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She was still here, beside him. Her ‘abduction’ of him had not been a dream.

She lay against her side, facing him, her head pillowed on the raised pallet end, her face pressed into it, slack in a deep sleep.

Glancing down, his gaze fell on her soft silver hair, which had slipped from its single braid and was tousled all over her head.

Her blankets tangled around both her legs, one of which she’d hitched onto his thigh.

He could see the enticing softness of her tits pressing against her soft suit, and his cock jerked, seeping with need.

He drew a slow, deep breath, trying not to wake her.

Welcoming the warmth of her right hand that was lying on his chest.

Like it’d always done when they’d slept together in the past. It might as well have been on his crotch, for the warm weight of it was making his morning erection swell that much harder.

But it was his heart that cried out.

Seeing her first thing in the morning, so vulnerable and free of the cares he’d seen on her face the night before, hit him with a sucker punch.

Even though intense light filtered from the chasm opening above, he was caught in an emotional dark tunnel. Struck out and knocked cold by her essence.

In one foul move years ago, she’d wiped out their happiness and left him down and out, drowning in a sea of anguish.

And now here they were, like two souls passing in the night.

How the hell would they find their way back to each other? To the love and passion they’d once shared?

Still, Riv’s upper lip curled as he remembered how Élisa would always tell him they’d find each other no matter how far and wide they scattered across the galaxy.

He’d held onto those prosaic words all these years, giving him hope in his despair.

He had to up the game if she was to find her way back to him.

He had to confound her mind until she worked out who he was and was reminded of how much she loved him.

And he wouldn’t do that by being beholden to her agenda.

He needed to switch things up, and he gave a slight grin as a kernel of an idea formed, giving him a clue of how to go about it.

ÉLISA

‘Wake up, Élisa.’

Her single eye cracked open, and she winced at the light stabbing her cornea. Seconds later, her lashes fluttered back down.

‘Nada,’ she grumbled, nestling in for more respite.

A chuckle rumbled from somewhere nearby, and her eyes flung open at the unexpected sound.

She sat bolt upright in their nest of blankets and pallets, gazing around in panic.

Her wild stare flew around the hollow and then stopped athim.

Ribau.

Her quarry.

The grizzled bounty hunter was squatting on the ground over the fire that blazed in a merry dance of flames.