Once Upon a Pet Show (A Redpoint One Romance) (17 page)

Which brought Damien crashing back to the
ground. In the field. Still a nomad.

And he wasn't one.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

WHY THE SADNESS? Vallory had finally revealed her
big secret, and it felt wonderful. He'd listened to carefully,
appeared to understand.

And then it was like shutters closed over his
eyes.

She was probably boring him again, talking
about her little group. Like she did with often. Vallory helplessly
shrugged. "Anyway, that's why I'm here. I have a few more meetings
before the end of the show. Hopefully I'll find a place for
them."

"What happens if you don't? What will happen
to them and you?"

He'd asked. That meant he was interested in
still talking about it, right?

She worried about what it really meant, and
yet she found herself saying, "I will be fine. I can take care of
myself. It's the daubpups who would be endangered…"

She meant to stop there. She really did, but
Damien's attention and subtle questioning kept her going. Every
time she tried to wind it down, he would set her off
again.

Keeping it inside for the entire trip and then
around the show officials and exhibitors had affected her more than
she realized. Speaking of the worries, being totally honest and
upfront felt wonderful. Lord, the exhibitors. If this got out to
Mr. Pyman, he would throw a fit, no matter that she'd paid for her
spot just like he did.

Damien watched her the entire time, one arm
stretched out over the top of the bench back. He never let his
attention stray other than to glance over his shoulder towards the
front of the restaurant. She glowed with the attention.

Even better, the reserve she'd seen come over
him slowly dissipated. She even managed to get him to laugh a few
times. She loved his laugh. It came from deep inside him and
rumbled out. A good honest laugh, her father would have said. He
would have liked to meet a man like Damien.

Damien leaned forward on the table again.
"What was that thought? Something made you sad."

"Thinking of my father." Vallory sipped at a
glass of water. "He died a few years back. I used the last of my
inheritance to get here."

"You really wiped yourself out doing
this."

"My daubpups are worth it. Besides, if I
didn't do it, who would? I don't believe in being an observer of
life, sitting on the sidelines."

He slowly shook his head. "Are you this
passionate about everything in life?"

"I would like to think so. People seem to say
so a lot." She lay her napkin on the table, having neatly folded it
first. "You noticed quick."

"Hard not to notice. You and Shay went at each
other right from the start."

It took a moment to remember the name. Oh,
right. "Your apprentice. No, I think it was more a case of him
going after me. Not that I was interested."

"No, you weren't. And, you held your own
well."

As he sat back against the bench and stretched
out his other arm across the back of it. Clearly in no hurry to
leave.

Vallory fingered the edge of the linen napkin,
feeling the nap across her finger tips. "About that first day. I am
sorry I was so brusk. First day here, first day for the daubpups. I
was stressed."

He made a dismissive gesture with the hand
laying across the top of the bench. "I assumed. Many are. For many,
their pets are their children, even for the professional
exhibitors."

"No. I know it's easy to dismiss, but that
usually isn't me." Vallory stopped, flustered.

A slow smile warmed his face. "I think it is
you. Concentrated on the moment, tuning out all else around you.
The daubpups were your focus. Your passion for them showed in that
moment."

She grew more flustered. How did he understand
that so quickly? They'd known each other for such a short time, met
only a few days ago. What else could he see about her? Did she have
any secrets from him?

He tensed, his attention diverted towards the
front of the restaurant. She turned to look around the bench. The
restaurant was still full of diners, but the only two standing was
a woman with hair piled haphazardly but pleasingly on top of her
head, being guided by a man only slightly taller than the woman by
his side. She was laughing up into his face in a way that made her
face beautiful. The full attention he gave her gave Vallory a sharp
piercing pain of yearning. She wanted that.

"Something wrong?" she asked. "They look
happy."

"Rachel and Ignacio. No, wait, they are
heading for a table." He turned his head back to her and smiled.
"Not that I mind visiting, but tonight is about you and
I."

The words warmed her even more, lighting a
furnace at her very core. She reveled in it. Wanted it to continue
for as long as possible.

"Isn't she the one the Naughty Knitter's Club
decided to help with her love life?" Vallory asked while she
struggled to find something else to talk about to keep the night
going. Maybe keep them here forever.

"That's the one. She's on leave right now,
recovering from injuries. The rest of us have taken up the slack.
Another reason for all the overtime."

Vallory peeked out the side of the bench
again. The two were seated and now laughing over the tops of their
menus. "She doesn't look like she's injured. But then, one can't
tell by that."

"No, not on the outside. Her lungs. She was
caught in a station malfunction." She must have given him a worried
look, because he added, "No, don't worry. She's fine, with no
permanent damage done. Ignacio and her bots are taking good care of
her. She'll be back on the job shortly."

She started to ask about which job she did,
but found herself asking something else. Something that had given
her nightmares. Thank goodness for the Redpoint One bots and her
glowing daubpups. "What sort of malfunction?"

"Not the stink. It may be overwhelming, but it
isn't dangerous. Our air quality sensors confirm it."

He wasn't telling everything. She could tell
by the slight tensing around the eyes. Hiding something from her
after she'd told him her big secret?

No, not going to happen.

After going through the possibilities, she
chose the direct approach. Direct, just as Damien was direct.
Attack the problem, fix it, move on. "Would this malfunction by any
chance be a part of the station closing and shutting down with no
warning?"

His entire body went rigid. Yep, she guessed
right the first time.

"Where? When?" he demanded.

"The first day the pet show opened to the
public. I went searching for Penny after she escaped. Escaped,
apparently, to go have her baby in private." She tried to smile at
him, but it was hard with him still so tense and leaning forward,
every fiber of his being demanding explanation. "You were there
when we returned. When there was another pet-napping?"

"Right. I remember that."

Probably remembering how the baby climbed him
like a tree, stopping only when it reached his shoulder to nuzzle
his neck and ear.

Vallory took a deep breath. She still didn't
like to think about it. "Right. I ended up finding her in a
maintenance corridor. The moment I did, that part of the station
started closing off."

His arm stretched over the back of the seat
moved, his hand coming to rest on her right shoulder. "Obviously
you got out in time. Do you remember where this was?"

"I think so, but why? It's shut down. Even the
hatch one of the maintenance bots opened to allow me to escape is
closed now."

But, Damien was already on his feet. He
stopped at the end of the bench and held a hand out to her. "Show
me."

Not a question, not a request. An order that
he clearly expected to be obeyed.

The rebellious part of her nature reared its
head. While she acquiesced to taking his hand, she said pertly,
"Why yes, I do believe I can show you, and you're welcome. Such a
pleasant change to be asked so nicely."

One corner of his mouth twitched. "Sorry.
Thank you for showing me."

"And thank you for asking so nicely," she said
in a sugar-sweet tone. In her normal voice, she added, "I'm only
partially sure of the direction. I was concentrating on Penny's
signal at the time."

They stepped out of the restaurant onto the
busy restaurant circle. Even the tables and chairs at the center
were full. A bot chirped at them from its resting place next to the
front of the building.

"There you are," Damien said, gesturing it
forward. "I wondered when you would get here."

The bot moved between Damien and Vallory,
making it hard to keep hold of Damien's arm in the way he liked to
walk with her. She liked it, too, but with a laugh she adjusted it
to simple hand-holding. "I think your little guy wants us
both."

"So it seems." He looked up from the bot and
into her eyes. Serious eyes. And worried? "Please do not go into
the station maintenance corridors again alone. Not while we are
having these problems."

The way he said the words sent a chill through
Vallory. "I'm okay. The little red bot opened a way to get me
out."

"Sometimes the bots are unable to do so when
an area shuts down."

The chill became a blizzard wind across her
skin, causing goosebumps to rise. This time it was her demanding
answers. "Just how serious was Rachel's accident?"

"She nearly died."

Three little words, but they horrified her.
Was she that close herself? What if the little repair bot arrived a
few minutes later than it did? She shivered at the implications.
She would have nightmares again tonight.

But a Schist didn't step back from fear. She
took a firm step forward, dragging Damien after her. "Fine. Then we
go find that place, and then I want you to fix it."

He didn't offer any resistance. In a few long
steps he'd caught up to walk side-by-side with her. "You assume I
can fix it."

"You're one of the best maintenance engineers
here. You can fix anything."

She loved his spontaneous laugh. She wanted to
laugh with him, but not with the image of the door slamming shut
and the lights going out replaying in her mind. Maybe revisiting
the place would help her put the memory aside.

She found the wall in the industrial park
easily enough. A simple touch of the wall by Damien, and it opened.
All through it, he kept her talking about that day and what she'd
done. How she got into the maintenance corridors. Described the
small bot that saved her life.

In a way she wished he would come up with a
different subject. On the other hand, it kept her moving and paying
attention to their direction, and not the warmth of her hand in
his.

She didn't really remember all the turns she
took. Trusting her instincts, she did her best. She amazed even
herself when they turned into a dead-end corridor.

There it sat. The big bulkhead door that
closed on her. She shivered, looking at it, not wanting to get any
closer. The door didn't feel right. It shouldn't be there.
Metal-gray like some of the pipes, it obviously belonged to the
station, but it shouldn't be there…

She couldn't force herself forward, staying
frozen to the spot. She pointed at it with one finger and then
tightened her hands into fists again. "That's it. This is where it
happened."

He didn't ask her if she was sure. He merely
nodded, and then lifted his wrist. A quick exchange with someone on
the communication line, and then he stepped back. He took her cold
fist into his warm hand and pulled her around the
corner.

Just not seeing the door helped her. When he
leaned back against the wall of pipes and pulled her into his arms,
she willingly lay her head on his chest.

Heat radiated from him, helping to push away
the little shivers going through her. He didn't try to talk. Just
stood there, cradling her, letting her get control over
herself.