Starkissed by Lanette Curington Page A

other than the Commander.
    If she used his given name, wouldn’t they become more…intimate? Would he consider it an insult if she didn’t? More importantly, should she even care?
    Last night, when he explained about the glowstones, she thought she’d found a way to save his precious jewels and perhaps bolster the Zi economy. Then reality had hit her www.samhainpublishing.com
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    in the mid-section like a laserblast. Whether it was jewels or glowstones, they traded illegally for weapons of war. And this Zi Warrior had somehow convinced her father to be a part of it.
    How could she have forgotten?
    She had lost sight of that important fact while they were at Steve’s mercy and as they struggled to survive on this unknown planet. How could she maintain her integrity and fight her overwhelming attraction to the Commander while facing possibly decades with him as her sole companion?
    Leith didn’t think she could.
    Flights of fancy were one thing. Leith could do whatever she wished in the fantasies in her own mind without compromising her principles. This was reality. She and the Commander… J’Qhir were the only two people on this planet, and they probably were going to be here the rest of their lives.
    Leith took one last, long drink of water. Now was not the time for introspection. She needed to find the Commander and lead him back to the stream. She hated to leave, afraid she wouldn’t be able to find it again. For whatever reason, the mapping function in the omnilyzer didn’t work. She could return the way she had come and use the k-counter to track how far she traveled in kilometers. If she could remember landmarks as well, she might succeed in bringing the Commander to the water.
    Not the Commander, J’Qhir.
    She practiced his name aloud, “J’Qhir.” She liked the way the sounds moved in her mouth—the soft j, the hard k sound followed by an extra breathy rush of air, the roll of
    “eer” over her tongue. She repeated it. Maybe by the time she found him, she could use it as easily as he used hers.
    On the other side of the stream stood a tall tree, long shaggy limbs hugging close to the trunk as they reached for the sky. Leith would keep that tree in sight as she headed in the direction she thought she had come.
    Splitting up had been the Commander—J’Qhir’s idea. She had awakened stiff and sore from sleeping on the ground. A night’s sleep hadn’t eased her resentment. She remained aloof while they ate from their meager supplies in silence. She remained unmoved by his dismay. She knew he had no idea what had disturbed her the night before, but she was in no mood to broach the subject of illegal cargo.
    When J’Qhir had proposed they search in different directions, she had voiced her objections. She had no experience at that sort of thing. Just as she’d been afraid of losing him in the twisted tree forest the first night, she now feared losing him and never finding him again.
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    Lanette
    Curington
    “You are more capable than you think, Leith,” he reassured her. “But if you think you are lossst, ssstay in one place and I will come for you.”
    Patiently, he had explained they could cover twice the area in the same amount of time. He sounded as if he had confidence in her and her ability. She couldn’t bring herself to object again. His amber eyes might register disappointment. He might make that sound of exasperation, “Sss’t!”
    Now, Leith grinned. She couldn’t wait for the opportunity to explain how closely that sounded to a Terran expletive.
    Leith had wanted to use his injured knee as an excuse, but she knew he already felt inadequate because of it. In the end, she conceded against her better judgment.
    Looking back over her shoulder, Leith could still see the tall, slim tree in the distance. The k-counter read two-thirds of a kilometer. What would that be in miles?
    Converting metric to the obsolete system was an old game of hers. On