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‘Both!’

He laughed out loud, and she found herself swallowing back a chortle.

Prodding him with a playful touch of her energy barrel, she jostled him along.

He was still chuckling as they emerged into the dappled light of the fissured landscape.

She, on the other hand, gazed at the back of his head as they moved along. Still puzzled by his essence and why he was getting to her when no other man had managed to do so in years.

She sucked her teeth in annoyance. She was getting too darn caught up in this man’s aura and warned herself once more to step back and set up some boundaries. Fearing that if she didn’t, there’d be a price to pay.

They set out at a brisk pace, faster than the day before.

Élisa was keen to get to her homestead before the sun went down again.

So she kept conversation to a bare minimum, and before long, the silence stretched out between them as they jogged along.

RIV

It was hard going, for the elevation was rising.

They stopped briefly to chow down on trail mix and chug water.

Both had shed the top half of their jumpsuits and tried the arms around their waists.

Riv’s Galician body wasn’t half bad for a ‘man of his age’, and he spied Élisa staring at it for a moment, then looking away, mystified.

Her face furrowed with confusion, as if she were trying to figure out who he was under his disguise.

Like she was asking herself how he’d freed himself of the energy bands. It’d been easy enough, his noids cutting through the rigid plex steel like butter.

Her gaze faltered between suspicion, curiosity, and a touch of desire.

The latter was confounding her. He imagined she was puzzled at how at ease they were in each other’s company, at the sense of reuniting with an old lover and kindred soul.

Riv smelt her musk and imagined she sensed their instant connection and latter attraction arc between them.

He distracted her. ‘Can I ask you a question?’

‘I’d prefer if we didn’t speak.’ Her voice was clipped, and she was trying hard to be cold. Instead, its huskiness sent a shiver down his spine.

‘Why?’

‘It’s a preference. My quiet time is for your safety.’

‘You’re saying you become a fanged nightmare if you talk too much?’

‘Something like that.’

It matched what he remembered of her.

Élisa had never been much of a talker. She was a doer, a practical woman deft with her hands. He remembered her being shy and keeping to herself.

He’d been the confident, ballsy renegade with a maverick personality and a stubborn streak that meant he was relentless in questioning and pushing for the truth.

She’d been Miss Agreeable until she’d made the most disagreeable of decisions, and he was dying to find out what had pushed her to the brink of her ingrained personality.

He kept up with the digging. ‘Why did you kidnap me? Why not just overpower me and take my ship? What’s my significance?’