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sane on a small space station. She saw loneliness in his beautiful gaze, even a hint of insecurity, and a possible need for someone to boost his ego. Maybe he wasn’t such a cold bastard after all.
    “You’re much better.”
    His body relaxed and his lips curved upward just slightly.
    “This will work between us.”
    Dawn licked her lips. “If you think it’s going to be that easy, think again.”
    Iron’s smile died. “You’re going to be difficult for me?”
    She smiled. “You have no idea.”

Chapter Four
     
    Dawn paced the small quarters, feeling anger. Where was Iron? She looked at the clock on the wall. Eight damn hours had passed since he’d brought her breakfast, leaving again after spending only few minutes in the room. She was hungry, damn it, and he’d deactivated the inner door panel so she couldn’t jimmy the control pad to escape. She really wished that Cathy hadn’t told him that she had the skill to open any door.
    She’d had last night and all day to think. There hadn’t been anything else to do but deal with her thoughts and she had enjoyed that foam cleansing unit he had. It beat the hell out of rubbing gel on her skin and just letting it air dry. The foam sprayed her naked body, fizzed in a pleasant way while it cleaned her until it melted like water to drip down her body. She’d been refreshed afterward. The cyborg even had thick, soft towels to dry with. The Star was a luxury class-A starship which, hands down, was better than the space station she lived on.
    She was stuck with Iron until she could find a way to escape. That could take some time, she knew, and that meant she could either pout or make the best of her situation. Iron was great in bed, that was a plus, and she wasn’t going to be spare parts for any of his friends.
    Dawn admitted to being a realist. She’d had to become one in her lifetime, never having a privileged life, having to help support her large family from the time she was twelve when she’d ditched school to work with her father fixing hovercrafts in the shop he owned. She’d enjoyed fixing things, liked to get her hands dirty, and she was more about life lessons than schoolbooks any day.
    Her father, Sean McShay , hadn’t been a big man but he’d been tough and had swiftly kicked the ass of any boy who looked twice at any of his six daughters. She’d had to move off a planet to get laid the first time when she was twenty. Her first post had been on a garbage crawler, a big beast of a ship that hauled trash from Earth to dispose of it on Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede. While onboard she’d had to watch her back with the mostly male crew, sticking with Mack Thomas who didn’t share what was his, protected her, and kept other men from even thinking about touching her. He’d taught her about sex, how to fight to defend herself and she’d fallen head over heels in love with him.
    That seemed like a lifetime ago. Bitterness still burned in her heart when she thought of Mack. For two years they’d been lovers and in all that time he’d never mentioned the wife or five kids he had back on Earth until they were days from returning home. He’d wanted to keep her on the side, continue their relationship when he came back for duty with her. Worse, he’d broken her young, foolish heart. She’d learned to never let her emotions get involved again.
    She’d changed posts then and had taken a job for Earth Government to avoid Mack. She’d heard about the Arian Nine project, wanted on board the Vonder Station and had hired on while it was still in space dock being built. She’d cut her teeth as a mechanic on space stations there under the careful watch of four female mechanics who had taught her everything she needed to know. Eight years ago the Vonder had been put into orbit around Arian Nine and Dawn had been assigned as the lead mechanic. It was her baby to keep it and the planet’s machines going. It was also a totally female crew, her dream place to