The Honeymoon Trap by Kelly Hunter Page B

in the thick of things. She had a sword and an opponent with a sword and both of them were swinging, taking direction from a third man who was walking them slowly through an attack and defense routine. On the green screen behind them the swords and skeleton style arms showed up in 3D. The swords were real and hopefully blunt.
    Zoey’s opponent outweighed her by approximately a hundred kilos.
    Eli shoved his hands in his pockets and waited. She hadn’t seen him, all her concentration was for the instructions, her opponent’s moves and the weapon in her hands and that was how it should be. Laughingly graceful, eyes sparkling, body whirling.
    Dicky heart nowhere to be seen.
    How long did she have before her body realized its limits?
    She knew those limits, she’d said. Trust her, she’d meant. With her life and his heart and God knows he wanted to, was going to.
    Maybe he already did.
    He watched from the sidelines as the instructor slowly put the routine together and then let them run through it three times in slow motion, and then added music with a ponderous heavy beat and made them do it again with each beat corresponding to a sword stroke or counter. Three more times and now ten minutes had passed, and now the instructor was swapping slow music for some with a slightly faster beat and telling Zoey and the big guy to listen up, feel the rhythm and just go with the flow because they were going to run through the routine again on the count of three.
    The big guy messed up halfway through it and they started again, messed up again. On the third run through one of the guy’s strokes was so hasty and way off line that Zoey had to counter way down low or lose a leg. She went with the movement and it put her on the mat on her knees and then her ass as she went down laughing. Big guy looked mortified and well he should be. The instructor moved in but Eli was there before him, offering his hand.
    ‘Hey, it’s you,’ she said, eyes bright and skin glowing with a thin sheen of sweat. ‘Do you want a turn? It’s fun.’
    ‘No.’ He didn’t want a turn. He wanted to pick her up and wrap her in cotton wool and then turn and deck the idiot who’d let her fall. Instead he gritted his teeth and helped her to her feet and stood by as she brushed herself down and clapped her hand on the big guy’s shoulder. ‘So this is Gene, my sparring buddy, and our instructor here is Roger.’
    Gene looked embarrassed. ‘Sorry, Zoey. I’m such a klutz.’
    ‘Yeah, but we almost had it. One more for the road?’
    Gene nodded. Eli frowned. Roger put the slow music back on.
    Damn fine idea.
    They ran through it once more. All went well. Gene lumbered forward with a smile, knelt on one knee and laid his sword at her feet. He thumped his fist to his heart and declared fealty to the Zoey space pirate with the motion capture sensor sword.
    She did seem to have that effect on people.
    Eli met Roger’s gaze with a flat stare of his own. Roger grinned and gestured towards the sword. ‘Wanna try it?’
    ‘No.’ He’d probably take someone’s head off. Eli didn’t feel like making friends, but he held out his hand and made pleasant enough work of it. Roger made it easy with a seasoned stream of banter mixed with explanation of motion sensor equipment and how it all worked.
    Zoey looked fascinated.
    Eli went and fetched her coat.
    ‘The three amigos were looking for you,’ she said. ‘I think they want to try their hands at deep-sea fishing while they’re up this way. If they can get something organized I said I’d go too.’
    ‘Cutter’ll take them.’
    Her pretty eyes narrowed as she took her coat from him and put it on. ‘Will he take me?’
    ‘Probably.’ But Eli would make damn sure that Cutter knew not to strap her to a chair and let her reel in a four-hundred-kilo marlin. Maybe she could fish for bream.
    They said their goodbyes to Roger and Gene, Zoey was downright big on cheerful goodbyes for people she barely knew, and then