Page 28 of Forbidden

“Then why didn’t you help me? Why did you just stand there, jabbering about your computer?” She knew she was being belligerent, but couldn’t seem to stop herself.

“Because I simply didn’t know what to do. Everything is computerized on Gothe’mar. There are very few places left where actual physical contact with a patient is necessary. I can diagnose any problem and tell our computers what has to be done to save a patient, but I cannot actually perform the procedure myself. No doctor in Medical Command can. It simply isn’t necessary.”

Well,thatwas pretty straightforward. Mara blinked several times, trying to absorb what he had just told her.

“You mean, you don’t do even the most basic procedures? No sutures, no closed reductions? Nothing?”

“No. That is what the computers were designed for. It’s guaranteed to be a sterile procedure, the antibiotics are automatically administered, and the chance of error is cut by eighty percent. Everything entered into the computer is checked by two other failsafe devices.” He shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Mara almost laughed. Almost. Recent events being what they were, she didn’t find it that amusing just now.

“Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, this isn’t Gothe’mar. If this is all the help your people have sent, you’ve all wasted your time.” She turned her back to him. In the space of one breath, Mara felt the last hope of Earth’s wounded slip away. The Gothies couldn’t help.

“Wait!” Mikkarn grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop. “We have everything on the way. There will be enough equipment here to help everyone in a few days.” If she didn’t know better, she’d think he almost sounded desperate for her to agree with him.

But she couldn’t.

“A few days,” she said, disappointment creeping into her words. “What about the people who need help now? And how much longer will it take to set up your equipment once it arrives?” Mara waved her arm to encompass the whole camp. “Look around us. Do you think most of these people have that long?”

For a moment, his eyes held hers. Then he dropped his gaze. “No. They don’t.”

Mara could see the pain in his features. Maybe she was being too hard on the man. After all, he was only doing what he could. “Look,” Mara sighed, “there’s not much you can do here. There is a doctor in place running the equipment you have working and we need much more of those wonderful computers of yours. Do what you can. We’ll make do until you can get things running from your end.”

He turned from her without another word. It was strange, but Mara thought she could almost feel the sorrow in him. She watched the tall, brooding physician leave the camp, his head high. She was so preoccupied with the emotions welling up inside her that she almost missed Kiril’s intense scrutiny.

He looked at her with disapproval. For a handful of heartbeats, neither broke the gaze. It was a contest of wills. Mara raised her chin several notches in an effort to keep from backing down. No man cowed her. For any reason. And she’d be damned if she’d start letting this one because his buddy got his feelings hurt.

But she couldn’t keep it up. She actually felt bad about the dressing down she’d given Mikkarn. He was trying to help in the only way he could. She knew that. She had taken out her frustration and disappointment on a man who didn’t deserve it. Lowering her gaze, she turned away.

She had more important things to worry about than a man’s ego.

Chapter Two

Two years later, she was still trying to convince herself she didn’t give a damn what either man felt… or thought. That was the most perplexing thing of all. There were times she swore sheknewwhat one or the other of them was thinking. Since she first met Mikkarn and Kiril on Earth, she’d thrown herself into the work she’d started soon after arriving on Gothe’mar. She blamed her “insight” on nothing more than exhausted paranoia. Maybe if she kept telling herself that, she’d start to believe it.

She’d been given an opportunity to study medicine on Gothe’mar and had grabbed it with both hands. Anything she could learn that might help her people in the future, she would. The work had been hard and mentally taxing, but somehow she learned the complex system of computers and how they related to both Gothe’maran and human physiologies. She was, so far, the only human to complete a residency.

And that was only the beginning.

She was actually teaching the Gothe’maran a thing or two about hands-on medicine. At least, she was teaching Mikkarn. He had a thirst for medical knowledge to rival her own. Since that day on Earth when they first met, he had worked as tirelessly as she had.

They spent almost every working hour together and were so attuned to each other they could anticipate what the other needed, which only confused her more. It was both uncanny and disturbing. Was she really catching his thoughts, or was it all an illusion born from the incredible professional relationship they shared and her own heightened response to him physically? Mikkarn was one hot man and Mara wanted him, badly. Their close working relationship had opened her eyes to the highly intelligent, compassionate man he was. She also sensed a dark side to him. Death was something he simply could not accept, and Mara was certain that was what drove him so hard. Still, Mara wasn’t sure she had ever been attracted to anyone as strongly as she was to Mikkarn.

And through it all, there was Kiril. The silent shadow.

He was always there. Watching.

When they were on Earth, he served as a bodyguard for Mikkarn. Here on Gothe’mar, Mara wasn’t sure what their relationship was. Kiril was a constant presence, like a guardian angel… a very frightening guardian angel. Something about him scared the hell out of her. It wasn’t anything he’d ever said or done so much as his body language. This man was dangerous.

In more ways than one.

Every time he looked at her, she felt the effect physically. He wanted her, that much was certain. His heated, visual caresses and possessive gestures said as much. He never let another man approach her other than Mikkarn and, even though he didn’t speak much, he never missed an opportunity to touch her, to stake his claim without saying a word. He was always gentle with her, tender even, and a simple touch from him was enough to make her skin tingle every time.

Mara looked out her picture window. The beauty of this planet never ceased to amaze her. Because of the rotation of Gothe’mar and the orbit of the planet’s ringed moons, the sun never fully rose or set on this part of the planet, leaving it bathed in perpetual twilight. The plant life adjusted accordingly and there were species of vegetation that could be found only in this region. Mara sighed. She really loved it here.

Unable to help herself, she focused on the residence where the objects of her obsessions lived and laughed. If those two men wanted anything to do with her, other than professionally, they had a funny way of showing it. Neither had offered to spend time with her outside work, and she knew they both had their share of women.

That didn’t stop her from fantasizing about them.

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