Page 91 of Hot Zone

She responded ruefully, Would that be such a bad way to go?

He sighed. There has to be a way for us to be together. I just don’t know what it is. But I know this. I cannot harm you. It would be like killing a part of myself.

A long silence stretched out. Is it wrong for me to want you to succeed at whatever you do, even if it’s bad for me and my people? she mentally asked at last.

That startled him. You want me to prevent mankind from gaining star travel?

No! I want mankind to progress as we’re meant to. But I only wish good things for you, too.

Ahh. Yes, I know the feeling. I want you to have success in all you do, as well.

The peace of deep space faded out, and heavy wooden beams wrapped in cloth reappeared around them.

“We’ve only got one piece of the medallion,” she said quietly.

He dug in his pouch and pulled out her arm cuff with its special quartz crystal. “And we’ve got one travel band.”

It was hard to think clearly with his flesh still hot and hard and buried deep inside her, her legs still wrapped around his hips, her bare breasts, freed from the top of her gown, pressing against his chest.

“You take the medallion fragment,” he mumbled. “My people will have other chances to find the remaining pieces of it and take one from mankind. I don’t need the legendary glory of finding a piece of the Karanovo stamp. I have gained glory enough already in my career.” He wrapped her fingers gently around its oblong shape, its otherworldly warmth flaring between their palms. He held out the armband to her, as well. “Here. This is yours, too.”

She stared up at it for a long time without taking it. Then she gently pushed the hand cupping the crystal back toward him. “You take it. With that, you can get home, right? You won’t be stuck here on Earth anymore.”

He flinched. “But if I use it, then you’ll be trapped here in ancient times. You won’t be able to get back to your own world.”

“At least I’m on my home planet. I want you to have the crystal.”

“No!” He jumped up out of bed and banged his head—hard—on the ceiling. He swore violently in Centaurian.

Tessa sat up, setting her gown hastily to rights. He already missed the sight of her breasts, the feel of her internal muscles clenching around him. He already wanted her again with every fiber in his being. How in the hell was he going to live without her?

The past two weeks with her flashed before his mind’s eye. The night she’d showed up at that feast, wreathed in power. Their kisses. Their arguments. Their lovemaking. Their laughter. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t give her up. He wasn’t strong enough.

“I insist that you take the crystal.” Her voice was low, but hard as steel. She was serious about this.

“Absolutely not.”

She opened her mouth to argue, a mulish look in her eyes, but he cut her off. Although it was tearing his heart in two, he knew what he must do. He reached deep. As deep as when he star-jumped. Maybe deeper.

“Kentar knows I’m here. And he knows I’ve found a powerful star navigator. More of my kind will be arriving here any time now to make sure you don’t get away from us. I’ll be rescued soon enough.”

She stared up at him, appalled as his meaning sunk in.

To reinforce the point, he said forcefully, “You have to leave. If you stay in this time and place, you’ll die.”

“But—”

“Don’t ask me to go home and leave you here to Centaurian assassins who will do what I cannot. I will not go. If you stay, I stay. And that’s all there is to it.”

He didn’t bother to send her a taste of his determination to do exactly as he’d said. The frustration in her eyes announced clearly that she believed him.

He spoke urgently. “You have to go, my love. The sooner the better. My kind can travel to within a few minutes of a time and place coordinate. Knowing Kentar, he’ll pop into this very room with a half-dozen soldiers armed with needle guns and kill you before you even know he’s here.”

“I can’t leave you!” she cried. Anguish swam in her gaze, and the thought that he’d put it there about drove him to his knees. He couldn’t bear to hurt her like this. But the alternative was unthinkable.

“You must, my darling. It’s the only way for you to survive. Kentar doesn’t know when you’re from. He won’t be able to find you if you have all of human history to hide in.”

She flung herself, sobbing, into Rustam’s arms and he buried his face in her hair. What was that wetness on his cheeks? And his eyes were burning ferociously all of a sudden.

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