by C J Cade
Shame enveloped him again, this time so heavy he felt as if he would sink right through the air-pillowed lounge, and hit the floor.
Which might be exactly what he deserved. He'd threatened to shame her before her home planet, all over again.
Great Tygress, he was a crawling canine.
He would find her, and reassure her that he'd never let the holovid of her out of his possession.
Then, he'd ask for her forgiveness for that. She'd been the sweetest shift mate he could recall, even if she was responsible for one of the most embarrassing periods in his life.
But perhaps, if he could believe her story, not as responsible as her sly cat of a cousin, who'd made up the whole steaming pile of skrog crap when Chaz told her they were no longer an item.
And when he remembered the favors and baubles Mixi had coaxed from him, this made it easier to believe that her younger, naive cousin would fall for her tale of woe.
He'd been so full of himself in those days, certain of his place at the pinnacle of fame, enjoying tossing expensive gifts because it inflated his own ego. Mixi had played him, so why wouldn't she have done the same to Roxie?
Anyway, he certainly no longer suffered any ill effects from the story. Once his lawyers and publicists were through, he'd come out looking like an icon beleaguered by spiteful females. One, anyway. The other may have simply been gullible.
He shook his head and smiled to himself.
His Roxie had definitely reported herself into a black hole.
But he was going to let her explain at more length, and this time, look into her eyes as she spoke. If he could just speak with her, spend time in her presence, look into those clear, golden eyes... then surely he'd know if he did the right thing, or quarked up royally and needed to fix it.
Yes, he'd let her speak. And if she convinced him, he would rescue her from her exile.
His mood buoyant, he linked her and waited.
She didn't answer. Not that time, or any of his other attempts in the next several moments.
He linked Ives instead. "Get her for me," he said. "I want to speak with her."
"Sure, boss," his cousin said with a wink. "Glad you're seeing reason. She's a sweet kitty."
However, a short time later, after Chaz had paced the suite, attempted to distract himself by listening to the demo of a possible new song, Ives linked him back, looking wary.
"She won't stop to talk to me or Ives. Just sails right on past, polite but says she's real busy. And when I followed her, and mentioned you—" he winced. "Thought she was gonna claw me, I jest not. I ain't getting in the way of a clawing kitty, even for you, cuz."
CHAPTER TEN
Roxie knew one thing—she had to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and get through her first day back at work.
And then the next, and the day after that.
Because she might feel as if she'd been mauled by a tyger, her heart left in bloody ribbons, but she could not lose this job.
So she would smile, and be courteous to the new wealthy guest she'd been assigned to greet and get settled in her platinum suite, even if the horrible woman made her want to scream and claw and bite.
And she would ignore Chaz Jaguari's two minions, or cousins, or whatever the hells they were, when they pestered her, trying to get her to speak with him for some unknown reason.
No. She'd apologized, she'd explained, she had refrained from destroying his fancy suite in a fit of grief and betrayal-fueled fury after he prowled away and left her alone in it.
But she could not bear to face him again. Not so soon, and maybe not ever again.
Thus, standing in the foyer of the platinum suite right next door to the one in which she'd trysted with Chaz, Roxie smiled and gestured gracefully to the arboretum filling one side of the suite.
"As you see, you will feel as if you are sequestered in a Pangaean garden," Roxie told the striking, Serpentian redhead posed in the doorway, regarding the suite with a jaded gaze, while two other women and a man huddled quietly behind her. "With all the amenities of the L.S. Quantum, of course. Your staff will be quartered nearby, and ours will always be available."
Madame Lessurant, as she insisted on being addressed, gave a sigh and advanced into the room, her orange silk draperies fluttering about her. "I suppose it will do."
She flicked her hand, and her staff hurried into the room behind her, ushering four robo-concierges with a train of luggage hover-carts.
As the final cart floated by, Roxie sniffed and winced at the faint but disagreeable odor. It smelled of dank earth and small, dead creatures. What in the name of the Great Tygress did the woman have in there? Some strange pet perhaps.
The train disappeared into the bedchamber, and Lessurant turned to Roxie. "Now, girl, tell me who else is aboard this ship."
Roxie's smile froze. "Madame wishes to know if any of your own acquaintances are aboard?"
The Serp smirked. "No, you tiresome girl. I want to know who are the celebrities aboard? Who is going to make my voyage on this gigantic crate worth my time?"
Roxie could feel heat building inside her, curling up through her and igniting like a fire in her chest. This creature spoke to her as if she was a servant. Did she not realize she was dealing with a tygress?
"I'm sure I don't know," she said. "Perhaps you'd like to peruse the list of performers in the various lounges. We have a number of renowned acts slated for the Cosmic Cabaret. Lorena McKitt will be appearing this evening."
The Serpentian let out a hiss of displeasure. Two of her staff peered through the open bedroom doors, looking frightened. One of them shook her head at Roxie behind her employer's back.
"No, no," Lessurant said. "I've heard...certain rumors that Chaz Jaguari is on board. Find out for me at once, and perhaps I won't cause you to lose your trifling little job." Her eyes narrowed, looking like those of a raptor about to spring.
Only she didn't scare Roxie. All the events of the past day and night flamed up inside her in a great column of fire so hot she would not have been surprised to see smoke billow around her. She drew herself up and looked the wealthy serpent in the eye. Then she smiled, showing her teeth.
"You want Chaz Jaguari? Go find him yourself," she snarled. "I don't stalk celebrities for anyone."
Roxie turned on her heel and stalked from the room, ignoring the hiss of displeasure behind her. But she took with her her own outrage, as well as a growing unease, a sense that she teetered on the edge of some powerful emotion, or event from which she could never return unscathed.
It was his fault. He'd awakened her to the world of sensual abandon, then cast her out. Of course she was off-kilter. She was angry, hurt. It was nothing more.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Chaz was pouting. He knew it was childish, and yet he simply didn't care enough to stop.
So he lay in the luxurious, but lonely pool in his arboretum and glowered at the flowers dangling overhead.
How was he supposed to make things better with Roxie if she wouldn't even listen to him? He was willing to fix things, but he needed a little cooperation.
This reminded him of how enthusiastically she'd cooperated right here in this pool, and his cock stiffened predictably. He scowled, too aggravated even to give himself relief with his own hand.
Here he was, arguably the most famous male in the galaxy—well, maybe except for that new human singing star, Contessa—and he couldn't even make one tygress see him.
When Gray's stern face appeared before him, Chaz nearly dove under the water and stayed. Instead he sighed and opened the link. "What is it now?"
"We have a problem," Gray said.
"I knew that," Chaz muttered. "But it's my problem, not yours."
Not like he could send his agent to make Roxie talk. And even if he could pressure the Quantum management, Chaz hadn't sunk quite that low...yet.
"What?" Gray asked, then shook his head. "No, we have a serious problem. You've been outed."
Chaz sank a
nd swallowed a huge mouthful of warm water. He came up coughing and sputtering. "What?" he croaked. "By whom?"
Please don't let it be by a vengeful tyger kitten.
"Who do you think? Your cousins, bragging in one of the bars." Gray glared. "I told you they'd bring you nothing but trouble."
"Oh, quarking hells," Chaz groaned. He cast a hunted look at the suite's main doors. Any moment now, the paps or their bots were going to start chiming at his door, demanding an interview. Not to mention the fans.
"Exactly. Anyway, now that everyone knows you're on board, you're going to have to go public, or risk coming across as a prima catta."
"What you suggest I do, parade around the ship and let the tourists rip off chunks of my hair and clothing, as they did on Serpentia?"
Okay, it hadn't been that bad—it had only been one sleeve and one tuft of hair, but it had been scary as all hells. He still shuddered when he remembered the females screaming at him and each other, in a mob frenzy.
"No, of course not. I'm suggesting a carefully—very carefully—controlled environment. The Quantum has a platinum-level cabaret lounge they're willing to turn over to you for a few performances."
"Yeah, I just bet they are," Chaz muttered. They'd be creaming their panties to get him to perform here.
"Strictly controlled. Highest level security. Every being in the audience carefully vetted. You choose the numbers you perform. You choose the length of the concert, and what happens afterward. It will be fabulous PR, and by the time you're finished performing, your cruiser will be docked there, ready to whisk you away, back to Bryght. It's a win-win."
Chaz was still stuck on the words 'PR'.
Quantum's PR meant Roxie.
A chance to see her, to be with her. His heart pounded in a fierce rhythm. His eyes narrowed and his jaw set.
"I need... cover," he said. "I need... a woman. I need a—a fiancé." He smiled at the blossoms overhead.
"Oh, for tygress' sake," Gray said. "Not this Fellura female again? Remember the trouble she caused you last time."
"No, it will work," Chaz said, his mind racing. "She'll be at my side, pretending that we're together exclusively. I'll tell the paps that we want privacy, new love, all that."
And he'd get a chance to spend time with Roxie. To talk things out. Find out why she hated him so much then that she'd believe her cousin's lies... and if she hated him again now, after how he'd behaved.
He vaulted out of the pool and paced nude and dripping across the carpets, raking his wet hair back from his face. "I want Roxie, or I won't perform."
Gray looked like he wanted to roll his eyes. "One more thing—Security has also informed us that Paala Lessurant is on board."
"What?" Chaz snarled, turning on his agent. "And you're telling me this after I've agreed to the shows...why?"
"Because, she's only one being, and she's a female," Gray said. But his gaze flickered in a way that said he wasn't as sanguine as he wished to appear.
"Only one being, and a female," Chaz repeated. "She's also a ruthless, amoral Serp with unlimited funds, who has in her employ minions who will do her bidding no matter what she asks. And she wants me in ways I do not care to contemplate."
"Yes, I know about her unfortunate, er, viper fetish," Gray said.
"Unfortunate? It's criminal. It's probably fatal!" Chaz bellowed. "And if her family didn't own a quarter of Serpentia, she'd be on Deep Six by now. She's probably killed a score of hapless victims. And I will not be the next, do you hear me?"
"Yes, I imagine those in the neighboring suites heard you too. But calm down, I'll have security guards stationed outside your suite in a few secs. They'll escort you wherever you need to go for the remainder of your stay."
He gave Chaz a dry look. "As for your fiancé, I'm afraid you'll have to find your own. A little outside my purview, don't you think?"
Chaz had to grin at this. "Don't worry, I can handle that myself. Although you'll need to double the security detail—I won't expose a female to Lessurant's brand of crazy. "
With a bit of strategic pressure applied in the right offices of Quantum management, that is.
He went in to change his clothes and tidy up a bit. If he was going to throw his weight around, he'd best dress the part of a galactic star.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Roxie could not believe it.
She could not quarking believe that she'd been co-opted into playing a part like the lead in a teen, live-action melodrama.
In fact, she'd been told in no uncertain terms that she would do as the L.S. Quantum's top celebrity guest and performer asked, or she was out of a job, effective immediately.
All this meant that she had to grit her teeth, pull up her spider lace panties, and pretend that just being in the same room with Charlie-Chaz quarking Jaguari didn't make her want to knock him down, fuck him senseless and then claw him until he screamed for mercy.
And yet, part of her wanted to kiss him and beg him to do for real, what he was asking her to do for show
She stood facing him again, but they were not alone.
In one of the many rooms backstage of the main theater of the Cosmic Cabaret, he stood, flanked by Burl, Ives, two Serpentians in the trim uniform of Quantum ship guards, and Roxie's supervisor, an Egglantian woman who stood gazing raptly at Chaz, her pale lavender face glowing with the joy of being near him.
He now so fully in his Chaz Jaguari persona that she could not believe she'd been so stupid, so short-sighted not to know instantly that the beautiful, ferocious shifted male she had mated with, was he.
He'd shaved, his angular, beautiful face smooth. His glossy hair was combed in artful disarray, revealing a diamond-and-iridium com-link on his right ear, with matching rings on his hands, and a cuff on one wrist.
He wore a pale, cream suit tailored exquisitely to his lean body, a shirt underneath that molded to his chest and abs, with a dark golden rose in his lapel.
The rose matched his eyes. Eyes that watched her without blinking, his face still, but those eyes burning on her face like searchlights.
Although what he could be searching for, Roxie didn't know.
He'd shown very clearly that he didn't care about her at all. She'd only been, as his pair of pimps had put it, 'a receptacle for his passion'.
"You want me to do what?" she repeated. "Pretend to be your—your..." she couldn't say it.
"My fiancé," he said in that dark velvet voice. "Just for two days... and nights. The remainder of my stay on the Quantum."
"Why?" She stared at him, wondering if he'd gone mad, or she had.
He tipped his head to one side and looked away, ebony lashed veiling his eyes, a wry grin curving up one side of his chiseled lips. "I...have a problem with my fans being...shall we say, a bit over-zealous. In close quarters like this, it's harder to get away from them."
"Oh," she said flatly. "You mean all the ones who are in love with you. The ones who actually believe you feel all those emotions you sing about."
He gave her a strange look, his mouth tightening. "Yes. Those fans."
"I'm sure it will be an honor to help you, Mr. Jaguari," the Egglantian sighed. "Will it not, Ms. Fellura?"
Roxie glared at the short, ebony-haired female. "Sure. Why don't you do it, Yolko?"
The woman gasped, her black eyes round with shock.
Chaz turned a melting gaze on the Egg and smiled. "I would be honored," he said. "However, everyone knows that Tygers mate with our own kind."
Yeah, except when they didn't.
Roxie opened her mouth to name off a few of the inter-racial couples she knew personally, when the Egg and Chaz both turned on her.
"You'll do it," Roxie's supervisor hissed. "Of course you'll do it. You want to keep your job, don't you?"
Chaz winced, and Roxie sneered. "Oh, he won't mind making me lose my job. Wouldn't be the first time, would it, Chaz?"
A look of pained regret filled his dark gaze, and he moved closer to her, reaching to
take her hand in his. "Roxie, I would never use that threat to coerce you."
"Really?" She arched a brow, pursing her lips to still their trembling. "Well, you'll understand if I have trouble believing that, after--" After he'd vidded her touching herself, and threatened to show it to the galaxy.
His brows shot together, and he squeezed her hand. "No, Rox. No, I wouldn't."
"But I would," snapped the Egg. She crossed her spindly arms and gave Roxie a look that would cut glass. "You'll do it."
Roxie jerked her hand from Chaz' and stepped back.
She gave a hunted look around at all the beings watching her, Chaz intently, her boss warningly, Burl and Ives curiously, and the guards stoically.
Roxie clenched her hands into fists against her thighs. Surreptitiously, she stroked her knuckles back and forth, feeling the gossamer touch of the spider lace beneath her knit pants. Chaz' gaze dropped to follow the motion, and his gorgeous face lit in the slightest of smiles.
She knew what to do.
She took a breath and straightened, wiping her face free of expression. She looked into Chaz' burning gaze and nodded.
"All right. I'll do it."
"You will?" He looked almost surprised.
"Excellent," Burl said, clapping Chaz on the shoulder, and grinning at Roxie, along with Ives. "Let's get this party started."
Chaz relaxed, his lips curving up in that beguiling smile as he moved in, and pulled her to him, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Thanks, Rouge," he murmured.
"Oh, don't thank me, Charlie," she said sweetly. "I haven't done anything...yet."
He pulled away and stared down at her, searching her face, his brows drawing together again.
Good, he should be worried. He opened his mouth, but Ives clapped his hands briskly.
"Starry. Now, if you're doing a public appearance, we need to get this pretty kitty some new skins. I'm thinking an evening gown?"
"And some sparkle," Burl agreed. "Diamonds?"
"No," Chaz said.
Roxie blinked. He didn't have to be quite so quick to refuse.
She wouldn't have minded wearing borrowed jewels at least for one evening, the way holovid stars did at those galactic awards events.
