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  “These things?” Boone touched the black leather strapped to K’s slender arms gingerly.

  Mom nodded. “Yes, those. She made me go get them for her. Said it was the only way. I guess…guess she was right.”

  “I guess so.” Boone frowned. “But if they’re anything like the rest of that damn suit of hers, they could be hurting her right now.” Carefully, he unstrapped the gauntlets, being very, very cautious not to touch the firing mechanisms embedded near the wrists. As he pulled them off, he noticed bloody puncture wounds on the insides of her delicate forearms. Damn the Purists, couldn’t they make anything that didn’t damage the user?

  As he laid the lethal black leather on the seat beside K, her eyes finally fluttered open and focused on him. “Boone?” she whispered. “What? Where…?”

  “K!” Unable to stop himself, he crushed her to him, holding her slender body tight and breathing in the warm feminine scent of her hair.

  “Boone…” She seemed uncertain of what to do at first and then her arms crept around his neck and she hugged him back, as tightly as he was hugging her. “I saw you on the viewscreen and I was so afraid,” she whispered, pressing her cheek to his. “Fear is a terrible feeling—I don’t like it at all!”

  “Of course you don’t—no one does.” Boone didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “But you came to save me anyway, didn’t you, darlin’?” Pulling back, he studied her face and then stroked her cheek gently. “You came even though you were afraid.”

  K blushed, her pale cheeks flushing deep red. She looked down, as though unable to meet his eyes. “Of course I came.” Her voice was stern, as though she was trying to purge the unwanted emotions that seemed to be flooding her. “I came because…because…” She lifted her eyes. “Because no one is going to get the privilege of killing you but me.”

  “Is that right?” Boone said softly.

  “Yes, of course.” She frowned. “If you think that I came to save you because of any kind of emotional attachment I might have to you, let me assure you that—”

  Boone shut her up with a kiss.

  It was crossing the line and he knew it but somehow he couldn’t help himself. Part of it was the cloud of pheromones still hanging heavily in the air and part of it was his relief that she was alive and well. But mostly he’d been wanting to do this—even if he hadn’t admitted it to himself—almost from the moment he’d first laid eyes on K. She was slender and deadly and completely different from any female he’d ever been with—a strange combination of child waiting to be awakened and adult who has already seen far too much. And at that moment, Boone wanted her as he had never wanted any woman before.

  The moment his lips met hers, she went rigid in his arms. Her slender body was as stiff as a board and for a moment Boone feared he had overloaded her system and she was losing it because of the extreme level of ‘contamination’ he was putting her through. Then suddenly, to his surprise, she slid her fingers into his hair and kissed him back.

  The kiss lacked expertise—clearly it was her first, which Boone had known anyway. But there was a hungry, almost desperate quality in the way she kissed him which made him pull her even closer, eager to have as much of her skin against his as possible.

  Her mouth tasted sweet—as though she’d been sipping hot chocolate before she came to save him and her body, so tense in his arms a moment before, was suddenly as pliable as silk under his hands. Her fingers in his hair pulled him closer, urging him to take more, to give more of the sweet sensation of their mouths meshed together. Encouraged, Boone licked delicately at the seam of her lips and to his surprise, she parted for him, inviting him in.

  “God, darlin’,” he groaned softly before slipping his tongue inside her.

  K stiffened anew at the feeling of his tongue invading her mouth, then she pulled him even closer, pressing up to offer more as he explored and owned her gently but thoroughly.

  Mine, Boone thought deliriously, as he held her tight and tasted those lush lips at last. You’re mine now, K. I don’t care where you came from or where you’re going because now that you’re here with me I’ll never, ever let you go…

  “Well, well, well. If it isn’t a case of the horny heteros.” Loki’s voice, tinged with amusement and disgust, cut through the fog of pheromone-induced lust which seemed to have clouded Boone’s brain.

  “What?” He pulled back at once and K let go of him at the same time.

  “Boone?” The expression on her face was one of wonder and concern. “What happened?” she asked. “What is that awful smell in the air? And why do I feel so weak? So…so strange?”

  “That’s because you are fucking strange, Princess Paladin.” Loki smirked at her. “And awfully eager to play kissy-face with Boone here for a cold, emotionless Purist, if I may say so.”

  K flushed again, her cheeks going dull red. “I don’t know what came over me. I would never…have never…”

  “Of course you haven’t. It’s the pheromones.” Boone cursed himself for a fool. No wonder she’d responded to him so eagerly. The hormone soup that passed for air around the dead saurian would be enough to challenge even the strongest moral conviction. K probably would have kissed Loki in this state—if he’d wanted her to, that was. Though from the look on his face, that was the furthest thing from the Erian’s mind.

  “Well, you’ve done it now, one kiss is all it takes.” Loki was still smirking.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean? And what are you doing here anyway?” Boone snarled as K hurriedly put some distance between them. “From the way you were whining earlier I thought you’d be somewhere getting your itch scratched.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about little old me.” Loki batted his eyelashes and grinned. “I already got fucked just a minute ago by that big, strapping young man over there.” He pointed to a man who’d been in the crowd watching from the other side of the fence. Loki waved at the man and he waved back uncertainly, a look of confusion on his face. “I’m not entirely sure he knew he was gay.” Loki gave his conquest a bright smile and turned back to Boone. “But he sure as hell does now. What a beastly top. Love it!”

  “Loki, can you be serious for once?” Mom had joined them and she was giving the Erian a look of disapproval. “We all nearly died out here—you and Boone especially. Instead of engaging in carnal activities, maybe you should thank the Goddess you’re still among the living.”

  “I was giving thanks,” Loki snapped, putting a hand on his hip. “That’s the way we do things on Eros. And apparently the way they do things on Athena, too.” He gave K a derisive glance. “Boone and Princess Paladin were going at it pretty hot and heavy too but I don’t see you lecturing them.”

  “I have never engaged in that type of…of activity before,” K protested, wrapping her arms around herself. “It is not typical on Athena. I don’t know why I…I…” She put a hand to her head and her eyelids fluttered. “I don’t…”

  Suddenly she sank to the ground in a dead faint.

  “K!” Boone scooped her up and ran for the RTV. “Hurry, we have to get her back to the ship!”

  He settled his large form gingerly in the passenger seat, still cradling K’s limp body in his arms. Mom gunned the engine and he stared anxiously at the Paladin’s pale features. What was wrong with her? Was it an after-effect of using the powerful weapons to save him? Or had he overloaded her system with his foolish, ill-conceived kiss? Had he killed her?

  Please, no—let her be all right. Let me be able to save her, Boone prayed, crushing her to his chest. Please don’t let me lose her now!

  Chapter Thirteen

  K woke up feeling very strange. No, not just strange…wrong. There’s something the matter with me, she thought and struggled to sit up.

  “Whoa, darlin’, not so fast.” A big, warm hand pushed her down gently, forcing her to remain on the sleep platform.

  “Boone?” K tried to make her eyes focus but it was difficult—her eyelids felt like someone had tied lead w