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realized
until this moment how much Nori and the marines shielded her, and not just her
body but her heart as well.  Right now, the pain and fear surrounding her was
enough to make her sick.  And she was never going to be able to walk through
all those dead pieces without throwing up.  Lara made a solemn vow right then
and there that she would listen to everything that her father and the marines
said from now on.  She would hire someone qualified to be her escort on her
journeys and not because he was a nice old soldier who needed the job.  And she
would stop taking chances with her life . . .   Once she rescued Thaos from
the slavers.  Then she amended the thought further.  Unless someone else
needs help.
    Her thoughts were interrupted
before she could add anything else to her list, and in a most dizzying way, she
felt herself lifted and tossed over the brute’s shoulder.  She knew it was
him.  She was up too high for it to be anyone else.  Lara grabbed his coat to
keep from going head first into the dead things and kept her eyes tightly
covered.  She did not think he would react well if she saw the carnage again
and threw up down his back.  And at this point, she really did not want to make
the big beast mad.  At least the clean scent of spice and leather blocked most
of the blood smell.  She pressed her face in closer to the leathers and held
on.
    ***
    Barnos shook his head and
tromped through the now squishy street to get to the female.  He hefted her
over his shoulder with a grunt on his part and a squeal on hers.  But besides
grabbing onto the back of his captain’s coat with a death grip with one hand
and keeping the other over her eyes, she did not make another peep. He turned
to see a half smile on the cat’s face even as he was watching their retreat,
sword still in one hand, blaster in the other.  With the soft bundle of woman
in his arms, he could not help but notice a few things.  She smelled like
flowers; after a kidnapping and slave auction she should smell bad.  She didn’t,
and it was damn distracting.  And, quite frankly, if she was this sensitive
shouldn’t she be at home under her father’s protection, not traipsing all over
the known universe?  He had half a mind to give the High Ambassador a piece of
his mind.  He growled at the next miscreant that looked at him as if he wanted
to make trouble and at least this one was smart enough to get gone.  By the
time he made the shuttle Barnos was having a hard time holding onto his good
mood; and having to wait for the cat to disengage the shields and remove the
dead bodies that had tried to take the shuttle in their absence, he was fed up
with all the shivering and sniffling coming from their rescue.  Did she have no
backbone at all?

CHAPTER FOUR
    When the brute finally
put her down it was with enough oomph to have her skidding away a little on
unsteady feet.  Lara finally opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was
Tolan Lark closing the hatch.  He smiled that teasing smile at her and she
blinked, every breath in her body tumbling out with the weight of her hidden
fear.  The relief was almost enough to take her out at the knees.  She grabbed
the nearest bulkhead and burst into tears.
    She knew she was making a
spectacle of herself.  She could feel the panic coming from the two men at the
sight of her distress, and as soon as she was able to speak, she would try to
explain that they were good tears.  Between waking up kidnapped by slavers,
watching the abuse around her, losing Thaos to who knows what terrible future
and being purchased by the brute, knowing what was surely to come, and then to
know she was safe, well . . . she had reasons to cry, so they were just going
to have to deal with it.
    When she could catch her
breath and speak somewhat, she looked back at the two men giving her and each
other confused looks.  She wiped at her wet cheeks as best she could and
ignored the dirt that came off her face with the