The Marine's Queen Read Online Free PDF Page B

turned up with pleasure. Or was it amusement at him?
    “ It seems a fanciful name for you guys.”
    “ Webb, our doctor, named it.” A name meant only a word used to identify something. Who cared what a camp was called?
    “ And now it will be our haven also.” Callie looked again. “Do you think anyone will ever find us? I don’t even know what planet this is.”
    “ Crevan Four is its military designation. It’s not on the regular merchant routes. I believe no one comes here except pirates hiding from the military.”
    “ That’s why you thought our beacon might bring trouble?”
    “ It still could.”
    “ Should we have turned it off?”
    “ Not if you want rescued.” Joe waited, but she said nothing more about it. Did that mean she didn’t want help to arrive? After a moment he spoke again, hoping to keep her beside him a little bit longer. “We won’t be able to spend another night here as I thought. The oasis seems to attract lightning strikes. We’ll leave after the hot time. With the boarks we’ll travel faster.”
    “ Will we still have to sleep together?”
    Joe’s heart thudded against his chest. “Not everyone. The tent can hold four adults.”
    “ Good. Riba or I will move into the tent.”
    Joe gave a short nod of agreement. His mind held the memory of her body pressed against him though he’d hid the arousal she inspired.
    “ Which one of us disturbs your rest more, the baby or me?”
    Joe’s thoughts stumbled. What words could he use without offending her because surely the simple truth would? “I … the baby smells funny and makes noises like a small animal.”
    Callie narrowed her eyes, an expression he interpreted as displeasure. She turned away and started down the slope. “I’ll tell Riba.”
    Joe wondered how his words had angered her. “Why don’t you decide where everyone sleeps?”
    She spoke over her shoulder. “We’ll do what you want. Keep your shirt on tonight.”
    What did that mean? Joe started to follow her but the words she muttered to herself stopped him.
    “ Dim-witted, antisocial robot.”
    * * * *
    “ Have some of this, Callie.” Acacia held a piece of dried meat toward her. The science advisor had quizzed the marines on the boarks, the weather, their equipment and even their physical abilities. Her eyes sparkled with the thrill of adventure.
    “ What is it?” Callie’s mood didn’t match Acacia’s.
    “ Some kind of lizard meat and rather tasteless, but we need protein.”
    Callie’s jaws ached before she chewed the meat soft enough to swallow. The marines had spread a sheet of fabric over the sand for the women while they erected the tent and staked the boarks on short tethers.
    “ Those boarks can go without food and water for five days,” Acacia continued. “The marines only tame the females because the males are too large and vicious.”
    “ I wouldn’t call the females tamed,” Yalo said.
    “ Riding them beats walking,” Riba said in a scolding tone. “And this food is nutritious so who cares if it’s tasteless.”
    “ I wasn’t being critical, Saint Riba,” Yalo said. “I know they’ve been helpful, but you always see only what you want to see. You’d trust a pitsnake if it had a citrusmelon in its mouth.”
    Grace wrapped Glory closer. “Let’s not argue when we’re not in disagreement. We’re alone on this planet with the marines and can make our own judgments of them in spite of the rumors.”
    “ Grace is right. These men may be rude and utterly lacking in the social niceties we’re accustomed to, but they’re determined to help us. We’ll reserve trust and judgment.” Callie didn’t want an argument.
    “ Roz is nice,” Glory said with a pout. “And he’s pretty, too.”
    They all smiled at the little girl’s take on their situation but as her staff gnawed on more of the jerked meat, Callie wondered what they would do if rescue never came for them. Could they build a life here with no one for company but