AFamiliarFace by Marie Harte Page B

appealed to him on all levels. She had a smart mouth, the strength of mind to do what was right, and the fortitude to see her morality justified. She had decimated an entire Phrellian spacecraft, and had killed his enemy without mercy. Damn, he felt himself growing hard again.
    And her body. He wondered if she knew what they had shared last night. If she had any inkling that both times she’d swallowed his seed, she allowed for a chance of pregnancy.
    By the moons, he couldn’t imagine the joy should she become full-bellied with his young. With this woman, he sensed his luck would bring him no less than twins. Mallory had that something about her, that magic and penchant for right that ascribed to the warrior and leader within him. With her, he knew his sons or daughters would breed true .
    Never before had a female Talian been born with The Snake, but he had a feeling Mallory’s progeny would wear the mark. He glanced down at his chest and felt the contented ripple of satisfied self. He rubbed the mark and smiled when it purred its pleasure.
    A glance back at Mallory made him sigh. Water sluiced over her arms as she scooped it in her palms. As the sun caressed her golden skin, he knew the time had come to ask the questions he’d feared answered.
    “Mallory.”  
    She started with a shriek and turned with a frown. “You scared the piss out of me.”
    He frowned at the pool, aware the healing agents worked best when not unduly tainted.
    “No, I didn’t pee in the pool. Gross.” She dunked herself beneath the water, rising like a Nereid through sparkling fingers of water. “I still can’t believe what we did last night.” She smoothed her hands through her hair, the color a shiny black that made him think of the last perfect eclipse during the harvest. “For a guy who’s not supposed to come, you sure did, everywhere.”
    “Yes, everywhere.” He couldn’t help reliving the feel of her flesh gloving him. Her soft lips, that firm ass, and her slick, hot pussy that had welcomed him time and time again. When he met her gaze again, he noted her blush and raised a brow.
    “Okay, I admit, you wore me out. I’ve never met a man with your libido.”
    A good an opening as any. Though an image of Mallory with another man at all made him want to destroy something, he had to know. “How many men have you met, exactly? From where do you come, Mallory? Tell me again how you came to be here; tell me of your world.”
    She continued to bathe as she answered him. The stories she wove told of a place filled with magic and the crime and prejudices that settled in any advanced society. Like the Talians and even the Phrellians, the humans of Newtown worked and loved, fought and warred.
    “So you see, every time you call me a gift, I feel weird. In my world, I’m at the bottom of the food chain. I’m not wealthy. I mean, my parents are, they’re witches, after all. And had I married the man they chose, I’d be rolling in wealth. Not a care in the world.” She sounded bitter, and he took note.
    “This upsets you, that you have little wealth?” He didn’t like her disquiet. If such things mattered to her, he feared he would not be able to provide what she needed.
    “Yes and no. I never wanted to be rich, just comfortable. I’d like to find a man who’ll love and cherish me and all that other happy crap. But to marry for money? To tie myself to a cretin like Aaron Floyd Crowe the Third? Puhlease. I’d rather die chasing rats.”
    “Rats?” What? The woman made little sense at times, and he had a hard time following her.
    “Well, like I said, since I can’t afford a familiar, I act as my own. Witches can call more magic in a form not their own, but the greatest power comes from the grounding of beast and earth. Creates a hell of a zing, especially if you use transport spells a lot. Since I’m currently in the business of trapping the unscrupulous spell-set, transport spells are a must.”
    He thought about her world,