Starlaw (36 page)

“Before one more damned thing gets in the way … before some other catastrophe or incident takes place and we're thrust in the middle of intrigue … you need to hear me, Laurel.”

“You need to hear me, too. I want to go first.”

“No. This can't wait another moment.”

“Darius—”

“I love you!” they both blurted in unison.

She stared at him and shook her head, sure she'd misheard. “Y-you
what
?”

He smiled, pushed himself away from the desk, and slowly advanced with all the stealth of a lion. “I said … I love you. And you said it, too.”

She simply nodded, swallowed hard, and stood her ground.

He didn't stop until he was a few inches away. She had to tilt her head far back to gaze into his face. The weariness he'd displayed was gone. Now, there was an open vulnerability in his dark green eyes that almost broke her heart. She was pretty sure her face bore a similar expression.

“I do love you,” she whispered. “I do.”

He pulled her into his embrace so fast that she had no time to feel her next heartbeat. One millisecond she was standing there declaring her love. The next, he was kissing her breathlessly. And kissing, she now knew, was one form of intimacy that seemed universally accepted. Unlike turning on a computer or finding her way around an alien starship, no one could claim she didn't know how to do it.

Without wasting one more precious second, she kissed him back with all the passion she'd kept bottled for months.

She looped her arms around his neck and moaned as their tongues met. He pulled her so close and held her in such a way that her feet were no longer in contact with the cool white marble floor. Their bodies blended as they embraced.

And when he hungrily let his kisses wander from her mouth to her left cheek, and then her neck, she whispered encouraging words. His reply wasn't what she expected.

“I think I loved you the minute I saw you lying in the
Titan
's med bay, so badly wounded,” he softly murmured. “You opened your eyes and I felt like I'd lost control of everything. I knew you were afraid. But you had the guts to tell me where to get off and in no uncertain terms. I don't think I've ever had someone throw a specimen bottle at me. I knew even then that I didn't ever want anyone touching you but me.”

“I thought you hated me back then,” she quietly responded as she ran her hands through his hair and nuzzled his neck.

“I hated how every minute was consumed with thoughts of you,” he admitted. “I'd never met a woman so determined to get herself into trouble. I've never been driven so nearly crazy by anyone.”

“And do you prefer things safe and sane? Because if you do, Darius Starlaw, we might have issues. I'm not and never have been predictable. I don't do things the way other people expect,” she told him as she stared into his eyes. “You've figured out that I don't always follow rules. I had a hell of a time trying back on Earth.”

He laughed as he held her closer. “Yeah … I get that about you. That's why I'll be as near normal as possible. I'll follow the rules for both of us. And you … you just be you, beautiful. I wouldn't want it any other way.”

“So … is this gonna work?” she tearfully asked.

“Why else would you have come into my life if somebody hadn't wanted us to be together? I feel … ”

“What? What do you feel?” she prompted.

“Alive. I feel like everything is new. I don't feel like I'm in some kind of cage anymore. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah. It makes sense to me,” she said as she hugged him hard.

“All we have to do is take one day at a time, Laurel. Just let me help you. You don't have to do everything alone. Everybody needs help, no matter who they are. Understand?”

She smiled. “I-I'll try to put my pride aside.”

“And I'll try not to become the officious, overzealous prick in a uniform. I'm not like that, you know. Not really.”

“And you don't think people from Earth are primitive and backward now? I mean … I know we don't have your technological advantages but—”

“Creator's balls! That was the biggest mistake I ever made.”

“Yeah?” she softly asked.

“The terrible error I made was in judging your world by the tools available to it. Instead … I should have considered the content of character, the courage, and the honesty you've displayed. While I was disparaging your people, some of mine were betraying us all, and with all the power of those same technological advances you just mentioned. I had no right to judge. None at all. And … there's something else as well.”

“What?” she asked as she gazed deeply into his eyes.

“Having just been put on report by my own father, I had no right second guessing how you got to be an enforcer.” He slowly nodded. “Only someone who really cares about what they're doing questions authority. It's those who
don't
that we have to worry about.”

She nodded back. “So … ”

“So?”

She put the fingertips of her right hand on his full lips and would have kissed him again but the library door suddenly flew open with such force that the sound of it reverberated off the marble walls. Maelle stood there with her hands on her hips, framed by the white marble opening, staring at them. A look of outrage was pasted on her lovely face.

Laurel didn't try to pull herself from Darius's embrace, nor did he make any attempt to release her.

“Mother? What's wrong? Is there something you needed?” Darius carefully asked.

“I pray to the Creator I'm interrupting something important? Something that will, when some kind of announcement is made, makes us all very happy … something of such monumental importance as to warrant official announcements in proper social circles! Am I right?” she implored as she pointedly glanced at them both.

“Yes, you're interrupting something,” Darius glibly responded. “If you'll be so kind as to close the door, we'll get back to it.”

“You've been in here for almost half an hour, and you haven't asked her to marry you yet?” Maelle squeaked. “Darius … are you waiting for the sun to go nova? Your father and I saw the way you looked at Laurel while she was testifying. We've known you were in love with her since you first brought her home. And while she hadn't been on the surface of Luster for three days, an idiot could figure it out even if your family took a little longer. What will it take to motivate you?” She demanded. “Do you think women like her grow on trees?”

Laurel tried to stifle a laugh, but wasn't successful. As far as Maelle was concerned, Laurel wasn't present. The audacity of the situation was too funny. At that moment in time, they could be any family on Earth.

Darius gently lowered her until her feet touched the floor again. With an exasperated sigh, he slowly faced Maelle and put his hands on his hips. “Mother … see to our guests. Let me see to my love life. All right?”

“Son … I want this settled.
Tonight
!”

“Mother, I know what you're doing and you can stop—”

Maelle interrupted by pointing one long, red-tipped, and well-manicured finger toward the floor. “I want things arranged … now … and I mean it.” She put her attention on Laurel. “If he comes out of this room without having proposed, I'll declare he did it anyway. I want him home, out of space, away from murdering, savage vamphieres. I managed to wheedle information out of Gemma though it took hours to do so. She tells me her medical records indicate the two of you are perfectly compatible, reproductively speaking.”

Darius rolled his eyes skyward.

Laurel simply shook her head and tried not to laugh. The fact that the
Titan
's medical officer revealed personal information of that nature—and to Darius's mother—was more than inappropriate. But it was equally wrong for Maelle to have asked. Still, it made no difference now since that cat was well and fully out of the bag.

“Laurel … have you any aversion to children? Will you agree to bear my son's babies?” Maelle determinedly asked.

“Uh … y-yeah … y-yes? I mean … I love kids.”

“Mother … that's none of your—”

“Quiet, Darius! I was speaking to your future bride,” Maelle asserted. “Then she put her full attention back on Laurel. My dear, you may be assured of finding employment in any occupation you seek. I'll see to it myself,” she promised as she turned to Darius. “You see? How hard was that?”

When Maelle turned and strode away, Laurel pressed her lips together and stared at the floor. When she finally spoke, her voice was reverently low, in direct opposition to the tirade the queen of Luster just displayed.

“I-I haven't known your mother that long. Is she always so … ”

“She drives my father crazy. But he loves her to distraction. That's why there's so many of
us
.”

It suddenly dawned on Laurel that her own mother wouldn't have cared where she was, who she was with, or why. Having failed to live up to expectations, having settled for what'd been referred to as “employment fit for mentally inept fascists,” she suddenly felt cared for.

Something in the vicinity of her heart cracked. She blinked as tears filled her eyes.

Darius immediately tried to comfort her. “Laurel … don't take anything Mother just said to heart. You know what she was doing, don't you?”

Not trusting herself to speak, Laurel shook her head.

“As an ambassador for the past thirty years, she's learned more than one or two tricks about how to get information out of people. You see … she really didn't have any idea how you and I felt about one another, just a suspicion. A best guess, if you will.”

“Wh-what?”

“It was a fishing expedition. Now, she knows we're in love without any doubt. She knows I'm serious and so are you. You even promised to marry me and have my babies. And all in the few seconds she threw her tantrum. You see … if the woman was only surmising before, she just got you to remove all doubts.” He displayed a broad grin.

“S-she uses this attack-and-watch technique to draw out information from dignitaries?”

He nodded. “She's very good. She's been doing this to Father, me, and everyone else in the household for years. You'd be surprised how much she learns by just pretending to be outraged or even obnoxious at times. I've even seen her make believe she's utterly clueless. That one seems to get the best results of all. You'd be surprised how much someone will reveal if they
think
they're spilling their guts to some poor fool.”

Laurel blinked in shock. “Wow!”

“Indeed. And she did one more thing,” he added.

“Yeah?”

He lifted one hand in a supplicating gesture then slowly let it fall to his side again. “She made sure
I
know how you feel. Not having heard any part of our conversation prior to entering…
that
was probably her real intent. All that's left to do is to officially put the question of marriage to you, arrange a wedding big enough to satisfy protocol, and have us both moved into the estate my grandparents left me.”

“I-I feel … used,” she jokingly told him.

He laughed. “So … is it? Settled, I mean?”

She lifted her chin and poked her index finger in his chest. “Not so fast, mister. I haven't gotten what I want out of this deal.”

“Laurel, you can have anything you desire. Though you're not shallow enough to ask for jewels, fine clothing, or introductions into the finest social circles or the brightest minds of our era, Mother will likely insist on all the above if only to make up for my lack of motivation. She doesn't understand how desperately I wanted you and how afraid I was of rejection. That last part, her little well-acted tantrum didn't reveal.”

“Darius—”

“She wants you for a daughter-in-law and no one else will do. I want you for a wife. And no one else will do. So … I'll ask in a more romantic way later. When all this craziness concerning the trial and everything to do with it is over and we can finally be alone. But put me out of my misery now.
Please
?”

“Keep your jewels and introductions to the proper social circles,” she softly murmured. “I'll marry you and follow through with all the rest, spaceman. But I want something right now.”

“Name it,” he said as he pulled her into his embrace again.

“Take me upstairs, to your room. Take my clothes off and make love to me until neither of us can walk. 'Kay?”

“Creator's blood, woman! That's the easy part.” He kissed her hard, then released her and took her hand in his.

In a breathless display of determination, Darius led her out of the library using a patio door. They avoided everyone else in the household and all the questions, requests, and concerns others still had about Goll, the trial, Laurel being from Earth, and minutiae that could wait or couldn't be changed.

Once the door to his room was locked behind them, he pulled her robe off with such ease that Laurel didn't remember it being removed. She vaguely remembered pulling his clothes off him, running her hands over his broad, bronzed shoulders, and feeling his lips on hers.

Any final misgivings as to physiology were settled.

From his circumcised, hard penis to every muscle of his body, he was as human as any male she'd ever known. But that was where all similarities ended.

The man made love with all the stamina and strength of a mythical god. But every single touch was gently and carefully crafted so that screams of delight and moans of utter fulfillment poured from the bottom of her lungs and into the night.

His words were equally tender. Over and over again, he encouraged her to surrender and give of herself. And only when he was deeply inside her body and sure she'd been satisfied did he suddenly stop, shudder, and grip the bedclothes on either side of her head.