Finding Lara (Distant Worlds Book 3) (6 page)

“That price is
ridiculous,” he growled at the female.  She didn’t seem impressed, even as Lara
was tempted to back further away from the argument, and what she could feel coming
off of the Shakien.  He was good at hiding it.  If you were not sensitive to emotion,
nobody would guess he was struggling . . . much.  “I’m asking for a repair not
a coating of platinum.”

The petite mech shrugged
her dainty shoulders.  If Lara had to guess by the height and coloring, she
would have thought strictly human, but even without the willowy height and
floor-length hair on display, her tricolored topaz, gold, and purple eyes
proclaimed her a Dainaree, as did the deceptively fragile bone structure and
the scent of growing greenery under the smell of oil and ship plasma.  A full
Dainaree at that since the eyes bred true only in full caste.  Lara searched
what she knew of the people and frowned.  It was unusual enough to see any
member of the species away from their own, but to find a female on her own was
unheard of.  Not to mention working as a mech when the Dainaree were known for
their high allergy to most things mechanical or made of cold iron.  She studied
the woman.  Golden skin and warm honey-brown hair mostly hidden in her clothes
could pass in a pinch, but the height was all wrong.  Though she was fine-boned
under all the grime and baggy clothes, she seemed sturdy somehow, less ethereal
than the Dainaree Lara had met in the past.  And she was surrounded by the tools
of her trade, so clearly she did not suffer the usual allergies of her people.

“You are asking for
extensive repairs to your ship done on a deadline.  The damage to your cooling
system alone would take a regular mechanic a week to repair.”  She pointed at
the quote she handed him almost as soon as he landed.  “This is a bargain for
everything you need and I can get it done faster and better than anyone else
you will find to do it.”

Tolan Lark hissed, and
even Barnos looked at him as if he was disgusted.  He should.  Tolan Lark had
abysmal negotiating skills.

“How the fuck would you
know what I need?  You barely glanced at the ship.”

“She’s a metal worker,”
Lara tossed out helpfully, drawing everyone’s eyes.  She cleared her throat and
tried to look serene when she faced the mech.  “You are a sensitive, correct,
keyed to metal?”

The woman blinked and
struggled to switch gears to the calm Lara was projecting.  “And tech, yes.” 

“An amazing ability,
especially for a Dainaree.”  Lara smiled her most serene smile at the woman,
trying to negate some of the angry vibes coming off Tolan.  The woman stiffened
at her words and Lara felt her withdrawal.  Then she turned back to the
mercenary, the fire in those amazing eyes barely banked.

“What’s important here is
I know what’s wrong with your ship and I can fix it.”  She thumped her finger
back over the quote showing on the data pad she was still holding out.  “Take
it or leave it.”

“I can find another mech for
half that.”  Tolan Lark glared at the little mech as if he could mentally force
a better price.

The little mech smirked. 
“Good luck.”

“We will take it,” Lara
said before Tolan Lark could react to the newest surge of heat flaring over
him. The little mech smiled in the face of his furious eyes and menacing
growl.  Lara took the data pad and transferred the platinum from her account to
the mechanic’s.  “I am the Lady Lara of Heti,” she said in Dainaree.  “What is
your designation?”

The mechanic turned a
frown in her direction and answered in ship standard, swiping the pad from her
hands and looking over the transaction.  “Mechanic,” she said shortly, and then
with one last look at Tolan Lark and ignoring all polite etiquette, she stomped
away.  As much as a Dainaree could stomp that was, which was a little too
liquid and fluid to be anything but graceful.  Still, she got her dismissal
across, and that was all that mattered.

Tolan Lark watched her go
with limbs that twitched with tension and eyes that hunted and bled to Shakien lavender,
even as the Dainaree disappeared from sight.  Lara let out a tense breath. 
Oh,
dear.

Barnos watched the fiery
little Dainaree glide off, and then turned his eyes to the Shakien, who up until
now had been much better at this type of negotiation.  Tolan Lark was watching
the girl leave with barely suppressed violence and Shakien lavender eyes.
 Jaysus

“What,” he asked, “was that?”

“Leave it,” Tolan Lark
spat out through sharper than normal teeth.  He turned and did his own tromping
back to the ship.  His had the furious pounding that the mech’s had lacked.

Barnos looked from his
departing partner to the Lady Lara, who caught his look and gave him wide
eyes.  “It was like they struck sparks off each other,” she murmured low,
turning her head to watch Tolan Lark enter the ship.  “Even before she gave him
the quote he was bristling.”  She ended with a scrunched brow that showed her
confusion.  “Nori would have moods sometimes, but nothing like that.”

Barnos thought for a
minute then snorted.  “She was a pretty little thing; maybe he saw something he
liked.”

Lara gave him doubtful
eyes.  “It felt more like he saw something he wanted to maul.”

Barnos gave her that slow
dawning smile that promised all kinds of lascivious fun.  “Even better.”

Lara looked even more
doubtful and Barnos smile widened.  She was just as cute as all hell with her
hair back in that braid and her armor and knives he wasn’t supposed to know
were there.  “So,” he said his eyes trailing heat down her body and back up
again, “we have some time while the ship is repaired.  What say we check out
this bustling metropolis?”

The Lady Lara looked
around her at the distant spaceport and small trading post set in the middle of
a wasteland.  She laughed, and the sound was surprisingly robust and real,
lacking the girlish giggle he had been expecting from the dainty lady. Damned
if the sound of the woman’s laugh did not make him hard.  “I see what you
mean.  Should we approach that bar first or the other bar?”  She pointed to the
one building and then the other that seemed to be the only areas open to the
public.  The ore miners that worked the distant claims had homes around the
minuscule spaceport, but there was little in the way of public places.

Barnos let out that
booming laugh of his and offered her his arm.  Like him, she did not appear to
hold a grudge over piddly shite.  He liked that.  He liked that smile she
flashed him even more as it seemed to reach her eyes and set them sparkling. 
She might be naive and useless in a fight but that smile said a lot about the
woman he did like.  “After you, my lady,” he said, sweeping his hands before
him in a bow.

She looked from one seedy
rundown bar to the other and then picked the one farthest to them, which had
him raising his eyebrow in question.  She shrugged her dainty shoulders and
smiled.  “I don’t care for the feel of that one,” she said in explanation, which
explained nothing really.  But he followed her lead, at least he went where she
directed, stepping up beside her to warn off any male who might make a try for
the lovely lady thinking she was alone and unprotected.  It would be
interesting to see how the lady interacted with the dregs here on Rindel.  He
was not expecting much; high ideals or not, ladies with her breeding and looks
tended to either keep their distance, looking down on the great unwashed, or
order them about as if everyone beneath them in status was born to serve.  He
did not expect that from the Lady Lara.  He figured it would be the first as
she looked around with wide eyes. 
Should be fun
, he thought snidely in
his own head.

An hour later, he was
still watching her with astonishment as she chugged a third glass of beer. 
When she ordered the native brew, he warned her it was probably not up to her
usual tastes, but she just gave him big serene eyes and ordered it anyway. 
When she asked the traditional consumption ways in their own language, the men,
about a dozen dirty miners, and only one other woman, the harried waitress in
the tiny skirt, all offered to give her whatever lessons she wanted.  She did
not seem to pick up on the sexual innuendo or bold looks that had Barnos
stepping closer to her back, his hand on the butt of his blaster.  Instead, she
clapped her hands together and smiled big and cheery.

“Splendid,” she said,
sending her sincere smile to everyone there.  “I will buy the next round shall
I, and you can show me how it is done.”

Barnos leaned over her
shoulder and said doubtfully, “Pretty sure you just drink it, sassy, no need
for lessons.”

She turned her head and
looked at him all serious and sure.  “No,” she shook her head.  “Every culture
has their own traditions.  It could be chugged, or sipped, or have something
you add to it, or a food you eat with it, or . . .”  Barnos laid his hand over
her lips and chuckled, stopping her flow of words.

“I get it,” he said. “You
want to drink it like a native, not like a tourist trying something new.”

She smiled behind his
hand and he felt the rub of her soft lips as she formed that smile.  He pulled
back his hand slowly, enjoying the feel of her skin against his palm. 

“Yes, exactly,” she said,
her eyes going a little serious while she looked at him. He could drown in
those brown pools quite easily.  Then a tankard was set before her and she
turned back to the audience with a little jump and a laugh.  The bartender
started filling more of the tankards and passing them around to the men who
were all bellying up to the bar for theirs.  Barnos hoisted her up on the stool
in front of her, ignoring her little surprised squeak at the move.  She did
send a slightly unsure smile back over her shoulder at him.  Barnos smiled
back, a much slower and more knowing smile than hers.  She looked away again
and he stepped up to her back so that the line of his chest was pressed against
the line of her back.  He felt her stiffen slightly and then toss a questioning
look over her shoulder at him.

Barnos winked at her, and
she narrowed those big brown eyes in suspicion.

“Behave yourself,” she
said low with a warning, adding a spark to her eyes.

Barnos threw back his
head and laughed. 
She’s a taking little thing,
he thought.

Then she turned back to
the bar of horny miners and saluted her new friends.  They showed her the
traditional way to drink the native brew, which was apparently to chug it as
fast as possible and order more.  By the third drink, she looked around at all
the men with eyes that were clearer than most of the men present and laughed.  “There
is no way you would ever get any work done if that was really how you drank
your brew,” she said on a laugh.

One of the men said
something in Rindelee and the rest of the men laughed.  She shook her head and
responded back in the same language, making the men look at her in surprise and
then laugh harder.

“What was that?” Barnos
whispered the question into her ear in the ship standard they had started with
and he felt the little shiver she fought to hide.  Since she didn’t turn to
look this time she did not see his satisfied smile.

“The man said ‘free brew,
and a gullible woman, who needs work’.”

Barnos chuckled. “And
what did you say?”

“I said, ‘not gullible
enough to buy another round’.”

One of the miners said
something else that made the group laugh, winking at her and saluting her with
his raised glass.  She blushed and Barnos raised a brow.  “What did he say that
has that blush warming those pretty cheeks?”

She cleared her throat
prettily and then lied guilelessly to his face.  “I didn’t catch it.”

Barnos snorted at that, but
he had to admit he was impressed.  He didn’t know she had it in her to lie that
well.  Plus, after chugging down three tankards of what had to be 90 proof, he
was impressed she was unaffected.  And he should know.  He was a connoisseur of
such things himself.  Even the natives were starting to slur their words and
sway on their seats, yet there she stood, cool, crisp, and with good diction.  “You
drink in a lot of bars, sassy?”

She smiled, and from
behind he only caught the side view and the way she dipped her head.  “My fair
share.”  She peeked at him over her shoulder and the twinkle in her eyes was a
bit more shiny than usual.  It occurred to him that maybe she was more affected
than he thought.  “Do you spend a lot of time in bars?”

He laughed.  “More than
my fair share I would say.”  He looked around at the dozen or so miners who all
seemed to be in a downright jolly mood.  “Though I have to say this is the
first time I’ve been in one where I’m not wanting to hit someone for
something.  Everyone seems to be happy and getting along.”  He studied the room
again.  “In fact, I’m wondering if you should lay off the juice.  I think they
put something in it besides alcohol.”

This time it was the Lady
Lara who snorted.  “Don’t be ridiculous.  I am Heti.”

He blinked down at the
top of her head.  “Is that supposed to mean something?”

“I calm aggression,” she
said blithely.

“Come again?”

She turned in her stool
and faced him fully.  “Hetian people give off a vibe that calms.  That is why
we are so prized as negotiators and ambassadors.  I have been in more bars than
I can count and only once was there ever a fight.”  She shuddered and he saw
the memory bothered her.  She shook herself as if she could shake it off.

“What happened?” he asked,
wondering why her calming vibes did not seem to be affecting his suddenly
aggressive thoughts.

“A noble man who would
not be soothed or denied tried to . . .”  She met his eyes, her own going a
little shadowed at the memories.  “My sister Nori came and rescued me after I
cracked his skull open with a bowl.”  She suddenly looked fierce, well, as
fierce as she was capable, which made him want to pat her on the head she was
so cute.

He almost smiled.  “He
hurt you?”

“No,” she said raising
her chin the slightest bit.  Then she sighed, looking dejected.  “But he would
have.”

He probably should have
soothed her somehow, but instead he just said what he was thinking.  “I’m
surprised it happened only the once, and it wasn’t worse.”

She blinked at his words,
then lifted narrowed eyes to his face.  “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means, sassy, that
after this adventure you should count your blessings and head on home to the
safety of your daddy and leave the traveling to people who know how to defend
themselves and are not a walking talking victim waiting to happen.  You are just
begging to be taken advantage of.”

She glared outright at
him and jumped off her stool shoving him back, or at least that seemed to be
the plan.  But she just ran into his chest with her piddly push off and ended
up so close he could feel her breasts pressing against him.  Before he could
really enjoy it, she was sliding past him and flouncing out the door.  He
turned to see every eye in the place on him.  “Am I wrong?” he asked the room
at large, then paid the tab when no one challenged him.

He headed out the door
and went after Lara, cursing when he did not see her anywhere.  There was
nothing nearby that could be hiding her, not really.  The only choice was the
bar, but she would have had to run to make that; then he saw her stand up and
brush herself off behind some cargo by the long grasses.  She saw him and
blushed.  He could feel his mouth starting to twitch when he realized she must
have fallen over the boxes in her inebriated state.  Not that he could tell
that by the way she moved.

“Captain Barnos,” she
said with just the faintest crack in her voice, “would you kindly escort me
back to the hangar now?”

He held the laugh back.  “It
would be an honor, Lady Lara.”

She took his arm and
walked stately back to the hangar bay that housed
The Fire.
  Halfway
there he looked down at her.  “You owe me two silver for all those drinks by
the way.”

She flashed her eyes up
his way, her lips moving into a wicked little half smile that he was unprepared
for.  “Tell me, Captain Barnos, who was taken advantage of this time?”  Then
she dropped the hand she had on his arm and sashayed her way to the ship, head
held high.  She only tripped once, when she hit the gangplank.  Barnos was
laughing before she was out of sight on
The Fire.

Before he could follow
her and possibly seduce a sloshed lady like the scoundrel he was, he heard the
raised voices.  Recognizing the growling temper in the words, he turned
prudently and went to save whoever his partner was ready to kill.  But the
sounds of Lara’s laughter and that last smile she waved at him in challenge had
his mind less on the fight and more on the lady he left behind.  Which he could
honestly say had never happened to him before.  He was stopped from thinking
too much on it by the sight of Tolan Lark about to lose his mind arguing with
the cute little mechanic.  Worse, she seemed to be arguing back, not
intimidated by his growl or flashing Shakien eyes.

“You are not staying to
look over my shoulder while I fix your ship,” the little mech did her own
version of a growl.

“If you think I’m letting
you work on it without seeing exactly what you do to my ship you are out of
your pretty little mind.”