip closed.
“When?” Kelly demanded.
Royce’s gaze caught Catherine’s. “Soon, I hope.”
“Great. Now, listen, we don’t have a whole lot of time to waste with this.” The ten-year-old stalked into the living room, sat down and crossed her legs. “Well, come here,” she said, gesturing for them to follow her.
Catherine and Royce stared blankly at each other.
“Come here,” Kelly repeated when they hesitated. “We don’t have all night, you know.”
“Exactly what is it you want to talk to us about?” Royce demanded.
“What else is there to discuss?” Kelly cried. “My baby sister!”
“Ah...” Catherine’s gaze darted to Royce, who did a good job of looking as stumped as she. Children. Kelly wanted to discuss enlarging their family when they hadn’t decided on a wedding date. Good heavens, Catherine had yet to figure out how they were going to pull this whole shenanigan off without anyone from the base finding out, and Kelly wanted to discuss a baby sister.
Royce’s arm circled Catherine’s waist as they moved into the formal living room. “What’s the matter, darling, has the cat got your tongue?”
“A baby sister,” Catherine repeated slowly, thoughtfully. She didn’t want to burst Kelly’s bubble, but at the same time the ten-year-old needed to be aware that there were several things to consider before they discussed a pregnancy.
Catherine sat down on the bronze velvet sofa. Royce sat slightly behind her, his arms circling her waist. “I was hoping we could talk about other matters,” Catherine suggested, thinking of a tactful way of changing the subject.
“We could.” Kelly was willing to concede that much. “I can be the flower girl, can’t I?”
“Anything you want.” Catherine hadn’t gotten around to thinking that far ahead, but she certainly didn’t have any objections if that was what Kelly wanted.
“I was thinking pink.”
“Pink?” Royce repeated as though he’d never heard the word before. “Pink what?”
“For the wedding colors, of course.” Kelly tossed him a look that suggested his presence wasn’t at all necessary, at least not right then. “You look real pretty in pink, Catherine, and it’s a nice omen.”
“Omen?” This time it was Catherine who couldn’t find her way around Royce’s fast-talking daughter.
“For my baby sister.”
“Of course, how silly of me.” Catherine was beginning to feel that Kelly wasn’t so much interested in gaining a mother as she was looking for a vehicle to deliver her long-awaited sibling.
“What if we have a son first?” Catherine wanted to know. She should find out these things just in case Kelly intended to boot her out of the family for having delivered something other than the specified request.
Kelly wrinkled her nose as if she found the mere suggestion distasteful. “I suppose a boy would be all right. I’ve heard lots of talk from the girls at school about how dads really like having sons. Personally, I’d much prefer a sister, but I guess this is just one of those things that we’ll leave up to God.”
“I have no idea where she comes up with this stuff,” Royce whispered for Catherine’s benefit.
“Does this mean we’re moving?” Kelly wanted to know next, her look pensive.
Royce went tense behind Catherine. She realized this was the part Royce dreaded most. Bangor was the only Navy base Kelly had ever known, although Royce had been stationed in other Puget Sound bases. Uprooting his daughter had been Royce’s primary concern about the two of them marrying. “More than likely we’ll be moving.”
After having a good deal to say about everything else, Kelly simply nodded.
“Does that bother you?” Catherine asked.
“Not really. Lots of other kids in my school have lived all over the world. Everyone says that if you join the Navy you get shipped everywhere. I think it’s our turn. Actually, when you think about it, it’s time we left Bangor.”
“I don’t know where we’re going yet.”
“But where do you think?” Kelly pressed.
“I’m hoping to be assigned to the Navy station in Bremerton, but we can’t count on that.”
“Really!” Kelly jumped off the couch and clapped her hands. “That’d be great. We could move to Catherine’s apartment and Sambo could sleep with me and it’d hardly be moving at all.”
“But we can’t count on that. Admiral Duffy’s promised to see what he can do.”
“Where else?”
“There’s always a chance I’ll go to Pensacola, Florida.”
Once again Kelly was on her feet clapping wildly. “All right, Disney World here I come.”
“Sweetheart,” Royce said, looking more than a little surprised by his daughter’s reaction to the possibility of moving across the country. “Just remember, I haven’t a clue where we’re headed. So we should be prepared for anything.”
“Does it matter where we move?” Kelly asked with a sanguine smile. “Catherine will be with us.”
“Maybe,” Royce corrected.
Kelly’s bright blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. She set her fists against her hip bones and glared across the room. “Exactly what do you mean by that?”
“First we have to find out where your father’s going to be stationed,” Catherine explained, loving the expressive way Kelly had of letting her feelings be known. “Then I need to request a transfer there myself, or at least to a base close to where your dad’s stationed. We still won’t be able to be in the same command, but—”
“What happens if the Navy decides to send Dad one place and you another?”
It was a distinct possibility, and one Catherine prayed they’d never have to consider.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Royce assured the three of them.
Kelly’s nod was profound. “Good thinking.” She crossed her arms and leaned back against the sofa. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, there are a couple of other things we need to discuss.”
“Is that a fact?” Royce said, but the look he shared with Catherine suggested that he was as much at a loss as she.
Kelly cleared her throat, and her face grew dark and serious. “No hanky-panky.”
“I beg your pardon.” Royce was indignant.
“You heard me.” Kelly’s index finger shot out in a way that would have made teachers across America proud. “Not until you’re married at least. I’m not a little kid anymore,” Kelly informed them with a righteous tilt to her chin. “I know what kind of stuff goes on between men and women. I watch MTV.”
“I don’t believe this is any of your concern, young lady.” Royce was frowning, but Catherine wasn’t entirely sure what was bothering him; the fact Kelly watched racy music videos, or that she was insisting on curtailing their romantic involvement.
“You wouldn’t want to taint my young mind, would you?”
“If I’m going to taint anything, it’ll be your backside,” Royce announced loudly.
The threat was real enough for Kelly to sit on her hands to protect her posterior.
“This is the same kid who was afraid in a power outage,” Catherine whispered to Royce.
“That was a trick.”
“She turned off all the lights herself?”
“No,” Royce said, and shook his head for emphasis. “She called you over knowing I’d be back any minute, thereby forcing the two of us to deal with each other.”
“You always told me it’s impolite to whisper,” Kelly said indignantly from across the room. She stood, yawned once and headed for the stairs. “I’ll be back in just a moment.”
“You’ll be back?” Royce repeated.
“Of course. I’ll need to go with you when you take Catherine home. You don’t honestly expect me to stay here alone, do you?”
“Ah...”
“What’s the matter, love?” Catherine murmured, flexing her long nails against Royce’s arms, which were wrapped securely around her waist. “Has the cat got your tongue?”
“I’ll only be a minute,” Kelly said, rushing up the stairs.
“Which means...” Royce said, drawing Catherine back on to the thick sofa cushions. He felt solid and strong, and just the feel of him was enough to ease the terrible loneliness that had haunted her for nights on end.
Catherine raised her arms to link them around his neck. His eyes were on her. “So much for us being bad.” He lowered his mouth and feasted.
“Ho hum.” Kelly coughed loudly, disrupting them a few minutes later. “Not a good idea,” she announced. “There’s plenty of time for that sort of thing later. Right now we’ve got a wedding to think about.”
“A flower girl,” Royce murmured, slowly untangling his arms from around Catherine. “I have a feeling that by the time this wedding takes place, Kelly may be in a boarding school in Switzerland.”
* * *
The following week was impossible. That was the only way Catherine could think to define it. Knowing Royce was being transferred, but not knowing where made any planning impossible. They couldn’t arrange for a wedding until several factors were figured into the equation. First and foremost they needed to know when Royce would be dispatched. The news of his new duty assignment could come at any moment, and Royce could be ordered to ship out with as little as twenty-four-hours notice and as much as six months.
The restrictions upon them were just as stringent as before. As Kelly had so eloquently put it, no hanky-panky. Catherine would have paid anything just for the opportunity to “be bad” with Royce, but that, too, was prohibited. They’d come too far to risk everything now.
