She’d made it a point, at first, not to look up at the observation windows, but even when she finally decided a surreptitious peek now and then would probably go unnoticed, she saw no sign of Reese for nearly two weeks. It occurred to her to wonder if their tryst had been discovered and he’d been confined to the brig as Dante supposedly had, but she had no way of finding out. She wasn’t even privy to the gossip circulating among the hunters since they had a disturbing way of falling silent whenever she passed near enough to overhear their conversations.
She caught glimpses of Dante often enough, but seeing him unsettled her almost as much as not seeing Reese.
Two weeks after her encounter with Reese, she was curled up on a couch, staring out of a porthole at the unending, and infinitely depressing night of deep space when Cain settled next to her. She glanced at him in surprise.
“I’m not at all certain that I’ll ever be able to look at a night sky with any sort of admiration again,” he said pensively.
The comment dragged a reluctant smile from her. “I was just thinking much the same thing.”
He smiled faintly in return. “I’d claim to be extraordinarily perceptive except that I’m fairly certain everyone here is thinking much the same thing. You’ll note, no one glances toward the portholes any longer.”
Amaryllis chuckled wryly. “And here I thought they were simply avoiding the area for fear of contamination,” she retorted dryly.
Lifting a dark brow, he glanced around the rec room and finally up at the observation windows. Curious, Amaryllis followed his gaze. Her heart jerked in her chest when she saw that both Reese and Dante were standing at the observation window above, scowling at the man who sat beside her.
“I expect you’re at least partially right. Itisfor reasons of health, but I don’t think it’s fear of contamination.”
Amaryllis resisted the urge to fan her heated cheeks. “I don’t think I follow,” she said stiffly.
A mixture of amusement and annoyance lit his green eyes. “I think you do, but if it disturbs your sense of modesty to speak of it, I completely understand.”
Amaryllis sent him a sharp glance and reddened again. “They’re afraid to speak to me because of … the rumors?” she demanded with a mixture of indignation and disbelief.
Both of his dark brows rose this time. He tilted his head curiously. “Isit merely rumors? The cyborg twins seem to have a different perspective on the matter. One or both can generally be seen standing at the observation windows, usually wearing identical scowls if any of the hunters even start in your direction.”
Amaryllis frowned thoughtfully, digesting the comments in silence and trying to decide whether there was any truth to it. She often had the sense that she was being watched, but she’d thought a good bit of that could be put down to hypersensitivity or plain, old fashioned paranoia. It was understandable given her situation, a combination of her fear that they would realize she was human and her certainty that her behavior was being judged as much because of her own sense of guilt as because of the snide comments two of the huntresses had made to her.
Shehadnoticed that any time she glanced toward the observation windows, though, and either Dante or Reese was there, that they were looking directly at her. It was the main reason she avoided looking in that direction. She didn’t want to encourage either of them to think she was interested when she didn’t know how she felt about them.
That didn’t necessarily mean that either Reese or Dante was warning others away from her, but it was possible their interest could’ve been interpreted that way.
“You think they’re afraid of the cyborgs?”
He shrugged. “Under other circumstances, it would be more accurate to say ‘respectful’. Under current circumstances….”
She could see his point. “If you think that, then why are you speaking to me?” she asked curiously.
He studied her in silence for several long moments and finally a grin dawned. “Either you are the most adorably obtuse female I’ve ever met, or, like every other huntress in this room you are far too deeply engrossed in sorting through your feelings on the matter to realize what’s going on around you.”
Amaryllis blinked at him, mildly offended by the comment despite the fact that he’d obviously not intended to be insulting.
“Men are actually pretty simple creatures … even if they happen to be cyborg men and not human men. In one fell swoop we’ve ceased to be an army and become colonists for a distant world. It, surely, can’t have escaped your notice that, in this room alone, hunters outnumber huntresses roughly two to one. By my calculations—depending, of course upon just how many cyborgs await us on our new home world—those numbers are obliged to climb sharply. I’d thought, perhaps, your interest was engaged elsewhere. Since that still seems to be a matter of debate I see no reason not to pursue my own interests.”
Amaryllis felt her jaw go slack with surprise. “You’re … uh … you’re … flirting with me?”
He grimaced. “Not very well apparently,” he said wryly.
She frowned. “Because there aren’t enough females to go around?”
A pained expression crossed his features. “In fact, very, very badly,” he amended. He tilted his head at her speculatively. “I don’t suppose you’d believe me if I said that it was love at first sight?”
“No.”
He sighed. “I thought not.”
Amaryllis couldn’t help but chuckle. She decided he must be teasing. “You first saw me three years ago when I arrived for training.”
“At first notice?” he suggested.
