On Fire. Lindsay McKenna

sleep in here. And yeah, I can use some bottles of water if you got some handy.” He noticed the name on the nurse’s lapel was Gardner, E.

      “Great! I’ll be right back. If you need anything, just press this buzzer right here?” She walked over and showed it to him, the device clipped on the edge of Khat’s pillow.

      “Water will do,” he said stiffly. All he wanted was to be left alone with Khat. He was sure even in an unconscious state, she hated the sounds of all the beeps of the monitors in the room. He watched Gardner’s look of relief he wasn’t going to rip her head off. SEALs had a very dark name in the world. You simply didn’t mess with them, their team or their loved ones. Nurse Gardner had reason to be jumpy around him.

      He lowered the railing on the bed and sat close, encasing Khat’s hand in his.

      Gardner came back, giving him a warm smile. She set the bottle of water on the tray table.

      “Is this dry ice they’re packing her with?” he asked, pointing to Khat’s neck.

      “Yes, dry ice. It’s wrapped so that it won’t freeze her skin,” Gardner said. “It’s to cool the blood going to and from her brain. When we first brought her in, her temp was 105 degrees fahrenheit. Now—” she pointed to the monitor “—it’s 104, so that’s hopeful.”

      Mike wiped his eyes. “When will her fever break?”

      Gardner said, “No one know for sure, Petty Officer.”

      “She’s sweating heavily,” Mike noted.

      “That’s the fever,” the nurse explained gently. She went over and checked the two IVs, one in each of Khat’s arms. “She was really lucky to get Dr. Mason. He’s one of our best surgeons.”

      Nodding, Mike said, “Any chance of dimming the lights in here? They’re damn bright.”

      “Of course.” She showed him where the dimmer switch was located.

      “Thanks,” he said gruffly, dismissing her. Gardner smiled nervously and quickly left.

      Mike looked at Khat’s relaxed face, her lips slightly parted. Her red hair was in tangles. He found himself threading his fingers through that clean mass, taming it slowly into place around her face and shoulders. Exhaustion weighed down on him. He hadn’t slept in nearly forty-eight hours. Pulling the chair up next to the bed, he laid his head on his arms, his one hand holding Khat’s limp, sweaty fingers. Like all SEALs, he’d learned a long time ago to drop off to sleep in a split second.

      * * *

      NURSE EILEEN GARDNER watched the SEAL go to sleep. Her supervisor, nurse Celeste Rogers, stopped and looked at the computer that showed Khat’s bodily function recordings. “She’s improving a little.”

      Eileen sighed. “You can see why. That SEAL is a total piece of eye candy, with or without a beard and that long hair of his.”

      Celeste laughed softly. “Careful, Gardner. He seems nice because you’re giving him what he needs for his lady. The moment something goes wrong, he’ll be climbing our asses so fast it will take your breath away.”

      Looking up, Eileen said, “No way.”

      “Way.” Celeste was forty-five years old, an Army major, and she’d worked with all the black ops groups. “You can’t tame a tiger, or in this case, since we’re here in Afghanistan, a snow leopard.” Her mouth curved ruefully. “I was married to a SEAL once.”

      “Really?”

      “Not for long,” Celeste drawled, sitting on the counter, pushing her dark brown hair back behind her shoulders with her fingers. “Those guys are big-time protectors of the ones they love.” She shrugged. “I found it suffocating. He was ready to defend me at every turn, and I really didn’t want my husband fighting my battles. I can fight my own.”

      “He’s sure all of that,” Eileen agreed, resting her chin in her palm, curiously watching the SEAL.

      “He’s a first class petty officer,” Celeste warned, her voice going deeper. “That means Tarik’s been around the block more than a few times. So, don’t back up on him. This guy knows how to pull rate, rank and anything else if he needs too in order to manipulate the medical and military system to get what he wants for his woman.”

      “But, he’s enlisted!” Eileen protested. “We’re officers.”

      “Yeah,” Celeste said, grinning, “SEALs don’t much notice the difference between officers and enlisted personnel. He won’t follow your orders, so don’t expect it. The best way to work with this guy is to explain what you’re doing and why. It will go a long way toward neutrality between him, his woman and us, okay?”

      Raising her brows, Eileen murmured, “Okay.” She watched Celeste walk away to check the other ICU unit computers on the patients they watched over. Sighing, she wished she’d meet a guy like Tarik. The man was absolutely devoted to the red-haired woman—who Eileen didn’t think would make it. All the nurses, with the exception of Celeste, had quietly bet that Khatereh Shinwari would be dead inside twenty-four hours after the operation. Finding that sad, Eileen felt sorry for the SEAL who obviously loved that woman with a fierceness she’d never seen between any man and woman in her life. It was so tragic...

       Chapter Two

      WHEN MIKE WOKE UP, his spine was stiff from laying his head on the side of the bed all night. Lifting his head, he saw Khat was still unconscious. He looked across the bed at the monitors and saw her fever remained at 104. She was still fighting infection. He opened his hand where he’d held her hand all night. Throwing off the deep drowsiness, he glanced at his watch. It was 0800.

      The door opened and closed.

      “How are you feeling this morning, Petty Officer Tarik?” the nurse asked, going to change out the IV bags on the other side of the bed for Khat.

      Sitting up, he rumbled, “I’ve slept in worse places.” He watched the nurse for a moment, seeing that she was the supervisor. “How is Khat doing?” He stood up, stretching fitfully, moving his hand down Khat’s damp arm.

      “The good news is her temp hasn’t climbed,” Celeste explained. “I’m not a doctor so I can’t say more than that.”

      Mike rubbed his eyes and studied her in the silence. “Well, this is just between you and me. What else?”

      Celeste smiled a little as she gently lifted Khat’s head and neck, removing the ice pack and replacing it with a new one. “I personally think your lady has the heart of lion. I think her heart will beat back that infection. You just stay with her because her vitals are much improved over yesterday. She knows you’re here, even if she’s unconscious and caught up in the fever combined with the shock of surgery.”

      Mike gave her a grateful look, feeling a powerful surge of hope in his chest. “Thank you,” he said, his voice suddenly thick with emotion.

      “I’ve seen a lot of patients in ICU,” Celeste told him quietly, positioning the dry ice on either side of Khat’s slender neck. “Your lady has red hair for a reason.” She grinned. “She’s a fighter.”

      Mike pushed his fingers across his brow. “You don’t know the half of it.”

      “Don’t need to. It’s just a feeling around her that I picked up on.” Celeste touched Khat’s other hand and gave it a little squeeze. “I’ve found in the twenty-some years I’ve been a nurse that the single most important thing to a patient pulling through is love.” She held his moist stare. “And touch. So, keep doing what you’re doing, Petty Officer? Remain, as much as you can, at her side.”

      Chest tight, Mike was so damn close to crying that it was embarrassing. Choking back a sob lodged in his throat,