Liberation's Desire

by Wendy Lynn Clark

  Cressida stroked her husband’s arm, biting her lip as she considered the problem.

  Yves took a long, slow breath. “I have looked over our supplies list and have a plan—”

  “Wait.” Cressida stepped free of her husband and held up her hand to both androids. “You said the Faction monitors these with drones.”

  “Yeah, they don’t like it when ships disappear without explanation,” her husband said.

  “Won’t the Undovan warship know what we’ve done and come after us?”

  “But she won’t be able to do anything about it,” Yves said, tempering the interruptions with his signature patience. “Only someone with quantum communication to the Faction’s Central Mainframe could receive the drone’s exit notification in real time and also act on it. The zero class is disconnected. So, she can’t receive information inside the Tube any more than we can.”

  Cressida nodded slowly.

  Watching the trio interested her. If it were just Mercury and Yves, he would tell her what to do and she would do it. He always knew the most logical course of action.

  She, on the other hand, knew the most sensual course of action. One that had been interrupted. And now that they were together again, one that she intended to explore.

  Not because of his thrilling escape from the warships, or the way he rested his rough-edged palms on the screens in his unyielding pursuit of a new rescue, or the way he kept looking at her as though he wanted to eat her up.

  As though he were reading her mind, Yves’ eyes moved to hers. His gaze seemed to smolder, burning off her clothes, exposing her tightening nipples and sudden ache through the silken robe.

  “Cressida’s still got a valid point,” Xan said, drawing Yves’ gaze back to the table. “The warship won’t give up, and neither will the Third Brigade.”

  Mercury spoke. “Isn’t that true whether we do Yves’ plan or not?”

  “Well, yeah. But if the drone disables us, we’re space dust.”

  Yves took a long, deep breath. “In which case, we must disable any drones. This rig has magnet tape?”

  “About a thousand yards. I used it to rescue you guys.” Xan cocked his hip. “The ‘Boomerang Evac.’ Shoot out the open doors, fling a mass of magnet tape at you until something sticks, and drag it all back inside before anyone dies. I would have made my old trainers proud.”

  Cressida smiled and rubbed her husband’s bulging arm.

  Yves studied that small gesture for a long, thoughtful moment. Analyzing human behavior, as usual.

  Did he really understand it? It was so lovely how their little gestures proved how close they were and how in sync, how clearly they loved each other. It was a closeness she imagined having herself someday. One that she, perhaps, could never have with him.

  He met Mercury’s eyes.

  She lifted her chin. Someday, she would have closeness like that with a man who loved her completely for exactly who she was. For now, she would enjoy the man she had for exactly who he was, and not cry over what could or could not be.

  Yves tapped the map to zoom in to the elbow, displaying the projected space. “We’ll hook the buoy with the magnet tape. Our masses are roughly equivalent. We may pull it out of alignment, but not so far that it causes a problem for the innocent people behind us.”

  She knew he said that for her, and it warmed her inside.

  Xan studied the diagrams. “It’ll slow us down.”

  “Exactly. We can’t outrun the warship even at our fastest speed.” Yves tilted his head. “If they follow us slowly, or if we fail to hook the buoy, we are, as you said earlier, fucked.”

  Xan straightened. “Good enough for this soldier. I’ll prep the magnet tape.”

  “I’ll read up on the hubs we could reach after we exit.” Cressida slid into the captain’s chair and tapped the screens.

  Yves turned toward Mercury like a drone sighting its target. She shivered in anticipation.

  “Hey.” Xan put a hand on Yves’ chest. “I could use some help with positioning. Where are you going?”

  An extra microsecond passed, as though Yves were considering his answers. A muscle in his jaw twitched, and he finally said, “I’m conducting research. With Mercury.”

  The others looked over.

  “I’m going to test the reprocessors.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the kitchen. “Maybe with coconut macaroons.”

  “Coconut macaroons?” Cressida jumped out of her seat. “Like Aris used to make?”

  Sweet nostalgia moved her heart. “As best I can without him to oversee me.”

  Cressida clasped Xan’s hand. “Finally, you’ll get the true taste, the one I’m always telling you about.”

  “And then you’ll be real members of the Secret Summertime Brunch Bunch,” Mercury said.

  Tears sprang to Cressida’s eyes. She laughed and wiped them away. “I’d forgotten, but that is what we called it.”

  Xan threaded his fingers through his wife’s. “That would be great.”

  “And maybe some plum tea.” Cressida stretched and sighed. “Good idea. I could really use a break. And maybe a backrub.”

  Xan rubbed his wide hands across her shoulders. “We’ve got two hours until we hit the last elbow.”

  “Okay. You prep the shot; Yves will do his research. I’ll review the intelligence we have, and Mercury will handle our last meal.”

  Mercury hugged Cressida’s nervous body, striving to reassure her with good cheer. “You mean, our first meal.”

  Cressida softened and tucked Mercury’s free-floating locks behind her ear, smoothing her pretty face. “First of many.”

  “Exactly.” She hugged her older sister tight. “We’re all together now. Everything will work out because we’re no longer children working alone. We’re fully capable adults—”

  “And androids,” Xan interjected.

  “—working together.” Mercury released her sister to Xan’s capable hands and headed for the door.

  Cressida returned to her seat and tapped in the “news” commands.

  Yves paused in the doorway. “Don’t listen to those messages. You don’t know what’s embedded in there. Kill codes, executable files, engine-killing programs.”

  The captain frowned at her hands.

  “We’ll be busy with other things,” Xan promised, raising his brows knowingly. He flashed them both teeth and disappeared back into the room. The door closed and locked.

  Whew. Her sister was a lucky girl, but she had done plenty to deserve it.

  Mercury glanced at Yves, who was frowning at the door, and wondered if someday, maybe, she would get as lucky. Not with this android, who only used her to discover the limits of his sexuality, but with a real, true love of her own. Someone who could finally love her the way she needed to be loved, with body, heart, and soul.

  Not an android, who had a brain only. No matter how sexy he made her feel when he used it.

  Mercury turned away.

  Yves fell into step beside her. “Food was a good suggestion.”

  She warmed to him against her will. “Thanks. Um, my sister’s not usually the type to get so stressed.”

  “There’s nothing worse than facing an unknown enemy without all the variables. She loves you and is terrified she’ll make a mistake and something will happen to you.”

  “No way.” Mercury stopped in the middle of the lush hallway and faced Yves. “I feel the same way.”

  His eyes glinted behind his green oculars. “Then”—he took her hand and slid his fingers between her sensitive digits—“let’s do something to relieve the stress.”

  Her mouth went dry. “You have something in mind?”

  His cryptic smile flushed more heat through her. “I seem to remember a promise made by a beautiful woman only a few short hours ago. Something about being ready to become a study partner in romance.”

  “I may have said something like that.” Her breath left her. “Um, what about refreshments? Cressida and Xa
n are expecting them.”

  “My specialty is calculating how to do multiple things at once. So.” He slid his fingers through hers and tugged her forward. “Let’s see how creative you can get in the kitchen.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Mercury followed Yves through her sister’s luxury cruiser, excitement tingling her nerves with every wealth-bathed step.

  Unlike her sister, who had earned this cruiser and tamed a rough soldier with her beautiful refinement, Mercury had no way to entice the gorgeous, cold analyst. Nothing but her hot desire to be his research partner, and that would only last until he got her out of his system.

  Which they were about to do. Oh, she almost rubbed her hands together. She was going to do all the research.

  But a small voice wondered, deep down under the anticipation, if it couldn’t be different. If she were a little smarter or more capable, like Cressida, maybe he already would have developed feelings for her.

  “Don’t compare yourself with your sister,” Yves said quietly.

  Her startled feeling melted into chagrin. “Are you sure you’re not reading my mind?”

  He slowed and turned to her. Retracting his oculars, he faced her with gentle eyes and lifted one finger to stroke her cheek. “I told you, I don’t need to. You leave your vulnerabilities on your face.”

  She looked away from his honesty and tried to rub the unworthy emotions he must be seeing—jealousy, envy, sadness—from her mouth. “Sorry.”

  “You know, despite the differences, you and your sister are much alike.”

  “Well, we are sisters.”

  “More than biological similarities.” He lifted her chin so she couldn’t hide. “You both feel the same guilt. And you’re both trying so hard to make it right.”

  A familiar lump bobbed in her throat. She waved away the intensity of her feelings. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll give you that.”

  “But?”

  But Cressida would make men beg to enter her bed and cry when they left it, although she would always be too composed and gentle to make a man actually cry.

  “But I’m your research partner.” And she was going to enjoy it for all it was worth. She grabbed Yves’ hand. “Let’s do this.”

  “I would never ask your sister to be my research partner,” he allowed, cementing her worst fears. “Even contemplating such a request from her now husband would make her crumble. She isn’t strong like you, Mercury.”

  She laughed. “I’m not strong.”

  “You are strong. And fair and fiery and loyal and kind and far too generous.” He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “And that’s why you gave even a cold-hearted, manipulative, emotionless robot like me a second glance. That’s why you didn’t abandon me in the garbage frigate for my heartless request. That’s why, even though it’s breaking you, you’re going to go through with it.”

  She searched his face for the truth. But honest as he bared himself, everything remained hidden. “Why are you saying this to me?”

  “Because I can’t seem to reach you any other way but head on.” He sighed, irritated with her. “No, I saw that, and I’m not irritated with you.”

  “I can see you are,” she countered, crossing her arms.

  “I am, but not for the reasons you think.” He shook her elbow, loosening her grip. “Have confidence in yourself. All right? You are beautiful and sexy and just as deserving of everything as your sister. Your talents are different, but no worse. Okay? Say you agree with me.”

  “I agree with you,” she said, lifting her chin, “because you’re right. I am deserving of everything Cressida has, and I’ll have it someday. But you’re wrong about some things too.”

  He frowned. He hated thinking he was wrong; he just loved to tell her he was always right. But nobody was always right. Nobody.

  “You’re right that I have a little fantasy that you’ll sleep with me and develop real feelings.”

  “I’m not capable of that.”

  She dismissed his words. True or not, they sounded fake, and that was good enough for her. “But I don’t even care if you do. You know why?”

  That surprised him. “You don’t care?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t care if you never love me.”

  His frown deepened. “You don’t mean that.”

  “Yep. And there’s more.” She tapped him on his sexy chest. “The day you leave, it will hurt. I’ll probably swear at you and cry. I’ll ask you not to go. You will anyway, and I’ll hate you and myself, and I’ll eat everything I can find and want to die.”

  He untangled her fingers and squeezed. “Mercury—”

  “And then I will get over you.”

  He stopped.

  She knew tears were glistening in her eyes, felt the moisture warbling in her throat, and swallowed. “I will move on. I’ll get smarter. I’ll be stronger. And I will meet someone who is capable of love, and then I will be fine. Nobody ever died of a broken heart, and a few sad days is just the beginning of the next adventure. Okay?”

  He studied her deeply, the gorgeous soul-searching analysis that stole her breath, heated her, and promised that he saw through all of her promises straight to her core.

  But this was her core belief. Heartbreaks weren’t the end of the world. Looking before you leapt gave the most incredible rush. She wanted to live before she died.

  He reached out and stroked her cheek. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself like this.”

  She blew him a raspberry. “Says the robot who propositioned me because of proximity.”

  “I propositioned you for a reason. And it wasn’t proximity.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  “You are at your best when you have faith in yourself.” He forced his sincerity to reach her; she saw how he struggled to make himself clear. “Even an emotionless analyst like me finds you irresistible.”

  Well, so, once again, he forced her to leave the numb comfort of helplessness and instead face her dynamic, capable womanly side too. In some arenas, anyway.

  She shrugged. “I’m using you for your body too.”

  He blinked.

  She loved having the upper hand, and she kept a good grip on it now that she was riding high. “You know, I wish you felt the same about my cooking skills as you do about the rest of me.”

  “I’m sure you’re a great chef,” he said dryly. “My purview is the truth, not wishful thinking.”

  The challenge sparked her. “Luckily my purview is sensuality. And that’s what you need to experience, isn’t it?”

  He reacted to her renewed confidence with a sexy quirk of his kissable lips and an arrogant brow raise. “Sensuality and stomach don’t exactly taste good in the same sentence.”

  “That’s because you have more than sex yet to experience.” She strode into the richly appointed room like a queen into her new kingdom. Tropical plants, real and imagined, clung to ornate gold lattices framing the windows at the spacious edge of an oceanic horizon. “Let me introduce you to the romance of food.”

  “I assume you’re referring to the pseudoscience of aphrodisiacs.”

  “Oh, it’s based in science. Chemistry, to be exact.” She trailed her fingertips over the slick machines, casting her gaze demurely over her shoulder. “Want a taste?”

  His pale cheeks tinged red. “Of the food or you?”

  “Good question.” She licked her lips slowly, loving the way his eyes were riveted to her seduction. “Sit down.”

  He obeyed, sliding into the plush leather dining seats with his arms on the rests.

  She moved to the specialized food reprocessor and punched in her ingredients. “Aphrodisiacs create desire in two ways.”

  “Placebos.” He folded his hands and crossed a leg over one knee like a university professor attempting not to reveal an erection to his doctoral students. “Their efficacy is all in your mind.”

  “A chain reaction begins with a stimulus.” She carried the tray to Yves, kneeling before him. “Such as your
hot body or searingly sexy intelligence.”

  He uncrossed his legs, careful of her, and rested both heels on the ground. “You find my mind attractive?”

  “Absolutely.”

  He shifted in his seat.

  She smiled. Discomforting him was so much fun. “Turn all your hard analytical prowess on this little confection.”

  Mercury filled a cherry-glass cordial vial with cucumber liquor, and dusted the clear liquor with bitter black licorice flakes and a pinch of pure cocoa. The ingredients reacted, producing a heady wisp of flavorful tobacco smoke straight from the boardroom of an Empire-Builder.

  She held the vial to his nose. “Smell. Taste. Feel.”

  He took a deep breath and reached for the vial.

  She lifted it out of his reach. “Take off your oculars and try again.”

  He did so, chest rising and falling.

  “Close your eyes. Now, what do you sense?”

  “Do you want the nutritional information or the ingredient breakdown?”

  “You know how to stoke my oven.”

  He opened his eyes. “I’m constructed to analyze, not to feel.”

  “I think you can do both. Listen to my science.” She rubbed his iron-hard thigh. “The scents of cucumber and licorice increase blood flow, simulating arousal. Chocolate contains the same yummy chemicals released when I’m feeling passionate. Like the alcohol, exotic glass, and the expensive tobacco scent, it increases my suggestibility to experience pleasure.”

  His nostrils flared and his lips parted, revealing a row of perfect teeth. “Is that what they’re teaching in school these days?”

  “I chose aphrodisiacs as an elective.”

  “Is it working?”

  “Let me see.” The carved glass caressed her lips as the fiery liquid rolled down her throat, warming her like a man’s caress. She set the empty glass on the tray with a clink. Her voice felt throaty as a gorgeous lounge singer’s. “What do you think?”

  His casual swallow sounded loud in the quiet room. “That’s very interesting. But it affects you, not me.”

  “Doesn’t it affect you?” She mixed a second shot and waved it beneath his escalated breathing, the red spots on his cheeks stained dark. “You’ll never be able to smell this combination again without remembering you were right here, in this chair, with me about to strip naked and climb on your lap.”