Starline Read online

  “Urgh.” She dragged the pillow close and hugged it.

  Tossing and turning only made her mind more jumbled as it reeled from thinking about the man, from the top of his black hair to the bottom of his booted feet and every buff inch between. His essence intoxicated her, surrounded her as effectively as if he held her in his arms, and her body started to heat. The thought of him made her tremble, not with fear though. No. With anticipation.

  Visions of him and her together and naked, danced in her head. Her breasts tightened at the thought of it, and she wondered how long she could go without embarrassing both of them with unrequited lust.

  “Those are foolish thoughts.” She cocked her head to the side, hoping he hadn’t heard her whisper.

  What would he look like naked, entwined within the sheets of this very bed? Her insides melted and every sense worked overtime. She wanted him. That wasn’t such a surprise. But how would she cope with a rejection from him? Probably not very well, she reflected with brutal honesty. She wasn’t hardwired for any real kind of commitment. Dammit, not even her parents had thought they should keep her around! Best to keep it to herself, she decided with a hard nod.

  However, the thoughts kept her awake for hours before she drifted into a fitful slumber.

  * * * *

  In his ready room, Duvall kept looking toward the doorway, wondering if she slept. The couch was uncomfortable. “Damned short and lumpy thing.” He kept thinking about the bed that lay beyond and the woman who filled it. He rolled slightly and groaned in discomfort.

  He should concentrate on his work. His comm desk kept beeping to let him know updates on the crisis continued coming in from his people. There was so much to achieve, but his body reminded him that the woman who lay just beyond that door teased his senses. For all the wrong reasons.

  He focused on the incident in the engine room. This time, they’d come out okay. He was thankful it hadn’t been worse. That someone would tamper with the environ station had surprised him, and he’d concluded they’d used that as a ruse so they could attempt to send a message through one of the comm channels. They’d only caught the tail end and hadn’t managed to glean anything more than that there was someone aboard the Elector with the know-how to disrupt their plans.

  He turned again on the uncomfortable couch. Funny, he had never realized how short it really was. The blanket slipped a little, and he reached to retrieve it. “Barsha!” Discomfort took its toll on his temper.

  His mission gnawed at him. He had many souls under his watch, each one his responsibility. Something he took seriously. Someone on his ship didn’t think that was so important. They wanted to be a hero—for the wrong side.

  Once more, he contemplated who had the opportunity to undermine the ship. Several came to mind. He flicked mentally through the crew with both the motive and the opportunity.

  To top it off, the woman in the other room, Mellissa, was interfering with his thoughts. Repeatedly. She was sleeping in his bed. Alone.

  He wanted to join her. Badly. Rarely did he feel this need to be with a woman. To hold her. He needed to keep working so he wouldn’t make a mistake, but he also knew he needed to rest, to be fresh so he was on target.

  Go into that room, whispered his body. With a grunt, Duvall gave up on any chance of rest. He rose and went to his desk. It had worked in the past; it would work again. He had always walked away from women without a backward glance.

  “Entanglements bind a man to Earth,” he reminded himself, listening once more to the words his mentor had taught him. But this time, no matter how hard he worked, the hunger didn’t go away. This time he wanted more, and that was dangerous. “Work is the answer.”

  Focusing on his role had always overcome any fascination with a female. He just needed to work at it harder. Turning back to his comm desk, Duvall started scanning the information filtering through. Maybe once it was done, he could consider moving forward and seeing if there was more to this feeling that kept nipping at him, whispered the voice inside his mind.

  Duvall answered another hail and continued toward his investigation, all the time reminding himself that entanglements grounded a man. For tonight, it would be enough. It had to be.

  * * * *

  Mellissa woke slowly. “Where am I?”

  Memories rushed back, and for a moment she wondered if it were a dream or the result of her overactive imagination. Waking there in that cabin told her it was real and something she needed to accept. Not only did the situation seem real, she needed to make it work for her.

  Stretching relieved the last of the fogginess in her brain, and she slowly crawled out of the bed. At the end lay a gray uniform, socks, and boots.

  “Great. More gray.” She grimaced while she slipped out of the t-shirt she had worn to bed with her panties. She dragged on the bra she had washed the night before, pulling on the clothes she had found.

  When she looked in the mirror, her first thought pulled her up short. How much more anonymous could she look? She grimaced, finger-combing her hair. Once done, she shrugged. That was as good as it would get.

  Today she would begin learning about the changes that had taken place from her time to the one she was moving to. “God, I hope there’s real coffee in the future.” The smell pervaded the air. Was that real coffee? She sniffed again. The coffee the day before was watery and thin. There was nothing thin about this aroma though.

  Following it, she found her way to McCord’s office. She refused to call him Duvall. That seemed way too intimate for her peace of mind. Far too personal and intense. The distance might become a necessary tool if she was going to keep her head straight around him. He already intoxicated her and made her want things that she couldn’t have. Things she could only dream of.

  There on his desk sat a steaming cup. “I heard you up and around,” he growled.

  His facial growth, dark stubble on his chin, made him look somehow harder yet sexier. I really need to rein in my libido if I’m going to get anywhere. With that thought in mind, she reached out, grabbing her drink. Her fingers brushed his, and warmth quickly spread up her arm. She saw him look at her, and her body wanted to melt in reaction to the look in his eyes.

  Sipping cautiously on the beverage, she noted the brown liquid in the cup and tasted no sugar. Clearly he’d watched her order it in the mess. The coffee was perfect. Like him, smooth and full-bodied. Stop it, she told herself as she took a chair at his desk opposite him.

  “So what do I need to do today?” she asked.

  “Now that we’ve started to gather the information for your identification, we need you to start accessing the teaching program. You’ve got a lot to learn before we can let you loose on the world. We’ll also be drilling you in safety procedures for the ship so you know how to react under a range of circumstances. Lastly, if there’s time , we’ll be putting you in the hands of the security officers to teach you basic combat skills.”

  He didn’t look overly happy with that concept. Actually, he looked really cross, perched on the edge of his seat with rings around his eyes and a hard set to his mouth.

  “In the event of a breach or security breakdown, you need to know how to protect yourself,” he continued harshly. “But you will be safe with me. I won’t let anything happen to you,” he finished, the words sounding almost like a mantra.

  God, she hoped that proved true. Slowly, she was coming to the realization that he’d only told her the honest truth. The reality of interstellar travel excited her as much as it scared her.

  * * * *

  Eyes sore and weary from watching information on the changes and major events since her own time had passed, Mellissa reached out and turned off the screen. “Amazing.” So much had occurred, and to think, she had a chance to be part of it. She shook her head. “Who would have thought so many changes could take place?” Disquiet filled her as she considered how she’d learn it all.

  She slumped in her seat inside the cramped cubicle of a security officer, aware
that it protected her from prying eyes. So many wonders! Interstellar travel—a huge technological leap there alone, she thought, and the change in the governmental systems.

  Meeting new species, forming alliances, and colonizing other planets. “Inter-species marriages or communing.” She formed the words with a smile. How amazing was that? In her time, they still carried on talkfests about the feasibility of some day considering travel to the stars. It was still a talking point after centuries. “No more talking about it. It’s all happened.”

  She grinned. And there she was, Mellissa Davis, in space and traveling toward a future she couldn’t possibly have imagined.

  “George and Eliza would love this,” she muttered to herself.

  “Who are George and Eliza?” McCord peered at her, making her jump at the sound of his voice. She had missed the thud of boots on the flooring during her musings.

  Mellissa gulped, wishing the floor would open and engulf her. How could she explain without him thinking less of her, not to mention her characters? George, a rough, tough space captain, and his protégée and maybe sometime lover, Eliza. Was it really something you could just blurt out? “Umm, they’re characters in a book,” she said.

  “A book? Of course, they were still huge in your time. In ours, only the rich have them. The rest have bookpads.” He smiled. “Who was it by? I might be able to access a copy for you.”

  Her discomfort deepened. “Umm, I was writing it.” Her cheeks grew rosy.

  “Really? Wow. What kind of book is it?”

  He looked at her, and she felt sure his interest seemed genuine, but she cringed at the thought of telling him it was a romance. After all, wasn’t it maiden aunts who wrote that sort of stuff, let alone read it? Uh-oh, she knew what to expect, she thought to herself.

  “Umm, it was a sci-fi romance.”

  “You know, some of the most enduring titles from your time are romances. Fancy that, an author.” He grinned, and she could feel the air clear a little. She still felt embarrassed, but not as much as she had.

  “Well, I’m only working on my first one.”

  His gaze warmed her, but the silence stretched. She needed to say something to fill it.

  “Yeah, in my time, romance writers are sort of...well, you know, the bottom of the pack. We’re gaining ground though. We actually have associations dedicated to reading romance.”

  Then she grimaced, screwing up her face with embarrassment. What must he think of me? I’m some kind of old spinster? But wasn’t that what she was on the road to becoming? That insidious little voice in the back of her head chimed in.

  He stared at her, and a stray thought pierced her. If only George could be half as sexy as Duvall McCord. God, Mellissa. He’s a real rough-and-tumble captain and not some figment of my imagination.

  “Well, there is definitely a career waiting for you as a writer of romance.” He grinned. “Come on. I’ll grab you a coffee, and you can give me the lowdown on your characters. What were their names? George and Eliza?”

  She hopped up quickly and followed him toward the mess hall. Really, it seemed funny how quickly she had settled into ship life, she mused.

  “So, do you believe in romance yourself?” he asked, and he seemed just as surprised as she did by the question.

  “Romance? Yes, absolutely.” Her enthusiastic answer surprised him. It radiated clearly on his face, the way it screwed up slightly. “That’s why I own a bookstore and am writing a novel.”

  “Hmm, yes, but did you live alone?” His query zeroed in on a spot she didn’t really like to explore. “I mean, is there a man in your life?”

  His gaze settled on her again. She hoped, in fact had prayed, that there was more to the question. Stop imagining possibilities! Her libido was far too busy looking for the possibility of a relationship that didn’t and couldn’t exist.

  “Not really. I mean, my man is really George at the moment. It’s kind of hard to explain.” She floundered a little, looking for the right words. “The way I grew up, in an orphanage, I never really got to see how families worked together, and I guess it kind of made it harder for me to work out what it looked like, so I guess…”

  He looked at her strangely. “Orphanage? I was a fosterling. The Gentrys fostered me. They’re great.” His face softened. “Really good people. The Gentrys gave me a fabulous sister, Meredith. It must have been hard with no one in your corner.” His hand gently grasped her chin and raised it until her eyes looked into his. “Really hard for you though…” The words dropped to a trailing whisper as he leaned toward her by the doorway to the mess.

  Her eyes fluttered closed as the distance between them melted away. She knew he was going to kiss her. Knew it probably wasn’t a good or even wise decision, but she needed to find out if he tasted as good as he looked.

  “Captain, Miss Davis,” Elara called, interrupting the moment. “I see you think it’s time for coffee too. Wonderful!” Then she looked again, the expression on her face making it clear that she realized she had walked in on something. Elara seemed to mutter to herself and headed for the mess hall door.

  The moment broken, they looked at each other. A wry grin on his face softened the years and hardness from his features somehow. He turned, motioning her toward the door and the coffee that lay within. It didn’t make her feel any better though. She had nearly made a mistake. A big one. Hadn’t she?

  * * * *

  Duvall was seated on the bridge when Mellissa walked in. His awareness of her came instantly. Since the near interlude outside the mess hall, the vision of her lips—firm, pink, and ready—had dogged his waking hours.

  Her body made him burn at night, and he hadn’t slept a wink. In the days since she had joined them on the Elector, he’d walked a fine line. If truth be told, he wanted to feel her body beneath him, but that wasn’t all he yearned for. The fact that he wanted more was sobering. His constant need to be around her and hunger to hold her messed with his thought patterns.

  No matter how intrigued he was by her, he wouldn’t give in. He remembered his foster mother, always looking out for his father. She’d hated his job, and no doubt Mellissa would feel the same. He couldn’t do that to her, because it would be unconscionable.

  His attention split once more. “Concentrate on the job, Duvall.” Moving through the slipstream at the Time Port was of the greatest importance, as was getting back to the Admiralty with the handbook they had retrieved from Mellissa’s office. Thank Eshra for the tracking device Meredith had fitted to it.

  Like a siren to his blood, though, Mellissa called to him. She made her way to the seat he indicated, and once more, the voice sounded over the speakers. “Boys and girls, strap in. Slipstream horizon in ten minutes.”

  His second-in-command, Grayson, grinned at him like a big schoolboy. Grayson had commented on his preoccupation with Miss Davis earlier. He’d obviously noticed, and he knew Elara had too. Grayson and Elara had been with him for years, and he knew he could only keep the comments at bay for a short while. Elara sat in another of the viewing seats on the bridge. She used her position as SurgiTech to ensure she was on the bridge for these events. Inwardly, he grinned. That had been a perfect pairing, the SurgiTech and his second. Their Communing had taken place long ago and like any happy couple, because it worked for them, they hoped others would find love and a lasting relationship.

  At least I don’t have to worry about Grayson making a play for Mellissa. Once more, thoughts of her intruded, ones that smacked of possession. Barsha!

  He barked out an order to cover his discomfort, and everyone scurried to their seats in preparation for maneuvering through the Time Port. This had to be right. He focused on it completely, looking forward to see the Portal Gate looming.

  * * * *

  Mellissa noticed a large gate looming in the darkness. “How could anyone miss something this large?” It was inconceivable that scientists hadn’t yet discovered it. She snickered, realizing how silly her comment was. It was hidden behin
d Eris, the newest of the planets named in her solar system, so maybe it was hidden from the telescopes?

  Her mind struggled to accept this first view of a future she now inhabited while excitement flowed in her veins. She sat forward in her seat. They were all going home, and there was a palpable emotion flowing in the air on the bridge while the increased chatter since she entered this hallowed zone indicated the depths of their pleasure.

  Since joining the Elector, she had harbored some residual doubts that it was a hoax, with talk of Time Ports, slipstreams, and colonization of the stars. This time she could see it for herself.

  Twin emotions of excitement and apprehension warred within her. “What if I can’t make a living or fit in?” The murmur was lost in the hubbub. Doubts filled her mind. What if they use me as a sort of human display from the past? Can I trust Duvall and his crew to help me integrate?

  The rumble of the engines told her that the time for the introspection had passed. Her new future loomed large, and she would need to embrace the challenge even while she feared the unknown.

  Grayson Myatt, the good-looking blond man, quite Nordic in looks with clear blue eyes, perfect skin, and a trim figure, counted down, his voice echoing over the speakers. She knew Elara was connected to him, not married, though there was some formalization of the relationship. She didn’t want to pry though. While she admired his good looks, he just couldn’t compare to Duvall.

  “What are you thinking?” she muttered and shook her head. She needed to concentrate on the Time Port and looked forward to seeing and entering the slipstream.

  What would this slipstream look like? Would it be dark, or lights flashing in the air around them? What else could she imagine? Oh, how she wished for her manuscript to use her experiences to write a better book.

  She patted about for the notepad she usually kept on her. “Damn. I left it on my desk.” She raised her shoulders in a shrug. Why bother? Anything she wrote now was pure fantasy and she had real life to look forward to.