The humans in charge seemed competent if arrogant.

"The captain isn't confident the second in command isn't the murderer. He asked for me to send a delegation who can act as an impartial investigator to ensure the guilty party is caught. I would like it to be the two of you."

Kamran locked his gaze on Taber, seemingly looking right into his very soul.

Despite his best efforts to conceal it, Kamran knew how Taber was feeling and this was his way of trying to help. He was giving him the s.p.a.ce he needed while at the same time allowing him to save face by giving him an important task.

"I'm sure Taber can manage this on his own. I need to get back to the mines in the morning."

"You, my friend, are under orders from Doctor Fergus to accompany him." Kamran tossed a data pad at Sean and waited for him to read it before continuing. "She is concerned about your exposure to the silicate and wants you to have a break. I thought this would be better than sitting in your quarters. Though from the look of things, you could manage to keep yourself busy with reading material alone."

The muscles in Sean's jaw tightened for a moment as he ground his teeth together.

Taber waited for him to argue, but instead he simply nodded once.

"Good." Kamran stood and made his way over to the door. "I'll let the captain of the Damara know you'll be on your way. They were heading back toward the colony, so you won't be long in the shuttle. And if you solve this crime quickly, which I have no doubt that you will, don't hurry back. You both deserve some time to yourselves."

"I doubt I'll stay-" Sean started.

"I can make it an order if you'd like."

Sean stiffened before shaking his head. "Not necessary."

"Good."

Giving them a short bow, Kamran left them to return to Haylie and the baby. Taber was left standing, staring after Sean. He looked as lost as Taber felt right now. Perhaps this investigation would be the thing they both needed to get their lives back onto the right path.

"Do you need time to prepare?" Taber's voice seemed loud in the densely furnished room.

13.

"Just time for a shower. I'm still covered in dust from the mine."

A heartbeat pa.s.sed. Taber turned and walked to the door. He stopped and looked back at Sean over his shoulder.

"I'll meet you in the shuttle bay in an hour."

Sean looked down at the floor, nodding once. "I honestly can think of a hundred things I'd rather be doing than spending time on a party ship."

Taber couldn't agree more. "But I do love the thrill of the hunt. I haven't chased a villain in quite some time."

"Maybe he'll resist arrest," Sean said. A slow grin crossed his lips but didn't quite make it to his eyes.

He'd been so busy wrapped in his own emotions, Taber hadn't paid as much attention to his friend as he should. Something else he would keep his eyes on during this mission.

"We can hope."

14.

Chapter Two.

Fallon wiped the same spot on the glistening polymer of the bar for the hundredth time that hour and wished like h.e.l.l she could get out of there. Apparently, investigators from the Eurus colony had finally arrived and Captain Zane had wanted everyone where they were until he knew how they wanted to proceed. Of course it was over a three-hour shuttle ride from the Eurus colony, and everyone was more than a little tired of sitting still. The customers who were trapped with them had enough alcohol to inebriate a battalion of soldiers. And there were only seven of them.

The whole situation pretty much sucked.

"I can't believe Nate is dead," a voice behind her said.

Turning to see Lance haul in another keg of hydro beer, which she affectionately referred to as rot gut, she saw the color had finally returned to his face. How anyone could drink beer made from genetically modified barley that was produced in a hydroponics lab was beyond her. It normally didn't matter because as bartenders they weren't allowed to drink the stock while they were on duty. But Lance had been slamming the beer back ever since they'd found Nate, rules be d.a.m.ned, and she was going to have to pick up the pieces if he got too drunk.

She'd somehow gotten over the shock of seeing Nate's body crumpled in the storage room in the first hour of their confinement. Since then, she'd been trying to come to terms with his death. Not that she'd been in love with him or a close friend or anything, but he'd been decent to her over the years.

"Nate had a habit of p.i.s.sing people off. I'm sure his murder will be solved in twenty minutes. All they need to do is find his most recent arrest," she said in a steady voice, as she moved to help him unhook the old keg and maneuver the new one in place. The last thing she needed was Lance freaking out on her again.

f.u.c.k, she hoped the investigators could get here soon so she could finally give her statement and be released so she could hide in her quarters for the rest of the night. She and the idea of death didn't get along very well.

"Probably. I just hope we get some new customers out of all this. I hear that colony is up to over a thousand. All those miners with all that money."

"Okay, now I know that's the beer talking. You're not normally that much of a callous a.s.shole."

"Hey, seeing a corpse caught me off guard. It's not like I had a love on for the man.

Besides, a fellow's got to live and I have expensive tastes."

Fallon dropped her chin to her chest with a sigh when Lance began to rub his hands together. "That's really pathetic."

15.

"Hey, can I help it if I get a percentage of the pie?"

"You could shoot a little more my way. Maybe I could afford to get my a.s.s back home to Earth."

G.o.d, she hated it out here and Nate's death simply reinforced her feelings. Her stint on the Damara was supposed to be easy money. Two years, three max and she would have had enough money between her salary and the isolation bonus to pay her way though university and buy a condo in any of the larger cities on Earth. If she'd read the fine print of her contract, she would have caught the fact Damara wasn't scheduled to head back home for another six years. She could stay until the ship was due to return and get the ride for free. But if she wanted to go home sooner, it would have to be via a transport and come out of her own pocket. The cost would eat up most of what she'd managed to make here, leaving her with barely enough for pocket change, let alone money to make her dreams come true. So here she stayed, serving drinks at a bar until her luck changed and she could get home, buy a business license and open her own bar.

Wasn't life grand?

The soft click of the bar's communicator caught Fallon's attention. Flipping her ponytail over her shoulder, she made her way to the consol and tapped a b.u.t.ton.

"h.e.l.lo, Captain Zane. How are things going?"

"Fallon." The older man nodded his head. The frown on his face made him look older than normal. That and the fact one of his oldest friends was now lying in the morgue. "I wanted to let you know the investigators from the Eurus colony are on their way down. Please give them total cooperation."

"Of course, Captain. And once this is settled, I'm going to send you a bottle of scotch. A real one, none of that genetically modified s.h.i.t."

"Only if you share a gla.s.s with me." He gave her a wink.

"Are you hitting on me?" She made sure there was enough playfulness in her voice for him to know she wasn't letting the murder affect her. Even if it had scared the c.r.a.p out of her.

"If you were a few years older, d.a.m.n right I would be. I'll check in with you and Lance later."

"We'll be here." At least until the security lock on the door was released.

Turning as the communicator screen winked off, she saw the doors to the bar open for the first time in over three hours. Fallon barely noticed the first two men as they walked in. It was the third who caught her immediate and full attention. He towered over the others, his hands locked behind his back as he walked. She watched as he scanned the crowd, keeping his movements to a minimum. He was a solid wall of muscle. The immediate lull in conversation and the low sc.r.a.ping of chairs as people turned to face the newcomers told her that she wasn't the only one who was surprised.

They had only had a handful of aliens on board over the three years she'd been a member of the crew, and none had been as impressive as this man.

16.

She ignored the sudden tingle that built between her legs and stood a little taller. It had been a long while since she'd had any interest in a man, but he was a good way to break her dry spell.

"s.h.i.t," Lance muttered. "That f.u.c.ker's huge."

"Let's just play nice and maybe he won't eat anyone," she whispered back.

Lance coughed back a chuckle as the party made their way directly toward the bar.

Flicking her ponytail over her shoulder again, Fallon straightened up and put on her best bartender grin as she recognized the ship security's third in command.

"Hey, Tony. About time someone from your team came down here. Doc took the body almost three hours ago."

"Fallon," Tony greeted her, his face immediately turning red. "These are the investigators from the Eurus colony. They wanted to see where you found Nate before they go talk to Commander Bruce."

A very attractive human stepped forward, holding out his hand. His short, cropped blond hair suited his leanly built frame. But when she looked into his eyes, she could tell he had survived a lot of hardships. She'd seen the same distant look in many sets of eyes over the years here in the bar.

"h.e.l.lo, Ms. Reist. My name is Sean Donaldson and this is Taber. We've been asked by your captain to investigate the murder of Nate Keaton."

"Oh lord, call me Fallon. I'm a bartender, not an officer. I'd be more than happy to show you and Mr. Taber where I found Nate."

She was about to turn when the alien spoke.

"It's just Taber."

She'd done her best to try and ignore the seven-foot-tall giant standing in front of her. And until he'd actually said something, she might have been able to manage it, pretending he was nothing more than a moving wall. But there was something about his voice, the way he said his name that made her really look at him.

He was by far the most attractive man she'd ever seen. His eyes were dark blue, so dark they looked almost black if it weren't for the crystal blue flecks near the center.

They were eyes that showed intelligence, sadness and strength. His black hair was cut short along the sides of his head, with the top a bit longer. She could tell by the way he stood, wide and confident, that he was military.

His wide, muscular shoulders were barely contained in his midnight blue tunic.

The belt around his waist would have wrapped around her three or four times. His muscular legs were clad in snug fitting pants. She a.s.sumed it gave him free and easy movement for when he had to chase down the bad guys. It also gave her an amazing view of the ma.s.sive thighs and firm a.s.s.

What would it be like to have a man like that in her bed?

Somehow Fallon brought her eyes back up to his face and managed to smile. It took a lot to make her blush, but for a moment she thought she might be as red as Tony. The 17 thoughts of what he could do to her body with his large hands and wide, full lips made her shiver. Maybe he'd be the type of man who would be willing to take charge in bed, feed her craving, her desire to be controlled.

When she tried to speak again, nothing wanted to come out. Her heart was starting to increase in rhythm and there was sudden stirring in her lower belly. All she could imagine was him f.u.c.king her senseless. He seemed to notice her hesitation and c.o.c.ked a single eyebrow at her in question.

"We found his body back here," Lance piped up and made his way over to the back supply room.

Thank you, Lance.

Fallon followed quickly behind her co-worker, trying desperately to ignore her long-forgotten s.e.x drive. Lord, she was pathetic if it only took the thought of a large c.o.c.k and a dominant man to get her tongue tied.

"Who found him?" Donaldson moved beside Lance, carefully walking around the holographic projection of Nate's body on the floor. The ship's doctor had taken Nate away shortly after she'd discovered him but had to leave the holo until the investigation was completed. It had given her the creeps knowing it was still in here.

"I did." Her voice was steady, but her throat was tight. "I came in to get a refill of Super Nova mix when I found him like this."

The blood on the floor had just about made her puke. She'd burst out of there and thrown her body against the bar, panting. Lance had been the one to scream when he went in to see what was wrong.

"Did you touch anything? Move the body in any way?"

Taber's deep voice sent another shiver down her back, and she found her toes curling in her shoes. He moved so he was standing beside her now, his shoulder reached just above her ear, the heat from his body warming the chilled skin of her bare arm. G.o.d, it didn't make sense her reaction to him, unless it was her mind's way of reacting to the murder. Life affirmation and all that c.r.a.p.

"I know better than to touch anything," she said looking back up into his blue eyes.

"The second I realized what had happened, I put the bar into lockdown and called security."