In this excerpt from my space opera Morgan’s Choice Morgan and Ravindra are free – but they’re in a jungle in the rain.
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Water trickled down his chest and his boots began to squelch. His sodden shirt stuck to his skin. Her clothes were the same. She noticed his stare and lifted her lip in a parody of a smile, blowing a drop of water off her nose. Soaked to the skin, bedraggled, stuck in a jungle. All because of him.
“Do you regret it?”
“What?” She pulled her boot out of the mud, took another step.
“Rescuing me.”
She mashed her lips, thinking how to answer. His heart sank. He should have kept his mouth shut.
“I could have been dry, comfortable and Queen of the Orionar. Oh, what fun. No, Admiral, I don’t regret it. Not for a moment.”
He saw her lip quirk in a sad little half-smile. What did that mean?
She shrugged. “Yes, conditions here are bad. But it’s as bad for you as it is for me. Maybe it’s something I’ll be able to brag about in a bar sometime.”
Would any of the women he’d bothered with over the years have done what she did? Take such risks? Certainly not his wife. Toward the end they were barely civil to each other. I love you. Sometime he’d get the courage to tell her. “My given name is Ashkar.”
“I know.”
Of course she did. “Use it. Can’t we at least stay friends?”
“Sure.”
He ground his teeth. Shields up, full defense mode. If she imagined he would accept that and let it go she didn’t know him very well.
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She’s making it difficult for him – but he’s an accomplished man. Click on the cover to find out more.
