He stared down at her for a long moment. Then something moved behind his eyes, something raw and deep.
“Come and walk with me. I think it’s time to tell you a story.”
“Okay.” She muttered, but she was responding more to that look than to his words. What kind of story?
He took her hand in his and they walked on through the meadow.
“Once there was a boy,” he began. “He was born in New Seattle—not in the wealthy part, but not the worst part, either. He had a mother that loved him, when she thought about him. She took care of him, fed him and sent him to school. But most of the time, her attention was caught up in his father. His father, who was rarely there—flew in once a month or so, ruffled his son’s hair, took his wife to bed and hung around for a day or so, then disappeared again, off to wheel and deal.
“Until the boy was fourteen and the father disappeared for good. Things had been getting worse for a while, there wasn’t quite enough food to eat and the boy’s mother sank deeper into depression. Didn’t pay attention to the boy, just sat and pined for the man. Starving herself, getting sick and not caring. The boy tried to take care of her, tried to fix what was broken, but he wasn’t enough.”
Kiri was listening now with every iota fixed on Stark, her heart pounding with dread for whatever was coming. She knew it was going to be bad.
“Then one evening another woman appeared at their little apartment. She had a boy by the hand. A dirty, skinny kid, about eleven, with dark red hair and eyes … just like the older boy’s. She told them he was another son of the father, the credit he’d given her was gone and she wasn’t feeding him anymore.”
Kiri gasped and Stark’s hand tightened on hers.
“The mother would have turned her away but the boy—”
“You,” Kiri whispered. “Say it.You’re the boy, aren’t you?”
He gave her a veiled look, but it was poor shield for the soul-deep turmoil she saw behind it. Kiri held his gaze, gave him hers back.
“Yes. I said no, we had to keep him. He was—it was obvious he was my brother.”
“Which one?” she breathed.
“Joran.” Ah, the one who looked like Stark.
“And … your other brother?”
His hand tightened again, his grip hurting her, but she didn’t protest.
“Creed. We … found him, Joran and I.”
They had passed into the shadows of the tall evergreens. The earth was soft under their feet, layered with the dry needles. The air was cool, and filled with that magical scent, so strong it was like perfume.
“How did you find him?”
Stark gazed out at the meadow, his eyes squinted slightly against the sunlight, but Kiri had the sense he saw none of the beauty before them.
“Turned out my father hadn’t been traveling far, just to his different women and gambling establishments, where he was a dealer. He hooked up with whores and any woman foolish enough to believe his lies.”
“That’s why you were worried I was a gambler,” she breathed.
He nodded. “He died in a crooked gambling house, lasered in some drunken argument. My mother died not long after. Walked in front of an airbus at the stop nearest our house. Never figured out if it was an accident, or she just couldn’t live with the knowledge he’d been fucking around on her. Though why in the seven hells it should have surprised her, I’ve never understood. Even I knew he didn’t think of us when he was gone. He never … brought me anything from his travels. Never had stories to tell of where he’d been.”
Kiri clasped his arm with her free hand, her heart swelling with pain for the boy he’d been.
She’d lost her family, but at least she knew she’d been loved. She took a deep breath, willed her voice to remain steady. “So then what did you do?”
“Lost the apartment,” he said, almost absently. “They were going to put Joran in a crèche, me in a labor school. But I didn’t like the looks of the men who came to pick him up. He was … a handsome boy. And he fought when they tried to take him, so we didn’t let them.”
Kiri stared up at him. Twelve- and fourteen-year-old boys against two grown men and they hadn’t ‘let them’ do something? She nodded. “Ah, that’s—that’s good. So then?”
“We were on the streets. Joran had grown up in the slums, knew some hidey holes, some places to get food, so that’s where we went. And where we found Creed.”
He looked at her for the first time. “Creed’s not our blood brother. He’s ours because we took him from a pimp.”
“Oh, Logan.”
Stark nodded grimly. “Intended to whore him to pedophiles. I’m not altogether sure he hadn’t already. He’s never said. Didn’t speak for months, didn’t do anything but stay close to us like a skinny little shadow with huge eyes. They’re blue, like that sky.”
Kiri wrested her hand from his and threw her arms around him, pressing her face against his chest. “Oh, Logan. Thank God you found him.”
His arm closed around her and he curled his other hand around the side of her throat, his thumb tipping her head up so he could look into her eyes. “Kiri. I’m not telling you this so you’ll feel pity for me, or for Joran or Creed. I’m telling you so you’ll understand me and so you’ll know—everything you went through on that ship, every fear, every discomfort, every threat—I’ve been there. I’ve lived it, slept it, breathed it. I may be wealthy now, but I didn’t come from wealth.”
Slowly, she nodded. This was the past Scala had alluded to. Stark might not be a woman, but he’d known the fear of being smaller, weaker as a youth, and yet he’d appointed himself guardian of two younger boys and refused to part with them.
His face softened, and she watched him come back to her, his gaze focused on her, not the cold and bitter past. His hand worked, caressing her cheek.
“I got through it, little cat, and I triumphed. The places we hid out? I own most of them. They’re viable businesses now, with food kitchens and crèches attached for those who need them.”
“So there won’t be boys like Joran and Creed,” she whispered.
He shrugged. “We can’t save them all. But LodeStar can help by giving jobs to their parents, those who are willing to work.”
His hand tightened, framing her cheek. “And you—I’ll keep you safe if you’ll let me. Protect you so you’re never vulnerable again to slime like Darkrunner and his kind. And I’ll prove myself worthy of your trust, as well.”
The ice around her heart cracked, the image of that other woman not burning quite as harshly, muted by what he’d just shared.
His past had made him a man who thought he always had to be in control, who blazed his way through obstacles and people when he could, but it had also made him a protector, a man who would look after those he considered his.
She’d remind him later that she didn’t need protecting. He wanted a chance to prove himself, and she had the sense he’d apply every bit of his formidable will and intelligence to the task. And that just might make it worth the work it would take a woman to get to the core of him—at least she hoped so.
“Logan Stark, what am I going to do with you?”
His gaze went molten and his arm tightened around her, holding her close against his hard body.
“Stay with me, Kiri te Nawa, and we’ll find out together.”
.... to be continued.
Thank you!
• Thanks for reading Stark Pleasure. I hope you enjoyed it!
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• For an excerpt from the next LodeStar tale, please keep reading.
best,
Cathryn
The LodeStar Series
Book 2,
Creed of Pleasure; The Space Miner’s Concubine
Half-Serpentian or not, in the crime-ridden streets of New Seattle, Earth II, Taara Ravel can’t defend her quirky cousin and herself against an enemy they can’t even see. A wealthy man agree
s to whisk them away to safety on the new planet of Frontiera—but only for a high price. One the lovely blonde will have to pay with her body.
Here’s a short excerpt …
Taara Ravel stared at the man hovering via holovid image in the middle of her tiny sitting room.
“You want me to … what?” she asked. Her voice rasped through her dry throat. She sat on her small sofa, frozen with shock.
Logan Stark faced her, his hard, handsome face calm despite her reaction. “I believe I was quite clear. I want you to seduce my youngest brother.”
That’s what Taara thought he’d said. She was just having trouble believing he’d said it. Logan Stark, space magnate and owner of the galaxy’s newest space cruise line, wanted her, a fashion sales clerk, to agree to prostitute herself … with his brother?
What kind of man conceived an idea like that, much less proposing it as calmly as if he were suggesting she link the man for a date?
“In return,” Stark went on, his deep voice smooth, “I’ll do as you’ve asked. I’ll make sure you and your cousin Daanel are safe from whoever is threatening you on Earth II by moving both of you—and his clothing boutique–to Frontiera.”
Taara shook her head, hoping the motion would clear the thick, noxious New Seattle fog, which had apparently settled in her brain. “I—I thought you’d help us,” she accused, hurt pushing up her throat in a thick, suffocating layer. “We’re Kiri’s friends.”
At the mention of his mistress, Stark’s face softened—at least she thought it did. But he continued to regard her with that dispassionate gaze, the same steely gray as the fog.
“Which is why I am prepared to help you. But as Kiri herself will tell you, I never do anything without a price.”
Taara could believe that all too well. She set her jaw, afraid if she spoke she’d scream something obscene at him. One thing was for sure, when this little interview was over, she was going to link Kiri and tell her a thing or two about her wonderful Logan.
When he waited without speaking, she lifted her hands helplessly. “Why … why do you want me? There must be plenty of beautiful, experienced courtesans you could hire.” Women who were willing to use their bodies to make their way in the galaxy.
He lifted his chin in acknowledgement. “A fair question. I want you precisely because you are not a courtesan. You are warm-hearted, loyal, amusing and a beautiful woman. That’s what my brother needs, not the practiced attentions of a professional.”
Taara scowled. He may have just complimented her, but she still wanted to get her legs around his business-suited neck and squeeze until he choked. She could do it, too. Half-Serpentian, she knew some awesome fighting moves.
And anyway, what kind of repulsive troll needed his big brother to get him a woman, even if he did live at a remote mining outpost? Stark owned a fleet of space ships, didn’t he?
Ignoring her glower, Logan Stark reached out one large, manicured hand, manipulating a com unit on the gleaming expanse of desk before him.
“In case you’re curious, this is my brother Creed. Creed Forth.”
Taara didn’t answer. For the second time in their conversation, she was speechless.
Creed. His name filled her mind, and whispered over her skin and sank deep inside her.
Tall, whipcord lean, skin bronzed by the sun in the blue sky over his head, blond hair ruffling in the wind, he gazed back at her from the holovid. His face was hard with smooth, angular planes that echoed the mountains behind him. His mouth was set uncompromisingly.
But his eyes … a blue as deep and mysterious as the Sound, they held the promise of passion so deep Taara felt herself teetering, as if on the edge of an abyss.
“I’ll leave you the link,” Stark said. “You have until tomorrow at this time to give me your answer. Oh, and Ms. Ravel? Not a word to Kiri, or the deal is off.”
He disappeared, leaving Taara alone with the silent image of the man who was as far from a repulsive being as she’d ever seen. Creed Forth was magnificent. He was sex on a hot reactor core.
Of course her answer to Stark’s degrading scheme was still an emphatic, unequivocal ‘No’.
Wasn’t it?
Creed of Pleasure will be available later this summer. To be among the first to know,
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Other books by Cathryn Cade
Sci fi futuristic romance
The Orion Series
Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bryght
Her Commander
Prince of Dragons
Deep Indigo
The Frontiera Series
Heart of Stone
Heart of Steel – coming soon
Contemporary paranormal romance
Hawaiian Heroes
Walking in Fire
Rolling in the Deep
Blooming in the Wild
Burning up the Rain
Contemporary erotic romance
Club 3 Series
She’s All In – coming October 1, 2013
Visit www.cathryncade.com to
read reviews and buy the books
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Thank you!
The LodeStar Series
Other Books by Cathryn Cade
Stark Pleasure; the Space Magnate's Mistress (The LodeStar Series) Page 32