Outcast (12 page)

Still, Bonnie had been good to him, and he'd repulsed her. He was well-fed and had money in his pocket for the first time in what seemed like his entire life, and she was the one responsible for that.

He was sorry for upsetting her, but there was nothing he could do about it. If he'd apologized, she might have begun to desire him again, and he didn't want to take that risk.

Trying not to think about her, he focused on the money instead. When he'd worked in the mines of Paemay, he hadn't considered the money he earned to be his own; it was being saved for his passage to Terra Minor, and he rarely spent any of it unless it was absolutely necessary, even to the point of going hungry most of the time. He'd had a goal back then, and he'd been single-minded enough to see himself through some difficult times.

But it was different now. He had money, but no real reason to spend it — or even save it — and the dream of buying his own land seemed so remote. He told himself that it wasn't true, that he could do it eventually, but he was having a hard time convincing himself.

Lynx wondered how it was that Bonnie had ever had the wherewithal to buy her land. Had she inherited it? Had she earned it? He didn't know. There were so many things he didn't know about her. She was having a child, but she rarely spoke of it. Lynx only knew the father's name was Sylor Halen, and that he'd left her. Took the money and ran, she'd said. He wondered why. Once Zetithians chose a mate, it was for life, unless circumstances made it impossible to stay together. If he could have mated with Bonnie, they would not be walking together in stony silence. The journey would have been a pleasant one, if only...

Lynx had been doing his best to look anywhere but at Bonnie, but since he had fallen a few steps behind he could hardly avoid seeing her — and catching whiffs of her. She might have thought she didn't smell of desire, but she did; pregnant women had always smelled like pure, sweet love to him.

Her description of her own body might have been accurate, but he'd always considered pregnant women to be beautiful, and she was no less so than any other. The curves of her body called out to him — her hips, her breasts, her round belly. Yes, she was beautiful — even with her jaw set and her brow furrowed in a scowl.

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Arriving in Nimbaza in reasonably good time, Bonnie and Lynx set up the cart in the marketplace.

Her problems with Lynx had overshadowed the excitement of knowing that Jack would be there — and Cat and Leo and Tisana, too — but once they reached the outskirts of town, Bonnie found it difficult to appear nonchalant. It wasn't every day that something as momentous as meeting up with two other survivors of the holocaust of Zetith took place. She busied herself with arranging her produce but couldn't help looking up from her work to scan the crowd for Jack. Knowing that she would have a stall set up somewhere nearby, Bonnie held back a crate of enock eggs for Jack, who always had something interesting to trade for them.

She didn't have to wait long. Jack came over very casually, as though only intending to talk, but when she winked at her, Bonnie knew that wasn't her only motive. Jack could wheel and deal with the best of them.

"How the hell you been?" she called out as she approached. Jack (Bonnie didn't think her real name, Jacinth, suited her at all) was tall with short, dark hair and, unlike the typical woman, walked with a bit of a swagger. She'd ventured farther out into space than anyone Bonnie had ever run across and, wearing a short-sleeved flightsuit and boots with a big pulse pistol strapped to her thigh, looked as though she could take on anything and everything and still come out on top. To Bonnie's mind, Jack was just too damn cool for words. "Baby about to pop out of there?"

"Not soon enough," Bonnie replied. "I've had just about enough of being pregnant. Makes it way too hard to pick cucumbers."

"I can believe that," Jack agreed. "I had triplets, you know, but then, I'm not a farmer." Giving her a sweeping glance that might have seen more than Bonnie would have liked, Jack added, "Been doing okay otherwise?"

Bonnie did her best to put up a good front, but knew that while Jack might have been astute enough to see right through the ruse, she'd also had time to catch up on the local gossip. "Just fine, unless you want to count Sylor running off and one of the enocks trying to amputate my arm. That Seal 'n'

Heal came in real handy, by the way." Holding up her arm, she added, "See? Thanks to that and your Derivian ointment, there's hardly even a scar."

"No shit?" Jack exclaimed, examining Bonnie's arm. "Hmm. I never had a chance to test one of those things on a really bad wound. Never would've thought it would work so well! Should've bought a whole case of the damn things instead of just a dozen. Might have to go back — if I could just remember what planet I got 'em on," she added with a laugh. Abandoning that line of conversation for the ploy it was, she eyed Bonnie speculatively. "So, Sylor ran out on you, huh?

You know, I never cared much for that smooth-talking bastard — had shifty eyes. You're probably better off without him. Getting along okay?"

"Not too bad," Bonnie replied. "I hired someone to help me. He's around here somewhere."

Bonnie didn't have to turn around to see just where he was, either, because Jack's curious gaze soon found Lynx, and her eyes widened in disbelief. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed. "He's Zetithian!" She turned and shouted across the plaza. "Hey, Cat! Get over here and bring Leo with you!"

Following her gaze, Bonnie watched as Cat left their booth, thinking that he had to be the sexiest thing she'd ever seen in her life. Tall and lean with black curls down to his waist, just the way he moved was enough to make most women fall at his feet, but his smile would have melted a stone.

Even the way he dressed was sexy — a loose white tunic, black breeches, and tall black boots — and reminded Bonnie of a pirate. Bonnie turned to look at Lynx, standing there behind her, and noted that while the two men had the same kind of eyes, ears, and fangs, the resemblance ended there. Cat was outgoing and confident and positively exuded sexuality, whereas Lynx was so sullen and withdrawn, it was hard to believe they were even from the same planet.

Bonnie was glad she was looking at Lynx when he saw Cat, because there was plenty of emotion there, all right: his mouth dropped open and, for a second or two, she thought his knees were going to give way beneath him.

"Cark?" he said in an unsteady voice.

"Lynxsander?" Cat said more after that, but it was in a language that Bonnie could only assume was Zetithian. Lynx ran to him then, and they hugged each other tightly; Cat laughing joyously, and Lynx sobbing as though his heart would break. So, he does have emotions after all...

A moment later, Leccarian "Leo" Banadansk crossed the plaza, and Bonnie hoped Salan wasn't around to see him, or she probably would have swooned where she stood. As tall as Cat, but golden rather than dark, he reminded Bonnie of the lions that his wife, Tisana, had nicknamed him for.

Exuding leonine grace and power, he also had a smile that would warm a much colder heart than Salan's — a smile that right now was positively beaming with delight.

Lynx's eyes were glowing with a fire Bonnie had never seen there before as Leo raced forward to hug him even harder than Cat had done.

"Where have you been, Lynxsander?" Leo said laughing. "We feared you were dead!"

Lynx couldn't even utter a reply, but it didn't seem to matter, because Leo obviously didn't expect one. The explanations could come later.

"Honest to God, they turn up everywhere we go!" Jack declared, still completely astonished. "It must be fate or something. First we picked up Leo on Utopia and then we ran into two brothers on Darconia! Cat always said there were others in his unit who were sold as slaves, but I never dreamed we'd ever find any of them! Where the hell did he come from?"

"He just showed up one day," Bonnie replied with a shrug. "He was looking for work, and since the mines weren't hiring, Drummond sent him to me."

"Oh, wow!" Jack said with a heartfelt sigh. Then, seeming to come to her senses, she looked at Bonnie and grinned. "So, are you happy with him?"

"Happy?" she said blankly.

"Oh, of course you are!" Jack exclaimed. "How could you possibly have been with one of them and not be happy?"

"Been with one of them?" Bonnie echoed. "As in...?"

Jack stared at Bonnie as though she'd gone barking mad. "You mean you aren't lovers?"

"No," Bonnie said hastily. "He just works for me... and he doesn't like women."

"You've got to be kidding!" Jack scoffed. "Why the hell doesn't he like women?"

"I wouldn't know," Bonnie replied. "He barely even talks to me."

Jack shrugged. "Well, Cat was a bit standoffish when I first found him, but he warmed up real quick." Her eyes narrowed. "How long's he been working for you?"

"Several weeks," Bonnie replied. "He does a great job, but he doesn't like me at all."

"Been too tough on him?" suggested Jack.

"Nope, not really — haven't needed to be," Bonnie admitted. "I hardly ever have to tell him what to do. That part is pretty nice, but he's not! Not nice, not friendly, and not interested in me at all — or any other woman, for that matter."

"Well, that's pretty fuckin' strange!" declared Jack. "Huh! Guess they aren't all alike, then. Shoots the shit out of my theory."

"Your theory?"

"About why their planet got blown to bits," Jack replied. "You see, I think it was because the guys were so irresistible that someone decided to get rid of them."

"Irresistible?" Bonnie glanced at Lynx, thinking that while the word did fit Cat, Lynx had nowhere near as engaging a personality. Still, she'd been strongly attracted to him — even without trying, he'd gotten to her in ways she wouldn't have thought possible. Maybe it was true.

"Oh, yeah! Completely irresistible!" Jack went on. Moving closer to Bonnie, she whispered, "They secrete a fluid that triggers orgasms — effortless, continuous, multiple orgasms." She gazed at Lynx in amazement.

"A Zetithian man who doesn't like women," she mused, shaking her head. "Unbelievable."

It wasn't really — at least not to Bonnie. It was simply the story of her life. It was ironic — but only fitting — that of the few remaining members of a species who were apparently the best lovers in the galaxy, Bonnie had somehow managed to wind up with the dud.

T hey hadn't all been duds, of course, or even dishonest — sometimes it was simply a matter of bad timing — but when it came to men, Bonnie hadn't had much luck.

When Bonnie was sixteen, her best friend's boyfriend tried to get her to spend the night with him.

When she told him she wouldn't, he told her friend that she had. It's easy to imagine what happened after that.

At seventeen, she became good friends with a boy in her geometry class, but before love had the opportunity to blossom, his family moved to Cleveland.

At eighteen, Bonnie fell in love for the first time. It was no secret that Ray was in trouble most of the time, but Bonnie was sure that her love could reform him. When she finally got him talked into going to a graduation party with her, the night of the party he was arrested for shoplifting. She never saw him again.

At twenty-one, Marv came into her life. He was handsome, courteous, and thoughtful, and treated Bonnie more like a lady than anyone else ever had. She was certain that they would be together forever — until he got sent back to prison.

Bonnie swore off men after that, but then she had one love affair that began with a great deal of promise, but it didn't quite pan out. Though they parted amicably, Bonnie had always felt it could have been so much more.

At twenty-four, another charmer stole her heart, but before it could even begin, the affair ended when he wound up falling in love with Bonnie's sister. They'd always gotten along well and became good friends, but Bonnie wasn't the one he married in the end.

Not long after that, Bonnie found love at long last with someone who wouldn't marry her, but who swore he'd never leave — and he didn't, until Bonnie was pregnant with his child.

Now she had a Zetithian who might have been as honest and dependable as the day is long, but who, aside from being a confirmed misogynist, couldn't even stand to be downwind of her.

Deep down, Bonnie knew there were plenty of decent men in the universe, but unfortunately, they didn't seem to be meant for her. Even knowing that it was probably her own fault for always choosing the wrong sort didn't help because, as often as not, the wrong sort seemed to choose her.

Bonnie was recalled to her surroundings when she heard Cat asking Lynx what had ever possessed him to cut his hair. Lynx muttered something that Bonnie didn't catch, but she could see that he was embarrassed by the question. Cat seemed almost as appalled as he would have been if Lynx had cut off his balls. It seemed sort of silly to Bonnie — after all, it was just hair — but then, perhaps it was symbolic, much like the way she'd cut her own. She chuckled to herself, thinking that if Lynx ever let his hair grow out, she might have had hope — though there would be no guarantee that he'd been letting it grow because of her.

Jack wandered back to her own booth muttering something about having Tisana brew up a potion of some kind, and Cat, Leo, and Lynx went off to catch up on the past twenty years. Bonnie was still amazed that they all knew each other.

She went back to selling her produce, and Drummond dropped by for some eggs. He scrutinized the crates closely, still searching in vain for his avocados. Bonnie sold him some Janlian pears, which looked like avocados but would have made really lousy guacamole.

Vladen, the regional physician, came by later in the morning and bought a lot of vegetables — said he was headed back to Wasaba, and the produce there wasn't nearly as good as Bonnie's. While she considered this to be a nice sentiment and a testament to her ability as a farmer, a woman late in her third trimester does not want to hear that her doctor is leaving the vicinity!