GALLANT (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 3) (20 page)

"That is not possible! How could..." Josep coughed, cleared his throat and began again. "I mean, it is highly improbable that one of my colleagues could be involved. On the other hand, why would Frezlo make such an easily disproven accusation?"

Gallant knew Josep wouldn't want to hear that one of his colleagues might be a spy but he couldn't hold the truth from him. "Frezlo was under severe duress when he revealed the information to me. He confessed that his contact was a man and that he was masked but apparently something he was wearing had the Consociation emblem on it, so Frezlo followed the man."

"Perhaps Frezlo was lying to protect someone else."

"Not under the circumstances. He was absolutely certain it was a Con rep." Gallant felt sorry for the old man. He had never seen Josep so upset.

"This is terrible. If it got around, people would panic, they would—"

"It won't get around. Frezlo died right after he told me where the rep headed."

"He's dead? You're certain?"

"Absolutely." He didn't need to say more than that for Josep to understand.

Josep dabbed his forehead and upper lip with a handkerchief. "Did you say he told you where the... the representative went?"

"Right. As unbelievable as it sounds, he said the man landed on Lore."

"Yes, that is unbelievable, and, of course I can't order you to go there, but..."

Gallant grinned. "But you can gently suggest that I consider it. I already did and I'm on my way there now."

"Now?" Josep grew disturbed again. "What is your current location?" Gallant told him. "I would like you to make a slight detour to Norona before you go to Lore. There is something I need to discuss with you in person that cannot wait."

Gallant couldn't tell him the reason he was in such a hurry to complete this mission, so he had to agree to the one-day delay the trip to Consociation headquarters would cause. "All right. I'll see you in about thirty-six hours."

"Wait a moment. I almost forgot. I have been holding an urgent message for you from Governor Romulus of Innerworld. He requests an immediate answer."

"Oh?" Gallant had a fair idea of what Rom wanted to know but he waited for Josep to locate the message and read it to him.

"He says, Aster is very worried about Cherry. When will you return her? Do you know to whom he is referring?"

Gallant rubbed his chin. "Yes. That's Aster's—" Again he felt he should not reveal Cherry's presence on board. "That's Aster's pet talking bird. She loaned it to me to see if I'd like one of my own to keep me company. If you wouldn't mind, please relay a message back, saying Cherry's fine and I'll have her home as soon as I've completed my current assignment."

Josep visibly relaxed. "Of course. I would be glad to send that along. I look forward to our visit."

Gallant signed off but stared at the blank screen for some time afterward. He couldn't remember ever lying to Josep before—omitting facts, yes, but not out and out lying. Thinking on it, he knew Josep would not be understanding about a Terran female being involved in such a highly confidential mission. If he learned of her, he might insist that Gallant turn her over to the Consociation for the duration.

And therein lay a logical reason why Gallant had held his tongue. If there was a spy among the Con reps and that spy heard about Cherry, wouldn't he consider her a threat to the secrecy of the mission and try to eliminate her? Gallant couldn't very well abide by his oath to protect her if he was on a different planet when someone went after her.

He almost regretted making that oath. If he dropped her off on Norona, she'd be out of his system in no time. She might even catch a ride back to Terra from there sooner than he could take her, which he knew would suit her wishes as well.

Might. If
no one tried to kill her first.

Besides that, she now knew portions of his secret that he had not yet explained in any satisfactory way. No, even though it seemed to be in his personal best interest to get her off his ship, he couldn't risk having her roaming free either. Which meant he had to figure out a way to keep her secured on board while he met with Josep on Norona. He was contemplating whether there was any way she could be convinced to stay out of sight willingly when Cherry plopped onto his lap.

She caught him so off-guard that he was returning her kiss for several seconds before his voice of reason shouted its warning.

One moment Cherry felt Gallant's heat flooding her body, the next, she was kissing a block of ice. Drawing her head back, she scanned his face and frowned. "Hmmm. I see Captain Voyager's back in charge again, eye patch and all. Care to explain or should I draw my own conclusions?"

Gallant swiveled his chair to the side then nudged her off his lap. "My rest period ended two hours ago. If you're in need of more attentive company, I'm sure Mar wouldn't mind being awakened."

Cherry inhaled sharply but stopped short of slapping him. "That was extremely rude, Captain. In fact, you went a bit too far." She calmly walked behind him to Mar-Dot's station and pulled out their bench. Sitting down, she kept her eyes on Gallant's profile. "All you had to say was, 'Not now, Cherry,' or even 'Don't distract me while I'm on duty, woman.' Instead, you purposely insulted me. Why?"

Gallant studied his monitor as he answered. "We agreed that it would be a mistake to complicate our relationship. We can't go backward but I can avoid repeating the mistake in the future."

"Look at me and say that again. Tell me to my face that, in spite of how good it was between us last night, you have no desire to spend another eight hours in your bunk with me... and I'll accept it and leave you alone."

He turned toward her, met her gaze, and said, "I—"

"Wait," Cherry interrupted, then pulled off his eye patch before he could stop her. "Now, tell me the truth."

He glared at her. He looked away and back. "All right. The truth. I had no intention of sharing my bunk with you, but it happened anyway. It doesn't matter how good it was. I can't afford to do it again."

The pragmatic part of her personality accepted the fact that he regretted having sex with her even though he enjoyed it. Her active curiosity was not so easily satisfied. "Why?" When he hesitated, she prodded further. "What's with the patch? There's no one on board you need to deceive with your dangerous disguise. And as long as you don't intend to evade my questions by kissing me senseless, how about explaining what happened to Frezlo?"

When several seconds passed and she asked no more questions, he asked in a quiet voice, "Do you want to hear lies? That's all I can give you."

Cherry narrowed her eyes at him but his gaze held steadily to hers. He didn't seem to realize that by warning her rather than automatically lying, he had already given her more than he would have yesterday. For the moment, she decided to settle for that. "Save your lies, Captain. I said I'd leave you alone and I will. Here." She handed him his eye patch. "I wouldn't want you to feel naked."

As he replaced the patch, she studied the navigational monitor. "I don't suppose we're heading for Earth."

"No."

"Lore?"

"Not directly."

"No? You may as well tell me. Mar has taught me enough to figure it out on my own."

"We have to make a stop on Norona first. We'll reach there late tomorrow."

"Norona? That's great!" She bounced off the bench and gave him a big hug. "Thank you!" She released him and started circling the control panel. "How many days does it take to get back to Earth from Norona?"

Gallant glanced up at her. "Five, but—"

"Five! Oh my. That'll be cutting it close, but at least I should be back in time for the auditions. I shouldn't have doubted you, Gallant. I'm sorry."

"Cherry—"

"I've got to tell you though, I wish I wasn't in such a hurry to get back. I'd love to tag along and see how this mission works out. Do you think you could send me a note or something later on?"

"
Sit!
"

She froze in her tracks. "I wish you would stop talking to me like I was your pet dog!"

"Pet bird," he mumbled then said more clearly, "Please sit down."

Cherry returned to the bench with a sense of wariness. "What is it?"

"I'm glad you're interested in my mission," he began slowly. "I didn't thank you properly for your help back on Zoenid."

He was speaking so formally, she couldn't help but giggle. "I don't know, I thought your improper thank you was just fine."

He started to grin but attempted to hide it by clearing his throat. "At any rate, I am appreciative."

"I certainly hope so," she countered with a lascivious eyebrow wiggle.

"Cherry, you're making it very hard for me—"

"Again? Why, Cap'n Voyager, y'all are the most remarkable man!"

Gallant gave an exasperated sigh. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you're acting like an ass. Just give me whatever bad news you're trying to sugarcoat and I'll try not to go nuts when I hear it."

Gallant braced himself. "You can't get off on Norona." Before she could react, he hurried on. "You heard Frezlo. It was a Con rep that ordered the Weebort's assassination. He could order yours as easily. I promised to keep you safe and I can't do that while the spy is free, unless you stay on board."

"That's very
gallant
of you, Captain, but I hereby relieve you of any responsibility for my safety. Just head me toward the ticket counter after we land, then forget you ever set your eyes, or should I say,
eye
on me."

"I can't do that."

She opened her mouth to continue the debate but decided to drop it instead. It really didn't matter what he said, she was getting off his ship the minute it landed on Norona. "How about a game of cubit?"

As he pulled out the table and set up the game, he asked, "What's going on in that devious mind of yours?"

Cherry smiled. "As a considerate man recently said to me, do you want to hear lies?"

He muttered something under his breath that Cherry assumed was an obscenity and chose to ignore. "You can toss first. Points only."

Rolling the cubes between his palms, he casually said, "By the way, I'd like my cheats back."

"I'm sure you would, and I'll return them... right after you explain what you meant when you said you made the drillfly disappear." The way his cheekbones bronzed told her two things—what he had said was
very
important,
and
he was upset she had remembered it.

With neither of them willing to let the other know what they were thinking, the rest of the day dragged by until Mar-Dot joined them. At Mar-Dot's prompting, Gallant and Cherry filled them in on what had happened on Zoenid, even managing to make some of it sound entertaining.

The mood lightened considerably during those latter hours. However, when Gallant's rest period drew near, Cherry sensed his rising tension and spared them both further embarrassment.

She yawned, stretched and got up from the bench. "My goodness. How time flies when you're having fun. Good night, y'all." With a smile for Mar and Dot and an indifferent glance toward Gallant, she headed for the facility chamber, then to Mar-Dot's cabin. When an hour had passed and Gallant hadn't knocked on the door, she knew he had meant what he said about not repeating his earlier mistake.

Wouldn't you know it, she thought with considerable annoyance. She had finally found someone whose passions ran as deeply as her own and he wanted nothing more to do with her.

It was just as well, she supposed. In about twenty-four hours, she'd be on her way back to Earth, ready to embark on an exciting new phase of her career and Gallant would be somewhere on the other side of the universe, continuing his own adventures.

Her last thought before she fell asleep was that it really was a shame the audition was scheduled so soon. It might have been a kick to see what other strange places Gallant's mission took him to.

* * *

Twenty-four hours later, neither Gallant's sternest order nor his gentlest plea could get Cherry to sit still, let alone take her rest period. She had been keeping track of their progress toward Norona all day, and now that the planet could be seen in the distance, her excitement was boundless.

Unlike Zoenid, Norona looked the way Cherry thought a planet should, and what a magnificent sight it was. There was no cloud cover to mute the brilliant greens of the land and blue of the waters. As the ship got closer, she could also see the radiant glow that marked each city where the sun reflected off the crystal prisms of the buildings.

"Aster described it perfectly," she said, standing as close to the glass as she could get without pressing her nose against it. "I know Innerworld is made up to look exactly like Norona, but it's still exciting to get to see the real thing." She turned to Mar with a bright smile. "Will you be deboarding this time?"

"No," Gallant answered quickly and firmly. "They'll be staying here... with you."

Cherry flashed her smile at him but didn't say a word. Several times during the day he had repeated his reasons for wanting her to stay hidden while he went on his appointment. Sticking with the policy of saying nothing rather than lying, she simply had not made him any promises to abide by his order.