Unbound (38 page)

That wasn’t the only difference. He no longer went around bare-chested. The shirt he wore hid the cords and slabs of muscle she’d delighted in ogling. His loose pants had been replaced with carbon silk like hers. Except for the darkness of his skin, he looked every bit a spacer.

He also stood differently, less wary, more certain. While Amin had come to tolerate Romir’s presence in her life, the rest of her family had welcomed him with open arms. Their acceptance was responsible for some of the ease in the set of his shoulders.

As if he’d felt her gaze, Romir looked up, and the love and devotion blazing in his eyes made her blush. She hadn’t done anything to deserve such ardor.

She cleared her throat. “Problem?”

The pirates that attempted to jack the
Castel
turned out to be members of a notorious gang with hefty prices on their heads. The Interstellar Patrol judged that the
Castel
’s actions had been instrumental in their arrest. Though most of Volsung’s crew had been dead, the Patrol hadn’t quibbled about paying out. The reward money allowed her to refurbish her ship without selling the Dilaryn jewels. They’d taken delivery of the upgraded
Castel
just that morning. If he’d noticed something wrong, there was still time to get it fixed.

“Not any longer. There was a roughness in the energies of the door. It is gone now. There is no need to delay our departure.”

“Are you certain you want to return to the Rim? We can probably find something in the Inner Worlds, you know.” They were partners now; she wasn’t about to dictate their course according to her convenience.

Unspoken was the possibility of visiting Lomida. The latest reports to reach Lyrel 9 claimed House Bintanan lay in disarray after the tragic deaths of its matriarch and her heir in a hover limo crash. A credible enough story, but since Bazhir, the president of Dareh, had supposedly been incapacitated in the same accident, Asrial suspected it wasn’t as simple as that.

However, since a reputation for weakness and instability was anathema to House Bintanan, she was inclined to give some credence to claims that the Dareh’s plasteel grip on the planet was weakening. Other reports hinted at covert action by Khodi’s faction. Perhaps they could risk a quick visit.

A smile lit Romir’s eyes and quickly spread to his mouth. “I have no wish to be parted from you. It is enough to know my people flourish.”

He drew her into his arms in a warm embrace and into an even warmer kiss. His mouth claimed hers, his tongue thrusting deep and stroking hers with velvet insistence. “I would prefer to focus our energies on expanding House Dilaryn.”

Her body heated, melting in readiness. “Want to warm the sheets? There’s no need to deprive ourselves.”