Recon Marines II: Marine's Heiress, The by Susan Kelley

Dillon dump them on
one of those transports going off world. Pick the right one and
it’s in empty space for months before delivering its
haul.
    Vin nodded and then climbed onto the
back of the hopper. He lifted the prisoner up and handed him down
to Vannie. Vin handled the large man as easily as if he were a
child. Vannie dragged the man into the shop. The night eased toward
dawn, details emerging as Emma moved closer.
    Tape covered the prisoner’s eyes, ears
and mouth but otherwise he appeared uninjured. Not that she
intended to examine him after what happened a few hours
ago.
    Vin sprang down from the hopper, his
hands full of odd shaped items. They followed Vannie inside to
where he deposited the bound man on the floor beside the other
prisoner. The man in the chair jerked upright when he saw Vin, his
eyes going wide. Though not for long as Vin covered his eyes, ears
and mouth also with tape. Then he moved behind the prisoner and
wrapped some strange looking rope around the man’s wrists. A brief
light flared and then Vin rose.
    “ You got this, Vin?”
Vannie said as he and Moe headed for the door. “I have to get the
men going to the river.”
    “ I’ll join you soon.” Vin
went to his workbench, gathering up lines and hoses attached to
some kind of robotic device.
    Emma didn’t doubt he heard her
approaching him. She skirted around the prisoners whimpering behind
their gags to join him. “Is this the thing you made to protect the
men working the river?”
    He leaned down to check something, his
long fingers skipping cleverly over dials and connections. “It
should keep them safe, at least from the metal traps.” He paused
and looked at her. “They could come up with something
new.”
    “ Vin.” Emma put her hand
on his arm, feeling muscles tighten beneath her fingers. “Thank you
for helping us.”
    He looked down at her hand on his arm
and then up at her. The intensity in his eyes almost sent her back
a step. “Promise me that you’ll stay out of the shop and away from
these guys while I’m at the river.”
    She couldn’t have said no to him even
if one of the prisoners was bleeding to death. “Do you trust my
promise?” Giddiness tickled her middle. Was she actually flirting
with a Recon Marine? But she leaned toward him.
    A flicker of uncertainty in his eyes
warmed her as much as his answer. “You lack a sense of
self-preservation and have too great a need to help and protect
others. Even those who don’t need help or deserve it. I don’t know
if it’s your medical training or something inside you.” He again
looked down at her hand on top of his arm. “I vow that these men do
not need medical attention. Will you stay away from
them?”
    “ I will.”
    He nodded and returned to tinkering
with his machine, forcing her to drop her hand. She studied his
profile, seeing him as she hadn’t before. He was a handsome man,
verging on beautiful with his high cheek bones and square jaw. His
complexion appeared tan but she knew he’d been genetically designed
with a skin tone to withstand most suns’ rays. His lean, graceful
body completed the most attractive package she’d ever met in a man
though she wasn’t one to be impressed with physical
appearances.
    Only today had she noticed how gorgeous
he was. Today she’d recognized the haunted look behind all the
caution in his cool gaze. Today she saw the loneliness and the
forlorn search for familiarity in the military neatness of his shop
and sleeping quarters. Was the assistance he gave Hovel Port
without being asked only his engrained habit of serving civilians?
Or was he just a lonely man trying to find a place?
    Vin gestured for her to proceed him out
of the building, kicking the door closed behind him. He hefted the
equipment to his shoulder and headed down the street toward the
south gate. The miners already trudged that direction to start
their day. They greeted Vin and then picked up their pace to match
his strides. Some laughter and