“Is she alright?” Harlan pressed, hoping she hadn’t gotten hurt.
“She’s fine but worried,” he said. “She’s been very brave. Your heart would have burst with pride if you’d seen her in battle. She was fearless. What a fucking marvel.”
Gavin’s lips touched the tender flesh of her throat and Harlan felt a few tears of relief escape her eyes. She sniffled. “I’d like to see her,” Harlan said.
Without a word of argument, Gavin got up and stalked out of the tent. Harlan’s eyes were growing accustomed to the dark and beyond the tent’s raised flap she could see the three moons high in the sky. Because of their distances from AEssyria they were all different sizes: one large; another smaller, and a tiny one half a million miles farther than the other two. She tried to remember their names but drew a blank.
Gypsy ducked into the tent and rushed into her mother’s arms. They stayed that way for a few minutes, hugging tightly. “I was so worried about you. Are you doing okay?” Gypsy asked, leaning back to eye Harlan up and down.
Harlan nodded. “Better I think.”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” Gypsy said with that cocky smile of hers. “We’ll have you back home soon. We’ve been making great time.” Gypsy glanced back at Gavin who’d come in. Gypsy and her father exchanged a strange look that piqued Harlan’s curiosity. I can’t wait to hear the stories that surrounded this rescue mission. There must be quite a few of them.
“I’ll see you in a few hours, Mom,” Gypsy said as she stood up. Then she slipped past Gavin and disappeared into the dark.
Gavin helped Harlan sit up and gave her some dried meat and a cup of water. At first, Harlan was going to refuse, thinking she wasn’t that hungry, but once the food touched her tongue, her appetite tore into her and she gulped down everything in seconds. The fog that had been muddying her thoughts lifted. Suddenly she was very tired and let herself sink back into the inviting comfort of the blankets. Gavin’s rich scent was everywhere and it reminded her of home and safety.
“I knew you’d come for me,” she whispered as the velvet blanket of sleep wrapped itself around her.
A deep, rumbling chuckle drummed lightly in her ears. “As if there was any doubt. I love you like my life, Harlan,” he said, curling up next to her.
Harlan smiled and patted his cheek sleepily. “I know, Gavin. I tried to tell them you would come for me but they wouldn’t listen.”
Chapter 33
When they reached the city gates, Scarlet thought she was going to weep for joy. They rode up to the posted guards who stared at Gavin with Harlan sitting across the front of his hyperia like they’d finally seen a miracle. Falling all over themselves, they opened the huge metal doors and stood back, their heads bowed in respect. Gavin reached behind his saddle and tossed a canvas bag to Gypsy. With a sadistic grin, she caught it, rode over to a wooden pike sticking up out of the ground and removed the bag’s grisly contents. Pulling Sulla’s decomposing head from the bag, Gypsy slammed it down onto the pike as both a symbol of triumph and a warning to anyone else planning to kidnap the general’s wife. Scarlet found the whole thing barbarically gruesome, she even saw Harlan crinkle her nose as they passed.
They rode through the city toward the clinic at a leisurely pace. It would seem to anyone watching that Gavin was gloating, showing off, but Scarlet knew different. Not only had the ride back exhausted what little strength Harlan had left, but Gavin’s back was deteriorating again and he was miserable. But, despite his pain, he dismounted gracefully and carried Harlan into the clinic to a waiting Doctor Krull.
Scarlet gave Krull a quick summary of all that Harlan had been through, but halfway through her rambling story he touched her arm and said, “You’re very tired, Doctor Jonson. Why don’t you go home and get some sleep? I’ll take care of Harlan.”
Without another word, Scarlet stepped out to the reception desk and headed toward the front doors where Desmond was waiting for her. He had told her that he was so exhausted that if he dismounted he wasn’t sure if he would be able to get back on so he elected just to stay put and wait for her. As her hand pushed on the exterior door to freedom one of the field medics who’d been helping Krull intercepted her. “I’m sorry, Doctor Jonson, but the general has gone into room one and will only see you,” he said.
* * * *
Harlan lay back on the bed while Krull examined her. She watched as he ran the handheld scanner up and down her lower leg, occasionally glancing back at the wall monitor that displayed an internal picture of all the damage. With his free hand he was methodically writing notes in her chart that was laid out on the free standing tray. Gypsy came into the room, ducked under Krull’s arm and climbed on the edge of Harlan’s bed, scowling at the picture on the monitor. Krull glared at the intrusion. “Stop moving the bed. You are disrupting the signal.”
As was her daughter’s usual reaction to his admonishments she ignored him and turned toward Harlan. “I’m no doctor but that looks pretty damn awful.” She grinned. “At least you look happily medicated.”
Harlan stroked Gypsy’s forearm and nodded. “I’m not in any pain. Just really tired. Where’s Gavin?”
Gypsy looked down, shrugged and stiffened, her hands finding a loose thread on the bottom of her tunic that she began wrapping around her index finger. A sure sign that they were approaching an uncomfortable subject. Harlan sighed and placed her hands on Gypsy’s to still the nervous laboring of her fingers. Gypsy frowned deeply and looked back up at her.
“Oh, Mom. He’ll kill me for this. But his back is really, really bad. He’s been a total wreck, forcing Doctor Jonson to give him huge quantities of pain meds. She even had to put him in hibernation because he couldn’t ride anymore without stopping to vomit. I saw his back myself, it was black and purple and the swelling was so bad you could barely see the vertebrae. I think he’s in pretty bad shape from the ride home because I heard a medic tell Doctor Jonson that he’s waiting for her in room one.”
The corners of Harlan’s mouth twitched into a painful line and her eyes squished shut as she pushed herself into a sitting position. Waving Krull away from her, she said, “Get me a brace and some crutches.”
Gypsy and Krull exchanged glances. “Harlan, I don’t need to tell you how important it is for you to stay immobile. I will check on your husband.”
“No. I don’t need you to tell me anything. I’ve been moving around since I got this damn injury and a few more minutes of mobility is not going to make a shit of difference. Gavin is not going to listen to anyone but me because I still have the element of guilt to hold over his head. Now get me the damn brace and crutches before he weasels anymore pain medication out of Scarlet.”
* * * *
Warily Scarlet came into room one and closed the door behind her.
“Lock it,” Gavin ordered.
Turning back toward the door she twisted the metal latch and threw her hands up. She resented his attempt to guard his injury. He was in a medical facility for heaven’s sake. No one was going to judge him here.
Gavin was lying on the exam table on his belly, his back so purple and swollen she almost ordered him to stay overnight. Too bad he’d never agree. She ran a filthy hand across the drying sweat on her forehead. “What do you want me to do for you?” she asked.
“Put me in hibernation again,” he said. He sounded grim and harsh, the agony twisting his voice into something she barely recognized.
“I can’t do that, General,” she said. “It’s too soon.”
“Give me some fucking pain meds then,” he barked.
Scarlet went over to the sink and washed her hands carefully. She was so tired she thought she was going to pass out. Someone tried the room’s handle, then, finding it locked, knocked several times.
“Open up,” Harlan said through the door.
Gavin twisted on the table and gritted his teeth from the sudden pain. “Don’t let her in!”
“Scarlet?” Harlan said with the no-nonsense tone of a susp
icious parent. “Open this door right now. I don’t care what Gavin says. This is my clinic and if I have to hobble down the hall to my office for the key I’m really going to be pissed.”
Scarlet shrugged at Gavin like she was helpless in this matter and quickly went to the door and let Harlan in. Harlan limped in with a lightweight, hinged brace on her leg, followed by Krull. They both froze when they saw Gavin’s back.
Gavin glared at Scarlet but she just grinned at him. Take that, you fucking asshole. Now your wife knows all about your dirty little secret.
Harlan approached Gavin and he laid back on the table in a gesture of surrender. “Holy crap,” Harlan gasped as she gingerly touched the swollen areas. “How long has he been like this?” she asked, looking toward Scarlet.
“He started having problems five minutes after we left the empire,” Scarlet said.
“Stop fucking exaggerating,” Gavin said.
“I’m sure she’s right because that’s what everyone else has been telling me,” Harlan said to Gavin.
Harlan turned to Krull. “Is there anything we can do here?”
Krull shook his head and moved over to Gavin. He pointed at two vertebra that were bruised so badly they were colored red and black. “These are ruptured. It will require surgery. It’s a very intricate procedure and should only be attempted by a specialist. The Kirillian medical tender has an orthopedic surgeon on staff. I know him and he’s the best.”
“I’m not going on any Kirillian medical tender,” Gavin grumbled.
“Stop talking,” Harlan said to him. “This has gone on long enough. You’re going to have surgery, Gavin, or you’ll lose the ability to walk, among other things.” She glanced down at his groin for emphasis.
Gavin brooded silently.
“Can you make an appointment for him?” Harlan asked Krull.
“I’d be happy to,” he replied. “I’ll make one for you as well. I can do preliminary repairs to your leg here. But since the tender will be making the trip for him you may as well have the surgeon restructure your leg on the same pass. By the time he’s finished your leg won’t show any signs of ever having been injured.”
“When all of you are done chatting, can someone please give me something for my fucking back?” Gavin roared.
Krull gently touched the puffy tissue around the damaged disks. “We’ll have to drain this fluid before we give him an anti-inflammatory.” After washing his hands and putting on gloves, he came over with an empty syringe and uncapped the needle.
“What the fuck is he going to do with that?” Gavin tried to turn over but the pain stopped him and he laid still. As Krull inserted the needle into Gavin’s back he went rigid, ground his teeth together, and promptly passed out.
Krull continued to pull a huge vial of serosanguineous fluid from the vertebral pockets. Harlan frowned and shook her head.
Scarlet shook her head in unison then headed for the door. “You both don’t need me here for this. I’m going home to pass out.”
Harlan looked up as if she’d forgotten Scarlet was in the room. “Thanks, Scarlet, thanks for everything. I’m sorry you got stuck taking care of him. He can be a difficult patient under the best of circumstances and I am truly grateful.”
Scarlet smiled at her. She opened the door and paused, staring down at Gavin. Tilting her head to the side, she said, “I like him so much better like this. Can’t we keep him passed out until the surgery?”
Harlan grinned and rubbed the back of her neck. “I wish.”
Chapter 34
Scarlet lay in bed curled up in Desmond’s arms grateful to be clean, warm and in her own bed. There was just one thing troubling her: the thought that Gavin was telling Harlan about her past, working for that horrible Kirillian doctor. Studying Desmond’s face, she wondered if he’d be sorry to see her go if she got fired. She ran her fingers through his thick mane and her heart ached with passion. Unable to sleep, she nudged him awake.
“Desmond,” she said, sitting up in bed and looking down at him. “Do you think Gavin’s going to tell Harlan about my past like he threatened?”
Desmond frowned and rubbed his face. He stared at her. “What?” he said, annoyed.
“Do you think Gavin is going to get me fired?”
He stared at her for a long time. Then he twisted a lock of her red hair around his index finger, curling it, and then almost as a punishment for disturbing him gave it a gentle tug. “No.”
“But he said—”
“Gavin says a lot of things. In fact, he rarely shuts up. Forget it. You’re fine,” Desmond said, closing his eyes again.
“If he did, would you be sorry to see me go?” she asked. Her mouth went paper dry. A sudden terror filled her with what he might say.
Desmond squinted at her as if something was paining him. “What?”
“Would you be upset if I left here forever?” she slowly enunciated each word.
“Sure,” he said and closed his eyes again, pulling her back down.
“That’s it,” she said, feeling slighted. “Sure?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have any feelings for me, or am I just a good fuck?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Scarlet sat up again and pushed him off her. “Stop that!”
Desmond sat up propping himself up on the headboard. “Stop what? I’m saying yes. What do you want me to say instead?”
Scarlet was miserable. Why do I keep thinking this is something more than just sex? I’m just banging my head against a wall here. “I don’t know,” she said truthfully.
“Well then can we go back to sleep?”
“In a minute,” she said. “There’s something I have to tell you because I have to get it out.”
“Okay,” he said guarded.
Scarlet took a deep breath. “I am madly in love with you, Desmond. Now I know what you’re going to say, that we haven’t been together long enough for me to be in love with you. But I want you to know that I’ve given this a lot of thought, especially after that horrible mission with Gavin, and I know exactly how I feel. I’m definitely in love with you and I hope we can have a future together, but if you don’t want that maybe you should stop seeing me.” She sat there stiffly as if she’d just confessed to a multiple murder. The shadows in the room grew slightly longer as the three moons rose higher in the night sky.
Desmond reached for her in the inky darkness and pulled her closer to him. He kissed her with a warm intensity, his big, warm hands roaming all over her body. She wanted to ask him what he thought about what she just said but he didn’t let her come up for air. Instead he used his weight to push her down on the mattress, his mouth mauling kisses along her throat until she whimpered with pleasure. He was bolder this time than others, peeling off her t-shirt and panties and tossing them to the floor. Scarlet was drugged by his lust, losing herself in the decadent luxury of his masculine weight. Desperate, she opened her legs and invited him inside her pussy.
He penetrated her, claiming her with a wild, demanding passion that left her more confused than ever, and even after they’d both climaxed, he kept his cock buried inside her until she heard the soft rhythmic breaths of sleep coming from him. But just before she drifted off herself, he whispered, “I love you too, baby.”
Epilogue
Harlan walked into her bedroom only to see her husband’s suitcase lying empty on the king-size bed. She clenched her teeth and took a deep, calming breath. “Gavin?” she called, poking her head into the bathroom. “Where are you?” The bathroom was empty but his dark blue towel was lying on the sink still wet. He was somewhere nearby. She rehearsed a lecture in her head on how his stalling was going to make them late to the Kirillian shuttle. Harlan stopped her search in the middle of the living room. “Gavin, where are you? We’re going to be late.”
“I’m here, darling,” he said. His rich baritone came from the courtyard.
She came out and spotted her husband pacing in circles slowly and smoking a
cigar. He was dressed only in his black uniform pants and heavy black boots, his long black hair hung loose over his shoulders and back. His spine looked sore and swollen. She felt a moment of pity for him. It couldn’t be easy for a general to deal with such a weakness.
“I thought you were packing,” she said.
“I was. I just needed a smoke.”
“Well, I hate to rush you but we need to be ready in twenty minutes. If you don’t finish packing, I’ll have to do it for you.”
Gavin crushed out his cigar and came over to her. Towering over her, he placed a hand under her chin and gave her a gentle kiss. He didn’t need to tell her how worried he was that this surgery might not work, she knew. But they were out of options, he had to have it or he would end up a cripple in the next few years.
“Do you love me?” he asked.
Harlan stroked his face and stared up into his beautiful golden eyes. Love didn’t even do justice to what she felt for him. “You know I do.”
“Would you love me even if I couldn’t walk anymore?”
“I would love you no matter what,” she said as her stomach tightened. She hated to see him this upset.
“I’d never allow myself to live like that,” he said grimly. “If it came down to it, I’d…I’m not sure what I would do.”
Harlan took a step back from him. “I’m not going to listen to anymore of this nonsense. Doctor Krull recommended this surgeon by name and I’m confident he’ll be able to help you. I know you’re used to being in charge but you have to let go this time and trust that everything will be alright. Just promise me you’ll try.”
A loud knock sounded on the front door and they heard Gypsy calling to them. Gavin stroked Harlan’s hair. “I’ll do my best.”
“We’re in here,” Harlan called to her daughter.
Gypsy came out to join them. She looked fit and lean in her black uniform. Gavin eyed her up and down. “Feeling better I trust?” he asked.
Gypsy nodded. “Yeah.”
“You did a fine job on campaign. You’ll be a great officer someday.”
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