Page 38 of Star Prince

“When Randall returns to Earth, will we follow him?” she asked hopefully.

Ian ducked as a low flying night mammal whizzed past his head. “I’ll follow him across the galaxy if I have to.”

“That’s a lot of worlds to visit.”

His teeth glowed in the faint light. “And a lot of flying too. You’d better keep working hard or I’ll have you replaced.”

“Replaced?” She huffed. But his playful smile was contagious. “Is that what you meant when you said I’d pay for making you do the All-Folk Chain?”

“I don’t think you want to know what I had in mind,” he said. A delicious shiver coursed through her. She wondered if he meant to use such a suggestive tone. She found herself fervently hoping that he had.

Nervously, she moistened her lower lip. She wanted to place his arms around her, guide his lips to hers. She wanted to feel him inside her body, sharing intimacy as lovers did, something she had never contemplated with any other man.

“But,” he quipped, “your suggestion does have its merits. It’ll be in your best interest to behave, as tough as that may be.”

“No whiskey?”

“Definitely no whiskey.”

She laughed, delighted by the repartee. One minute they were immersed in a deeply philosophical, political discussion, the next they were teasing each other about nothing of consequence. She had never before met a man with whom she could enjoy both.

“Well.” She was dying to know what he had in mind regarding her “payment” to him, but she suddenlyfelt too shy to ask. “You’d be a fool to let me go; you’ll never find another like me.”

His smile faded, and he slowed to a stop. Gossamer-winged creatures floated in the halo of light at his feet. Quietly, he said, “I’m beginning to think you’re right.”

They stood there, inches apart in the middle of the damp, hushed woods, their faces shadowed, their breaths puffs of mist. Then he lifted his hand to her cheek, four warm fingertips resting on the sensitive skin under her jaw. Her breath stopped, and her heart thundered so loud that she feared he would hear it. As his dark, searching eyes held her enthralled, he slid his fingers into her hair.

Then she hiccupped. “Excuse me.”

His smile reappeared. His palm stroked over her cheek, no longer the tentative first touch of a lover, but a casually affectionate pat. The fairy-like moths fled into the darkness along with her hopes for a kiss.

“It sure is a cold one tonight,” he said lightly. “We’d best get you back to the ship before you catch a chill.”

His caress had left her anything but cold. “Sure.”

Minus the usual guiding hand on her elbow, he resumed his stride. Practically jogging to keep up with him, she cursed her ineptness.Sweet heaven.She had much to learn in this game of seduction. And one thing was certain. Whatever future stepsneeded to be taken, it was clear she was going to have to take them first.

Long after hesaw Tee to bed and the others had returned from their night out, Ian sat sprawled in the pilot’s chair, his legs propped on the navigation console, his fingers laced over his stomach. The ship was dark and silent but for the hum of normal shipboard equipment. Yet sleep eluded him.

Still dressed in his jeans and flannel shirt, he stared out the viewscreen at the stars. Light years away were his mother and stepfather, to whom he was impatient to relay the news of his recent discoveries. But before he sent an encrypted message back to Sienna, he wanted to learn more about Randall and now his associate. The senator had very legitimate and understandable concerns—Ian saw that after visiting Barésh—but if Randall and others on Earth didn’t grasp the lesson of the galaxy’s violent history, the need to stick together, then Ian had better find something else, something tangible, to keep Earth within theVashfold.

But what?

He closed his eyes, his mind racing.

God, he had almost kissed her.

He dropped his feet to the floor and sat up, his arms draped over his thighs. He had known Tee for less than a month and she had turned him to jelly. He knew nothing about her, other than what she wanted him to learn—a fabricated history, he was sure.What was she hiding from him? And why?

Idon’t think you want to know what I had in mind.Had he actually said that to her? He dropped his face into his hands. The temptation would pass as long as he didn’t act on it.

She would have let you.

He groaned. Then he lifted his head. Starlight soaked the cockpit in an ice-blue glow, an illumination so faint that he almost didn’t see the hesitant, wraithlike shadow moving off his left side. Then he inhaled the faint odor of rotten eggs.

He shot straight up in the chair. “How long have you been there?”

“Only a moment.” Tee pressed her hand over her chest. “My apologies. I didn’t know you were here.”

---