Stolen and Seduced - Christine Pope Page 0,272

our spacecraft is beyond repair, all we need is a small amount of land where we can establish a self-sufficient colony in keeping with the Intergalactic Treaty of CE 2603.”

Kaljeet’s eyes smiled at her over his mask. With one calloused finger, he lifted her chin just a little higher. “Devmaer never signed that treaty. You come to our planet, you live by our rules. In my realm that means you live by my rules. You are now my property and will learn to obey and submit to me.”

As he spoke, his hair changed from black to red before returning to the same blue color as his skin.

She stepped away from him, her hand flying to her holster only to discover that her weapon was missing.

Kaljeet held up the pistol. “Looking for this? You won’t need it where I’m taking you.”

With a single lunge, he covered the distance between the two of them. He picked Adriana up and threw her over his shoulder. “Penrath, get me an inventory of what’s on this craft. Make sure the crew and any live cargo are cared for. The captain is my personal bounty.”

As Kaljeet carried her up the two floors to the open hatch, Adriana tried to make sense of what was happening. Then he stepped out of the Condor6 and carried her up and over the mound of dirt that had been displaced by the hard landing. He stopped on the other side of it and set her down. She was standing on a patch of grass-like growth at the edge of a dense forest of unrecognizable trees.

Watching her reaction to her surroundings, he removed his mask. As she met his eyes, a broad smile brightened his face, revealing two rows of straight white teeth. He was a handsome man, she thought, despite the blue skin.

She took a deep breath. The air out here smelled different than whatever was in the starship. That explained his breathing mask and her attack of the giggles.

The massive hole in the ground commanded her attention. It appeared that Condor6 had driven itself five stories underground.

That realization made her head swim again. The physical stress brought on by months of hunger, along with the impact of the hard landing, had exhausted her and she felt herself falling.

Before she hit the ground, Kaljeet swept her back over his shoulder.

Chapter three

As Kaljeet walked back to his castle, proudly carrying his prize, he suppressed a smile that would have telegraphed his happiness. A new day was dawning.

He’d gone to the starship intending to imprison its captain and crew but one look at the copper-headed beauty had changed all of that.

Now the sun shone brighter than it had for years. For the first time since the death of his beloved Maisy, fresh hope stirred inside him.

Friends had presented many available women for his approval, both Devmaerean and Kedrant. None of them had triggered more than a ripple of carnal interest.

Then Adriana laughed, light and musical, and something in his gut tightened, the same way it had in another lifetime with another female. He thought that feeling would never return, despite his friends’ assurances.

So maybe they’d been right after all. It was possible to find love more than once in a lifetime.

For all that he wanted to own Adriana, to claim her as his, he’d made himself do the right thing. At least he’d offered her the chance to walk on her own. Only as she fell into his arms did he realize how malnourished she was.

The woman had spirit. As shaky as she was, she’d reached for her weapon to protect herself inside the spacecraft.

Then, even though she’d just shown she was too weak to walk on her own, she argued about being carried over his shoulder. When he’d ignored her protests, she’d pounded on his back in protest. In response to that, she’d wriggled hard, attempting to escape. A few sound smacks had put an end to that nonsense. She was a fast learner. Good.

He carried her to his suite, calling for his healer to attend immediately. Rayslie, his personal physician, arrived hot on his heels.

“Lay her on the bed,” Rayslie said. “Then go run a bath for her. Poor thing could probably use one after life on a ship.”

Kaljeet worked slowly in the bathroom, straining to listen to what was being said in the next room. Rayslie spoke in a near whisper, as though trying to calm a potentially dangerous animal. Unable to make out what she was saying, he