When Sparks Fly (19 page)

She bit her lip in anxiety. She really
wasn’t any good at this. Squabbling with her sisters and making up
really hadn’t prepared her for dealing with a man. Would he expect
her to be straightforward? That was how she usually solved
problems. How would he react if she just launched into their
issues? It might be best to establish communication first, a
connection, and gradually lead up to it.

She groaned in frustration. Dithering wasn’t
helping. Fine! She’d just send him a message. Nothing too personal,
though. Polite. How could that possibly go wrong?

Blue looked at the electronic tablet, unsure
how to interpret Gem’s message. It said, “I don’t know what to say.
Thank you, I guess.”

Zsak looked over his shoulder. “Well, it’s
something.” He laughed.

Blue exhaled in frustration and then grunted
in pain. The woman was stubborn, but at least she was talking to
him now. He thought about sending another message but decided to
wait her out instead. How long would it take before she wrote
again?

Like all such plans of patience, this one
sounded better in theory than it worked in practice. Days went by
and nothing else came to him. The girl was as silent as a distant
star.

At last, after a lot of dithering, he talked
himself into not sending any more messages, not even thinking about
it. He was tired of feeling guilty about his inaction. It
frustrated him to be stuck in a hospital bed with no way to get to
Gem. This was a situation that called for a delicate touch, and the
kind of touch he would use worked best in person. Two short days
and he’d be out of here. He’d put that time to good use and plan
his siege. After all she’d put him through, he wasn’t planning to
be nice. He’d use every weapon he had…seduction, persuasion and
Gem’s sisters…to get this woman to admit she needed him.

To that end, he decided to seduce the
sisters. Oh, he didn’t intend them as romantic conquests, of
course, but as potential allies. After all, no one could be as
sneaky and underhanded as a sibling.

He just had to convince them to help.

“I hear the nurses are all over him,” Xera
said conversationally.

Gem chewed doggedly on her bland breakfast.
She refused to comment. Lately her sisters had taken to discussing
Blue’s life as if it were a soap opera. Being stuck on the ship
with little to do but torment their sister was driving them to new
heights of mischief.

They talked over her head, of course, as if
the conversation weren’t specifically chosen to tickle her ears. It
was driving her mad, but she was determined to ignore them. If she
wanted to talk to Blue, she’d call him. She just hadn’t decided
what she should say. Bad enough that she couldn’t get him out of
her head, and her sisters kept grinding away on the subject,
torturing her further.

She’d spent a lot of time thinking after she
sent that first message, and she’d come up with another good reason
why she shouldn’t contact him now. Blue was part of the
investigation. He’d have to testify at the trial. She had no doubt
he’d be honest in all of his assessments, but his testimony could
really hurt her family. She didn’t know how she’d handle that if it
came to pass, so she’d backed off.

She felt unwilling to share her concerns
with her sisters, though. They were trying valiantly to forget
their own stress over the approaching trial, and they used
matchmaking to take their minds off the subject. If she brought up
her concerns, it would only bring them down. They were making it
difficult to stay silent, though.

“Zsak says the healing accelerators are
doing a great job. Blue’s been working hard in physical therapy.
Things are looking good for his release in two days.”

Gem’s heart skipped a beat. Two days.
Suddenly that seemed too short a time. She wasn’t ready to see him
yet. Unfortunately, her pounding heart didn’t share her
reservations.

Xera glanced at her sister, her face blank.
“Zsak says the therapist has a crush on Blue.” She raised her brows
in innocent inquiry when Gem shot a look her way. “You can’t blame
her. It is kind of romantic, him risking his life for you.”

A muscle twitched near Gem’s eye. She was
tired of being cast as the villain. Maybe it was time she opened
up.

“Remember that night you were so worried,
Xera? Well, since then he did a lot more than kiss me.” She watched
then, as her conversational rock splashed violently into the pond
of their conversation.

Her sisters chewed on that information.
Brandy asked tentatively, “How much more?”

A hot blush crept up Gem’s cheeks, even
though this was her own ploy. “Enough.”

Xera raised an eyebrow. She didn’t look
upset, however. In fact, a certain glow lit her eyes. It might have
been glee.

“Are we going to have a shotgun
wedding?”

Gem sucked in a breath. She hadn’t wanted
their minds going
there.
“He didn’t do enough to warrant
that!” she snapped.

Xera’s lips twitched. “But he did
‘enough.’”

Gem’s face grew hotter. “Yeah.”

Her sisters exchanged glances. Brandy looked
at Gem sternly, but her lips fought to remain straight. “I think we
need details. You know, to determine how best to punish him.”

Gem’s temperature soared like a nuclear
meltdown. She shifted in her chair, pondering. Her sisters had no
idea what they asked. The things she’d done with Blue were going to
the grave with her. Just thinking about them made her
uncomfortable; uncomfortable and aroused.

“Look, he was in the middle of investigating
me. He shouldn’t have done it,” was her point.

“His heart must have tripped him up,” Brandy
said.

His heart? Gem and Xera stared at each
other. Where had that thought come from?

Brandy’s expression turned stubborn. “He’s
not the kind of guy to do something like that if his feelings
weren’t involved,” she explained. “I know it’s against what I once
believed, but…Well, didn’t he risk his life for you? Isn’t he
trying to win you back?”

Pain made Gem’s throat tighten. “He’s not,”
she forced herself to say. No, he was flirting with his nurses, for
all she knew, just like he’d once flirted with her. The table grew
blurry.

Xera put a soothing hand on her shoulder.
“Just call him, sis. You’ll see.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

Brandy shook her head. “We’ll coach you.
Come on, let’s go find a communicator.”

Unfortunately, Gem got an answering service
when she tried to put through the call. She hung up without leaving
a message.

“You could have at least said hello!” Brandy
admonished.

“The data pad will tell him he got a call
from the ship,” Gem explained.

“But not who called.”

Gem hesitated, then decided, “I’ll send an
electronic message.” That was really the safest thing. It would be
easier to guard what she said.

She ended up sending him a very formal
message, thanking him again for saving her life and for his
services. It didn’t take long for him to reply, which surprised and
pleased her, though she fought the emotion. His reply was a warm,
“You’re welcome. How is everybody holding up?”

The message started a series of cautious
exchanges. Cautious for her, at least. Blue never failed to be
kind, though he didn’t push or flirt. He simply wrote to her as a
friend.

Gem started to feel wistful. Was friendship
all he wanted? As the feeling grew, she began to forget her anger.
She began to consider his side, and to give it the weight it was
likely due. He hadn’t known them when he’d taken the job. Except
for his relationship with her, it had been nothing personal. Maybe
something had grown from it. Maybe he was as unhappy with the
situation as she was.

If he’d been able to see inside her head,
Blue would have smiled, but she was too uncertain to send her
tender thoughts to him. Instead, she sent him reports about her
days.

“You might as well be sending him a news
sheet,” Xera said in disgust as she read over Gem’s shoulder one
afternoon. “I’ve seen tax reports with more passion.” This earned
Xera a dirty look for her trouble. Undaunted, she suggested, “Just
tell him you love him and be done. It can’t be that hard.”

“So speaks the voice of experience,” Gem
muttered. She ran a spell-check, trying to ignore Xera’s
hovering.

“Well, you do love him, right?” It wasn’t
really a question.

Gem’s hands froze on the keyboard. Her
feelings of…
affection
weren’t in question, not if her
sisters could see them; but was it love? A better question was:
what did Blue feel? If it was love, could it survive this kind of
tension? What kind of life could she have with him?

A good one, her conscience whispered. As for
love? What else could be breaking her heart?

Chapter 14

“All rise.”

Gem rose with the others as the court was
called to session, but her mind wasn’t on the trial. She’d spotted
Blue. She hadn’t seen him in a weeks. Their only communication had
been through the stilted electronic messaging she’d instituted. Now
she regretted the silence.

He looked good in his police uniform, maybe
a little pale. He’d lost weight.

She’d watched him walk slowly down the aisle
to claim his seat next to Zsak, and it felt as though a live wire
connected her gut to every move he made. She couldn’t breathe. Her
stomach hurt with tension. She’d kept her gaze on him as she moved
down the aisle and took her own seat, avoiding his eyes at the last
possible moment. Now they were at the trial, and her fears would be
proved or slain. Today she would learn what his testimony was, what
the man really thought. Her stomach burned at the thought.

He turned his head and caught her staring.
His expression didn’t change and his gaze never wavered; Gem closed
her eyes and looked away.

Brandy had cut a deal with the cops to spill
everything she knew about Jean Luc. Their lawyer hit the pain and
suffering angle hard, detailing all Brandy had gone through; her
beating, her many injuries. They wanted the jury to see her as a
victim. Misguided, perhaps, but protective of her family. And,
after all, her father had died at a young age…

The prosecution butted in then. “Irrelevant,
Your Honor. Her father’s death has no bearing on the trial.”

Their lawyer gracefully conceded, but hoped
the positive work was done.

It was a lovely innovation of the local
galactic court system that the case against The Spark’s owners and
their brewmaster could be dealt with all at once. But this also
meant Jean Luc retaliated by spilling the terms of the blackmail.
His recounting of details was lurid enough to cause Xera to stiffen
in her seat. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw hardened as she stared
the scum down. Single-handedly, he was destroying her reputation on
Polaris. If she’d ever dreamed of marriage here, those dreams were
dead. By evening, people she’d known all her life would shun her.
There was no future left for her on Polaris.

Gem placed her hand on Xera’s and squeezed.
They’d been prepared for this, but the reality hurt.

Xera turned her palm up and clasped Gem’s
hand. Her face held sorrow and resolve, but no fear. “No tears,
sis. My future was never here.”

“Objection, Your Honor,” their lawyer said
calmly, as details became even more candid. “We will cede that the
blackmail is legitimate. The details of my client’s sister’s
assignation are of no consequence.”

“Agreed,” said the judge. “Have you anything
further for the defendant?” he asked the prosecutor.

For Gem, the worst moment of the day had
been her sister’s public humiliation. In a way Xera had sacrificed
her reputation, making her sisters look good in comparison, by
showing that they were willing to go to such lengths to protect
her. Their strategy hadn’t planned for that, but it worked, and the
facts would have come out anyway.

Gem finally had reason to be grateful for
her sister’s determination to join the Galactic Explorers: Her
reputation wouldn’t matter there. On a planet far from home, Xera
could find happiness. She would have to.

If Xera’s reckoning had been the worst part
of the day, then Blue’s testimony was the best. Along with Zsak, he
told the court he believed the sisters were innocent of drug
trafficking. No hint of their relationship was mentioned, since
Blue had always behaved fairly reputably in public. Even if there
were rumors, it would have done Jean Luc’s lawyer little good to
mention them. Blue would have simply said he was undercover, using
romance to get closer to Gem. Polaris law also allowed prior
convictions to be brought up in court on a case-by-case basis, and
that helped the Harrisdaughters’ side, as Jean Luc’s history was a
witness against him.

The jury heard the case and then went into
deliberation. By noon the next day, they delivered the verdict.
Jean Luc was found guilty of drug trafficking. Xera and Gem were
found innocent. For her involvement, Brandy received six months of
house arrest. She was fitted with an electronic bracelet to track
her whereabouts, but because of her injuries she would be allowed
to travel to the hospital for continued therapy.

Gem wilted with relief when she heard the
news. She hugged her sisters in exultation, but something was
missing. She wanted to see Blue.

He’d met and held her eyes after his
testimony, as if assuring her silently that, yes, he believed in
her. It had been terrifying, but it also felt so good. Her doubts
seemed so ludicrous when she looked at him. He really had been just
doing his job.

They hadn’t had a chance to talk. He’d
disappeared after the trial. She presumed he’d gone back to the
hospital, but when she’d called his room that night, she’d been
told he’d checked out. He could be anywhere.