Desire Disguised Read Online Free Page B

cornered animal would, all immobilized fear and keeping still, hoping not to be noticed. What had happened to make her this afraid?
    “Cara?” Mat spoke up again and struggled to see her.
    “She’s all right—”
    “I’ll be fine, Mat, don’t worry about me.”
    “So, do we have a deal?” He knew he was pressing her at a vulnerable moment, but he had a feeling if he waited to settle this point until she was recovered, she would have already disappeared. Entirely unbidden, he realized he liked her nickname very much. Cara .
    “Thirty hours.” Cara blinked up at him and folded her arms across her chest. Those borrowed garments were so thin, he could practically see her…Ben reached under the bed and removed a blanket to spread over her.
    “Agreed. But we talk about what’s going on. At my convenience.”
    Holding his gaze a moment longer, she nodded her head once and then glanced over at her brother. Ben wanted to pat her arm or touch her shoulder, smooth her tangled hair back from her cheek, but instead, he retrieved another blanket and arranged it over Mat who gazed up at him with wide eyes. Now, he’d have to come up some sort of logical explanation for keeping the med crew from taking a standard DNA sample from these castaways.
    “You’re off the record for now. I’ll send in someone to check on you and bring you a meal. Then I’ll be back for some answers.”
    * * * *
    “Who is that guy?”
    “Bendix Zashi. The head of safety services for wherever we are. Notice he didn’t tell us that little piece of information?”
    “I guess he’ll want to trade for it.” Mat put on a galaxy-weary air, but Cara could sense the curiosity underlying her brother’s tone.
    “Probably. Mat, how are you feeling?”
    “Sore but happy I’m not dead.”
    Cara smiled at him, pleased yet again her brother was such a practical and level-headed type now that they weren’t in mortal peril. He smiled back.
    “I’m really hungry. Do you think he’s going to feed us sooner rather than later?”
    “He might want to trade rations for our secrets.” Cara wanted to joke, but she had a feeling it might be close to the truth. The security chief, despite his beautiful eyes, worried her. Her stomach tensed whenever he looked at her, and she didn’t think it was caused by lingering effects of the crash. He made her nerves misfire. She needed to stay alert and uncommunicative just as she had for the last twelve years.
    Yet again, she thought of Soren, their last surviving protector. He might not be a survivor much longer, which meant she would be the last barrier between the evil people aiming to destroy them and her young brother lying helpless on a bed in some clinic on an unknown world. Damn Falk for showing off and tagging that cruiser. He’d had no idea where it was headed; just that it was jumping at an opportune moment to get them away from official scrutiny at the very populated Station Seven. If he’d just waited and used their faux identity—
    Her angry musings were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. She immediately tensed and sat up on the bed, not able to relax even when she saw it was merely a servebot rolling in under a heavily loaded food tray. It was probably equipped with remote monitoring devices. Mat slid off the bed and rummaged amongst the covered plates.
    “Cara! There’s tomatoes and curried tempeh. Bok Choi. And cookies!” He looked over at her with such excitement and hope in his gaze she wanted to weep. Her baby brother, nearly killed today, and now thrilled by the appearance of a cookie. She motioned for him to collect his serving and eat. Very politely he handed her another container, and she opened it to find more of the same. It looked delicious, and her disobedient stomach growled approval. No matter what waited for them, they needed nourishment.
    “How do you think Soren is?” Mat asked around a bite of tomato, and she shrugged. Cara was suspicious of the servebot, of the