Captive of Pleasure; the Space Pirate's Woman (The LodeStar Series) (52 page)

“Now,” Joran said, “Let’s go get that data. I want it off of my woman.”

***

Back in Adamant, they all trooped up to the Bravelings’ suite, where they were greeted by Zaë’s parents with looks that said, ‘What more can there be to this drama?’

When Joran explained why they were there, Zaë gaped at him, then at Kai, who gave her a small, wary smile.

“You mean to tell me I’ve been walking around with the key to a huge amount of credit on my comlink?” she asked, her blue eyes wide with disbelief and an edge of horrified mirth.

“Afraid so, bunny. Sit tight, and let Kai remove the pearl, okay? The commander here wants to get the data locked down.”

She perched on the arm of a chair, and tipped her head up for Kai. “Okay, come on. Do your thing.”

“Thank you,” he murmured.
 

She winced as he clicked a small device near her ear, and then reached up to finger the comlink. “I wondered where that black pearl came from. It didn’t look right.”

“I am sorry to have tampered with your implant. And your safety. I hope you understand why it seemed necessary.”

“I get why you did it. But what a risk—I mean for the data! What would you have done if Joran hadn’t purchased me?”

Kai handed the device to Commander Qale, and faced Zaë, his face set stoically. “I would have stolen a cruiser, followed you and killed whoever bought you. Then I would have taken you away with me somewhere.”

“Whoa. And then worked to bring down Vadyal.”
 

He nodded.
 

She rose and faced him, her expression gentle. “I’m okay with all that, Kai. You don’t have to apologize to me. I know it could have been bad, at least until you got there, but I also know that you…”

His expression shifted yet again, closing off hard and fast. Her voice trailed off. Then she put out her hands, and waited until he slowly lifted his to take them.
 

“You’re free now,” she said to him, as if they were alone in the room. “You get to go and meet your sister. I hear she’s pretty excited to get you back. And then, you have the rest of your life to dream and do whatever you wish. And you’re doing so not as a victim, but as a hero, Kai te Nawa.”

He bowed, as if she’d bestowed a benediction, which in a way Joran guessed she had. “Thank you, Lady Elliane.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Please, call me Elle. We’re friends now.”

He looked startled, but slowly nodded. “Friends.”

Joran had never been so proud of a woman. His woman. He looked over and met Logan’s gaze. His brother smiled at him in perfect understanding.

***

It was over. Joran could hardly believe it.
 

The slavers, at least this bunch, had been captured and put out of business. He and his crew were safe, both from Cerul and the vengeful Slidi. He had a new calling, one that he found himself damn pleased with. He’d chase pirates, this time with the full backing of the law behind him.

And if he occasionally longed to go wild again, well, he could always visit the crew. Or go wild in his lady’s arms.

And she had her life back and soon would have her memories. He’d see to that.But no matter what happened, they’d be together. In all ways.

Now he couldn’t wait to get back here and have her again. Of course they were meeting her parents for breakfast. But that wasn’t for nearly an hour.
 

Come to think of it, he had time, if he hurried…

Back in their room, he slipped into their bed, and set about waking her with soft kisses on her bare shoulder, and his fingers between her thighs. She woke with a little sound that was half-grumpy, half-needy and then turned to blink up at him, her soft arms sliding up around his bare back.

“Is it time to get up?” she asked sleepily.

“Only for me,” he told her, already stroking her into readiness for his cock.
 

She giggled, and then gasped as he thrust slowly into her. “Oh, Joran. I do love your cock.”

“Good,” he said, kissing her, and trying to keep from coming right then and there at the perfect caress of her soft, tight depths on his sensitive shaft. “Then you won’t mind if I use it for a bit.”

“No,” she whimpered. “I don’t mind.” In fact, if her soft cries and the incredibly tight, demanding clasp of her pussy around his cock were any indication, she loved it. So did he. He managed to hold out until she went wild under him, her eyes wide and shocked as she came. Then he locked his mouth with hers and drove home one final time before pumping himself into her depths.
His.

He held himself up on his elbows, not wanting to crush her, but unwilling to leave the hot clasp of her pussy, the softness of her breasts pillowing his chest, the twining embrace of her legs and arms around him.
 

Nuzzling her face, he drank in her sighs like the finest moonbrandy, and felt the sweet heat of certainty settle deep inside him, as if she’d reached deep into his chest and wrapped one of her hands right around his heart.

“Not lettin’ you go, my Zaë,” he whispered, his forehead tipped against hers, their mouths brushing. “I’ll give you time with your folks, I’ll take you where you need to go to get treatment, get your past back if you can. But even if that never happens, you are mine.”

Her long lashes swept up, and he looked into the blue depths of her eyes and saw wonder and happiness.
 

“Are you sure?” she whispered. “I may never get all of me back—“

“You will,” he insisted. “Enough, anyway. You’re
you
. You’re Elliane, and you’re Zaë, and you’re my bunny, all in one package. They may have stolen you and drugged you out of your mind, but they couldn’t destroy the heart of you. A person has to let someone else do that, and you didn’t. You fought back with all that you are—all the courage and humor and sweetness. You didn’t let them destroy that.”

Tears filled her eyes, and then she blushed.
 

“What?” he asked, his own face heating as he realized he was practically spouting fucking poetry at her. Maybe she didn’t want to hear that from him.

She wrinkled her nose. “You’re—you’re saying all these wonderful things, and you’re…inside me.”

Since she finished on a strangled whisper that said she could barely get the words out, Joran could not help himself.
 

He burst out laughing, long and deep. Then he slid his arms around her and rolled, taking her with him so she ended up lying draped over him, their bodies still locked in the most intimate of embraces.

“Yeah, I am. Like being inside you—love being inside you, my Zaë. Love your sweet pussy, love everything about you.”

Her face was a deep pink, but she smiled at him, her eyes filling with tears. “You do? Really, Joran?”

“I do,” he said, and kissed her again.
 

“I love your cock,” she whispered when their mouths finally parted. “And everything else about you, too.”

He groaned with pleasure. “Ah, baby. You’re giving it all to me…don’t deserve it, but fair warning, I’m never lettin’ go.”

“The same goes for me,” she said. “And fair warning, if any of those other women try to get close to you again, I know how to take them
down
.”

Joran grinned at her. “What other women? They all just disappeared off my satcom. Only one left, and she’s a beauty. It’s going to take all my time and energy keepin’ her happy. Forever.”

The End

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  Captive of Pleasure
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  LodeStar
  Book 4;
  Stark’s Honor; the Space Magnate’s Bride
  , please keep reading.
  

best,

Cathryn

The LodeStar Series

Book Four,

Stark’s Honor; the Space Magnate’s Bride

Here’s an excerpt …

“Come and lie down with me,” he said.
 

“All right.”Just a little more time, that’s all she wanted.
 

Logan Stark lay back on the bed, and Kiri te Nawa curled against his side as she had when they were together. And just for now, lying with his heart beating under her ear, she let herself believe it could work.
 

She stroked his warm, hard abdomen, sliding her fingers up to tangle in the sparse curls on his broad chest.
 

“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” she asked.

He tensed under her touch, and his arm tightened on her. “No.”

That hurt. He was shutting her out, but then what had she expected? He always played his games in solitude, manipulating those around him, only letting them see as much as he chose.
 

She took a shaky breath, and blinked back the tears that threatened. “Well, then, thank you for bringing Kai back to me.”
 

She lifted her head, and pushed away from him. He held onto her, his eyes opening. “Where are you going?”

“It seems we’re done here,” she answered, proud that her voice was nearly steady. “You can go back to your—”

“Not yet,” he said.He touched her face. “Just...lie with me for a little. Then I’ll go.”

Torture herself with the joy of being held close to his heat and strength, when he wasn’t really hers to keep?
 

Oh, why the hells not? Kai had gone out for the evening, and she wasn’t about to suffocate him by waiting up for him, asking where he’d been and if he was all right.

And besides, she wanted this, needed it almost more than she needed the air she breathed.
 

She curled against Logan’s long, lean frame, nearly purring with the pleasure of holding him again. His arm heavy on her waist, he turned his face into her hair, and held her silently.

Inevitably, worn out by the emotion of the past days and by two rounds of Logan Stark style sex, she slept.

***

The man woke swiftly, his heart pounding, his body tight, ready for fight or flight, in the way he’d become accustomed over the last several nights. He frowned at the darkness of the unfamiliar bedroom, but then he smelled that wonderful, feminine scent. He was in a woman’s bed.
 

Turning his head, he looked at her.
 

 
In the warmth of the night, she lay naked on her back, one slim arm flung over her head, her face turned toward him. She’d pushed the covers down to her waist. Her bare breasts were like halves of a peach, small nipples riding their soft swells, rising and falling gently with her breath.
 

She was lovely and he’d had her.

She was so small, and delicate in her sleep, all that verve and will and passion muted. He could take her with him. Keep her. Although the particulars of their sexual union had slipped into the folds of darkness in his mind, the languor of his body told him he was well sated.
 

It had been good with her.
 

He could keep her at his side, keep her safe, keep her for his own. But she might say no. And although he was fumbling mentally and emotionally in the dark, like a blind man, he knew one thing about himself. He could force her to go, but...he wouldn’t.
 

Also, another, darker more cunning side of his consciousness was unfolding, reminding him that if she did refuse him, then she’d be awake, aware. She’d see him leaving. He had to get away in secret, until he could remember, could assess all threats looming in the blackness. If she saw him go, she’d be a threat.
 

Then he’d have to neutralize her.

He dressed in silence, looked down at her once again and then slipped from the room, and out of the condo, taking only what he’d brought with him. It was enough to take him where he was going.

Back to the beginning, where he could hole up and try and make sense of who he was, and why so much of him was missing.

At the space port, he eyed the huge, graceful shape of the ship
Orion
, floating in her dock like a giant white swan that had landed to tuck her head under her wing for the night. Bound for Earth II, by the holodisplay floating in the center of the outdoor concourse.
 

Earth II, yes. He’d been there; it was a place he knew. Images of dark, rainy streets and soaring towers flickered through his mind. But on a ship this grand?