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leave his door open hoping to pick up on some gossip. Unfortunately, he also spent the time before lunch pretending not to notice all the impressive men in uniform passing his open door. It was hard not to wonder about every one of them. Did they think his genetic makeup perverse? How many of them pretended to be fine with Nate but really weren’t?
He shook himself out of his musings and got back to work. They knew Caldwell was an IN spy, thanks to Nate. If Payton could get into the Intelligence files, he might be able to see what Caldwell—or whatever his name really was—was doing on Regelence.
It was twelve fifty and Nate wasn’t back yet. If it weren’t for feeling so out of place among the musclebound, studly men, he’d go get his own lunch. He was getting a headache and his stomach was rumbling.
It was almost humorous. Here he was without a chaperone with all these super masculine men and not a one of them would want him. Not that he had any intention of compromising himself—he had been raised better than that—but even if he wanted to it wasn’t likely to happen. He was having a hard time not gawking since he’d always had a liking for large men and men in uniform in particular. Hell, he’d been raised to have a preference for men in uniform. It was in his DNA, just as it was all the other lords on Regelence. It was disconcerting to say the least. He’d never had to hide who he was.
Even on Regelence he’d been allowed to admire from a distance, with a chaperone of course. Now he understood why he wasn’t assigned a chaperone here. He didn’t need one.
Shaking himself out of his musings, Payton changed screens. While the program he’d designed continued to mask his presence and get into the Intelligence office, he’d copy surveillance vids and dog-tag registries to his com-pad. In the files was everything he could possibly want to know about everyone on the base, including their working hours and what they did. Every building had a registry which automatically tallied military personnel’s presence by their dog tag. The program he’d set up to retrieve messages while he was still on the Lady Anna had turned up nothing. He’d yet to find any messages to Colonel Hollister, but he wasn’t giving up. Maybe he’d find something 38
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out by watching surveillance videos. At the very least he should be able to find Nate on the videos from this morning and see what Colonel Hollister looked like.
When he typed in “S”, several S names popped up. The “I” narrowed it down further, Sidell, Silsby and several Simon’s. There were about twenty of them. Dust, Simon was a popular name on Englor. He finished typing in the “M”, “O” and “N”, then scrolled down to the H’s he found
Hollister
in the building registries. Several buildings popped up. The mess hall, the Englor Marine building, the gym. Oddly, the building where the officer’s quarters were located wasn’t one of them. According to the registry, the Englor Marine office building and the gym were the two places the colonel frequented the most. Perhaps a trip to the gym was in order. Galaxy knew Payton could use the exercise.
“At ease.” Nate’s voice drifted into the office.
Payton glanced up to see Nate coming his way. He started to stand, but Nate shook his head and closed the door behind him, looking around the room.
Payton grinned, knowing exactly what his brother-in-law was asking. “There is no video or audio in this part of the building.”
Nate came further into the room, peeking over Payton’s shoulder. “Have you found anything of interest?”
He thought about mentioning that Hollister frequented the gym on base, but decided against it. Nate would never allow him to go there if he knew. “No, have you?”
Shaking his head, Nate crossed the room and lifted the curtain, peering out. “No.
Needless to say Colonel Hollister wasn’t very forthcoming with info. I did find out he doesn’t like to be referred to as Your Highness.”
“Can’t say that I blame him. I’ve never been found of the address myself. Makes it seem like I think I’m better than everyone else.” He shrugged. He liked being a prince, he did. He loved Regelence and he was proud to represent it, but he couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like to be born a commoner and not be under constant scrutiny. He hated people always staring at him. It made him feel self- conscious. He’d always reveled in the fact that he was a great deal more intelligent than most men, but www.samhainpublishing.com 39
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would rather inspire lust than be sought after for his family connections. “What do you have planned for the evening?”
Nate blinked. “Nothing, why?”
“I thought if it was okay with you, I’d go to the gym. My brain could use the break.
Besides, it might be a good place to pick up stuff. Hear the latest rumors.” That was the truth, if not the whole reason.
Nate grinned. “Good thinking. They’re much more likely to talk to you than me.”
~ * ~
Sitting on the bunk in his room, Payton put his running shoes and workout clothes in his duffle bag with a sense of dread. He swallowed hard and tried to shake the foreboding feeling. He was being ridiculous, but the thought of changing in front of anyone else had him terrified. It was just too weird, some habits died hard, not to mention his Cony would completely flip if he found out. Who was he kidding? Payton was self-conscious.
Changing in front of others was strange and something he’d never be allowed to do at home.
Zipping up the bag, he considered once again waiting until nighttime, when the gym would be mostly deserted. He knew it would clear out around seven, because he’d looked at the gym log.
By going at five, he might pick up on some rumors that could help his and Nate’s investigation. At the very least, maybe he could pick up something about Hollister—
whether Hollister was there or not—that would shed light on his motives for sending a spy to Regelence. So far, everyone seemed to adore the colonel. It was suspicious. No one with the power Hollister had could be that liked, could they?
Payton stood, stretching out his neck and arms. Wiping his hands on his pants, he winced. He really didn’t want to do this. What if they laughed at him? It wasn’t just the changing clothes. What if he was so out of shape he couldn’t lift even the slightest weight? Maybe he’d wait to lift weights until no one was around—surely they had machines as well as free weights—so he wouldn’t need a spotter. He groaned, grabbed 40
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his coat off the back of the chair and put it on.
Stop being stupid, Pay. No one will even
care if you’re there, much less how much you can lift.
Picking up the bag, he threw it over his shoulder and headed to the door.
The wind blew against the door to the building housing the officer’s quarters, so he had to put his whole body into forcing it open. Galaxy, he could use some more upper-body strength. After squeezing through the door, he winced and snuggled down deeper into his coat.
The chilly air whipped down the back of his neck as he turned the corner. The gym was located on the west side of his apartment, opposite where the offices and mess hall were. It was a bit of a trek but at least the wind was at his back.
“Lieutenant, wait up.”
Payton turned to see an Englor Marine Sergeant running toward him. What was his name? He’d shown Payton the grounds earlier today, after he and Nate had gone to lunch.
The sergeant was a native Englorian who had just gotten out of the IN and started his service with Englor.
Lewis?
Yes, that was it. Danny Lewis. His father owned a millinery in Mayfair across from Hyde Park. He was close to Payton’s age, but he seemed younger.
He was so animated when he spoke it brought to mind an excited puppy. Payton liked him. “Lewis, where are you headed?”
“The commissary, to pick up a few things. You?” Lewis closed the gap between them and started walking in the same direction as Payton.
“The gym.” A gust of wind assaulted them, blowing leaves around their feet and whistling through the buildings. Payton shivered.
“Brrr… It’s supposed to snow tomorrow evening.” Lewis stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I hope it does. Last year we had a huge snowball fight in the courtyards outside the mess hall. It was great. Colonel Hollister and Colonel Eason even took part.”
“Were they the only officers to take part?” Payton fished.
“No, of course not, but they’re both titled and most of the titled lords don’t associate with us peons.” Surprisingly, there didn’t seem to be any animosity in the statement, just fact. “Colonel Hollister is our prince. He’s heir to the throne of Englor. Colonel Eason is www.samhainpublishing.com 41
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heir to the Duke of Amberley.” His voice held an awed tone, like even he couldn’t believe the men would engage in a snowball fight.
Payton digested that for a second. It spoke positively of the two men. Even on Regelence some of the lords in service didn’t interact with the commoners any more than they had too. Payton had never understood that holier-than-thou attitude. The lords were there to serve and protect their people, they were responsible for giving the common man a voice in government, not the other way around. Maybe Hollister really was as wonderful as everyone claimed.
“Here’s your stop.” Lewis stopped in front of a two-story red brick building. “Have fun working out. Maybe we could have a drink together sometime while you’re here?”
“Sure. I’d like that.”
Lewis strode off, ducking his head down further into his coat. “See you, Lieutenant.”
“Good evening.” Payton waved. Dust, his hands were like icicles and his toes were numb. He glanced up at the gray sky. The weather changed so quickly here on Englor. It had been sunny this afternoon. He couldn’t wait to get back to the more constant weather on Regelence.
The tiny set of lights above the door flashed to green as Payton approached. He averted his attention away from the lights and continued on toward the door. No one else would even think about the lights, but because he’d had to tape his own tag on, he couldn’t help it. The IN injected the tiny chip into the shoulder of new recruits and could track anyone who had ever served, even those now retired from service, as long as the building they entered had a sensor. Since, like Regelence, men had to go into service with the IN first for training, the Englor Marines and the Regelence military branches also had dog tags. Well, everyone except those only pretending to be soldiers. He had the urge to reach back to make certain his tape was still there. But he knew it was, the green light on the building had meant he was being logged in.
Giving himself a mental shake, Payton walked through the automatic doors and into the lobby of the gym. He followed a sign all the way to the locker room, spine straight like it was no big deal, but his stomach decided otherwise. It felt like the butterflies were 42
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trying to break their way out.
Come on, Pay, you can do this. You’re a lieutenant. They’ll
expect that you’re used to dressing in front of other men.
Only someone forgot to give his body that memo. It still thought he was a sheltered prince back on Regelence where he would never be allowed in the locker room of a gym, even with a chaperone.
Payton hitched his bag up again, held his chin up high and strolled right into the locker room…and almost swallowed his tongue. Good Galaxy, men were just walking around naked.
Okay, focus, Pay. No blushing. Locker. You need a locker. Oh, right there
past the man with the nice muscled arse and hairy legs.
He was staring and he couldn’t afford to stare. These men weren’t going to tell him anything or let anything slip if they thought he was different. Gritting his teeth, he moved toward the red metal grid lockers. The thought of what he’d heard today still chafed. Nate was top of the food chain here, and if people saw his sexuality as vulgar, then no way could Payton, a mere lieutenant, socially survive them all knowing. And if it ever got out that he was a Regelence prince? It was going to be tough enough getting them to be comfortable since they saw him as the admiral’s eyes and ears when he wasn’t around.
Toward the end of the bank of lockers a door was open, and blessedly no one was in front of it. Payton hurried over and pressed his thumb to the locking mechanism. The light above the thumb pad flashed green, signaling it registered his print. Just to make certain, he closed the door and tried it. It was locked. Pressing his thumb to the thumb pad again made the lock click open with a winding sound. Good, it worked. He unzipped his bag and turned around, searching for a place to set it. Big mistake. A nude man stepped out of a cloud of steam pouring from an opened corridor. The sounds of skin slapping tile echoed out along with laughs and conversation. The guy coming out of the shower room dried his hair with his towel, completely unconcerned about his nudity.
Payton’s cock started to fill. Good Galaxy, the man was hung like—
No staring.
Looking down, he found the blue plastic-coated metal bench and willed his prick to ignore the pretty man with the wet dripping muscles and washboard abdomen. This was proving to be a test of willpower. All these well-formed bodies parading around in the www.samhainpublishing.com 43
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buff were going to be the death of him. It was going to bloody kill him to keep from gawking and blushing.
He sat, hunkering over his bag, and took a deep breath. The room smelled musky and faintly of muscle ointment, but the scent of sweat and raw male lingered there too, teasing his nose. None of those smells should be appealing, but his cock twitched, proving differently. He felt like banging his head against something. Pulling his bag into his lap, he reached into it with one hand and with the other pinched the inside of his thigh…hard.
Yeouch.
His prick got the message and softened again.
Once Payton was sure he had his errant body under control, he took out his clothes.