Oh great, now she was trying to panic herself.
She pulled out a dress-bag from the very back of the closet, trying to remember what it might be. Maybe a glorious dress she'd forgotten she'd bought in the distant past.
As she came out of the closet Tish appeared at the bedroom door with an odd expression on her face. Rachel dropped the dress bag on the bed and grabbed her robe. "What is it? Is it an emergency?"
"I don't know. It might be." Tish stopped, grimacing. "You've been invaded."
"Invaded?"
"Never fear, your club is here!" Velda announced, appearing behind Tish with a dark long bag held over her arm.
Rachel cinched up her robe as Tish moved out of the way to keep from getting run over by Eddie and Daisy joining the crowd into the bedroom.
The three ladies stood at one side of her bed, regarding the dresses displayed there shaking their heads sadly.
Eddie said, "These won't do."
"I'm still deciding," Rachel said, smoothing out the dress bag and trying to find how to open it. "This area is restricted, you know."
"Oh, we know," Velda said, hanging up the black dress-bag from a doorjamb. "We stopped Arthur on the way here. As if we could be a security threat."
"Except when it comes to getting killer deals at rummage sales," Daisy said with a smug smile. "Just wait until you see what we found."
Rachel's heart sunk as Eddie added, "Daisy is the queen of deals!"
"And, it appears you needed our help anyway," Daisy said, picking up both dresses and returning them to the closet.
"I don't need all this help," Rachel said as she was pushed away from the closet. "I doubt he's taking me anywhere formal."
"Good guess. We looked up your date," Velda said, unzipping the bag. "Quite the reputation he has."
"Sam was impressed," Daisy said. "Turns out the two have worked together before."
"Your husband is interested in newts?" Rachel asked.
"No, the Ring Five Formal Gardens, silly. The garden has lizards, too," Daisy said, pushing her to the bed and making her sit down. "He has a very good reputation on board the station. Very helpful and caring."
"Now, time for the big reveal," Velda said from the doorway where the dress bag hung. "Be ready for the dress of your dreams."
Rachel remained frozen to the spot, waiting for the dress to come out and attack her with whatever venom it might have, with the pain of the attack to be soothed by the happy smiles of her friends. The dress was sure to be something like Velda's classy but loud getups, or Eddie's layered ensembles, or Daisy's bright and gay whimsical creations. All very nice, so long as they wore the clothes and didn't insist Rachel joined in.
Oh, her dear misguided friends.
A flash of deep gold appeared at the top of the dress bag. Velda reached inside and pulled out a simple deep gold dress with a wide waist and flaring skirt, tastefully edged with gold and red rhinestones along the upper bodice. The color was perfect. The entire dress was perfect.
"Elegant with a touch of formal, but subdued enough for any occasion," Daisy said, smoothing out the skirt.
"Wow," Tish said from her corner of the bedroom. "You found this at a rummage sale?"
"Bevel silk," Daisy said. "I think your Ignacio will appreciate the nice touch. What do you think?"
"Wow," Rachel echoed, not knowing what else to say.
The dress looked fabulous on the hanger, and just as fabulous on her. How did Daisy manage to find such a great dress and in her size, all in the same week of her date? Sometimes the abilities of the other Naughty Knitters amazed her.
The one bathroom in her small apartment somehow fit four at a time as the ladies moved on to the hair. Tish stayed out of the way, instead becoming the beverage girl and offering opinions. Where before Rachel had been worried about being late, she instead ended up ready right on time.
"No dallying. Get going, he'll be waiting," Eddie said, putting a lacy knitted shawl over her shoulders.
"Of course we expect all the details later," Velda said with an evil grin.
"There will be no juicy details," Rachel said as the women pushed her towards the door.
"There should be. Live a little," Velda said, putting her hands on her hips. "I mean it."
"Go get him," Tish said, her eyes dancing. "Don't get into too much trouble with the newts."
Newts. Colorful, ruffled, frilled, long and short newts. Including one that liked getting into her pipes.
Which hadn't happened in all the time she'd been waiting for this date. So nice to meet a man who kept his promises.
Still, she found herself nervous as she came to stand outside his door. Only five minutes early, but she considered waiting the extra few minutes to be right on time. Yet, as the seconds ticked by her apprehension began to mount.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door chime. Time for this date to start, for better or for worse.
The seconds ticked by while she waited for the door to open. When it did, it didn't reveal a man in a long apron with hair sticking out in all directions like last time.
Ignacio wore a simple casual dark blue suit with a white shirt and simple tie with polished shoes and shiny black hair neatly combed back away from a high forehead. Not a speck of dirt marred the sharp planes of his face. He smelled fantastic.
She'd met a comfortable curmudgeon in an apron before. Tonight she was with a devastatingly handsome man she might have to beat women away from with a big stick.
She cleared her voice, managing to say, "Good evening."
"Good evening." His eyes roved along her body, growing bright as they took in the dress. "You look lovely."
"Thank you. You aren't so bad yourself." He was more than fine, in fact. Rachel adjusted the shawl. "So, what did you have in mind for tonight?"
Rachel expected a nice restaurant, perhaps a hole-in-the-wall he liked to frequent. Perhaps one of the bigger reservation-only restaurants in the entertainment sector as a way to impress her.
Finding herself on a blanket in the middle of an exotic-animal reserve for a night picnic would have never occurred to her.
"Interesting location," Rachel remarked as Ignacio started laying out the contents of a picnic basket along the edge of the blanket. An artificial moon reflected off the lake on the other side of a wide walking path. From the trees around them came the muffled and subdued sounds of the creatures who inhabited the night.
"I work with the managers," he said with a grin. "Would you prefer dinner by candlelight in a place where they serve snacks for dinner?"
She laughed. "No way. I prefer a bit of substance to my meals."
"Good. I prefer a woman who likes to eat." He set a covered plate in front of her, taking the cover off to reveal a sauteed mix of fish and vegetables over a bed of flaky rice.
The aroma floating up to her nose smelled amazing. Rachel needed no invitation to start attacking it. After a long hard day with few breaks, and a pitiful excuse of a lunch, it tasted delicious. She felt so much better with a little food in her, easing the edges of her nervousness.
Only when she'd consumed half the contents of the plate did she notice he'd laid down a flaky roll in front of her. He laughed when she picked it up to help finish off the meal.
"Enjoying the food?" He asked.
"Please tell me you didn't cook this," she said between bites. "It would be too much."
"It would bother you if I did?"
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Rescuing animals, breeding near extinct newts, on conservation committees. How much more can you do?"
"I'm horrible about the laundry, if that helps. And no, I didn't cook it. I know a little restaurant. They know me well, and I asked if they could help me out."
Rachel paused in the act of using the roll to scoop up the last of the rice. "A little hole-in-the-wall place?"
He nodded. "Sophie's Place. Do you know it?"
"No, I was just guessing." Rachel polished off the last few bites, sorry to see it all g
one.
A splash in the water preceded the appearance of the arching neck of a large fishing bird. It shook its head, fancy white feathers around the crown of its head flaring out. Small gray babies bobbed to the surface next to it before one more large adult, then the family paddled out into the lake.
"The flitch had a brood? I don't remember hearing about that." Rachel smiled as she watched them paddle out into the lake. "Babies everywhere."
"You are familiar with the bird?"
"Oh yes. Quite the accomplished underwater hunters. I rescued Boto from an illegal trader who tried to make Redpoint One into a way-station for his goods."
"Why does it not surprise me you know the name of one of them?"
"I helped name her. She was only a baby when she arrived at the reserve. A cute little fluff-ball." Cute, but the same dull gray as the babies swimming frantically to keep up with the parents.
Ignacio put the finished dishes back into the basket, casting her a worried glance. "I'm not sure I like the idea of you confronting animal traffickers. Some of them can be quite dangerous."
Normally, such protective words would make her bristle. She was an adult who had made her own way in the world for some time. She ran her department. The fact she couldn't find fault in Ignacio's sincere tone when he said the words made the difference. He sounded as if he were honestly worried for her.
"You forget I had Redpoint One on my side." Rachel grinned at him. "They made the mistake of messing with my pipes."
Ignacio gave a short laugh. "Warning taken. Keep my newts under control."
"You've done a really good job so far. I didn't even know about your program until recently."
Ignacio grimaced, revealing charming lines across his forehead that she itched to run a finger across to soothe. "Coinciding with Irvine healing from a leg injury."
Rachel lifted a broad-based glass, saluting him with the clear amber liquid inside. "To Irvine, for introducing us. May he now happily stay in his enclosure."
Ignacio lifted his own glass, letting the lip of it clink against hers. "To Irvine, and his eventual return to the wild."
Rachel saluted him again. "Even better. I'll definitely drink to that."
She lifted the glass of wine to her lips while watching Ignacio's face. His eyes were just as intense on her face. The taste of wine was almost as good as the expression lurking in his eyes. Almost.
Something small hit the back of her head. Her head went forward, and a small sip of wine went down the wrong pipe. Rachel struggled to set down the wine without spilling while coughing seized her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE COUGHS KEPT coming as Rachel reached up to find out what hit her. Whatever the thing might be, it was still there, making her head feel heavy. She knew her face must be bright red from the coughing spasms. She became even more glad for the dim light in the park.
"Hold on. Don't panic." Ignacio took the glass from her and set both next to the picnic basket.
"I'm not panicking. I just don't like sudden surprises," Rachel said, sputtering out another cough to clear her throat.
He rose to his knees, and soon she could feel his hands in her hair. She started to ask what it was, expecting a bat or one of the nocturnal birds of the park. Then she heard a chirp and a soft thrumming.
"It's really tangled in here. I'll have to take out some of the pins," Ignacio said.
She put her hand down. She couldn't believe it. "Let me guess. A Mandian flying squirrel?"
Ignacio's hands paused. "How did you guess?"
Her heart sunk lower. Why now? "One white ear and the other with a small notch in it under the feather tufts?"
Ignacio settled on his legs, one hand still in her hair. "How did you know that?"
Rachel reached up to the little fur-ball shaking itself silly with its thrumming to pet the furry back. "May I introduce Pookie?"
The squirrel started thrumming even louder, nestling down even further into what had once been an elegant hairstyle. Its nimble hands rubbed against her skull as it snuggled ever deeper into her hair.
Ignacio stared at her with wide eyes. "Pookie? Who would name the poor thing Pookie?"
"The name wasn't supposed to stick!" She reached up with both hands to try and pry Pookie out, but it grabbed onto her hair even more. What a day for him to appear. "Usually I wear a pony tail when I visit and it's not too hard to get him out."
Finally she gave up, and Pookie went back to his happy thrumming. Great, what was she supposed to do now? Go the rest of the evening with a Mandian flying squirrel cuddled up on her head?
An odd muffled noise had her turning to Ignacio, only to find him trying to smother laughter, and failing miserably. "Remind me to never let you name any of my newts."
"Oh, you're a real help." Then she started laughing, as well. It was too ridiculous not to. "If you'd told me we were coming here, I could have warned you."
"Let me guess, another rescue?" He asked.
"Of a sort. He was getting transported back to his home world to be released and caught a virus. I'm one of the volunteers who nursed him through. But, with the illness, he couldn't go back home. He might carry it to the native population." She reached up to give him another scratch. "So, his permanent home is here in the refuge."
"Were you the one who gave the name?"
"No, one of the other volunteers!" She said quickly. Then grinned. "I wanted to name him 'Sunny.'"
"Not much more imaginative than Pookie." He warded off her threat to throw a roll at him. "Okay, enough laughing. How do we get him out?"
Rachel reached over to pick up her glass. "We'll wait a few minutes. Sometimes he gets bored and will leave on his own. It's feeding time anyway."
Only, Pookie was quite happy where he'd landed. It made it hard to hold a conversation with Pookie thrumming away along with the occasional chirping commentary.
Ignacio didn't refill her glass when she finally finished it. He took it and put it in the basket. "I'm sorry, but I can't talk about newt reintroduction issues while the guy is staring at me with those satisfied eyes making those noises. I keep getting the feeling I should close a bedroom door."
Rachel laughed. "It's nothing like that. Pookie thinks I'm one of his moms coming to visit."
"Either way, Pookie needs to go play with his kind and eat. How do we get him out of your hair without shaving you." Ignacio said, clipping closed the flap of the basket. "I should be giving you those looks, not him."
She almost collapsed into laughter again. Ignacio blushed so deep she could see it in the dim light around them. Poor guy. He'd been around only animals a little too long.
"We'll go find Reggy."
"Ah, the gamekeeper." Ignacio packed up the basket and reached down to help her up.
Rachel felt as though she should be careful at how she walked in case the books on top of her head fell. Only, this wasn't a posture exercise. Pookie wasn't going to go anywhere until good and ready, and a good head-shake wasn't about to loosen his grasp.
Ignacio flapped the blanket and folded it with practiced ease. With the blanket over an arm and the basket in hand, he motioned her to lead the way.
"I'm getting the feeling you picnic often," Rachel said, taking the path following the lake edge.
"When I get the chance. I prefer being out here with the animals and scenery instead of cooped up in confining spaces."
Rachel couldn't help asking, "By yourself?"
"Usually. Sometimes with a few friends." He took her arm as they started moving up an incline. "Fishing?"
"Not really interested. I would prefer to watch the flitch's fish."
When he started laughing she realized he'd meant something else. Goodness, she was as bad as him. She really needed to get away from the pipes of Redpoint One a bit more often.
They found Reggie near the feeding huts for some of the more shy animals. He took one look at her hair and joined in the laughter. "Found you again, did he?"
"On a special nigh
t. Can you help get him out?" Rachel asked.
"Tonight another charity dinner?" Reggie rubbed the short gray beard. "I don't recall one happening tonight."
"No, a private picnic."
"A picnic date? Ah, now that makes more sense. Tonight is a good night for it. Come with me. Let's see if we can lure him out." Reggie led the way to another hut filled with bins clearly marked as feed for various animals.
"What happened the last time?" Ignacio asked as he settled at a metal table next to Rachel.
"Charity dinner invaded by snuggly little flying squirrels. What's to tell?" Rachel said, the thrumming near her ear as strong as ever.
"Nice to see you again, Ignacio. Have new inhabitants for the lake soon?" Reggie asked as he rifled through several tubs on a shelf.
"No, not right now. All are slated to head back to their home worlds," Ignacio said.
Reggie glanced over at him, frowning. "Can you take out the basket? I don't want Pookie to get confused over smells. People food should remain people food."
Ignacio started. "Right. I should have thought about that. Be right back."
He gave her a squeeze on the arm and then slipped back out the door. Rachel watched him go, sighing as she propped her head up in her hands. "It's always something."
"Pookie was just saying hello." Reggie pulled a canister off a shelf and started making his way back to the table.
"I'm not mad at Pookie. Pookie and I get along great."
"Problems with the date?" He set the canister on the table and grabbed a scoop and small bowl.
Rachel averted her eyes, knowing what the canister held. She'd had a great dinner. She didn't want to spoil it by looking at Pookie's dinner. "The date is going fine."
"Uh huh. Right. And Pookie is a solar monkey." Reggie took the bowl and waved it in the air next to Rachel's ear.
A thin furry arm reached out, the flap of skin it used for gliding waving in the air. Reggie pulled the bowl just out of his reach, but Pookie wasn't ready to let go to go after it yet.
Turn of the Pipes (A Redpoint One Romance) Page 6