Desire Disguised Read Online Free

locked again. She had figured out he was the only real obstacle in the room.
    “I want to leave. We need to go now.”
    Ben shook his head and motioned for the medtech to leave the room. She sniffed and rushed out, probably irritated because she’d been stopped from completing a task on her list. Ben could appreciate the feeling of frustration. Caraline watched as the other woman closed the door, and she whistled out a soft breath before tightening her shoulders again. Still fighting.
    “If we aren’t under arrest you have to let us pass.”
    “Technically, the docs can keep you here for thirty hours.” And I can think of something in the meantime to keep you around even longer.
    Caraline’s chin jerked up. As she opened her mouth to speak, her brother let out a small sigh and slid to the floor. Ben ignored the training that demanded he keep a non-threatening distance between himself and an anxious person, and reached for the boy. He gathered him up in his arms, amazed at how thin and light he felt. Caraline pulled at him and stumbled along as he lifted the boy to a bed and laid him down. She was thin too, her narrow hands pushing at him as she peered at her brother with concern apparent on her strained face. Something about this tickled his intuition. She was far too determined to flee despite her clear sense of responsibility for Mat, who obviously needed rest and food. As she did. What was she so frightened of?
    Taking in some deep breaths, she smoothed Mat’s hair and turned to stare at him. All the defiance she’d shown a moment before seemed to have leached away, leaving a frightened and vulnerable young woman behind.
    “Please. We have to go.”
    “You need to rest and recover.”
    She shook her head and closed her eyes for a second. “What about Soren?”
    “I haven’t received an update on his condition yet.” Ben tried to piece together as much as he could about her with very little information. Since the ship had tagged into the jump ring unauthorized, there was no flight plan for it, and the incompetent crew at this end of the ring hadn’t bothered to collect a data scan on the ship until it was out of range. So, other than the scant material he’d gathered from the lone datpad, he had no idea where they’d come from or intended to go. The personal device was suspiciously uninformative. Only the basics were there like name, age, and homeworld. No messages, no feeds, no images, or media of any sort. It all stunk of aliases. Her determination not to be physically scanned indicated she wanted their actual identities kept out of the official loop, which raised all sorts of interesting possibilities.
    “Let’s start with something easy. I’m Bendix Zashi, Chief of Safety Services here.”
    She swallowed and flattened her hands protectively against Mat’s bed. The boy watched quietly from behind her and offered up no commentary. Ben waited a moment for her to return the courtesy and introduce herself, but she remained silent.
    “I know you’re Caraline Belasco, and your brother is Mat. You and your travel companion, Soren, were on a ship that did an illegal hitch to make it through a jump ring undetected. If I were the suspicious sort, I’d guess you were up to no good.” Ben tried to smile, but his muscles didn’t work right. Everything in his body felt too tight to project any sort of relaxed mood at her which was what the tense situation needed. He had the feeling she’d have bolted for the door already if her brother hadn’t collapsed. He spared a glance at the boy and found he followed the conversation with bright eyes.
    The older Belasco shifted her feet, and he didn’t know if it was because she was unsteady or thinking again of escape.
    “Our pilot did that. We can’t be arrested for what he did with his ship.”
    Ben tried not to react to her quick legal wrangling. It smelled of someone who’d spent a lot of time wandering in the grey areas of society. “Well, your pilot’s