Lurin's Surrender Read Online Free PDF Page A

paused and lowered his voice, alerting Lurin to pay close attention, “I don’t like the thought of leaving her here alone.”
    Alone? Mara and me, together on the ship?
    “Perhaps I should stay,” Catam said softly.
    “No, Catam. You need to go.” Nu’s voice was firm. “If anyone should stay, it should be me.”
    “Nonsense,” came a sultry voice. Lurin’s body tightened at the sound of it. “You’ll all go. The day I can’t contain a prisoner, in the security of his own cell, is the day you fire me as your captain.”
    Lurin heard laughter.
    “Are you sure, Cap?” Nu asked. “I don’t like the way he looks at you.”
    “Looks at me? He’s just trying to wrest control of a bad situation. It’s nothing more than a power play.” She sounded extremely naïve, a condition that didn’t fit with her tough-as-nails exterior. Lurin could picture the unease on her crews’ faces. Everyone but Mara could see her as a desirable woman, not merely the ‘captain’. At least her crew had some common sense. “Don’t worry. I can handle captive Vez.”
    Lurin gritted his teeth. If she called him captive one more time…
    “Now go,” she ordered. “I’ll expect you back here tomorrow at first light. Enjoy. And Catam? Make sure you’re satisfied. There’s nothing worse than a Mardu on the prowl.” She chuckled and the men laughed louder.
    Their voices faded but footsteps, light and brisk—hers—neared his cell. He breathed in her scent as she passed, and he blocked out everything but Mara, his cock stirring to life once more. Despite his uneasiness at how readily she affected him, nothing could dampen his anticipation of the night to come.

Chapter Four
     
     
     
    Mara enjoyed a long, luxurious solar bath. With her crew gone, she had the ship to herself. Well, almost to herself. She thought ruefully of Lurin Vez just down the hall. She still didn’t know how she felt about him.
    On the one hand, she didn’t believe Nobless Cari’s story about Vez’s involvement in the crime of which he’d been accused, but she couldn’t take his words on faith either. To think that a nobless could be responsible for so terrible a crime was unthinkable.
    Unthinkable but not impossible.
    Mara also hesitated to believe Vez because his mere presence did something to her. Too easily she pictured him in her mind’s eye. He was everything a woman could want—tall, dark and handsome, sexy beyond belief. She liked to think she had a decent imagination, but the things her mind had conjured them doing astounded her.
    She’d seen much on various pleasure stops and had read about the physical act of coupling. She had yet to experience it herself, however. To have had such an erotic dream about her captive, especially one that brought her to orgasm, brought heat to her cheeks.
    She tried to push thoughts of the blue-eyed criminal out of her mind, but he refused to go. It was almost as if he whispered, “Come find me, I’m here waiting for you.”
    Swearing under her breath as she left her less than relaxing bath, Mara hastily donned clothing and tried to ignore the itch beneath her skin.
    Unable to avoid the urgent need to talk again with the prisoner, she left her room in search of something to occupy her mind. Of course she should be wary of Vez. The man was a criminal, wanted for murder, wanted for rape. She’d been around deviants before, knew how they thought and acted. Yet she felt no such ugliness from Vez. Instead, his male energy attracted her. Enough that she thought about coupling… with him .
    She immediately shook herself free of such foolish thoughts. Her traitorous body had decided to come alive near this captive, but she needed to get a handle on her sensuality before she did something that could not be undone.
    So telling herself, she wandered down to Vez’s cell. Conscious that her loose fitting overshirt and leggings befitted a soft woman rather than a ship’s captain, Mara forced herself to make no