Page 34 of The Interdimensional Lord's Earthly Delight

When she peeped again, only the ghostly streaks of stars streamed past the viewport, abruptly blocked by Tynan’swide shoulders as he stalked toward her.

She stared up at him with mute antagonism.

He had the temerity to grin. “They tried to shut down the shuttle engines remotely and then they tried to lock on with a scrambler net. But I evaded them. Maybe it’s been a millennium or two, but I am still a warlord.”

She was so, so mad at him, that he’d made her part of his little macho game against the dukeand the captain. But that smile… Shit, was that a dimple?

Her foot wasn’t bound by the webbing, so she stomped it. Then had to stop herself from wincing at the pang that reverberated up her heel, but whatever. “Let. Me. Go.”

His grin faded warily. “You know thatIdidn’t hurt you, that Iwon’thurt you. May I request the same courtesy in return?”

She sputtered. “No you may not! You abductedme, remember?”

“To save you.”

“You can’t abduct me to save me,” she said. “It doesn’t work that way.”

He scowled. “Can’t you just leave off the first part?”

“With you dragging me away against my will?” She wriggled her shoulders against the straps by way of protest but had to stop when the squirming rearranged the neckline of her sleep robe in less than modest ways. “Yeah, no, not really.”

“Wasit against your will?”

She refused to answer that.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “If you prefer to hang here until we get to our destination…”

“Fine,” she groused. “Let me go, please.”

Pursing his lips, he looked for a moment as if he was going to ask for her promise. Then with a fatalistic shrug that pissed her off almost as much as getting semi-willingly abducted, he palmed theweb controls.

The abrupt release sent her stumbling into his arms, and again he caught her easily. Too damn strong by half.

And she was such a sucker to fall for it.

Or not fall. Because he’d caught her.

He looked down at her, his dark eyes half hidden behind lowered lashes. But she sensed the instant his gaze dropped to her mouth. She almostfeltthe caress, the heat of his body envelopingher more thoroughly than his embrace…

She yanked herself upright and out of his arms, straightening her sleep robe with angry jerks. She’d been happily sleeping (okay, she’d been tossing and turning in bed, but he didn’t need to know that) in her cozy suite, so she wasn’t properly dressed for hopping around in the universe in a chilly cargo shuttle. The robe was cut and colorized in the usualbright Thorkon geometrics, but the fabric was as silky thin as her headscarf. She wrapped her arms around herself, achingly aware of her high-beaming nipples.

“Escaping your cell, shooting a guard, abducting me, stealing a shuttle, threatening to ram the station…” She glared at him. “Are you absolutelysureyou aren’t a bad guy?”

He pursed his lips. “Yeeeees,” he drawled. “And shouldn’t I know?”

“I thought I was a lucky wife, the smartest gal in my family, living on the only inhabited planet in the galaxy, so we don’t always know everything.”

His dark eyes flared wide. “You…are married? I didn’t know.”

She snorted. “You’re a thief, kidnapper, and warlord, but you feel bad about cheating?”

He looked stricken. “I am the God of Beloveds.”

“Oh right,” she sniffed, “I’d forgotten aboutthat one.”

“The entanglement of beloveds is sacred,” he said in a low voice. “If I broke your bond—”

Unable to tease him in the face of his obvious dismay, she interrupted. “You didn’t break anything. My ex did when he gotentangledwith a graduate student. From my old department.” She twisted her lips to one side. “I guess there was no God of Beloveds blessing our union.”

“Maybe yes, maybeno,” he murmured. “Gods die too.”

She gave herself a little shake. “Are you saying you’re not immortal?”

“You don’t have to sound so happy about it.” He gave her a droll look before sauntering back toward the cockpit.

With another snort to herself, she followed him. Plunking down in the second seat, she pulled her chilled feet up under the hem of her robe. “Where are you taking me?”

When hestared out the viewport, the stars streaked in his dark eyes. “Back to where I died.”

This time, it wasn’t her cold toes that made her shiver.