Starcrossed - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,14

measures as if they didn’t exist. Anger shown in every line of his long, hard body.

“How dare you?” Ginny was stunned and angered by his abrupt intrusion into her domain.

He shook the paper of her letter in front of her nose. “What is this?”

Suddenly, she was on the defensive. She knew it had been cowardly to send him a letter rather then tell him in person, but she’d been afraid of his reaction—and her own reaction to his stirring presence. The truth was, she couldn’t trust herself to turn him down if she had to look into his eyes.

“It should be quite obvious.”

“You refuse my offer?” His voice modulated as he dropped down on the couch next to her, but with some space between them. “Don’t you want peace?”

“I want peace more than anyone, but you should have asked a different woman. Not me.”

“But why?” The gentle pleading in his voice started tears behind her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

“I have my reasons.”

Anger flared again, in his haunting eyes. “Fine. I’ll not have you come like some virgin sacrifice, cringing all the way to my bed.”

“I’m not a virgin.” Defiance laced her tone.

But her words didn’t have the desired chilling effect on him. Rather, his volatile temper erupted into sarcasm laced with amusement. “Good, then. We at least have that in common.”

“I thought you were celibate.”

“I have been. But, before I declined the throne in favor of my brother and sought sanctuary with the priests, things were different.” The spark in his eye told her just what things he meant. His anger dissipated, and his face softened somewhat, making her uncomfortable with his continued scrutiny. “Who was he?”

She sighed and sank back on the couch, thinking for a long moment. She didn’t want to share any of her painful past with this disturbing man, but he deserved a better answer to his proposal of marriage. Perhaps if she told him the truth, he’d leave her be.

So deciding, she rose to get the holo off her bedside table and brought it back to him. She sat at his side, closer than before, so he could see the small image as she switched on the viewer. It played for a while before she spoke.

“His name was Paul.”

Emperor Tigh watched the man’s image with mixed emotions. The holo showed a young, pale human, with blond hair and dark eyes, handsome in a boyish way as he twirled a much younger version of Ginny in his arms.

“We were engaged to be married, but he died of the virus when it first hit our world.” Her voice was painfully wistful as she stared down at the young man’s image, and Tigh knew the boy would never age in her heart. How could he compete with a memory such as this?

How could he not at least try? Ginny was the woman he needed by his side. He needed her compassion, her strength and her courage if they were to make this peace plan work. He would have liked to also have her love, but he wasn’t sure if that could ever be. Still, his senses told him, this was his woman. He’d rather have her—even without her love—than any other woman in the universe. He needed her. It was that simple.

“You loved him very much.”

“I did.” Finally, her watery eyes rose to meet his. “Tigh, you have to know. There are other reasons a younger woman would be better suited. For one thing, I’m nearing the end of my fertile years. Even if I could somehow conceive, I couldn’t have very many children.” Her voice broke as she looked away again. “But the biggest problem is that I’m barren. I was infected with the virus and nearly died. It’s left me scarred on the inside, the doctors tell me. I’ve tried to get pregnant a number of times, but with no success.”

Anger flared in his veins. His woman had tried to mate with another! Tigh knew the primitive fury was unjustified, but he could barely stop himself from hunting down and killing each and every man who had dared touch his mate. They’d probably be Sons of Amber, he knew, since few other human males were left, and most were sterile.

“Who?” He couldn’t stop himself from asking. “Who did you want to father your child?” If it was a man he knew, Tigh wasn’t sure he could stop himself from trying to kill him the next time they met, but he needed to