Page 58 of Star Prince

Lara surprised him with a pleased, throaty laugh,clearly recognizing his reference to her earlier comment. “Yourship,Vash.My ship’s impounded. Thanks to my idiot associate, Eston.”

She sauntered to her seat and buckled in. “That’s the only reason I’m traipsing around the frontier, looking for a spoiled aristo girl too half-witted to recognize how good she had it at home. Someone should tell her.”

Gann winced. Poor Tee’ah Dar. The soon-to-be-rescued princess had no idea what she was in for once she met Lara, master tracker, face to face.

Chapter Fifteen

Outside the ship,a slow rosy Grüman dawn melted away the shadows. Inside theSun Devil,the day was well underway. Tee’ah returned to Ian’s quarters with tockand coffee, though, at that point, having been up most of the night, she was certain she was well beyond the benefits of stimulating beverages.

“It is Tee,” she said at the door. The hatch slid open with a soft hiss, revealing his uncluttered, shipshape bedchamber. The few pieces of furniture were simple and masculine, and the fabrics covering the bed and floor cushions were dyed in desert tones of ocher, russet, and light brown. But just as she learned that Ian was not as he first appeared, so the room’s neutral hues were unexpectedly spiked with brilliant colors—a pillow of pure turquoise, a yellow bowl, an old-fashioned wax candle in bright red. In fact, she found the effect extremely pleasing.

She stepped around a lumpy piece of metal that looked like it belonged to the Harley. Next to it was a neatly folded polishing rag. A razor and the barest of toiletries were stuck to the magnetic shelf above Ian’s sink. Nothing in the chamber indicated that Ian would, upon Rom’s retirement to the Great Council of Elders, ascend to the most powerful ruling position in the galaxy.

But Ian looked every inch a leader—especially as he, Quin, and Muffin huddled around a holographic map of Grüma. She poured the hot drinks, looking up to find Ian’s eyes seeking hers. His smile made her heart do a little flip-flop.

He doesn’t know who you are.For the hundredth time since discovering who Ian was, she reassured herself of that fact.

His face taut with tension, he reiterated the day’s plans with his men. “With the very good chance that Klark will make another attempt at sabotage, I’m separating the two main elements I’ll need to fly off-planet—theSun Deviland Tee. She’ll come with me. Muffin, you have the ship; and Quin, keep plugging away repairing the thruster. Gredda and Push will be stationed downtown, looking for any sign of Klark—or Randall, should he not be at his ship. Everyone remains in comm contact at all times, with check-ins every hour.”

Despite the grim silence, knowing looks broadcast the men’s approval of the plan.

Ian reached for the holographic map. “Displaysector 3-A.” A tiny, forested ridge appeared in front of them, a replica of the green-blue hills above downtown Grüma. “This morning Tee and I will do surveillance from the ridge above the fortress where Randall landed his ship. This afternoon, if all checks out okay, I’ll head down there.

“Have you loaded the food and water onto the Harley?” Ian asked Tee’ah, closing the holo-map.

“Yes. Everything is ready,” she said, wondering if he had given any thought to what happened when they had last ridden together.

Muffin and Quin departed for their assigned duties, and Ian unlocked a safe, out of which he plucked a smallish brown box. Open, the box emitted the pungent sweetness of fragrant wood. Carefully he spilled the contents onto the desktop—unfamiliar coins and a thick roll of green-and-white old-fashioned paper credits—Earth money, she guessed—and a leather pouch.

He explained in a quiet voice, “I suppose if labels and titles define a person, then these would be me.”

She could hardly breathe as she watched him take a long beaded chain with a curious gold charm—a cross with a tiny man pinned to it—from the pouch and set it aside. “Rosary beads. I was raised Catholic,” he explained, translating the English words into Basic with some apparent difficulty. Next, he laid out two gold rings. One carved band had a blue gem and the Earth runes “ASU”, like the borrowed cap. “My class ring. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance.”

The study of money and trade, she gathered, although again she suspected that several words didn’t translate exactly.

He placed the second gold band in her hand. “This is what I will be wearing when I see Randall.” The ring was weighty and ornately forged with etched runes far more familiar to her than those on the other.Fealty, fidelity, family,it said. The triad comprised the ancient code of theVashwarrior, one that stressed the control and self-discipline that underpinned her entire civilization.

But this wasn’t just anyVash Nadahsignet ring. Age-old Siennan symbols indicated that it was of the Clan B’kah, a ring only the galactic crown prince could wear.

Hearing Ian’s declaration of his identity was one thing; seeing the proof sitting in her palm was another. She met his gaze with her most stoic face—one that she had learned in her years at her father’s court—and hoped that she could conceal her inner turmoil.

“Thank you for letting me see your personal things,” she said, handing the ring back to him. He slipped it on his finger.

As long as he doesn’t know who you are, you’re safe,she reminded herself as they walked into the corridor. In fact, none of her plans needed to change—from her goal to save money and pay for her own starship to any of her other hopes. Especially her most personal quest to lose her virginity. Wasn’tgiving her innocence to the man of her choice the ultimate physical expression of her liberation? And could she imagine a man she would choose more readily than Ian Hamilton?

And yet, in doing so, she would forever close the door to returning home. The thought exacerbated an ache that hadn’t yet disappeared for good.Vash Nadahmen were subject to far fewer restrictions than their female counterparts. While Ian was unmarried, he might make love to her and suffer none of the far-reaching consequences she herself would endure. If she made love to him, she could never go back.

Ian waited for her to climb down the gangway to the exit hatch before he followed. His Earth jeans stretched deliciously tight across his toned, muscular buttocks. Fastening her coat all the way up to her neck, she bit back a sigh. Oddly, the image that filled her mind was not of Ian making love to her, but of her giving him the gift of pleasure…of watching his expression as she wrapped the waistband of his jeans around her knuckles and eased his pants lower. Desire would make her eager, and eagerness would make her tremble as her breath whispered over his bare, sensitive skin. At first only her fingertips would stroke his hardened flesh; then, as she had been taught in countless readings, she would take him into her mouth loving him with her lips, her teeth, her tongue, until…

“Are you all right?” Ian gave her a funny look.

Tee’ah’s skin felt oddly warm all over, and herpulse echoed in the most intimate places. “Yes, fine; a little sleep deprivation, is all.”

“You’ll have time to rest later.”

Would she? Her hot little fantasy was disconcerting to say the least, but it had also provided her with an intriguing inspiration.

On the outskirtsof the planetary system that included Grüma, theQuillieleft cruising speed. “Decelerating,” Lara confirmed.

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