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as
he said. “I take full responsibility for her, Sir.”
    Strom’s glare wiped the grin off Pete’s face. “And Engineer
Olafson, I haven’t forgotten your part in this matter. You will stay with her
when Lieutenant Svenson is on duty. She is not to be left alone at any time.
Dismissed, both of you.”
    * * * * *
    Tanith opened her eyes sleepily. Jake’s techie friend, Pete,
was watching her through the door of the cell. “Hi, Tanith, you’re getting out
of here.”
    “What? You mean I’m going home?” For a brief moment she
didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. After last night, she
didn’t want to get away from Jake anymore. The Dermatrax was so calm
that she was barely aware of it. Hopefully it would stay like that for a few
days.
    “No such luck,” Pete muttered. “The captain has released you
into Jake’s custody.”
    Memories of the previous night flooded back. Poor Strom, he
had been so sweet and unexpectedly vulnerable. Tanith tried to focus on what
Pete was saying. She wasn’t going home, she was staying on board, and Jake or
Pete would be with her at all times. They stared awkwardly at each other for a
few moments. Of the three of them, the techie was the one she knew least and he
seemed to be sizing her up.
    “Okay, Tanith, before I let you out of there, let’s set a
few rules. You will not use your pheromone stuff on me—Jake is in enough
trouble as it is. I may be on duty when I’m babysitting you and you may not
touch my personal com. Some women are useless at that kind of thing, so please
wreck Jake’s stuff instead. And I would prefer if you wore some clothes, apart
from a bathrobe.”
    He had to be joking. If it wasn’t for the force field, she
would have punched him on the nose, the arrogant lump of space rock. “I am in a
bathrobe because that is what I was wearing when you kidnapped me. You are the
last man in the galaxy that I would use my pheromone stuff on, and for
your information, I had a job in tech services before I left Cyraelia.”
    “Really? Doing what, sweetheart?”
    “I engineered com viruses for a military intelligence
consortium, now open the damn door.”

Chapter Seven
     
    An hour later, she was wearing a pair of Jake’s pants,
rolled up, belted and pulled tight at the waist and a dark shirt. Jake’s
personal com was already set up to accept commands from her. She selected
something called jazz from his music database, playing it low in the background.
The techie was busy, running a job in engineering. Although he looked up from
time to time, he had barely said two words to her.
    Tanith discovered a holo-projector and ordered it to display
Jake’s collection of personal images. She recognized some scenic images from
Cyraelia, but all of the others were from off-world. Her heart fell as she
viewed them. There were quite a lot of women. One pretty, dark-haired girl
appeared in several images. Tanith glanced over at the techie. Could she ask
him about her? The worst thing he could say was no. “Tell me about this one?”
    Pete glanced up from his com and smiled when he saw the
image she had chosen. “Now that was one great night.”
    He got up from the table and came to join her. “We were on
secondment to the Department of Temporal Security at the time. That was taken
at a burlesque club. You know? Dancing girls?”
    Tanith sighed with relief. The dark-haired female was just
someone Jake had met in a bar. But why had he kept her image? “So the woman
with Jake is a dancer?”
    “Hell no.” Pete reached out and touched the image fondly.
    Tanith experienced a sudden pang of jealousy as she looked
at the image again. Their faces were close together and Jake’s whole attention
was focused on the girl. He looked as if he cared about her. “Was he in love
with her?”
    “Who, Jake? Maybe, I think we were all a little in love with
Ingrid then, but…”
    Pete’s com buzzed and he returned to the com, muttering
under his breath. Tanith