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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Scent of Magic
Copyright ã 2004 Jeanine Berry
ISBN: 1-55410-154-9
Cover art and design by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by eXtasy Books, a division of Zumaya Publications, 2004
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Chapter One
“Five hundred credits,” the man behind the counter of Spaceship Supply Inc. said without blinking.
“Five hundred. That’s outrageous!” Angela Bennett, captain of the Hawk’s Flight, eyed the piece of silver metal clutched in the man’s grimy fingers. It was a navigational system component, and no bigger than the palm of his hand, but without it her ship would not fly.
The man shrugged, not bothering to hide the contemptuous look on his face. Ange straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. So what if her patched jacket and worn boots proclaimed her depleted credit? She was a legitimate customer, and despite its grandiose name, his shop was little more than a hole in the wall in a seedy part of town. Finding replacement parts for a spaceship as old as Hawk’s Flight was not an easy task. Ange had spent half a day tracking down this part.
“You don’t want it, I put it back. Make up your mind. It’s closing time.”
“All right. I’ll take it.” With a sigh, Ange waved her hand over the laser reader embedded in the counter. She held her breath while the computer read her universal ID and checked her account. The balance hovered dangerously close to negative numbers.
To her relief, the system beeped its approval. Her off-world bills must not have posted yet. The clerk shoved the component at her, not even bothering with a bag. She slipped it inside her tunic as she headed for the door. Outside, darkness enveloped Parme, the capital city of Tau Delta. Ange cast a watchful glance up and down the street as she started toward the spaceport, three blocks away. It hadn’t seemed so far when she’d walked to the store in bright daylight, glad of a chance to bask in the warmth of a sun after almost a standard year in space. But nightfall brought a sinister look to the streets with their rows of shabby shops and barred doors. The handful of people who passed her on the sidewalk kept moving and avoided eye contact. That was fine with her. As always, she was careful to keep her distance from any passersby.
The night deepened and Ange quickened her pace, glad her business in Parme was done. With any luck, someone would hire her ship soon and she’d be back in space where she belonged. Where she was safe.
Ahead, the bright lights of the spaceport illuminated the sky. A high fence and gate marked the entrance. Breathing a sigh of relief, she hurried across the street and held up her palm for the guard to read her ID. He waved her inside and she headed across the endless stretch of concrete to where Hawk’s Flight waited.
A smile curved her lips at the sight of her ship. Hawk was old and worn, its curved surface pitted by space debris, but it was hers—well, hers and her creditors. She shook off her worries about her mounting debt. So far, she’d met her expenses by building a reputation for speed. She achieved that by taking risks and flying through the dangerous Abandoned Zone. It didn’t bother her. She was only gambling with herself and her android, Jake. Besides, it wasn’t as if anyone cared if she lived or died. She lived her life alone. She had to, to stay sane. It hadn’t been easy.
She had a foot on the ramp that led up to her cargo bay door when a voice stopped her.
“Hey, cap’n, need any more work done?”
Surprised, she whirled around. A man sauntered out of the shadow of her ship, his big shoulders blocking the distant spotlights along the fence as he approached her. She recognized the burly form with the unkempt clothes and uncombed hair. Sean. That was the name he’d given her. He was one of the workers who hung around the docks looking for temporary employment with any ship that came in. She’d hired him earlier in the day to help unload her cargo.
As he stepped closer, Ange stiffened with alarm. She recognized the look in his eye, a look of obsession. Her heart sank. She’d been so careful to keep a safe distance from the men while the ship was unloaded. She’d sent Jake to do most of the supervision, only appearing when she had to settle some question the android wasn’t equipped to answer. She was certain she’d stayed far enough away. Was her scent getting stronger?
The thought that even distance couldn’t guarantee her safety disturbed her. Lately she’d noticed that some men seemed to succumb to her seductive fragrance more easily than others. Human contact was always iffy.
She balanced on the balls of her feet, ready to run into the Hawk. It wouldn’t do to let him get too close. She knew from bitter experience how dangerous that could be. But showing fear made it worse. She shook her head.
“Sorry. The ship’s empty and I don’t have any new cargo to load yet.” She turned back to the ramp, determined not to panic. The door seemed far away.
“Wait, cap’n.” His voice took on an urgent tone. He lunged out and grabbed her elbow. Pain shot up her arm as he yanked her off the ramp. She stumbled and collided with his chest. His hot, rancid breath scorched her face. His arm went around her waist, imprisoning her. “You’re one fine woman. Say you got something for an old space hand.”
“I told you, I don’t need any help. Hawk is a one-woman ship.” Her stomach lurching in disgust, she pressed her hands to his chest and pushed, but his bruising grip on her elbow held firm.
“Let me go,” she snapped in her best command voice. “Or I’ll scream for the guards.”
“The guards are a long ways away, cap’n.” Sean leered at her, showing a row of dirty teeth. His eyes were bright. Too bright. They glittered with a kind of madness. His fingers bruised her arm and he leaned closer, breathing hard. Ange’s heart constricted with fear. She’d lived this nightmare too many times. Men, crazed with lust, driven wild by her scent. Each attack burned in her memory. She gagged as the reek of stale beer enveloped her. Sean sniffed at her hair. “You smell like heaven,” he whispered. His eyes glazed with desire. Just like all the other times. She knew what came next.
Sean’s dirty hand pawed at the front of her jacket. Anger flooded through her, giving her strength.
“No!” she shouted and kneed him in the groin with one swift, vicious move. He grunted and doubled over but held on to her despite her desperate lunge away from him.
“Damn you!” he wheezed.
Her kick went wild as Sean pulled her off balance. She screamed for help.
“Shut up!” he shouted and slapped her hard across the face. The sound of the blow echoed across the open field. She staggered and he yanked her into the shadows under the ramp. “Think you’re too good for the likes of me, do you? Think you can go around smelling like a bitch in heat and get away with it. I’ll show you.” Growling like an animal, he pushed her down on the hard concrete and pinned her under his weight.
“Stop it!” She tried to jerk her hands free,
her nails ready to rake his face, but he was strong. Her head ached and her cheek throbbed, but the fear was the worst—the fear that what had happened before would happen again. The first time she’d been thirteen. It had been the week she became a woman, the week of her first period. Some initiation.
A grim determination coursed through her. She wouldn’t be a victim again. Not this time. She fought to roll out from under him, but he backhanded her across her other cheek.
“No, you don’t. You’re not getting away from me.” His maniacal laughter ripped apart the silence of the night. He pinned her down with his weight and leaned over her. She twisted her head to avoid his clumsy attempt at a kiss and saw a bright light sweep across the concrete.
“Stop!” She got one hand free and tried to beat him off with her fist. He ignored her feeble pounding.
“Oh, baby, don’t fight me. You’re gonna like it.” Sean crooned. His eyes were glazed and he looked oblivious to anything but his attempts to steal a kiss. Ange caught the low hum of a motor, nearly drowned out by his heavy breathing. Her heart leapt with hope. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed an aerocar landing.
Sean hadn’t noticed. He was too busy trying to plant his disgusting mouth over hers.
“Get off me!” she screamed to cover up the sound of a door slamming.
Footsteps pounded across the tarmac. “You heard the captain!” A male voice thundered above the two of them as they struggled on the ground. Two big hands reached toward her out of the night. One grabbed her assailant’s collar and the other seized his belt. With a heave, the newcomer hauled Sean off her.
“Let me go!” Sean yelled, swinging a fist wildly at the air.
“After I teach you a lesson.”
Ange looked up at her rescuer. Sean was big but this man was bigger. The stranger’s eyes were dark slits full of controlled rage. He shook Sean like a puppy. “Not such a bully now, eh?”
Sean launched a kick at him, but the man dodged it and drove a solid blow into Sean’s stomach. “I ought to break you in two,” he growled.
Sean doubled over, the air knocked out of him.
Ange sat up, feeling dizzy and sick, and blinked at the aerocar parked on the concrete near her ship. Its long, sleek black lines oozed wealth. Another man jumped out of the car and came running up. He had on a uniform and wore a driver’s leather cap.
“Take him to the guards,” her rescuer said, grabbing Sean by the collar and tossing him at the newcomer like so much garbage.
“Right, Mr. Llewelyn.” The newcomer pulled a gun from his pocket. He waved it at Sean who was clutching his stomach and whimpering. “Come with me and don’t make any trouble or you’ll be sorry.”
Her rescuer bent over her and thrust out a hand. The shadows hid his face but she caught the bright flash of a friendly grin. “Here, let me help you up.”
“No, thanks.” Ange waved him off. He was standing dangerously close to her. In another moment, he’d catch her scent. Panicking, she staggered to her feet and backed away, out of his reach.
He frowned at her obvious retreat and held up his hands. “Hey, I’m not going to hurt you. And my driver will see that your attacker is arrested. I’m Blane Llewelyn, by the way.”
Ange straightened her shoulders, intending to thank him and then beat a hasty retreat up the ramp. She didn’t dare get close to any man—the sooner she was back in space, the better. She brushed a hand through the curly mop of her hair and peered at him. The lights from the aerocar behind him surrounded him in a radiant halo. The wind ruffled his long hair, and she caught a whiff of his scent on the breeze. It was a clean, masculine odor, a wild scent like the smell of a forest after the rain, with the earth dark and fertile and full of power.
She narrowed her eyes. What a crazy thought. She was a creature of space, doomed to spend her life alone in a metal shell. What did she know about forests teeming with the smell of life everywhere?
He took one step closer to her as a gust of wind whipped around them both.
“Ahh!” An involuntary sigh of pleasure escaped her. She breathed in deeper, wanting to fill her lungs with his delicious smell. Her head spun as if she’d just slugged down a pint of the best Arturian ale. Shock burned through her body and she staggered back.
The smell of the forest deepened, a rich smell, the deep, steady smell of the earth, the clean scent of the trees. Her mind filled with images of lush groves and dappled sunlight, and a soft rain of autumn leaves drifting to the ground in shades of red and yellow and orange, making a fragrant bed where lovers could unite. She and this man would lie down naked, their flesh gleaming white against the scarlet and gold leaves.
The erotic image spun out of control. Her body melted as her insides quivered and turned to water. An unexpected tidal wave of pure lust roared through her. A hot rush of passion poured through her veins like molten lava. She gasped for breath, sure steam must be coming off her skin. A flush burned on her cheeks as a feverish heat brought a light dew of sweat to the cleft between her breasts. The months she’d spent struggling to accept a celibate life vanished as if in smoke. Her body quivered with awareness of this man—she quivered as if her nerve endings had somehow reached out and touched his body. This was insane, and yet she could not control the longing that swept away all reason. At his slightest movement, the lift of his arched brow, the pursing of his sensuous lips, she trembled with insane lust.
She had to control these incredible emotions that rocketed through her body. She clutched at the railing of the ramp for support and struggled to catch her breath. Sean’s blows must have rattled her brain. This Blane was a stranger, nothing more than a dark form looming out of the night, and yet she wanted him, wanted him badly. Her mind screamed that it was nonsense, but her body trembled with an overwhelming and inexplicable desire to run into his arms, to mold her body to his and cover his face with passionate kisses.
Goddess, she was as bad as Sean. One whiff of his scent had turned her into a rutting animal unable to control her urges. His scent—his woodsy, compelling scent—that had to be it.
She clutched at her throat with one hand, testing the air with delicate sniffs. Was it possible? Was there someone else who carried the same curse she did? Scent. Alluring, intoxicating scent. It was her doom. But she’d never heard of anyone else afflicted in the same way. Oh, yes, she’d seen men react to the sensual fragrance she gave off—their reaction was immediate and primordial whenever she got too close—but never had a man’s presence hit her like this. A puzzled line appeared between her brows as she squinted at the man in front of her. He was tall, with broad shoulders that tapered to a slim waist. A friendly smile warmed his ruggedly handsome face. His eyes were dark in the shadowed night but they looked at her with concern. Lust stirred in her blood again. She kept her breathing shallow and eyed him with caution.
“Thanks for helping me,” she said. “I don’t want to seem unfriendly, but I’ve got to get inside my ship where I can be alone.”
“You’re sure you’re not hurt?” His bass voice rumbled with worry.
“No, I’m fine.” As her heartbeat steadied, questions rushed into her mind. Who was he? Where had he come from? He watched her with calm determination—like someone who knew what he wanted and how he was going to get it. The air between them vibrated with the force of his personality.
Biting her lip, she studied him with the intense interest she usually reserved for Hawk’s engines. His confident stance and fit body told her he was a man who could handle trouble. He had a square jaw line and a wide, generous mouth. A shining cap of dark brown hair fell to his shoulders, framing his clean-cut features. She frowned as an unusual fluttering sensation passed through her stomach. Great, not only did he smell like sex and sin, but he was also a hunk.
She had to get a grip. Smell could be a dangerous thing; instinctual, arousing. If she indulged the desire raging through her and moved closer to him, he would catch her scent. Her pulsed raced at the thought of the resulting explosio
n of desire. Heat, passion, their two bodies molded together. But in the end she’d be hurt—again. Her starship and safety were only a few meters away. She willed her feet to move, to take her away from this stranger, away from the mystery of their similarity, away from his magnificent body.
His eyes locked with hers and held her motionless. Fear skittered through her as she licked her lips. What was happening? She’d watched men go crazy with passion when she came near. This man had the same effect on her, merely by standing there.
You smell like heaven. Sean’s words came back to her. That was her curse—the curse that had driven her into a lonely life aboard the Hawk, the curse that made male hormones spiral out of control.
She took a careful breath. His rich, musky scent teased her with sweet desire. Her stomach did a little flip-flop as she stared into his eyes. They were a compelling shade of deep violet. They reminded her of the color the darkening sky turned at the moment before a ship left atmosphere and entered space. Staring into their depths, she saw the shadow of grief. If he was like her, he too must have suffered terrible loneliness.
Heat flared up in her veins again, ignited by his probing stare. She looked down, only to find herself appraising the bulge in his pants. Goddess, where was it safe to look on this man?
Desperate, she focused on his hands. They were strong hands with long fingers. Desire exploded in her belly and shot upward. Her nipples tightened at the thought of those hands on her skin. She forced her breathing to stay calm. She’d given up any thought of a normal relationship years ago. If she got any closer to him, it would be sex, mad sex, and nothing else.
She fought to ignore the fiery warmth running riot through her body. The man radiated energy, an energy that shimmered over her skin, warming her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Blood burned in her cheeks and pooled in her loins where it caused a pleasant throbbing. Her throat went dry and at the same time other parts of her grew wet. How long had it been since she’d satisfied that need with a man in her bed? She didn’t even want to think about that.
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