Point of Departure by Lindsay McKenna

Author:Lindsay McKenna [McKenna, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781460334331
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-09-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Ty slowly removed his hand from Callie’s, all the while holding her unsteady gaze. She was nervous. Terribly nervous. And the pain in her tone made him wince inwardly. Taking a breath, he decided to broach the topic. Callie trusted him, he hoped, enough to level with him. The fact that she’d entrusted her beautiful photos, expressions of her most intimate self with him was the sign he’d needed.

“Look,” he began heavily, “I get the feeling there’s something tragic in your background, Callie.” He pointed to the reports. “If it has any bearing on this hearing, we need to discuss it.”

Callie sat very still, her heart plummeting with fear—and shame. Under no circumstances could Ty learn of the humiliation that had been done to her at Annapolis. “No,” she whispered, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Remaining very calm and trying not to overreact to her decision, he said, “If it has anything to do with what’s happened, Callie, I should know about it. Don’t you think?”

The pain tearing through Callie’s gut almost made her bend over. She wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach and refused to look at Ty. The tenor of his voice was kind and searching, and she knew that he was trying to be sensitive to her needs.

“I…no, I just can’t, Ty. Please, don’t press this issue.” She glanced apprehensively up at him, to see his face set and grim. “Let’s just stick to this incident. It’s enough.” Her voice cracked with sudden emotion. “It’s more than enough for me to handle.”

Searching her shadowed blue eyes, Ty sensed her pain as if it were tangible. Mentally, he went back to Callie’s precious photos, the statement of her as a human being, and as a woman. The photos were about nature, about children and mothers. He hadn’t seen a photo of a male, adult or child. Looking deeply into her eyes, he tried to ferret out why. There was such fear in her face that he didn’t know what to do or say.

Rubbing his jaw, rough with beard this late in the evening, he muttered, “You know that the defense will bring up your Annapolis record. Nothing is sacred in this hearing, Callie. If there’s anything in your background that they can use against you, they’ll do it.”

“I have no doubt,” she retorted, obviously rattled. “But you see, my record is spotless. I was a 4.0 for four years. I graduated fourth out of my entire class. They won’t find anything to hang me with if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Ty cocked his head, hearing the tightly held anger laced with a brittleness that made him sense she was very close to breaking into tears. “Okay,” he whispered and held up his hand in a sign of peace. “I’ll back off.” For now.

Relief, sharp and dizzying, cut through Callie. Rubbing her brow, she forced back the tears that clogged her throat. Shame moved through her, and she found herself trapped in the past. The photos had stirred memories, too.

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