Or maybe she was tired because she hadn’t eaten since breakfast and she hadn’t eaten much of that?
She was tempted to join them in the mess hall after all once she realized that, but the moment she thought about having to walk across the hall in full view of everyone, she lost interest in it. She didn’t know that they would stare at her. The chances were they probably wouldn’t notice her at all, but it made her uncomfortable even thinking they might notice.
She was being hypersensitive about it, she knew, but she hadn’t mastered it yet. Every time she was around any of them, she was reminded of the brawl in her cabin and the gawkers that had come to watch. She supposed she couldn’t blame them. There wasn’t a lot that happened on the ship to entertain. She would probably have been one of the gawkers if it had happened to anyone else.
The fact remained that she was embarrassed, though, and beyond that, she wasn’t ready to face the guys. Reuel had told her he had let them out several days earlier and she had lived in terror ever since that she might run in to one of them.
Not that she wasafraidof them! But she was a total coward about dealing with her feelings. God! Ifthinkingabout them was enough to make her feel like squalling, she knew it would be unpleasant for all concerned if she tried to talk to them!
No, it was way better to get a little distance and perspective and gain control of her emotions. Then, maybe, she could carry it off without being awkward and making them feel ill at ease.
The shower, as she’d hoped, left her feeling pleasantly relaxed, enough that she decided as she headed to her cabin that she might just try to take a nap instead of eating first and then look for something later.
* * * *
Jared stared at Chloe’s empty chair and glanced questioningly at his fellow crewmembers. They merely shrugged, obviously as confused as he was. “Chloe is not eating?” he asked Reuel pointedly.
It seemed to take a moment for the question to register. He glanced at her empty seat. “She said that she would eat in her room. She does that now.”
“She does not eat in the mess with everyone else anymore?” Kane asked tightly.
“She has not since ….” Reuel shrugged. “I think she is ill at ease. She does not say so. She says that she is not hungry or she will eat later or she feels sick. Tonight, she is sick.”
Jared frowned. “She is ill?”
Reuel shrugged but then frowned. “I do not think so. She has not visited the medics. She knows that I brought medicines for her in case of need when we raided.”
He got up and left the table before they could ask more, stopping to speak with one of his men before he returned. Jared watched through narrowed eyes as the man rose and left.
Instead taking his seat again once he returned he addressed the crewmen in the hall. “As you will have heard, Chloe has led us to the planet she spoke of and I have been there. It is a beautiful planet, full of life, and ours to claim!”
There was a collective hoorah in response and Reuel smiled faintly. “I began surveying immediately. I have not completed a survey of the entire continent, but I see no reason to delay colonization when I have found a site that seems ideal for our first home!
“I suggest that everyone retire early and get as much rest as possible. Tomorrow, we will begin ferrying everyone to the surface so that we may begin to build! There is a very great deal that must be done, but the planet is ripe with bounty for us to build with!”
Jared found that he could not summon a great deal of enthusiasm. He was pleased that Chloe had found it and that Reuel had given her credit for having led them to a new home as she promised, but he felt … uneasy in his mind.
What he did not understand was why Chloe was not with them to celebrate! If she was not ill, why was she not here, with them?
“Mayhap she is still angry with us?” Kane muttered as if his thoughts had traveled the same path.
Jared frowned. “She is never angry longer than a minute. I do not believe that.”
“She did notseemangry then,” Sebastian said uneasily. “What do you suppose Reuel meant when he said that she was ill at ease?”
They pondered it for a while.
“Mayhap she is ill at ease because she told Reuel that she would not take part in the recreational sex anymore?” Lucien offered. “Mayhap she feels that they will disapprove of her now because of that?”
“She did not have to take part to begin with!” Jared said angrily. “She is the captain of the Salvager. It was gracious that she agreed at all and they must know that! I am going to speak with her,” he ended decisively.
The others got up and followed him. It irritated the fuck out of him, but not nearly as much as the discovery that Reuel had posted a guard to prevent them from reaching Chloe’s cabin.
He had thought it suspicious that Reuel had sent the man out! Fucking bastard!
“Reuel has ordered that she not be disturbed,” the guard said tightly.
“We are her crewmen. We will not disturb her. We are only going to speak to her,” Kane said reasonably.
