Royal Recruit - Susan Grant Page 0,12

breath, her hands fisted at her sides. Then, with dignity holding her smoldering rage in check, she turned around and squared her shoulders. Her ornate dress rustled. “It must be done. For the sake of my people, I will take the Terran as my royal consort.” She wasn’t very convincing at altruism but nonetheless, she tried. Luckily, no one snickered.

“Find out the prince’s status,” Keira grumbled. “And if he is free—” her hands opened and closed, itching to throw daggers “—strike a deal with Earth. Tell them they may offer their prince as the price for peace and the opportunity to self-govern their little world. Then, together the Coalition and Earth will present a united front to the Drakken Empire.”

As for her united front with the Terran, it need not exist. The prince would be given a life of comfort and riches in the galaxy’s most luxurious palace. All he ever needed to sate his appetites would be available to him, so he need not look to her for his satisfaction. And if he were to persist, well, her skill with sharp objects was legendary.

Cavin and Jana met Jared and Evie at the REEF’s ship. “I’ll cut to the chase,” Jared told them. “We went inside the spacecraft. I powered it up.”

Cavin didn’t seem fazed. “To be honest, I’m impressed that you figured out how,” he admitted with no trace of condescension. “After all, your only experience was in my ship—an inferior vessel.”

“As much as I’d like to take the credit, I can’t. I sat in the pilot’s seat, touched a few things, and the ship powered up on its own. Then the visual came on, also on its own. At first it was an image of the field, then it changed to a room.”

“Not an Earth room,” Evie said. “It was beautiful too.” High praise from the Domestic Goddess.

“And…a woman saw me,” Jared said.

Jana spun to him, her ponytail swinging. “She saw you? Are you sure?”

“Oh, very sure.”

“He’s sure,” Evie chimed in. “I’m sure.”

“Don’t go in that cockpit, Cavin,” Jana warned. “Just because the REEF is dead doesn’t mean the hunt for you is over.”

It had to be disturbing not knowing who wanted Cavin dead—or why, Jared thought.

Cavin’s forehead creased. “That is odd that the visual went direct to that woman, whoever she was.”

“Look, I’m sorry. I screwed up.” Jared felt like crap. “I was curious, and since the REEF was dead, I didn’t see the harm in it.”

“I thank the goddess it was you they saw, and not me.” Cavin sounded brusque. “Give me a description of the female.”

Jared did his best to comply without using the terms hot, bodacious or babe. “She had brown eyes. And long, brown hair. A few streaks of dark pink and blue, I think” He tried not to remember how wild it had looked falling over her shoulders. Tried not to picture her naked. “She was in great shape, borderline weight lifter but not bulked up, just super tight.” He cleared his throat and tried to stay on track. “She had a black bodysuit on. It was skintight, almost paramilitary-looking. And she seemed confident with weapons—at least the daggers she threw around while she screamed at me. If we hadn’t had God-knows-how-many light years between us, I have a feeling I’d be wearing one right here.” He pounded a fist over his heart.

“Hmm,” Cavin said. “My guess is that she’s a REEF.”

“A cyborg?” A machine had turned him on. What did that say about him?

“Or she could be the REEF’s handler. I wonder who. Your description doesn’t fit that of the Minister of Intelligence. I worked with her at headquarters. She was short and fair. Was anything specific discussed?”

“Ah…” Trash talk always seemed appropriate at the moment but a little embarrassing afterward. “I told her to tell her people to keep their greedy little paws off Earth. More or less.”

“It was more,” Evie said. Jared threw her a dirty look.

“Cover the display.” Cavin knifed off a piece of the tarp and handed it to Jared with a roll of duct tape. Remaining out of sight—he couldn’t risk the two-way screen revealing that he was alive, and on Earth—he watched as Jared draped the screen.

Jana’s cell phone rang. She read the number and her face paled. “It’s Connick.”

Col. Thomas Connick, commander of Area 51, had been the liaison between the mysterious Gatekeeper and Jana and Cavin. When Cavin had come to Earth, it had been with a plan as simple as it was