Danyel was still trying to decide what to do, if anything, when he found himself called to a meeting in the Captain’s quarters along with the rest of the officers.

“Just to let you know that we will have a party of five civilian visitors joining us in two days. Ser Robert Becker, the manager of Capella Space station, his daughter Fiona, and three others will be joining us for a couple of days. As most of you already know, Fiona is my betrothed, so the visit will be both for public relations and to plan our wedding. Given the size of our guest list, that will be a public relations exercise in itself,” he smiled wryly at his officers. “I’m sure it goes without saying that I want everything to run as smoothly as possible during their visit. The station manager doesn’t come on board one of our ships very often so we want to make an excellent impression.”

Danyel grimaced inside. As First Lieutenant, it would be up to him to oversee a lot of the arrangements. Luckily, they had a very competent Supply Officer who would actually do most of the work. There would be accommodation, formal dinners and other activities to be sorted out. He waited until the other officers left to get some more details from Captain Hayes. The wedding sounded like it was going to be one of those very formal affairs, rather like a merger between two companies. The Captain obviously moved in rarefied social circles. The daughter of Capella’s manager; you couldn’t get much more high society than that, not out here in any case.

He studied the Captain while he was giving Bailey a few last minute instructions. At least the swelling on his nose was going down, and the bruising. His voice was almost back to normal as well. For a while he had sounded as if he had a heavy cold. He was a good-looking man, the broken nose actually made him look more rugged; in his mid thirties with sun-dark blond hair and intelligent grey eyes. The Captain saw Bailey out and then turned back to Danyel. At least he was starting to act a little more naturally around him. Danyel reached for a printout of the schedule at the same time as Hayes and their hands accidently brushed against each other. The Captain leapt back as if he had been stung.

It’s not catching, sir, Danyel bit back the words, luckily before he spoke them aloud.

“I’m sorry, King, you startled me,” the Captain apologised unconvincingly. “I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

Now who had said almost those very words to him recently? Danyel stared at the Captain in horrified disbelief, frozen to the spot. No, it couldn’t be, could it? But who was the one man who was uncomfortable around him since the incident? Whose voice had been disguised by a broken nose?

The Captain was still talking as he organised his documents for the visit, but gradually he became aware of the absolute stillness of the other man and his voice faltered to a stop. He looked up. Danyel stared at him, his face one big question mark. The Captain met his eyes for only a second before he cleared his throat and looked away, saying, “As I said, it’s really important that everything run smoothly while Ser Becker and his daughter are here.”

Danyel’s suspicions crystallized into certainty. Hayes was Simon. But he was not going to acknowledge what had happened between them; he was going to bury it, along with any other instances he must have experienced over the years when his true nature tried to assert itself. Danyel could see now that he was holding himself as tense as a high voltage cable, waiting to see if he would accept his decision or challenge him.

Danyel swallowed all the words he wanted to say. This was not the time, not when he was still in a state of shock, and said merely, “I understand, sir. I think I’d better go now, we can do this another time.”

He left the room feeling totally stunned. The last man he had suspected. He’d kissed his Captain. What’s more, his Captain had not only kissed him back but had his hands all over him—he would have had sex with him if Danyel hadn’t stopped him. And this was the man who was getting married? What on Earth was he doing?

~~~

Captain Hayes stared blankly into space. He didn’t know what he’d done wrong, but something had given him away despite his best efforts. Well, the worst had happened. King had guessed who he was and it hadn’t been so bad, had it? He hadn’t hit him. The world hadn’t ended. Mind you, his whole life was now in the other man’s hands. He had to trust King to keep quiet and hope that he didn’t bear too much of a grudge. In a way it was a good thing that he had offended him before, right? At least King was highly unlikely to ever seek him out for a repeat performance! He felt hot just thinking about it. If only he got so aroused when he thought about Fiona. Still, they both knew it was more of a business marriage than one of love; she wouldn’t be expecting passion, would she?