The Marine's Queen (24 page)

Joe understood very little about commerce, but doing business with one’s enemies made no sense.

Callie took Joe’s arm and led him from the hall. “Jak is joining us for the mid day meal. I’m starving.”

Sontu waited for them in a small dining hall that was the fanciest room Joe had ever eaten in. The captain pulled Callie’s chair out for her, earning a grateful smile.

Joe stored the small lesson on manners he’d just witnessed. Next time he would be the one to hold her chair.

Sontu spoke to Joe as he took his own seat. “I’ve rearranged the sentries as you suggested … I can’t call you Joe.”

“
My name is Joe.” Remembering Callie’s initial reaction to his lack of family name, Joe braced for the captain’s reaction.

“
We should have a title for you. Not having a last name might raise someone’s curiosity.” Sontu spoke with no judgment in his voice.

“
Good idea.” Callie smiled in a way that lightened Joe’s mood after listening to people’s problems and complaints all morning. “How about commander?”

“
A title, not a rank, might be better. Something that doesn’t need a name tacked onto it,” Sontu suggested.

“
During training I was called First,” Joe offered.

“
No, we better not use that,” Sontu mused. “It might give you away if the wrong person heard it.”

Two female servers brought in steaming bowls of spicy broth, warm bread and sliced sweet melons. Callie dismissed them and continued their discussion. “It should be a title that carries authority both civilian and military.”

Sontu looked at Joe with a measuring look in his eyes. “Long ago on Giroux, each king would select four men to be his personal guards. Things were a bit wilder back then. These four men were the best of his warriors, unmatched in loyalty and valor. They were called sentinels. There hasn’t been one for two centuries.”

“
Sentinel,” Callie repeated. “I like it. It has history, and it’s a powerful word.”

Callie and Sontu smiled and turned to Joe. Did they want his thoughts? “I … it doesn’t matter to me.”

Sontu laughed. “I suppose not. Now about this miner you’re going after tomorrow. I want to send some men with you.”

“
Why?”

“
Sentinel,” Sontu said as if trying out the title, “you’re not familiar with the ways of our people. They don’t know you yet. A few of my soldiers will give you legitimacy.”

“
It’s best, Joe,” Callie said.

“
I won’t kill him.”

“
I believe you, but take the men anyway. And make sure you’re back in time for the celebratory banquet. I need to introduce you to the entire council.”

Joe studied Callie’s expression. It wasn’t quite amusement, more like satisfaction. Though not quite that either.

The meal continued while Joe tried to figure out the way Callie looked at him. Her gaze slid over him when he filled her glass with more iced water. He placed the gleam in her eyes then. It was the look of possession. He’d seen it many times in the eyes of military men sending him and his recon marines into the teeth of a battle.

* * * *

Callie took special care with her bath, using the few expensive oils she had. She hadn’t seen Joe since the meal at mid day. He’d claimed the need to help Captain Sontu with various projects.

After rising from her bath, Callie smoothed lotion over her arms and legs, even rubbing a bit on her stomach. She slipped on a thin robe and then poured a cup of hot tea. Her short time on Crevan Four had created a habit of a warm drink in the cold, dark time before sleep.

She glanced at her big soft bed, her heart hammering with anticipation of another night in Joe’s arms. Her skin tingled along her inner thighs, and her breasts ached with a pleasurable fullness.

She paced to work off the energy humming through her. A kernel of shame pricked her. How could she obsess about making love when so many threats hung over her?

Was Dania plotting against her, or was she only an ambitious woman plotting to gain power? Had Dania hired the assassin, Mast, or had he been sent by someone else and managed to find employment with the arrogant minister? Did Mast recognize Joe? Would he contact the authorities and turn in her marine?

The door swished open, and Joe glided into the room. Callie drank in the sight of him. The black uniform clung to his body like morning dew to applenut blossoms. Beautiful.

A hot ugly emotion seared through her. Tomorrow’s celebratory banquet would bring many women to the palace. Would not every one of them lust for her marine? Crevan Four’s isolation had spoiled her. There had been no competition, no lovely, shapely women to tempt Joe’s virility.

“
Callie?” Though Joe’s understanding of society remained very limited, his sensitivity to her moods seemed extrasensory.

Callie shook off her silly jealousy. Nothing had happened to cause it. Yet. “Tell me about our defenses and what you think we’ll need to fix.”

Joe stared at her for a moment before answering. “We’re keeping a close watch on Mast and tightening access to the living areas of your hall. Too many people can enter your home and be only a door and a guard away from you.”

“
What if someone recognizes you and sends troops to capture you?” Despite her earlier insistence that the Galactic Council wouldn’t dare invade her planet to hunt Joe, she feared they might do just that. She hadn’t expected someone like Mast who might know Joe.

“
If you can’t keep them away with diplomacy and they bring a large force, I’ll surrender.”

“
What?”

“
You can’t sacrifice your people to defend me. I’m not their problem.”

“
You’re a citizen of Giroux now. You deserve all the protection any of the citizens do. Not even Minister Smeltz would dare attack us to procure your capture.”

Joe looked doubtful, but he let it drop. “Captain Sontu will stay at your side tomorrow when I go after the miner.”

“
I want that man to stand trial.”

“
Isn’t that why Sontu is sending men along? He thinks I might use too much force.”

“
What else did you work on all day?”

“
I flew my cruiser onto Giroux without being spotted. We need to update your planetary sensor grid. I could land an army without anyone knowing until I knocked on your front door.”

Heat rose in Callie’s face. Was she that inadequate a ruler?” “Is there anything we’re doing right?”

Joe looked wary, but the sarcasm went by him. “Captain Sontu seems a good soldier, but he’s short on help and you haven’t given him enough power to enforce security concerns.”

“
I haven’t?”

Joe went on, oblivious to her growing anger. “Dania Cresbol may be aligned with your enemies, yet you allow her full access to your home. She should be replaced. The outworld miners are often rowdy and violent, terrorizing your citizens. They should be deported off world at any minor infraction no matter how much they assist the economy.”

“
Anything else?” Callie spat between her clenched teeth.

Joe narrowed his eyes, a wary question in them. “I’ll have more by tomorrow night.”

Callie glared at him, seeing his confusion. His posture suggested a man wanting to flee so she let out a deep breath and lied. “I look forward to your next report.”

“
One more thing.” Joe shifted his weight in an unusually nervous manner. “I want more guards with you at all times?”

Callie closed the distance between them and slid her hand up his arm to his shoulder. She continued the motion down over his chest and rested her hand over his heart. “Even at night? You want these guards watching me sleep?”

Joe opened his mouth to answer, but snapped it shut when she shrugged her robe off her shoulders. The smooth silk slid soundlessly to the floor and covered his boots and her bare feet. He stared at it for a moment before he swept his gaze up her legs and across her breasts. When his gaze finally lifted to hers, the heat in his was a match for hers. “I don’t want anyone watching you sleep except for me.”

“
I don’t intend to sleep for a while.” His simple honesty pleased Callie. Matters of state could wait until tomorrow. She took her marine’s hand and led him to bed.

* * * *

Callie traced the curve of muscle on top of Joe’s shoulder, finding the smooth hardness fascinating. Even though he slept, his body appeared tensed and ready to fight. Or make love.

Squeezing her thighs together to renew the pleasurable ache still lingering there, Callie fought the temptation to wake him for another bout of love play. Did he look tired? Since she’d met him, he seldom took a full night’s rest. Did that wear on him, building a mountain of fatigue or did he require less sleep than other men?

She stopped touching, deciding it wasn’t fair to wake him. Tomorrow would be stressful for him. The hunt for the miner, a strange land and working with strangers, and the royal banquet with all its social niceties, would test his ability to adapt in an alien environment in a new role.

How should she present him? As a guard, standing watch at her back? Or as more. Should she seat him at her right hand? It would bring more attention to him and increase the danger of someone recognizing him. How long until her entire household figured out what Dania only assumed? Could she look at Joe and not have everyone know he was her lover?

Her earlier concerns came back to nag at her. Many of the women attending the banquet might look at Joe and experience that rush of heady lust he inspired in Callie. What would she do if his eye turned toward a more attractive woman?

Joe shifted in his sleep, rolling away from her. She curled her body against his back, his presence bringing her a sense of peace and security. She listened to his deep even breathing and made her decision. He would stand at her back, a sentinel, away from the greedy clutches of any hungry females of her court.

* * * *

Sontu stood slightly behind Callie’s chair with Joe. The captain whispered short descriptions of the individuals dining at the long table. He nodded toward a blonde woman occupying a seat halfway down the right side of the table. “That’s Cibil Wendt fluttering her lashes at you.”

“
Stay away from her,” Callie flung over her shoulder, giving Joe a quick frown. She had glared at him numerous times since they’d entered the banquet hall.

“
Why?” Joe thought her answer might clue him into the reason for her irritation. What had he done to anger her? They’d canceled the arrest of the miner she’d feared Joe would kill. Word had somehow reached the rapist and he’d fled into hiding. Joe had spent most of the day with Sontu working with the security techs, but now Callie leveled a glare on him that rivaled the enraged expression of a female boark protecting her young.

“
Because I said so.” Callie turned back to the older man sitting to her left after delivering such a senseless justification.

Sontu made a muffled sound that might have been a snort of laughter.

Joe sighed, unable to follow the quirks of humor everyone understood but him. He studied the people in the room instead of trying. Dania spoke urgently with a man Sontu had identified as the agent who brokered deals between Giroux civilians and offworld mining interests. His sleek looks stung Joe’s instincts.

A movement behind Dania called Joe’s perusal fully back to the man who had had a piece of his attention since he’d entered the room. Emer Mast. The assassin stared at him also. His light-colored eyes appeared colorless in the bright artificial lighting of the hall.

Joe had met other men like this one. They followed no code except doing the job assigned to them. Their only duty was to the fees paid to them.

The noisy affair progressed, the aroma of exotic foods mixing with the odors of people. Not all the people odors were unpleasant, but some used too-strong perfumes that couldn’t cover the stench of unwashed flesh.

One of Sontu’s men stood watch at the far door, his alert gaze on Mast. Sontu and Joe had handpicked the soldiers guarding the room though Jak did most of the selecting. Other trusted men worked on the updates for planetary security. Giroux’s technology lingered in the age of antiquity in Joe’s opinion.