Page 5 of In a Dangerous Orbit
“I’ve researched you.” He saw a brief flare of something in her eyes before she hid it.Curious. What did the lovely Ms. Dela-Cruz not want him to find in her past? “You take in disadvantaged girls who’d otherwise have to turn to pleasure working on the streets. You give them a place to stay in your home near the market. You give them jobs working in your stalls. I don’t think they can tell the future any more than I can. You train them to give people exactly what your clients want, and you do it in a very lovely, staged setting.”
She shifted on the cushions. “I know my brand.”
“Yes. You do.” He’d noticed she never flirted with him. Around any other male—young or old—she was mysterious smiles, tilted head, and fluttering eyelashes. At first, it had bugged him, because he had a powerful desire to strip her naked and wrap her long legs around his hips.
But then he’d realized what it really meant, because whenever he was with her, his acute sense of smell had picked up the faintest, most tantalizing hint of her arousal.
He found her fascinating. She pulled on so many different guises—fortune teller, businesswoman, flirtatious woman, savior of disadvantaged girls. He hadn’t worked out which was the real Relda, but he suspected he hadn’t seen her yet. His gut told him she didn’t show therealRelda to anyone.
He was also interested in the fact that when he’d run his searches on her, he’d found no reference of a Relda Dela-Cruz before she’d turned up on Souk four years ago.
Yeah, she was a sexy mystery he wanted to uncover.
But first, he had to keep her alive.
“I’m going to run searches on the Trojan Moon. You sure there’s not anything you want to tell me before I do that?”
She lifted her chin. “I’m sure.”
So, she thought he’d come up empty.Okay, beautiful, let’s see.
She stood with the elegant grace of a dancer. “Marshal, I really need to check on Alia and my other stores. I don’t want any more of my employees hurt.”
Hunt stood as well and took a step closer to her. He noted the way she stiffened. Most people would guess that she didn’t like him, but his senses picked up her racing pulse, the subtle change in her scent.
He gripped her chin and tilted her face up. “You need to be careful. Do you have a weapon?”
She raised her eyebrows.
Not a legal one, then. “Don’t tell me,” he growled. “Just keep it close and keep an eye out. I’m going to post a deputy to stay with you here at your store and to guard your house. You see anything that worries you, and I mean anything, tell him or call me.”
She blinked, and he got the impression she wasn’t used to anyone looking out for her. “Of course, Marshal.”
And there was that cool, composed tone she saved just for him. He suppressed a smile and stroked a thumb across the smooth skin of her jaw, watched something flicker in her eyes. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”
Her mouth opened. Those luscious red lips taunting him.
She leaned into him a little. With her vivid personality, she seemed taller, but the top of her head barely reached his shoulder. Her full breasts pressed against his chest, and he cursed the vest he always wore.
He cupped her cheeks in his hands. “Relda?—”
The door flap opened again and Dale Westin, the deputy Hunt had sent out after the intruders, returned. Westin looked at Hunt touching Relda, his eyes widening.
Hunt cursed under his breath. He reluctantly let his hands drop and stepped back. Relda looked over his shoulder.
“Sir, no sign of the men. And I’m sorry, but there’s been an altercation at the spaceport. A starfreighter crew is brawling with the crew of some luxury starcruiser that just landed in port. The Port Master is asking for you.”
Hunt sighed. Sometimes he missed his Special Forces days. Who knew that wars and commando missions were easier to handle than the day-to-day problems on a market planet?
He shot Relda a look. “Ms. Dela-Cruz, remember what I told you.”
She nodded, all cool and calm again. “Yes, thank you, Marshal. I should get this mess tidied up.”
“Not until my forensics team do a sweep.”
She heaved a sigh. “Fine.”
She wouldn’t call him. But damned if he was going to leave her as a big, juicy target for whoever was looking for this mysterious Trojan Moon.
