Page 42 of Star Prince

Ian poured coffee into a mug, this one decorated with tiny conifer trees and a cheerful red-nosed man sporting an abundance of white facial hair and a long, floppy red hat. Sipping, he studied her thoughtfully. “I don’t know. Barring a few notable instances, I’m beginning to think you’re all talk.”

“Meaning?”

“I don’t think you’re half as wild as you’d have us believe.” His playful grin invited her to challenge his allegation. “Or…are you?”

She sniffed, tugging on her sleeves. Then she gave him a coy look. “Well, I don’t dare cause trouble with that threat of yours hanging over my head.”

“Threat?” Quin asked. “What threat?”

Ian’s eyes dared her to reveal the details of their private conversation in the woods the night they had spoken to Randall in the bar. Her heart raced with the exhilaration of flirting so openly with someone to whom she was so very much attracted, and she snatched the chance to continue the dalliance.

“The captain said he’d make me pay,” she told Quin out of the corner of her mouth. “But when I asked him what he meant, he said he didn’t think I’d want to know.” She paused for effect. “I’ve spent many a night since pondering those words.”

Ian’s eyes turned a deeper green, as they had that night before he had almost kissed her.

“Captain.” Push’s voice shattered the moment. The cargo handler waited in the hatchway. There was a black smudge on one cheek, and his fingers sported matching stains. “You ought to take her out, Captain. And don’t be gentle or nothing…I think she’ll go as fast and hard as you want.”

Tee’ah wanted to sink into the alloy flooring. Was she so obvious in her feelings for Ian?

“I wasn’t planning on taking her this morning,” Ian replied matter-of-factly, as if Tee’ah weren’t cringing next to him, her face hot with embarrassment. “But I will if you think I should.”

Push nodded, wiping his dirty hands on a rag. “I do.”

“You do?” Tee’ah managed. Her opinion didn’t matter, apparently.

Maddeningly blasé, Ian set his empty mug on thetable. “All right. Afterward I’ll let you know what I think. She might need tweaking.”

“Tweaking?” Tee’ah coughed out.

“Yeah.” Ian shrugged.

She couldn’t believe he would talk about her in such a cavalier manner. She wanted to be made love to—nottweaked,or whatever Ian had called it, the results of which he apparently had no qualms about sharing with the crew.

Ian explained, “Push is helping me repair my Harley.”

She felt her heart stop. “Your two-wheeled Earth transport?”

He nodded and finished discussing with Push the various mechanical components that concerned him, while Quin listened in with interest.

Heavens.She shifted from one foot to the other, the heat in her cheeks receding rapidly, leaving behind an intense feeling of foolishness. He had been referring to his Earth vehicle the entire time, the noisy, primitive, fossil fuel-burning Earth curiosity he stored in the cargo bay and rode during rare hours of free time. He hadn’t been talking about—or thinking about—her. Never around any man had she acted like such a self-centered, vacuous idiot.

She collected her wits. “I’m going to the market.”

“I’ll give you a lift,” Ian said.

She went over his statement in her mind. Reasonably certain that there were no double meaningshidden within, she asked hopefully, “On the two-wheeled Earth transport?”

“If you don’t mind riding with me.”

Heavens, no.Her shopping excursion was looking better with every passing minute. “Not at all,” she said.

Ian followed her into the corridor leading to the forward entry hatch. “You’ll need a helmet and jacket.”

Once dressed in the leather garment he provided her, she carried his extra helmet to the gangway. At the bottom stood the transport—the Harley—a hulking example of primitive machinery propped upright on a metal leg. Glinting silver and black, the transport seemed to bring ancient history to life.

Anticipation pulsed through her. “What a glorious day,” she said, inhaling the scents of sun-warmed leather and fossil fuel, grease and dusty, dry dirt.

As Ian tugged on his gloves, she donned her helmet and lowered the visor after only a few seconds of fumbling.

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