“Not this northern range, the surfaces are too slick. There’s a place in the southern region where the peaks aren’t as tall, slick surfaced or jagged. There are lots of climbing places and hiking trails there. Would you like to go?”
“No. I just wondered.”
Francine stepped away from the viewer so Raphael could have a looksee. “This is one thing I miss seeing on a day-to-day basis when I’m away.”
“I can imagine. It’s magnificent.”
“Do you miss the desert on your planet?”
“Nope. Not even a little. Living in a sphere all my life, I never really spent time in the deserts of Alpha-Prime, but there are no mountains to speak of there. And if you step one toe out of a sphere, it’s windy and sand blows in your face all the time. I was never a fan.”
“Earth certainly has a varied terrain.”
“Indeed. My favorites are the tall trees and all the lakes and rivers of water everywhere.”
“Mine, too.” He turned toward her. “Have you learned how to swim?”
“Yes. It’s easy. Do you know how?”
He nodded. “I learned a long time ago, while hunting one of my earlier bounties.”
“Oh?”
A wry smile shaped his lips. “I also learned the hard way.”
“Meaning?”
“I had to chase my quarry into a very cold river on an ice planet I’d never visited before. Haven’t been back since, come to think of it. The water wasn’t over my head at the start, but as I chased him, it got deeper. It was either learn to swim as I went or lose my bounty and sink beneath the surface.”
“And you got your quarry even though you had to learn how to swim?”
“Of course. I wasn’t going to let a little bit of brisk, chilly water slow me down.”
“Good for you.” Francine could picture it. He was not the kind of guy who gave up easily. Bounty hunters, from all she’d read, were a unique blend of bravado, strength and a heightened resistance to failure.
“I’m surprised that you never learned when you were younger? You didn’t live on a desert planet. Wasn’t there water enough on Ichor-Delta to swim in?”
“Yes. However, my father didn’t think it was necessary for his offspring. Apparently there’s not enough money in it.”
“Hmm. Interesting.”
Raphael crossed his arms and leaned against the waist-high wall beside the viewer. He got an inquisitive look in his eye when he asked quietly, “What’s your story, Francine?”
“My story?” That put her on her guard. Was he expecting her to confide her deepest secrets? “You already know my story. I didn’t marry the man my parents chose for me and I was exiled from my family.”
“That’s not your whole story, though, is it?”
She shrugged exaggeratedly. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Francine suspected she knewexactlywhat he meant. Had he heard a rumor about her? Did he know about the unfortunate incident from her youth? The cruel betrayal she’d suffered in silence to avert scandal, only to be banished for a different reason much later.
The nemesis she reviled, H.R., the man she’d loved who deserted her for money and power and a more lucrative bride than she would ever have been. The first and last man to let her down in the love department, she’d sworn to herself.
Francine began walking toward the lift, hoping to end Raphael’s questions.
“Who is Howard?” he asked.
She froze. Her stomach roiled sickly. He knew! How did he know? How could hepossiblyknow that name?! She thought she’d been so careful. Apparently, not careful enough.
