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tears.  She wanted to be
clean, but that was so far down her list of priorities to be inconsequential. 
The other slaves sold had it so much worse.  The thought almost started her
crying again.
    “It’s not . . .,” she
swallowed more tears with an effort.  Her breath halting, her words soggy, “I’m
just so happy I’m not going to be forced into sexual servitude to him. ” 
She stabbed a finger toward the giant.  “Really, you have no idea.”
    The big man growled.
    Tolan Lark snorted out a
laugh and gave him a once over.  “I think I get the idea.”  He gave her a half
smile that Lara was happy to see actually reached his eyes.  “Lara, may I
introduce Captain Conall Barnos.  He is working with me on another matter and
agreed to help rescue you from the slavers when your . . .” He looked confused
for a moment.  “My apologies, is Nori your sister or your cousin?  I think I’ve
heard her refer to you in both ways.”
    Lara wiped away the
lingering tears and sighed, “Technically, my father raised her as my sister,
but legally it was my uncle that adopted her.  It was a way of getting around
the legalities of a High Ambassador claiming a foreign child as his own. 
Especially when the Shakien are not in the Alliance, by choice.”  She sniffed,
wiping more tears away.  “Depending on her mood, Nori will claim either
connection, but she is the sister of my heart.”
    Out of the corner of her eyes,
she saw Barnos chuff and roll his eyes.  She narrowed hers.  She was not quick
to anger by any means but his dismissive attitude was wearing on her.  He was
lucky it was her he was dealing with; Nori would have gutted him by now.  “Why
in the world did you send him to purchase me, when I would have known
you?”
    “That’s why,” Tolan Lark
shrugged.  “You would have known me.  If you gave away the rescue things could
have gone very bad.”
    Lara blew out a
shuddering breath.  “I suppose you couldn’t trust that I would keep the secret?”
    Captain Barnos snorted
rudely.  “You burst into uncontrollable tears when you saw the cat.  No, we
could not trust you would be sensible.”
    She narrowed her eyes his
way again, then back at Tolan Lark, studying the men her sister sent after
her.  “Nori called on you?”  She merely asked instead of arguing her good
sense.  “To rescue me?”  She could not keep the doubt out of her voice or her
eyes.  “She does not like or trust you,” she said nodding to Tolan Lark.  “And
I would think she would absolutely loath you,” she finished, tilting her head
to study the bigger man.
    Tolan Lark laughed again,
drawing her eyes from the toothy smile Captain Barnos was giving her.  Even
seeing the inherent threat in that smile, he still packed quite a punch when he
used it with that sardonic gleam in his eyes.  “Neither your father or Nori
have the connections to get you off of Montrouge.  I was the only scoundrel
they could get on short notice.”  Tolan Lark shrugged negligently, even while
his eyes were moving over her.  “Speaking of scoundrels, no one seems to know
how you were taken off The Triton. ”
    Lara shook her head at
that.  “And I cannot help.  I went to sleep in my cabin with my guard outside
the door as protection.  I woke up on the Maize trader ship.”  She scrunched
her eyes, as the worry for her guard could no longer be set aside.  “I hope
Jorge is all right.”
    “Jorge?” Both men perked
up at the question, seeming to sharpen into blades of curiosity.  “Who is
Jorge?”  Tolan asked carefully.
    “The bodyguard I hired
when I started my journey.”
    “Why not just take the
marines who work for your father?”
    Lara shook her head and
smiled at the mercenary.  “Because they work for my father.”  She thought that
was pretty obvious.
    “Afraid they would
curtail your fun?” Captain Barnos asked with obvious disgust.
    She blinked at his tone
not understanding the reasons for it, even though