Janaya

by Shelley Munro

  It backed up, then fumbled for its weapon. Luke noticed the weapon shook despite the alien’s scowling bravado.

  “Police,” Luke shouted. “Put the weapon down.” Healthy fear slithered through his veins as the alien’s cold gaze sliced through him, rampant with the promise of retaliation.

  “Stay out of this,” the alien snarled, brandishing his weapon at Luke.

  Luke froze, glancing at the pile of dust that was all that remained of the dead alien. He didn’t want to end up in the same condition.

  Behind him, the dog barked. Luke watched it dart into the low scrub to the right of the spaceship. Seconds later, the dog shot out behind the alien and sank sharp teeth into the back of his calf.

  “Get the devil creature off,” the alien shouted and shook his leg vigorously, kicking out and swinging the dog through the air.

  With the alien distracted, Janaya jumped him, hitting out with her fist. Off-balance, the alien wobbled and toppled to the ground with the dog still attached to his leg.

  Janaya didn’t hit like a girl, Luke thought, pursing his lips in a silent whistle of admiration.

  A sharp bark erupted from her lips. The dog released the alien’s leg, and Janaya snatched up the alien weapon. A bright violet light blinded Luke. He blinked twice to clear his vision. The second alien had burnt to a crisp. All that remained was a pile of purple-tinted dust.

  Luke blinked. Janaya pushed past him and hurried to her aunt’s side.

  “You all right?” she asked her aunt.

  “Good job, dear. Where did they come from?”

  “I told you they’d follow.”

  “Do I get food now?” the little dog asked.

  Janaya stooped to scratch behind the dog’s ears. “Do you have a calling name?”

  “My former owners on Risches called me Annie. Don’t like that one. Want a new name.”

  Janaya grinned at the little dog’s disgruntled tone. “All right. What would you like us to call you?”

  “Killer,” the dog said with a decisive bark.

  Janaya chuckled. “All right, then. Killer, thanks for the help.”

  “Would you like to tell me what’s going on?” Luke demanded. He eyed the dog uneasily. He’d understood every word of their conversation and he didn’t like it one bit.

  Janaya whirled around. Luke had witnessed everything. How would he judge her now that he’d witnessed the brutality that was her life? She was good at her job and she wasn’t going to apologize for it.

  “Torgon,” she said curtly to cover her trepidation. Her heart pounded. Blood roared through her veins on seeing the intentness, the promise in his dark eyes. Without thinking, she lifted her hand to cup his jaw. The dark stubble felt rough beneath her fingertips. Warmth from his skin sizzled through her hand and up her arm. Janaya’s gaze tangled with the man’s and a brief shiver of awareness rippled through her sensitized body. She moistened her lips.

  “You gonna tell me what you eat for breakfast?” he whispered. “Just so I’m prepared.”

  Somehow, Janaya wasn’t sure when Luke had moved even closer. Every inch of her skin tingled, craving his touch, the sensation of his hands running across her bare skin. His clean scent teased at her nostrils, making her want to press her nose to his neck and breathe deeply.

  His dark eyes seemed to soften and he lowered his head, his lips stopping a whisper above hers, his eyes still holding her gaze. “Right after you tell me what the hell just happened.”

  “Janaya stowed away without inoculations.”

  Janaya’s head jerked in the direction of her aunt’s voice. She scowled. Subtle her aunt wasn’t, referring to the way this man had imprinted on her. Janaya took a step back and looked up at Luke from a safer distance, where she couldn’t succumb to temptation and touch him. The way his lips had set to a determined line told her he’d demand answers until he got what he wanted.

  “Let me check your hands,” he demanded. “You’re bleeding.”

  Janaya didn’t think it was a good idea to let him touch her, not again while her willpower was at an all-time low. The need to rip off his clothes and service him shocked her rigid. She glanced at her aunt and caught a teasing smile of understanding.

  “You could always kiss him, dear. That’s my suggestion.”

  Give in to the desire.

  Heat suffused Janaya’s cheeks at the thought, and she hurriedly thrust out her hand for Luke to examine. A gasp escaped as his fingers curled around hers. The gesture felt too intimate, too personal.

  “Although tempted, I don’t require a kiss at the moment.” His dark eyes held amusement tempered with something more. Something she didn’t want to investigate too closely. “I want answers. Am I going to have aliens in lilac popping up all over the town?”

  “I…ah…” Janaya glanced at her aunt.

  A small box attached to Luke’s belt squawked. “Tell me in a minute.” He plucked the box off his belt and pressed a button. “Yeah?”

  The tinny voice was clearly discernable to all three.

  “Mrs. Bates wants a situation report. She says her sister sighted the UFO over Ted Morrison’s wheat field.”

  “Oops,” Hinekiri said. “Sounds like the cloaking device is out as well as the landing gear.”

  Luke stared at Hinekiri then Janaya. “I’ll look into it.” After pressing a button on the handheld radio, he said, “Tell me this is a dream—overactive imagination. Confirm my suspicions about Mrs. Bates drinking the vicar’s wine.”

  Janaya tore her gaze from Luke’s somber face to glare at her aunt.

  “That depends.” Hinekiri gave a delicate cough.

  “That’s what I thought,” Luke snapped. “You are the little green men.”

  “Uh-huh. Wrong sex,” her aunt chirped.

  Luke’s eyes swept down Janaya’s body and back up. Her skin prickled beneath her clothes and it felt as though he’d physically touched her person.

  “Figure of speech. I can see you’re both female.” He swept a hand through his hair, making it tousled rather than merely windswept. “Hell.” His jaw clenched and suddenly he seemed to come to a decision. “You’ll have to come with me.”

  “Ohhh! How exciting, Janaya. We’re under arrest!”

  Luke scowled. “You’re not under arrest.”

  “Then why are we going with you?” As she spoke, Janaya stooped to pick up the remaining Torgon weapon, pushed the reducing button, and placed it in her hip holster.

  Luke backed up, keeping a wary eye on the weapon. “Easy. Let’s keep this friendly.”

  Janaya wanted to laugh aloud and the impulse startled her. Bodyguards were trained to kill. She had no difficulty in taking care of herself and her aunt. And she didn’t fear Luke. However, the concept of friendly had many meanings. The Earth clothes her aunt had produced for her to wear suddenly felt tight like a pair of manacles and chains. By St. Christin, she hated this out-of-control sensation.

  “What did you have in mind?” Janaya pushed the words past gritted teeth while her fingernails dug into her palms to stop her from reaching for him again. Caressing his face.

  “I want to keep an eye on the pair of you. You’ve just arrived and you’re already creating problems.” Luke cupped Janaya’s elbow and propelled her down the dirt track. When they reached the spot where her aunt stood, he also gently shunted her into movement. Janaya noticed Killer fell into step behind.

  “Why me?” she heard Luke mutter under his breath. “No stress. Is that too much to ask?”

  Chapter Three

  After a terse, silent drive back to his house, Luke pulled up at the rear of his father’s white weatherboard home. He switched off the ignition.

  “Home,” he said. “I’ll get you settled then I need to check in at the station and write a report.” And work out a plan to keep his sanity.

  “What are you intending to write in the report?” Janaya regarded him with her cool violet eyes.

  “I’m not sure. I’ll probably stick to th
e truth as close as I can and fudge the rest.”

  Puzzlement marred the smooth brow. “Fudge?”

  “He means he’s going to gloss over some of the facts,” Hinekiri explained with a chuckle.

  Janaya nodded thoughtfully as if she was filing the expression for later use. Luke bit back a grin. If she needed help working out Earth social behavior, he’d love to teach her a thing or two. His cock danced a jig at the thought. “Okay, I’ll give you the quick tour.” He opened the rear door and stood aside, silently daring Janaya and her aunt to step in front of him. After another of those pissing contests that he was coming to enjoy, she gave a clipped nod and gestured for her aunt to enter.

  “Kitchen, dining room, downstairs bathroom.” Luke’s gaze tracked Janaya’s slender form and her economical movement as she prowled the passage. Hinekiri showed interest but the cop in him saw that Janaya scanned for exits, for possible escape routes in the event of an attack. Her wary surveillance pricked a healthy curiosity. A bodyguard. Luke’s stealthy gaze took in her curves, her deceptive fragility. He’d already witnessed her strength, her speed and her coolness under fire when she’d faced the Torgon attack. He tried to ignore the way she’d saved his butt because he still wasn’t sure he believed it himself. The woman was superhero material. All she needed was the skintight red suit.

  Luke’s cock jumped again at the idea and he hurriedly reined in his wayward thoughts. Talking to aliens was madness. Having sex with one would be suicide. Besides, he had no idea if she had the requisite body parts.

  Hell, who the fuck was he trying to kid? He ached to seduce her body and mind.

  “The bedrooms are upstairs,” he said. “Mine is the one right at the far end of the passage. There are three others. Take your pick. Clean linen in the cupboard over there. If you want to wash up, you’ll find clean towels in the bathrooms. If you’re hungry, there’s plenty of food in the kitchen.”

  The dog pricked its ears. “Food?”

  Luke frowned, deciding to ignore the issue of a talking dog. That was the least of his problems.

  “What about parts?” Janaya asked. She sounded eager to leave. Unaccountably, the fact rankled. Every time he glanced her way, he wanted to know what she tasted like. Her lips. The tender skin just beneath her ear. The warm softness of her breasts. The feminine juices that signified her arousal.

  “Parts?” she repeated with clear demand.

  Luke suppressed a smirk as he tried to keep his eyes above neck level. “Hinekiri can make a list and we can go from there.”

  Janaya scowled. “As soon as possible.”

  Luke nodded, understanding her need for a means of escape. Under the same circumstances, he’d feel the same way. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised and left them standing at the bottom of the stairs leading to the second floor.

  * * * * *

  Luke arrived back at the house after dark, cold, hungry and pissed as hell. Mrs. Bates was convinced she’d seen a UFO and nothing he’d said had swayed her mind. Luke hadn’t liked lying to her, but he could imagine the kerfuffle if the locals discovered there was a UFO parked up on the ridge and he was host to a couple of aliens. He’d never see his favorite fishing spot and he’d end up more wired than he was now.

  Luke shuddered inwardly, imagining the spotlight of publicity. Newspaper stories. Television reporters thrusting microphones in his face, probably digging up his past and his very public marriage breakup in the process. No privacy. History repeating itself when all he wanted was peace.

  Hell, he could definitely live with his lie to Mrs. Bates if that was the alternative.

  Luke parked at the rear of the house. Crickets chirped in the old, gnarled pohutukawa tree as he strode past and headed up the narrow footpath to let himself in the kitchen door. Without turning on the lights, he dropped his car keys on the countertop. The old floorboards creaked as he climbed the stairs and turned toward his bedroom. A yawn cracked his jaw. Damn, he was tired. Without bothering about lights, he pushed open the door of his room and after placing his gun and wallet on the dresser, started to shuck his clothes.

  “Do ya have any food?”

  Luke’s heart leapt halfway up his throat as he scrambled to get the light. He blinked at the sudden surge of brightness then glared at the small dog curled up in a tight ball on his bed.

  “What the hell are you doing in here?”

  The dog yawned then dropped its head to rest on its paws. “You told us to make ourselves comfortable.”

  “I also told you that the end bedroom was mine,” Luke said.

  Just his luck. He lusted after a woman, one particular woman with violet eyes, and he got a dog. True, it was a dog with attitude but he didn’t feel like conversation. He wanted Janaya.

  After a heavy sigh, Luke striped off the rest of his clothes. He switched off the light and padded over to his bed. “Move over,” he said, too tired to argue about sleeping arrangements. It was a little dog. It wouldn’t take up much room in his king-sized bed.

  A soft noise woke Luke. His eyes popped open as he strained to hear the foreign sound again. He moved a few inches to the left and met empty air. Off-balance, he hit the hard, wooden floor with a loud thump. A curse spilled from his lips as he sat up and rubbed his bruised hipbone.

  “Whazup?”

  In the dim light, he made out Killer’s head poking over the edge of the bed. Luke glared. “You pushed me—”

  Then he heard the noise again. A feminine screech rent the air. Luke grabbed his gun and leapt to his feet. A corresponding male curse made Luke pick up the pace.

  He sprinted to his father’s bedroom and skidded to a halt at the doorway. Two forms sat up in the bed.

  Hinekiri. And his father.

  Luke squeezed his eyes shut. This was a figment of his imagination. This was not happening. His father was safely in the South Island visiting his old army mate, George. Convinced he was dreaming, Luke opened his eyes.

  There were still two people in the bed. Hinekiri clutched a pale blue sheet to her chest while his father looked plain confused.

  “Poke your hands in your ears,” Janaya ordered from behind him.

  That was all he needed—a trigger-happy niece to add to the pot. Luke squeezed her arm in warning, not letting go until he was sure he had her attention. “Don’t shoot.”

  “But my aunt screamed.”

  “The man in bed with her is my father,” Luke said dryly. “He was the one doing the cursing.”

  “Your father?” Hinekiri said with a great deal of interest. “Well, hello, sailor,” she chirped, batting her eyelids.

  His father appeared shell-shocked and he didn’t even have all the pertinent information yet. Just wait until he heard he was in bed with an alien. On second thought, perhaps he’d keep that little gem to himself. “Dad, what are you doing here?”

  “I live here,” his father spluttered. “The question is what are you doing?” His father glanced at Hinekiri in bemusement before turning back to Luke and sliding stealthily past to check out Janaya.

  Belatedly, Luke realized he was naked, and Janaya wasn’t wearing much more than him. The pink-colored chemise thing was a bit on the skimpy side. “Back in a sec,” he muttered, wheeling about to head back to his room for clothes. Before he’d taken two steps, he came to a halt. Janaya had that silver weapon in her hands. He’d seen firsthand the damage it could do and although his father’s sudden appearance presented a problem, he didn’t want him to end up as a pile of smoking embers.

  “Janaya, come with me.” Giving her no choice, he grabbed her forearm.

  “But my aunt—” Janaya dug in her heels and Luke felt his feet leave the ground.

  “Quit that,” he snapped in a fierce undertone. “You’re meant to blend in, not stick out like boils on a man’s backside.”

  Janaya glanced back at the elderly couple sitting in the bed. They hadn’t noticed her slip since they were too busy sizing each other up. Her aunt didn’t seem upset. In fact,
judging by the gleam in her eyes, Luke’s father was the one in serious trouble. She shuddered inwardly as her aunt’s words about double dating came back to bite her on the bum. She needed to get them home to Dalcon—sooner rather than later.

  Chagrined at the slip, Janaya set Luke on his feet. “Sorry. I…” Her words trailed off as she became conscious of his bare skin and something jabbing her in the stomach.

  “We need to talk,” he said. “In private. Come with me.”

  The man had no clothes on and he wanted to talk?

  Janaya nodded while her gaze drifted down his body on a scenic journey as he walked away. Broad shoulders tapered down to a trim waist and tight buttocks. Her mouth watered. She wanted to sink her teeth in, to taste, to mark him then soothe the stinging love bite with her tongue. She wanted—

  What the heck was wrong with her? Why was she lusting after this man when she had finally captured Santana’s attentions? Santana should be her focus. Wrinkling her brow in a fierce frown, she tried to dredge a vision of Santana’s face from her memory.

  And failed.

  Luke turned, waiting patiently for her to follow.

  Unbidden, Janaya’s eyes swept down his body—the front view this time—then back up past his sensual mouth to his eyes. The roguish glint she encountered drew a gasp.

  He was watching her.

  One dark eye closed in a wink and a slow, cocky grin curled across his lips. The knowing look brought a surge of color to Janaya’s cheeks. Fool! She had the attention span of a fodo. Concentrate on Santana.

  “I thought you wanted to talk?” What would happen if she said yes? Yes to the silent question in his gleaming eyes. She wanted to so much.

  “Coward,” he mocked.

  The soft taunt stung and without thinking, she moved toward him. Stalked him. Her fierce scowl should have made him move but he stood his ground, almost daring her to do her worst. His bottom lip quivered as though he was biting back a chuckle. Janaya’s eyes narrowed. She closed the gap until nothing separated them but his skin and her clothes. Her first impression was one of heat, then she heard the rapid beat of his heart. He wasn’t as confident as he seemed and that made her feel a whole lot better. An echoing grin spread across her face.