happy to finally be putting down roots somewhere.”
Oddly, he didn’t respond after getting her answer, his expression strangely serious.
“So.” The awkward silence had her wanting to fill it with more chitchat. “Do you travel a lot for your work?”
“Yes. Various places, but for a marine biologist and climatologist, Antarctica holds the most interesting discoveries. I’ve been here thirteen times.”
“Thirteen times?” Wow, the man was nearly as rootless as her parents. “You come more than once a year?”
“Sometimes. What we’re learning here about the climate changes in the world is invaluable.”
“I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t know exactly what a marine biologist does. Other than study the ocean.”
“We study the ocean floor and gather samples. Collect data on how warming and acidification of the polar waters is affecting all kinds of life, from the smallest plankton to penguins.”
“And climatology?”
“Interconnected, but that involves gathering ice cores aboveground, among other things. I usually focus on either land or sea on each trip. The goal is to gather enough data to make private companies and governments see that significant changes need to happen to slow down the warming of our planet.”
The passion in his eyes was intense, and she wondered how he’d decided to do that kind of research. She opened her mouth to ask more questions when a young man came to stand behind her, and she turned to look at him.
“Excuse me, are you Dr. Flynn?”
“Yes.”
“Captain Stewart told me to load your equipment onto transport carts. Help you get it off the ship and onto the shuttle. It’s ready to go down in the cargo hold as soon as we land.”
She’d hoped there might be a few crew members in the cargo space that would be able to help her pull all the bulky equipment together, but hadn’t counted on it. To hear it was already loaded up was a big, but pleasant, surprise.
“Well, thank you. Should I meet you down there?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be at cargo door three.”
The young man left and she turned back to Zeke. “Wow, that’s a nice surprise. I wasn’t sure how much help I’d have, and there’s a lot of stuff to take. The amount of equipment and supplies they gave me to open up the medical center is crazy. I’ll have to thank Captain Stewart for thinking about it.”
“He’d appreciate that.”
Something about the expression in his eyes and the way he rocked back on his heels with his hands in his pockets struck her as slightly odd, and suddenly she knew why.
“It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one who asked him to help me!”
“No. I asked Captain Stewart to see who might be able to give you a hand.”
“I don’t want to be treated differently from other people just because I’m a woman. It’s my job to—”
“Jordan. There are times to be independent, and times to let people help. And it has nothing to do with you being a woman.” His dark eyes met hers. “I already told you how many times I’ve been down here. If you don’t get your stuff off the boat on the first round, you’ll be waiting for it for another day or two. And since you wouldn’t know that, and you’ll be wanting to get the clinic and hospital set up as soon as possible, I figured I’d grease the wheels a bit so you’ll be ready in case of a medical emergency.”
A confusing mix of frustration and gratitude filled her chest. She did need to get everything set up as soon as possible, both because she had to begin doing baseline physicals on everyone who’d arrived in this first round, and also in case there was an emergency, as he’d said. But it sure seemed like the man was a little controlling.
She drew a deep breath. “I appreciate that, and admit I’ll be glad to have everything at the station. But I would have liked for you to have given me the heads-up so I could be the one asking the crew for help. As the station’s doctor, people need to know I’m fully capable of dealing with whatever I have to deal with here.”
“My apologies for not talking to you first.” He reached out to shake her hand, and even through her glove she could swear she felt the warmth of his hand clear down to her toes. “Good luck with your clinic setup—that’s going to be a big job. Don’t let that independent streak of yours keep you from asking me or someone else for help, okay? See you around.”
She held her now-empty hand in her other one and watched his long legs jog down the metal stairs of the boat, probably going below to the cargo area to get his own things ready.
What was it about the man that had her feeling all wound up? Slightly irritated and ridiculously attracted?
She blew out a breath. There was zero point in being attracted to him. He lived the kind of life she’d left behind. This trip was about caring for patients and testing her parents’ device, right? When the time came that she wanted to become interested in a man, it was going to happen back home in London. Period.
SATISFIED THAT ALL the scuba gear and other diving equipment had been scrutinized, confirmed to be in good working order and organized, Zeke moved on to get the new aquarium room built and everything installed that he and the other marine biologists would need for their samples. He’d never had to do this in Antarctica before. Usually, all the science stations had everything set up already, needing only some adjusting and tweaking.
But Fletcher Station was brand-new, and while starting from scratch would be a lot of work, it gave him a chance to create something better than what someone else had built. He got to work, and hours passed as he carefully set the rock work in place, then got the salt water prepared. Assembled the various hoses, filters and everything else the aquarium needed to support the marine life he’d be bringing here to study. He paused to stretch, pleased to be making good progress on this big job.
“Glad to see you’re halfway done here, so you can’t drag me into doing your work, and mine, too.”
Zeke looked toward the door. Bob Shamansky, who worked for the same Southern California university he did, stood there holding a cardboard box in his arms.
“I’m pretty sure it’s usually the other way around,” Zeke said. “You asking me to bring up who knows what from the seafloor for you to study instead of learning how to dive so you can do it yourself?”
“Why should I learn to dive when I have people like you to do it for me?” Bob grinned as he set the box on one of the long tables lining the outer wall. “Besides, you don’t fool me. Diving is your favorite part of the job.”
“One of my favorites, I admit. You don’t know what you’re missing.”
“I’ll stay in the lab and you macho types can go dive into dark ice-cold water—thanks, anyway.”
