Stripper: The Fringe, Book 4 (17 page)

“You’re right. I didn’t think…” Stunned, Diane shook her head as if trying to stop herself from what she’d been about to do.

“But we can be together for the time we have left. I want to hold you in my arms while we sleep. When we wake, we’ll make the last day we have together with Scott a happy one. No matter what happens.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

“You can. You’re strong.”

“I’m not. Not like you.”

“Physically? Yes, you are. You had to be to do what you did seven years ago.” When she pulled away, he thought that she might consider what he’d said was another dig. To reassure her, Duster whispered, “I wasn’t being rude. You had to be strong to walk away from the man you love, have our child and raise him all alone. If you weren’t strong, Scott wouldn’t be the amazing child he is.” He kissed her. “You were willing to toss yourself out an airlock to save Scott.”

“I still will if—”

“Diane.” He said it softly into the amber dark. “We are not going down that road.”

Sighing with futility, Diane said, “If it is the only way to save you both, then I will.”

“I won’t let you.”

“Duster.” Diane said his name with the same warning tone he’d used. “If it’s the only way, then we would be foolish not to consider it.”

“Intellectually? Gee, let me think. I kill you to save myself and our son. One life for two. Sounds good mathematically. But the life I sacrifice is the mother of my son. My chosen mate. Could I and Scott live without you? We could, but emotionally, we’d both be so devastated that I’d seriously question my ability to parent him even half as well as you have.” Straight from his heart, Duster told her the truth. He couldn’t help it. Never had he or would he learn to keep the truth to himself.

“All his life I’ve told him about you. If he loves me, he practically worships you. You could make it work.” Diane’s voice edged around desperation.

“I’d have to lie to him. Tell him, what? ‘Your mother had an accident, and well, that’s the end of her’? What do I tell myself, knowing the truth, Diane? That I tossed you out an airlock to save myself?”

“To save Scott.”

“And me.” Duster hissed a sharp expletive.

“You said, above all, he overrode every other concern. If that’s true and the only way to save him is to dispose of me, then you have no choice.”

“I have a choice!” Gripping her firmly against him, he took a deep breath and feel of her, then caught her startled gaze. “I choose not to choose. Not between you and Scott. Hell of it is, I would choose myself, but if I do, I leave you both to a man without mercy.” Knowing full well the dark side of Michael, Duster thought he might take pity on Scott, but he would have none for Diane. “What would you have me do?”

Chapter Twelve

Soundly stunned by his honesty, Diane could barely catch her breath. If her decision seven years ago had ripped her apart, Duster’s decision now devastated him. He didn’t hide his heart now, just like he hadn’t seven years ago. Duster was as open and trusting as Scott, even after being hurt so dreadfully by her, but that hadn’t changed who he was at the very core of his being. A part of her wanted to beg him to stop telling her the truth because it made what she had to do even harder.

“Save Scott. At all costs, we must put him first. I’m his mother, and I love him fiercely, but if it comes to a choice, you take him, every time. Without question.”

“A robot without a soul?”

Diane swallowed hard. “No.”

“See my problem?”

“We have to—”

“Stand and fight.”

“It’s futile.”

“I know.”

“We have no hope if we tell Michael the truth in your heart and mine.”

“What is the truth?” Holding her face between his huge, calloused hands, Duster peered into her eyes as if he could look right into her very soul. “Tell me the truth that you would tell Michael.”

“That I love you. From the moment I saw you, I knew my life would never be the same.”

“I felt that too.”

“I was sent on that ship to seduce Michael, but when I saw you, I knew I had to have you. When I touched you, I fell even more, entwining us together even though I didn’t know how you and I would end.”

“Had you known, would that have changed anything?”

“I wouldn’t have changed a thing, because together we made Scott. Out of our passion came a bright and special little boy. When I thought I killed you, I almost died myself. I might have, if not for Scott. When I found you were alive, I rejoiced to have a second chance.”

“That I ruined.”

“That we are so lucky to have.” She squeezed his hand. “Seven years ago, I could have turned my back on Network Thirteen. I didn’t, because I thought I owed them more than I owed you. They saved me from a man who would have violated me, then killed me for sport.” Diane shuddered, remembering her terror and then her relief when she was saved by a member of Network Thirteen. “I didn’t have much of a choice but to join them. Almost in the same breath, they put me in the group of women sold to the captain of the
Damn You
.”

“You were supposed to seduce Michael?” Duster’s frown mingled surprise and disgust.

“I was, and that’s what I was going to do, until I saw you.” Diane remembered that moment of seeing Duster’s face beyond Michael’s broad shoulder. How young and innocent he’d looked with his dusty blond hair hanging down into his face. But no matter how he used the strands to hide his eyes, she still saw shame lurking in his gaze. “I wanted to seduce you. And did. But what I hadn’t counted on was falling in love with you. You gave me your heart and soul with implicit trust, and I betrayed you. Because I thought I made the best choice. When almost two months later, I realized I carried your child, I prayed to every god I’d ever heard of that you were still alive.”

“I always wondered about you.”

“Given the resources of Windmere at your disposal, you could have found me.”

“I was too afraid to try. If you were alive, I couldn’t hunt you down. If you weren’t alive, I didn’t want to know. It was easier to stay in the dark and just keep the memory of you in my mind.”

“And the ring on your finger.”

“That so pissed Michael off.” Duster lifted his hand and considered his ring. “After he rescued me from the shuttle, I moved it to my right hand like a widower and left it there for seven years. Whenever I blasted Michael about his foolishness with Kraft or Mary, he blasted me about you and my ring.”

“You moved it to your left.”

“You’re alive. I’m not a widower.” Duster took her left hand with his right. “See? This way, our rings don’t click.” Pulling her tight, he whispered, “This way, we click and make a circle with our rings in a different way.” He rolled to his back and eased her to his chest. Scooping her hands into his, he urged her to lie on top of him with her legs draped around his hips. “Your hands in mine make an unbreakable circle.”

After a long time of silence, Diane asked, “Michael is going to kill us, isn’t he?”

“No.”

“No?” Diane lifted her head, peering down at him with hope.

“If he lets us land, he’s going to kill you, and I don’t think I can stop him.”

“Don’t move.”

Duster peered up the barrel of a Slim-Shot Thirty aimed right between his eyes. At the other end loomed a face he instantly recognized, but he didn’t quite trust that he was awake.

“Mary?” he asked, trying to sit up.

“Don’t.” Mary forced him back with the barrel. “Hollow-point ammo with a hair trigger.”

Duster swallowed, and he lay back in bed.

“I’m walking a fine line here.” Mary was dressed in her favorite deep purple clothing. “Don’t bump me.”

He put his hands up.

“Good boy.” Mary swiveled the gun away from him but only slightly so. One flick of her wrist would put him back in the crosshairs.

“Where’s Diane?” He cast his gaze to the empty space beside him, then to the open doorway behind Mary. His heart pounded so hard his vision wobbled. “Where’s Scott?”

“Relax. They’re safe. I moved them onto my ship. Well, Rourke’s ship. You know how he is about the
Elusive Grace
.”

“You took my son at gunpoint?” For the life of him, Duster wanted to strangle Mary if she’d frightened Scott.

“Don’t be stupid.” Mary rolled her eyes. “What kind of monster do you think I am?”

“Do you expect me to answer that with a gun barrel practically up my nose?”

“Would be best if you didn’t.” Mary nodded, pulling the gun back. She pointed it at the ceiling when she realized Duster refused to challenge her. “You dressed under there?”

“No. Why? Want to see?”

“Duster, don’t be messing with me. You may not grasp this, but I’m trying to help you without betraying Michael.” Mary looked around the room, found his pants, frisked them for weapons, then tossed them to him. “Gear up and do it quick. We don’t have a lot of time here.”

After pulling his pants on under the covers, he leapt out of bed. Mary frisked his shirt and vest before tossing them over. He yanked them on. “Where are my boots?”

“I ain’t letting you have them, knife-boy.” Mary busted out a solid laugh. “You think I got stupid in a week?”

“Should I answer that?”

“You trying to piss me off?” Mary nodded to her gun.

“Are we only going to talk in questions?”

“If we do, think we’re ever gonna get anywhere?”

Duster couldn’t help it—he laughed. So did Mary. But she never relaxed her grip on the gun for a moment. He didn’t expect that she would.

“I’m almost afraid to ask, but how the hell did you get on my ship? How’d you get Diane out of bed without waking me?” Duster had to admire Mary’s criminal mind.

“Got a knack.” Up her eyebrows went, and she nodded with a curt dip of her head. “You ain’t gonna like this part, but you know the drill. I’ve got to cuff you.”

“Thanks for doing it without an audience.” Duster turned and let Mary take him into custody without a struggle. As she cuffed his arms behind his back, he asked, “What, exactly, are you going to do?”

“Well, Michael said you couldn’t land your ship with three alive people onboard.” Mary locked down the plastimetal cuffs that instantly warmed against his flesh. “He didn’t say a damn thing to me about taking you all in as prisoners. Seems prudent to me, with you being a security risk and all. Can’t let you run loose.”

Nice loophole between Michael’s direct orders and what Mary thought was fair.

“Please tell me you didn’t cuff Diane in front of Scott.” Duster’s heart skipped a beat. “Please tell me you didn’t cuff Scott.”

Once she checked his restraints, Mary turned Duster to face her. “Do you honestly think I would cuff a little boy?” She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t cuff Diane either. I just made it real clear to her that if she pulled anything, she’d be putting you in danger.” Mary gave him that calculating look. “Don’t think she’s gonna risk it. And before you even ask, she’s with Scott. He thinks there was something wrong with your ship, and I’m here to rescue you. Edge of the truth, but good enough.”

“Are you? Here to rescue us?” Duster asked, trying not to let too much hope bleed into his voice.

“That remains to be seen,” Mary offered, looking away. “Like I said, edge of the truth. I’m walking a thin line between what I think is right, what Michael wants and what’s best for Windmere.” She paused. “Oh, right, Prime Bastard.” She made a face as if saying the name put a nasty taste in her mouth. “Do as I say, Duster, and just maybe, I can get all three of you through this alive.”

“Michael doesn’t know you’re here,” Duster guessed.

“He does now.” Mary grinned. “As of about ten minutes ago. You should have heard him yelling at me over the com. Not pleasant. When I shut if off, he started in on my wrist com, so I had to shut that off too.” She looked down at the furiously blinking light on her wrist com. “He’s super pissed at me. That’s actually a good thing.”

“It’s a good thing that your husband is furious with you?” Duster began to wonder if perhaps his savior was, in fact, crazy. Her husband commanded hundreds of thousands of fighters by his word alone. Michael could pick them off the Void like a piece of lint.

“Better me than you.” Mary winked. “I took his mind right off you and turned it on me. To me, Michael is all bark and no bite. I don’t think he’d be that way with you just now.”

Sudden horror made Duster stumble as they made their way aboard the
Elusive Grace
. “Mary, he could blow this ship out of the sky.”

“He could.” She nodded, nudging him with the gun. “But he won’t.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because he loves me.” She said it so matter-of-fact it was as if she were quoting gospel. “Michael might be mad at me, but he still loves me. And, technically, this isn’t my ship, it’s Rourke’s. No way is Michael gonna blow this baby out of the sky, especially since Rourke is piloting. On my orders, by the way.”

“You’re taking a terrible risk doing this.” As proud as Duster was at how Mary had thwarted Michael to help him, he still knew Michael was unpredictable.