Greenshift by Heidi Ruby Miller Read Free Book Online Page A

danced past, David
watched the delight shining in Mari’s face. “You’re beautiful.”
    The compliment captured her attention,
so he took the opportunity to lean down and kiss her. The wonderful citrusy
notes of her scentbots mixed with the sweet smell of chocolate and strawberry
layer cake and night-blooming water lilies on the edge of the bay. He moved his
mouth over hers gently, testing her reaction. She responded a little shyly,
barely parting her lips, but her hand slid up his chest to caress his face.
    The innocence of the moment
impacted David more than he expected. The way she slowly explored his mouth,
first with her lips, then small darts with the tip of her tongue revealed how much
this pleasant action meant to her. His heart pounded faster with the
realization. After all these years, all the women he’d touched, none took the
time to enjoy a simple kiss as much as Mari did. He, too, had taken the
intimacy for granted until this instant.
    The shrill and boom of fireworks
filled the night air as if celebrating David and Mari’s moment. He felt Mari
smile beneath his lips and opened his eyes to see her peeking up at a golden
flower of sparks lighting the blue-black sky above them.
    “Perfect timing,” he
said, still pressed against her mouth.
    “Perfect,” was all she
said before slipping back into their kiss, not quite as shyly this time.
     
    Dale called Liu Stavros to
confirm his price for a blonde with coral-colored eyes.
    “This girl had the full
effect of the vaccine. Though not to my taste, her eyes are certainly unique, even
compared to the other two women I procured.”
    “And, she’s blonde, you
say?”
    “Sunny blonde with dyed red
tips, but that can be cut off if you prefer something more natural.”
    The low laugh which rumbled
through Dale’s reporter made his stomach queasy. He knew Liu would want the
honor of cutting Mari’s hair himself. And it wouldn’t stop with her red locks.
Liu had a sadistic mind that always found new ways to inflict pain upon his
conquests.
    Dale tried not to think about the
rumors he’d heard regarding Liu’s sport with women. Too many horrible details
about the rapes and disfiguring torture. But he couldn’t ignore the memory of
seeing one of Liu’s victims for himself. Still bound to the bed, shrieking in
her post-coital nakedness, eye sockets empty and bloody. That woman had once
had coral eyes, too.
    “I’m transmitting a vid of
her from earlier tonight.”
    Liu’s sick moan of pleasure made
Dale feel a little sorry for Boston Maribu.
    “She’ll cost you
double,” Dale said. Hopefully he could make up for recent losses.
    “Happily.”
    That made Dale feel a little less sorry.
    “I’ll have the money
transferred into your account once she’s in my possession.”
    Business as usual with Liu.
    “See you soon.”
    As Dale ended his transmission,
he thought of how Boston—Mari—had slipped through his fingers last year on
Deleine. Her family had been right not to trust him. He wondered if he would
have the same problems with the Armadan she was with tonight. If they had a
relationship…no, she would have introduced him as her prime or at least as an
amour. And, surely any man who was involved with her wouldn’t have stood by
while Dale touched and caressed her the way he had. Although David Anlow had
regarded him with a certain antagonism, but maybe that was simply the Armadan
in him.
    Not that Dale’s interest went
further than collecting his finder’s fee on Mari. She was beautiful, yes, even
with the exotic eye color, but he couldn’t get past the idea that her genes
were somehow polluted. But it was that very adulteration which made Liu willing
to pay so high a price for her.

FIVE
    Apprehension crowded David’s
earlier happiness as they drew near the Bard ‘s berth. Maybe he wasn’t
ready for the others to know about tonight. But how could he tell Mari that
without insulting her? He pulled his arm away from her shoulders