“What?”

Seth looked at his second in command in utter disbelief.

“Okay, let me get this straight. We’re on the flagship of the royal fleet, a ship literally crawling with commandos, and you’re telling me one small woman…one small, unarmed woman…managed to escape?”

Colonel Jareth Nikolai, the Prince’s second in command, looked right back. He didn’t flinch, nor did he avoid Seth’s gaze. His voice was blunt and to the point as he replied. “Yes Sire. She went into the hydroponics bay at fifteen twenty-three to use the temple. As per your instructions two guards were posted on the doors at all times. At fifteen forty-five the guard was changed and the bay was checked. That was when we discovered the guards on the main launch bay doors were unconscious and Lady Jaida was missing. The security cameras on the bay doors are on a slow sweep pattern, so we can only assume it was her.”

Seth ran his hand through his hair in exasperation, sweeping it back from his face. “Fuck it.”

“Yeah. That just about covers it.” Jareth’s voice held a hint of quiet amusement that made Seth lift his head quickly. As usual Jareth’s face was stoic. An expression Seth knew well.

“Okay, out with it…before you bust a gut laughing.”

Jareth gave him a blank look. “Huh? Me?”

His blue-black eyes were wide and innocent, but Seth knew him of old. They’d met the first day of basic training, beaten the crap out of each other, and been firm friends ever since. The commoner and the prince, the two most feared men in the princedom.

“I’ve got nothing to say.”

Seth blew out a sigh of frustration and resisted the temptation to slap his friend upside the ear. For one, it wasn’t very dignified on the bridge of an imperial battle cruiser, and for two, Seth couldn’t remember the last time he’d managed to land a blow on the other man without the element of surprise, or an excessive amount of alcohol.

“So, she’s been missing twenty-two minutes. Where the hell could she have gone?” Seth turned and dropped down in the command chair. It had taken him years to find her, and now, in the space of hours, she’d managed to elude him again.

“Some refreshment, Sire?”

Warin’s voice broke through Seth’s musings. He opened his eyes to find Warin hovering solicitously at his side, a small tray containing a jug of water and a crystal goblet in his hands. Behind the manservant, Jareth’s face was set in dislike, or as near to the expression as the colonel would allow in public. Seth sighed; as much as he’d tried to persuade Warin not to hover like a puppy dog, the words seemed to go in one ear and out the other.

“No, thank you, Warin. Please, you should be off duty now.”

“Oh, very kind of Your Highness, but my greatest pleasure in life is to serve.” Warin flushed bright red at Seth’s direct comment and bowed so low Seth was sure he was going to go head over heels on the deck plating.

“Be that as it may, but I really do need my favorite servant well rested. Can’t have you off duty with exhaustion, now can we?” Seth smiled and stood, towering over the shorter man. Warin backed up, muttering apologies at being in the prince’s personal space.

“No problem,” Seth clapped the man on the shoulder, not really seeing him anymore as he looked over at Jareth and rolled his eyes. “Off you go, get some sleep.”

“Thank you kindly, Sire.” Warin turned to go, but stopped after three steps and looked over his shoulder. There was a strange expression on his face. Somewhere between determination and need.

“Your Majesty, if I might be so bold? She’s not worth it. There are many far more deserving of y-y-your…” The servant stuttered to a halt and dropped his gaze, the flush on his cheeks going from light pink to fire-red. “…far more deserving of your affections, Sire.”

Seth’s eyebrow winged up. Silence fell over the bridge at the servant’s words, a silence so profound that not only would he have been able to hear a pin drop, he’d have been able to work out the length and diameter of the thing as well.

“Yes…Thank you for your opinion, Warin.” Seth’s voice was formal and restrained. “I shall not need you until the morning. Dismissed.”

Seth turned back to Jareth, who watched Warin walk across the bridge, not speaking until the doors slid shut behind him.

“That man is a snake in the grass.”

“He’s not so bad.Forgets his place at times, I must admit. Minor son of a noble lord, so I guess that’s understandable.”

Jareth caught his arm as he walked by, stopping his progress and looking at him directly. “Just watch your back, my friend. Something about him doesn’t ring true to me.”

Surprised, Seth just nodded. It was rare for Jareth to venture such a strong opinion on someone. So rare that, had it been anyone but Warin, Seth would have been inclined to listen to him. But this was his manservant…for heaven’s sake, he had access to Seth’s room when he slept. If he was a danger, Seth was pretty sure he’d have found out by now.

“I’ll watch him. I’m sure you’re wrong, but I’ll watch him. Happy?”

Jareth released his arm and went back to his console. “Of course, always am. You know me.”

“Yeah, you’re a regular Mr. Happy.” Seth sat back down and rubbed the bridge of his nose between his fingers in an effort to sooth the headache that was beginning to form. So many things were going around in his skull he was sure it was going to explode soon.

He’d seen the look in Jaida’s eyes when he’d found her. Fear…that was to be expected…after all she had run from the most powerful man in the princedom for years, but there had been something else as well.

Longing perhaps. For him? He’d assumed so at the time. “Fucking hell. How arrogant…”

“Excuse me?” Jareth’s voice broke into his thoughts.

“Nothing, carry on.” He waved his hand in dismissal, locked in his thoughts. “Find her!”

No, it hadn’t been longing for him. It had been exhaustion. A tiredness so complete it had suppressed the sparkling wit and spirit that had hooked him in the first place. For the first time in years, Seth felt unsure. This Jaida wasn’t the young girl who’d looked at him with adoration. This Jaida was a woman with strength, a woman he didn’t know…

A raucous sound pierced the careful silence of the bridge, the harsh tone cutting through all activity for a second.

Seth lifted his head and Jareth paused as he headed off the bridge. Both men looked toward the security officer.

“Report,” Seth barked, sitting upright in his seat as Jareth came to stand at his shoulder, the traditional place for the Ship’s Second. “Unauthorized launch sir, from the primary shuttle bay.”

“Get me a feed, put it on the holo.”

The security officer nodded, and a moment later a flickering screen appeared suspended in midair before the raised command dais. The two men watched as a fighter patrol flew into the bay in formation and smoothly touched down. Perfect landings as far as Seth could see.

“Play it back, reduce speed by half,” Jareth ordered, his eyes sharp as he rounded Seth’s chair to get closer to the screen. “Here, see? Bottom right of the screen. A shuttle slips out just as the field drops for the last fighter.”

He turned to Seth, admiration on his face for a moment before he blanked his expression. “Whoever is piloting that shuttle, they’ve got split second timing. We could do with more pilots like that. You think it’s our girl?”

Seth was shaking his head but he knew the answer. It was Jaida; there was no one else it could be, but where had she learned to fly like that?

“Has to be. She had to have had help, there’s no way a woman raised as a noble would fly like that.” His voice was curt as he stood. “Ready my shuttle, we’re going after her.”

Two hours later Seth was growling and gritting his teeth as he chased down the fleeing shuttle with the tenacity of a terrier. In a straight run, Jaida’s shuttle had no chance against the sleek craft Seth was piloting. Which was perhaps the reason she’d made straight for the asteroid field at the edge of the system. On the ship he’d thought she’d enlisted help. But no, the sensors aboard the Prince’s Dream were top of the range and they were only reading one bio-sign aboard the other shuttle. It was Jaida herself trying to lose him in a dizzying race of twists and turns as they barreled through the scattered asteroids and space debris.

“You are one crazy lady.”

He cursed as she performed another hard turn. A few more seconds and she would have ended up a sticky mess against the side of a rock. Shooting a quick prayer to the Lady Goddess, Seth hit the same hard turn. The sound of tortured metal filled the cockpit as his wing tip scraped along the surface of the rock. An inch more and he’d have ripped the wing clean off. His jaw tightened in determination, his eyes unwavering on the shuttle dodging and weaving in front of him.

“No way out princess, you know that,” he said as though she was in the cockpit with him. All he needed was a clear straight gap in the asteroid field to hit the engines and get above her, then he could activate the mag-locks and haul her in. She knew it, he knew it.

The trick though, was getting above her. As the two craft dodged and wove in a high-speed version of cat and mouse, Seth was pushed to the limit to keep up with his quarry.

“Seth, will you just fuck off and die?”

Jaida swore and hit the brakes to slow the hurtling shuttle. It all but stood on its nose, everything loose in the cabin sliding to the front of the craft. She didn’t bother to reach out and move the mess. Instead she just looked around a half-filled maintenance report form, and slammed her flight controls hard left. Responsive to the slightest twitch of her fingers, the small craft went into a tight barrel roll.

Keeping one eye on the view ahead of her to avoid a fatal collision with an asteroid she kept the other on the controls. The tiny blip on her console that was Seth’s shuttle shot off to the right, following her original course.

“Woohoo! You fell for it. Sucker!” She whooped in triumph. He’d missed the turn, and from her sensor readings, the field was too dense for him to loop back now. He’d have to exit the asteroid field before finding a way back in to come look for her. “And by that time sweetheart, I’ll be long gone.”

Gritting her teeth in determination, she lowered her head and concentrated on the obstacle course ahead. She gunned the engines, flipping and weaving through the boulders and space debris in a breakneck race for freedom.

Most sane people wouldn’t have come this way. No one in their right mind would see an asteroid field like this as a viable route of escape. She didn’t either, but her method of escape wasn’t the asteroid field itself. Once she was free and clear of it, it would be pretty easy for Seth to catch her. The shuttle she’d chosen wasn’t built for speed, but maneuverability. He had the bigger, more powerful shuttle, so one good boost on the burners and he’d be all over her like a bad rash.

If she was still about when he got clear of the field, that was. The rocks ahead of her started to thin out. Boulders the size of small moons gave way to smaller versions, and smaller yet, until the rubble that surrounded her was no bigger than a football. Her slender fingers danced over the console as she ramped the shields up to full, preparing to blast through the remainder.

Already her eyes were focused on her goal. Beyond the field was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen: the meandering iridescent blue turbulence of a naturally occurring jump-field.

Freedom.

Natural jump fields were rare. So rare there were only thirteen recorded and all of them were heavily guarded to stop dirty little outlaws like her from using them to escape justice. Once inside a jump field, a person could go anywhere in the galaxy, provided they had the coordinates. Or they could simply jump from field to field, not exiting until they got where they wanted. Or they could hop off at the farthest point and simply disappear.

Because security was so tight, she’d never even tried to get near one. With so many agencies on the lookout for her, trying to stow away on any of the commercial liners was a no-go. She’d have been picked up in seconds. She’d kicked the idea about for months, trying to figure a way to get aboard one. Once on board, all she had to do was locate an emergency pod and bam, she was home clear. Even the meager landing thrusters on a pod would enable her to navigate in the ebbs and flows of the jump stream.

All her plotting and planning had come to nothing though. With retinal and DNA scans standard procedure at all jump-stations, there was no way for a wanted woman to get anywhere near check in, never mind departures.

All fields were heavily guarded, even this one. It had patrols and automated level-six defense drones on all sides. Bar one—the side covered by an “impenetrable” asteroid field. Jaida allowed a small smile to cross her lips as she set a direct course for the shimmering violet-blue of freedom.

Clunk-click. Slam.

The sound of metal on metal sounded overhead and reverberated through the small shuttlecraft. She jumped, wincing at the tortured scream of the shuttle’s space frame as something latched onto it.

“Shit! No! This isn’t happening.” Her gaze raced over the pilots’ consoles. Her hands followed suit, but she knew it was hopeless. Something large and powerful had locked onto her with clamps, the high magnetic fields starting to disrupt the smaller vessel’s systems as it was reeled in.

“No, no, no. I won’t go back…I can’t go back.”

Tearing her harness off, she was out of the pilots chair in a second. Desperation hummed through her frame as she looked around the small cabin. The shuttle was two man, with one interior room and no escape pod. A single low-rise bulkhead separated the cockpit from the tiny living area.

Her eyes widened as a new sound entered the fray directly overhead, a grinding, squealing noise. As she watched, the bulkhead above her started to glow in a distinctive circle. Instinctively she ducked as the sparks of the boarding-cutter began to fly.

She backed up into the corner, tears of anger and frustration pricking at the back of her eyes. She’d been so close…so close she could almost smell freedom. Her gaze latched onto the glowing, spitting circle in the roof as she slid down the wall into a tired, defeated little ball. Defeat rose up to overwhelm her. She would never be free of him.

Ever.

The boarding cutter was almost done. Seth stood by the machine and waited impatiently as it did its work, cutting through the layers of high-tensile steel and tri-titanium plates, which made up the hull and interior compartments of Jaida’s shuttle.

It would be ruined, of course, but once he had her aboard the Prince’s Dream he’d cut it loose to become just another piece of debris in the asteroid field. It wouldn’t take long for random collisions with the rocks within to render it unidentifiable and its technology too smashed to be useful to anyone.

Finally the cutter was done. His eyes gleamed as it snapped off. With a whir the laser ring lifted and withdrew back into its recess, taking the section it had cut from the shuttle below with it. Gas hissed as it was released and the air pressure between the two vessels equalized. An old hand at boarding other ships, Seth swallowed and wiggled his jaw until his ears popped.

He approached the hatch with care, scooting down to look around the compartment revealed below. She was armed, or at least she had been on his flagship if the empty holsters of the incapacitated guards were any indication. The last thing he wanted was to dangle his legs through there and get shot in the family jewels.

His hair brushed the deck plating as he lowered his body into a push-up position to get a view of the back of the shuttle. Grease and whatever they used to clean the plasti-flooring wafted up to his nose as he scooted around.

His silver eyes narrowed. She was in the back corner, curled up into a ball with her arms around her legs and her head on her knees. He frowned. What in blazes was she doing?

Checking the restraining clip on his sidearm Seth dropped through the hatch and landed lightly. He kept his eyes on her all the time in case she went for a weapon. She didn’t move. She didn’t even flinch as his boots hit the deck plating.

“Jaida?”

There was no reply. In fact she didn’t respond at all as he walked toward her, and he was left in the unusual position of not knowing what the hell to do. Where were the pistols she’d taken? With half an eye on the seated woman, he cast his gaze about the cabin, finally locating them in the foot well in front of the copilot’s seat. His frown deepened. Nothing about this was making sense. Why would she run again, and not use them when he caught her?

“Jaida, honey…are you hurt?”

He crossed the cabin in long strides. Worried, he searched for signs of blood. The madcap moves she’d been pulled could easily have thrown her from the pilot’s seat and knocked her out.

“I’m not hurt.”

Her voice was quiet, and finally she moved. Her hand disappeared under the fall of her hair and he got the distinct impression she was wiping her eyes dry.

“Look at me.”

Crouching in front of her, he tried to see under the cascading purple locks. He was expecting to see teary eyes filled with the tiredness he’d seen earlier. What he wasn’t expecting was for her to burst into action. In his haste to make sure she was okay he hadn’t noticed how she was sat, with her legs half bunched under her.

Big mistake.

Using the power from her coiled legs she threw herself at him, knocking him off his feet, and heading for the cut-out boarding hatch that led to his craft.

“What the—” Seth swore as he landed on his ass. Her slender, lithe form shot over him, just out of reach of his grasping hands. He twisted, forcing his body into movement. If she got through that hatch and hit the disengage switch, he was going to be sucking cold space. The fact that Jaida would be put to death for the murder of an Imperial Prince was scant comfort. He’d still be dead.

She reached the hatch, leaped up and dangled from it as she prepared to haul herself into the shuttle above.

“Oh no you don’t.” Adrenalin surged through him as he threw himself toward her. She squealed, a soft exclamation of denial and frustration as she tried to haul herself out of the way. He hit her midsection and they fell from the hatch in a tangle of limbs.

Seth found himself holding onto a wildcat. Someone, somewhere, had taught Jaida to fight. His breath left his lungs in a hiss as he blocked rapid-fire punches. She didn’t hit hard, but she was fast, and good as he was, some sneaked through his guard.

“You little—”

After what seemed like an age, he latched a hand around one of her slender wrists and slammed it into the deck above her head. His lips compressed into a hard line as he grabbed the other one and forced it to join the first.

“What the fuck do you think you were doing?” He glared down at her, but she wouldn’t look at him. Her eyes remained closed tight and her face turned away. He was too angry at first to notice the way her body felt under his, the way her curves fitted to his hard planes, but that didn’t last long.

His cock hardened in a heartbeat, a fact that just fueled his anger. Warin was right; there were other women who would welcome his love, yet he wanted the one who’d run. Wanted the one who’d planned to kill him…and he still wanted her.

What kind of sick bastard was he?