The Ruins of Karzelek (The Mandrake Company series Book 4) (12 page)

Kalish almost told him that there was another cot that hadn’t been unfolded yet, and that he could stay in the tent, if he wished, but he must have comfortable lodgings with the rest of his team. And the shuttles were more easily climate controlled than her drafty tent.

“
Good night,” she said, “and thank you for your help.”

He smiled at her, then walked out. The memory of his smile lingered. He was a handsome man, even if she thought it amusing that his shirt and trousers still appeared clean and pressed after he had been tussling in the dirt with animals.

“
No, that was
you
, girl.” She snorted at herself.
Sedge
had remained upright.

She lay back on the cot and ordered the camp light out. She expected to fall asleep promptly, especially now that the mercenaries had installed that proximity detector, but only a few minutes passed before a tapping came at the tent flap, along with an apologetic clearing of a throat.

“
Ms. Blackwell? Kalish?” Sedge asked.

“
Yes?” She hadn’t taken any clothes off, so there wasn’t any chance of him walking in on something interesting, but from the hesitant way he said her name, he must think there was.

“
Would it be possible for me to sleep on the floor in your tent? My usual accommodations are... unavailable.”

Kalish sat up in the dark. By now, she didn’t suspect Sedge would engage in games to try and get into bed with her—or get into a tent with her—but it seemed like an odd statement from a man who had access to two shuttles.

“
What do you mean?” she asked. Remembering how cold it was out there, she added, “You can come in.”

The tent flap stirred, and some of that cold air whispered in along with Sedge. She shivered and rubbed her arms. It must have dropped another twenty degrees since the animal attack.

“
I usually bunk with Commander Thatcher on away missions,” Sedge explained, a strange note to his voice. He sounded... embarrassed? Was that the emotion? “We are similarly, uhm, have similar... well, we don’t irritate each other. But lately, well, he and Lieutenant Calendula, you see, are...”

“
Bumping bellies?” Kalish suggested, waving for the light to come up to a low level.

Sedge stood a step inside the entrance, his pack slung over his shoulder. Had the men tossed it out before locking the shuttle? “I... yes. That’s one way to say it. Even though I question whether that is appropriate while on a mission, but it’s not my place to comment.”

Kalish rubbed her eyes and smiled. It was probably only inappropriate to those who didn’t have the option.

“
Needless to say, they have locked the shuttle,” Sedge said. “Thatcher suggested I bunk with Tick and Striker. This would be tolerable if not ideal, but when I attempted to contact them, they told me they were asleep and kept their hatch locked as well.”

“
They
told
you they were asleep?”

“
Yes, the lack of logic did not escape me.”

“
Maybe they were also bumping bellies,” Kalish suggested.

Sedge snorted. “Given the preferences I’ve seen them display in the past, I deem that unlikely. I’m assuming they just don’t want...”

He shrugged, but she filled in the rest. They didn’t want Sniffles for a roommate. Some of the protectiveness she had felt earlier returned, and she wondered why he put up with the mercenaries. He certainly seemed intelligent enough to qualify for numerous other jobs.

“
I could have forced the issue, but I thought that if you did not mind sharing your tent, I might sleep here easily enough.” He made a face at the dirt floor, but didn’t amend his statement.

“
Yes, you can. There’s another cot folded up in the corner there. Help yourself.”

“
Thank you.”

Kalish lay back down as he found the cot, shifted the desk over, and set his bed up on the other side of the tent from hers. Assuming he would need the light for a while, she pulled her blanket over her head, intending to get some sleep. She didn’t expect anything untoward from him, but she turned on her side so she could watch him from underneath the covers. He set up the cot, then poked into his bag. For pajamas? Did mercenaries change into such things when they were in the field? Probably not. They probably slept in their boots while hugging their guns, in case any trouble showed up. For some reason, she found herself slightly disappointed at the idea that he would lie down without changing. Maybe she was just wondering if he truly did have the physique of someone who was... what had he said? In the top ten percent of the company for physical aptitude tests? It seemed unlikely for such a mild fellow, but she supposed displaying manners didn’t have to preclude having athleticism. He had certainly displayed agility and a quick hand in saving her life. Twice.

A soft hum sounded, and Kalish lifted her blanket higher, trying to tell what he was doing. He had set up the cot and was now bending over it with something in his hand. A... vacuum?

She was certain she must be wrong, but no, he was definitely working that cot over with a compact hand vacuum. He sneezed twice, shook his head, and ran over it again. Next he pulled out a blanket roll, unfolded it, smoothed it over the cot, then proceeded to vacuum it as well. Kalish bit her lip to keep from laughing. Hadn’t she just been lamenting that the men teased him? It wouldn’t do to giggle at him.

Once he had smoothed his bedding a couple more times, he eyed the dirt floor and sneered distastefully at it. He wasn’t going to vacuum
that
, was he?

No, he tucked the vacuum into his pack, then removed a small white device. Kalish tried to puzzle out what it was without lifting her blanket any further. His back was to her, but she wanted to spy unnoticed. Even if she should be sleeping. This was too interesting. A second device, this one gray with venting on the side, came out after the first. Then a third. She gawked. What exactly was he setting up over there?

He tapped a power button on the first device, and a soft, fan-like noise filled the tent. Air purifier? That was all she could think of that it might be. He poured water from his canteen into one of the other devices, then turned that one on as well. Humidifier? He touched a third button. She couldn’t tell what that one did. Then he laid his tablet on the desk with everything else, thumbed something on, and the sound of rain started up. She bit her lip again. Maybe the reason Tick and Striker didn’t want him as a roommate had nothing to do with deliberately tormenting him. Well, so long as they could still hear the proximity alarm if more predators closed in on the camp.

Sedge removed his boots and his weapons belt, placing both next to the head of the cot. He rolled the belt into a tight spiral before tucking it into one of the boots. His shirt came off next, and Kalish felt her eyes widen. Maybe he
was
going to change in front of her.

But he stopped with the shirt. After folding it neatly and laying it on the desk next to his armada of electronics, he folded back the blanket and slipped onto the cot, his muscles flexing as he briefly supported his weight with his arms. Her questions about his physique had been suitably answered. He wasn’t as broad and bulky as Striker, but he had plenty of hard, ropy muscle. She glimpsed a couple of scars on his torso before he lay back. The battle at the mining complex had not been his first time being shot. He might be the intelligence officer, but those scars and his presence here assured her that he went out on missions at times and was in danger.

Kalish wouldn’t have thought him someone she would ever be attracted to, but she caught herself imagining running her hand along the muscles of his shoulder, over his chest, and down to the ridged contours of his abdomen. Warmth spread through her body, her primitive self apparently finding the thought appealing. She reminded herself that he was a temporary ally, nothing more.

She closed her eyes, resolving to get some sleep, but opened them again when he inhaled deeply through his nose. His arms came up as well, hands to his chest, then back down again as he exhaled. He repeated the routine a few times, then shifted to another breathing exercise that involved flexing his muscles, then relaxing them. She didn’t mind the view of those flexing muscles, but she was becoming more and more certain that there was a reason the others had kicked him out of the shuttle. Who could sleep with that show going on in the next cot over?

Of course, there were other things a man and a woman could do besides sleep. Her gaze drifted down his form. What would he think if she proposed exercise that involved more than breathing? Would he be a good kisser? Or would he sneeze in the middle of a romantic moment? Perhaps not after he had so thoroughly vacuumed his area. She grinned and dropped the blanket lower over her eyes. No, she didn’t need to speculate about some mercenary lieutenant. Manners or not, she couldn’t trust him, so there was little point in engaging in a physical relationship, however temporary it might be.

Early morning sunlight slanted through the tent window when Sedge woke up, and he turned his head, wishing he could recapture the dream that had danced behind his eyelids while he slept. It had involved Kalish and a game of Crucible that was being played without clothing for some reason. She had tossed the game aside, kissed him deeply, and thanked him for staying by her side during the animal attack. Unfortunately, he had woken before more than kissing happened. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t uncomfortably hard, and he glanced down with a grimace. He had been sleeping on his back, and those thin thermal blankets might be good at keeping a man warm, but they didn’t hide much.

He glanced toward Kalish, glad she was still on her cot, lying on her side, her closed eyes toward him. He had suffered enough embarrassment without her sitting over there, eating breakfast, while he saluted her in his sleep.

Though he knew he should not stare, he found his gaze lingering, admiring her figure in the morning light. The heater had succeeded in driving the cold from the tent, and she must have grown warm during the night, because she had pushed her blanket down to her waist, and her shirt was rucked up, revealing a few inches of lush brown skin. He wished he could run his hand over that skin, pushing her shirt up to reveal even more. The memory of seeing her topless the night before flashed into his mind, of full breasts that a man could not help but want to touch, to stroke, to taste…

A hatch banged open outside, and Sedge jerked his gaze away. He shook his head in disgust at himself. He was on a mission. This was
not
the time to be thinking about sex.

Careful to be quiet, Sedge grabbed his shirt and boots, and slipped outside before dressing. The sun had brought a modicum of warmth, but it was still frigid out. Perhaps that was a good thing; the icy air drove the heat from his body and helped him push aside thoughts of hot, passionate nights with Kalish.

As he tugged his shirt over his head, he almost laughed at himself, at the way he had tried to flex and show off his muscles the night before. Oh, he always did his breathing exercises—they helped him relax, especially after stressful battle situations, or after situations made stressful by the proximity of annoying comrades. But he didn’t always flex quite so much in an effort to display his masculinity for nearby observers. What had he thought would happen? That Kalish would fling off her blanket, climb onto his cot, and ride him like a
Mercrusean
stallion?

By the time he finished dressing and taking care of biological needs, the camp was waking up with men grumbling about breakfast. Sedge found Thatcher running a maintenance check on his shuttle, poking into the panels not accessible from inside the craft. He wore an unusually pleased expression. Belly bumping, indeed.

Usually Sedge would walk past him with a nod, and that was probably a good idea since he needed to pack his gear and check on the program he had left running, but Thatcher was alone, and Sedge stopped, a question on his tongue. Should he ask it? Thatcher wasn’t usually in his chain of command, being the commander over the pilots’ section, but he was still a superior officer. One probably shouldn’t ask superior officers questions about sex and women. But... Mandrake Company wasn’t exactly the Fleet. As Striker’s constant irreverence always reminded him.

“
Sir,” Sedge said, his mouth getting ahead of his thoughts.

“
Yes?”

“
Kalish—Ms. Blackwell—is going to want some holes blown today. Last night, she was working on figuring out spots where the caverns might be close to the surface of the planet.” And that was
so
not the comment he had intended to make.