Page 27 of Lost in Barbarian Space

“You aren’t a coward. What if I promise to keep my hands at my sides?”

“No.”

“Kiss me,” he coaxed. “One more time.”

She was still and silent, her gaze on his. Then slowly, so incredibly slowly, she leaned forward.

She nipped at his bottom lip, then deepened the kiss.

Colm groaned. She did, too, and suddenly the kiss turned into something wild and out of control. His nails bit into his skin as he fought not to break his word and grab her.

She threw her arms around his neck, her body plastered to his. She made hungry sounds, and Colm poured his frustration and desire into the kiss.

“Agent Brandall, preparation for take-off is going well. Twenty minutes.”

The voice made them jerk apart. The sound was coming from the small badge attached to Honor’s heaving chest.

She stepped back and he watched as her face turned serious.

She touched the badge. “Thank you, Wu. We’ll be there shortly.” She looked back at Colm. “Thank you for these.” She set the gauntlets on her bed. “Now, let me quickly show you the rest of the ship and we’ll get up to the cockpit for take-off.”

CHAPTER SIX

Honor tried to calm the trembling, hungry feeling in her belly.

A hunger for one thing.

One man.

Colm strode beside her, taking up most of the corridor. He was looking around, absorbing everything about the ship.

She really wished he’d been the all brawn-no brains warrior she’d assumed when she’d first arrived on Markaria. She thought of the gauntlets in her cabin. He was proving to have far more depth, and cunning, than she’d given him credit for.

“Here’s the ship’s gym. I know our scanning trip won’t be long, but you’re welcome to use it if you wish.”

He stepped inside, eyeing it all. “This is where you train?”

“Yes. Sparring, hand-to-hand. We also have machines for exercise and muscle-building.”

He made a grunting sound, which she took to mean he wasn’t that impressed about exercising with a machine.

She moved over to the line of spar-droids resting in the rack on the wall. “These are special spar-droids. You can program them to spar with you at different levels of intensity and in several hundred different combat methods from around the galaxy.”

She hit the button and the first droid moved out. It was shaped like a humanoid but had no legs, just floated off the ground.

Colm raised a brow. “That can fight?”

“Yes. Droid, activate program brandall-alpha-seven.”

The droid shot forward with a hard-driving punch at Honor. She was ready to block it when something slashed down fast between her and the droid.

Colm’s sword split the droid in two. It fell to the mats in a sparking mass of broken metal and wires.

She stared at it, open-mouthed. “Uh, warrior, you weren’t supposed to kill it.”

He slid his sword back into his scabbard. “It was trying to hurt you.”

“It’s a machine, Colm. It was doing exactly what I asked it to do. I spar with these things all the time.”