by Autumn Dawn
Gem hissed. Three weeks of broiling pressure? Now? What else would she have to take?
Xera put a steadying hand on her shoulder. Her silent strength was surprisingly soothing. “We’ll get through this, sis,” she promised.
“Yes, you will,” Zsak assured them. Maybe he didn’t care for the tense atmosphere, for he added, “I have a feeling you’ll do all right. Meanwhile, we’re moving you and your sister Brandy to another location. Somewhere more secure. You’ll be safe there until the trial.”
“Moving us? Where?” Gem asked. She was tired of surprises.
Xera smiled, but there was mockery in her eyes. “You mean you can do better than a hotel room?”
“This isn’t a hotel,” Zsak said, with a sweet smile of his own. “Why do you think you haven’t been allowed to see where we are, why you’ve been escorted in and out whenever you want to leave? But yes, we do have something else in mind.”
“Bring it,” Xera said. “Preferably before I die of boredom.”
Gem would have cause to remind her of that.
“I can’t believe we’re stuck on his ship.”
Gem looked at Xera in resignation. If it wasn’t Brandy saying it, her other sister was chiming in. Nobody was happy about being stuck on a starship with Captain Azor. Even though it was a large vessel, they saw far too much of the man.
“He’s like a cold, dead fish,” Brandy chimed in. “One with teeth, of course. Big, sharp, pointy ones.” Denigrating Azor was one of her favorite pastimes.
“Grim,” Xera agreed. “I don’t know why they couldn’t have sent Zsak instead.”
“Zsak wanted to stay near Blue,” Brandy pointed out, giving a sideways glance at Gem.
Gem looked away. She hadn’t spoken to or about Blue in days, not since she’d seen him in the hospital and given him grief. It was starting to wear on her conscience, the way she’d treated him. He was right that he’d saved her life, no matter what lies he’d told. He’d taken a bullet for her. Cooling anger had a way of leaving regrets.
“It’s not as if Blue could leave the hospital yet,” Brandy continued, blithely rubbing it in. She’d decided to take up the cop’s cause, having cast him as the hapless hero in this drama. It was unclear why she championed him but despised Azor. Then again, for a villain, Azor was a pretty good choice. He had the bedside manner of a stick. As far as Gem could see, he had absolutely no redeeming personality traits. If she wasn’t so sick of her sister’s complaining, she’d have been tempted to join in maligning him.
Brandy stared at Gem, asking, “How long until our next teleconference with our lawyer?” She was understandably obsessed with the woman’s progress.
“Not for a while. But you read the last e-mail. She seems to be doing well,” Gem soothed. The woman was expensive, but she’d come highly recommended. Hiring her had been one of their last actions before leaving Polaris.
“You need to get your mind off it,” Xera said. She stood up and grabbed her sister’s wheelchair, then pushed it over to Brandy’s bed. “Why don’t we go for a walk?”
Brandy groaned. “There’s nothing to see here. Besides, we’ve already gone for a walk today—twice.”
Xera flipped the covers off Brandy’s legs. “Then we’ll go a third time. Sitting around moping won’t help you any. Besides, we haven’t toured the bridge yet, and the captain said I could take you around it today. After that I’ll take you down to the flight simulators and teach you how to fly.”
“My hands are broken,” Brandy said tersely, as if Xera hadn’t noticed.
“Your head is going to be broken, too, if you don’t stop feeling sorry for yourself.” Xera calmly helped her sullen sister into her chair. She then wheeled her out of the room. “Coming?” she called to Gem from the hallway.
Gem trailed along, feeling oddly as if she were on vacation. Other than trial preparations, which were largely out of her hands, she had nothing pressing. She’d spent some of the time working out with Xera, some playing games with her sisters and some watching movies. While there were moments of boredom, she had to admit the free time was rather nice.
The rough, rubberized surface under her feet dulled any echoes in the ship. The craft was large, military in design, built for function. There were precious few frills onboard, though Gem did enjoy the occasional glimpse of stars out the port windows. Sometimes she just stood and admired those points of icy fire, imagined that they were diamonds of light on a coverlet of black velvet. It was soothing to let her mind wander in such ways.
Even though the circumstances were not ideal, she enjoyed the recaptured time with her sisters. Knowing that they would again go their separate ways—assuming everything went according to plan—made their interaction even more precious. Xera would again leave with the Galactic Explorers, and Brandy would eventually vanish, too. Gem had realized this over the past few weeks. She’d also discovered that what made The Spark precious was her family. When her family was gone…
She shook her head. She didn’t think she’d toss the inn aside, but maybe this was a wake-up call. It was surely time she made room in her life for more.
It was a little embarrassing to find that she wasn’t sure how to go about building a social life. How did people make friends? Real friends, and not employees? There was a big difference when you weren’t focused on efficiency and expedience. She wasn’t sure she was prepared for it.
She thought about Blue and sighed. It was the fourth time in the past hour. She was going to have to do something about that man. Did she owe him an apology? It was hard to reconcile her anger over his deceit with her concern for his injury. There was no question she owed him gratitude for the latter.
Why had he seduced her, though? She was confused and hurt over that. Had he really desired her, or had he been cold enough to manipulate her to further his investigation? She couldn’t see how it would have helped him. From her point of view, she’d have thought it would have complicated his life.
Zsak had hinted that Blue was in love with her. Maybe she was softhearted, but she couldn’t see him leading her on. If Blue loved her…She shook her head. She was going to have to confront him sometime. Later, though. After she’d considered the situation for a while.
Honestly, what could she say to the man?
“Man, you’ve got to snap out of it,” Zsak remarked with concern. “The doctors say you’re setting back your recovery with all this tension.”
Blue looked silently at his partner. He didn’t want to talk about it.
Zsak shifted uncomfortably. He’d always hated being the go-between, but he viewed this as a necessary evil. “Xera says Gem is depressed. She says that whenever she tries to be upbeat, she gets a smackdown. Even Brandy is trying to cheer Gem up, which is really saying something. I can’t imagine what that looks like.”
Blue glanced at him sideways.
Zsak sighed. There was nothing for it but to be honest, especially since he’d been equally honest with Gem. “I think she loves you. This thing with her…I think it will pass.”
Blue grunted. “Not one lousy call. She chews me out and then leaves. She’s cutting her losses and not looking back.”
“Or she’s nursing a wounded heart. Look, why don’t you call her?”
Blue’s jaw tightened. He wasn’t into begging. He’d never done it in his life. “She won’t talk to me.”
“But you haven’t even tried to call her!”
“I’ve thought about it,” Blue remarked.
Zsak scratched the back of his neck. He let his gaze travel around the barren room. “Maybe you could send a gesture of some kind. You know, something she can’t return. Something to make her feel guilty for ignoring you…soften her up. Women always like feeling wooed.” He grinned.
“She’s on a starship. What could I send? And how?” Blue was tired of doing nothing, however. Maybe it couldn’t hurt.
Zsak thought a moment, then grinned. “I have the perfect idea.”
Gem stared incre
dulously at the quartet of singing crewmen. They’d come up to her in the mess hall and told her they had a message from someone who was thinking of her. And then, just like that, they’d burst into a love song.
Xera looked at them before glancing at her sister with unholy glee. “Betcha I know who that’s from.” She laughed.
Gem shook her head in disbelief. “He wouldn’t.”
The lads finished their song and bowed to the thunderous applause of the crew; live entertainment was always welcome aboard ship. “Blue says hello. This is from him,” their leader explained with a grin. He handed her a greeting card and left to get his dinner.
Gem drew a sharp breath. She stared down at the card, almost afraid to see what it might say. When Xera reached for it, however, she blocked her sister’s hand and slowly opened the envelope. It said simply, “We’re not done.”
Xera read over her shoulder. “Well!”
Gem flushed and folded the card closed. “I guess I should call him.”
Brandy had watched the scene with interest. She awkwardly put a potato chip in her mouth. “Yeah. No telling what he’ll have the crew do next if you ignore him. Maybe it will be acrobats.”
The thought was enough to galvanize Gem. She found herself at a message center a few minutes later. She stared at the communication device, but couldn’t think of what she would say if she spoke to Blue in real time. It’d be so awkward, and fighting for words didn’t appeal to her. Besides, there was always that horrible lag when talking from a ship…
She bit her lip in anxiety. She really wasn’t any good at this. Squabbling with her sisters and making up really hadn’t prepared her for dealing with a man. Would he expect her to be straightforward? That was how she usually solved problems. How would he react if she just launched into their issues? It might be best to establish communication first, a connection, and gradually lead up to it.
She groaned in frustration. Dithering wasn’t helping. Fine! She’d just send him a message. Nothing too personal, though. Polite. How could that possibly go wrong?
Blue looked at the electronic tablet, unsure how to interpret Gem’s message. It said, “I don’t know what to say. Thank you, I guess.”
Zsak looked over his shoulder. “Well, it’s something.” He laughed.
Blue exhaled in frustration and then grunted in pain. The woman was stubborn, but at least she was talking to him now. He thought about sending another message but decided to wait her out instead. How long would it take before she wrote again?
Like all such plans of patience, this one sounded better in theory than it worked in practice. Days went by and nothing else came to him. The girl was as silent as a distant star.
At last, after a lot of dithering, he talked himself into not sending any more messages, not even thinking about it. He was tired of feeling guilty about his inaction. It frustrated him to be stuck in a hospital bed with no way to get to Gem. This was a situation that called for a delicate touch, and the kind of touch he would use worked best in person. Two short days and he’d be out of here. He’d put that time to good use and plan his siege. After all she’d put him through, he wasn’t planning to be nice. He’d use every weapon he had—seduction, persuasion and Gem’s sisters—to get this woman to admit she needed him.
To that end, he decided to seduce the sisters. Oh, he didn’t intend them as romantic conquests, of course, but as potential allies. After all, no one could be as sneaky and underhanded as a sibling.
He just had to convince them to help.
“I hear the nurses are all over him,” Xera said conversationally.
Gem chewed doggedly on her bland breakfast. She refused to comment. Lately her sisters had taken to discussing Blue’s life as if it were a soap opera. Being stuck on the ship with little to do but torment their sister was driving them to new heights of mischief.
They talked over her head, of course, as if the conversation weren’t specifically chosen to tickle her ears. It was driving her mad, but she was determined to ignore them. If she wanted to talk to Blue, she’d call him. She just hadn’t decided what she should say. Bad enough that she couldn’t get him out of her head, but her sisters kept grinding away on the subject, torturing her further.
She’d spent a lot of time thinking after she sent that first message, and she’d come up with another good reason why she shouldn’t contact him now. Blue was part of the investigation. He’d have to testify at the trial. She had no doubt he’d be honest in all of his assessments, but his testimony could really hurt her family. She didn’t know how she’d handle that if it came to pass, so she’d backed off.
She felt unwilling to share her concerns with her sisters, though. They were trying valiantly to forget their own stress over the approaching trial, and they used matchmaking to take their minds off the subject. If she brought up her concerns, it would only bring them down. They were making it difficult to stay silent, though.
“Zsak says the healing accelerators are doing a great job. Blue’s been working hard in physical therapy. Things are looking good for his release in two days.”
Gem’s heart skipped a beat. Two days. Suddenly that seemed too short a time. She wasn’t ready to see him yet. Unfortunately, her pounding heart didn’t share her reservations.
Xera glanced at her sister, her face blank. “Zsak says the therapist has a crush on Blue.” She raised her brows in innocent inquiry when Gem shot a look her way. “You can’t blame her. It is kind of romantic, him risking his life for you.”
A muscle twitched near Gem’s eye. She was tired of being cast as the villain. Maybe it was time she opened up.
“Remember that night you were so worried, Xera? Well, since then he did a lot more than kiss me.” She watched then, as her conversational rock splashed violently into the pond of their conversation.
Her sisters chewed on that information. Brandy asked tentatively, “How much more?”
A hot blush crept up Gem’s cheeks, even though this was her own ploy. “Enough.”
Xera raised an eyebrow. She didn’t look upset, however. In fact, a certain glow lit her eyes. It might have been glee.
“Are we going to have a shotgun wedding?”
Gem sucked in a breath. She hadn’t wanted their minds going there. “He didn’t do enough to warrant that!” she snapped.
Xera’s lips twitched. “But he did ‘enough.’”
Gem’s face grew hotter. “Yeah.”
Her sisters exchanged glances. Brandy looked at Gem sternly, but her lips fought to remain straight. “I think we need details. You know, to determine how best to punish him.”
Gem’s temperature soared like a nuclear meltdown. She shifted in her chair, pondering. Her sisters had no idea what they asked. The things she’d done with Blue were going to the grave with her. Just thinking about them made her uncomfortable—uncomfortable and aroused.
“Look, he was in the middle of investigating me. He shouldn’t have done it,” was her point.
“His heart must have tripped him up,” Brandy said.
His heart? Gem and Xera stared at each other. Where had that thought come from?
Brandy’s expression turned stubborn. “He’s not the kind of guy to do something like that if his feelings weren’t involved,” she explained. “I know it’s against what I once believed, but…Well, didn’t he risk his life for you? Isn’t he trying to win you back?”
Pain made Gem’s throat tighten. “He’s not,” she forced herself to say. No, he was flirting with his nurses, for all she knew, just like he’d once flirted with her. The table grew blurry.
Xera put a soothing hand on her shoulder. “Just call him, sis. You’ll see.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
Brandy shook her head. “We’ll coach you. Come on, let’s go find a communicator.”
Unfortunately, Gem got an answering service when she tried to put through the call. She hung up without leaving a message.
“You could have at least said hello!”
Brandy admonished.
“The data pad will tell him he got a call from the ship,” Gem explained.
“But not who called.”
Gem hesitated, then decided, “I’ll send an electronic message.” That was really the safest thing. It would be easier to guard what she said.
She ended up sending him a very formal message, thanking him again for saving her life and for his services. It didn’t take long for him to reply, which surprised and pleased her, though she fought the emotion. His reply was a warm, “You’re welcome. How is everybody holding up?”
The message started a series of cautious exchanges. Cautious for her, at least. Blue never failed to be kind, though he didn’t push or flirt. He simply wrote to her as a friend.
Gem started to feel wistful. Was friendship all he wanted? As the feeling grew, she began to forget her anger. She began to consider his side, and to give it the weight it was likely due. He hadn’t known them when he’d taken the job. Except for his relationship with her, it had been nothing personal. Maybe something had grown from it. Maybe he was as unhappy with the situation as she was.
If he’d been able to see inside her head, Blue would have smiled, but she was too uncertain to send her tender thoughts to him. Instead, she sent him reports about her days.
“You might as well be sending him a news sheet,” Xera said in disgust as she read over Gem’s shoulder one afternoon. “I’ve seen tax reports with more passion.” This earned Xera a dirty look for her trouble. Undaunted, she suggested, “Just tell him you love him and be done. It can’t be that hard.”
“So speaks the voice of experience,” Gem muttered. She ran a spell-check, trying to ignore Xera’s hovering.
“Well, you do love him, right?” It wasn’t really a question.
Gem’s hands froze on the keyboard. Her feelings of…affection weren’t in question, not if her sisters could see them; but was it love? A better question was: what did Blue feel? If it was love, could it survive this kind of tension? What kind of life could she have with him?