Chapter 14

"I can't believe you called the Warlock a garbage scow when the Silvana shakes worse than any operational ship has a right to." Sophia complained. Bren could see the purple smudges under her eyes and the faint lines carved around her mouth, marks of a sleepless night.

"It's because the flight engines are off. They're calibrated to not shake the ship." He thought about letting her sleep longer, but when he'd climbed up the side of the Warlock, she'd been awake to open the canopy and complain at him, so it was apparent she wasn't going to get back to bed. "It shakes less on the upper decks. Try using the room we gave you." He suggested.

"Forget it." Sophia yawned, "I've almost got life support fully working, so there's no point dragging myself up the lift to living quarters."

"It's one deck up."

"Shouldn't you be out scaring the mayor or seducing merchants' daughters or something?" Even as she said that, Sophia turned and rolled the blankets out of the way so that they could both work in the cabin.

"Miller scares the mayor for me, and the mechanics seduce the daughters. I delegate all the important jobs." He watched her roll her eyes at him, "I'm only here for a few minutes. I wanted to check up on the Warlock before I have to go. The city council has a breakfast meeting scheduled so they can blow sunshine up my ass."

She shot him a sympathetic look, and it warmed his gut. Except for possibly Miller, Sophia was the only other person he knew who understood what came under the aegis of diplomacy — all the petty details, the discomfort, and most of all, the mind-numbing teeth-grinding boredom. She went to a compartment to retrieve another package of flight rations, cracking the chemical pack precisely along the recommended seam, "Are you going to eat that?" He asked skeptically.

"I can open another one if you're hungry." She offered, her face turned away so he couldn't see if she was teasing him or not.

"No, one was enough. More than enough." He suddenly felt the need for a beer, even though his breakfast had been fresh food served as a welcoming gesture from Essex city's mayor and ruling council. The Silvana's crew spent a lot of money in town when the ship was docked, and they wanted to make sure that Bren would choose to dock in Essex again when the Silvana returned to the region.

Sophia turned around and he caught the smile that tilted the corners of her lips up. He relaxed a little. "Your concessions package did include access to the galley, you know. Our cooks are as good as any restaurant on the ground."

She ignored him and sat gracefully in the pilot's chair, forking up bland chunks of meat in spicy gravy as though they were some Anatorayen delicacy served on a solid gold plate. It was an incongruous sight, not only because of the food she was eating, but also because she hadn't done more than wipe dirt and grease off her hands and face, so her arms were still black with grime and her brown hair was dull.

Bren closed his eyes and reminded himself to let her eat before he tried to jump her. He couldn't really tell if it was the unconscious grace or the engine grease that attracted him to Sophia Forrester. He was hoping it was the grace. If not, it meant that Miller was right; he just wanted to screw another mechanic.

He'd come too far in this life to be sidetracked by any woman that happened to know one end of a wrench from the other. He reminded himself of that forcefully and started looking for something to do so he wouldn't have to watch Sophia's lips open and close over the fork.

"Where's the amp probe?" He demanded in a soft growl, then added "Don't get up. I found it." It was in the tools compartment exactly where he'd expected it to be. To distract himself, he started tracking the last few nodes on the life support system that still showed dark on the console. He could feel Sophia watching him while she ate, and it was knowledge that made his body heat and his breath come in a little faster.

His hands were as steady as ever, though. He could do vanship repair in his sleep. As it was, he could work on the wiring and still fantasize about Sophia's body in the thin clothes she was wearing now, before she put on her jumpsuit.

He shocked his fingers on a live wire and sucked in a breath through his teeth, determined not to curse and give away what had just happened.

"Problem?" Sophia asked, as always too perceptive for his peace of mind.

"No." He answered shortly, and tapped his fingertips together a few times to make the sting go away. He could see the wires in front of him clearly enough, but in the back of his mind, he was seeing Sophia's hands, heavy in their gloves, moving over the Warlock's systems. In or out of gloves, he wanted her hands on him. Just one fast, hard screw and he was sure his brain would start working normally again.

"Are you sure? You look ... distracted."

Bren blinked and looked up to see Sophia standing over him. He'd stopped working on the wiring some time ago and had completely given himself over to fantasizing. So much for being able to do repairs in his sleep.