Heart of Stone (5 page)

"We look out for each other," she said.
"That's what family is for."

"So they say. Branch told me what
happened to your parents." He inhaled the vanilla scent of her
silky hair. "I'm sorry."

The elder Thornes had been murdered by
pirates who'd ambushed a merchant freighter returning from Pangaea
with a load of produce and other goods. Branch and his sister had
been in their late teens. Their deaths had set Branch on an
adventurous path that led him to Frontiera and Masterson
Enterprises.

She stiffened. "Why are you sorry? Was
it your—your gang who attacked their convoy?"

Unprepared, he took the hit full-on.
Ice seized his chest and shattered, leaving him hollow. "Is that
what you think of me? Murdering innocent people?"

He was holding her too tight, his
fingers digging into her soft flesh. He yanked his hands from her,
clenching them into fists with the effort of not shoving her
away.

She lifted her head, eyeing him warily.
"Everyone says you're … or you used to be a—a pirate."

"Oh,
everyone
says," he sneered. "Then you
should believe it, lass. Every last thing they say. I'm a bad man,
I am. Turn your back and I'll knife you, sure enough." He poked her
in the ribs, and she flinched.

"Stop it," she snapped. "For heaven's
sake, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings."

He stared at her, aghast. "Hurt my …"
She thought him a soft creature, like a Pangaean, wearing his heart
and his feelings out where everyone could see them? "It takes a
good deal tougher opponent than you to do that, lass. But you can
keep trying, if you like."

# # #

Rose shivered. She'd bared herself to a
very dangerous man, one who would toss her aside like so much
recycling if he chose. More than that, though, he was sneering at
her as if she were one of his paid women, about to be thrown out of
his bed because she'd displeased him.

Well, she'd roused the beast, now she
must face the consequences, even if her pulse was racing with
trepidation. "Suppose you tell me the truth then. Are you involved
in—in criminal activity?"

"Oh, but why are you askin' me? I can't
be trusted," he taunted. "How do you know what I tell you is the
truth, Rose Thorne? Perhaps I'll spin a sob story, just to get back
where I want to be, between your soft thighs." He grabbed her ass
with one of his big hands, and she flinched as his fingers slipped
into the damp crevice below.

Menace was written in every line of his
lean, angular face. Rose froze, feminine instinct shrieking at her
to escape. Fury blazed in his golden eyes, as hot as the flames
that leapt in his hearth, as if he was about to pin her down and
force her to take him this time.

But she'd seen that sneer before. And
she remembered where—on the faces of the New Seattle urchins who
hung about in the alley behind the cooking school. They'd appeared
every afternoon, pretending they didn't care that she and her
friend Farah always brought out the imperfect pastries on a tray,
instead of dumping them in the recycler. Their swaggers and glowers
hid the hurt that they'd no one at home to bake for them, or even
open a tube of protein most days. For a little while, they'd simply
been children, enjoying a treat.

Rose saw an echo of their defiance now,
and she wanted to chase it from this man's face.

He fingered her, sending a wicked
thrill zinging through her. His fingers slipped along the sleekness
of her labia, still swollen from their joining. Her inner thighs
were still wet with his seed. Her heart sped up and she bit her
lip, barely breathing as he fondled her. But she didn't push him
away, either.

"Tell me," she urged. "About your
family. About where you came from."

He sighed, as if much put upon, but at
least he directed his glare at the ceiling, instead of her. He left
his hand where it was, as if to prove he could.

"No cozy family for me," he said. She
could feel the vibration of his deep voice in his chest as she
leaned her chin on her hand there. "My mother died when I was a
lad. Never knew my father. Stopped looking for him long
ago."

Her heart contracted with a painful
ache as she pictured a skinny little boy like those in the alley,
acting tough to hide the hurt and fear. "Who cared for
you?"

He snorted. "Took care of myself, most
times. I wasn't alone by any means—there were a whole lot of us,
fending for ourselves on the docks. As I got older, I organized the
rabble. And before you ask; aye, I've stolen, I've lied and I've
cheated. Done everything they say."

He cast her a darkling look, the lilt
in his voice so strong she felt as if she'd been transported to a
faraway place with him. A terrible place, where a boy had to become
a criminal to survive.

"And I've killed—all worse thieves,
liars, cheaters and murderers than me, so no loss to the galaxy, or
whatever the hell you're thinkin'."

She swallowed the hot lump in her
throat and nodded encouragingly. He still held her very intimately,
but at least he'd stopped probing.

"When I had enough credit, I bought a
freighter. Quark, she was an old scow, held together with spit and
twine."

"What's twine?"

He huffed the ghost of a laugh. "It's a
fastener, made of whatever you can find to make long fibers, rolled
together. Here, the tribes use plant fiber. Anyway, I made a few
runs, bought another freighter. Expanded my operation, despite some
… opposition."

Rose shivered at the titanium in his
voice. She could imagine what that opposition had been like. She'd
seen holo-vids of Old Europa and the living conditions there, the
hollow-eyed humans who made the galaxy-wide news, usually for
rioting or committing horrific crimes. Desperate people, willing to
do anything.

By his own admission he was one of
them, but at least now she understood why, and even
sympathized.

"But then you came here." She stroked
her hand down over his ribs and he jumped. Ah, the dangerous man
was ticklish. He captured her hand in his, bringing it back to his
chest and flattening it on his hair-roughened skin, stroking it
back and forth absently.

"I did. So you see, Frontiera is no
safer than the place you left, siren." He cast her a challenging
look. "I've some old friends and some old foes who are now on
Frontiera. You're still surrounded by dangerous beings."

She narrowed her eyes back at him.
"That's the story of new lands, new planets, through time. There
are plenty here who've brought their families, as well. So stop
trying to frighten me with your old enemies."

"You need to be frightened," he
growled. "By my old friends as well. Sometimes even I'm not sure
which is which. You were a fool to come up here on your own and
even more foolish to trust me."

He rolled, taking her with him, and for
the second time that night, she found herself flat on her back,
looking up at him. His eyes gleamed at her from the shadow of his
tousled hair. "I'm the bad man you should be running from, not
to."

Rose tried without success to catch her
breath, with his hard, bare body pressing her into the bed and a
stiff, hot length lying against her belly. Excitement ran through
her in a guilty thrill. Yes, he frightened her—she was sure he
could scare any creature in the galaxy when he gave them that laser
look.

But more than that, he fascinated her.
She had to know the truth. Was he willing to change, to surmount
his origins, or did she need to get her brother and herself far,
far away from him?

"You're on a new planet,"
she reminded him. "A chance for a different kind of life. And
Branch says law is coming here. When the new satellite
communication system goes up, the pirates won't be able to hide
here anymore, won't be able to waylay traders and rob them."
You won't be safe here anymore
, she wanted to add.

He still had his hand under her bottom.
He hooked his fingers underneath her, sliding them right inside
her, the side of his thumb back to teasing that place no lover had
ever touched. And he saw every nuance of her excitement.

"Oh, Branch says a lot. You think I
could change, eh? And are you going to help me do it, lass?" his
voice was mocking, his touch wicked.

"Don't make fun of me." She dug her
short nails into his shoulders. "Are you or are you not still
engaged in criminal activities, Stone Masterson?"

He slid his fingers further between her
thighs, now held apart by his own. He found her clitoris with one
of his wet, calloused fingertips, and began to circle it with
teasing care. "Do you really care right now, Rose?"

As pleasure streaked from his touch,
she caught her breath on a sob of sheer need. She bit her lip,
clutching at him. She wanted to scream at him, she wanted to hold
him close and demand that he go on touching her. She moved her
hips, seeking more as her pussy quaked with need.

"I don't think you do care. I think you
want me no matter what kind of man I am." He moved again, a lithe
twist of his lean hips. Holding her gaze with his own, he pushed
inside her, just so the broad head of his cock rested in her wet,
swollen entrance. She couldn't quite manage to swallow her whimper
of need as she anticipated again the consuming pleasure he'd give
her.

His eyes glittered. "Say you want me,
Rose. No matter who I am, what I do."

"Yes," she choked. "I—I want
you."

"Then I'm going to take what I want
from you. That's what pirates do, isn't it?"

His mouth covered hers as he thrust his
cock deep inside her, so she was spared from having to answer
him.

He took her hard and fast, driving
himself into her softness as he held her there, his hand still
between her ass cheeks, touching her where they were
joined.

Rose held onto him. No matter what he
was, she would have done anything to keep him in her arms as he
drove her up the steep slope of need that he'd forged.

"Come for me," he commanded, his mouth
against her ear. "You're mine tonight. I want to feel your sweet
pussy squeezing my cock." At his words, pleasure caught her and
flung her into him, hot and deep and dark. She cried out, her voice
rising over the sounds of their bodies slapping
together.

He drove into her one last time and
then stiffened in her arms, groaning as his hot seed filled
her.

For a few moments, they remained locked
together. His chest worked like a bellows, his skin damp with sweat
again. Rose kept her eyes closed, hiding from the reality battering
her as her mind took over again.

But when he caught his breath and moved
off of her, no longer anchoring her, she began to shake. Her body
convulsed, a sob bursting from her throat. She clapped her hands
over her mouth, her humiliation complete as hot tears welled up and
flowed down her face.

A rough curse sounded in her ear, and
she found herself hauled back into his arms. She shoved at him, but
he held onto her. She wept against his chest, shame in every sob.
He should have just hit her. It would have been kinder than
inveigling her to give in to her desire for him, even while he
taunted her with what he was, the kind of man who had torn apart
her family.

He simply held her until the worst of
the storm was over, his chest wet with her tears, his arms strong
around her. Then he leaned his face against her hair and sighed.
"Quark it, Rose, what am I goin' to do with you?"

"You d-don't have to do a-anything,"
she managed. "L-let me go."

"Just listen," he cut in, his arms
tightening. "I'm not letting you go. Not yet. There are things you
need to know about me, things I should've told you before, but …
well, you pricked my pride. I'm sorry."

"Be s-sorry then. I d-don't like you at
all."

"I don't like myself right now, so
we're even." He ducked his head and kissed her wet cheek coaxingly.
"I like you, though. Here, take this and please don't cry anymore,
lass."

She stopped trying to get away from him
and took the soft cloth he pushed into her hands. It was her
handkerchief, with a small smudge of his blood dried on one corner.
She wiped her wet face with it and then dabbed at his chest as
well.

He put a warm finger under her chin,
and tipped her face up so she had to look at him. "Rose, I'm not
involved in any nefarious schemes here, and neither is your
brother. Branch is in charge of a group of my men, guarding the
site where the new sat-com system will be installed."

She sniffled. "You mean …
you—?"

He shrugged, his expression wry.
"Afraid so. I've changed allegiance, if you like. Decided if I was
goin' to settle here, I didn't want thieves and murderers roaming
my backyard."

Rose caught her breath on a hiccup.
She'd heard talk at the inn about the new system. A group of
investors had purchased technology from the Indigons to take
satellite communication on Frontiera to a highly sophisticated
level, tracking incoming and outgoing space traffic and
establishing a security surveillance grid for the whole
planet.