Judged Read online

  He sighed. “I just feel a little vulnerable.”

  She used the sealing spray on him and sighed in relief when it was done. “You can go and put something on now. You are all patched up.”

  He slowly wrapped the towel around his hips before he leaned down and kissed her, running his hand through the wealth of her hair.

  Out of reflex, she punched his abs but only managed to bruise her knuckles.

  When he lifted his head, he whispered, “The peacekeepers are on their way, and I don’t want you to seem unattached if they ask. Pretend that we are lovers if you value your life.”

  She nodded and pressed a hand to her swollen lips. As a Companion, she had been kissed before, but rarely had her body risen to the occasion. She could feel her own arousal vibrating under her skin, and it was in that state that she got up to answer the kitchen door when the peacekeepers arrived to investigate the death.

  The peacekeepers sat her down at the table and began to question her. “Miss, do you know the deceased?”

  She stuck to the truth. “He approached me as I left the marketplace. I declined his offer and he attacked me. I knocked him down and ran for my skimmer.”

  “Did he say why he approached you?”

  She shook her head. “He was under the impression that I was available.”

  Kadenz came in wearing a loose grey shirt and black trousers with black boots. “He was mistaken. He wounded her and followed her blood trail back here.”

  The peacekeepers leaped to their feet.

  The more senior of the two spoke. “Judge Roarcroft, I thought that this was your home, but I wasn’t sure with this young woman here.”

  “I am retired, Sargent.”

  “Yes, Judge.” The sargent’s lips twitched in amusement.

  Kadenz came up behind Alice and put his hands on her shoulders. “I am only thankful that I was home and smelled him coming. Alice might have tried to defend herself, and if her first strike wasn’t true, we all know what would have happened.”

  All three men shivered at the thought.

  Alice wanted to know what they thought would happen, but she remained silent and put her hand on top of Kadenz’s.

  He said to the peacekeepers, “We have treated her wound, but I can show you the suit he sliced into and the medical supplies we used to clean the dirt out of the slice. Her blood led him here.”

  The peacekeepers shook their heads, “That will not be necessary, Judge. We have seen the blood on the skimmer as well as the traces of food items. Her statement holds true to the events, as does his lack of conveyance. He hunted her.”

  The peacekeepers engaged in more pleasantries with him, and Alice was left watching as all three men went out into the yard and stood around the body, taking images of the body, the area that hosted the fight and her skimmer.

  In an hour, the body was gone with the peacekeepers and Alice was working on preparing a cold lunch. It gave her something to concentrate on while Kadenz washed her skimmer.

  “Kadenz, lunch.” She said it at conversational level, but he was inside within a minute.

  “Wow. That looks lovely.”

  She had gotten bored and arranged the cheese, meat, fruit and veg in swirling patterns. She opened a bottle of chilled white wine and poured two glasses.

  He shook his head. “You are spoiling me.”

  “Consider this payback for taking on that savage earlier. I am fairly sure that the hunter wanted me dead at that point.” She nibbled at a piece of flatbread with cheese on it and watched him load up a plate with surprisingly graceful movements.

  “It was my pleasure. Someone who takes advantage of a woman alone does not deserve to live.” He spoke with confidence and absolute belief.

  “Was that what made you retire?”

  He snorted. “You caught that?”

  “There are only a few things that would get a judge to retire and social laws that cannot be changed is one of them.”

  “It is the way other species behave with their females that truly drives me to the edge of control. The Kalians simply pay for their women, the Draklan’s steal them, the Colidors steal them and hold them until they are pregnant and then take possession of the woman’s property. These cultures have their reasons, but they are hard to deal with.”

  “So, you quit.”

  “I took a leave of absence for a minimum of two years.”

  “How far are you into your leave?”

  “Three weeks.”

  She laughed. “Well, that explains why you are trying to run the winery by yourself. What will you do when the harvest comes?”

  “I will hire workers. For now, I am busy weeding the plants and keeping the vines trained.” He shrugged. “If you keep me supplied with food while you are here, I should be fine.”

  She laughed. “That won’t be a problem as long as the credit chit doesn’t run out. I used forty-five credits today. How much is left on it?”

  He munched on a vegetable and pondered, “Sixty thousand or so.”

  Her mouth dropped open, and he put two fingers under it to close it with a soft snap.

  “Why is this place so run down if you have those kinds of funds at your disposal?”

  “Because I need to work, and when you work until you are exhausted, you don’t think and you certainly don’t care where you sleep.”

  “May I buy some more practical clothing when I go back to the market?”

  “You are not going back there without me.”

  She scowled. “I will be fine.”

  “I mean it, Alice. If there is one hunter, there will be more. You are not safe.”

  She snorted. “Fine, but this dress is the simplest one, and it is going to get very boring very quickly.”

  He grinned. “I find it very fetching. The peacekeepers commented on it when we went outside, and I explained that your daily-wear suit had been torn by the attack. They assumed it is your best dress and not the worst.”

  “It isn’t the worst or the best; it is merely the closest thing to what the ladies were wearing in the market. I thought it would be best to appear to be as local as possible.”

  “Good call. It worked very well. They believed that we are new mates and have not formalized the union because of my work schedule.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Sure, because that is logical. How long does an Oefric ceremony take?”

  “Properly organized? Two or three days with notices being filed in the newsreels weeks earlier so that everyone in the families can attend.”

  “Wow. That is a bit of time. Well, now that lunch is over, I had better finish the rest of those rooms.”

  The platter had been turned into nothing but shards of food and Kadenz’s cheeks were glowing happily.

  She turned and soaked the dishes, wincing at the heat of the water now that her gloves were gone.

  The dishes were quickly dealt with. Kadenz dried them and put them away. “Will you be all right if I head back to the fields?”

  Alice smiled. “Of course. I have those other rooms to do plus whatever damage you did to your own bedroom today.”

  He grinned. “Then, I will leave you to your work and I will attend to mine. Call if you need anything.”

  “I will. Now, go and do whatever it is that you are working on in the fields. I will work this place into shape.” She smiled and wrapped a towel around her waist as an apron, heading to the back of the house and the untouched rooms.

  Keeping busy with the current day’s events was a must. She would freak out if she were left to do nothing.

  The bedroom laundry was easy enough, but the bloodstains on his shirt from the earlier attack required soaking in cold water. Once she had scrubbed the floors again, she found that she had completed all immediate tasks. Tomorrow, she would work on the windows, but for today, she took her bodysuit and repair kit to the kitchen while she fired up the outdoor grill.

  Kebabs were on the menu for dinner, and she had even purchased fruit for sweet-roa
sted dessert options.

  When the grill was hot, she put the chunks of meat down on the lightly oiled surface and followed up with the veg. Kadenz was on his way inside to wash up five minutes after she started. With the food on platters and a thick and creamy dressing sitting next to them, she set the table and took the flat bread off the grill, turning it off.

  Kadenz came back and sat eagerly. “It smells wonderful.”

  “Dig in. This is your home; you do not need to wait for me.”

  “Etiquette says I do.”

  She grimaced and popped a grilled tuber into her mouth. “There.”

  He was on the food in seconds.

  Alice took her own share of the food and spread the dressing on top. It wasn’t the best pita she had ever eaten, but it was far from the worst.

  She mumbled, “I know that Oefric eat a lot of meat, but I figured that if the market is selling veg, it should be fine for you to eat.”

  He grinned and nodded. “It is. Men alone anywhere prefer to keep things simple. It is women who make life civilized.”

  “And it is an uphill battle.” She grinned and he winked at her.

  Somewhere after he grew a snout and fangs and she had treated the puncture on his ass, she had begun to see him as more than a client. He was becoming a friend and that was dangerous.

  Friends were so scarce to her that she didn’t want to let them go when she found them. This was going from an act of desperation to something that was actively going to hurt.

  Chapter Five

  After dinner, she sat in the living room, near the brightest of the lights, and she sewed the slash on her bodysuit together with careful stitches, a cup inside the sleeve held it in position.

  “You sew as well?” Kadenz had a data pad in his hand and he was reading.

  “Of course. Companions have to learn to repair all clothing because we never know where we are going to be on the next assignment.”

  “Do you have many clients?”

  She looked at him through her lashes. “Enough.”

  “Do you love any of them?”

  She put her hands carefully in her lap. “Define love.”

  He blinked and looked up at her, his gaze a little embarrassed. “Did you want to marry any of them before?”

  “No, but then, I didn’t want to marry Hecor. He simply signed the papers and I was stuck as his duchess.”

  “Were you in love with him?”

  She smiled and put her elbow on the arm of the chair, propping her chin on her fist. “I loved him, but I was not in love with him. I am getting the idea that you think I was a sexual Companion.”

  He blinked in confusion. “Weren’t you?”

  “No. I was a body Companion. I took care of all the physical needs of my client but not the romantic ones. I made the arrangements if they did need a lover, but my duty was to keep them in ideal physical and mental condition.”

  “What did you do for the duke then?”

  “I was his pilot, I hummed him to sleep, played chess with him and appeared at his side as a desirable female, which gave him social status when we dealt with races who are impressed by that sort of thing.” She didn’t mention the bodyguard aspect. He was already familiar with part of it.

  “What about other clients?”

  “I have been bodyguard to several young females, piloted them across the stars safely to the Citadels and imperium courts. Many families hire a Companion to act as that, simply a Companion. I have not ever aspired to work in the more intimate aspects of my occupation, though I have the requisite training.”

  Kadenz raised his eyebrows at that. “I see. I have made some assumptions about your involvement.”

  She smiled and picked up her sewing again. “Most people do. I am used to it. Companions are whispered about in formal gatherings and rarely does anyone bother asking if the person we are with wants us there because we share an interest in portraiture.”

  He chuckled. “I suppose not. Are you a virgin?”

  She grinned and kept stitching carefully. “No, but I don’t go jumping into bed with strangers.”

  “No one said anything about jumping.”

  She snorted. “We will leave it for today. We have both been attacked and that makes me a little jumpy.”

  “Oddly enough, being successful in defending my home makes me hot.”

  Alice laughed and flicked a glance at his hopeful features. “Not tonight.”

  She finished her sleeve and ran her finger down the stitch line. The thread melted and blended into a seamless connection that was invisible to the eye.

  Alice picked up the shirt that had been gouged that afternoon and started sewing it.

  Kadenz noticed her work. “You don’t have to mend my clothing.”

  “It is part of my job description.”

  He scowled, “You don’t have a job description.”

  She laughed. “I know. I like sewing.”

  She hummed low and slow, a lullaby that Hecor had enjoyed.

  Kadenz was staring at her, and he quickly turned his attention back to his data pad.

  Alice kept humming and paused to ask, “What are you reading?”

  “The depositions on your case. If you are giving me this amount of assistance, I can only try to return the favour.”

  She smiled and activated the sealing thread on the two small cuts she had stitched.

  “Thank you. I can use any help I can get. I told him that this would be a problem, but he insisted.”

  Kadenz looked up, “Why did he insist?”

  She sighed and continued stitching. “He wanted me to have a home. It upset him that I don’t have one anymore.”

  “What about your home world?”

  “It is blocked. I signed off on access to my world and family when I left. It was part of the standard protectorate contract. Many of the Volunteers were altered before beginning their new lives and they no longer qualify as species specific.”

  He winced. “That is unfortunate.”

  “That was the deal, and we abide by it. I have heard that there is a second wave preparing to join us and that they are going to be allowed to return if they like.”

  “Why were you locked out?”

  She cocked her head. “My guess was that they not only wanted to see how we would do out here, but they wanted us to get a foothold. We are a very prolific species compared to many of the older races out here.”

  “Do you match with the Oefric?” His tone was exceedingly causal.

  “We do, with a little tinkering. There have been three successful blendings so far.” She ran her finger down a longer gash in the shirt, and then, she went looking for any other holes.

  One tiny puncture was on the cuff, so she quickly stitched it up and activated the thread.

  “What is that thread that you are using? I can’t see any of the mending marks.”

  “It is a new product designed using the leaves of the Masuo plant. It is extruded into a thread and the touch of the sewer activates it temporarily into a living item that matches the materials next to it. It takes some practice, but it is very handy.”

  She double-checked the shirt and draped it across the arm of the chair next to her suit. The last piece if mending she had for the day was the trousers that the fork had savaged.

  The tiny holes were not nearly as small as she would have liked. It just went to show that she had fairly good reflexes. She stitched quietly and then snapped the thread off, stroking it into a seamless patch.

  “Why have you chosen a winery for your retirement?”

  He looked up with a smile, “Because it drove my father mad. I have more than enough money to have someone work this land for me, but I needed to sort a few things out.”

  “What are you doing out there?”

  “Splicing vines, running the weeding machines that steams the roots of the vines to kill the smaller plants. Checking on the grapes. That sort of thing.”

  “When do you harvest?”

>   “Soon. They are nearly ready. Harvesting is one thing I can’t do on my own, so I will have to summon help.”

  “Do you know where you are getting your help?”

  “Of course, I am calling in the workers from my estate on the hill.”

  She folded his trousers and put them aside. “So, that is your home?”

  “It is.”

  “And you are staying here at the cottage to help decide things.” She nodded and smiled.

  “Yes.”

  She draped the cloth over her arm. “Well, you stay here and decide things. I am going to sit out on the porch and make up names for the stars.”

  Alice put his clothing in his room and her bodysuit was hung up in the wardrobe.

  She grabbed a shawl and headed out onto the porch, settling on the bench with a glass of wine.

  The sky above Dyango was filled with stars, a nebula that swirled with pink and green, and two large moons.

  Alice sipped at the wine and tried to name the stars, but all she came up with was Bob.

  Kadenz joined her and sat close enough to share his body heat. “How far have you gotten?”

  “I have named thirty-four stars. Unfortunately, they are all named Bob.”

  He sighed and took her hand in his, kissing the inside of her wrist. “Will you share my bed tonight?”

  Alice turned her head slowly to look into his earnest features. “I don’t think that is a good idea.”

  “Merely to sleep. It will help you to wear my scent if any other Oefric arrive, and sharing a bed is the easiest way.”

  She stifled a yawn at the word sleep. “No sex.”

  He shook his head. “None. Simply sleep in my bed and arms.”

  “Fine. I will take a shower and meet you in your room.”

  “I can come to your room as well.”

  She shook her head. “I have already unpacked all my things. I can come to you.”

  He raised his eyebrows but he smiled. He got his way after all.

  Alice finished her wine, went inside, washed the glass and headed up the stairs to her room, taking a quick shower and brushing her hair into a straight curtain.

  A long, silky nightgown was easy enough to come by, and she topped it with a loose robe of a harmonising ice blue that matched her eyes.