The Mammoth Book of Futuristic Romance

One

She saw the incoming fire too late to save her ship. The one-man fighter was going down, and if she didn’t pop her canopy in the next five milliseconds, she was going with it.

Lisbet realized she had no choice. Hitting the CATASTROPHIC FAILURE button, she checked herself out of her ride split seconds before it blew into a million little weightless bits. Out in the nothingness of space near the galactic rim, she was in no-man’sland, where rescue was hard to come by. She had either a long wait or a slow death to look forward to in the next few hours.

The enemy Jits had won this battle, though hopefully not the war. Skirmishes on the rim had escalated in recent years as the Jit’suku empire looked for ways to gain a foothold in the Milky Way. The expansion from their home galaxy was fueled by the comparative ease of travel via an inconvenient wormhole and several jump-points – that had been created before humans had realized how the Jit’suku truly viewed the human race.

Inferior. That’s what the Jits thought of humans. Inferior in every way to their warmongering race.

Though they looked very human in appearance – if built on a bit of a larger scale than most humans – Jit’suku society was one that most humans had a hard time understanding.

They prized warriors and seemed to scoff at diplomats and anyone who wanted to negotiate. The only thing the Jits understood was conquest, it seemed.

Which was why they’d been fighting so long and so hard out here, on the rim of the Milky Way galaxy.

Lisbet was just the latest in a nearly endless rotation of human fighter pilots who had drawn the dreaded, but vital, duty of patrolling the rim.

With vast reaches of emptiness between nearly lawless stations, dangerous jump-points, and the occasional star system, rim duty was enough to drive anyone crazy. But she welcomed the emptiness of space and the loneliness of her own thoughts after this humiliation.

She’d been on this patrol for over a week with nothing to report. Then this. A Jit’suku battle cruiser had appeared as if from nowhere, and blasted her before she could even get a message out. He’d been lying in wait behind an asteroid. Lisbet had known to be cautious, but honestly, her thoughts had been elsewhere.

As soon as she had spotted the giant ship lumbering out from behind the cover of the asteroid, it had already been too late. Her signals had bounced back – jammed. A moment later, a blanket of weapons fire had appeared on her screens. She’d been blown already, and she had known it.

Popping her canopy and stranding herself in the middle of nowhere in the emergency pod had been her only choice. Not a great one, but there’d been no other way to get away from all the incoming fire. The bastard giving orders on that battle cruiser hadn’t been taking any chances that she’d get clear and report back. He’d thrown everything but the kitchen sink at her, and she hadn’t stood a chance.

“Human, this is Captain Fedroval of the battle cruiser Fedroval’s Legacy . Warrior to warrior, I give you the choice. Would you prefer the fast death of missile fire or the slow death of suffocation when your air runs out?” He spoke directly into her emergency pod.

For a moment, Lisbet thought of ignoring the short-range communication from the cruiser. He was still blocking her long-range transmitter, but he’d allowed her enough bandwidth to broadcast to his ship. Big of him. Damned Jit’suku bastard.

“How do you know I’m not the advance scout of a much larger force? Could be my battalion is on my heels and will pick me up after they blow you to kingdom come.” Oh, how she wished that were true.

She’d get a lot of satisfaction right now at seeing the Jit’suku ship blown into a million pieces.

There was a slight delay in the answer; she’d expected one right away. The captain probably knew she was bluffing. If he’d been hiding out behind that asteroid for any length of time, he had to know hers was merely a patrol craft on a regular route.

“Who is this? What is your name, rank and gender?”

He sounded mad now, for some reason she couldn’t imagine. And why would he ask her gender?

That seemed odd in the extreme. But she’d play along. She’d be on her own out here for a long while – if he let her live after this encounter – and she was going to have a lot of time, alone with her thoughts, before her air ran out. Might as well talk to someone while she had the company, even if he was a damned Jit.

“Lieutenant Lisbet Duncan of Earth. And I’m female, not that it should matter to you. I’m a qualified pilot and graduated top of my class from pilot training.”

While there had always been a lot more males drawn to military life than females, Lisbet wasn’t too much of an oddity. Many women had the natural skills needed to fly shuttles and other spacecraft. She was unique in that she’d requested fighter duty. She liked shooting at things, and would’ve tried for a gunner position on one of the big battleships if she hadn’t qualified as a pilot.

“Prepare for retrieval.” The order was brusque, and the harsh voice sounded even angrier.

“Now just wait a damn minute!”

A moment later she saw two small craft launch from the battleship and head straight for her. The bastards were going to pick up her pod. She was going to be a prisoner of war.

Dammit!

Although . . . it was probably better than dying alone in the vastness of space. At least if they picked her up, she might have a chance to do some damage to them before she died. She didn’t like the idea of being tortured, but she’d trained for it, like all the other pilots, and thought she was mostly prepared. She didn’t know much anyway. She wasn’t privy to any battle strategies or troop-deployment information. She only knew her current mission and those she’d been on previously. Not much of value to the Jit’suku empire.

Sure enough, the two craft flanked her and deployed sturdy microfilament netting that encompassed her pod. As soon as she was secure, they flew her back toward the cruiser.

The ship was even larger than she’d thought. It had the latest in Jit technology, from what she could see of its outboard arrays. This was no battered old warhorse. This ship was battle-ready and gleaming, though she could see a few spots where repairs had been made after engagements with human forces, no doubt.

The two patrol craft deposited her inside a gleaming hangar bay, bumping her only once as they set her down. The nets retracted and they parked on either side of her ship. She waited patiently inside her pod, gathering what little information she could. Her instruments told her the hangar bay was pressurized with a breathable atmosphere, and she saw big Jit’suku men working on various craft parked nearby without breathing gear.

The hangar bay had a giant force field at one end, keeping the air in. Nice. On human battleships, the hangar bays were kept at zero atmosphere. Pilots loaded into the canopies above and were dropped down and secured to the fuselages via a small chamber that was sealed and then evacuated of its precious air before opening to the hangar deck below.

The pilots who had caught her pod climbed out of their cockpits and moved closer to investigate. One made a sign for her to pop her lid and she shook her head, refusing. They went on like this for a few minutes, arguing via sign language through the window, until suddenly everyone on the flight deck jumped to attention.

At the far end of the long deck, Lisbet could see a giant of a man – even among the very large Jit’suku warriors – coming toward her at a fast pace. He looked absolutely furious. And handsome.

Damn. Why did she have to notice how handsome he was? She should be completely immune to men after what she’d been through. But this guy – this angry guy – flipped her switches in all the right ways.

He grabbed a piece of equipment as he went, nearly tearing it out of a tech’s hands. It had to be magnetic because it clamped onto her canopy the moment he touched it to her hull. He held something on a wire up to his mouth, and suddenly his voice boomed through her internal speakers.

“Stop playing games and come out of there now, or I’ll have you cut out.”

Lisbet sighed. She’d have to open the hatch sooner or later. She admitted, if only to herself, that she was scared. These Jit’suku were all massive, and everyone she had seen so far was male. She had no idea what they had in mind for her, but she wasn’t looking forward to finding out. Still, she couldn’t hide in here forever. The time had come to take her punishment. Whatever that might entail.

Releasing the hatch, the canopy popped with a hiss of equalizing air. Whirring gears indicated the hatch was rolling up and back the way it had been designed to do. As it cleared, she got her first really good look at the glowering man with the captain’s insignia on his uniform.

Oh, boy. The captain himself had come down to get her. No wonder the crew had all jumped at his entrance. Lisbet wondered what she’d done to rate the captain’s attention.

Pushing herself out of the seat, she stood within the canopy. She should have been taller than anyone on the deck from where she was, but she hadn’t counted on these giant Jit’suku.

The captain’s eyes met hers and time stood still for a breathless moment.

His eyes were dark. The dark of space with a hint of golden brown that made them somehow warm.

His molten gaze would have been inviting in another setting. As it was, she could see the flare of gold in his eyes as his expression tightened.

He held out one impatient hand and she took it before she could think better of it. He assisted her in the big step over the canopy lip and down onto the deck of the cruiser. She was truly in enemy territory now.

Goddess help her.

Two

Val couldn’t believe what he was seeing as a small human female stepped out of the damaged cockpit.

He’d almost killed her, and the guilt and anger ate at him. What were these humans that they sent their women into battle?

Barbarians. That’s what they were.

Women were to be protected and revered. Not shot at and nearly killed in battle.

Val shuddered to think of the stain he’d almost incurred on his soul. Killing a woman in battle was considered one of the most terrible sins among Jit’suku warriors.

His men were as horrified as he was. This strange female had almost cost them all their honor.

“Have you nothing to say for yourself, woman?” Val demanded. He was so incensed that he wasn’t thinking clearly. And he had yet to let go of the female’s soft fingers.

As soon as he realized that, he dropped her fragile hand as if it burned him.

Her head cocked at an angle that he sensed meant trouble, though he’d seldom run afoul of a difficult female. Those few left in his family were all quite well behaved, and if they ruled the home with an iron fist, they also filled it with nurturing love. He’d been lucky with the matriarchs in his clan.

“As I told you before, I’m Lieutenant Lisbet Duncan of Earth. Beyond that, I have nothing to say.”

Val felt his temper rise and knew he must not lose his cool any further in front of his men. He had things to say to this female that were best said in private. If he was going to blow a gasket, better that the whole flight deck didn’t witness it.

Val grabbed the female’s hand again and tugged her along with him – trying not to use too much force – as he exited the hangar. Mercifully, she followed without too much trouble. She probably had a hard time keeping up with his fast pace and longer steps, but he was in no mood to slow down, and she skipped along at his side reasonably well.

He didn’t stop until they’d left the hangar far behind, passing a number of startled crew members on his way toward officer country. That was the colloquial name given to the area that housed the private quarters of the captain and his staff. There were also guest chambers that would serve his purpose, and it was toward one of those comparatively luxurious compartments that he made his way with the human female in tow.

“Could you slow down a bit? Or take shorter steps?” she finally complained as he dragged her along.

Val stopped in the wide, empty hall, dropped her hand and turned to assess her. He quickly realized she was breathing much too heavily, laboring to keep up. He’d dragged her at doubletime the length of the ship. No wonder she was huffing and puffing. Lady of Chaos!

He’d caused her discomfort. First he had blown her ship out from under her, almost killing her in the process, then he had made her jog to keep up with him, causing her to nearly hyperventilate.

Val let her go and bowed his head, holding her gaze. “My apologies.”

Some of his fury had cooled on the trek across the ship. Rather than anger, he was filled with dismay every time he looked into her pretty green eyes.

She was small and soft, though she acted tough. She had piloted her vessel well, from what he had observed as she had approached their hidden position, and she was an officer in the human armada that fought surprisingly well against Jit’suku expansion.

“You’re the captain of this vessel, aren’t you?” Her voice rolled pleasantly over his senses as she asked the question, rubbing her wrist where he’d manhandled her a bit.

Shame filled him when he saw the red marks his fingers had left on her pale skin. He’d tried to be careful of her fragility, but his anger had gotten the better of him.

“I am,” he replied, then reached for her hand to examine the red marks on her wrist more closely.

“Again, I apologize. It is not our way to harm females.”

She looked at him oddly for a moment, and then pulled her hand back. He let her go with surprising reluctance. She had very soft skin now that he’d slowed enough to take notice. Smaller than most Jit’suku females, she was oddly fascinating. Her coloring was pleasing in the extreme and even her scent – female mixed with the oils and lubricants he associated with fighter craft – was wickedly attractive to him. He’d been a pilot when he was younger and even though he’d never smelled those scents coming from a female before, he found the mix strangely arousing.

“It’s okay. My skin marks easily. It’s nothing.” She looked around the empty hall. “Where are you taking me?”

“To private quarters where you will remain as my guest until I can figure out what to do with you.” He hadn’t meant to reveal quite so much, but he could tell she was skeptical and probably scared behind her bravado.

“I expected torture and interrogation.”

He grimaced, his anger returning slightly. “I do not harm females.”

“You blew up my ship!” she countered, squaring off with him.

He was just in the mood to argue with her. Arguing wasn’t prohibited, though it seldom occurred with Jit’suku females.

“I thought you were male! What kind of barbarians are your people that they send women into battle?

Jit’suku women do not make war. They make—”

“If you say babies, I’m going to slug you!” she cut him off, her voice rising in intensity.

“They do that too, of course,” he replied, confused by her apparent anger. “Our women are the lawmakers. The leaders of our clans. The power behind our businesses. They do not put themselves in harm’s way by fighting on the front lines.”

That seemed to set her back on her heels, and she looked truly confused. Adorable and confused. He really didn’t understand why he found himself so attracted to this tiny female.

“Your women really have active roles in your society?” She blinked up at him as if unsure of the truth of his words.

“Of course.” What did she think of Jit’suku? That they were as barbaric and backward as her people?

She looked away, peering absently down the corridor before returning her lovely green gaze to him. “I think the gender roles in our respective cultures must be very different. Among humans, anyone can join the military. While it’s true that most women don’t choose to serve, some of us do and some of us even seek out adventure on the front lines.”

“You came here by choice?” Val couldn’t credit her words. Patrolling a dangerous border was the work of a warrior. It was too dangerous to risk a female on such tasks.

“I had to apply three times before I got assigned a fighter patrol. The rim sweep isn’t usually this exciting, but it is important.” Her chin jutted out defensively and Val realized she took pride in her assignment to the dangerous post.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, hoping to change the subject. She’d given him a great deal to contemplate, but first he wanted to be certain she was comfortable. He’d treated her shabbily up to this point, and he wanted to make amends.

“I could eat,” she replied cautiously.

“Then follow me.” He walked more slowly this time, traversing the long hallway in the sector where all his staff were housed. He was looking for one portal in particular.

Raising his hand to the lock plate, he keyed in his command code, opening the door. He stepped back, allowing her to precede him.

She walked in with some hesitation and he wondered if she hadn’t believed him about taking her to guest accommodations. Perhaps she still believed that he would throw her in the brig, or worse. She would soon learn that he was a man of his word. And he didn’t harm females. Not on purpose.

Three

The room was spacious and fitted with high-quality furnishings. The captain might just be telling the truth after all, Lisbet thought, as she took in her surroundings. This didn’t look like any kind of cell she could imagine and there didn’t appear to be anything more sinister than a couch and some chairs placed along one wall.

“Guest quarters,” he announced, moving into the room and making it seem a lot smaller all of a sudden.

Before today, she’d only seen images of Jit’suku warriors. They were all well over six feet tall and built on the brawny side. As big as the biggest human men, they towered over most civilians. But this captain was a good seven and a half feet to her five and three-quarters. And he definitely kept himself in shape. The view she’d gotten of his muscular ass as he’d dragged her along behind him had been epic.

If she’d been in any other position, she might have found herself drawn to the incredibly handsome warrior. As it was, she was his prisoner – though not, perhaps, in as bad a situation as she’d feared. She was certainly a captive, but the conditions didn’t seem too horrible at the moment. She’d remain wary, but something about the way he’d spoken to her made her think he was as unfamiliar with real humans as she was with real Jit’suku.

All she knew was what she’d been told by her commanders and seen in the news media. She’d heard about the many battles along the rim, and knew the death statistics. The war, which had been going on for a long time, was taking a definite toll on both sides. Many men had died. Women too, of course, but the Jit’suku were very careful to only attack military targets, and the few female casualties she was aware of were women soldiers.

Based on what she’d just been told by the captain, she’d bet he hadn’t known before seeing her that women served alongside men in the human armada. She wondered what he’d do when he thought through that scenario. He’d seemed truly upset to discover she was female.

“I will order food for you. It is almost dinner time. If you have no objection, I would like to share the meal with you, so that we may talk more.”

“Interrogation?” She had to ask. It didn’t sound like he really wanted to interrogate her – not in the way she understood the term – but he would be asking questions, she had no doubt.

“Nothing so drastic.” His lips lifted at one corner in a hint of a smile that almost stopped her heart.

Damn, he was sexy when he wasn’t quite so angry. He’d be devastating if he ever decided to turn on the charm.

“I wish to ask more questions of you, but I will not force you to answer. It becomes clear to me that I do not know enough about humans. I had no idea your women served as pilots. I’ll have to rethink my strategy if I am to continue this mission with honor, now that I am aware of this fact.”

That sounded promising. She thought over her options, coming to a quick decision.

“I’ll answer what I can, but I won’t betray my people. I don’t really know enough to do any serious betraying anyway, so you might as well get that thought out of your mind right now.” She took a fortifying breath, watching his handsome face carefully. “But I’ll answer cultural questions if I think they’re safe.

I’d like to know more about your people too, while we’re at it,” she added.

“Then it is agreed.” He moved toward the door. “The sanitation cubicle is beyond the light green portal, in a corner of the attached sleep chamber. I will leave you to refresh yourself for approximately one standard hour. I’ll return when the meal is served.” He paused by the door. “You will be locked in for your own safety. My crew is all male. I do not wish for you to interact with them at present.”

She was okay with that, and merely nodded. Privacy in this luxurious suite was better than being in a cell, or being accosted by a bunch of giant men who hadn’t seen a female in who knew how long. And Captain Sexy would be back in an hour with dinner.

Life had just gotten very interesting, very fast.

The captain returned with a team of men who brought in two floating trolleys loaded down with multiple domed platters. Both of the serving men gave her quizzical looks before departing with a crisp salute, but neither said a word.

Before leaving, the men had set the table and served the main course. The captain waited for her to be seated. So far, the dining rituals seemed very similar to human practices, which surprised Lisbet. She’d heard Jits were barbarians, and had almost expected them to be ripping meat from the bones of some large animal with their teeth.

Instead, she got gleaming, monogrammed silverware and what looked like costly china with the crest of some noble house. Her finger traced over the design on the rim of her plate.

“It is the sigil of my house. The Fedroval crest.” He nodded toward her hand, still fingering the raised golden symbol as she looked up to meet his gaze.

“You said your name was Fedroval. As is the name of your ship. Fedroval’s Legacy, right? So if this is anything like human nobility, you’re some kind of overlord or come from a seriously rich family. Am I right?”

The captain bowed his head slightly, holding her gaze. “I am surprised humans have such things, but yes, to both questions. I am the Liege of House Fedroval, eldest male of the line. And yes, we as a family have more than most. Unfortunately, I am the end of the line for House Fedroval.” His expression turned grim as he busied himself with the snowy white cloth napkin, placing it on his lap.

The topic seemed painful to him, so she let it drop. For now. She followed his lead, glad of the etiquette her mother had tried to drill into her when she was a girl.

Funny, she hadn’t thought of her mother in years, but she supposed the old gal would have approved of this situation. For once, Lisbet was behaving like a lady, sitting down to dinner with a rich and titled gentleman. Okay, so he was an alien. Lisbet figured it probably didn’t matter – her mother was long dead.

Still, the thought brought a wistful smile to her face as he uncovered the steaming dishes that had been laid out for them.

The silence lengthened, but she didn’t mind. There was a great deal of information to process here, and if she wasn’t very careful, she might succumb to the captain’s charms. He had said he wouldn’t interrogate her, but she wouldn’t put it past him to try to weasel out information while wining and dining her. She had to be on her guard.

“What amuses you, Lieutenant?” he asked as he poured blue liquid from a wine bottle into her crystal goblet. She watched as he poured another glass for himself. He took a sip before she followed suit.

The flavor was fruity and delicious – and intoxicating, she had no doubt.

“I had a stray thought about my mother. She always despaired of my tomboy ways. She taught me the proper way to set a table, and all the womanly things she thought important, but I always wanted to do stuff she thought wasn’t seemly.”

“Like flying a fighter craft?” One of his dark brows arched, and she got the impression he agreed with her long-lost mother.

“It was good enough for my older brother. Why should he be allowed to follow his dream into the sky and not me?”

“And did you truly dream of the sky, Lieutenant? Did the stars sing to you?” He stared at her over the rim of his goblet, seducing her with nothing more than the tone of his deep voice and the look in his dark eyes.

“Always. My mother despaired, but my granny knew my destiny was in the stars. She had a bit of the

‘sight’, and she argued on my behalf with the family. They listened to the old girl, thank goodness, and let me go. A month after I left Earth, my entire family was killed in an industrial explosion that leveled half the town.”

He stilled, his expression growing very serious.

“I am sorry for your loss,” he said in that deep voice, soft now with true emotion. She gazed into his eyes and met sorrow there. He understood. He’d lost people close to him, too. She knew the look. He’d felt the pain of losing those who made his life whole.

“Thank you.” She dragged her gaze from his and took a sip of the fruity wine. It numbed her throat a bit and dulled the jagged edges of her pain momentarily.

“Our first course is roast waterfowl from Solaris Delta. I believe all the ingredients used by the chef tonight are compatible with your system, but please alert me if you perceive any difficulties. I’ve been surprised by how much alike human and Jit’suku physiology is since I’ve begun my study of your species.”

“Am I the first human you’ve met?”

“Yes,” he answered with some surprise in his voice. “This ship was only completed a few standard months ago. We have only engaged with your folk from afar until today.” He frowned as he cut into the succulent bird with his knife. She was lured in by the delicious aroma of the perfectly cooked meat. It tasted delicious, too. “It worries me that we might have inadvertently engaged with female pilots before now.”

“Is it really that big a deal? I knew what I signed on for when I came out here. Every man and woman in the military knows they could die at any given time. We agreed to the danger when we volunteered to defend our galaxy against your empire’s expansion plans.”

She spoke matter-of-factly. She didn’t see any reason to pussyfoot around the issue, but she also didn’t see any point in getting all worked up. She was a prisoner here, for all that he was treating her like some kind of honored guest.

“Making war on women is not the Jit’suku way. Already the men under my command are speaking of what happened today, worrying that their honor has been stained by what we did to you. It is a very serious matter.”

“Really?” Lisbet’s eyes widened as she regarded him. The man was serious. Wow.

“I would not dissemble. The warrior’s code is very specific and sacrosanct. We do not make war upon females, children, or each other. With so many in the warrior caste, we need these rules to keep peace among ourselves and our various colony worlds.”

“Your people live in a caste system?” She was learning all kinds of things she’d never imagined about her enemy.

“Many males in each generation – usually more than seventy per cent – are born warriors. The rest are skilled craftsmen or artisans. Some have other talents that bring them to their proper caste. As is the case with our women. Is that not the way of human society?”

“The ratio is flipped. Only about thirty per cent of our men go into the military. Usually they’re the biggest and strongest from each world or colony, but not always. Women who want a military career tend to end up in supporting roles – piloting shuttles, doing supply or other organizational roles, simply because we’re smaller and usually can’t fight hand-to-hand the way the men can. Mechanization equals things out, so women are equal with men when it comes to piloting, gunnery, et cetera. But a lot of women don’t seem to go for those kinds of roles anyway. They put us where we are best suited and needed. In my case, that was patrolling the rim until you blew up my ship.” A bit of her bitterness about losing her ship bled through into her words, but she couldn’t regret it. He had to know she was upset about almost dying out there at his hands.

“If I had known you were female, I would never have fired upon you. Even if I had given the order, had my gunner known he was firing on a female pilot, he would have refused, and been within his rights to do so. He was very upset when we discovered your gender.”

“I had no idea you guys were so touchy about women. If my commanders knew this, they’d probably recruit all the women they could to throw at you. I bet that would end the war real fast.”

He frowned, his dark brows lowering as he considered her words. “Which is why I cannot let you go, Lieutenant.” He sat back, ignoring his food while he studied her. “You present a very large problem for me, Lisbet Duncan, and I have no idea what to do about you.”

“Who says you have to do anything? You could just let me go and jump back to your own system, where you belong.”

“Retreat? That is not the Jit’suku way.” His frown deepened.

“It’s either retreat or fire on more women. Can your honor take that chance? I’m not the only female out here. I wasn’t the first, and I certainly won’t be the last.” She challenged him, wanting to zing him a bit, even if her position was precarious at best.

He stared at her for a long time before shaking his head and returning to a more composed state. He lifted his fork and speared another bite of the meat, bringing it to his mouth. She watched him chew, realizing he had the sexiest mouth she’d ever seen on a man. Disconcerting and incongruous as that thought was, she felt her body warm as she watched him. He really was incredibly attractive, even if he was the enemy.

She took her cue from him and returned to her food as well. It was delicious, and she didn’t want to waste a gourmet meal. Not when she’d been living on rations for far too long.

“You said something before about your granny having sight. What did you mean by that?” he asked out of the blue after the silence had stretched.

“My maternal grandmother sometimes had visions of the future. That side of the family descended from a place called Scotland on Earth. My mother was a redhead, which is where I get such fair skin from, even though my hair is darker. As I told you, my granny’s visions convinced my family to let me fly. Little did I know when I left Earth that I’d never see any of them again.”

“We hold such gifts of clairvoyance in great esteem,” he said in a very serious tone. His dark gaze pinned her. “They say sometimes it runs in families.”

She squirmed in her seat a bit, knowing what her grandmother had predicted for her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to admit it, but perhaps her gran’s predictions would help her with this compelling man somehow.

“Gran said . . .” She had to clear her throat before she revealed a secret she’d never told another soul.

“Gran knew her gift would pass to my daughter. It would skip two generations, but be extra strong in my child. She said my girl would be an oracle the likes of which hadn’t been seen in our family for hundreds of years.”

“You have a child?” He seemed shocked.

“Not yet.” Lisbet had to smile. “I’ve never known Gran to be wrong, but I wasn’t sure I’d make it there for a while today. Somehow, though, according to my granny’s prediction, I’m going to have a daughter who will be strongly gifted. She saw me having other children too, but she couldn’t tell me more about them, only the girl who will carry her name.”

“I find this fascinating. If we’d had a seer in my family, perhaps I could have avoided—” He stopped abruptly, as if realizing he was speaking aloud. The pain in his eyes made her reach out to him.

“What happened to your family, Captain?”

Four

“It is not fit dinner conversation.” He tried to change the subject, but she was having none of it.

“I just told you something I’ve never told another soul. And I saw the understanding in your eyes when I told you how I’d lost my entire family. Something similar happened to you, didn’t it?”

He regarded her for a long moment. “Are you sure you’re not the gifted one in your family?” She noted the instant he let down his guard. His shoulders lost their tension and his expression changed.

“I am the end of the Fedroval line because no Jit’suku woman will have me. And rightly so. I was not meant to be liege of the House. I was a younger son, meant to serve in the Zenai priesthood. I was away from home when the unthinkable happened – my brothers were murdered by a rival, who has since paid for breaking the warrior’s code. But the damage was done. I had to take over as liege and give up my intended path as a warrior priest. I had not been groomed for the position the way my older brothers were. I made mistakes. One was allowing all the younger females to go on a trip alone, without my protection. I failed to keep them safe, and they died. The wives and children of my dead brothers. The next generation of House Fedroval, gone in an instant.”

“Were they murdered as well?” Lisbet kept her voice to a whisper, shocked at the awfulness of the story.

“It is still unclear. There was an investigation, of course, but the mechanical failure of their ship could have been accidental. There wasn’t enough recovered to reach a conclusion of sabotage, though I strongly believe some of the rival family who escaped punishment for the deaths of my brothers came back to finish the job.”

“Did you go after them?”

“I tried, but without evidence, I cannot make war on another of my kind. Being dishonorable myself will not negate their dishonorable behavior. No, this despicable act – whether accidental or on purpose – has well and truly ended a noble House.”

“But surely you can marry and have children of your own to carry on the line?”

“Because I failed to protect my House adequately, no women of quality or honor would be willing to submit to the nij’ta. If my true mate is out there, she will not allow me to find her.”

“Wait a minute.” Lisbet was confused. “What is a nij’ta?”

He looked surprised by her question as he moved the plates around, making room for a second set of dishes. He paused as he was lifting the dome off some sort of gel.

“The nij’ta is the ritual kiss. It is how we identify our perfect mate. Don’t you have something similar?”

“You can find your life mate through a kiss?” Lisbet couldn’t quite believe what he was saying, yet he seemed perfectly truthful.

“Of course. How do your males go about finding their perfect mate?”

“With a lot of trial and error,” she admitted with a sigh. “We date.” At his puzzled look, she went on.

“We see each other socially, and the relationship progresses to more intimate levels if both parties are agreeable. After a time, the male can ask the female to marry him—”

“Marry?”

“It means to legalize the relationship – joining them in the eyes of the law, and of any religion either or both might follow.”

“We call that ‘mating’.”

She nodded.

“And then they stay together forever.” He stated it as fact rather than as a question, surprising her again.

“Not always. That would be the ideal, but a lot of times people grow apart, which is why they invented divorce.”

“Divorce?” He looked even more puzzled, and pronounced the word carefully, as if it were totally unfamiliar to him.

“When two married people are legally divided – and no longer married,” she explained.

“No longer mated?” He sounded scandalized. “There is no divorce among my kind. We mate for life.”

“Really? No divorce? Never?” It didn’t seem possible to her.

“The nij’ta does not lie. A man must kiss a lot of women before he finds the one that makes his blood sing. I will never have that opportunity now and it is one of my deepest regrets. I would have liked to have a wife and children.”

“I really don’t understand why you can’t just ask a woman to marry you. Maybe she won’t be of noble birth, but judging by this ship, you’re loaded. There are a lot of women who would marry you for your money, I’m sure. And you’re not bad looking.” She added the last bit out of sheer devilry. The man was handsome as sin. If he weren’t her enemy, she’d seriously think about jumping his bones just to see if his lovemaking lived up to the advertisement.

“That is not how things are done among my people. By my prior negligence, I have proven to be careless with those I am responsible for. No woman of reasonable station would have me. I could father children on a mistress who might come to me out of pity, or for the things I could buy for her, but those children could not carry on my line legally. And mating cannot happen without the positive results of the nij’ta. I am in an unwinnable situation, which is why I commissioned this ship and set out on the warrior’s path.”

“So who’s running things at home while you’re here? I assume your family still has interests that pay for all of this.” She gestured to the luxurious suite. She knew she was being nosey in the extreme, but she was learning a lot about the aliens in general, and this devastatingly handsome man in particular.

“The dowager. My mother. She heads the family. I am merely the liege now that my brothers are gone. I thought I’d be a priest. I’d given up the idea of a wife and children of my own, but now I want them more than anything in the world, and they are denied me. All I have left is my mission, and your presence has brought that into question, too. The Lady of Chaos has touched my world repeatedly, and altered my path in ways I could never anticipate.”

“I won’t pretend to understand how your society works, but I do feel for you, Captain. Losing your family is not an easy thing.” She made a move to cover his hand with hers, but checked it. Maybe he didn’t want her reaching out to him. They were enemies, after all.

But he saw her slight motion and tilted his head, reaching out to take her hand in his.

“We have both suffered a loss that nobody should ever have to suffer. It changed the course of both our lives. I am amazed to find I have so much in common with someone I thought of as the enemy until now.”

She liked the rich tone of his voice as it dipped to compassionate, almost intimate, levels.

“Me too, Captain,” she agreed softly.

“You might as well call me Val,” he replied in that same intimate tone.

“I’m Lisbet, but my friends call me Liz.”

He reached out with his spoon, not letting go of her hand, and scooped up a small bite of the gel substance in the dish before her. He held the spoon up to her lips and smiled encouragingly. His dark gaze smoldered as she parted her lips and allowed him to feed her the small dollop.

Flavor burst around her mouth in a display of bright notes that made her lips tingle. She swallowed, enjoying the cool sensation of the sweet confection as it slid down her throat.

“That’s delicious,” she admitted with a grin.

“I thought you’d like it.” His answering smile lit a fire in her belly that had nothing to do with dessert – or at least not the edible kind. She’d like to make a dessert of him. She’d lick him like an ice-cream cone.

The look in his eyes seemed like he might be agreeable to that. Before she knew what she was doing, Lisbet leaned toward him. Was he leaning in toward her too?

His eyes grew closer until the dark gold of his gaze was all she could see. Then his lips touched hers and time stood still.

Breathing became optional as his mouth covered hers. His arms wrapped around her shoulders and dragged her out of her chair and into his lap. By slow degrees, he deepened the kiss.

His tongue bathed her mouth in his taste, his mastery. Her body squirmed against his, not trying to get away, but wanting to be closer. Her clothes were in the way. As were his.

She wanted nothing more than to feel his skin on hers, his hard muscled body against her softer skin, his hardness mastering her responses.

But it was not meant to be.

An urgent noise from the comm panel broke them apart. Her senses were fuzzy with desire and, for a moment, she didn’t know exactly where she was. In those stolen moments, Val had ceased to be the captain or her enemy. He was simply a man.

An entirely too attractive – some might say devastating – man.

Val stood, straightening his jacket as if he were uncomfortable, and went to the door. He left as if all the hounds of hell were on his heels.

Five

The captain disappeared and did not return that night. Nor did she see him all the next day. Her meals were served in silence and taken away just as quietly by a warrior who looked at her with curiosity but made no overtures toward her whatsoever. Neither friendly nor hostile, he merely brought the trays and took them away at regular intervals.

The food continued to be of gourmet quality, which surprised her. She’d understood being served the good stuff when she ate with the captain, but on her own, she expected rations. Instead, she continued to be treated as some kind of weird mix between prisoner and honored guest. She was locked in her quarters, but she had some limited access to the computer for entertainment and learning. No communications to speak of, but she was able to occupy her time discovering more about the Jit’suku culture.

Of particular interest was the concept of the nij’ta. It seemed so foreign to her, but the Jit’suku actually mated based on a single kiss. Some of the romantic fiction she’d been able to access from the computer was built around the idea of a mating based on a single kiss – even if the kiss was considered totally inappropriate socially, it had to be accepted by the respective families because true mates could not legally be kept apart. A Jit version of Romeo and Juliet – with a much happier ending, because nobody could deny a true mating in Jit’suku society.

It was kind of amazing. Humans really had no clue about these strange, oddly noble people.

Nor did the Jit’suku seem to have any real understanding about humanity.

So many misconceptions on both sides. It saddened her to think that countless numbers had died based on incomplete or misunderstood information. One thing was clear, though – the Jit’suku were a race of conquerors who had expanded to the farthest reaches of their own galaxy and beyond. Even had they fully understood humanity, chances are the war would still have been waged because they needed more room for their growing population, and the Milky Way was the next logical place for them to go. Humans didn’t like being invaded, and Jits didn’t respect those who operated on diplomacy alone.

It was an inevitable conflict. She didn’t have to like it.

Her thoughts kept turning back to the sexy captain and that devastating kiss. Had he been as affected as her? Was he thinking of her while he ran the ship and did who knew what? She’d only spent a few hours in his company, but already she missed him.

She almost . . . pined for him. Such an odd concept for a woman who’d thought she would live the rest of her life alone. She wanted to be with him, and she didn’t care that he was an alien or part of the enemy army. Lust – or could it actually be love, so quickly? – didn’t care about such things.

All she knew was that she missed him and wanted to be with him. After only a single kiss it was like she’d become addicted to his presence, his touch, his taste.

On the third day of her confinement, the captain sent a message with her silent server, along with some clothing for her. She’d been able to freshen her flight suit using the sanitary chamber’s cleansing unit, but she was getting a little tired of only having one set of clothes.

The outfit he sent her was confusing at first, until she realized it was female attire in the Jit’suku style she’d seen in images on the computer. She wondered where it had come from. Had some warrior on this ship been tasked with making women’s clothes in her size? One thing was certain – she would never have fit in any spare Jit’suku uniforms.

All in all, she was glad of the new clothes that didn’t make her look like a child playing dress up, even if the style was different from what she was used to. There were wide-legged pants in very soft fabric, covered by a tunic of sorts, and a jacket that tied at each hip, layered over with a wide sash. There weren’t any shoes to go with it, so she continued to wear her boots. It looked a bit strange, but she couldn’t very well go barefoot, and the long legs of the pants covered the tops of her boots, so just her feet showed.

Not too bad, she thought, twirling in front of the mirror in the bedchamber. She looked better than she had in a long time. The soft fabric emphasized her figure and the curves her flight uniform had hidden. She didn’t look like an androgynous pilot anymore. No, now she was definitely revealed as a woman, with all the usual curves and bumps.

She looked forward to seeing what the captain thought of her new look. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t help herself. She hadn’t been so impressed with a man since her first boyfriend back in high school. She felt as giddy as the teenager she had once been, though she knew she shouldn’t.

The man was an alien. An enemy. She’d been blasted out of her fighter on his order.

He was still the captain of an enemy craft engaged in the conquest of the Milky Way. She was sworn to prevent this conquest. The conflict made her heart hurt.

Somehow, this strange man had wormed his way into her thoughts, though he hadn’t made any overt attempt to do so. One kiss and she was hooked. Addicted to him. She knew she was doing this to herself.

Her fascination with the man was not normal. She’d tried repeatedly to stop thinking about him, but it was no use. Her heart seemed to be fixated.

The note that accompanied the clothing asked her to be ready after lunch. It was worded politely, handwritten in a bold cursive that she had to believe was the captain’s own handwriting. Val. He’d told her to call him Val. She’d thought a lot about that in the past three days. His family name was Fedroval, so maybe Val was a nickname for that? Or could his given name be something that shortened to Val? She’d have to ask him, if she got the chance.

She wanted to know every little intimate detail about him. She had it bad. She was downright obsessed.

Any minute now she’d be drawing little hearts and doodling their names inside.

Disgusted with herself, she checked her appearance one more time. It was about as good as it was going to get.

Promptly after lunch, a chime sounded near the door, alerting her, as it had for the past three days, that someone had come to take the empty tray. She looked toward the door, but when it slid open, the silent guard was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Val filled the doorway, his gaze holding hers as he walked into the room.

He stalked toward her, speaking not a word. His eyes took in her new outfit with obvious approval before returning to her face. He walked across the room and took her in his arms.

There was no hesitation in his movement. No question but that he had a right to embrace her. His head dipped and his lips claimed hers. She didn’t protest. She wanted his kiss as much as he appeared to want hers. She’d thirsted for him for days, waiting for this. This moment, when he would kiss her again. Hold her as if he would never let her go. Make the two of them complete . . . together.

The foreign thoughts raced through her mind. She’d never thought such things about a man before.

She hadn’t known she had such a romantic imagination. Maybe this alien was bringing things out of her that had remained hidden with the other men she’d known. And maybe her fascination with him wasn’t all one-sided. Judging by the hard feel of him against her, it most definitely was not.

Val reveled in the kiss of his true mate, glad to know the positive response to his nij’ta he had perceived three days ago had not been a desperate attempt at self-delusion. No. This was the real thing. This surprising human woman was his true mate.

Now he only had to convince her of that fact.

He’d spent the last three days pulling every string he knew how to pull. He’d contacted the High Priest of the Zenai Brotherhood. If anyone would know the legality and sanctity of mating outside his species, it would be the High Priest. What he had learned had given Val the first hope he’d had in years.

Reluctantly, he broke the kiss, knowing the time had come to speak his heart to the woman of his dreams. Would she be as receptive to mating with him as she was to his kiss? The High Priest had reminded him that the Goddess worked in mysterious ways.

Her faint protest as he pulled away from her luscious lips renewed his hope.

“There are matters we must discuss,” he whispered against her lips, finding it hard to let her go completely.

It was she who moved back, going to the couch and dropping onto it with her arms folded. She’d gone from receptive to combative in a flash and Val admitted to himself that he was worried.

“What did I say to make you wary?” He moved over to the couch and seated himself sideways, facing her.

“When someone says ‘we need to talk’ it usually means trouble.” She turned to him and he perceived hurt in the depths of her eyes. Hurt he had put there. Val couldn’t help but reach out and take her into his arms, holding her against him as he spoke. He couldn’t bear to see her pain.

“You’re not in trouble. I might be, but you’re not, sweet one.” He kissed the crown of her head, loving the feel of her in his embrace. “I have kept away until I was certain we could be together.”

She drew back, surprise replacing the hurt in her expression. “What?”

“I realize you are not used to our ways, but you had to feel the magic in our first kiss. It was the nij’ta.

Though I didn’t mean to kiss you, I couldn’t help myself. Your kiss proved we were meant to be.”

“Is that what that was?” Her words were soft, as if she were unsure.

“I’m not sure if it’s the same for humans as it is for us, but I knew the instant I kissed you that you were meant to be mine. You’re my perfect mate, Lisbet Duncan of Earth. Crazy as that may seem.” He knew he was smiling, but he still couldn’t quite believe it himself. “I’d given up ever finding my mate, the one woman destined to share my life. I sank my efforts into building this ship and dedicated myself to my people’s cause of conquest. Without a wife or a future, I had no other recourse. But now that I’ve found you, everything’s changed.”

“Just like that?” She sounded as incredulous as he still felt.

“Just like that,” he agreed, dipping in to place a quick kiss on her lips. Sparks seemed to fly whenever they touched, and he reveled in the response only she could evoke in him. “We’re out of the Milky Way and on our way back to my home system, Solaris Delta. It is my right and duty as Liege of House Fedroval to quit the battle now that I have found my perfect mate.”

“Wait a minute. You’re taking me home? To your home? Don’t I have any say in this?”

Her anger set him back. He moved away, facing her as they sat on the couch. “Do you wish to part from me? Do you believe you can . . . what is that human word . . . divorce me so easily?”

“We’re not married,” she said, causing pain to lance through his heart.

“In the eyes of my people, you are already mine, Lisbet. I would have you come willingly, but if necessary, I will give you little freedom and no opportunity to desert me.”

“I’m your prisoner?” Her beautiful green eyes went wide with dismay.

“Only if you want to be. I’d rather have you as my bride. My loving wife. The mother of my children, if we are so blessed.”

She sat back, air puffing out of her as if in shock. “This is a lot to take in.”

“Don’t you want to be with me?” He knew he sounded desperate, but he couldn’t help the way he was feeling. He had to do everything in his power to convince her.

She looked at him and he saw the uncertainty in her eyes. “This has all happened so fast.”

He tried a different tack. “Do you believe in a power higher than our own? I believe most humans call it God.”

“I believe God is female.” Her brows knitted, as she tried to follow his jump in conversation, no doubt.

“You do?” He grinned again. This was a good sign. One might even say a sign from the divine.

“Jit’suku believe in the Goddess. It was she who allowed us to find our destined mates by means of the nij’ta. It was she who guided me to you, I now believe. I have conferred with the High Priest of the Zenai Brotherhood, an order dedicated to her service, and I’ve learned there is some precedent for human women being the true mates of Jit’suku warriors. Now that our races have come into contact with each other, ours is not the first such pairing, though it is the highest ranking. Still, those who came before us will ease our way.”

“Other human women have been taken to the Jit’suku galaxy as brides?”

“Yes, and I will invite those who have had trouble with their mate’s clans to join ours. Such things have been done in the past, and since House Fedroval has suffered such great losses in the recent past, we are well able to support a few more families under our banner. It would also allow you to have friends from your home galaxy nearby.”

“Is that why you’re doing this? Are you that hard up for a wife that you’ll take any foreigner who happens along? I remember what you told me about being the last of your line. You said no proper Jit’suku woman would have you. Is that why you picked me?” She looked angry, and he had to make her understand.

“No, my love. If you were Jit’suku you would know, one cannot fake the nij’ta. I never expected to find a mate. I’d given up. And then there you were. Now I begin to understand why the Goddess led me on such a difficult path. She was leading me to you, Lisbet. Only to you. Always to you.”

“I must be crazy,” she muttered as if to herself, but he heard her. She faced him squarely and spoke in a clear voice. “I can’t get you out of my mind, Val. I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but I’m crazy about you and if you think we can make a go of this, I’ll agree to be your wife.”

“Thank the Goddess!” he whispered as he dragged her into his arms for their first kiss as declared mates.

A kiss that would have led to so much more if he hadn’t had an interplanetary call standing by. He drew back and stood, holding out one hand to help her up. She accepted him eagerly, and he was amazed again by the blessing the Goddess had bestowed, finding him a mate when he’d thought all was lost.

“We have a few formalities to take care of before we can celebrate in true mate style.”

He led her out of her quarters and to the bridge, where they would stand together in front of the comm station. Their images and words would be broadcast to all within the ship, a special few on Solaris Prime, and everyone on Solaris Delta. There would be many witnesses as the Liege of House Fedroval – King of Solaris Delta – officially introduced his queen.