GALLANT (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 3)

by Marilyn Campbell

  Too fast. Too hard.

  Yet not nearly enough.

  His lips, his tongue, his teeth took all she had and demanded more. His hands grasped and kneaded, lifting and urging her to join him in wild abandon. She forgot everything except the reckless hunger he incited. Thinking only of her need to feel every inch of the masculine flesh she had previously been trying to ignore, she yanked his vest off his shoulders.

  "Oh my," Dot said as the he-she entered the bridge. As if nothing unusual were going on, they approached their station and began running a check on the instruments. "Really, Captain," Mar declared with mock sternness, "if you needed to leave your post, you should have called us. We would have understood."

  Gallant and Cherry were each aware of the interruption but their rampaging need kept them clinging to each other for several seconds. Breathing heavily, and knowing any attempt to make a dignified exit was futile, they stepped away from each other and left the bridge without uttering a word. The sound of Mar-Dot's chuckling accompanied them down the passageway.

  Gallant stopped in front of his door and opened it, but rather than enter or step aside, he just stood there, blocking the way with his back to Cherry.

  Cherry had been embarrassed to have Mar-Dot catch them doing precisely what she had told Dot they wouldn't, but her pulse was still racing with desire. She touched Gallant's arm and was startled when he jerked away from her.

  "Don't," he said in a voice that still sounded more like a ferocious animal's growl. "Mistake."

  Before Cherry understood what he meant, he was inside his room and the door had been closed in her face. She blinked at the door several times before she accepted the fact that he had left her hanging there. No man had ever done that to her... on purpose. She wasn't counting those that had simply not been able to satisfy her. At least they had tried.

  Not only was Gallant guilty of abduction and lying, now he had insulted and humiliated her as well. Why, he was nothing but a tease! She was half tempted to barge in there and—

  Her hand was poised over the opener when she realized what she was about to do. She lowered her hand and laughed at herself. Even with a robotic arm, she couldn't force the man to satisfy her. With a shake of her head, she walked to the facility chamber, hoping that the sanitation stall was equipped with a cold air blower.

  * * *

  Gallant leaned back against the closed door and slid to the floor. His hands were shaking so badly he tucked them under his arms so he wouldn't have to look at them.

  Minutes. He had been minutes away from paradise... or perdition. If only he knew for sure which it would have been. Only once before had he gotten so close to finding out.

  He was five years old when his Noronian parents discovered what he really was. Up to that time they had made excuses for his excessive emotional outbursts and occasional acts of violence. Rather than send him away, they carefully schooled him in self-control, constantly reminding him of the consequences should anyone else find out his secret. The eye patch took care of the other deviation.

  For the most part, he learned the lesson well enough to have people wonder if he had any emotions at all. But he had not been prepared to battle the hormonal storm that hit him when he reached adolescence. The first time he was alone with a consenting female, his practiced control disintegrated.

  He had attended the required classes and read the manuals on sexual behavior but he had no way of knowing that getting aroused would turn him into a savage. Nor had he known that the aggressive manner that felt so normal to him would terrify the poor young woman. Initially, she had seemed as anxious as he, but minutes later she was crying to be let go and calling him an animal.

  Gallant had regained his senses quickly enough to calm her down and convince her not to report him to anyone. By that time, he had already become a proficient liar, out of necessity.

  It was not long after that first incident that physical need drove him to discover that he could experience a sexual release without letting go of his control. However, he always felt that it wasn't as good as it could be. The act was pleasurable, yet far from satisfying. Having to use part of his attention to keep the wildness reined in prevented him from thoroughly enjoying what was happening to his body.

  As the years went by, his encounters with women became less frequent. A physical release without an emotional one simply wasn't worth the effort.

  His breathing had returned to normal and his hands had stopped shaking, but his thoughts were still in a panic. Had he really growled at Cherry? Yes, he was certain he had, just as he knew he had bitten her lips and earlobe. Like an uncivilized barbarian, he had mindlessly attacked her and would have used her without a thought to propriety had Mar-Dot not interrupted.

  When Cherry had talked of her sister, he had felt somewhat guilty for tricking her into the revelation—guilty enough to try to comfort her, without considering how the proximity of her body would affect him. It was exactly as he had feared. Her vibrant energy struck a chord in his primitive soul, and the result was nothing short of spontaneous combustion.

  As his head began to clear, he considered how to repair the damage he had just done. There was no question about his having to be more careful about touching her in the future. The problem was, he might have ruined any chance of getting Cherry to trust him enough to cooperate with his plan to trap Frezlo.

  At least she hadn't screamed or cried... or used her robotic arm on him. She must have been too stunned by his shocking behavior to fight him off. He knew he had better apologize before the shock wore off.

  He heard the door across the hall open and shut and ordered himself to rectify his mistake immediately. Mentally reconstructing his civilized veneer, he left the privacy of his room and knocked on her door. The moment it slid open, he said, "I wish to apologize."

  Remaining in the doorway with her arms crossed, Cherry cocked her head at him. "All right. Go ahead."

  She was so calm, he assumed she was still in shock. "My behavior was unpardonable but I hope you'll forgive me anyway. I assure you nothing like that will happen again." She didn't respond one way or the other, so he added, "I'm sorry if I frightened you."

  "Frightened me? So far, you've infuriated me, humiliated me and left me frustrated as a bowlegged kid at a greased pig chase, but it would take a hell of a lot more than one aggravating man to frighten me!"

  She might have made him squirm a bit longer if he hadn't been apologizing so politely. "Look, I've decided you were right. What happened up there was a mistake and it was as much my fault as yours. I'm afraid you opened an emotional floodgate and I took advantage of the outlet you offered. I shouldn't have kissed you, even if I was only trying to say thanks. Let's forget it and just be grateful Mar-Dot stopped us before things went too far. This trip is difficult enough without that sort of complication."

  Although he nodded his agreement, he hadn't heard anything beyond her pronouncement that he had left her frustrated. He had been so caught up with the fact that he had let himself go that he hadn't allowed himself to notice that she might have been doing a fair amount of clawing at him. That thought didn't improve his state of discomfort one bit.

  Cherry continued to try to ease the tension between them. "Maybe we could try for some middle ground, like friendship. What do you say?"

  "Friends. Yes. That's a good idea," he said mechanically, reminding himself that friendship had been his goal to begin with.

  "Well then, I guess I'll say good night." She held out her hand.

  He didn't want to make physical contact with her again. Not yet. Not until he had a chance to completely rebuild his defenses. Yet he couldn't refuse to return the friendly gesture. As his hand clasped hers, he had to fight the almost involuntary urge to pull her back into his arms. The way her eyes widened with surprise made him wonder if she had felt the same surge of heat or merely guessed at his depraved thoughts.

  Cherry withdrew her hand and closed the door. Her robotic arm came equipped with sensors th
at operated the same way the nerves in her other arm did. She had never noticed that they were more or less sensitive than the real thing. She flexed those fingers now, concerned that the tingling she felt when Gallant's hand had enveloped hers was a warning sign of a malfunction. It still felt a bit strange, as if he had not yet released her hand. She vigorously shook her arm and the sensation faded away, just as it had the other times she had come in contact with him.

  She stripped off the jumpsuit and lay down between the clean sheets on Mar-Dot's bunk. She couldn't help but wonder if Gallant would fall right to sleep or if their unexpected moment of passion would replay itself in his head, as it was doing in hers.

  She had told him her analysis about why it had happened. Emotional overflow could make a normally sensible person behave strangely. But she hadn't admitted aloud that nothing quite like that had ever happened to her before. It was bad enough that she had been crawling all over him as if she hadn't seen a man in twenty years!

  * * *

  That day set a pattern for those that followed, with Gallant and Cherry sleeping at the same time. Mar-Dot spent time teaching her about navigation and how the ship operated, and Gallant occupied her with endless games of cubit.

  They told each other tales of people they knew and places they'd been but cautiously avoided anything too personal that might trigger an emotional response.

  Cherry thought that if it wasn't for the fact that she didn't trust him any further than she could throw him, she and Gallant could have become friends. But that wasn't the only problem. The tension humming between them since the incident prevented either one from totally relaxing. She was constantly aware of how careful Gallant was being not to touch her or meet her gaze for more than a second or two and that only made her all the more curious about what had happened and why he had called a halt to it so abruptly.

  Gallant was the one who suggested they play cubit for points rather than wagers but Cherry was quick to agree. So it surprised her when, two days later, he challenged her with another bet.

  "A five-game match. If I win," he stated, "you agree to cooperate with anything I ask when we reach Zoenid."

  Naturally she was suspicious of why he would change his mind about playing for stakes but since she had won more games than he had, she figured it was worth a shot. "And I'll claim the same forfeit I did before. If I beat you, you spill the beans about your eye patch." His dismayed look made her laugh. "You should be able to figure that expression out on your own. You know, by the end of this trip, I'm liable to have you speaking American like a native. So? Is it a bet?"

  He gave her one of his slow grins that she had already learned to be wary of. "Absolutely."

  The similarity of this match to the one that had ended so emotionally was uncanny. They were tied going into the fifth game when Gallant miraculously began rolling quads again. In practically no time, he managed to win the match... and her promise to help with his mission in any way he requested.

  On her sixth day in space, Cherry awoke before Gallant for the first time. Except for very short periods, she and Mar-Dot had rarely been alone together. As she had once before, Dot wasted no time taking advantage of the opportunity.

  "I see you are still determined to share our bunk rather than the captain's."

  Cherry held up a warning finger in front of Dot. "Don't start that. This ship is too small for you to pretend you don't know exactly what is going on between Gallant and me. If it wasn't for this mission of his, he'd hand me over to the first passing ship to get me out of his hair."

  Dot started to argue then changed her mind. "At least you are getting along now. Have you agreed to assist him on Zoenid?"

  With a sly smile, Cherry confessed. "I was planning to help ever since he explained the situation to me but I didn't tell him until last night... right after he creamed me. Beat me," she amended for Dot's sake, but it didn't alter her look of confusion. "At cubit."

  "Oh, yes," Dot said with a relieved nod. "I understand you have become quite a formidable player."

  "Ha! I thought so too, but the two times we played for more than fun, he's won. I have never seen anybody as lucky as Gallant. It's almost as if he can order those cubes to come up any color he needs. I'm telling you, it's really bizarre."

  Dot smirked. "Hmmph. There is nothing uncanny about it. He must be using his—"

  Suddenly Mar shifted toward Cherry. "Would you please get us a wake-up beverage? We are unusually fatigued this morning."

  Cherry started to go when she realized Mar had rudely interrupted Dot. "You never have refreshments at your station. Turn back around. I want to speak to Dot." The he-she hesitated a moment, then complied. "He cut you off on purpose, didn't he?"

  "It was nothing of importance," Dot answered quietly.

  Cherry frowned at her. "You promised not to lie to me. What were you about to say about Gallant's luck?" When Dot couldn't seem to find the words to answer, Cherry made a guess. "Is he cheating somehow?" Dot's eyes rolled upward. "Has he got loaded dice? You know, cubes that he can make do what he wants?"

  Again Dot's eyes rotated and Cherry understood that she was abiding by her agreement to be honest or say nothing at all. Since it was clear Mar didn't want Dot revealing whatever this was about, Dot was giving her answers the only way she could. Cherry opened the drawer beneath the table and removed the cubes. "Are these crooked or does he just switch them for another set when he's losing?"

  Very slowly, Dot mimicked the way Gallant would rub his chin then run his hands down the front of his open vest.

  How many times in the past few days had she seen him go through those motions? A lot. She had thought it was some sort of nervous habit. That son-of-a-bitch! He'd been switching cubes with a set he had hidden in his vest.

  "What's going on?" Mar demanded, but Dot wouldn't let him turn them around.

  Cherry returned the cubes to the drawer, saluted Dot and marched down the hall to Gallant's room. Without bothering to knock, she pressed the door opener but Gallant wasn't inside. With her temper building by the second, she headed for the facility chamber.

  The moment she stepped inside, she heard the sound of the blower in the sanitation stall. She was tempted to barge right in on him but the sight of his clothing laid out over a chair gave her a more vengeful idea.

  As stealthily as possible, she tiptoed across the carpet and lifted his vest. Within seconds she discovered the concealed cubes and quickly removed them. She suspected if she played with the trick ones for a while, she would surely figure out how they worked. Then she would turn the tables on the rotten cheat. And, of course, she would make sure the wager was something outrageous.

  Just as she replaced the vest, Gallant came out of the stall.

  Gloriously naked.

  Chapter 6

  Cherry was caught, and knew she should have been stuttering apologies and excuses for invading his privacy but the only word that came to mind was big, and in a matter of seconds, he was even bigger... and bigger. Not staring was out of the question. "Holy stars," she whispered.

  Suddenly she was in the midst of a shower of falling stars, but a split second later they disappeared. Another space sickness hallucination?

  Except for covering his left eye with his hand, Gallant didn't move or make an attempt to shield any more of himself. To get his clothes he would have to come closer to her. "What are you doing in here?"

  Cherry swallowed hard and dragged her wide-eyed gaze up to his face. "I... I... thought you were still sleeping and I came in to use—"

  "You're lying," he said in a hard, deep voice. "You would have heard the blower when you walked in. I recall your once giving me ten seconds to explain. I'll give you five. If you're not out of here by then, I'll draw my own conclusions. Five."

  The temptation to stay was strong enough to make her forget every crummy thing he'd done.

  "Four."

  Good God, but he was gorgeous.

  "Three."

  She simply had to stan
d still and all that man would be hers.

  "Two."

  But then he'd discover what was in her hand. The reminder of why she'd gone in there and how angry she had been kick-started her brain. She wanted revenge.

  "One."

  She turned on her heel and walked swiftly to the door.

  It took several deep breaths before Gallant regained the ability to move. When he could, he went back into the stall to cleanse the film of perspiration from his heated flesh. He was beginning to doubt that he would get through this assignment undamaged.

  He couldn't allow himself to dwell on why she had come into the chamber. He supposed she could have been as curious about him as she was about everything else. But the trapped look on her face when he had exited the stall, combined with the fact that she did leave without fully satisfying that curiosity, told him she'd been up to mischief of some sort. He just couldn't imagine what it could be.

  If there was any way he could quickly get hold of Frezlo without Cherry's help, he would avoid using her, but no better plan had come to him. Now he had run out of thinking time. They would be docking in an hour. He could only hope that Cherry didn't renege on her promise to help once she heard what she had agreed to.

  * * *

  Cherry sat on Mar-Dot's bunk, closely examining one of the trick cubes. To her eye, it looked exactly the same as an honest one. There didn't seem to be any weight difference either. No shaved edges or rounded corners. She picked all four up and dropped them on the floor. A blue quad came up—the same color set that had won the last game for Gallant. But he had been able to roll greens, reds and purples at will also, which meant there had to be a way to manipulate the outcome.

  She was determined to figure it out if it took the rest of the trip to Zoenid. In the meantime, he would get a surprise the next time he tried to switch cubes on her and discovered nothing but air in the secret pocket of his vest. She could hardly wait to see his reaction.