Chapter 2

"Sorry 'Nara," he drawled. "Gonna have to postpone the whoring, someplace Serenity needs to be."

Inara sighed. Mal always managed to say or do the wrong thing when he was around her. She took a deep breath and tried not to kill him with a single look. She was furious, not only because of his ugly words but because he was yet again daring to interfere in her professional activities.

"Captain," she said. "There is obviously something about the technique of knocking that you find impossible to comprehend."

Mal smirked. "Man shouldn't have to knock on his own ship."

"You forget that I pay rent for this shuttle that makes it mine," she said. "I do not intend to disappoint this client because you have managed to immerse yourself in 'goushi' yet again.

Mal raised both eyebrows and tried to look innocent. "Not so much 'goushi' more a job, a great big important job that will pay as much as your pleasurin' ten customers and then some. Serenity will be leaving in 10 minutes, better contact your fine gentleman and tell him to take a cold shower."

Inara stamped a dainty foot. "Serenity may be leaving but she leaves without me. I have had enough of your cavalier attitude towards my work. I can put up with your crudity but I will not allow you to sully my reputation. If I do not honour this appointment my good name will suffer."

She had no idea how beautiful her anger made her look. Mal was almost breathless at the sight of her. A curl of hair had escaped its elaborate style and her face was flushed a dusky dark pink. She had a spot of high colour on each cheek almost as dark as the rose petals she'd scattered earlier.

He could feel his loins stirring as he watched her. Although the woman was infuriating Mal would have liked nothing better than to throw her down on the bed and take her. He could work out all his frustration on her body. It had been a long time since he'd been with a woman. He would need a cold shower if he didn't get better control of himself.

"I will wait here, 'pleasure' my client in any way I see fit and then rendezvous with Serenity later." Inara was not open to compromise. "Then you and I will discuss whether or not I continue to stay on board.

Mal turned abruptly he was not going to let her see the effect she had on him. In some obscure way that would mean that she'd won.

"Fine," he said. "I'll get Wash to send you a wave when we're in shuttle range again."

He walked out of the shuttle and slammed the door shut behind him. The cold demeanour lasted a few more steps until he was sure that if she looked she wouldn't be able to see him. Mal's shoulders drooped and he gave a deep sigh. Why did he never think before opening his mouth? Now she was probably going to leave. It had almost happened once before but that time she'd unaccountably changed her mind. Mal knew that this time she meant it. There would be no discussion despite what she'd said. Inara Serra and Serenity were going to part company and it was his fault.

Inara stood for a few seconds just looking at the closed door. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears and she cursed Malcolm Reynolds calling him every name she could think of. She didn't want to leave Serenity, the ship was her home and she'd loved it from the first moment she'd set foot on board.

Perhaps it would have been easier if she'd just slept with the Captain. Things would not have been so tense between them if she'd given him the ride of his life and got herself out of his system. She shook her head. That wasn't the way she did business. She did not service the crew or other passengers and she'd made that very clear from the start.

She splashed her eyes with cool water and then drew aside the gauzy curtain that separated the flight controls from the rest of the shuttle. With ease brought about by long practice she detached the shuttle and brought it down to land again several hundred feet from Serenity.

She still had a little time before her client arrived and she spent the minutes repairing her make up and pinning up the errant curl of hair that had dislodged itself during her argument with Mal.

By the time her client tapped the door Serenity was gone and Inara was her usual composed self. She bowed deeply then ushered Beckett into the shuttle. The ritual of their lovemaking began but for once Inara was unable to lose herself in the carefully choreographed moves that the man insisted on. Not that he would ever know. Inara was every inch the professional, gasping and moaning on cue. When he finally took her she imagined herself in Malcolm Reynolds arms and it was all she could do not to cry out his name as she climaxed.