Read Online Creed of Pleasure; the Space Miner's Concubine (The LodeStar Series) by Cathryn Cade - Free Book Online

started to turn back to the house. Now he looked at her over his shoulder, a pose so similar to the holovid she’d studied for days that she stared, despite her dismay. His next words sent her spirits plummeting.  
    “You can’t stay here.”
    Wait. He was throwing her out? After all she’d gone through? Shopping for seductive clothing, going to visit that professional courtesan, even lying to everyone about where she’d be? And just when she’d made up her mind that she could and would do this?
    Oh, no, he was not . This made her want to coil and hiss like an outraged viper. She wasn’t a Serpentian, descendant of generations of seductresses, for nothing.  
    Letting her lashes droop, she smiled again, this time touching one hand delicately to her throat, and then stroking her fingers down over the bare skin of her chest, to the drooping neckline of her top, where she stroked idly back and forth.
    “I’m sorry you don’t want me to stay,” she said softly. “A man like you must have needs.”
    His jaw tightened, and a flush darkened his cheekbones. Her spirits rose cautiously. His next words dashed them again.
    “You know nothing about me,” he said, his deep voice cold. “Or any needs I have.”
    “No,” she agreed. “Not if you won’t let me. But I’d like to learn.” She sauntered past him, swinging her hips.
    “You’re going the wrong way,” he noted helpfully behind her. “The galley and dining room are this way.”
    Taara swung around, her own face hot. “Well then, why don’t you show me?” she suggested, still sweetly, even though her teeth were clenched.  
    His mouth twitched and he turned to lead the way. Great, now he was laughing at her. She would love to deliver a well-placed kick to that tight, rounded ass.  
    He walked with such prowling grace, as if he held the strength of his lean body on a tight leash. She sighed. She’d love to unleash him and use him as if he were the one who was supposed to pleasure her . She liked sex a lot, with the right male. If she were a legendary Serpentian beauty like Sirena Blaize, who had seduced her way through the males of the galaxy—and who, come to think of it, had also wed a virgin prince—she would chase this man until she let him catch her. And then she’d allow him to pleasure her.
    But she wasn’t a great seductress. She was just a desperate woman who had to convince him he wanted to catch her—and she was running out of time.

Chapter Five
    Sometimes the basics worked. As Creed Forth stopped inside the open doors of the house, gesturing politely for her to precede him, Taara stepped close to him and put her hand on his arm. A frisson of pleasure spread through her. Even through the thin shirt, he was so warm and hard, muscles bulging under her fingers.
    “Your house is beautiful,” she said. This was true. It needed a few decorations, sure, but with him in it, she could hardly take her gaze off of him, anyway. He was a beautiful man, and she was nothing if not susceptible to beauty.  
    This close, she could smell him too. Male, clean and healthy, with none of the colognes or heavily scented lotions that men favored on Earth II, to mask the unsavory smells of the city. This was all man and fresh air.  
    And her move was working. He had that hungry look again. This close, his face was even more striking, his skin smooth and tanned, his brows a shade of gold just darker than his hair, his lashes thick and dark, emphasizing the deep blue of his eyes. She gazed up into them, shivering with feminine awareness as they narrowed, then dropped to her mouth. Her lips parted and she waited, breathless with anticipation.  
    A steady, rhythmic thump grew louder—footsteps. Taara watched with dismay as Creed Forth’s expression went blank. He let go of her and stepped back so quickly she rocked on her feet.
    “Morning, boss,” said a woman’s rich voice. “Got breakfast for you. Nels says you have guests, so I brought