Creed of Pleasure; the Space Miner's Concubine (The LodeStar Series) (27 page)

They stopped at a small kiosk to buy coffee. “Don’t tell Kiri,” Daanel smirked. “She’d have our necks for patronizing the competition.”

Taara took a sip and wrinkled her nose. “Not much competition.” She’d rather drink even Creed’s powerful brew than this weak, tasteless stuff.
 

“Let’s just hope it has some caffeine,” he agreed. “Tell her she must open a branch of Kiri’s Kaffe in our shopping center.”

Taara nodded.

Their new boutique was nestled in the ground floor of the shopping center, near the entrance, off a large courtyard with a view of the beach and the sea beyond. Taara gaped like the immi she was, letting Daanel guide her along with her hand tucked in his arm.

“We get to work here?” she asked. “It’s like a—a travel channel holovid.”

“We do,” he assured her, a proud smile on his face as he pressed his palm to a panel beside the front door of the boutique. The locks clicked open and the double doors swung open, to reveal a space painted in Daanel’s trademark sparkly black and deep purple. He claimed the shades highlighted the bright hues of the clothing. Taara thought he simply loved the drama.

But instead of neat racks of clothing and accoutrements, there were stacks of shipping crates.
 

“Looks like we have work to do.”

He nodded happily. “These have been arriving from our shopper at the Serpentian markets. Can’t wait to see what ‘you’ chose,” he added, poking her with one finger.

She smiled weakly. “I did consult, you know.”

They got right to work, and by the end of the day were both exhausted, but some order had been created out of chaos, with more than half the racks full and shipping containers gone.

“Tomorrow, shoes and accessories,” Daanel said, wiping his hands on a cloth. “But now, I’d kill for a drink—an alcoholic one.”

Taara’s com chimed with a link. Her heart leapt. Was it Creed? Disappointment slammed her as she saw another face. But she pasted on a pleased smile, because Daanel was watching. “Oh, starry. It’s Kiri.”

“Hi,” her friend said, her pretty face wreathed in a smile. Her short dark hair was styled, and dressed in a sleek cream tunic and tights, Kiri sat on an elegant sofa, with green plants bowing gracefully in the background. “You’re back. Can you two come for drinks and dinner?”

Taara shot Daanel an uneasy glance. The mere thought of going to Logan Stark’s house made her want to vomit.
 

Instantly reading her, he stepped close and smiled at Kiri. “Hello, sweets, Taara’s still a bit space lagged. Why don’t you come to our new place? We’ll pick something up at the market on the way home.”

“All right. I’ll bring some wine and some of Natan’s fresh bread—and some Cremarte for after dinner.”

Kiri arrived just as Taara and Daanel were emerging from their respective lavs. Daanel had moved Taara into his spare room, telling her she had plenty of time to look for her own place nearby, or she could stay with him.

Taara was happy to see Kiri. Maybe not as ecstatic as she pretended to be. She suspected she hadn’t fooled her friend when she emerged from her hug to see Kiri and Daanel exchanging a look.

Daanel held up the bottle of wine. “A drink, ladies. We will toast our future on this new planet.”

“Sounds good,” Kiri said. “I’m so glad you’re both here.”

A drink sounded good. Really good. As a matter of fact, Taara wanted to climb in the bottle of wine and lap it all up, maybe just curl up and stay in there.
 

She did her best to help finish the bottle. Her tongue loosened as she drank. She told Kiri all about Stark’s offer, about Creed and the rest of it—except for Creed’s secrets, which she would never divulge. She said that he was upset and hurt that she’d lied and left it at that. She did weep, and perhaps rant a bit about Stark’s role.

Kiri listened, wept in sympathy and then did a little ranting of her own.

“I’m going to kill Logan Stark,” she swore, draining her glass of Cremarte. “And maybe Creed too. Although I don’t see what
he’s
so upset about. So you’re not a hooker, that should be good, right?”

“Get in line,” Daanel snapped. “I have first call on both demises.”

“No,” Taara insisted. “Not Creed.” Stark, they could do what they wanted with, although she didn’t want to visit either of them in jail.

Kiri ignored them. “I cannot believe Logan did this,” she said miserably. “Wait—yes, I can. I’m beginning to believe Stark is capable of anything. He—he manipulates people as he does his businesses. Like we’re all commodities, some more valuable than others. And to think I was on the verge of falling back into his arms.”

Taara and Daanel stared at her. “You were? After he slept with that other woman?” Daanel demanded.

“Oh, I screwed up your romance too,” Taara wailed.

Daanel swatted her on the leg. “Stop it, you silly.” He gave her a warning look. “We talked about this. You are allowed only to take responsibility for your own actions and emotions. No one else’s. Creed is a big boy. Stark—sorry, Kiri my sweet—is a hiss viper, and Kiri is a smart girl who can decide for herself who she will be with.”

Kiri nodded emphatically, although her golden brown eyes held pain. “He’s right, Taara. Logan is … incredibly magnetic, but he’s deeply flawed. I knew that. This whole thing just brings it further to light.”

Taara wiped her eyes. “Okay,” she mumbled. Then she held out her empty glass.

Daanel shrugged and filled all their glasses. “You’re gonna have a horrible headache tomorrow. Might as well join you.”

“There are gesics for that,” Kiri said.

She and Taara exchanged a look of understanding. Gesics could not assuage the deeper pain they were both suffering. There were no gesics for wounded hearts.
   

The moment she walked into Stark’s condo, Kiri went to his office. She knew this was not wise—she’d been drinking, she was upset.
 

He was on a hololink with the head of his security, a huge, taciturn man with watchful eyes who nodded when Kiri walked into the room. Kiri nodded back, but she didn’t smile either.

Stark turned to her, and broke off in mid-sentence. “Bronc, go ahead on the matter,” he said, gaze on Kiri. “Link me in the morning.”

“Yes sir.” The link winked out.

Stark rose, walking toward Kiri, his head cocked in inquiry. “Kitten, what is it? What’s wrong? I’ll fix it.”

Kiri stared at him, trying to see him with a dispassionate eye. It was nearly impossible—he was an incredibly attractive man. But with what she’d just learned, a cold chill of realization had snaked its way into her chest and wrapped around her heart.
 

“You’ll fix it?” she repeated. She shook her head. “You honestly think you can manipulate any situation, any being to your will, don’t you?”

Gaze intent, he shrugged. She could almost see his mind working, assessing her mood, the possibilities, and how he should react. Which proved her point. Her chill grew deeper, spreading outward from her heart.
 

“Usually, I can.”

“Well, this time, you’ve bollixed up the works, Stark,” she said. She leaned toward him. “You.
Screwed.
Up
. I cannot
believe
you did this.”

His face tightened. “You’ve spoken with Taara Ravel.”

She nodded. “Yeah, Logan. I’ve spoken with Taara. I know everything. I cannot quarking believe
you blackmailed my friend to have sex with your brother
!” By the end she was shouting, but she did not care. Not one bit. Her fists were clenched at her sides, and she wanted to punch him in the nose. And then hammer him over the head with one of his priceless Serpentian fireglass sculptures.

His eyes tracked her every move. Then he raised his brows. “Hit me if it will make you feel better.”

Kiri growled under her breath. “I’d like to.” Then she turned away and paced across his office, her feet sinking into the plush carpet. “But I’m not going to. That would let you off the hook, and you are
not
off the hook, Stark. This is—this is beyond anything.”

He turned to watch her pace. “I brought Creed a good woman, placed her where he wouldn’t be able to ignore her. It could have worked if things hadn’t blown up.”

She whirled on him. “It could have worked?” she repeated incredulously. “These are human beings, Logan, not droids. They have feelings. Taara is devastated. He broke her heart.”

His gaze sharpened. “She thinks herself in love with him? Perhaps we can salvage this after all.”

Kiri held up her hands, palms out. She felt sick, her wine sloshing around in her stomach. “Whoa. Stop right there. Two things, Logan. One, she doesn’t ‘think herself in love with him’, she
is
in love with him. It’s real. And two, who is ‘we’? You don’t actually think I’m going to get involved in your ruthless schemes, do you?”

He crossed his arms and leaned against his desk. “If the end result is the two of them together,” he said. “Then, yes. I know you, you care about people. Taara’s your friend.”
 

“You’re hopeless,” she muttered. “Your brother is clearly not happy either, or he wouldn’t have sent her away like that. He must be hurt and probably humiliated. Your message here, whether you intended it or not, Logan, is that the only way he can get a woman is if you buy him one.”

He looked away, his jaw tight.
 

She eyed him, not happy to realize she was right. “He’s angry with you, isn’t he?”

“He’s … not currently speaking to me,” he admitted.

“I’m not surprised,” she said. “I wouldn’t be either, if I was him.”

She took a deep breath, and let it out. Then she looked at him. “Logan, you know I … have feelings for you. Funny, I was on the verge of letting you know I forgave you for that woman in your bed when I was missing.”

He moved, straightening and taking a step toward her, his silver gaze heating. She held up one hand, and he stopped.

“But I don’t believe,” she said, the words falling like stones between them, “that you truly have any understanding of other people’s needs and wants, Logan. You’ve spent so many years manipulating business deals, you think you can play people that way. Even the people you say you care about. I guess I thought I could bend myself around that, and it would be worth it, to be with you. But I’m sorry. I can’t be in a relationship with a man who plays people like—like market shares or holo-chess pieces.”

She forced herself to finish, even as tears filled her eyes, blurring his pale, taut face. “I’ll pack my things, and be gone in the morning.”

She turned and walked out of the room. But even the tears spilling down her cheeks could not wash away the memory of the look in his beautiful, gray eyes. Shock and dawning pain.

But she’d told him the truth. She would not stay with a man who didn’t treat others with respect, even though leaving him would rip her heart out.
 

She’d survived losing her parents, and years of not knowing if her brother lived or died. She’d survive this too.

Chapter Eighteen

Creed was listening to Logan—a captive audience, held not only by circumstance, which was that Stark had committed another of his autocratic acts and somehow figured out how to override LodeStone security for a few moments, locking Creed in his office at the mine.

The holovid readouts told Creed that his own system was working to break it and he would be free in a few moments, but meanwhile he could not escape his brother’s words.
 

So he was listening. He had his back turned, his arms crossed over his chest, his gaze on the readouts ticking off the nanosecs till he was free, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to mute the hololink.

“I get that you haven’t forgiven me for this mess,” Stark said behind him, He sounded tired, Exhausted, even. “But there are things you need to know, things I just found out about your—about Taara.”

“This is bad, Creed,” he added. Creed looked over his shoulder. Stark looked like hell, his face haggard, eyes shadowed. “You need to brace yourself.”

Creed’s heart skipped a beat, then pounded faster. “She all right?”

“She’s safe. Is she all right?” He shrugged. “Her cousin came to see me, told me some things. It seems that my actions caused history to repeat itself in a particularly painful way.”

“Spit it out.” Creed’s muscles tightened, ready to move, to act.
 

If Taara was suffering, something had to be done. He might not be able to look at her without remembering how he’d opened up to her, without wondering if
any
of her smiles and sighs had been truth. Still, the thought of her hurting made him want to do violence.

Stark nodded. “When Ms. Ravel was fifteen, she lived on Serpentia. Her cousin lived with them, as his family was gone, killed in a cruiser collision. The whole family was, ah, evidently known more for their courage than their common sense. Anyway, when Taara was just fifteen, her parents went on a camping trip into the desert, during the storm season, leaving Taara at home. Daanel had gone to spend the weekend with friends.

“News reports warned of a huge storm approaching the remote area where they’d gone. It’s common for the big sandstorms to wipe out all holovid links, so no one knew if the parents were safe. So, Taara went to her father’s business partner for help. Wanted him to take her out to the desert, to warn them. Law enforcement was stretched thin assisting desert communities, refused to go and look for a pair of vacationers foolish enough to go into the wilderness at that season.”