Diana Palmer - The Morcai Battalion - The Rescue

Title Page The Morcai Battalion: The Rescue Diana Palmer www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader Dear Reader Dear Reader Dedication CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE CHAPTER THIRTEEN CHAPTER FOURTEEN Extract Copyright , I honestly thought I would never see this day. To have a fourth novel in my Morcai Battalion series in print seems like a fantasy. Since the original was published in 1980, I tried for many years to get it back in print. I had no idea that it would be over twenty-five years before that happened. I would like to thank my former Harlequin editor Tara Gavin for working so hard to help me get a spot for The Morcai Battalion at the former Harlequin imprint Luna Books. I would also like to thank Luna Books editor Mary-Theresa Hussey for giving me a chance to see the first book back in print. I owe these two editors a great debt for their kindness and their support. Thank you for believing in these books, against all odds. You both paved the way for me to get a three-book contract for new Morcai novels, of which The Rescue is the first. In this book, I finally get to tell the bittersweet story of Rhemun, former Captain of the Cehn-Tahr Imperial Guard, now Commander of the Holconcom, and Dr. Edris Mallory, who replaces Dr. Madeline Ruszel as Cularian Medicine internist on the flagship Morcai. Edris is harboring a secret that could cost her her life, and Rhemun is her worst enemy. Only time will tell how the two of them resolve their conflict, and whether or not it will put Edris’s life on the line. You’ll have to read the book to find out. :) On a final note, in my dedication in Wyoming Brave, the autumn 2016 release, I accidentally omitted the names of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of my late brother-in-law, Doug Kyle. Here they are. Grandkids: Joshua and Angel McLendon, Chelsea Armour, Kaitlin Armour, Wayne Armour, Jr., Kylie Armour, Torrington Kyle and Justin Kyle. Great-grandchildren: Jordyn and Nolan McLendon, Breana and Gracie Taouis. They’re all terrific people, by the way, and all gorgeous. We miss Doug, but his legacy lives on in these young ones.

Dedication To the many kind and supportive people who kept my hopes up all the long years between the publication of the original book, The Morcai Battalion, in 1980 until the reappearance of the revised novel in 2007. You know who you are. Thanks for sticking with me for so long! To Harlequin: thank you for taking a chance on my novels in a genre I’m not known for! And for that new three-book contract. If any of you ever need your car washed or your floor swept, here I am! Honest! To new readers: thank you for taking this book home with you. I never forget that without my readers, I am just a former reporter with a word processing program. I hope you find something in the novel that you like. Check out the latest news on my websites: www.themorcaibattalion.com and www.dianapalmer.com. You can also find me on Twitter under @cehntahr, which is my gaming handle. I’ve played “Destiny” on Xbox One since it released, and “World of Warcraft” on Zangarmarsh and Hellscream servers for over eight years. To my family: thank you for all the long years that you loved me in spite of my work. I know it was a sacrifice for you, as well as me, that I had to spend so much time at the computer. I hope you know that I love you more than anything in the world. I always will.

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

THE VOICES IN the medical bay aboard the Cehn-Tahr Holconcom ship Morcai were growing louder as the discussion progressed. Techs nearby were straining unashamedly to hear the outcome. Dr. Edris Mallory was small, blonde, blue-eyed and stubborn. Her opponent, Rhemun, was the new commander of the Holconcom. He was tall, with long, curly black hair down to his waist. Like all Cehn-Tahr, he had catlike features, predominantly his eyes, which changed color to mirror his mood. Right now, they were brown. Threatening.

“We must have a better allocation of space aboard the Morcai,” Rhemun said in stiffly formal Standard. “Your sick bay has very few patients...”

“Begging your pardon, sir, it has quite a number of patients,” she shot back, her cheeks faintly rosy with temper.

“Prove it,” he said with a smug look.

“Delighted.” She slammed a data padd against his broad chest.

“Mallory,” he cautioned.

“Sorry, sir, my hand slipped.” She didn’t give him a bland smile with the lie, as her predecessor, Dr. Madeline Ruszel, would have. But he got the point.

He looked at the padd with irritation. It did prove her point. Her sick bay had logged over one hundred visits from the Cehn-Tahr aboard ship in a week’s time. In fact, Dr. Strick Hahnson, who took care of the humans aboard, had logged twenty fewer visits than Mallory.

He glared at her. His distaste for humans was painfully apparent to everyone aboard, but especially to Mallory, whom he rode mercilessly. She didn’t understand his ongoing prejudices, but she caught the brunt of them. He seemed to go out of his way to make her life miserable. She couldn’t think of a single serious infraction lately that would explain it. Of course, their mutual antagonism had a long history, all the way back to his first appearance aboard the Morcai when, as head of the kehmatemer, he accompanied Cehn-Tahr Emperor Tnurat Alamantimichar on a rescue mission to save Dr. Ruszel’s life after a failed mission. She and Rhemun had been instantly antagonistic toward each other. Sadly, his appointment as Dtimun’s replacement aboard the Morcai hadn’t done a thing to reduce the friction.

“Very well,” he said curtly. He handed her back the padd. “You can keep your present location, for the time being, until I can think of something more suitable.”

“You could always have me set up shop in one of the cargo pods, sir,” she returned, still standing at strict attention.

It was a calculated insult. He lifted his chin. His cat-eyes were still an angry brown. “You push too hard, Mallory,” he said in a deceptively soft tone. “I have no love for humans, as you well know. Do not tempt me to have you replaced.”

“I’m sure the commander would enjoy that,” she said, averting her eyes. “However, I should point out that the only Cularian specialists at the Tri-Fleet Medical Authority at the moment are all assigned to permanent duty elsewhere.”

“There are new classes graduating yearly, however,” he returned, and his chiseled mouth approximated a very human smirk.

“Also true. Sir.”

His eyes narrowed. He glared at her, as if the very sight of her offended him, angered him. He wanted to tell her why he hated humans so much; he wanted to tell her about his son, about the ragged tatters of his life that a human was responsible for. But Cehn-Tahr were forbidden to speak of personal matters with outworlders.

It was just as well. He wanted no personal conversations with this female, who reminded him so painfully of the past.

He turned on his heel while she was snapping to a salute and walked away.

* * *

EDRIS LET OUT a shaky sigh. She was afraid of Rhemun. It wasn’t because he had authority over her. It wasn’t even because he was her own personal devil. It was because he made her feel things that she was forbidden by law to feel. She hid it as best she could, reciting multiplication tables in her head to keep her mind on the subject at hand, and not on how very attractive he was. She’d learned that trick from Madeline Ruszel, who used it to keep the former commander of the Morcai, Dtimun, out of her head.