Creed of Pleasure; the Space Miner's Concubine (The LodeStar Series) Page 10

  Taara slipped on a robe of blush lii silk with embroidery of pale green and opened her comlink. “Pool,” she snapped.

  Her comlink chimed. “Pool,” agreed a quiet voice. Figured that he’d have a male voice in his home’s interface. “Follow the passageway to your right.”

  She walked along the wide passageway that she’d traveled earlier with him at a run, on the way to take shelter in Creed’s office while he and the pilot went off to fight. This time she had leisure to note the fine woods and cerametal fitments, also the carvings inlaid in the walls. They were abstract, long panels with flowing designs that resembled trees, although none that she’d ever seen.

  “Turn right,” the voice instructed.

  A wide door opened at her approach, emitting the sound of running water, and a rush of warm, damp air scented with plants. Taara walked through the doors. They closed softly behind her, but she scarcely noticed, lost in awe.

  She was in a grotto, a place of water and plants and mist. She had a vague urge to step back through the doors and see if she was still in Creed Forth’s home, or if she’d entered an alternate reality.

  She stood on a flat ledge of flagstones that marched around the sides of the big room as far as she could see. Below lay a pool, with a shallow bottom that gradually deepened into darker blue at the far end. The water was clear, but mist rose to cloud the air, thickly enough she could barely see the far end of the grotto. A place of secrets, like the man who’d built it.

  Large plants, brought from some tropical region, judging by the size of their glossy leaves, hung over the pool, clustering thicker at the far end. And nearby, on the lip of the pool, a thin, square mat had been laid out. It was not the kind of comfy cushion one would lounge on after a swim. She padded along the rim of the pool and looked down at the mat. It was crafted of finely woven grasses, with an intricate border of contrasting weave. In the center of the mat were shallow indentations, as if someone sat on it in the same position each time.

  For meditation, she realized. And it must belong to the owner of the house. So part of Creed Forth’s isolation included a focused inner life. More secrets.

  Did his older brother hope to force him out of his solitude by sending her here? If so, it had worked, on the physical level at least. And she wouldn’t be sentient if she didn’t feel a glow of pride that he found her alluring enough.

  She unfastened her robe, let it fall near the mat and walked down the steps into the pool, sighing with pleasure as the warm water lapped around her ankles, and then her legs.

  Creed might live simply, but he lived in beauty such as she’d never thought to experience. She’d seen resorts on holovid travel channels and heard the customers at Maitresse chatting languidly about water spas they’d visited, but now she was here in reality.

  She waded deeper, the warm water rising around her naked body until she was shoulder deep. This far into the pool, she could see a low waterfall at the far end, splashing down into a deeper pool with plants hanging over the dark water.

  Mysterious and inviting, it sent a shiver through her. It looked as if some creature should be lurking there, beautiful and dangerous as the owner of this place. Her fingers twitched, imagining the creature she would sketch hiding in the undergrowth, with jeweled hues that were a reflection of its environment. It would fill the back of a lii silk robe, and twine around one side to the front. Or perhaps fill a wall tapestry.

  Shaking her head at her foolishness, Taara lay back in the water and floated, letting the water hold her in its cradle while she moved her arms and legs desultorily to stay afloat. The ceiling had skylights built in, of translucent green that muted the light, as if it filtered down through tall vegetation.

  Rolling over, she swam back to the shallow end and then into deeper water. The pool seemed to be shoulder deep at most, so although she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been swimming, the nerves jumping in her belly were from some visceral caution for the mist, not because she was really worried about drowning.

  She swam back and forth, doing her best to hush her thoughts to match the atmosphere of the place.

  LodeStone Mine was clearly very profitable, if Creed could afford this. His wife or mistress, if he ever took one, would live in luxury, although somewhat isolated. And his future companion could thank her for introducing him to the pleasures of sex. As far as her own pleasure, the woman would be on her own.

  Taara snickered as she imagined some female discovering her new husband was as abrupt with sex as he was with his speech. The poor woman would just have to order a vibrator or some other sex toys in with her weekly supplies.

  But she was no longer smiling as she climbed from the pool and dried off. The image of another female in his home, in his arms wasn’t so amusing after all.

  * * *

  The next morning Taara stood by the dining table, frowning. The table was laden with another lavish breakfast, this one of mixed cereal, berries that looked and smelled fresh, muffins and coffee.

  An empty mug with a little coffee sat on the counter, an empty bowl beside it. Creed Forth had already eaten and gone. He also hadn’t returned to his house the evening before, at least until she was asleep.

  She’d read a story on her holoreader, then been so bored she’d found herself seriously considering ordering a design com and holoboard. Maybe it was time to at least play around with some designs. Even if she was never good enough to do anything with them, she had to do something to stay busy here. She was used to working hard and playing hard.

  This morning, she’d showerdried, dressed in a yellow sweater and a pair of peek-a-boo black lace tights and carefully applied cosmetics and fixed her hair. She’d come to breakfast, ready to be sweet, malleable and seductive over her morning coffee.

  This was difficult to do when he wasn’t even here.

  Then she saw the holoreader on the counter, a message lighting the screen. She walked over and touched the screen. Creed’s face appeared, blue gaze veiled. “I’m at the mine for the day. Do what you want today. I’ll be back around dinner time.”

  Taara sighed with vexation. Turning on her heel, she stalked over to pour herself a cup of coffee.

  “Man hunt again,” she muttered to the quiet kitchen. “No time to chat with woman.”

  She took an unwary drink of the coffee he’d brewed, grimaced in distaste and hurried to the table to add a liberal dose of creamer.

  * * *

  As Nikk had noted, Creed had the compound surveillance set so that any unfamiliar voice or body-print tripped holocams and brought up the specific room, passageway or outdoor area with the activity. Since Lani and Nels were employees, their voice patterns and those of their boys were recognized, so neither they nor their family set off the alarms.

  Taara was not yet entered. Thus, her voice kicked the system on. From his study, where he’d stepped in to check the planet-wide and galactic news before heading up to the mine, Creed heard every word of her mini-rant, even saw her scowl. It surprised him, tickled and bothered him at the same time. She expected him to stay and greet her at breakfast, chat about their respective plans for the day? Was that courtesan/client etiquette?

  He thought back to her ‘man hunt, fuck woman’ bit from the day before, which he’d also overheard. At the time this had thrown him. He guessed he hadn’t expected her to care one way or the other what he did when they were through.

  Now his chest quivered with silent laughter, then spilled out aloud. She not only cared what he did, she had a sarcastic edge to that soft pink tongue of hers.

  But enough. He had not been lying about having work to do and she was a distraction. He shut the link and went back to the news.

  More rioting on Earth II, no surprise with overcrowding, jobs going to cheap off-world labor, and gangs more prevalent all the time. There was also a story about a new, powerful gang extorting money from business owners. He scowled at the holovid—that sounded like a job for the Zhen Lou.

  Meanwhile, Fron
tiera City was celebrating the opening of a new shopping center including an exclusive clothing boutique, something which barely registered on his consciousness. He did not shop; he ordered new clothing and footwear from measurements taken by a droid and saved in his profile at a large men’s wear outfitter on Serpentia, and had the items shipped out.

  In southern Frontiera, farmers were bringing in bumper crops and experimenting with native animals as livestock. He wished them luck with that—skrog were hunted for their hides and meat, but they were huge and when they wanted to go somewhere, they simply went. Woe be unto any other creature or structure, natural or manmade, in the path of the herd. Another group wanted to import deerbbit from Serpentia, a bad idea in Creed’s opinion. Frontiera already had shoart, gazeer and hormoose in this region, and many other species in the different climes.

  The pirate attack on LodeStone had made the planet-wide news, as well as another, presumably unconnected attack on a supply convoy to the north, near a mountain outpost known as Bone Arch. Once a pirate stronghold, the settlement was still rough, but now the big lodge held mainly hunters from off-planet, and was a stopover for the supply convoys headed over the pass to the northern settlements.

  The IGSF had quelled the attack there, although like the attack on LodeStone, no pirates had been captured alive. Too bad, as they could have been interrogated, and their hideout rooted out.

  He just hoped they were done trying his security and his patience. Because if they showed up again at LodeStone, they were going to regret it.

  * * *

  Taara drank her coffee, nibbled a small bowl of cereal laden with juicy moonberries, and wandered restlessly back toward her room. She stopped by the short hallway that led to the pool. Her Serpentian shopping contact wouldn’t expect her to hololink for another few hours. She might as well get some more exercise, and enjoy Creed Forth’s luxury pool while she could.

  She undressed in the hushed, warm damp by the pool, and dove in. She swam back and forth, back and forth, working her way toward the waterfall, enjoying moving her body in the silken caress of the water.

  That is, until something darted from the shadows of the edge and grabbed her by the ankle.

  Chapter Nine

  Creed was finished catching up on news and events, and on his way out of the house, headed for his hovie to go up to the mine, when his comlink chimed.

  “Disturbance in pool area,” announced the house monitor.

  He stopped in his tracks. Taara was swimming. This information, as he was shutting down his news program, had damn near sent him to the pool just to see her naked in the water. But he’d continued doggedly on his way to work.

  Now, she was in some kind of trouble. The surveillance system was online, he had just checked it moments earlier, but he checked it again, using his com. Running normally, so no intruders—at least strangers. His lips twitched as he wondered if the mawwr had returned.

  But when he jogged through the doors into the pool, it was immediately clear this disturbance was serious.

  Two figures were struggling in the depths of the pool. Or rather, one held the other, clearly not with friendly intent. He saw with shock that his slender little blonde had someone caught in the vise of her bare legs under the water. The other being struggled feebly.

  “Taara!” he roared, running around the pool toward her.

  Her head whipped around and his heart thumped, his skin tightening. Hair sleeked back by the water, green eyes blazing in her pale face, she looked like some beautiful, deadly water dweller. Alien, and totally unlike the sweet seductress of only moments ago.

  For a sec she simply glared. He set one hand on the edge of the pool and vaulted down into the water, ignoring the fact he was fully dressed.

  At this, she moved, letting go. A dark head surfaced before her. Too small to be Lani and the pilot Coy had short hair. Noni, Lani’s niece, he realized with shock. Long black hair swirled in the water as the girl gasped for air, choking. She grasped her throat with both hands and began to weep loudly.

  “What the seven hells?” Creed demanded. He pushed forward through the water and pulled Noni up, his arm under hers.

  While Taara watched, eyes still blazing, from a few feet away, Noni turned into his arms and clung to him, weeping so hard she shook with it.

  “Sh-she tried t-to drown me,” Creed made out. “I-I was sw-swimming and I—I don’t know what happened.”

  Creed eyed Taara with surprise and distaste.

  Her brows shot together and she gave him look for look. Then she turned that green gaze on the girl in his arms. “Liar,” she spat. “She attacked me.”

  Creed’s head snapped back. What the quark was this about?

  “Noni,” he prodded.

  The girl sniffled, and peeped up at him, her face flushed, dark eyes red rimmed. She was pretty, Creed supposed, except that she seemed to spend most of her time pouting at him from under all her dark hair, why he didn’t know and didn’t want to know. He’d avoided her as much as possible in the few weeks she’d been staying with her aunt and uncle.

  Now she looked at Creed and then back at Taara, her full mouth curving down. “I just wanted to play,” she whined. “She could have said—”

  “Little hard to say anything when someone grabs you by the leg and holds you under water,” Taara interrupted, her soft voice slashing through the misty air. “You weren’t playing, you little bitch. Not exactly little, either, are you? You outweigh me by six kilos or more.”

  Nani melted against Creed, giving another sob. “Why are you so cruel to me? I’m just lonely. I thought we could be friends.”

  Creed watched Taara to see if she’d soften, the way Lani had the few times he’d seen her with her niece. But the blonde’s soft mouth curved up in an angry smirk.

  “Right. Well, I don’t believe you. So the next time you want to play in the pool, why not invite a serpent to swim with you? It’ll play nicer than I will.”

  And with this, she turned her back on both of them and swam away, into the shadows of the grotto.

  Noni turned back to Creed, snuggling tighter, her nude body wet and slippery.

  He stiffened and put her firmly away. “Time to go home, Noni,” he said as gently as he could. “And the next time you want to swim, make sure there’s no one else in the pool. I’ll let your aunt know the times you can use it.”

  Specifically, none of the times he was likely to be in it. Wasn’t sure he wanted Taara in it, either, if this was the kind of drama that was going to go down.

  The girl swam away tearfully and dragged herself out at the far end. When her bare ass emerged from the water, Creed looked away. He had the uneasy suspicion she’d come here to waylay him. He’d have to talk with Lani and let her know Noni had worn out her welcome here. She needed to be somewhere there were other kids her age. Anywhere other than LodeStone.

  As the doors closed behind Noni, he leaned back against the side of the pool, looking down at himself in disgust. Second time in two days a bundle of blonde trouble had his pants wet.

  “Come on out,” he called.

  “I can hear you just fine from here,” said a cool voice from the shadows.

  He scowled. “Come out here. I have to come get you, you won’t like it.” A small part of him rocked back in shock. What the seven hells—he didn’t threaten females.

  But as a sleek blonde head emerged from under the leaves, satisfaction replaced his irritation.

  She eyed him, her body moving gracefully through the water. He could see the rest of her now, her pale breasts bobbing softly, small nipples like berries. And her face was just as pretty wet, her mouth glistening and pink. He wanted to lick the water off of her mouth and feel her up, slick and wet all over. His cock surged to life in his soaked pants.

  “What really happened here?” he demanded.

  She frowned again and lay back in the water, lifting one leg gracefully with her narrow foot arched. She indicated red marks mottling her slender ankle.
“Does that look like she was just playing? That girl’s playing you. She’s no innocent.”

  He straightened, eyes narrowing. The marks did not look like play; they looked as if Noni had held Taara with all her strength. Also, Nels and Lani’s people were from the tropics, at home in the water as on land. Anger burned through him, until he reminded himself he didn’t know either of the two females well enough to know which to trust.

  “I’ll watch the surveillance holovid,” he said.

  Her foot splashed back into the water, her expression going blank. “You do that,” she said. “Excuse me, the pleasure of swimming is gone for today.”

  “You’re a good swimmer,” he noted, ignoring her glare.

  “I’m half-Serpentian,” she shot back. “You know what they say, ‘Don’t throw a snake in the water to kill it.’“

  His lips twitched. He nodded. “I do. I’m a quarter Serp myself.”

  This caught her interest. “You are? I thought you were Stark’s brother.”

  “Not by blood.”

  She looked away, her long lashes veiling her eyes. “Well, I guess you need to go change,” she said. “Before you watch those surveillance vids.” She gave him a look through her lashes that told him exactly what she thought of his doubts about her.

  “Nah,” he said, goaded by that look, those breasts of hers and the rest of her glimmering in the water. “Since I’m already wet, thought I’d stay a while.”

  He unfastened his pants. She watched, her gaze rising to meet his. His blood thrummed through his veins, so hot he was surprised the water didn’t sizzle around him.

  “I want you here,” he said. “Now.”

  “What?” she jibed. “Females fighting gets you hot?”

  She bit her lip, sliding lower in the water as if fearing she’d said too much, but he merely raised his brows at her, his mood as buoyant as his cock in the warm water.

  “Wet, naked women wrestling?” He grinned at her. “Quark, yeah. Think that’d do it for any male.”