“Hello, Remy.”

At the sound of the deep voice, Remy jolted, almost spilling her coffee as her gaze snapped upward. The eyes that stared back at her were the color of old gold. She put down her coffee cup and sat up straighter. “Well, Captain Rayder, fancy meeting you here.” Her tone was sarcastic because his appearance here was predictable. Bric Rayder had not only taught the evidentiary class she’d taken at the Starfleet academy, he’d been part of the intelligence team that had investigated her. “I assume this isn’t a random meeting?”

“Correct.”

So Starfleet was still watching her, and apparently monitoring her communications, if Rayder knew she would be on this ship. “Just for the record,” she let him know, “if you’re trailing me to get to Vega, I couldn’t care less. I assume there’s still an arrest warrant with his name on it.”

“Can I sit?”

She waved toward the opposite chair, studying his wide shouldered frame as he sat down. He was dressed casually in tan pants and a collarless white shirt that was unbuttoned at the neck and rolled to his elbows, displaying tanned muscular forearms. The least he could do, Remy thought, was look less attractive, but no, he was as dreamy as she remembered, with that thick mane of black hair and a shadow beard that enhanced his masculine appeal, while his mouth was almost too softly curved to belong to a man. She had fantasized about kissing that mouth on many occasions.

“The warrant for Vega is worthless,” he told. “He now resides in a system of planets that doesn’t have extradition treaties with the coalition worlds.” He waved a hand. “That’s immaterial. I’m here because I’ve been going through the case files again.” He paused to signal to a passing male steward, who hurried forward.

“Yes, sir?”

“A pot of coffee please.”

As the steward walked back to the service area, Remy caught Rayder giving her an appraising look that took in the swell of her breasts. “Going off topic,” he said. “I have to tell you that you’re looking very well out of uniform, great in fact.”

The quick change of direction and unexpected compliment caught Remy off guard. “Um, well, thanks.” She wondered if he was playing her. He had to know he had a devastating effect on women. During the year she’d taken his class at the academy he’d featured heavily in the sexual fantasies that had her tossing and turning in bed. Maybe she hadn’t concealed her lust as well as she’d thought and he was hoping he could get her to trip herself up and say something that proved she’d been part of the theft. Laughable, really, since she was completely innocent. “Going back on topic,” she said, “would you mind telling me why you’ve decided to look at the case again, and why do I get the feeling you don’t believe Vega is guilty?”

“Tell me first, why you agreed to meet him, since you obviously still believe he is guilty?”

She hesitated, remembering those nightmare days following her dismissal from Starfleet, having to deal with the pain of knowing that everything that Vega had said to her was false. While she’d foolishly believed he was courting her, taking an interest in all aspects of her life, he’d merely been picking her brain.

She told Rayder, “While Vega might not have been the masterminded behind the theft, I’m sure he was involved. Unfortunately, at the time, I didn’t see any harm in telling him where the Starfleet ships were being built. I never imagined someone would slip passed security and reprogram the ship’s systems to respond to new codes—”

She broke off when the female steward who’d first greeted her appeared and poured coffee for Rayder. “Can I get you anything else, sir?”

“No, that’ll do for now, thanks.”

Remy didn’t miss the covetous look in the young steward’s eyes as she smiled at Rayder. Not that Remy could blame her. Despite the serious discussion, she was having difficulty keeping her gaze off the strong line of his throat and the V of his white shirt, where a patch of dark hair was visible.