Star Raiders (21 page)

He found Shyanne in the control tower, speaking over the com with Able on board
Independence
. He took pleasure in watching her. Dressed in tight trousers, short boots and a man’s shirt, the tails tied at her waist, she looked both vulnerable and competent. The three men manning the tower regarded her with a mixture of affection and awe.

When he came in, she glanced up at him. Her gaze revealed nothing of her feelings about the previous night.

He heard Able’s voice over the com. “Bear’s got the engine back online and the shields are operating at ninety percent, but there’s a problem with weapons control. Every time we run a test, something knocks them off-line. Targeting’s screwed, too. Right now we couldn’t hit a supernova at ten paces. Terle’s down checking it out.”

Her brow furrowed, Shyanne rested one hand on the com unit and leaned in. “I thought Terle was stil in med bay.”

“Yeah, he was, but Eldin couldn’t keep him there. Besides, he’s the weapons expert. We need him.”

Greyson saw her nod.

“How long for repairs?”

“Not sure.” Able paused and spoke off-mike. Greyson couldn’t make out his words. “Twenty-four hours, minimum,” Able final y reported. “Then at least another ten to test the system.”

“We’ve got forty-eight. Then, fixed or not, we’re out of here. I’l be up in an hour to help.”

“Relax, babe, we’ve got it covered.” Able chuckled. “Enjoy your shore leave.”

“But—”

“No buts,” Able countered. “There’s nothing for you to do up here ’cept get in our way. Eldin and Damon are bringing Brina down to check out the place. Then you can try and convince her to stay. Say hi to Rian for us.” Annoyed at being unable to think of an argument, Shy smacked the com link closed.

She needed to get off planet, away from Greyson. But Able was right: She was a good captain. A great pilot. Handy in a fight. But she was no mechanic or weapons expert. A good part of her success as a smuggler was due to the men who crewed with her. They didn’t need or want her hovering over their shoulders.

She spent a few minutes touching base with the tower crew and learned al was quiet in the space around Uta. Thinking about the colony’s various needs made her head ache, and dwel ing on thoughts of her night in Greyson’s arms played havoc with her concentration.

When she’d woken this morning, the sight of him sprawled next to her, his body relaxed in sleep, left her weak with longing for what could never be. Too much stood between them. Too many lies. Too many years. Too much pain. Her head might accept the truth, but her heart kept insisting she try.

They’d shared physical passion, and even a sense of communion, but no words of understanding or forgiveness had passed between them. Their conflicts went deeper, were more personal than his career with ASP and her criminal activities. Could she tel him about Rian? Would he accept her decision to keep his son from him? Could she risk his anger about that?

As questions churned in her head, her stomach roiled. She whirled around, eager to flee the curious eyes of the men stationed in the tower—and ran straight into Greyson.

“Oof!” Air burst out of her. He staggered slightly at the impact. His hands clamped onto her upper arms to steady himself and keep her upright. Her face pressed against his shoulder. The smel of sunshine and coffee fil ed her nostrils.

Her bones went liquid and she sagged into him.

He rested his cheek against her head. “Are you hurt?” Startled at her urge to remain wrapped securely in his embrace, she jerked free and looked up at him. For a second he held her gaze. She couldn’t read the expression in his dark, hooded eyes. Then abruptly he released his hold on her arms and took a step back. Cool air replaced the heat of his body. She shivered.

He glanced at the other men, eyeing them with a combination of suspicion and amusement. “Let’s walk.”

She nodded and led the way out of the tower and across the tarmac. Two of Uta’s three suns shone in the sky, one straight overhead, the other already near setting as Uta made her way along her odd orbital pattern. Heat radiated in waves off the blacktopped landing field, but it didn’t ease the chil growing inside Shy.

Greyson walked behind her. She could feel his gaze on her, but couldn’t determine his mood or intentions.

They walked away from the shuttle port and town, along a hard-packed dirt path through the jungle, down the mountainside toward the sea. Birdsong and the hum and buzz of insects fil ed the silence between them. A warm, humid breeze carried the scent of brine. Shy let the heat soak into her weary bones and melt away the tension.

Despite the leaden feeling in her body from the increased gravity, after an extended stay aboard
Independence
she appreciated her return to solid ground.

Like being on an ocean ship, months of lower artificial gravity in space changed a person’s sense of balance. When they returned planet-side, space-farers often staggered as they adjusted to the unaccustomed pul on their muscles. Shy was no exception. Regular exercise aboard ship helped, but only time planet-side cured the problem.

“What are Uta’s defensive capabilities? The colony, I mean.” Startled by Greyson’s question, she turned abruptly and stumbled over a smal rise of dirt. As she fel , Greyson caught her. Her sudden urge to rest in his embrace angered her. She jerked free and snapped, “Why do you care?” He reached out a hand to steady her. “I care about you.”

“Do you?” She couldn’t keep the pleading note from her voice. To hide her weakness, she stepped back and answered his question. Since he’d never know Uta’s actual coordinates, she supposed it didn’t matter what he knew about the colony’s defenses.

“Uta is wel hidden and protected by the space anomalies and star fields surrounding her. If you don’t know the safe paths through them, it’s…wel , it’s a dangerous trip. We have monitoring beacons to warn us of any ships that do slip through, and also a dozen surface-to-air defense systems to take out anyone who poses a threat.”

Greyson frowned. “No battle cruisers?”

Shyanne almost rol ed her eyes. This was a smal colony; where would they be getting battle cruisers? The safety of the colony was based on its secrecy. “We have several smal scout ships that patrol the area around the planet. Those have laser cannons…but they’re built for speed and maneuverability, not combat. They wouldn’t stand a chance in a ful fledged battle.”

“Without at least one or two battle cruisers, an attacker could easily maneuver to take out your surface defenses.” Greyson was shaking his head. “Leaving the
Independence
in orbit would go a long way toward beefing up your defences.”

“I know, but we need her for our operation. I’m working on getting a couple battle cruisers, but if you’re not affiliated with ELF they’re difficult to find and, when you do, expensive to purchase. Until things change, secrecy is our main defense.”

“That’s why you confined me to the brig.”

At her nod, his mouth tightened. “Don’t you know I would
never
expose Uta’s location?”

She wanted to trust him but couldn’t take the risk. The safety of these people depended on her. “Why should I trust you? You betrayed me before.” Pain flickered in his eyes and then the stiffness went out of him and he looked away. “You’re right, you shouldn’t.”

A surge of anger replaced her guilt. Why should she care about his feelings?

Because you love him.
The answer left her confused. What she felt for this man couldn’t be love. She wouldn’t al ow it to be.

He started moving again. Unsure of what to say, she fol owed. After fifteen minutes of uncomfortable silence, they broke out of the jungle onto an open stretch of ground overlooking the sea. Knee-high grass waved in a warm, salt-scented breeze. The edge of the field fel away to the sea, which spread out before them in a shimmering expanse of blue-green water.

One sun sank toward the horizon, casting its golden reflection across the whitecapped waves. The other fol owed more slowly, its brighter light dancing over the water like scattered amber beads.

Several yards below them, the sea crashed onto a rock-strewn beach.

Offshore, massive boulders, remnants of the extinct volcano that formed this bay, rose from the water. Waves crashed and broke al around these large, dark sentinels.

Silvery white seabirds swooped through the sky, their keening cal s joining the cacophony of sea noises. The breeze was a constant, cool mist, which dried into fine white powder across their skin.

To break the growing silence between them, Shy sat, her legs dangling over the edge of the cliff, and started to speak. “Most of Uta’s people are former slaves from mining and agricultural worlds, but a few flew supply ships. There’s even some exmilitary. The latter put their technical skil s and military experience to use by serving as Uta’s eyes and ears on the ground and in space. If we’re attacked, we’l manage. Somehow.”

She glanced up as Greyson sat next to her. Neither anger nor hurt showed on his features; though she sensed his emotions were as tumultuous as hers, he looked relaxed and untroubled.

At first meeting, she recal ed, people often assumed Greyson was little more than he appeared, an attractive man with no depths, a crystal-clear pool of water.

She’d made the same mistake. In fact, after her having lived with Kedar’s secrecy, part of Greyson’s appeal for her had been his seeming openness. In her innocent first rush of attraction, she hadn’t realized he was a chameleon, adapting himself to his surroundings, blending in by reflecting back whatever the viewer expected to see. In truth, nothing about his character was simple or easy to discern. He hid his true self beneath myriad disguises.

Which of the men she’d known—the simple col ege student who courted her with charm, the hard-edged ASP agent who betrayed her with ease or the sincere man who sought her help in saving Earth— was the real Greyson? Or had she yet to meet the real one?

Perhaps as a girl she’d sensed he wasn’t what he seemed. A one-dimensional man would never have captivated her as Greyson had from the first moment they met. At the same time that she was confused by the complexities and contrasts she discovered in his personality, they kept him endlessly fascinating.

As the two of them sat in silence, one of Uta’s suns sank ful y below the horizon, dying in a burst of color. The sunrays set the clouds on fire, a conflagration of red, orange, pink and purple.

As the first sun disappeared, the second sun took over the death scene, splashing an even more impressive display of colors across the sky in its final throes of luminescence. The wind shifted inland. After the heat of two suns Shy shivered as a cool, misty breeze ruffled her hair. Under her long-sleeve shirt, goose bumps rose on her arms.

“Lovely,” Greyson whispered.

“One of the perks of living on Uta. Her volcanic activity throws continuous clouds of dust into the air, and the atmosphere is particularly refractive. This is my favorite place to be at sunset.”

“I wasn’t referring to the sunset.”

His voice husky with an unspoken need, his words tugged at something deep inside her. Afraid to see what was in his eyes but unable to resist, she raised her face until their eyes met. The last of the second sun’s rays cast a reddish gold glow across him, turning his hair to burnished bronze and his eyes to melted chocolate.

When he stretched out his hand to her, she met it with her own and entwined her cool fingers with his warm ones. With his other hand he traced a finger down her cheek.

“Soft,” he murmured.

A bolt of heat raced through her chil ed flesh. Like the green flash of the setting sun, her hunger flared to meet his.

He slipped his hand around her neck to cup the back of her head and tugged her body to him. Smel ing of mint and coffee, his breath sighed over her lips.

Warmth slid down her spine. She no longer felt the chil of the coming night.

“Make love with me,” he said.

“We shouldn’t,” she breathed in response.

“Shouldn’t we?”

She didn’t reply, and as his lips closed over hers, reason melted. Right or wrong, she wanted these moments. She wanted the physical release he offered.

Soon enough, circumstances and secrets would tear them apart. She trusted him with her body, even if she was yet hesitant to trust him with her heart.

Greyson’s arms trembled with his need to lay Shyanne down on the grass and bury himself deep in her body. She molded herself to him. Her bel y pressed against his erection. He tried to force himself to stop, to pul back. He had no right to take what she offered. His lies and betrayal stood between them. Instead, he held her close and drank in her flavor, warm and sweet with a hint of salt from the sea.

She leaned away and opened his shirt. A cool, damp breeze swirled across his chest. He shivered. When her warm hands slid over his bare skin, his blood turned molten. Heat coursed through his veins. Restraint snapped. Soon enough she’d discover his lies, soon enough she’d hate him. Until then, he’d take whatever part of her she offered. He wasn’t strong enough to resist.

With a low growl, he stripped away his clothing and hers before they erupted in the flames that threatened to burst up between them. He pul ed her down atop him on a makeshift bed of rumpled clothing. Back arched, her breasts thrust upward, she straddled his hips. Moonlight bathed her in a pearly glow, turned her hair to spun gold and her skin to alabaster. Lost in the vision of Shyanne, he barely noticed the sharp stabbing of the sea grass pressing into his spine.

Moisture dampened the crisp curls at her center, teasing his erection, which strained toward her in the same manner as his soul. The pounding of his heart kept rhythm with the endless crash and whoosh of the waves against the rocky shore.

Wind rustled through the grass and carried the smel of brine to mingle with the heady aroma of arousal, both his and hers.

Eyes alight with suppressed laughter, she leaned back, her hands braced above his knees, and she hovered above him, touching but out of reach. The position opened her to his view. She rocked back and forth, dragging the petals of her nether lips across the head of his penis. The sight and feel sent lightning bolts through him. With each motion he tried to slip inside her, but she easily avoided him.