Page 14 of Star Prince

She glanced at the empty place where her vessel had been parked before being whisked away by Dar security. A look of profound pain flickered across her expressive face, chased by obvious indecision in the way she clenched her jaw. Her blatant inner battle heightened his curiosity about her, but he forced himself to wait in silence for her answer.

“I shall take it,” she said in a quiet voice.

He snatched her by the hand before she changed her mind—again. But the sudden move caused her to trip over her boots. He caught her before she fell, wrapping his arm around her waist. “I’m sobering you up with hot tockeven if it takes me all day—which I hope it doesn’t, because you, my friend, are flying me to Grüma, come hell or high water.”

Chapter Four

Ahead,the long fuselage of his ship gleamed pale silver. “There she is,” Ian said. “TheSun Devil.”

“She’s…beautiful,” Tee murmured. Genuine longing softened her features. He had seen that expression before on his mother’s face when she reminisced about her days as an Air Force fighter pilot.

Quin and Muffin met them at the bottom of the gangway. Quin’s eyes twinkled. “It’s not like you to bring homecompany,”he said, while Muffin squinted at the woman, studying her.

“She’s not company. This is Tee, our new pilot. Tee, meet Muffin, chief security officer. And Quin, ship’s mechanic.”

“Nice to meet you.” She stuck out her hand. Thrown off balance, she grabbed onto Ian. “Whoa.”

Quin’s smile froze with incredulity. “She’s drunk!”

“Right. Let’s get her sobered up. I want to launch as soon as possible.” Hastily he swept Tee past the two men and up the gangway. After a moment’s silence, Ian heard two pairs of boots thumping on the alloy flooring behind him.

“We’ve been through three pilots already,” Quin called after him. “Now here you are with another stray.”

Ian didn’t have to turn around to guess the expression contorting the man’s face.

Muffin was typically good-humored. “Reminds me a bit of my sister and the way she collects lost kettacats.”

“I can deal with kettacats. It’s good-for-nothing pilots I have no stomach for,” Quin grumbled.

Through the forward cargo hold they went, down the central corridor and past the crew quarters, while Quin ranted about starpilots and their general unreliability and mental instability.

“This way.” Ian planted his hands on Tee’s hips and boosted her up the gangway to the galley. Haltingly, she climbed to the upper deck, stumbling over the top rung. She giggled, then slapped her hand over her mouth as if the sound had startled and embarrassed her.

Ian guided her into the galley, settling her onto a seat next to the table. Crushed by her cap, short locks of hair clung to her temples and flushed cheeks. He shook off the oddest urge to smooth the strands off her skin.

Muffin lumbered into the galley. Ian told him, “One of the locals, a bartender, said I should watch my back.”

“Did he elaborate?”

“Unfortunately no. He wasn’t exactly stable in the mental department, either.”

Muffin frowned. “Let’s launch as soon as possible.”

“Agreed.”

Quin marched past. “I’ll get the tockstarted.” Glowering, he slammed a kettle on the ion-burner.

The last two members of Ian’s crew, Gredda and Push, the cargo handlers, peered into the galley from the corridor. Ian made another around of introductions.

Dressed in a brown leather sleeveless jerkin with studded straps crisscrossing over a tight woolen chemise, Gredda looked like a mythical Viking queen. She crossed her impressive arms over equally impressive breasts, her skin glistening with grease smudges and perspiration from a long session loading cargo. “A female flyer this time,” she said approvingly.

Tee acknowledged Gredda with a smile that quickly faded. Much paler now, she lifted an unsteady hand to her cap and plucked it off her head.

Quin stared. “By the heavens, what happened to her hair?”

Tee’s expression could have frozen plasma fuel. “Do you have a problem with the way I look?”

Quin sized her up. “What if I do? I doubt looks matter much in the places you frequent.”

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