Read Online The Marine's Queen by Susan Kelley - Free Book Online Page A

tongue to his, and he retreated. When he tried to pull his mouth away, she followed. Her chest rubbed against his, and her hips bumped into his … erection! She let him go.
    Joe stared at her with eyes wide and a bit wild. His chest rose and fell as if he couldn’t catch his breath. She ran her gaze down his body, snaring on the bulge in the front of his pants.
    “ I’m sorry, Lady Callie,” Joe rasped, backing away. He spoke so rapidly, she had trouble following his words. “I had no right. Forgive me.”
    “ No, I’m sorry.” Callie reached out her hand toward him.
    Joe shook his head and strode away. He avoided the cave and struck out for the rugged terrain beyond the pool.
    Callie stared after him, her lips and other parts of her body still tingling from his kiss. She regretted her lack of control. She lusted after a man she wouldn’t give her trust to and who could have no future in her world.
    Unless this world became her world. Then what? Wouldn’t they need to make the best of things? Create a world for their children? Their children?
    Callie watched Joe until he was out of sight. She walked slowly back to the cave, confused about the direction of her thoughts.
    The doctor was organizing the sleeping arrangements with the newly arrived supplies. It would be the coziest sleeping since the crash.
    “ Where’s Joe?” Webb asked when he noticed her.
    Callie felt heat rising in her face. “I don’t know where he went.”
    “ I want Roz to sleep with us, Momma,” Glory whined, as her mother smoothed out their sleeping sack.
    “ She’s a tough little girl. Lots of grown men wouldn’t have survived that desert crossing,” Webb observed as Glory continued her complaints. “Some very tough marines didn’t make that crossing.”
    “ Yes, she is,” Callie agreed, glad to turn the conversation away from Joe.
    “ She’s taken a big liking to Roz,” Webb said with a sly look in his eyes. “Sometimes small children are blessed with a clearer vision of things while adults let their minds become clouded with rumors and silly beliefs.”
    Webb walked away, clearly not expecting a response, and joined Mak and Kam by the entrance. Callie wondered if the doctor would prove to be as clever with words as the marines were awkward. Where had Joe gone?
    Roz entered the cave, giving Callie a glimpse of the deepening twilight before the covering dropped back into place.
    “ Roz!” Glory slipped away from her mother and ran to the marine. “They won’t let me sleep with you.”
    Glory folded her arms across her chest and stood before Roz. She swung a glare at the rest of them and waited for the marine to fix things to her liking.
    Roz looked at Grace, and then swept his wide-eyed gaze around the cave.
    Webb snickered, but the other soldiers looked almost as horrified as poor Roz. Another rush of cold air swept into the cave, heralding Joe’s arrival. His sapphire eyes glinted with reflected firelight.
    “ What’s wrong?” Joe’s commanding tone shattered the frozen tableau.
    “ Nothing, sir.” Roz snapped to attention.
    Glory didn’t agree. She walked to Joe and tugged on his pant leg. “Sir Joe, I want Roz to sleep with Momma and me. You tell them!”
    Joe’s sharp gaze took in the sleeping sacks spread in a rough circle around the fire. He knelt down to Glory’s level. “I brought something for you.”
    Callie noticed for the first time that Joe carried a bag in his left hand. He dumped the contents on the sandy floor.
    Glory gasped and dropped to her knees beside Joe. Acacia laughed and clapped her hands with delight. All the women started talking at once.
    Callie edged closer and peered over Yalo’s shoulder. She gasped when she saw the bounty spread on the floor. Ten of the fattest, ripe applenuts she’d ever seen.
    “ I didn’t know they grew so large.” Riba lifted one of the head-sized fruits.
    “ Let’s cut them up and feast,” Webb crowed.
    The women took charge, cutting the fruit into