Finding Lara (Distant Worlds Book 3) (17 page)

“Anyone tries to shoot at
me with you within fifty feet they will have more of a problem than they can
handle.  But since this is your family, I doubt they plan on doing that.  At
least while you are in the room.  Now simmer down, and use that famous Heti
serenity of yours to get a fucking grip.”

Conall turned them both
to face the room of people she had actually forgotten about for a moment.  When
she saw the range of emotions, a good part of them incredulous with humor mixed
in, she felt her cheeks heat.  When she started paying attention, she blinked
her surprise at the change in atmosphere.  The anger was gone, and mostly
everyone was just happy and relieved.  Something she had said in the last few
minutes had reassured them more than just seeing her had.

“Lara,” her father called,
his voice dry, “if you could bring your . . . pirate down to meet us, I’m sure
we can
all
conduct ourselves credibly.”

Lara sighed at the thinly
veiled order.  “Of course, Father.”  Then she glared at Conall, but let him
lead the way down the plank with her hand safely encased in his.

When they reached her
father his eyes were on their linked hands, and he looked from that to Conall,
his eyes shrewd and assessing.  He studied the bigger man for a long moment
without anyone saying a word.  Conall, because he seemed to be following her
orders for the moment, and the rest of them because they all knew what the Ambassador
was capable of.

“You were hired to rescue
the Lady Lara from Montrouge and bring her to safety?”

“Tolan Lark was, yes.”

“Yet that was not what
transpired?”

Lara started to speak but
stopped abruptly when her father raised a hand.  He waited patiently for Conall
to answer.

“She had transferred her
tracer to a child who was also taken.  She asked that we help her find the
child before returning her to Alliance space.”

“And this you did out of
the kindness of your heart?”

Conall snorted, drawing
her surprised eyes to his face.  He looked right at her and said the rest.  “No,
I would have said no, but since chances were good that the child was purchased
for the death games, given his age and species, we agreed thinking it would
lead us right to the bastard Warrung and his satellite.”

“You did not tell Lara
that?”

Conall barked out a
laugh, but it was not a happy sound.  “No, we let her believe we were just
helping her, as you say, out of the goodness of our hearts.”

“We know Tolan Lark sold
you to the games, and Lara was never meant to be taken, but how did you escape
the games and why did you keep Lara with you?”

“She had an admirer,
which should come as no shock if you know Lara.  Besides the Baralians, she
also won the heart of the captain of the guard who hoped to mate her and have
many fine sons.” His voice took on a dry quality when he talked of Forge that
had Lara rolling her eyes.  “When he found out she was to be given to Warrung,
he released me so we could get her out.  Forge was taken unexpectedly and we
were forced to steel Warrung’s ship to escape.  They caught on too fast and
pursued.  When the failsafe was activated, we were dead in the water.  I forced
Lara into the one-man pod; that was all that was available and we jettisoned
into space.”

“You could have left her
behind on a number of occasions.  Yet you risked much to keep her with you.”

Barnos shrugged as if the
answer was obvious.  His eyes fell on Lara beside him and heated to an almost
incandescent green.  “I like her.”

The Ambassador tipped his
head to regard the other man while Lara hid her smile behind Conall’s
shoulder.  Then her father smiled as well.  “Yes, I can see that you do.”

After a long moment of
contemplation, Lara’s father, and representative of the Alliance for over a
thousand worlds, extended his hand.  “Welcome to
The Tempest,
Captain Barnos.”

After her father accepted
Barnos, everyone else was forced to do the same, though the sister and a few of
the marines looked like they would rather take his head than have drinks with
him.  Apparently, when the High Ambassador spoke, everybody listened.

So, after they were given
the chance to clean up, Barnos found himself alone with the Ambassador and his
elite guard. They were all in a more luxurious room than the docking bay for
the rest of what turned into an official briefing.  The marines were still
giving him the eye but he restrained himself when the mood struck him to play
with them a little, but just barely.  He did not like the separation from Lara,
as brief as it had been.  It was stupid to think something would happen to her
on her father’s ship, but he would feel better if she was in his sight anyway. 
The woman was a magnet for trouble.

He looked at her father
and said what he had been thinking since he met the woman.  “You have to know
she is a magnet for trouble.  Why would you allow her to roam freely without
armed guard the way she does?”

He expected the man to
take offense, but he did not.  “Do you know what it is to be Heti?” he asked
mildly instead.

“No,” Barnos answered
flatly wondering what the fuck that had to do with it.

“I am Heti, as is my daughter,
which means I know more about her emotional state than I care to at times.” 
The Ambassador sighed and leaned back looking tired.  Then his eyes lazered in
on Barnos.  “You have come to know my daughter well; do you think she would be
happy trapped at home on Heti?”

Barnos looked at the man
and mulled that one over.  Every moment he had spent with Lara slid through his
mind.  “No,” he had to admit, “Lara drinks life.”

“Yes,” the Ambassador looked
at him surprised.  “Yes, that is it exactly.  She drinks life.  To deny her
adventures and travels would be like denying her water.  Lara would wither and
die in such captivity.  She is not like other Heti women who would be happy
with a mate of her own and the adventure of childbearing.  She thirsts for new
places and people.”

“She is not like any
woman, anywhere,” Barnos corrected but was not willing to give up on this
point.  “But keeping her at home and sending her out with necessary precautions
are two different things.”  Behind him, one of the marines gave a grunt of
agreement, but when Barnos turned, they all had the same straight face.

The Ambassador suddenly
looked older than his years.  “When she traveled with Nori I did not have to
worry about the havoc she could wreak because Nori could handle it, and after
Nori mated, I told Lara she could not go again without proper protection.  She
did not stop to consult with her father on what that protection entailed; she
just agreed, and then when I was on assignment, hired her own security and was
off again.  To the slave pens of Montrouge as it turns out,” he said with a
visible fear and anger in his eyes.  “I find it ironic that it took a pirate to
save my daughter from slavers.”  He finished, his eyes hardening on Barnos.  “Before
my daughter joins us again I will ask you one question, and be aware that I
will sense the truth whether it is what you speak or what you hold back.”  His
smile became dangerous, all teeth.  Barnos had not thought the Ambassador had
it in him, but it made him respect the man more than he thought he would
respect anyone in authority, even if his question made him feel like a kid
taking the man’s youngest daughter to her first dance.  “What are your
intentions toward my daughter?”

***

Lara arrived in time to
hear the last question her father put to Conall and she froze outside the door
to listen.  Since the door had been carelessly left open a sliver, and she knew
her father could sense her coming as well as she could sense him, if not better,
she had to assume the unclosed door was deliberate and the question was for her
benefit.  She debated whether to go right in anyway, but she was curious to
hear what Conall had to say.  So curious actually that when Nori came up behind
her, she shushed her with a frantic hand motion to silence.  Nori gave her a
questioning look but stayed silent, moving up beside Lara to hear what was
going on.

Lara ignored her.  She
was listening too hard to Conall’s answer.  She heard him sigh a big gusty
sigh, and she smiled softly, tempted to peek to see if he was shaking his head
or rubbing his chin, which is how he usually looked when she had befuddled him
in some way.  “Lara told me once that I was her greatest adventure,” he started
only to be interrupted by her father.

“She said that?”  Her
father sounded both surprised and thoughtful.  Lara could feel Nori come to
attention beside her as well.

“She did, and I knew as
soon as she said it that she was the same thing for me.”  That was enough for
her; at those words Lara moved to burst in and fling herself at Conall, but
Nori held her back and shook her head for her to wait.  She did, but it was
nearly painful.

“I am not going to sit
here and blow smoke up your arse, and try to convince you I deserve your
daughter.  I don’t.  I like doing what I want to do and I don’t sweat the
particulars, like laws and morality too much.  The best I can say is I have
never dealt in flesh, never preyed on the innocent, or abused women and
children.  But I have lied, cheated, and killed to get what I wanted and I
would do it again to protect myself, my way of life, or those under my
protection.  There are few things in this life I care about, and only a handful
of people I trust enough to turn my back on.  Lara is the only woman in my life
who has ever made both lists.  My intention is to take her with me for as long
as she will have me.”  Then his voice went slightly belligerent, making Lara
narrow her eyes and glare at the door with his next words.  “And you should be
damn grateful to me.  Anyone who meets Lara can see she needs a bloody keeper.”

“And you think you’re man
enough for the job?”  The voice was not her father’s smooth tones.  She looked
at Nori with her brow up.

Malik,
Nori mouthed quietly back at her, and Lara rolled her eyes thinking of the
overprotective marine commander she had known all her life.

“Too bloody right,” her
pirate shot back making her smile, despite his earlier irritating reference to
her needing a keeper.  “She will be safer with me than anywhere else in the
fucking galaxy, and she’ll have more bloody fun besides.”

Lara turned and beamed at
Nori, her smile huge.  Nori rolled her eyes before turning to hear the rest of
the conversation, which was promising to turn lively, but her life-mate picked
that moment to come up behind them.  “Why are you both standing out in the
hall?”  His smooth whiskey voice was loud in the quiet of the hall.

Lara and Nori both turned
to glare at Menelaus.  The room beyond them went silent.

“Sassy?” The voice was
low and growly and it made Lara wince.

“Coming,” she called
shooting a narrow glare at the King of Kenosha, who was presently wrestling
with his wife.  She left them to it and slid open the door, peeking her head
in.  She smiled brightly at her father and then Conall who crooked a finger at
her, brows low.  He had shaved his beard and trimmed his hair to just at the
nape of his neck.  It looked good on him.  Made the cut of his cheek bones
stand out even more, and his eyes looked intent.  She walked to his side
slowly, wondering how angry he was going to be over this.  Things had been
going so well, too.

When she was close enough
he pulled her into his lap, without considering that they sat across from her
father, or how that might embarrass her.  She gasped and immediately tried to
get up, digging her elbow into his hard as a rock side for purchase.  Conall
held her there easily, and ignored the silent directions she was giving him with
her eyes and elbow.  He just held on until she realized her father was watching
her undignified display and she was making a worse impression by struggling.  Instead,
she settled, folded her hands in her lap and smiled broadly at her father, ignoring
Conall completely.

“Hello, Father.”

“Hello, Daughter.”  Since
there was humor in his voice rather than censure, she let the primitive man
display go.

“You were going to tell
us about finding Thaos?”

“I will let Nori and
Menelaus tell it as I arrived at only the very end.”

Everyone looked to the
door expecting Menelaus and Nori to walk in, but they did not.  Nori smiled,
biting her lip, and her father sighed forlornly and raised his voice.  “It is
shocking how little my girls picked up from my years in the diplomatic
service.  Malik, would you kindly escort the King and his wife
inside
the
room.”  Malik laughed but did as he was told, merely opening the door all the
way and leaning out.  He cleared his throat and said rather loudly, “Nori,
Menelaus.” A second later, he turned around to go back to his post and a
slightly disheveled Nori and her mate pushed their way into the room.  Nori sat
down next to Lara, eyeing her in Conall’s lap.  Lara rolled her eyes.  Menelaus
took his place behind her chair and crossed his arms, looking very much like
the barbarian king he was.  With the two of them in nanite and armed as well as
the marines that guarded the room, they were an intimidating pair.  It made
Lara wonder what she and Barnos looked like to watchers.  She had taken a sonar
bath and washed her hair, not that she was dirty.  Nanite took care of that,
clearing away bacteria and germs as she wore it, and it was self-cleaning as
well, so it was not as if it needed to be washed.  She had not wanted to take the
time to look for clothes she could wear and had just reapplied the armor, as
had Conall apparently.  He still had a blaster but the two of them must look
almost bare sitting beside the other warriors.  But then Conall could be completely
naked and he would still look like a dangerous man.  In this side-by-side comparison,
she was the only one who did not fit the picture.  Even in her nanite armor,
there was no way she could be mistaken for a warrior.

“What did we miss?” Nori
asked smoothly, her father looked pained making Lara bite her lip to keep from
laughing.

“Lara wanted to know what
happened at the Warrung space station,” he said with a voice of infinite
patience.

Nori shrugged.  “Found
it, Tolan Lark found us.  We called reinforcement Alliance troops and took it
down.  Cor Warrung was not present when we stormed the place.”  She looked at
Conall who cursed at that news.

“He was not with the
cyborgs who came after us either,” he muttered.

“Yeah, Tolan Lark
mentioned he was not likely to go after you himself.”

“He has not survived this
long by being so careless,” Conall agreed.  “Speaking of rat bastards, where is
Tolan Lark?”

Lara froze in her seat as
the room went quiet.  The threat in his voice was obvious to everyone.  Her
pirate was not a subtle man.

Nori snorted and leaned
back against the side of her husband’s thigh behind her.  “He disappeared,
during the fight, I might add, not after.”

“My impression of the man
is that he will continue his pursuit of Cor Warrung,” Menelaus added smoothly. 
“He has fulfilled his quest to end the death games; the survivors are even now
being returned to their homes, but I do not believe he will be satisfied
without the head of his enemy.”

Nori pointed her thumb
towards her mate behind her.  “What he said.”

Lara turned and regarded Conall;
his eyes fired with a similar drive that she had seen on Tolan Lark’s face.  “You
want to go after them?”

Conall looked at the
woman in his lap, his eyes moving over the worry on her face for him.  Then he
let her see the fanatical gleam slowly fade from his eyes.  “I won’t go after
them, either of them. But I do not think Warrung will let the destruction of his
big moneymaker slide.  He will come after us.  And if I do see Tolan Lark again,
I will pound the life from his bones, Shakien cat or not.”

Lara relaxed marginally
at his words and nodded her head.  “What do you want to do then?”

He shrugged.  Her father
spoke up then.  “I would say you could stay within the protection of the
Alliance but you are a wanted man.  That might not be the best solution.”

Conall grunted, barely
restraining a grimace.  “Nor would it be my first choice,” he said so
diplomatically that Lara had to hide her smile against his neck.  “Rest assured,
I have a place of safety in mind that even Cor Warrung would not dare to
breach.”  He looked down at Lara again.  “Lara has never been there, of that I
am certain.  We will lay low for a while, give Tolan Lark a chance to handle
Warrung.  Explore what an ocean moon has to offer.”  He shrugged his big
shoulders.  “After that, we will just have to see where the winds take us.”

Lara smiled up at him,
her excitement of the plan lighting her eyes, with one amendment.  “We will
have to take Thaos and the Baralians with us if they don’t choose to return
home.”

He grunted, but did not
even bother to argue about it.  It was then, looking down at her upturned smile
and big innocent doe eyes that he remembered the words the fortune-telling hag
on Montrouge had given him.