Hinekiri (26 page)

His driver started up the vehicle just as the door of the Torgon’s vessel opened. Three Torgon exited and paused in the opening. With their long blond hair, colorless faces and purple suits they inspired fright, but the purple backlight coming from the ship made them glow in an eerie manner that appeared truly supernatural.

“Holy shit.” Fear and panic coated the poacher’s voice. “Start the engine.”

The driver revved the Jeep and it shot backward, reversing into a tree. A hyena yelped and Hinekiri hoped it wasn’t too badly injured. The driver tried again and managed to roar from the clearing. Another driver attempting the same maneuver sideswiped the first vehicle. The locals scrambled on the back of the Jeeps, their panicked cries filling the air with confusion.

Hinekiri held back until the last of the poachers left. The rapid click-click of the Torgon held confusion too. They peered at a handheld instrument before zeroing in on her despite the disguise.

They were bloody tracking her!

But how?

Before she had time to puzzle it out, the Torgon raised their shiny silver weapons.

“Fire!” Richard shouted.

Hinekiri aimed and squeezed the trigger. A Torgon exploded. Seconds later another Torgon disintegrated. Hinekiri took aim and fired again.

“Bull’s eye,” Richard said. “Do you think there are more in there and how are we going to get rid of the ship?”

“Maybe hyenas use as a bachelor pad.” Killer wagged her tail to get their attention. “Got bad taste in mouth. Bit poacher man. Yuck!”

One by one, the hyenas appeared from the undergrowth. Livingston padded up to them with Harry limping a few steps behind.

“Good show, chaps,” Livingston said. “All the poachers have run off. We have two minor injuries. Colin was hit. We thought he was dead, but he’d fainted from the pain of the bullet furrow. He’s awake now.” Livingston sniffed disdainfully. “Harry moved a bit slowly when the Jeep reversed. He has a muscle strain. Good job overall. The purple creatures were a nice touch.” She jerked her head toward the spaceship.

“The ship is quite safe for you to use should you desire,” Hinekiri said. Or it would be once she disarmed it. “Perhaps you could disguise it and use it as a spare burrow?”

“Thank you,” Livingston said. “I will investigate tomorrow.”

“Harry hurt,” Killer said.

A young female hyena rushed up to Harry and rubbed against him. “I’ll look after him. I’m just wild about Harry.”

They fluttered eyelashes at each other and smooched.

“Oh brother,” Killer barked.

Richard tugged the hyena pelt off his shoulders and Hinekiri did the same. They exchanged a glance and she read him easily. The Torgon’s arrival was worrying. “Somehow, the Torgon have a way of tracking you,” he said.

“I don’t know how. And why have they only shown up now?”

“Thank you,” Livingston said. “We are heading off on a celebratory hunt. Most of us, anyway.”

“You’re going to hunt the animals on the planning committee?” Richard asked.

Livingston chuckled in the peculiar way of hyenas. “No, the truce continues. We’re heading off the Serengeti to do our hunting. Do you require an escort back to the lodge?”

“No, we’ll be fine.”

Livingston let out a soft
whoop-whoop
and the hyenas moved out like a well-trained military unit. Harry and Colin limped in the rear.

Richard stepped closer to Hinekiri and winked at her. “We’ll take a moonlit stroll back to the lodge. It’ll be romantic.”

“Oh brother,” Killer barked. “All I want is food. Nice steak.”

“When we get back,” Hinekiri answered, thinking about Richard instead of Killer’s demands. A romantic walk. Before it had all been about sex. No one had ever suggested romance to her before.

“Don’t act so surprised,” Richard said in a gruff voice. “I told you I love you.”

“I impressionable,” Killer yapped.

“We’ll meet you at the lodge,” Richard said. “There’ll be a steak in it for you.”

“I going,” Killer yapped, and took off before Hinekiri could add a thing.

“So, that leaves just the two of us.” Richard took her hand in his and started walking along the track they’d used to get to the clearing. “I wanted to talk to you.”

Hinekiri battled conflicting emotions—fear and sorrow. Tomorrow they’d leave for New Zealand and soon after that, she’d leave for her next job. She drew a sharp breath and concentrated on keeping things light and cheerful. “That sounds ominous.”

Richard laughed and stopped at the base of an acacia tree. He smoothed the wisps of hair off her forehead and smiled down at her. “It isn’t. I had an idea. Maybe we should wait until we get back to the lodge.”

“No, we can talk now.” She’d go crazy if she had to wait to hear what he was going to say. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t guess. Probably something along the lines of it’s been great. Goodbye and have a good trip.” By the goddess, it wasn’t fair. She didn’t want to spend her life alone.

“I’ve been thinking—”

“Like I said, ominous.”

“Hinekiri, dammit. Will you be serious and listen to me for a minute?” He sounded nervous and that made her stop talking and listen. “I want to go with you.”

Chapter Fourteen

“What?” The roar of Hinekiri’s heart was so loud she could hardly hear herself think. Had he said—

“I’ve been thinking about us. I don’t want what we have together to end. I want to go to with you.”

“Go with me?” Hinekiri was having trouble comprehending. Reacting.

Richard grasped her shoulders and tilted her chin. Their gazes meshed. “So, what do you say?”

“I— But this was just a romantic interlude. Nothing serious.” Hinekiri laughed softly. “A little lighthearted fun between two people.”

Richard frowned and her insides twisted. He couldn’t be serious? “I love you, and for me, that’s serious. If you don’t feel the same way, tell me.”

Hinekiri hesitated, torn by conflicting emotions. Joy at his desire to go with her and fear because the horoscope was never wrong.
Never
. “The horoscopes are always accurate.”

“Bullshit. They’re bloody contradictory. You can read what you like into them. I bet the stars didn’t label you a courtesan. It was the sorcerer’s interpretation and you all bought into it.” He ripped out the words impatiently and with total conviction. Richard didn’t give a damn about the horoscope but Hinekiri couldn’t go against years of tradition and her upbringing. It wasn’t easy to treat the matter so lightly.

His eyes narrowed on her. “Did Janaya have her horoscope done?”

“Yes.” Hinekiri frowned. “She listened to the sorcerer and then told him she’d never heard so much rubbish in all her life.”

Richard’s grin was wide and lit up his whole face. “I know I’m going to love having Janaya as a daughter. You’re sure she and Luke are a couple?”

“I’m sure. They’ve bonded. Their circumstances are different from ours. I had my shots but Janaya left Dalcon in a hurry.”

“I see. Let’s get going. I want to search your person once we’re back in our cabin. I’m positive there’s a tracking device on you somewhere.”

A surge of disappointment hit Hinekiri, knocking the air from her lungs. She inhaled, her mind chasing in circles. Was that it? She glanced at Richard from beneath lowered lashes trying to puzzle the male out while fighting chagrin. He was giving up that easily?

Richard took her hand and they walked in silence. Hinekiri heard the rustle of the trees and long grasses that edged the track and the occasional call of an animal on the hunt for dinner. With each breath, she drew in essence of Richard, reminding her of the rapidly approaching departure. Did he mean it?

“I thought you liked living in Sloan and never wanted to leave.”

“But I won’t be leaving,” Richard answered.

“I thought you wanted something more permanent. You asked to go with me. Fodo crap, what do you mean?” His smug tone stung. It sounded as if he was asking her to give up everything and move to Sloan. A…a wifehouse! He wanted her to be a wifehouse. “I don’t want to be a wifehouse,” she blurted in sheer horror.

“Wifehouse?”

Oh fodo crap. He was confusing her that much she was forgetting her Earth speak. “I meant housewife,” she snapped.

“Sweetheart, I don’t want that either. I didn’t explain things very well.” Richard stopped walking again and turned to face her. His expression was earnest. Serious. “Yes, I’d like to travel and work with you, spend time with you. But it would be a partnership with give and take. I thought that when we were between jobs we could come back to Earth and live in Sloan. It could be our home base. And I guess we would need a base on Dalcon too. That’s what I meant when I said I wouldn’t be leaving.”

“Oh.” Hope blossomed. A partnership. It was true they worked well together. Hinekiri’s lips and breasts started to tingle when she intercepted his hot, intense gaze. They did other things together that turned out extremely well too.

Richard closed the distance between them and lowered his head to kiss her. Their lips touched and moved together. It was slow, sending happy signals racing through her body. His large hands cupped her head and her world narrowed to just him. She quivered at the touch of his lips and the intimacy. The kiss was everything. It was tender, a promise of love. He communicated exactly how he felt about her in that single, perfect kiss and for the first time Hinekiri started thinking about a future that wasn’t one of loneliness.

Finally, he lifted his head and stroked the pad of his thumb across her kiss-swollen lips. “What do you say? We could try it on a trial basis if you’re still not sure.”

“I suppose,” she said slowly. “I was thinking about coming back to check on Janaya anyway and I want to visit Alaska.”

“Good. I’ll work on persuading you to make things permanent.”

“Sounds good to me.” Hinekiri grinned and pursed her lips for a kiss. Instead of kissing her, Richard was staring at her boots.

“The tracker must be in your boots. This is the first time you’ve worn them since we left New Zealand.”

“I wore them when we were on the ship coming from New Zealand,” Hinekiri said. “You’re right. I haven’t worn them since. They’ve been in the cabin wardrobe.”

“They must be set off by motion. That’s the only thing that makes sense. Where did you get them? Have you had them a while or are they new?”

Hinekiri’s brow wrinkled at the answer since she couldn’t believe… “Janaya gave them to me. They were a present and her excuse to get on my ship. Janaya hid when my back was turned and stowed away because she couldn’t talk me out of this trip. She wanted to protect me. You’ve seen what she’s like. I can’t believe Janaya would try to set me up. She’s like a daughter.”

“I agree,” Richard said. “Where did she get the boots?”

“They’re issued to all the bodyguards. Fodo crap! That means one of the bodyguards is twisted.”

“I think you mean bent. Someone Janaya trusts might have planted a tracker in them. Still, it narrows the field. We still have to find the tracker.”

“Do we do it here or in our cabin?” Hinekiri glared down at her boots, a gut feeling telling her Richard was right. The boots had led the Torgon to their prey. Her.

“We’re almost back at the lodge. Let’s wait until we get into the grounds. I know the animals have a truce but I’d feel better if we were in the lodge grounds with security guards wandering around the place.”

They hurried along the rutted track as fast as they could with the light limitations. Five minutes later the trees and grasses gave way to rocks then the track turned a corner and they entered the lush grounds of the lodge.

“There’s a seat over there. Why don’t we sit there and you can take off your boots.”

Hinekiri sat on the seat. From there she could see some of the private cabins and part of the car park. “I see our poacher friend is back from his skullduggery.” She unlaced the heavy black boots and handed one to Richard while she retained the other. They started to check them carefully. “What do you suppose it will look like?”

“I was hoping you’d know.”

Hinekiri searched the inner part of the boot before deciding she would probably have noticed something if it were inside. “I can’t find anything. The heel looks okay. I’ve managed to get a stone stuck in the tread but that’s not it.” She tugged at the stone and pushed it, trying to pry it from the tread. A click sounded and a piece of the heel parted. “By the goddess, I’ve found it. It was inside the heel.” Hinekiri plucked it out and stood, intending to crush it.

“Wait. I have a plan. Since we’re leaving tomorrow, let’s plant it on the poacher’s vehicle. Ah look, here’s another one.” His eyes gleamed with mischief. “Perhaps we can find something personal inside the vehicle. I’m sure the Torgon would enjoy following the poacher.”

“The poacher won’t have much fun,” Hinekiri said, her tone dry.

“I don’t have much sympathy for him. He’s not only killing the animals but he’s depriving future generations of something precious. Come on.”

Hinekiri put on her boots again and the two set off on their mission. After dodging the security guard, they placed a tracking device under one of the seats and another inside the lining of the poacher’s binocular case. Hand in hand, they walked to their cabin.

“I think we deserve a sleep in since it’s so late. I’m looking forward to exploring with you, although I’ll miss my son and daughter and my friends.” Richard squeezed Hinekiri gently. “My friends are going to love you. You’re going to fit in perfectly.”

Hinekiri felt a warm glow in the region of her heart. Richard was so accepting. He was a good man. Like a well-lubricated machine, they functioned perfectly together. In truth, she wanted to say yes, but a tinge of fear held her back. “You will bear the courtesan label.”

“Me?” Richard gave a bark of laughter and opened the front door to the cabin. He stood aside to let her enter, ever the gentleman. The small courtesy buoyed her confidence.

“Yes,” she said. “I would like you to travel with me.”

“Great!” Richard swung her off her feet into his arms and headed for the bedroom. “And you’ll marry me.”

A smile played around her mouth. “We’ll see.” Probably. How could she resist this Kiwi cop? She had never felt this way about a male before.