Page 69 of Hot Zone

They stopped early that night. Rustam parked her and the horses in a shallow cave—which he’d thoroughly checked and declared free of snakes before they entered—and then left to scout the area. She’d argued that she ought to go with him so they could combine their powers, but he would hear none of it.

Sometimes there was just no reasoning with him; he set his jaw in that stubborn manner, and there was no budging him. She’d eventually thrown up her hands and retreated to the cave to chew on stale biscuits and stringy jerky of God-knew-what form of animal protein.

After her initial irritation wore off, the worry set in. Not only was she afraid that something bad might happen to him, but it felt horribly wrong to be apart from him like this. As if a vital part of her was missing.

Tessa missed the vibrant energy of his presence, the tingle of excitement that skittered across her skin whenever she looked at him, the mental challenge of verbally sparring with him. Her world was a drab and colorless place without him in it.

Desperate not to be quite so desperate, she resorted to giving both of the horses a good, long grooming. Brushing Polaris soothed her a little. Remnants of Rustam’s aura clung to his horse, and she gathered the bits of energy greedily, hoarding them and savoring the feeling. Eventually, the horses glistened, even in the near darkness. And still there was no sign of Rustam.

“Polaris, what am I going to do? I’m sorely afraid that I’ve fallen for your master. And that’s going to throw a giant monkey wrench into everything.”

The big horse rested his chin heavily on her shoulder until she reached up and scratched the base of his ear, where he liked it.

“You’re just as sure of yourself as he is, aren’t you?” she murmured.

The stallion nipped at her fingers, and she jerked her hand back, laughing quietly. “Behave yourself. You and your master both need a good woman to keep you in line.”

Polaris tossed his head at that. If she thought there was a chance he understood her, she would accuse the animal of being indignant at her suggestion.

Restless, she wandered around the cave until she finally flopped down on her bedroll in frustration. She buried her face in the wool folds, greedily inhaling the faint scent of Rustam’s body. He smelled of sweet grass and sunshine and leather and honest sweat. Good grief. She was smelling him now? She really was desperate.

What she really was, was in trouble. She’d fallen head over heels for an alien. And it wasn’t like they had any future together.

By his own admission, he was a prince among his kind. They wouldn’t tolerate some backward human female from a planet that was just barely beginning to experiment with time travel. Heck, had it not been for the lucky accident of the Roswell UFO crash, humans wouldn’t be even remotely close to having time travel, either.

She sighed. If they were the only two people in the universe, she had no doubt they could be deliriously happy together for the rest of their lives. They balanced each other perfectly. She was strong enough not to let him bully her, but likewise, he was intelligent and complex enough to challenge her emotionally and mentally. She found him endlessly interesting, and he seemed to feel the same about her.

But unfortunately, they both had lives in their own worlds. He had a harem to get back to breeding baby star navigators with, and she had a job to do.

As if that weren’t enough, who knew what intergalactic forces would come to bear upon the two of them if they went public with their relationship? Athena Carswell would have Tessa’s head on a platter if she got tangled up with some alien observer she happened to run into while time traveling into the ancient past. And General Ashton—Tessa winced to think of the butt-chewing the former marine would give her.

Why couldn’t everyone just leave them alone? They’d found something rare and special and perfect…and they were going to have to give it up. Sooner rather than later, if she didn’t miss her guess.

Sometime during the night, Rustam returned from his scouting and slid under the blanket beside her. He gathered her close, and she vaguely registered his warmth and comforting strength before slipping back into a lovely dream where the two of them soared among the stars together and no one could touch them.

“Good morning, my lady.” Rustam’s warm, familiar mouth moved across her skin, effortlessly stirring the ever-glowing embers of desire within her into flames.

She cracked one eye open to see the gray of predawn encroaching upon their shelter. “It’s not morning yet, and it’s not good yet, either. But we can fix the latter.”

She stretched languidly against him and trailed a hand down his chest, across his magnificent abs, and lower still. No surprise, he was as ready for her as she was for him.

“I don’t want to make you sore today. We have a hard ride ahead of us,” he murmured.

“Then don’t make me sore. But don’t make me frustrated and grumpy all day, either, if you know what’s good for you.”

He laughed under his breath. “Yes, I’m familiar with that phenomenon in human females. In my kind, the harem females who aren’t getting enough attention have mechanical devices to ease their discomfort.”

Tessa grinned up at him. “We have those in my time, too. But I don’t happen to have one in my saddlebag. It’s either you or frustrated me. Take your pick.”

Today, her body accommodated him more easily and comfortably, although he had to put his hand over her mouth when the screaming part of her orgasms came upon her.

Likewise, he bit down hard on her shoulder rather than shout out in turn. Their out-of-body flight this time was short, and Rustam tightly controlled it, but the pleasure was so piercingly intense that she could hardly draw breath when they returned.

“Will that hold you for a few hours?” he murmured when he had recovered enough breath to speak.

She laughed quietly. “A few. You may yet talk me into this notion of jumping each other’s bones whenever and wherever the mood strikes.”

As his eyes lit with a fierce, possessive light, she continued, “But I have to confess, I have a really hard time with the idea of sharing you.”

---