Stardust Dreams (12 page)

Gallant deduced the rest. "And
that was when the accident occurred and you ended up in Innerworld."

With a small nod and a
sigh, she whispered to the black void before her, "She must have thought I
forgot all about her."

Letting his instincts
override his common sense, he turned her toward him and wrapped his arms around
her.

She stiffened and looked up
at him suspiciously, but his hold was gentle and nonsexual, and she gave in to
the comfort he offered. Resting her head against his chest, she listened to his
steady heartbeat. "For a tough guy, you do a pretty nice hug."

Gallant stroked Cherry's
hair and said quietly, "My mother always said that a hug is worth more
than ten medical teams."

"Smart lady." She
tipped back her head to look up at him. "You're the only person I ever
told about Rose. I don't know why I did that, but I'm kind of glad I finally
got it out. Thanks. For listening
and
the hug." Placing her hands
on his cheeks, she drew his face down to meet hers as she rose on her tiptoes.

She intended the quick peck
on his mouth to end the unexpected intimacy that had sprung up between them. Rather
than release her, however, he abruptly tightened his hold, and a growl rose
from deep in his chest. His body hardened against hers so swiftly that she
gasped, only to have her breath taken away again as his hot mouth closed over
hers.

Too fast. Too hard.

Yet not nearly enough.

His lips, his tongue, his
teeth took all she had and demanded more. His hands grasped and kneaded,
lifting and urging her to join him in wild abandon. She forgot everything
except the reckless hunger he incited. Thinking only of her need to feel every
inch of the masculine flesh she had previously been trying to ignore, she
yanked his vest off his shoulders.

"Oh my," Dot said
as the he-she entered the bridge. As if nothing unusual were going on, they
approached their station and began running a check on the instruments. "Really,
Captain," Mar declared with mock sternness, "if you needed to leave
your post, you should have called us. We would have understood."

Gallant and Cherry were
each aware of the interruption but their rampaging need kept them clinging to
each other for several seconds. Breathing heavily, and knowing any attempt to
make a dignified exit was futile, they stepped away from each other and left
the bridge without uttering a word. The sound of Mar-Dots chuckling accompanied
them down the passageway.

Gallant stopped in front of
his door and opened it, but rather than enter or step aside, he just stood
there, blocking the way with his back to Cherry.

Cherry had been embarrassed
to have Mar-Dot catch them doing precisely what she had told Dot they wouldn't,
but her pulse was still racing with desire. She touched Gallant's arm and was
startled when he jerked away from her.

"Don't,"
he said in a
voice that still sounded more like a ferocious animal's growl.
"Mistake."

Before Cherry understood
what he meant, he was inside his room and the door had been closed in her face.
She blinked at the door several times before she accepted the fact that he had
left her hanging there. No man had ever done that to her… on purpose. She
wasn't counting those that had simply not been able to satisfy her; at least
they had tried.

Not only was Gallant guilty
of abduction and lying, now he had insulted and humiliated her as well. Why, he
was nothing but a tease! She was half tempted to barge in there and—

Her hand was poised over
the opener when she realized what she was about to do. She lowered her hand and
laughed at herself. Even with a robotic arm, she couldn't force the man to
satisfy her. With a shake of her head, she walked to the facility chamber,
hoping that the sanitation stall was equipped with a cold air blower.

Gallant leaned back against
the closed door and slid to the floor. His hands were shaking so violently he
tucked them under his arms so he wouldn't have to look at them.

Minutes. He had been
minutes away from paradise… or perdition. If only he knew for sure which it
would have been! Only once before had he gotten so close to finding out.

He was five years old when
his Noronian parents discovered what he really was. Up to that time they had
made excuses for his excessive emotional outbursts and occasional acts of
violence. Rather than send him away, they carefully schooled him in
self-control, constantly reminding him of the conse-quences should anyone else
find out his secret. The eye patch took care of the other deviation.

For the most part, he
learned the lesson well enough to have people wonder if he had any emotions at
all. But he had not been prepared to battle the hormonal storm that hit him
when he reached adolescence. The first time he was alone with a consenting
female, his practiced control disintegrated.

He had attended the
required classes and read the manuals on sexual behavior, but he had no way of
knowing that getting aroused would turn him into a savage. Nor had he known
that the aggressive manner that felt so normal to him would terrify the poor
young woman. Initially, she had seemed as anxious as he, but minutes later she
was crying to be let go and calling him an animal.

Gallant had regained his
senses quickly enough to calm her down and convince her not to report him to
anyone. By that time, he had already become a proficient liar, out of necessity.

It was not long after that
first incident that physical need drove him to discover that he could
experience a sexual release without letting go of his control. However, he
always felt that it wasn't as good as it could be. The act was pleasurable, yet
far from satisfying. Having to use part of his attention to keep the wildness
reined in prevented him from thoroughly enjoying what was happening to his
body.

As the years went by, his
encounters with women became less frequent. A physical release without an
emotional one simply wasn't worth the effort.

His breathing had returned
to normal and his hands had stopped shaking, but his thoughts were still in a
panic. Had he really growled at Cherry? Yes, he was certain he had, just as he
knew he had bitten her lips and earlobe. Like an uncivilized barbarian, he had
mindlessly attacked her, and would have used her without a thought to propriety
had Mar-Dot not interrupted.

When Cherry had talked of
her sister, he had felt somewhat guilty for tricking her into the
revelation—guilty enough to try to comfort her, without considering how the
proximity of her body would affect him. It was exactly as he had feared. Her
vibrant energy struck a chord in his primitive soul, and the result was nothing
short of spontaneous combustion.

As his head began to clear,
he considered how to repair the damage he had just done. There was no question
about his having to be more careful about touching her in the future. The
problem was, he might have ruined any chance of getting Cherry to trust him
enough to cooperate with his plan to trap Frezlo.

At least she hadn't
screamed or cried… or used her robotic arm on him. She must have been too
stunned by his shocking behavior to fight him off. He knew he had better
apologize before the shock wore off.

He heard the door across
the hall open and shut and ordered himself to rectify his mistake immediately. Mentally
reconstructing his civilized veneer, he left the privacy of his room and
knocked on her door. The moment it slid open, he said, "I wish to
apologize."

Remaining in the doorway
with her arms crossed, Cherry cocked her head at him. "All right. Go
ahead."

She was so calm, he assumed
she was still in shock. "My behavior was unpardonable, but I hope you'll
forgive me anyway. I assure you nothing like that will happen again." She
didn't respond one way or the other, so he added, "I'm sorry if I
frightened you."

"Frightened
me? So far,
you've infuriated me, humiliated me, and left me frustrated as a bowlegged kid
at a greased pig chase, but it would take a hell of a lot more than one
aggravating man to frighten me!"

She might have made him
squirm a bit longer if he hadn't been apologizing so politely. "Look, I've
decided you were right. What happened up there was a mistake, and it was as much
my fault as yours. I'm afraid you opened an emotional floodgate and I took
advantage of the outlet you offered. I shouldn't have kissed you, even if I was
only trying to say thanks. Let's forget it and just be grateful Mar-Dot stopped
us before things went too far. This trip is difficult enough without that sort
of complication."

Although he nodded his
agreement, he hadn't heard anything beyond her pronouncement that he had left
her frustrated. He had been so caught up with the fact that he had let himself
go that he hadn't allowed himself to notice that
she
might have been
doing a fair amount of clawing at
him.
That thought didn't improve his
state of discomfort one bit.

Cherry continued to try to
ease the tension between them. "Maybe we could try for some middle ground,
like friendship. What do you say?"

"Friends. Yes. That's
a good idea," he said mechanically, reminding himself that friendship had
been his goal to begin with.

"Well then, I guess
I’ll say good night." She held out her hand.

He didn't want to make
physical contact with her again. Not yet. Not until he had a chance to
completely rebuild his defenses. Yet he couldn't refuse to return the friendly
gesture. As his hand clasped hers, he had to fight the almost involuntary urge
to pull her back into his arms. The way her eyes widened with surprise made him
wonder if she had felt the same surge of heat or merely guessed at his depraved
thoughts.

Cherry withdrew her hand
and closed the door. Her robotic arm came equipped with sensors that operated
the same way the nerves in her other arm did. She had never noticed that they
were more or less sensitive than the real thing. She flexed those fingers now,
concerned that the tingling she felt when Gallant's hand had enveloped hers was
a warning sign of a malfunction. It still felt a bit strange, as if he had not
yet released her hand. She vigorously shook her arm and the sensation faded
away, just as it had the other times she had come in contact with him.

She stripped off the
jumpsuit and lay down be-tween the clean sheets on Mar-Dot's bunk. She couldn't
help but wonder if Gallant would fall right to sleep or if their unexpected
moment of passion would replay itself in his head, as it was doing in hers.

She had told him her
analysis about why it had happened. Emotional overflow could make a normally
sensible person behave strangely. But she hadn't admitted aloud that nothing
quite like that had ever happened to her before. It was bad enough that she had
been crawling all over him as if she hadn't seen a man in twenty years!

That day set a pattern for
those that followed, with Gallant and Cherry sleeping at the same time. Mar-Dot
spent time teaching her about navigation and how the ship operated, and Gallant
occupied her with endless games of cubit.

They told each other tales
of people they knew and places they'd been, but cautiously avoided anything too
personal that might trigger an emotional response.

Cherry thought that if it
wasn't for the fact that she didn't trust him any further than she could throw
him, she and Gallant could have become friends. But that wasn't the only
problem. The tension humming between them since the
incident
prevented
either one from totally relaxing. She was constantly aware of how careful
Gallant was being not to touch her or meet her gaze for more than a second or
two and that only made her all the more curious about what had happened and why
he had called a halt to it so abruptly.

Gallant was the one who
suggested they play cubit for points rather than wagers, but Cherry was quick
to agree. So it surprised her when, two days later, he challenged her with
another bet.

"A five-game match. If
I win," he stated, "you agree to cooperate with anything I ask when
we reach Zoenid."

Naturally she was
suspicious of why he would change his mind about playing for stakes, but since
she had won more games than he had, she figured it was worth a shot. "And
I'll claim the same forfeit I did before. If I beat you, you spill the beans
about your eye patch." His dismayed look made her laugh. "You should
be able to figure that expression out on your own. You know, by the end of this
trip, I'm liable to have you speaking American like a native. So? Is it a
bet?"

He gave her one of his slow
grins that she had already learned to be wary of. "Absolutely."

The similarity of this
match to the one that had ended so emotionally was uncanny. They were tied
going into the fifth game when Gallant miraculously began rolling quads again. In
practically no time, he managed to win the match… and her promise to help with
his mission in any way he requested.

On her sixth day in space,
Cherry awoke before Gallant for the first time. Except for very short periods,
she and Mar-Dot had rarely been alone together. As she had once before, Dot
wasted no time taking advantage of the opportunity.