His Virtual Bride (14 page)

Frodie choked on his brandy. Herma went to pat his back, the tips of her ears bright red.

"Jonathan Jacob Jones! That droid Connor's been designing…that was for Keely, wasn't it?"

"She won't need it now," Frodie joked, then grimaced.

"Where are you going?" Herma demanded as Geoff strode to their door.

"Dunno. Somewhere a man can take care of his own love life."

* * * *

Herma watched Keely fill her small case. To her it looked like her petite friend put in very few clothes, but loaded an arsenal of weapons on top. Where she could get to them more readily?

Muttering under her breath, Keely named each weapon as it disappeared into her deceptively small pack. "Rope-cuffs. Handcuffs. Necklace."  Holding up a silver blaster, she examined it closely, sighed and packed it, along with a half-dozen more. "Lazer pistol and prod. Ammo and backup power packets. My DeMedici ring." She slipped the last item on her left thumb.

"You won't need that stuff," Herma told her. "Geoff won't hurt you. Or anyone else, for that matter."

"Maybe not before now. But the situation's changed. Now he's a wanted man around here as well as on Earth. Wanted men do desperate things."

She tossed two sets more sets of rope-cuffs into her pack, the second pair longer than the first. In case, Herma supposed, Keely needed to restrain Geoff's feet as well as his hands. Which, under less dire circumstances, might be fun. Kinky, but definitely fun.

"I don't suppose," Herma began, thinking Keely might loan her the cuffs when she didn't need them anymore. "Never mind." The young woman's scowl doused Herma's desire to ask for favors--of any kind.

"What I don't understand," Keely said, looking at Herma for the first time in a long, strained, nearly silent hour, "is why you and Frodie are being so kind. It's my fault Geoff's in this mess."

Herma shrugged. "We feel every bit as responsible as you. If we'd taken you more seriously from the outset. If we'd gotten you a body sooner."

"If I'd trusted Connor to keep his promise to make me a body. If I hadn't gotten so impatient."

"See? We can play the blame game
ad nauseum
. If you hadn't loved Geoff so much…"

Keely frowned as she went back to her packing. "My feelings don't matter. At least not to Geoff. And who can blame him? I deceived him. I made it seem as though he'd stolen me--
The Honey
, I mean. I broke every law he's accused of breaking." Her chin jutting, she whirled to face Herma once more. "Why hasn't Pushin had me arrested?"

"Hopefully because he doesn't know what--
who
--you are."

"And," Keely raged as if Herma had remained silent, "I don't understand why Geoff ran away. If he'd stayed here, we could have figured out a way to escape. To take me--
The Honey
--back to Earth and clear his name. I know he doesn't love me anymore--if he ever did. But he should have trusted me to get him out of this debacle."

Herma listened to what Keely wasn't saying. That she felt inhuman, more alienated from Geoff than she'd felt as
The Honey
. Herma wanted to explain that a clone wasn't a machine, but she doubted Keely would accept that reasoning. The very human soul inside her human body believed she had betrayed Geoff. That her wanting him, loving him had brought him nothing but mayhem. She believed she would have to clear his name, but leave him for him to be safe. What Keely didn't believe was that Geoff loved her. Loved Keely. Herma could only hope they both realized that before Keely's guilt forced her into doing something stupid.

Like refusing to talk with Geoff about their situation.

Herma laughed. Seeing Keely's injured expression, she sobered. "Geoff's unaccustomed to letting the weaker sex protect him. So is Frodie. When I prevented Kendra's murdering
Le Roi
en route to Pluto… Never mind." Keely obviously knew what had happened on the way to
Le Roi's
new home. Or at least her
Honey
persona knew.

"Speaking of blame…" Herma waited for Keely to look at her again. "Would you mind explaining just how you knew to go to Jupiter for cloning in the first place?" That was one piece of the puzzle she and Frodie didn't know.

"Yes." With that, Keely picked up her pack and left.

Left the room. Left
The Honey
. Left Herma wondering where in the entire solar system Keely intended to search for Geoff. Wondering why she wished she and Frodie had never tried to help their friend
Honey.

Pluto

"Lookin' like hell, Justice Geoff."

"Feeling like hell, Sylva," Geoff replied. Sopping up the last of her succulent boeuf bourguignon with a chunk of freshly made crusty bread, he belched. "Feeling better now though." He rubbed his belly while stroking his week's growth of beard.

Sylva laughed.

"I wouldn't get too comfortable," Jordan said, coming into the kitchen of the house where he and his sister housed
Le Roi.
"Pushin's already sent out your description galaxy wide--including the fact you have enough disguises to look like anybody. Crap!" he added, sweeping away the remnants of Geoff's meal with one large hand. "Damn fool. He'll have people reporting their own kin, creating suspicion everywhere. Hell, even Sylva--much as she likes
Le Roi
in bed--might turn him in for the credits Pushin's offering for you, Geoff. My sister could live anywhere."

Smiling up at the giant silver-skinned Plutonian, Sylva told him, "Don't worry. Pushin would have to offer a whole lot more for me to give up your cooking."

"I worry more about
Le Roi
," Geoff admitted before he thought. Sylva and Jordan were known for their loyalty to the former king. Geoff hoped he hadn't insulted the siblings by impugning their friend. Or implied he didn't trust them. "I mean… Something funny's going on with him."
Like he's been hiding out here with you two while I've been chasing him all over the Jove-blasted galaxy
!

"Like what?" Sylva settled in a chair at the kitchen table.

Jordan refilled Geoff's cup with bitter-smelling coffee, undiluted with cream. A plate full of sugarcoated doughnuts appeared along with two more cups of coffee before Jordan joined them and sat.

"I don't know exactly, but…" Knowing Paris could have lied about where
Le Roi
really was, Geoff decided to take an indirect approach. "There's this girl." He rubbed his cheeks and wondered how he could describe the indescribable. "She's like the rest of us non-Marsians that Paris hires--nobody knows a lot about her. Except--Jove blast it! Paris treats her differently than she does the rest of us. She's almost
gentle
with her, as if she really cares about her." Which was even stranger, given Paris' jealousy of
The Honey.

"No matter what she says or how she acts, Paris cares about all of us." Sylva's voice and face revealed her fondness for
Le Roi's
great-niece.

"There must be something more that's making you twitchy." Jordan blew away wisps of steam, slurped his coffee and then licked his lips. He always made a point that he liked the bitter brew. That it didn't gag him or bring tears to his eyes.

"Yeah." Geoff took a deep breath, blurting out, "Paris paired us. Told us to hunt down
Le Roi
. Bring him in no matter what it took. We go to Saturnalia, but there's not even a hint he's ever been there." Geoff raked his hair. Shaking his head, he decided to keep the story simple. He raked his hair again, smoothed his beard and mustache.

"And?" Sylva prompted after a long silence.

"And that's when the truth came out. Keely and I--" He felt anger and embarrassment surge through his guts, rendering him speechless. Jove blast it! His rage had faded. He could almost understand
Honey
's longing to be human. Hadn't he sometimes wanted her to have a meal with him in his quarters? Hadn't he often wished she had a face that matched her sultry voice? During those long, lonely nights when they hovered at the farthest reaches of the galaxy…hadn't he ached for her to have a body to share her warmth with him?

Crap!  He loved her. Both of her. That sultry voice he'd recognized, but was unable to name or put a face to.
The Honey
's voice now named Keely and looking like only Keely.

"Is that your lady's name? Keely?" Jordan asked, his normally booming voice low and soothing.

"It is now. And she's not my lady."

Sylva wondered aloud, "She has an alias? So what? We've all had occasion to use aliases. Do you know her real name?"

"Oh yeah." Even to himself, Geoff sounded bitter. "Her real name is
Honey
and she used to be my--"

"His spaceship," Keely announced from the kitchen door.

Chin jutted, hands loose at her sides as if waiting to draw a blaster, she stalked into the room.

Geoff thought she looked more like a warrior than any he'd ever seen. He wanted to throw her out. Worse, he wanted to throw her on the floor and take her with all the rage and fury…with all the lust…with all the love he felt coursing through him.

"What are you doing here?" he growled.

Looking far too innocent for his comfort, she smiled at Jordan as she nodded at Sylva. "Come to meet your friends. Come for a bowl of stew and a cup of coffee. If that's okay with Jordan?"

"Help yourself," Jordan said, smiling back.

"Come to gossip with Sylva, if she'll have me."

"How come you know their names?" Geoff demanded. Everyone ignored him. He shouldn't have bothered to ask. Keely knew things nobody else in the entire galaxy knew. Names were probably the least of them.

Grinning, Sylva nodded and pulled out the last chair at the small table.

After filling a bowl and a coffee cup, Keely settled with the rest of the group.

Geoff watched her eat. Watched her lips open and close around the spicy beef and Plutonian vegetables--the uniquely Plutonian trinity of what looked like onion, celery and bell pepper, but had their own indefinable flavor. Watched those lush lips pucker to blow steam off the coffee. Watched her throat work as she swallowed. Every bite and sip awoke a memory of making love with her.

Keely dabbed her lips with her napkin, then took her bowl to the sink. Returning with a pot crusted with murky sludge, she asked, "Coffee anyone?"

Geoff held his cup out of reach. Sylva and Jordan slid theirs toward Keely. She refilled all three cups and went to put the pot back in the kitchen. Returning to the table, remaining on her feet, she looked directly into Geoff's eyes.

She looked sad, but determined. Unable to pull his gaze from her piquant face, he barely felt her ring prick his neck. Barely saw Keely's tears. Was barely aware of
Le Roi
entering the small kitchen. At least Paris hadn't lied about that.

He barely heard Keely whisper, "I've come to take you home, Geoff. Home with
The Honey
. Home with me."

Aboard The Honey

Standing like servants about to be sacked, Herma-Frodie faced the vidscreen in Geoff's quarters. Kendra sat in her grandmother's spacious kitchen on Earth, Connor behind her. He wore an expression of utter disgust. Kendra seemed caught between disapproval and laughter. Suppressing her emotions turned the tips of her pointed ears pinkish-red.

 "You should be ashamed of yourselves," Kendra scolded Herma-Frodie.

The hermaphrodite looked completely unrepentant. In fact, they grinned at Kendra and Connor. Kendra smiled back.

Connor, scowling, folded his arms over his chest. "What prompted you to send
The Honey
to Mars?"

"Honey wanted a body. Connor was too slow," Frodie responded, matching Connor's scowl.

"We sent
The Honey
to Jupiter for her body first," Herma clarified, her sweet smile beaming up at her husband. "We didn't know Keely-Honey would lose her memory."

"Why involve Paris?" Kendra asked.

"Paris wants Geoff. Geoff does not want Paris," Frodie said as if that explained everything.

"And?" Connor prompted.

"Paris needs to realize Geoff is not hers. Like Connor is not hers. Connor is Kendra's. Geoff is Keely-Honey's."

Groaning, Connor raked his hair. "Coming soon--Herma-Frodie playing matchmaker for Paris."

Herma exchanged a gleeful smile with Frodie.

"I wish you hadn't said that," Kendra complained.

"Herma-Frodie responsible for Paris losing Geoff. We owe her a partner of her own."

"No!" Connor bellowed.

"This is something we should discuss with Nana Celine and Poppi Keefe. And Connor's mother. As the ambassadress to Mars, she'll know whether your…helping Paris will--"

"Cause an interplanetary conflagration," Connor finished, his glare including Kendra.

"In the meantime," Kendra went on, "no more meddling in anyone's love life. Understood?"

Looking mutinous, the hermaphrodite nodded.

"Good." Connor gave an emphatic nod.

"Now," Kendra added with a wide smile at Herma-Frodie, "bring them home. All the way home."

When the vidscreen went blank, Herma looked up at Frodie, her smile wide.

"Do not think for even a nanosecond that we are not still in trouble," he told her. "Kendra will want to know every detail."

"Such as how we stowed away on
The Honey
?"

"That and how we managed to duplicate ourselves--seem to be on Earth while being with Geoff and Keely-
Honey
."

"Connor won't like our using his duplicating program. Which he couldn't make work on that droid he was building for
Honey."

"Connor does not like us period."

Snuggling against her mate, her hip and thigh fused with his, Herma said, "Kendra will protect us. Besides, Geoff seems to like you, too."

"Uh-huh. I wonder how long that will last."

Chapter Ten

When Geoff awoke, he said a silent thanks he was still alive. Keeping his eyes closed, he assessed his situation. Alive--check. With a headache that twisted his guts and threatened to fill his dry mouth with his own vomit. He gulped, swallowing as soundlessly as he could, listening for any indication he'd betrayed his revived state. His held breath escaped his lips on an inaudible sigh. The tips of his fingers began to tingle. So did his toes. Both facts filled him with a sense of relief. Either his nemesis had bound him lightly or she'd left him free.

"You can quit playing possum."

As if Keely had rousted him from his drug-induced daze, Geoff let his eyelids lift to half open. Without glancing in the direction of Keely's voice, he said, "Amazing how your vocabulary's improved since you've recovered your allegedly lost memory." He loved her, but he wouldn't tell her yet. She deserved to suffer a little and to learn a lot about the hell she'd put him through.

He looked at her--just in time to see her contemptuous gaze flick over him. Without another word, she left the flight deck.
The Honey
's flight deck. Geoff twisted his chair and discovered Frodie in the copilot's seat looking anywhere but at Geoff.

Embarrassed that his companion had heard him being deliberately cruel, Geoff swore, "Jove-blasted woman." He stared out the window, barely aware of Mars outside
The Honey
's forward view-screen.

"Yeah," Frodie agreed, sarcasm dripping in his voice. "That Jove-blasted woman got all the charges Pushin leveled against you dropped. Paid all the dockage costs on
The Honey
. That
Jove-blasted woman
even convinced the Admiralty not to court-martial you. Oh, you'll have to face some sort of tribunal or other, but Kendra's grandfather agreed to represent you. Because that
Jove-blasted woman
looks like Celine's mother and Celine would never forgive him if he let you go to prison."

"How'd she do that?" Geoff scoffed, still not looking at Frodie. He was too relieved, too grateful for everything Keely had done. But he refused to admit he owed her--first of all a huge apology.

Or not, he thought, resentment churning. He wouldn't have any problems at all if that Jove-blasted female hadn't stolen
The Honey
in the first place.

He should have figured it out long before now. The Goddess knew Keely had given him enough clues. Her instant bond with Jo one-two-seven on Jupiter, the information about how to reset her necklace flowing between them like…computers sharing data. Her instant ease with Herma-Frodie. That much he'd wondered about as soon as he saw them together.

Congratulations, Geoff. One insight in a row!

Well maybe a few insights more. Like the way Keely seemed to listen to voices nobody else could hear. How she knew about old-Earth and Admiralty traditions.

She's a machine. A computer, for Goddess' sake!

She
was
, he corrected, smothering images of Keely naked in his arms. Dismissing memories of her warmth. Her scent. Her passion. Her kindness to their driver on Saturnalia. Her humanity even when confronting someone she had every reason to hate. Make that two people--Paris being worse than
Le Roi
. Geoff was fairly certain the former Marsian king knew about Paris' schemes and had condoned them.

Frodie's snort brought Geoff's wandering attention back to the present. "Seems when Keely recovered her
allegedly lost memory
she recalled some data that would bring unwanted attention to certain people and events best left buried."

"She blackmailed the Admiralty?"

"The Admiralty, the interplanetary military, scientists doing human cloning on Jupiter--You name it, she knew all sorts of juicy details."

"Did she tell Paris? The queen would give an arm and both legs to get evidence on Jupiter's leaders."
Good to blackmail them into giving her some of their weapons
.

Frodie shrugged. "Keely might have wanted to tell her, but… I think they agreed to let sleeping fleas lie."

"That sounds more like Pushin. Where's the fun in having someone's head presented to you when you can take it yourself? If you're willing and patient enough to wait, that is."

"Pushin's always struck me as being both."

Geoff grunted. "Did Keely blackmail the queen in order to pay all
The Honey
's fees?"

"Jove, no!" Frodie laughed so hard he had to wipe tears from his eyes. "It seems the entire Marsian population is so anxious to see you gone, the Cabinet paid to make sure you leave. Guess they're still concerned you might marry their queen and take her to Earth."

Geoff snorted at the thought of marrying Paris. "She would enjoy the irony in that." Savoring the sight of the last wormhole that would take him home, he let the silence cradle him. But at last it occurred to him that they'd been here--waiting--for a long time. "What's the hold up? Do you think Paris and Pushin have changed their minds about letting us go?"

Jove blast it! We're sitting ducks.
The Honey's
armaments--most of them anyway--were removed before she left Earth.

"They wouldn't risk detaining you. I think we're waiting for Keely to make up her mind."

"About what?" Geoff demanded. The sinking feeling in his gut, the ache around his heart, gave him the unwanted answer even before Frodie uttered the words.

"About whether she's coming back with us."

Geoff was already out of his seat. "Where is she?"

"Your quarters," Frodie shouted to Geoff's back. "Oh yeah, that should be an interesting confrontation. Which--when Herma leaves the room--I won't be able to hear."
Jove blast it
!

* * * *

Herma sat on the edge of Geoff's wide bunk and watched Keely pace the length and width of the spacious cabin.

At last, the obviously distressed woman halted at one of the wide windows. Placing her hand on the pane, she sighed. "The stars seem dimmer now. As if they're dying."

"The sun's rising. Or we're orbiting toward dawn. As many trips as Frodie and I made on this ship, you'd think I'd know."

"I'm…I was a spaceship and I can't remember either."

"Maybe it's both," Herma suggested, her tone light, hoping to ease Keely's sense of loss.

To which Keely said nothing.

"You can't remember anything from when you were
The Honey
?"

Keely sighed again. "Bits and pieces. Nothing critical. I don't remember how large a crew I could carry or what my armaments were. I do remember the stars and where we are among them now. But all the rest--my replacement's specifications and weaponry--that's gone." She looked at Herma over her shoulder. "They're not lost, you know. Just put back where they belong in my--" A sob filled her throat, but she quelled it. "In
The Honey
's memory banks."

"That's for the best, you know. The Admiralty would have removed all that--
will
remove all that--when
The Honey
's decommissioned for real."

Keely nodded and returned to gazing out the window. At last she murmured, "I wish they could remove the rest of my memories."

"Like what?"

"Like Geoff raking his fingers through his hair or yanking on his mustache when the crew got out of hand. Of him tossing and turning in his bunk when a problem vexed him. I could have helped him if he'd asked.
The Honey
could have. But, of course, the Jove-blasted man wouldn't ask. I was just a computer. Programmed for instant calculation, but incapable of assessing human doubts and concerns. Incapable of love."

Not knowing what to say, Herma kept quiet.

"Most of all, I wish I could forget that he always woke up cheerful. No matter what plagued him during the night, he sang in his shower, hummed while he shaved." She laughed. "Made ridiculous faces in the mirror while he considered what he would look like if he shaved off his womb--his mustache. What he looks like naked."

"That's a Keely memory. It may fade."

"Unfortunately. In both
The Honey
and my cases."

"Is something else bothering you, Keely?"

"Oh, yeah." Striding across the room, she plopped on the bunk at Herma's side, tentatively taking her hand. "I don't know if I'll survive this last wormhole. Returning to Earth might make me as old as Kendra's great-grandmother Clarice. And since she's dead, I could die too. No wonder Earth made human cloning illegal. There are so many unanswered questions."

The door to Geoff's adjacent conference room whooshed open and the man himself strode in. "Not too many questions if you know whom to ask."

Keely sprang to her feet and headed toward her only escape route--the door just beyond Geoff's spread-stance legs and wide shoulders.

"Get out of my way," she demanded, her gaze fixed on the portal to freedom.

"You're not going anywhere. Herma,
you
are outta here."

"Yessir." Grinning, Herma stepped around the two seemingly immovable objects on their collision course.

"Nooo," Keely wailed, her eyes beseeching.

Herma ignored both the look Keely gave her and Frodie's voice in her mind urging her to stay.

* * * *

When the door closed behind Herma, Geoff felt a brief jolt of surprise. But the door had been open, so Herma hadn't needed to go
through
it. He pointed at his bunk. "Sit."

Keely jutted her chin and flounced to the single chair by his coffee table. "If you think you can convince me to go to Earth with you, think again. I won't go."

"Because of those unanswered questions? I have the answers, Keely. I got them from you."

Leaning back in the chair, she tipped her chin even higher. "Oh yeah? Then how come I
don't
have them?"

Geoff wanted to yank out his hair. This blasted woman made him so furious he could pull out every hair by its roots. He forced himself to keep his hands at his sides, to make his voice calm and rational when he admitted, "I asked
Honey
."

"About damn time," Keely muttered. In her normal voice, she added, "No matter what you say, Flight Commander, I'm staying here. Paris' personal spaceship
is standing off my--
The Honey
's portside. She's offered me a job in administration if I don't want to go on looking for her crazy great-uncle anymore. As if she doesn't know exactly where he is! She still won't admit she lied about
Le Roi
, but she claims I can keep Clarice's appearance for as long as I want. She's willing to pay me an enormous salary."

"How will you pay her back, Keely?" Geoff asked, his voice deadly calm. "What does Paris--who does nothing
gratis
--want in return for her generosity? You in her bed perhaps?" He held up his hand, forestalling the rant he saw building in Keely's eyes. "Let's explore an alternative to Paris' generous offers. In the first place, putting you in administration would waste your talents."

"What talents?"

"Ones you might want to explore without risk of exploitation."

"By whom? And what talents?"

"By Paris who would no doubt use your empathic abilities in ways you wouldn't like."

Keely crossed her arms under her breasts and narrowed her eyes. "What makes you think I'm empathic?"

"The way you take away my anger and imbue me with calmness and self-confidence. Plus you come from a long line of healers."

"Clarice was a healer?"

"I don't know. But Kendra is. So is her grandmother. Wouldn't you like to explore the possibilities? Find out about your family?"

He saw the longing in her eyes. Heard it in her voice when she said, "Why do you care? After everything I've done to you, you hate me. Which you have every right to do. Why--?"

"Because you gave me your true virginity, you little fool. Because that gift binds us forever. Because your surrendering to me--Me!" he shouted, pulling her to her feet and pressing her to his body. "That makes it possible for you to come home with me." He kissed her, ravishing her with his lips, his hands, his barely leashed fury. "Because you love me. No matter how large an ass I've made of myself, you love me."

"If that's your way of apologizing--"

"Jovian men never apologize. It's one of our best qualities."

"You'll have to do better, Flight Commander. If you can't say the words--"

"I will do better. I'll
show
you."

* * * *

Keely stepped out of Geoff's now-relaxed embrace. Seeing his determined gaze focused on her, she took several clumsy steps backwards. Tripping over her own feet, she landed in the chair, her legs splayed.

With a devilish grin, Geoff knelt between her thighs, his big, warm body preventing her sitting in a more ladylike position. Keeping her from closing him out. Not that she wanted to hold him away, Goddess help the fool she'd become!

All he had to do was look at her and her resentment turned to longing. With one touch he melted every muscle in her body, made her limbs feel too heavy to move, filled her with anticipation. When would he kiss her? Where would he touch her? To what new unexplored galaxy would he take her with his kiss? His touch?

"A chair wasn't exactly where I had in mind," he said, his hazel eyes darker than she'd ever seen them. "But I like looking at you without getting a crick in my neck."

"Likewise," Keely confessed, nearly going cross-eyed when he leaned his forehead against hers.

"You smell good." He inhaled deeply and then expelled his breath along her hairline. Those little puffs of air tickled and made her giggle.

Giggle, by the Goddess!
She never giggled. In the hundred years or so she'd transported Admirals and their guests, she hadn't giggled once. Nor--
Dear Goddess in heaven! I'm nearly one hundred years older than Geoff!

"Whatever you're thinking," he whispered in her ear, his warm breath raising gooseflesh all over her body, "stop. There's no obstacle we can't overcome, Keely."

"But--"