by Susan Grant
Instinctively, Tee'ah moved closer. "I'm not drunk," she informed him.
"I know."
They continued to walk in awkward silence. "I always hiccup from drinking too fast," she insisted. "Milk, fruit juice, or alcohol."
The ends of his mouth quirked in an almost-smile. "I'll remember that."
Again, he became quiet. It was something else, then, that was bothering him. She gave him an uneasy glance. Tonight he'd demonstrated a disturbing level of knowledge and insight into her people. A shiver skittered down her spine.
If Ian Stone was Ian Hamilton, the Vash heir, as she'd first feared, then she had to find that out before he found out about her. "I know you told me not to ask questions, but when the entire crew knows what is going on except me, it gets a bit frustrating. Surely I've proven my loyalty. I feel I have a right to know more about the man we're following."
"You have, and you do," he replied. Then he lightly took her by the elbow and led her deeper into the forest. "This way," he said softly.
Was he the Vash heir? She found herself wondering. What other explanation could there be? There seemed to be too many coincidences for any other conclusion. And here was her opportunity to find out.
"What were you curious about?" he asked mildly.
She decided to be blunt. "How it is that you, an Earth dweller, are so concerned about the state of the Vash federation?"
Ian tensed, or was she imagining it?
She plunged ahead with her spontaneous interrogation. "You seem to have a good knowledge of galactic politics. That's unusual for a black-market trader, is it not?"
"Not anymore than a whiskey-swigging ex-cargo pilot spouting off entire passages from the Treatise of Trade."
All right, so she'd stupidly revealed her own knowledge of galactic politics. It didn't mean she had to divulge anything else—her real name, her age, where she grew up, who her father was. She loved discussions about politics, and finding out more about Ian was important, but she mustn't let herself become so absorbed that she gave away too much. Hastily, she explained, "My father made sure I received a good religious education."
"Ah." Ian was silent for a few moments before he spoke again. "This hunger for independence on Earth's part bothers me because it's so sudden."
"Odd that your homeworld would just now balk at Vash rule almost seven years after signing the Treatise of Trade," she said.
"And even stranger coming after the selection of that Hamilton guy as the next crown prince," Ian added. He seemed eager to continue the discussion, which was strange if he had something to hide. Perhaps he didn't. Perhaps he wasn't Ian Hamilton, as she'd worried. Perhaps he was only a black market trader without anyone in his crew with whom he could discuss such ideas. That, Tee'ah could relate to. She'd often felt the same—alone in the company of her peers—with her brothers' wives, like a corked bottle.
"I cannot blame your Earth for feeling resentful," she said. "After an entire history celebrating your uniqueness in the universe, you now find yourselves relegated to a somewhat trivial role in an already established civilization, yes?"
"Yes." He cast her an admiring gaze. "I suspect that's the essence of what bothers men like Randall. We're still adjusting and getting used to the idea of being contacted by an extraterrestrial race—even though scientists claim we may all share common ancestry. But casting away all that's been established by the Federation… ?" He took a breath. "It's the wrong solution. And yet if the Vash want to keep the frontier loyal, they'll have to do something about Baresh—and soon."
Tee'ah shook her head. A black-marketeer with a sense of social responsibility was a concept almost as farfetched as the idea of the crown prince wandering about the frontier.
Still, if only more Vash Nadah shared Ian's views, then perhaps the frontier and the Federation wouldn't be teetering at the edge of divorce. Well, either way, she was no longer involved. She might enjoy discussing such problems, but she was no longer a noble who could do much about anything on such a grand scale. She was out for herself.
"When Randall returns to Earth, will we follow him?" she asked hopefully.
Ian ducked as a low flying night mammal whizzed past his head. "I'll follow him across the galaxy if I have to."
"That's a lot of worlds to visit."
His teeth glowed in the feint light. "And a lot of flying, too. You'd better keep working hard or I'll have you replaced."
"Replaced?" She huffed. But his playful smile was contagious. "Is that what you meant when you said I'd pay for making you do the All-folk Chain?"
"I don't think you want to know what I had in mind," he said. A delicious shiver coursed through her. She wondered if he'd meant to use such a suggestive tone. She found herself fervently hoping that he had.
Nervously, she moistened her lower lip. She wanted to place his arms around her, guide his lips to hers. She wanted to feel him inside her body, sharing intimacy as lovers did, something she'd never contemplated with any other man.
"But," he quipped, "your suggestion does have its merits. It'll be in your best interest to behave, as tough as that may be."
"No whiskey?"
"Definitely no whiskey."
She laughed, delighted by the repartee. One minute they were immersed in a deeply philosophical, political discussion, the next they were teasing each other about nothing of consequence. She'd never before met a man with whom she could enjoy both.
"Well." She was dying to know what he'd had in mind regarding her "payment" to him, but she suddenly felt too shy to ask. "You'd be a fool to let me go; you'll never find another like me."
His smile faded, and he slowed to a stop. Gossamer-winged creatures floated in the halo of light at his feet. Quietly, he said, "I'm beginning to think you're right."
They stood there, inches apart in the middle of the damp, hushed woods, their faces shadowed, their breaths puffs of mist. Then he lifted his hand to her cheek, four warm fingertips resting on the sensitive skin under her jaw. Her breath stopped, and her heart thundered so loud that she feared he'd hear it. As his dark, searching eyes held her enthralled, he slid his fingers into her hair.
Then she hiccuped. "Excuse me."
His smile reappeared. His palm stroked over her cheek, no longer the tentative first touch of a lover, but a casually affectionate pat. The fairy-like moths fled into the darkness along with her hopes for a kiss.
"It sure is a cold one tonight," he said lightly. "We'd best get you back to the ship before you catch a chill."
His caress had left her anything but cold. "Sure."
Minus the usual guiding hand on her elbow, he resumed his stride. Practically jogging to keep up with him, she cursed her ineptness. Sweet heaven. She had much to learn in this game of seduction. And one thing was certain. Whatever future steps needed to be taken, it was clear she was going to have to take them first.
Long after he saw Tee to bed and the others had returned from their night out, Ian sat sprawled in the pilot's chair, his legs propped on the navigation console, his fingers laced over his stomach. The ship was dark, and silent but for the hum of normal shipboard equipment. Yet sleep eluded him.
Still dressed in his jeans and flannel shirt, he stared out the viewscreen at the stars. Light years away were his mother and stepfather, to whom he was impatient to relay the news of his recent discoveries. But before he sent an encrypted message back to Sienna, he wanted to learn more about Randall, and now his associate. The senator had very legitimate and understandable concerns—Ian saw that after visiting Baresh—but if Randall and others on Earth didn't grasp the lesson of the galaxy's violent history, the need to stick together, then Ian had better find something else, something tangible, to keep Earth within the Vash fold.
But what?
He closed his eyes, his mind racing.
God, he'd almost kissed her.
He dropped his feet to the floor and sat up, his arms draped over his thighs. He'd known Tee for less than a month and she'd turned him t
o jelly. He knew nothing about her, other than what she wanted him to learn—a fabricated history, he was sure.
What was she hiding from him? And why?
I don’t think you want to know what I had in mind. Had he actually said that to her? Criminey. He dropped his face into his hands. The temptation would pass as long as he didn't act on it.
She would have let you.
He groaned. Then he lifted his head. Starlight soaked the cockpit in an ice-blue glow, an illumination so faint that he almost didn't see the hesitant, wraithlike shadow moving off his left side. Then he inhaled the faint odor of rotten eggs.
He shot straight up in the chair. "How long have you been there?"
"Only a moment." Tee pressed her hand over her chest. "My apologies. I didn't know you were here."
"I couldn't sleep."
"Neither could I."
He rubbed his eyes. "I've been thinking about Randall's associate and how to find out who he—or she—is." That was a partial truth, at least.
"What did you decide?"
"Grüma isn't all that big. We'll look for him the old-fashioned way."
Pensive, Tee walked to the enormous curving viewscreen at the bow of the Sun Devil. She raised her arms above her head and arched her back. "Look at all the stars. Without city lights it's almost as if you can see them all." The sleeves of her nightshirt slipped down her slender arms. On the underside of her right arm something caught the light.
It was a birth-blocker patch! Ian clenched his jaw and looked away.
He'd assumed she was innocent. But of course she wasn't. When he'd found her she'd been living in the frontier. No one here remained innocent for long.
Her obvious and not-unexpected worldliness wasn't what bothered him; it was that she had been made love to by—and would make love to—other men. Men other than him. "Lucky bastards," he muttered in English.
She lowered her arms, smoothing her palms down her sleeves. "Sorry—what was that?"
"Have a seat. We can watch the stars."
"Or we can count them to make us sleepy." She smiled. "We need to get our rest while we can. I suspect that in the coming days there will be much to keep us awake."
Ian contemplated Tee's entirely too-kissable mouth. "Yeah," he said. That was exactly what he was afraid of.
On Padma Eight, Gann followed the leads Lara gave him, observing and often questioning throngs of permanent residents, starpilot students and instructors, as well as traders who arrived daily from the farthest reaches of the frontier. Lara's decision to come to Padma Eight was an excellent one; if the Dar princess was keeping company with an Earth dweller, there were plenty here, risk-loving entre-preneurs taking advantage of the business opportunities the unrestrained frontier offered.
His long hours seemed to suit Lara just fine. Though sociable by nature and upbringing, Gann was willing to leave Miss Sunshine to her eternal brooding. But not tonight. A nagging sense of loneliness combined with the fruitlessness of his mission had left him in need of cheering. His sulky starpilot was going to join him for dinner and conversation, even if it killed her.
He marched into the cockpit, where she was curled up in the pilot's chair, her fingers deftly weaving together a cluster of silver threadlike strands. Her incessant jewelry making. It seemed a frivolous pastime for such a cool, remote woman.
"Dinner's ready," he said.
She glanced up. As always, he saw something intense and unknown flash in her eyes before she blinked it away. It was as if, when surprised, she surfaced from a deep, dark place, a place that he had no desire to frequent if the pain she thought she was hiding was any indication of its nature.
"I already ate," she stated.
"That was lunch. This is dinner."
She returned her concentration to her silver-weaving. "Fraternization isn't covered in my contract."
He snorted.
She tried a different tack. "I'm not hungry."
"Then come; simply sit with me. I could use the company."
"That's what bars are for."
He straightened, spreading one hand over his heart. "I prefer your company any day over what I'd find in a bar."
She lowered her weaving and regarded him with unconvinced fawn-colored eyes. "Then you must frequent some pretty pitiful dives, Mr. Truelenne."
He laughed.
She frowned. "What?"
"You made a joke," he said with a surprising degree of triumph. "At your own expense, but a joke nonetheless. And I'll bet the rest of that bottled-up chat is ready to burst a seam. If for health reasons only, why not share a little of your word stockpile with a lonely spacehand?"
One corner of her mouth quirked, he thought, but he couldn't be certain. His humor always seemed to startle her. It was as if no one had ever dared to tease her.
Maybe no one else had.
To his pleasure, she put away her weaving. "I don't talk much," she admitted in a softer voice.
An insistent yowl interrupted him before he could reply.
"Crat. The ketta-cat." Lara jumped off the chair and scrambled down the gangway to the front hatch, where a thin, scarred ketta-cat waited.
It ran to her, gurgling, rubbing its side against her calves. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, but didn't reach down to stroke the ketta-cat. It mewed loudly.
"I thought I told you to leave," she said, nudging it gently with her leg. "It's been following me all over town. Then today it trailed me here." She spread her hands. "Go. There's no home for you here."
"Let it be," Gann said. "I'll bring out our leftovers later."
"And then it will think it can stay. Good-bye," she told the ketta-cat. But the pitiful creature continued to rub itself around and in between her legs, its fur swishing against the plush sea green fabric of her pants.
Lara stood still, her arms limp at her sides. She appeared utterly baffled by the cat's unconditional love. Gann was equally mystified by her apparent inability to accept affection of any sort. For that his heart went out to her—not in pity, but in stark admiration. To be so emotionally crippled, she must have survived something horrific. But instead of living the rest of her life cowering in the shadows, a victim of circumstance, she'd learned to be a repo pilot and a tracker.
"Dinner's getting cold," he said.
"I'll warm it." She appeared to jump at the chance to avoid the ketta-cat. Without another word, she left Gann and the stray alone on the entry ramp.
The creature watched her go. Then it lifted its mournful silver-green eyes to Gann and mewed.
"Dinner? Sure, why not?" he replied. "You're a lot more talkative than my partner there." He scooped up the ketta-cat with one hand. "Now, how about we go see if any of it rubs off on her?"
When Lara walked out of the galley holding a crock of stew in her hands, Gann was already waiting for her, his booted feet crossed at the ankle, his fingers laced over his stomach. The ketta-cat darted out from under the chair and began rubbing itself against her legs. She set the crock so firmly on the table that he expected the cookware to break. One of Lara's bracelets jarred loose, and he caught it before it rolled off the edge.
He noticed she said nothing about the ketta-cat. She sat and held out her hand. "I'll take the bracelet," she said.
He studied the delicate bauble before giving it back to her. "It's a lovely piece," he admitted. "You're very good."
Her expression vacillated between annoyance and pleasure as she ladled stew into her bowl and then Gann's, belatedly, as if it were an afterthought. "I've woven silver for years."
"You're always wearing different pieces. Where do you keep them all?"
"I don't. I pull them apart and begin again."
"Hmm," he said between bites of stew. "That fits."
She raised a brow. "Is that supposed to mean anything?"
"It fits your personality." He tore off a hunk of bread and used it to soak up broth. "You don't appear to be attached to anyone or anything."
She sputtered. "If thi
s is your idea of conversation, I—"
"Lara." He spread his hands. "I am trying to get to know you, for no reason other than that I want to."
She contemplated him for a long moment, her gaze searching, as if she were truly seeing him for the first time since they'd struck up their odd partnership. Using his heightened instincts, honed from years of training and practice, he sensed the wounded soul within her.
"I don't mind solitude," she said, then went back to eating with pointed concentration.
His ruefulness of late invaded him. "I don't, either. It's why I chose this life. I've long and willingly put my personal wishes aside for my duty. Yet, with each passing year, I become more aware of what I lack in my life."
He noticed that she'd stopped eating. "And what is that?" she almost whispered, searching his face.
"Someone with whom I can bare my soul."
Reflected in her eyes, he saw his own desperate loneliness. He blinked. "No family?" he inquired after several minutes of silence ticked by.
"No."
"Husband?"
She began eating again, in earnest. "No."
"A lover, then?"
Her outraged eyes gave him the answer he wanted. "Ah. Where Eston fit into your life, I wasn't sure, other than that he's responsible for losing your precious ship."
"Don't remind me, Vash." For the first time, he detected a trace of teasing in her tone. Was that the first step in her softening armor? Perhaps it was. And maybe that meant there was more to come. If he could make her laugh, lovemaking couldn't be far behind. He smiled. A night of pleasure would do this woman a world of good.
As only he could give it.
Chapter Twelve
"Now aim like you mean it!" Gredda called to Tee'ah.
Eyes narrowed, arms extended, Tee'ah held her laser pistol in front of her. Frost-covered grass in the field behind the Sun Devil caught the rising sun's first rays, and a breeze numbed her ears and fingers. Concentrating, she waited until threadlike crosshairs centered on her target—a produce box sitting on a tree stump. Then she pressed the trigger. The shrubs behind and several paces to the left of the stump exploded.