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  Then the screen flickered to black and the call was over.

  * * * * *

  “Well…” Harper drew a deep breath as the image faded from the viewscreen and looked at Shad. “That was certainly interesting.”

  “You played your part well…my Empress.” His deep voice held a tone of grudging respect.

  “You didn’t think I could pull it off? Didn’t I tell you I was in drama in high school?” Harper said.

  “Yes, I remember.” He cleared his throat. “Well, I’d better get the landing craft ready.”

  “Oh, no—wait a minute.” Harper wasn’t nearly ready to let him go yet.

  “What is it?” Shad asked gruffly. “We’re expected at those damn Cleansing Baths immediately—we need to hurry.”

  “If you won’t talk about the elephant in the room, I sure as hell will,” Harper snapped. “What was all that about you being my, uh, sexual attendant?” She could feel her cheeks heating as their eyes clashed but she refused to back down. “Why did you insist on that? Are you jealous or something?”

  “Of course not.” The big Kindred raised an eyebrow at her. “I simply thought you’d rather have me touching you than a stranger. Was I wrong?”

  “And I thought you never wanted to touch me again after…after what happened with the uh, sex-milk.” Harper could feel her cheeks getting hotter but she wouldn’t drop her eyes. “At least, that’s the impression you’ve been giving me this past week. Was I wrong?”

  “You think I don’t want you—don’t want to touch you?”

  Shad bridged the gap between them and suddenly he was towering over her as she sat in the elaborate golden throne which was placed in the middle of the control center.

  Harper looked up at him, refusing to be intimidated.

  “What am I supposed to think after the way you acted? After the way you dropped me and ran back inside that shell of ice you have around you once we were done…doing what we did?” she demanded.

  “I told you once before to think anything but that I don’t care for you,” he said hoarsely. “Do you know how hard it was to stop last time I touched you? How close I was to taking you completely?”

  “But you don’t want that,” Harper shot back. “You’re afraid we’ll form a bond—isn’t that what you said?”

  “I can’t risk bonding with you, Harper—but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to—that I don’t want you.” He leaned closer, putting his hands on the arms of her golden throne, his white eyes luminous and blazing with a shifting opalescence that seemed to pierce right through her.

  Harper’s cloak of thorns hissed angrily but the big Kindred ignored it.

  “I want you Harper,” he growled, his voice soft but intense. “I want you so badly I fucking ache.” He took her hand in his and pressed it between his thighs.

  Harper gasped as she felt the hot, hard ridge of his cock filling her palm, barely contained by the smooth black leather stretched tightly over it.

  “Shad!” she protested but didn’t try to yank her hand away as she knew she ought to. This was the closest she’d been to him in over a week and she couldn’t help herself—she didn’t want it to end.

  I really care for him, she thought dismally. As much as I try not to, I can’t get the big bastard out of my head.

  Or out of her heart.

  His warm, masculine scent surrounded her and she could feel her heart pounding in the cage of her ribs. She was aware that they weren’t alone—that the clone servants that had come with the space yacht were all looking discretely away but she didn’t care—couldn’t care about anything but the big Kindred who was glaring down at her with his hardness still cupped in her palm.

  “I’m like this because of you,” he growled, still pressing her hand to his crotch. “Because I can’t stop thinking about you—can’t stop wanting you, Harper.”

  Harper just stared at him, not sure of what to say.

  Shad let go of her hand and drew back at last.

  “But I can’t have you—we can’t have each other. Because nothing between us can last—it can only lead to heartache.”

  “Then why did you demand to be my sexual attendant?” she asked. “Why if you’re so afraid of making any kind of commitment?”

  He glared at her. “Because I can’t fucking stand the idea of another male’s hands on you, all right? You’re mine, Harper. Mine.”

  His proprietary words and the look of possessive lust he was giving her shook Harper to her core. Despite his earlier words that his life was devoted to her, she’d begun to believe that she had somehow offended him or turned him off and that was why he’d grown so cool towards her. Now she realized all over again that the big Kindred really did want her—but he was refusing to act on their mutual desire.

  Well, he’s going to damn well have to act on it if he’s going to be my sexual attendant and my bodyguard down there on Goddess planet, she thought grimly.

  Aloud she said, “If that’s the way you feel, then maybe you could try acting like it instead of freezing me out all the time. And I belong to myself, Shad. Don’t forget that.”

  Her only answer was another possessive growl—which caused her cloak of thorns to hiss—and then he straightened up abruptly.

  “We have to get down to the surface soon,” he snapped. “Be certain you’re wearing your most royal-looking outfit—you have to look authentic.” Then he turned on his boot heel and left.

  Harper watched him go with a conflicting stew of emotions brewing inside. She felt strangely gratified to know that he wanted her after all and he was just holding himself back—and then angry at herself for being glad the big Kindred was attracted to her.

  There was also a growing desire for revenge. He’d hurt her badly when it seemed like he wanted nothing to do with her for the past week after their intensely intimate encounter. And now he wouldn’t be able to help touching her and being close to her.

  Maybe it was time to get a little of her own back, Harper thought.

  With that in mind, she went to change.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Shad tried to hold back a growl of lust as he stood at Harper’s side and waited for the attendant to check them into the Cleansing Baths. When he’d told her to wear her most royal looking outfit, he hadn’t meant anything like this.

  She was draped in her multicolored royal cloak of thorns, of course, which befitted royalty. But underneath it she was wearing a long green gown that seemed to be made entirely of fringes. At least, if the way her tight nipples and the V of her soft sex he could see flashing when she walked was any indication.

  It made him nearly crazy to think that other people would see her like this—lush…beautiful…exposed, but Harper didn’t seem to be bothered at all. Indeed, she carried herself like a queen with her head held high and her shoulders thrown back as though wearing such revealing clothing was her right. She had rolled her thick, curly hair into a golden-brown twist at the back of her head which showed the slender column of her throat and made her look even more elegant and unobtainable.

  The arrogant toss of her head and her confident posture only made Shad want her more. Made him want to take her here and now in front of the huge double doors leading into the Cleansing Baths and never mind what anyone who came to serve them might think…

  No! What are you thinking? Get hold of yourself!

  Shad shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the lustful thoughts. He remembered how he’d taken Harper’s hand and pressed it to his aching cock…how he longed to fill her with his shaft and his seed and claim her completely…

  This isn’t me. I’ve never acted like this on any of the paths we took together on the loop, he told himself. He’d never allowed himself to make love to Harper—had scarcely dared to allow himself to fantasize about it. As a Shadow Twin he was almost certainly unable to form a bond with a female. But there was always that tiny chance in a thousand that they could bond—and that was what kept him from claiming her.

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