White Dawn: A Military Romantic Suspense Novel by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Doctor…?”
    Garrett let her go. His gaze met hers.
“Now you’re very embarrassed,” he murmured in English, then turned
to face the Insurrecto. “Yes, officer?”
    The man was a mere sergeant. He was
unshaved, overweight and Carmen thought she could smell him from
across the table. She covered her face with one hand, as if she was
dying of embarrassment over having been interrupted kissing in
public.
    “We want your table, doctor. It is the
only one that will seat us all. You can find a private room for
your seduction, instead of sullying the world with your distasteful
conduct.”
    Carmen lowered the coffee cup between
her knees to the floor, then pushed it back under the seat with her
foot, while she hid her face against Garrett’s shoulder, her
humiliation apparently complete.
    Garrett slid along the seat, pulling her
with him. “Of course. Of course. Let me just…” He leaned down and
picked up the medical bag.
    “Show me your bag,” the sergeant
demanded.
    Garrett stood up, his back to Carmen.
She was blocked from sight of all but one of them, standing behind
the others. But he was reading one of the menus, not at all
interested in the little drama happening right in front of him. An
unearthly hush had gripped the rest of the café, though. Carmen
glimpsed white, strained faces and wide eyes as she slid farther
along the seat until she was just behind Garrett and hidden by his
body.
    Garrett put the bag on the table
silently and opened it up so that it gaped, showing all the
contents in one glance.
    The Insurrecto pawed through the bag and
picked up a bottle of tablets and shook it. “What is this?”
    “Antibiotics. For infection.”
    “What sort of infection?” There was an
intensity in the question that made Carmen wonder if the question
was as idle as it seemed.
    “All sorts of infection,” Garrett said
flatly.
    From just beyond the edge of Garrett’s
body, Carmen could see the sergeant’s hand holding the bottle. He
pushed the bottle into his pocket. “Get out of here and take your
whore with you.”
    Garrett picked up her hand, took his bag
with the other and stepped around the Insurrectos, bringing her
with him. It cleared the way for them to slide into the booth,
their rifles clattering unmusically against the table edge.
    With her back to them, Carmen
straightened up, as Garrett paused to drop Vistarian currency in
front of the cash register attendant, then picked up her hand again
and pulled her out of the café.
    She breathed in the air deeply.
Trembling started up, making her breath shake.
    “Ten minutes more,” Garrett told her.
“Then you can fall apart.”
    She nodded. And she was very glad he
didn’t let go of her hand.
* * * * *
    Joshua Benning hugged Nick, thumping him
on the back, while Olivia stood back, trying to put names and
relationships together. No one seemed to mind stepping around the
two men. This was Dulles Airport, after all. Greetings and
farewells were part of the fabric of the building.
    Nick had a convoluted family and she had
not seen him greet anyone other than family with such familiarity.
But with Joshua Benning, he was leaning into the hug, looking at
pleased as Joshua was.
    Then they stepped away from each other
and Nick looked at Olivia and held out his hand. “This is my…uncle.
Or cousin. We haven’t sorted that out yet. Joshua Benning, vice
president of intergovernmental relations at Astra Corp.” He glanced
at Joshua. “Congratulations on the promotion, by the way. And this
Olivia Davenport Castellano, the new Ambassador for Vistaria to the
United States.”
    “Olivia, it is a pleasure to meet you,”
Joshua Benning said, taking her hand in a firm grip. “Are you a
long-lost cousin, too?”
    “An honorary one,” Nick said, “but very
definitely family. Once we win back Vistaria, I’ll explain the
family connection to you.”
    Joshua looked at his watch. “My flight
back to L.A. leaves in two hours. We should find a seat somewhere
and