Promise of Love by C. M. King Read Free Book Online

make?” he asked the room.
    "He didn't say,” Shawn spoke. He stood back from the rest with his arms folded across his chest. Rieko was sure he would have already studied the gift in great detail after Stuart gave it to him last night.
    Taylor was down in front of the ship with Mike, a finger lightly tracing the wooden hull. “He just gave it to ya?” His voice held disbelief.
    Shawn nodded his head in reply. “Yeah."
    "Why?” Mike shook his head.
    "As a gift,” Shawn answered, “he thought I'd like it."
    Taylor stood up. “He spent who knows how many hours building that.” He pointed at the model ship. “To give it away.” Taylor's voice rang with that excited disbelief of his. He shook his head. “I'm never gonna understand the man."
    Shawn smiled and lightly chuckled. “I doubt you ever will."
    "If you will excuse me, I have work to do,” Poloski spoke crisply. “As do all of you,” she added as she left the room.
    "We need to stop gawking by the time Stuart gets done with that little emergency in the armory.” Shawn gave a glance out the door to the elevator.
    "Rieko, you get a look at this?” Taylor asked her.
    "Yes,” she answered. She stood across the room from the model. All three men looked at her, as if they knew she and Stuart shared something. “I like the way the shape of the sails make it look like it's going somewhere,” she said, to get their gazes off her.
    "Probably took him hours just to figure out how ta do that,” Taylor said. Rieko wondered if he knew how close to the truth he likely was.
    Mike stood up. “It is beautiful.” He sighed as he left the room and made it seem a little less crowded.
    Shawn leaned in toward her and softly asked, “How long did it take him to make?"
    Stuart had answered that for her last night before he left to give the model to the Captain. He claimed he didn't know the exact hours, although she figured he probably did. The answer he had given was a couple hours a week since they had left Earth. Rieko hadn't needed to calculate the time to figure out it was a lot.
    "I promised him I wouldn't tell,” she replied.
    Shawn just looked at the ship, likely thoughts about who Stuart really was running through his head. He nodded at her answer with a look of intrigue on his face. Rieko excused herself to get ready for the day's work.
    She softly heard Taylor's voice through the open office door. “Just when did that happen, the two of them?"
    * * * *
    Rieko stood before Taylor's door the next day. Why had she told Stuart she'd do this? Because he'd asked her to, and Stuart wasn't a man to ask favors. She pushed the door chime and waited for the chief engineer to beckon her in.
    "Door's unlocked. Come on in.” His voice rang from the inside.
    Rieko entered. She had an official reason for her to be here, although not a good one. “Got that report on the next star system done.” The excuse, however, was rather lame, since Taylor didn't really need to know any of that. Her eyes made a nonchalant glance over his quarters.
    Taylor's quarters were neat but disorderly. The bed was made, but the desk where he sat was piled with reports, books, and data chips, as well as the floor near it. Pictures hung on the walls. Personal items cluttered the shelves.
    "Thought I'd drop the report by,” she finally added.
    "Rieko, ya didn't have to do that.” Taylor took the offered data file she handed him.
    Stuart had asked her to find something Taylor would like a model of. A poster of Utopia Planetia was the largest item in his room, but Taylor should get a model of something that had an engine.
    "It was done, figured there was no reason to wait,” she said. He didn't seem to mind the lie as she sat in the chair across from him.
    An old red die cast miniature of an automobile sat on one shelf. She thought it was a corvette. A NASA space shuttle sat beside it, and a miniature of some ancient rocket. All were possibilities for the model Stuart wished to build.
    "That model