Page 59 of Star Prince

“Ah. I don’t think there’s a sweeter sounding word.”

From where she sat at the controls of the craft, she glanced over her shoulder. “Why? Because you know the unprotected and frightened Dar princess is awaiting your strong, rescuing arms?”

“Something like that.”

One corner of her mouth quirked. “Aye. I knew it.”

He found himself mildly annoyed. “Why would you ridicule the idea of a man coming to the aid of a distressed female? I find the concept inherently romantic.”

“I think it’sthe actof saving that you’re in love with. The princess…the kettacat—though it’s debatable as to whether you really ‘saved’ it…and then, of course, there’s me.” As if in agreement, the kettacat in her lap blinked sleepily over at him.

Gann didn’t know how to respond. He acknowledged that she was right in that he hoped to rescue her in some sense. But wasn’t that what he wanted forhimself, as well? Rescue from his two-dimensional existence as an instrument of his king? He had long-imagined himself in his older years finding a trusted companion with whom he could share his life…and perhaps come to love, but that had eluded him for most of his adult life. Of course, he had managed to keep himself relatively well satisfied when it came to physical concerns—at least until now. Never had his plans to take a woman to bed been so delayed. Not that he had ever wanted anyone else as much as he did Lara.

She turned away with a satisfied smirk. “I didn’t think you’d want to answer that one,Vash.Besides, I ain’t in need of rescue, so stop trying. What would you do with me, anyhow, once you’d saved me?”

I’d make love to you until we were both too exhausted for anything but sleep and too sated to care,he almost said. But her shadowed eyes and sad little mouth pricked his protective instincts instead. “I’d pamper you, as you deserve to be. I’d treat you like a princess, because you’d be one to me,” he said with simple frankness.

She turned, so he couldn’t see her face. But her hunched shoulders told him she heard every word.

“But I honestly wonder, Lara, if you’d ever view my efforts as anything other than sympathy.”

After what seemed like eternity, she answered him. “It depends how you define it. Feeling sorry for oneself is self-pity. When you feel sorry for another, then, yes, it’s sympathy. But if the sympathy ismutual, that would be commiseration, I think.”

“You…feel sorry for me?”

She looked at him as if he hadn’t an atom of self-awareness. “Aye. You’re as lonely as I am. More, maybe.”

He fell back in his chair. Hewaslonely, a lonesome and sometimes melancholy old warrior who missed the excitement of the old days. Only it was disconcerting hearing the diagnosis from Lara.

She shifted so that he could see her profile. “No, I wouldn’t call what we feel toward each other sympathy. Maybe…compassion, reciprocated.” Then she grimaced. “Crat. Did I just say that? It sounds like something you’d come up with.”

He laughed. “So it does.”

As always, silence fell between them. Only this time it was different. Something had eased, although he couldn’t define what it was. Instead of trying, he kept quiet and watched her fly as she resumed her preparations for entry into Grüma’s crowded space lanes.

The rumbling of the ship’s massive star-drive shook the floor beneath his boots. They dropped out of light speed, the stars outside shrinking from elongated streamers to pinpricks of light. One of those lights was Grüma.

Tee’s armstightened around Ian’s waist as he maneuvered the Harley away from the landing pad, bouncing along the dirt path until they reached Grüma’s version of a highway. No speed limits here,he thought. Accelerating, he lowered his body into the wind and gave in to the addictive freedom of riding, a rush of sensation made more powerful by the necessity to see Randall before the senator left for Earth.

Downtown Grüma and its surrounding forest faded to a hazy smear in his rear-view mirrors. The road narrowed and climbed higher into pristine tree- and-boulder-strewn hills.Watch your back.He put his senses on full alert, scanning the landscape ahead and behind. So charged were his muscles that, when one of Tee’s hands crept from his waist down to his thigh, he almost swerved the Harley onto the shoulder.

Her thumb began moving back and forth along the crease where his leg met his hip. He slapped his gloved hand over hers and squashed the subtle movement of her fingers. Then he pointedly placed her hand back on his waist and silently thanked her for keeping it there.

Road signs in block-like Basic runes pointed toward the area of the ancient ruins where Randall was based. The road grew steeper and narrower as they progressed. When they finally reached the summit of the ridge overlooking the fortress, he veered off the pavement and killed the engine.

A vast unspoiled forest spread out before them, green-blue under a lavender sky. To the east, the remains of an ancient wall snaked along the tops of distant hills, reminding him of when he visitedthe Great Wall of China in the outskirts of Beijing. Far below was a group of ancient sprawling buildings, most of them crumbling stone.

He raised his binoculars and studied the ruins. On a landing pad sat a workhorse of a starship, no sleek lines or graceful delta shape, only a blunt fuselage and short, blocky wings meant for long-term deep-space travel. Most importantly, the ship wasn’t issuing the telltale signs of being readied for launch. “Where are you, Randall?”

Tee lowered her binoculars. “It doesn’t look like anyone is home.”

“They could be inside.”

“Shall we check?” she asked somewhat uneasily.

“Not yet. It’s early. He hasn’t started his day. When he does, I want to see where he goes and what he does.”

“So we wait then? We might as well enjoy the scenery.” She walked to the edge of the ridge, and he watched the gentle sway of her backside and the way her pants clung to her long legs. His body reacted instantly. “It’s incredible, is it not?” she called over her shoulder.

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