“Shit,” Dar exhaled.

“Now, Dardar.” Andrew put a hand on her shoulder. “Just you relax, like Steve said, and get you some rest.”

“In here?” Dar eyed the white ceiling. “Not likely.”

Kerry actually smiled. “I never thought I’d be glad to hear you griping,” she admitted. “But I know it means you feel better, so I am glad.”

Dar eyed her. “Easy for you to say. You get to go home,” she grumbled. “I have to stay here and be poked, prodded, messed with, and put up with God knows what.”

Kerry exchanged glances with her in-laws. “Honey, I’m going to go give them your insurance card, okay?” she said diplomatically. “I’ll be right back.” She tweaked Dar’s toe, then left, passing through the divider curtains and letting them fall closed behind her.

DAR CLOSED HER eyes and counted to twenty. Then she counted to twenty again. Then she opened her eyes and found she was still in the hallway, waiting to be shoved into the elevator. She closed her eyes again.

Dar didn’t like frustration. She usually dealt with it in one of two ways: she got rid of it by getting rid of its source, or she went out and did something physical until the feeling of rage faded. At the moment, neither of those two options was available to her.


264 Melissa Good If she was being very honest with herself, it wasn’t the hospital she hated. The gurney started into motion with a jerk, and she opened her eyes to see the walls moving past. It was the lack of personal control over what was going on, and the fact that she was forced to allow strangers to invade her personal space and strip away her dignity.

Not to mention the damn gowns. Dar had let them put one on her, but she’d refused to remove her jeans, even after Dr. Steve had threatened her with a pair of surgical scissors. She still had them on now, providing extra warmth beneath the thin hospital sheet that covered her, smelling of bleach and antiseptic.

The elevator doors closed, and she listened to the nurse’s tuneless whistling as the car lurched into motion. That made her still-aching head hurt more, and she sighed, biting her tongue to keep from snapping at the man. The nausea had faded, and Dr. Steve had firmly strapped down her arm again, making the pain bearable; but the various aches and the aggravation were wearing very hard on her temper.

And Kerry had disappeared. Dar spent a moment glumly wondering if her cranky ill temper had finally pushed one button too many, even with her lover’s usual patience. The thought brought an irrational jolt to her chest as the fatigue wore down her defenses and let her darker insecurities surface.

Fortunately, she didn’t really have time to dwell on it, as the elevator doors opened and her porter pushed her out onto a relatively quiet hospital floor, with shoe-squeakingly clean floors and weave walls the color of road kill. Dar hated it immediately, especially when she was guided into a half-darkened room midway down the corridor.

“Here we are,” the man pushing her announced cheerfully. “Let me just swing you over here, and we’ll get you settled into this nice bed.”

Dar realized she was too tired to even be disgusted. She eyed the bed, then glanced around the room, realizing it was the only bed in it.

Could she have gotten that lucky? She’d been hoping, at the best, for either no room neighbor or a sleeping one. It was a fairly sizable room, too, with a wide bay window and a sort of padded daybed lounger near that, presumably for the patient to relax in.

Hmm. Maybe they were out of double rooms. Well, Dar wasn’t going to argue with that. Sharing the space was one thing she’d been truly dreading. She waited until the rolling bed was even with the stationary one and the nurse had lowered the rails, then before he could grab hold of her, she moved herself from one to the other in a single, fluid motion.

“Hey,” the nurse blurted. “Honey, I was going to help you.”

“I know,” Dar exhaled. “It’s okay.” The effort had exhausted her, and she lay back against the pillows and allowed the nurse to fuss with the blankets.

“Are you one of those really independent people?” The man’s voice was sympathetic. “I’m like that, too.”


Red Sky At Morning 265

Dar glanced at him. “Yeah, I guess I am,” she admitted.

“Well, you just take it easy, okay? They’ll take good care of you up here, even if you don’t want them to,” the nurse chuckled. “The floor nurse will be in soon to take your vitals and get your chart started, and then they’ll bring you up some dinner.” He checked a tag on Dar’s arm.

“They’ll probably want you to take your jeans off, too.”

Dar’s eyebrow edged up.

“Don’t let them intimidate you,” the man whispered, giving her a wink. “Sleep in ’em if you want.” He grinned and patted Dar’s leg, then made his way out of the room.

Hmm. Dar had to smile, just a little. Then she sighed and let her head fall back, her mind turning over vague worries and more concrete ones, like what the hell they were going to do with her shoulder. Her head turned, and she peered at her own arm in worried annoyance.

Then she looked around the room, which was depressing and silent.

Surprising how alone you can feel inside a busy place like a hospital. Dar closed her eyes and allowed herself a moment of shockingly pungent self-pity. She really didn’t want to be here.

She just wanted to go home.

KERRY PAUSED IN the doorway for a moment, watching the quiet figure lying on the bed. There was something so vulnerable about Dar, she almost didn’t want to walk in, for fear of startling her lover too badly. She took a breath, hesitating before she called out. “Hey.”

Dar’s head came up and she looked around, their eyes meeting with an almost palpable intensity. “Hey.” Dar managed a smile.

“Thought you went on home.”

Kerry walked over to the bed. “You thought wrong.” She eased the bag on her shoulder off and let it drop to the ground. “I’m not going anywhere.” She leaned on the railing, absorbing the look on Dar’s face.

“I’m staying right here with you.”

Dar felt a little ashamed. “Hey, you don’t have to do that,” she replied. “Not that I don’t appreciate the thought, but you need to go get some rest yourself.”

“No.” Kerry spoke the truth she felt in her heart and saw in Dar’s eyes. “Mom and Dad are going to stay at our place and keep Chino company.” She took Dar’s hand. “This is where I want to be, and you’re not convincing me otherwise, so just forget it.”

Dar’s eyes dropped to the blanket, then lifted again, filled with simple, yet poignant gratitude. “Thanks,” she said, softly. “I’m feeling pretty ragged right now.”

“I know,” Kerry replied. “Dr. Steve said some of that is from your concussion, and he knows you must be hurting a lot, but they can’t give you much for the pain because of your head.”

Dar nodded. “I figured that out.” She glanced around the room. “At 266 Melissa Good least it’s quiet in here, hmm?”

Kerry also looked around. “Yeah, not bad.” She nodded at the window. “Nice view.”

Dar studied her profile, seeing the slight tensing of the muscles on either side of Kerry’s mouth. “Did you arrange for this?”

Now the green eyes drifted around and met hers, and the hidden smile emerged fully, making those eyes twinkle. “Yes, I did,” Kerry replied. “And you’re in no condition to argue with me about it.”

Despite the aches and the pains and the aggravation, Dar suddenly felt much better. “You know something?”

“Hmm?” A blonde eyebrow raised in question.

“You’re better than ice cream.”

The smile turned into a broad grin, which wrinkled Kerry’s nose up and transformed her entire face. “There goes my life’s goal...now what do I do?” she laughed. “C’mon, tiger. Let’s get those jeans off. I brought your travel bag in, and it has real pajamas in it.”

Dar relaxed and accepted her fate. “Oho,” she remarked wryly.

“Now I know why you arranged for a private room.”

“Absolutely.” Kerry agreed with the banter. “You’re helpless and alone in my clutches here, and I can do whatever I want to you.” She removed one of Dar’s socks and tickled the bottom of her foot. “I am in total control.”

Dar snickered. “You know, Ker, that would be more effective if you didn’t have that cute little nose.”

A sigh. “I’d never be cast as a domineering world conqueror, huh?”

“No.” Dar muffled a laugh.

“Guess I’ll have to just make the best of it.” Kerry leaned over and bit her on the toe.

“Ooh.” Dar jumped, allowing herself to be absorbed into the play and forgetting for the time being where she was, and how she felt.

Which is exactly what Kerry intended.

THEY HEARD THE rumble of the dining cart long before it screeched to a halt somewhere near their door. Kerry glanced up from her laptop—which was open on, of all places, her lap—then set the machine aside and got up from the low couch.

After she’d changed into pajamas, Dar had dozed off, finally succumbing to the events of the day, leaving Kerry to work on sorting and organizing the data from the base. She was glad her lover had gotten some rest; the dark circles apparent under her very blue eyes had started to be worrisome, and she debated waking Dar up for the dinner she knew was on the way.

Dar forestalled her decision by stirring, and Kerry quickly crossed over to put a hand on her arm as her eyes blinked open and she looked around disorientedly. “Hey, it’s okay,” Kerry reassured her. “You just Red Sky At Morning 267

took a nap.”