My Man Michael

by Lori Foster

  She welcomed Hauk as a grand distraction. “Thank you, Hauk. You may present them.”

  “How gracious of you, Kayli.” They appeared, folded, on the tabletop.

  “Hauk,” she warned. “I am in no mood for your dictatorial attitude—”

  “Now, children.” Mallet laughed as he scooped up the clothing to examine it. He found a dark T-shirt, jeans—minus some of the rivets—odd underclothing, and brand-new low boots. They’d do. “Let’s try to get along, why don’t we?”

  Hauk ignored that to ask, “Shall I put them on you, or would you prefer to bathe first?”

  “No one is dressing me but me. And yeah, I’d like to shower first, thanks. With my wreck, it’s been a while since I got to stand under hot water and scrub up real good.”

  No one replied to that, so he looked at Kayli. “I assume I have a room for that sort of thing?”

  “Your own suite has been prepared, but—”

  “With my preferences, right? Great. I’ll go there now, and give you a break from my company.”

  “But how can you leave now? We have a lot more to discuss, most especially that cryptic comment about issues not yet revealed to me.”

  “We’ll get to all that tomorrow morning.” Deliberately dismissing her, he said, “Now Hauk, if you’ll just guide me, I’ll walk. No poofing me around, okay?”

  “Suit yourself, but it’s a long jaunt.”

  “Perfect. It’ll give me time to think.” With the clothing tucked under his arm, he headed for the door.

  Appearing dumbfounded, Kayli rushed after him. “Think about what?”

  Looking over his shoulder, Mallet winked at her. “Kisses, virgins, and sacrifices. What else?”

  CHAPTER 6

  BEYOND agitated, Raemay rushed through her chambers. Her hair, long and dark, fell loose from the feminine clips that had kept it atop her head.

  So like her other daughters.

  So different from Kayli. His daughter.

  No, she wouldn’t think it. She wouldn’t consider it.

  They needed the stranger here, she understood that, but he threatened everything.

  Everything.

  In the common room, she spoke into her digital telecom, summoning both her daughters. “Make haste,” she ordered.

  Given her state of near panic, Raemay would have liked to telecommute to them, but her computer didn’t have the same far-reaching capabilities of Hauk, a fact that nettled like a gnarled weed. She could request, at any time, that Hauk take her to Kayli, but not to anyone else, because ultimately, Kayli had control.

  She was Arbiter, the leader of the council.

  She was the one all others looked to.

  Yet her daughter had the most powerful system of control in their entire colony. When the rest of the council had named it so, how was she to dispute the necessity of the defense system?

  She could not.

  Only she saw the ludicrousness of it. They’d had little enough use for defenses—until now.

  Her pulse raced until she felt light-headed. “Oh heavens, where are those girls?”

  Within minutes, twenty-year-old Idola and eighteen-year-old Mesha rushed through the door.

  Dressed in a froth of gossamer fabrics and ribbons, her hair curled and her lips rouged, Idola led the way. “Mother, what is it?”

  Right behind her, hair tied up with bows and misted with a light, sweet fragrance, Mesha asked, “Are you all right?”

  Raemay waved off their concerns. “Tomorrow you will meet the stranger.” Too frantic to remain still, she paced as she spoke. “He is a giant of a man, but you won’t be timid, do you understand? Don’t let his size and overbearing manners deter you. You are both beautiful. Very beautiful.”

  With their long dark hair and pale blue eyes, skin like porcelain and lush figures, they should be all a man would want—especially given their connection to the council and the power that came with being in the hierarchy.

  But … Raemay closed her eyes and put a fist to her heart. She knew, oh how she knew, the appeal of fair hair and golden eyes.

  “Mother?”

  Collecting herself, Raemay said, “I’m arranging a private audience with each of you before the other females present themselves. It is imperative that one of you win him over.”

  Slightly rebellious, yet at the same time more than a little tentative, Mesha asked, “Which of us?”

  “Either of you!” Regretting the outburst, which caused each of her frail daughters to quail, Raemay rubbed her forehead. “Either of you would suit. But one of you must. Must. Do you understand?”

  Idola touched her mother’s shoulder. “Shh, now Mother. It will be all right. I will see to it. He’ll find no fault with me, I promise you.”

  Poor, misguided Idola. She discounted Kayli without a thought. But then, Raemay had discounted her as well until she saw the way the stranger looked at her oldest daughter, a look she recognized only too well.

  The thought sent a shudder down her spine. Raemay didn’t know if it was disgust … or yearning.

  “It must be more than that.” She grabbed Idola’s hands, squeezing for emphasis. “He must want you more than any other.” He had to want her more than he’d want her fair-haired, golden eyed daughter.

  “Mother!” Scandalized, Mesha went pink in the cheeks and lowered her tone to a breathy whisper. “Do you suggest we tempt him?”

  “Yes! Yes, you must tempt him. In every manner that you can.” Drawing in a calming breath, Raemay forced a smile for her offspring. “And after you win him over, he will take you in union and your life, our lives, will be set—as should be.”

  Raemay watched as the two sisters looked at each other and smiled. Neither of them gave Kayli a thought, not in terms of tempting, not in terms of a union.

  Kayli wasn’t competition for them; most times, they barely accounted her as a woman. Unfortunately, Michael Manchester saw Kayli as exactly that—a woman—and not much else.

  Raemay had raised foolish children. She herself had been foolish. And selfish.

  Now she’d have to do her utmost to manipulate things to her advantage. If the stranger had to stay—and she supposed he must—then she needed an alliance with him.

  And not through Kayli.

  Never that.

  She couldn’t chance it.

  “THE mother plots.”

  Striding along, examining the massive spaceship as he went, Mallet gradually got used to the idea that he’d been teleported into the future, and into a very unpredictable situation.

  Maybe it was his lack of roots, or maybe it was his gut reaction to Kayli, but all in all, none of it shook him up as much as it probably should have. He had his body back. He had a purpose here. And he had Kayli.

  As package deals went, it wasn’t bad.

  “The mother, huh?” The floor grid felt strange beneath his feet—not iron, but not cushioned, either. Hauk hadn’t exaggerated about the length of their journey to get to his room. Kayli had one hell of a vessel. “I take it you mean Raemay?”

  “Yes.”

  That didn’t surprise him. One look at the woman and he’d recognized her as a schemer, a manipulator. Some women just screamed trouble, and not the “fun to overcome” type, either, like Kayli. No, Raemay was mean-spirited, not multilayered or defensively independent like her adorable daughter. She wasn’t staunch in her determination to assist others. She wanted only to help herself.

  “So who’s she plotting against? Me?”

  “In part, yes. But mostly she conspires against Kayli.”

  An instinctive surge of anger stopped Mallet dead in his tracks. To his left was a series of rooms, all doors closed. To his right, the windows showed a sun setting over strange, beautiful lands. “You better explain that.”

  “I would give you some history, if you’re open to it.”

  Fuck history. He had a more pertinent concern. “Is Kayli in any danger?”

  “Right now, no. At this moment, she frets, conc
erned only with you.”

  “Frets? How so?”

  “She doesn’t understand you or her reaction to you.”

  “Ah.” Nice. He wondered what conclusions the little virgin would come to. Just thinking of her innocence turned him on. Mega turned him on. He knew he’d have her. Eventually. But he didn’t want to rush things too much. “I’ve put her in a tailspin, huh?”

  “Yes. More than you realize, most likely.”

  “Then by all means, Hauk. Educate me.” Anything and everything about Kayli fascinated him, most especially her indescribable scent. Every time he got close to her, his insides clenched with desire. The smell of her hair and skin made him nuts.

  And that was novel to him. He’d wanted women before, but not on such a gut-grinding level.

  He also enjoyed her inner strength that seemed so at odds with her gentleness and caring. She was a complex woman, and he’d enjoy learning all the facets to her personality.

  One of the doors opened and a man walked out. He looked startled to see Mallet, but he didn’t linger. After a nod of welcome, he went on his way.

  “An AMA?”

  “Yes. Currently you are the only human male on the vessel. That one, Denay, has the duty of supervising maintenance of the interior whenever we’re moored.” Hauk sniffed in disdain. “He’ll report to Kayli that all is well, of course, otherwise I would have notified her of any malfunction myself.”

  “You’re a real hands-on kind of supercomputer, huh?”

  “I live here so yes, I like to keep account of all functions.”

  Mallet liked the idea of Kayli having a power like Hauk to look after her. “Do you only live here? On the ship I mean.”

  “I have the ability to go where Kayli goes—unless she blocks me, something she does on occasion when she wants her privacy.”

  “Privacy for what?” Mallet hoped it wasn’t time to spend with another man.

  “Thinking. Brooding.” With a verbal shrug in his tone, Hauk said, “Like all humans, she sometimes likes to be alone. But it’s rare because she needs an open channel with me to be alerted of any difficulties, either with the ship or the people of her colony.”

  “What about the warring colony? Can you go there?”

  “No. Their coordinates have never been configured into my system. Someone needs to go there first, to set the location, and then return the data to me. Thus far, anyone who has gone has not returned.”

  “Hmmm.” Another thought occurred to Mallet. “Are the humanoid robots capable of transmitting data?”

  “If programmed to do so, yes.”

  Little by little, the pieces of a plan came together. Mallet started walking again. “Would you be able to follow a person there? You know, like lock a beacon onto her or something?”

  “If Kayli deemed it.” Hauk missed Mallet’s meaning to boast, “Kayli needs only me for most every task, but she does like the interaction with her many AMAs.”

  “Great.” A twinge of jealousy added an edge to Mallet’s tone. After all, Kayli’s AMAs all shared a storybook handsomeness. No cauliflower ears, scars, or broken noses for them. That was enough on that. “Now what were you saying about Mommy Dearest?”

  As if he guessed at Mallet’s mood, Hauk snickered before continuing. “The mother has always adjudged Kayli a warrior. From the time of her birth, Raemay insisted on burdening Kayli with a deep sense of responsibility toward the colony. Kayli matured thinking it was her own inclination, when in fact, the mother fostered it bone deep.”

  So it wasn’t Kayli’s destiny or personality as much as her mother’s wishes being fulfilled? “Why would she do that?”

  “It is not for me to say. Yet.” Mallet started to protest but Hauk continued, “I will tell you more after you’ve seen the defense techniques. I believe you’ll take issue with Kayli fighting.”

  “No shit.” Mallet didn’t need the visual to know how he’d feel, because he already felt it in spades. “It’s nuts for her, for any woman, to stand in the front lines of danger.”

  “No, it is simply our way.” Hauk continued to guide him along the corridors. “And moreover, it is important that you not interfere with who she has become.”

  Not who she is, but who she has become—through her mother’s machinations. “A warrior?”

  “Misguided as it may be, it is how she now defines herself, what she knows and respects most about herself.” Hauk all but teemed with glee. “It’s what makes you so appealing to her.”

  Because he felt foolish for talking to air, Mallet understood Kayli’s need for a human form—her AMAs. It would be much easier to have this conversation with Hauk if he had a body. “Do you know for a fact that she finds me appealing?”

  “There are no doubts.”

  Mallet paused to briefly study a narrow passageway. “Where does this lead?”

  “To the dock for small vessels meant for short-term travel.”

  “Like jets or something?”

  “Similar, but our various modes of transportation are all solar-powered.”

  Not surprising. Solar power was gaining popularity even in his time. “What if there’s no sun?”

  “There is always sun or the planets would cease to exist.”

  “No, I meant, what if it’s a cloudy day and the vehicles don’t get enough solar power?”

  “The answer to that is complicated. In the media room, you will see that solar power is not the unwieldy method of your generation. It has been streamlined and defined, concentrated to get much power out of little light. But it should also be noted that we have learned to control the weather.”

  “The hell you say!”

  “Our lands are so perfect because they are nurtured with the right formula of sunshine, rain, temperature changes, and night rest.”

  “All specifically programmed, I guess?” He’d heard a few doozies since coming here, but that took the cake.

  “Indeed. The weather is most predictable now.”

  Sports fans would love that. But with that topic exhausted, Mallet sighed. “Okay, I’ll bite. How do you know that Kayli likes me?”

  Ready to brag, Hauk gleefully explained. “I am Kayli’s closest confidant in all things. She can hide nothing from me.”

  “You can’t be sure.” But Mallet wished for assurances. He’d like to know where he stood with Kayli, if he set her to trembling because of her inexperience or because he frightened her. If she didn’t share his overwhelming need, he’d have to find a way to pull back, to move more slowly with her.

  And given how much he wanted her, going slowly would be damned difficult.

  “I am positive. Along with monitoring the ship, I also monitor every aspect of Kayli’s health. Her pulse rate and body temperature spike whenever you get near. She grows breathless and nervous. She has no allergy to you, so that makes a human attraction accountable for the physical discrepancies.”

  Relieved, and ready to believe, Mallet grinned. “She hides it well.”

  “Not from me.”

  He laughed. “You sure annoyed her plenty with the romance routine during dinner.” She’d looked like a rabbit facing a wolf, even though Mallet hadn’t instigated the ambiance.

  “Not at all. Kayli might suffer temporary annoyance toward me, but she loves me too much to stay angry for long.”

  “Yeah?” Mallet considered Hauk’s role in Kayli’s life. “What does a supercomputer know of love?”

  “I understand love for the emotion it is, and what it engenders in people. But in this instance, it’s more about what I know of Kayli. She petitioned for me when she first took over her duties as head of defense.”

  “At seventeen?” Mallet had a hard time swallowing that. Kayli hadn’t been much more than a kid. At that age, she should’ve been pushing boundaries—not protecting them.

  “She was always mentally and emotionally advanced for her age. Very responsible, very mature. But also, we’d never before been threatened from outside the colony. Most of Kayli’s ear
ly years in defense centered on easily controlled internal disputes between citizens and the occasional petty crime.”

  “So you don’t have much crime here?”

  “Very little. Upon purchase, homes and establishments are wired into my database for safekeeping. Any attempts at breaking and entering are instantaneously routed through my alarm system.”

  Mallet pictured that scenario. “Your systems go on alert, and Kayli goes running?”

  “Yes. I can tell her who is being burgled, and by whom. She never has to go in blind for a conflict.”

  “And she takes backup?”

  “When necessary. She used to thrive on the occasional alarm. She would handle domestic arguments, conflicts over merchandise exchanges, bad tempers flaring and causing a physical fight. Everyone respects her so much that her presence has an immediate calming effect. But that was all before the intruders came.”

  Hauk paused, and it made him seem very human. “We’d become close before she was appointed Claviger. Since then, we are inseparable. Kayli will never give up being a warrior, because to do so would mean giving up me.”

  Well, hell. That could complicate things. “Why are the two tied together?”

  “Kayli obtained me from her mother by convincing the Council Mavens that the head of defense should have control over the most powerful computer system. Raemay fought the edict, but in the end, she knew she chanced alienating council members, and through them, the citizens of the colony, if she didn’t agree.”

  It wasn’t uncommon, Mallet thought, for more than one person to want ultimate control of a group. Given Hauk’s power, he could see two strong-minded women fighting over possession of him. “So mother and daughter have had strife since then?”

  “Raemay has caused strife since the day Kayli was born. It’s as if she feels she must keep an emotional distance between herself and her oldest offspring.”

  Lights blinked on the floor in front of Mallet, and Hauk said abruptly, “This is the entrance to your quarters.”

  He paid no mind to Hauk’s not-so-subtle attempt to change the subject. “Why would Raemay—”

  “We will talk more of that later. One thing at a time, sir.”