Page 2 of Kidnapped from the Paradise Resort

“Leave the Mother Ship and the Kindred now or sign these,” he’d demanded.

Kara had had enough at that point. Their marriage was dead—perhaps it had been dead for a long time. And she knew at that minute that there was absolutely no saving it.

She’d pulled out a pen and signed.

Now, as she walked slowly forward, glancing down at her shiny, silver ticket, she tried to put the past out of her mind…and failed.

It wasn’t like Kevin had been such a great husband—he hadn’t. He’d been a complete slob who left a trail of crumbs and dirty clothes and dishes wherever he went and always expected Kara to clean up after him. He refused to learn to cook because his mom had always cooked for his dad and so “that was how things are supposed to be—the woman serves the man.” Even when she started making more money than him, he still expected her to do all the cooking and cleaning.

Really, Kara didn’t know why she hadn’t left him sooner.

The one thing she really regretted was letting her assistant go to try and save her already failed marriage.

Sending J’orn away had been a horrible, gut-wrenching affair almost worse than the scene she’d had with Kevin. She still felt terribly guilty about it when she remembered it…

“Can I talk to you?” she remembered J’orn saying, on the last day they worked together.

Feeling resigned, she had nodded and led him into her office. She shut the door, making sure they wouldn’t be disturbed, and then went to lean against the edge of her desk. Arms crossed over her breasts, she nodded at him.

“All right—talk.”

To her surprise, J’orn was suddenly on his knees before her.

“Why?” he asked, his deep voice nearly breaking. “Why are you sending me away from you, Kara?”

Kara was taken aback—she hadn’t expected such a passionate reaction to her request to reassign him.

“Well, first of all, it has nothing to do with your performance,” she began, trying to soften the blow. “You’ve been nothing but absolutely excellent and I promise that was exactly what I said to Commander Sylvan when I asked him to reassign you.”

“I don’t care about that!” he insisted, looking up at her. “I care about you sending me away. Why are you punishing me like this?”

“Punishingyou?” Kara shook her head, dumbfounded. “What are you talking about? I’m not punishing you.”

“Yes, you are!” he’d insisted, his pale eyes blazing. “You’re punishing me for wanting to serve you—for wanting to be near you!”

“J’orn, I never—” she began. She felt really uncomfortable having this conversation with him on his knees before her. “Look, if you could just get up…”

“It’s because of your mate, isn’t it?” he’d demanded, frowning at her.

“No, of course not,” Kara lied uncomfortably, but she couldn’t meet his eyes as she spoke.

Clearly, her words didn’t convince J’orn.

“Kara, I would never seek to end a true Bonding between mates the Goddess has put together, but he is not worthy of you!” he exclaimed. “He doesn’t go out of his way to serve you or help you with any of the household chores—I’ve heard you speak of it to some of the other women aboard.”

Kara frowned at him.

“Wait—have you beenspyingon me?”

“No, of course not!” J’orn ran a hand over his curving horns. “I’m just attuned to you—I can’t help hearing you if you’re anywhere near me. Itrynot to listen but it’s not just the things I overheard you saying that convinced me your mate is wrong for you.”

“J’orn—” she began in a warning voice, but her assistant was still talking.

“He doesn’t listen to you or value your opinion—he acts like your work isn’t important,” he went on recklessly. “He doesn’t even satisfy you sexually!”

“What?” Kara had stared at him in disbelief. “How could you possibly knowthat?”

“I can smell your heat,” he said simply. “Your need is so strong some days I can barely keep from reacting to it. No woman who was being properly serviced by her mate would have such a heated scent.”

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