Stark Surrender Page A

her long-lost brother home to her?”
    Joran grinned at her. “Would that do it for you?”
    “Oh, yes.”
    “Huh. Do I get any stardust for facilitating Kai’s return?”
    His woman giggled quietly. “You gave me back my memories, Il Zhazid. And my parents. Yes, you are positively coated in stardust. In fact, you glow.” A note in her voice said she meant this, metaphorically at least.
    His eyes grew heavy, and he pulled her soft hand down across his hard abdomen and curled it around something else just as hard. “That’s not all I gave you.”
    She hummed with pleasure as she stroked him. “M-mm, how could I forget your beautiful cock?”
    “I was just wondering the same thing,” he said. “But let me refresh your memory one more time. And maybe give you a new memory.”
    He pulled her up higher on his chest, and she bent her head to kiss him. “If I let you give me a new memory, then will you sleep?”
    “Guarantee it, my Zaë. So will you.”
    But even though their love-making was as hot and satisfying as always, afterward Joran woke with a start, staring into the darkness.
    Then he rose, threw on a pair of pants, and padded off to his home office, driven by a strange sense of urgency.
    Logan.

Chapter Five
    Kiri opened one of the cupboards in her small galley and stared blearily at the contents, unable for a sec to remember why she was here. It was only sunrise, but she’d finally given up on sleep.
    She hadn’t slept well since that evening Logan had appeared, made love to her with such strange desperation and then disappeared without a word. She’d tried to go on with her life, enjoying her time with Kai, the success of Kiri’s Kaffé II, and the last of the Frontieran summer, but Logan’s face, the haunted look in his eyes, the way he’d held her so tightly in his arms, but shared nothing of his turmoil, was a constant ache in her heart.
    She’d tried linking him a few times—just to hear his voice, she assured herself, and to know what he was well and safe. He hadn’t answered, and this bothered her too. Logan had never failed to respond to her links within hours, even after she’d left him. Kai was right that the man would never change, but part of this was his utter reliability.
    Her espresso machine emitted a puff, and she inhaled the fragrant steam gratefully. Thank God it was on a timer, like the large ones at her shop.
    She poured cinnanut creamer into her mug, filled it with strong, dark brew and sipped it as she padded out onto her tiny patio to sit in the morning sun, already warm although it had just breached the tops of the mountains to the west.
    The door of her guest room—Kai’s room now—was still closed. Kiri yawned hugely, and wiped her eyes with the heel of her free hand. She’d like to be asleep, herself. She scowled at the rocks and plants in her tiny garden, familiar anger and grief flooding her.
    Logan was probably waking up right now beside one of his progression of beautiful, sophisticated women, and she herself had a head full of space rocks, to be worrying about him. She needed to forget him and get on with her own life. Accept another of the offers she’d had from attractive, single men here in F City for dinner, and more.
    But instead, she sat at her small patio table and used her com to link Joran Stark. He was now the High Sheriff of the Frontieran plains, and had contacts all over from his earlier days as a wandering quasi-pirate. He’d know where Logan was, and if he was all right.
    While she waited for him to answer, she made sure her yellow summer robe was belted, and combed her fingers quickly through her hair, which was no doubt sticking up in all the wrong places. And what if she had sleep drool dried on her face? That would be just her luck. It was already semi-awkward speaking with Logan’s brothers when they knew exactly why she’d left Logan.
    When Joran appeared in a hololink, his face held its usual smile of greeting, but it was a half-hearted