Her Lieutenant Protector. Lara Lacombe

quiet now, but that could change in an instant.

      Mallory gestured for him to lean forward, clearly wanting to keep their conversation private. Everest dipped his head and caught a whiff of her shampoo. It was a light, floral scent that made him think of spring. She tilted her head up to meet his gaze, and he noticed her dark brown irises were shot through with flecks of gold. It was the kind of observation he hadn’t made in a long time, and he shouldn’t have noticed it now. Keep it professional.

      “I’d like to post a guard here, if you don’t mind,” he said. “Just to make sure these two don’t cause any trouble for you or your staff.”

      She nodded. “I appreciate it. The sedative should take effect quickly, but it will be nice to have someone here in case they get agitated again.”

      Everest pulled the walkie-talkie from his belt and called up Wesley, his right-hand man. He relayed the request for a security officer and glanced at the men as he clipped the handset back into place. Jeff was talking to himself, muttering and shaking his head. His friend still had his eyes closed, as if he was afraid to open them. “How long until the drug is out of their system?”

      Mallory lifted one shoulder. “No idea. It depends on how much they took, and that’s not something they’re likely to know. The street pills don’t exactly come with dosage instructions.”

      “You think it was a pill?” Everest knew that ketamine, their drug of choice, could be ingested, injected or inhaled. He hadn’t smelled any smoke on the men, but they may have used a needle.

      “I didn’t see any injection marks on their arms, but they could have used another site. Regardless of how they took it, it might take a while for them to come down. They’re experiencing some pretty powerful hallucinations, so they likely took the drug fairly recently.” She shifted to glance at them, then looked back at Everest. “I want to keep them here for observation until they’re back to normal.”

      Everest frowned at the suggestion. Even though Mallory had displayed a no-nonsense, take-charge attitude, there was something almost fragile about her that made Everest want to shield her from the likes of these two party boys. He knew the likelihood of them causing more trouble was low, especially since he was going to station a guard here. But he just didn’t like the idea of Mallory being around them for long; he’d feel much better if he could transfer them to the room that served as a makeshift jail cell on the ship.

      His reticence must have shown on his face because she let out a small sigh. “This is the best place for them. They’re restrained, and they’re about to be sedated.”

      “I suppose,” Everest said, conceding the point. “But I want you to page me if they so much as look at you funny.”

      She nodded. “Will do. Where are you going?”

      He felt the barest hint of flattery at her interest in his plans but brushed it aside. She probably just wants to know if I’ll be nearby in case there’s any trouble, he told himself. “I’m going up to the bridge to inform the captain of this development,” he said. “And to call the police in Jacksonville so they can take custody of these two when we make port in the morning.”

      Mallory nodded thoughtfully. Jeff chose that moment to let out a yelp, and Everest glanced over in time to see one of the nurses taping the IV in place on his hand. “If it’s all the same to you,” Mallory said, her voice drawing his attention back to her, “I’m not going to tell them what’s in store when we dock in Jacksonville.”

      “Good thinking,” Everest said. He didn’t imagine these two would take kindly to the news their vacation was about to be cut short, and in such dramatic fashion.

      “Thanks for your help,” she said softly.

      His stomach did a little flip, and he shook his head. “I didn’t do much. It was all you.”

      She smiled, and his heart thumped hard against his breastbone. When was the last time he’d noticed a woman’s smile?

      “I’m glad you were here, though. Just in case.” A shadow crossed her eyes, there and gone in a blink. That’s interesting, he thought. Maybe she wasn’t as calm as she’d appeared to be. But was it just the stress of the situation bothering her, or was something else going on?

      “Hey, man,” Jeff called out.

      Everest glanced over and met his eyes. “Are you talking to me?”

      Jeff nodded. “Yeah. Are you the police or something?”

      “Or something,” Everest said easily. “Why?”

      Jeff sat up as much as the restraints would allow, trying to get closer to him. “There’s a problem with my room. You’ve gotta fix it.”

      “Oh?” This ought to be good, Everest thought. What kind of issue had Jeff’s drug-addled brain concocted? “What’s wrong?”

      Jeff met his gaze, his eyes serious even as he struggled to focus. “The body,” he whispered, real fear in his voice. “There’s a body in my room.”

       Chapter 3

      The exam room fell silent in the wake of Jeff’s announcement. After a second, every head in the room swiveled to face Mallory, each person looking to her for guidance. The two nurses wore identical quizzical expressions, clearly wanting to know how they should respond to the patient’s latest delusion. Jeff and his friend looked at her imploringly, wanting her to acknowledge the legitimacy of their claim. And Everest? He looked astounded, confusion and disbelief warring for dominance over his features.

      Under any other circumstances, his expression would make her laugh. Even though she had just met him his morning, Mallory got the impression Everest was a sober, composed man. To see him so flabbergasted now struck her as funny, and she bit her lip to keep from smiling.

      “A body?” she said, keeping her tone neutral. “What kind of body?”

      Jeff frowned at her, apparently taken aback by her question. “A dead body. Is there any other kind?”

      Mallory sighed. “Okay, fair enough. But what type of animal was it?”

      The young man shook his head vigorously, his eyes wide. “Not an animal. A person.” He nearly whispered the last word, as if he was afraid of summoning a ghost.

      Everest shot her a questioning look, and Mallory subtly shook her head. Jeff and his buddy must have gotten their hands on some pretty potent stuff to be experiencing such vivid hallucinations. She might need to up the dose of sedative to get them through the next several hours...

      “Okay,” she said soothingly. “Everest will take care of it.”

      “That’s good,” Jeff said. He rested his head against the pillow, his voice growing dull as the drugs took effect. “Have him patch the walls, too.” He kept talking, but it was the jumbled nonsense of intoxication, a last-ditch effort before he succumbed to sleep.

      Mallory waited until both men were unconscious before she turned to Everest. He regarded her with a bemused expression. “So...” he began. “Is this something I need to take seriously?”

      She shrugged. “I doubt it. I think it’s just another effect of the ketamine—the drug is known for triggering hallucinations, and some of them can be quite disturbing.”

      “That’s true,” he said. “Still, I should probably have one of my men check it out. Just to be on the safe side.”

      It was the responsible thing to do, and Mallory couldn’t help but approve. Most people would have been content to dismiss Jeff’s words as the unhinged ramblings of a man under the influence, but she liked that Everest was going to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s. It was the kind of thing she herself would do, and she appreciated the fact he seemed to share her sense of duty.

      The sick bay door