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  She stretched, well aware of every kink and cramp, each small bruise where he’d clasped her a bit too tightly, held her a little too long. The small pains made her smile.

  He’d done his best to exorcise her ghosts. Had she managed the same for him?

  The sticky wetness between her legs was proof she’d been successful. He’d found his release with her. That was obvious. Were his demons gone forever?

  What about her own?

  Rolling to one side, Bry slid off the bunk and headed for the small shower. She grabbed a skinsuit out of the overhead storage and found her boots tucked neatly beside the door. In a matter of minutes she managed to bathe and prepare herself to meet the day.

  To meet Jacob? Sighing, she stared at herself in the small mirror. What a convoluted relationship! When she thought of him, she was immediately aroused. Her addiction had begun the night she captured him, had only increased over the ensuing years.

  Now that they’d finally come together, she felt more confused than ever.

  * * * * *

  She found the bridge easily. After all, this ship was identical to the one she’d given up. Jacob leaned over the control panel, his hands flying across the screen as he brought the ship into orbit around a large space station.

  A narrow band circled his head, holding the thick waves of chestnut hair out of his eyes. His muscles rippled and bunched beneath the shiny gray fabric of his uniform and he leaned over the control panel as if he was preparing to leap into space himself.

  Energy practically radiated off him, the air on the bridge crackled with an unseen power.

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  Bry slipped into the co-pilot’s chair and fastened the harness. She glanced at Jake, but his attention was focused completely on the job at hand.

  Much as he had previously focused on her.

  She watched while his fingers flew over the controls, adjusting speed, angle, approach. He was an essential element—one with his ship.

  As it should be.

  Finally, he flipped a final switch and sat back in his chair. Bry studied his lean profile, the hawk-like nose, the full lips that had so recently tasted her in such an intimate manner. He watched their approach to the station, their tiny ship dwarfed by the huge wheel of metal floating in space.

  “What now?” she asked. That wasn’t what she’d meant to say at all. The words slipped past the knot in her throat, made themselves heard on their own.

  He turned and stared at her, his eyes glinting with the multi-colored lights from the control panel. He looked like a stranger, a man who might have bumped into her on a street corner, apologized and moved on.

  “How did you find me? How did you know who the Barbarian was?”

  The question was so unexpected, Bry shook her head. “Everyone had heard of the Barbarian. His name was legend.”

  He swept a hand through his hair in a dismissive action. “No, that’s not true.

  Someone convinced you of this, told you about the Barbarian.”

  Bry tried to remember the early days of her search. She’d been so lost after Janie’s death. Angry, confused and filled with an overwhelming need for vengeance. She and Marty had met one night in a bar, running into each other accidentally after a long separation. They’d both lost sisters to the sex trades. Bry recalled the anger in Marty’s voice, how they’d fantasized what they would do should they ever capture the leader of…

  “It was Marty. My friend Martine Hartsdotter. She’s a lieutenant with Fleet. Internal Affairs, I think. She told me about the Barbarian. As I recall, she’d accidentally seen a classified report. There was enough information in it to tell her he was the one responsible for Janie’s death. She knew where I could find him, even helped me get the drugs I slipped into his drink.” She dipped her head, ashamed. “Your drink.”

  Jake sighed. “That’s what I was afraid of. We were set up. You as well as me.” His jaw clenched. Bry noticed the small tic had reappeared in his eyelid. “I had three sisters.

  Glynna, Danae…and Martine. Glynna’s a flight surgeon aboard the StarCruiser, Gull.

  Danae was a victim of the sex slavers…and Martine wanted vengeance. She felt my investigation was moving too slowly, my character—the Barbarian—not authentic enough in the eyes of the cartel.”

  “Marty? My friend Marty is your sister?” Blinking slowly, Bry tried to bring her world back into focus . Marty? Jake was still talking. She shook her head in denial. No, not…

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  “She’s also an IA operative. How do you think I found you?”

  Marty? A spy?

  Bry suddenly recalled all the intimate conversations she’d had with her friend, the way Marty had drawn her out, finally gotten her to reveal the full scope of her torture of the Barbarian…of Jacob. She shuddered, her violation complete. “But why? You’re her brother…she knew what I planned for you.”

  “Your torture of me authenticated the Barbarian. Once word got out that he had been held and brutalized by a rogue captain from the WF, no one questioned his authenticity. Before that, I was having trouble getting inside, but the cartel welcomed me once I escaped from you. I thought at first your treatment of me had been under orders of Fleet—maybe it was, through Marty, but I realize now it was totally without your knowledge. Until now, I couldn’t make the link between you and his…my, capture.”

  A voice crackled over the intercom unit. Jake turned his attention back to his ship and the myriad details of docking.

  Stunned, Bry turned the events of the past two years over in her mind. Marty. Her confidant, her best friend, her betrayer? Jake’s betrayer? Thoughts spinning, Bry watched as he skillfully brought the ship into the docking bay.

  She hadn’t even asked him where they were.

  As if he understood her unspoken question, Jake glanced in her direction. “We’re at Fleet headquarters. I intend to get your commission back. You never should have resigned. I don’t know if Marty acted alone or under orders from her commander, but you are a victim of this every bit as much as I was.”

  Bry clenched her jaw, fighting back tears. “I could have killed you. How could your own sister…?”

  Jake covered her hand with his. “I imagine Martine underestimated your passion, your anger. She has a lot of explaining to do.” He unbuckled the lap and shoulder harness and stood up. “You asked me, what now?” He held his hand out to her. “I don’t know what will happen next, but I don’t want to lose what I have so recently found.”

  She couldn’t help flashing him a cheeky grin. “What? That missing manhood of yours?”

  “No,” he said, cupping her jaw in his big hand. “You.”

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  Chapter 8

  “Good Goddess. That has got to be the longest day I’ve ever spent in my life. I am so glad to be away from headquarters.” Bry unfastened her harness, stood up and stretched as the ship steadied into hyperspace under control of the autopilot. “I can’t believe Marty would do such a terrible thing, even if she was acting under orders. I thought she was my friend.”

  “She was. She is. You’ll see the truth in that some day.” Jacob stood as well and hauled Bry into his arms. “I can’t believe you turned down your commission and a promotion.”

  “It would have meant leaving you.” She snuggled against his broad chest, feeling the beat of his heart against her cheek. His fingers made lazy journeys up and down her spine.

  “The whole thing was so convoluted and cruel. Marty’s behavior is unforgivable.”

  Bry still felt violated by her friend’s betrayal. Jacob, however, gave the entire episode a different slant.

  “It worked. The end does not always justify the means, but in this case, it might have saved my life. We know it saved the lives of a lot of young women. If I’d continued with my original plan, the members of the cartel would have discovered I was with Fleet operations. As it turned out, they accepted me as one of the
ir own. I have to forgive her. Marty’s my sister and she was doing what she thought best, as well as following orders. You can’t escape blood.”

  He nipped at Bry’s lower lip, then soothed her with the very tip of his tongue. She parted her lips and took him on a sigh, suckling his tongue deep into her mouth. She felt his body harden, knew his arousal was every bit as strong as her own, but he ended the kiss with a tiny little bite at her full bottom lip, finishing it just as it had begun.

  Resting his forehead against hers, he whispered, “You, though…you, Bryony, are my love.”

  Love? She’d not heard that word before from Jake. She looked up, gazing deeply into those dark, fathomless eyes of his. The tic was gone, replaced by long unused laugh lines at the corners of his eyes.

  “Love? Are you sure?”

  He surged against her, hard and ready, and grinned. “Or as close a facsimile as I can imagine.”

  “It’s been a rather unusual courtship.” She’d never seen him laugh. They’d never really made love. They’d only exorcised one another’s demons.

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  He brushed the side of her face with the back of his hand. “A courtship that’s beginning today. What happened between us before is over. You are not the same woman. I’m not the same man. The meetings we had today with Fleet command have vindicated both of us. I’m not going to lose you, Bry. I love you.” He paused and lifted her chin with his finger. “At least I think I love you. I certainly would like to take the time and explore the concept.” He laughed, a deep, sexy chuckle that tickled her senses.

  She decided she really liked the sound.

  As he spoke, he slowly stripped her out of her flight suit, slipping the sleeves over her shoulders, exposing her rounded breasts, her flat belly, the patch of honey colored curls between her legs.

  His predatory gaze devoured her. The passion in his eyes brought a rush of moisture to her pussy, raised her nipples into tight peaks, sent a frisson of sensual awareness tingling across her flesh.

  Jacob’s desire enveloped Bry in a tangible surge of lust. He slipped her boots off her feet, helped her step out of her clothing, then stood back and blatantly admired her naked body.

  She knew her breasts were too small, her hips too narrow, her hair a frazzled cascade of tangles and curls, but she felt beautiful, sensual—lush and truly sexual—

  under Jacob’s gaze.

  He rubbed his hand over his crotch, an absentminded touch that told her just how lost he was in thoughts of their lovemaking. Taking the first bold step, she crossed the short distance between them and slowly unfastened his flight suit.

  He trembled beneath her fingers. His jaw was tightly clenched and his nostrils flared with each breath he took, but he let her undress him, allowed her to touch his chest, his lean hip, to trail her fingers along his groin as she slipped the stretchy fabric over his powerful body.

  His cock surged forward when she tugged his suit down his legs. He lifted each foot in turn, balancing with one huge hand planted on her shoulder, so she could remove his deck boots and pull off his pants.

  Naked, they stood and faced one another. Bry had never felt this deep awareness, this blatant self-knowledge, in her entire life. Her body tingled with a snapping, splintering charge of power, power she took directly from Jake. He touched her breast and she moaned, catching the back of a chair for balance.

  His fingers traced circles around the areola, teasing her nipple to a taut, almost painful point, then he leaned over and drew the flesh into his mouth, nipping her gently with his teeth. She groaned and collapsed against him, but he caught her up in his arms and carried her to the navigation table. Shoving maps and readers aside, he laid her down on the table, her legs hanging loosely over the edge.

  Kneeling before her, Jake buried his face between her legs. The musky scent of aroused woman filled his senses. He nipped the tender flesh of her inner thigh, then spread her legs wider with both hands. He cupped her bottom, lifted her up to his 64

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  mouth and feasted on her, laving her streaming pussy with his tongue, lapping up the flow of moisture, then finding the hard bead of her clitoris and suckling it with his lips.

  She bucked against him, but he held her firmly, his fingers grasping her full cheeks, kneading, massaging her closer to his mouth. He found her anus and slowly breached the opening with one blunt finger, sliding in and out in perfect sync with his tongue in her pussy.

  She came hard and fast, arching her back with a long, keening cry. He nipped and licked her through her climax, then soothed her swollen tissues with long, slow strokes of his tongue. When her trembling had eased, he stood over her a moment, looking at the woman who had broken him, then made him whole.

  Her eyes were closed, her lips parted in a satisfied smile. She whispered, very softly, “I think I’m going to like this, exploring the concept of love. I certainly think I love you, Jacob Hart.” Her eyes opened and she giggled. “Make love to me. Fill me.

  Don’t ever leave.”

  He growled, leaned closer and nuzzled against her ear. “I’ll never leave you. You’re mine.” His voice dropped even lower. “Now. Forever.” He slipped his rigid cock easily between her waiting folds, moving slowly to give her body time to adjust to his size.

  She raised her legs and wrapped them around his waist, her heels pressing firmly against the small of his back.

  Jake found his rhythm, sliding his cock inside her, deep and hard, withdrawing at glacial speed, then filling her once again. The tight clasp of her hands about his neck, the even tighter clasp of her soft folds around his cock, her whispered sighs of pleasure, the tiny catch in her throat as she neared her climax—all of it. He wanted, needed, all of this.

  Jake closed his eyes beneath the overwhelming sense of peace he felt, holding Bryony in his arms.

  She pressed her lips against his throat, against the spot where his pulse beat strong and steady. He sighed as he loved her, his eyes half closed in pleasure, his soul, finally, complete within their love. He caught her lips with his, whispered against her mouth. “I do believe I love you. I know I will always need you. You complete me.”

  She answered him with her kiss, with tears streaming down her cheeks, with her bright, shivering cry as she came apart in his arms.

  Holding her close, Jake finally gave up control. Thrusting deep within her rippling, clenching pussy, he filled her with his seed, crying out with the rightness of this joining.

  Body shuddering, gasping and dragging in great gulps of air, he rested his forehead against hers, marveling at such a twist of fate that had brought him this woman. In all his dreams, his fantasies, his hopes, Jake had never imagined his captor, his dear, sweet Bryony, a willing partner in his bed.

  She was more than willing. She was his.

  She touched the corner of his mouth with the tip of her finger, traced his smile. He brushed a tear from her cheek with the pad of his thumb and raised it to his lips.

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  He needed no restraints to hold her, no bonds, other than his love, to keep her by his side. Her sleek arms encircled his neck, her lips found his, marked him, forever willing…

  Her captive.

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  About the author:

  For over thirty years Kate Douglas has been lucky enough to call writing her profession. She has won three EPPIES, two for Best Contemporary Romance in 2001 and 2002, and a third for Best Romantic Suspense in 2001. Kate also creates cover art and is the winner of EPIC’s Quasar Award for outstanding bookcover graphics.

  She is multi-published in contemporary romance, both print and electronic formats, as well as her popular futuristic Romantica StarQuest. She and her husband of over thirty years live in the northern California wine country where they find more than enough subject material for their shared passion for photography, though their new grandson is most often in front of the lens. Kate is currently working on the screenplay adaptatio
n for one of her contemporary romances.

  Kate welcomes mail from readers. You can write to her c/o Ellora’s Cave Publishing at P.O. Box 787, Hudson, Ohio 44236-0787.

  Also by Kate Douglas:

  Just A Little Magic

  Luck of The Irish

  More Than A Hunch

  Star Quest 1: Lionheart

  Star Quest 2: Night of The Cat

  Star Quest 3: Pride of Imar

  Threshold Volume 1

  MANIMAL

  Lani Aames

  Lani Aames

  Chapter 1

  “I can’t believe my luck. The first snowfall of the year and I have to be out in the middle of it.” Kelsey Locke grumbled loud enough for the phone to pick up what she was saying. She pushed a curly strand of dark brown hair out of her eyes and wished she’d remembered to pin it back before she left. “The wipers are on high and more snow is covering the windshield as soon as they clear it.”

  “You’re almost there, Kels.” Dee’s voice was thin and tinny coming out of the speaker. “You passed the two crooked pines, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah, a ways back.”

  Both hands tightened on the steering wheel. She never drove on snow. Never. Two hours ago when Dee offered the use of her family’s cabin at Lake Passion, there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky. With a full moon, she had expected an easy trip. Now, the sky was shrouded in heavy dark clouds and the road was covered in a layer of white thick enough that not a bit of asphalt showed through.

  “The lane to the cabin is just a few more miles. You’ll be all right. Hold on a sec.”

  There was a minute when all Kelsey could hear was the steady swish swish of the wipers and the low hum of the heater, then Dee’s voice broke through again. “Charles Leland has been calling every five minutes and now he’s text messaging.”

  Kelsey blew out a breath through tight lips. Charles was the reason she was in this situation. They had dated a few months, nothing serious, when Kelsey decided to stop seeing him. It wasn’t fair to Charles that she was in lust with another man.