Heart of Stone (7 page)

"There's cream and flavorings if you
like."

Rose took a cautious sip of the hot,
strong coffee and closed her eyes, savoring the treat. When she
opened them, he was still watching her.

"It's good. By the way, where's my
laser?"

"Where you can't use it to get into
trouble. Come on."

"I want my weapon back." She scowled at
his back as she followed him out of the kitchen.

"I'll return it when we've boarded.
Come on, woman."

In the vestibule, he donned a greatcoat
and heavy gloves. She bundled into her cloak and pulled her own
gloves from her pocket.

They stepped out into the icy black.
Rose squinted as the bitter wind swirled snow up into her face.
Parked in the open area before the house was a sleek cruiser,
signal lights flashing, cockpit lit up. Heat shimmered from the
rear reactor ports, mingling eerily with the windblown
snow.

She hurried across the expanse of fresh
snow and looked at the steep flight of steps to the cruiser. She
was struggling with her heavy cloak when Masterson simply caught
her around the waist from behind and boosted her up through the air
to the top step. She gasped, caught the railing, barely keeping her
feet under her as she landed in the cockpit.

Masterson stepped in behind her,
slammed the hatch down, locked it with a solid hiss, and nudged her
forward into the small open space behind the pilot's and co-pilot's
seats.

A huge, glittering instrument panel
spread across the lower part of the dash, a sleek aerodynamically
shaped window above it.

In the pilot's seat sat one of the
largest men Rose had ever seen. Long braids were woven into his
wealth of blond hair. He wore several earrings, one of which
connected to his hawk nose with a chain. He was clad in dark
leather. He smiled slowly at her, white teeth flashing.

"Well, well, who we got here?" he asked
in a deep, gravelly voice. "You're little, but you're sure
pretty."

"She's easy, too," Stone said behind
her. "She can be had for coffee."

Rose rolled her eyes without bothering
to look back at him. "I'm a shock to him," she told the giant.
"He's used to the sort of woman who can be had for the price of an
alcoholic drink."

The giant's bright blue eyes sparkled
with fun. "I got coffee," he told her gravely.

"Thank you, so do I," she said primly,
lifting the carafe to display it.

He shook his head, regret in the twist
of his wide mouth. "Well, if y' run out, I'm your man."

"No, you're the pilot," said Stone.
"I'm her man. Rose, meet Jark. He's an ass, but he's a great
pilot."

He dropped into the co-pilot's seat and
looked up at Rose. "Take off your cloak and come here."

Her eyes narrowed. She'd had enough of
his orders. But she looked into his ruthless gaze and flushed. This
was his cruiser and he was taking her to her brother. Later she'd
tell him exactly what she thought of his high-handed tactics. For
now, she unfastened her cloak, laid it over his and carried her
coffee to him.

She expected to be told to sit beside
him, but to her consternation, he pulled her down into his lap,
tipping the seat back so that she was securely ensconced there, and
fastening the safety belts about both of them. Then he laid a
casual arm about her, his hand cupping her thigh. She thought she
felt his lips brush her temple.

"Let's go," he said.

Rose watched quietly as Jark began the
takeoff procedures. She was at once incensed with the man cradling
her so possessively, and bewildered by him. How was she supposed to
be angry with a man who tricked her into having sex, but then
treated her to a night of pleasure such as she'd never experienced;
scoffed at her for being a feckless fool but dressed her in the
finest, softest winter wear; ordered her around like a paid
companion, then kissed her hair?

And
took her to find her brother in a fancy new
cruiser.

She looked around the cockpit.
Everything gleamed. When she sniffed, she inhaled the rich scents
of coffee, skrog leather, new upholstery—and Masterson. The man had
a diabolically delicious scent. She wanted to bury her nose in his
neck and breathe him in, maybe nibble some more. Which of course
was the real reason she had succumbed to him—he was a delicious
hunk of man.

It was all very well to tell herself
he'd tricked her, but she was a woman grown and responsible for her
own decisions. Such as sitting on his lap—of course it was going to
lead to trouble, but that was part of Stone Masterson's appeal. He
was so controlled, so clearly the alpha in his world. Yet last
night he'd let her have a glimpse behind his tough exterior. It
made her want to keep exploring until she reached deep into his
heart.

I'm her man,
he'd said to his pilot. The words left a yearning
ache in her chest. But she stiffened her resolve. His for now, he'd
meant. Just a male marking his sexual territory. It didn't mean
anything more, not with his string of liaisons.

She remembered the way he'd pushed her
to surrender to him and scowled to herself. Once a pirate, always a
pirate. In some ways he was as ruthless as the docks where he'd
grown up. After listening to his brief and highly expurgated
version of his background, she had little doubt his logo told the
truth: he would kill to protect all that was his. What was it he'd
said last night, after he slipped out of her restraints? That he
had a rather special skill set. Gained the hard way.

The ship surged under them. Rose
tensed, watching with fascination and more than a few nerves as
they began to rise. She had flown many times, including the long
space voyage to reach Frontiera from Earth II, but never in a craft
as small and fast as the cruiser. The tiny hover-taxies didn't
count. Her hovie had barely putted up the mountain.

Jark kept their takeoff slow and
vertical until they hovered above Masterson's lodge and
outbuildings, which she could now see in the moonlight. The whole
place sat on a ridge with a high mountain peak towering over it.
The snowstorm had blown away behind them, leaving a fresh layer of
snow as thick as icing on a cake.

As the ship banked north and slid
forward, Rose gasped in wonder. The three moons were out, white
balls in the starry sky. The largest was so close she felt as if
she could reach out and touch its pale, cratered surface. The other
two were much smaller, hanging like satellites to the right and
left. In their cold, reflected light, a vast winter landscape lay
flung out before them. Foothills fell away from the ridge in black
and white folds.

Far below, the dark skein of the river
wound through the center of the snow-covered valley. In the big
bend lay New Haven, a small network of lights. She had come all the
way up from there.

She looked down at the hover track
climbing the ridge, and her stomach lurched. She had glided up that
in the dark and snow? What if she had crashed? She would be a
frozen huddle in her small hovie. She shivered and resumed her
moon-gazing.

Masterson squeezed her thigh. "Nice,
eh, siren?"

"Spectacular."

"These moons have no designation," he
told her. "Waiting for someone to say their names."

A fragment of an old poem earned as a
child came to mind.

"'She burns in beauty, yet her flame/is
useless 'til he knows her name.'"

"Pretty," he said. "What's that
mean?"

"I think … it's about a mythical
creature. A woman who could shift into a fire bird of some
kind."

"Ah, a phoenix," Stone said.
"Magical birds that burn. In fact—" he peered over her shoulder,
and then stretched out his long arm, pointing above the moons. "You
see those three orange stars way up there, with the trail of nebula
out to both sides like golden wings? That's the
Trios
, supposed to be three lost
princesses who were phoenix shifters."

Rose smiled, charmed. She wouldn't have
expected a man like him to enjoy constellation legends. She
wondered what else he had stored on the holo-vid reader by his
fireside.

"I remember now. And only the bravest
of warriors can release their powers."

"Real sad story." Jark grinned over at
her. "Probably ain't that many brave warriors wandering the galaxy,
unless you count the Intergalactic Space Forces."

Rose grinned back at him. Huge and
rough he might be, but when the pilot's eyes twinkled, a woman
couldn't help responding. Not that she was interested in him that
way, but he probably had a string of lovers as long as Masterson's.
An endless chain she really didn't want to think about right
now.

"I know
your
name," Stone murmured in her ear.
"And I know how to make you burn, don't I, Rose?"

She shivered, steeling herself against
his wicked chuckle. Yes, he did. And she was very much afraid he
was the only man who would ever make her burn that hot. If she were
one of those phoenix princesses, she'd have been in flames half the
night.

She searched for a distraction. "Who
will decide what these moons are named?" Earth II had only one
moon, and she believed Earth I had been the same. No need to name a
singular orb, it was simply 'the Moon.'

Stone shrugged. "Don't know. Whoever
claims the privilege, I suppose."

"You should name 'em, Boss," Jark said.
"Like you did Adamant. Bet no one would argue."

The two men laughed together. Rose
wondered just how extensive Masterson's power was on this new
planet.

"Nah, I'm no poet." He gestured with
his mug. "Let the scientifics decide."

"There's a university here?" Rose
asked, astonished.

"There will be," he said. "One day
we'll have everything we need here. And maybe this time we'll do it
right."

Rose nodded. She prayed the settlers
here could work together to avoid the war and pollution that
wracked Earth I and II. As for crime, she reflected wryly, that was
already here.

"Nice flying weather," Jark said with
satisfaction. "Wind's calm, storms have blown past. We'll be in
Adamant by noon."

"Aye. How's the new multi-leveling
sequester unit working?"

The two men began to discuss the
workings of one of the ship's systems in the infinite detail only a
mechanic or owner could appreciate. Rose let their deep voices flow
around her and sipped her coffee.

They flew higher, cruising along at a
height that made the buildings scattered along the valley floor
look like the miniature sugar decorations used on fancy cakes. The
sky lightened in the south as the sun crested, and Rose saw they
were headed north along the increasingly rugged mountains. The
rising sun cast a golden-pink glow on the snow covered
peaks.

There were no other space craft in
flight, as far as she could see. On Earth II, the atmosphere was so
crowded with craft and satellites of all kinds that travel was
slow, and the sky was never just sky, as this was.

They came upon a large flock of
terra-geese, outstretched wings the same silvery hue as the snow,
with the rising sun on their feathers. Their featherless, crested
heads turned as one to eye the cruiser, and Jark chuckled as he
slowed the cruiser to the birds' speed.

"They look surprised to see us, don't
they?"

The big birds flapped their wings, and
Rose watched curiously. She'd seen them fly over New Haven in long
stringers, but she'd never been this close. They weren't exactly
beautiful, with their look of perpetual surprise and their big feet
dangling as they flew.

"See that fluffy patch on their chest?
That's where most of their down comes from," Masterson pointed out.
"For the comforter that kept you warm last night—when I
wasn't."

She nodded, ignoring his teasing to
watch the birds.

"They mate for life," Jark said.
"Imagine knowing you'd have to look at one o' them faces for the
rest of your days."

Rose laughed, picturing two of the
homely birds facing each other over a breakfast table.

"Right then," Stone said. "Nature
lesson's over—we've places to go."

"Thank you for slowing." She looked up
at him as the cruiser rose away from the flock.

"Just something else you'll owe me
for," he said. She huffed a laugh, and he nipped at the shell of
her ear. "You laugh now—you won't when I collect."

She shivered as his breath tickled her
ear. Her heart melted at the news that he wanted more. If she
wasn't very careful, it would soon be as gooey as the center of an
éclair, and splat at his feet when he walked away.

No, when
she
walked away, she reminded herself
sternly. He might be the most fascinating, desirable man on the
planet, but he was apparently content with his freedom. He'd never
be the man who could, or would, give her the stable home she
wanted. Unlike even a wild terra-goose, he wasn't the kind to mate
for life.