Chosen One

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Blurb

A wickedly delicious dessert. A dark and mysterious man. A woman who can resist neither…

One of many trained tasters to the sovereign, Ceta Lars doesn’t want to be chosen. Compounding Ceta’s fear of the unknown is her attraction to Iason, the sovereign’s paladin. For years, her glimpses of his dark perfection have tantalised her, stolen into her dreams, filled her thoughts with wild, erotic fantasies. Except he’s the one man she can’t have.

The sovereign’s ship—sentient, female—has other ideas. Her hungers rule and she wants Ceta and Iason. Together. One taste of the creamy ambrosia of her creation, and her two reluctant lovers will come together in a fire of scorching, orgasmic lust and passion that neither can deny, that could destroy them both.

Excerpt

Ceta bit hard at the inside of her cheek to stop herself acknowledging him. Candidates stayed quiet, didn’t speak, didn’t move while the paladin assessed them. They had to show him the utmost respect. He was the representative of the sovereign, after all. The firm rules twisted around her panicked thoughts.

She stared at him instead as he read her file. She had thought him beautiful from the gallery, from the rendering in the simulator, but close up, standing in front of her…he was stunning. His scent, dulled by the ice-thick air, still slid deep into her lungs and she almost sighed. Spices, blended with the alluring mix of leather, burnished metal and the warm heat of male skin had her chest hollow. To taste him, run her tongue, her mouth over every inch of him. Blood rushed into her cheeks. Yes, she could see why Mirari put his face into the simulator and why she had. Though even that advanced tech hadn’t recreated his unique scent.

He looked up and the impact of his gaze had her teeth biting hard to her cheek. She felt his look down to her toes and her flesh clenched. She’d been too long without a living, breathing man, not one built with tech and drawn from her imagination.

His mouth thinned and something shifted in his dark eyes, something she couldn’t quite read. Her heart pounded in her ears as the endless moment stretched, his gaze boring into her. He had her flesh aching and she couldn’t explain way. It would be so simple to lift her hand to the smoothness of his jaw and cover his mouth with her own.

Her chest tightened and she clenched her pussy against the sudden wetness soaking her. It didn’t help. Only heightened the pressure…and her imagination.

His tongue would be hot and ruthless. He’d drop the data sheet—the device shattering against the hard stone—and wrap her in tight arms. His hands on her ass would tug at the tightness of her coarse robe, exposing her nakedness to everyone, everyone would see as he took her, thrusting his cock deep within her, displaying—

The paladin snapped his attention back to the sheet and Ceta almost sagged, her unsatisfied need pounding through her. What the hell was she doing? She was supposed to be solemn, professional, not fantasising about the man as he stood in front of her. For a brief moment, she let herself close her eyes. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Candidates, even those not chosen, had to prove themselves worthy. If she failed, then she wouldn’t qualify as a trainer, and all simulator privileges would be forfeit. That threat had her attention.

Ceta forced her eyes open and found the paladin watching her. Silent curses ran through her thoughts. She couldn’t read his eyes and that had her desire to jump him fading. He could deny her right to train others. Shit.

He turned and strode back to the temple attendant, who took the data sheet from him with another low bow. She walked toward the dais set in the centre of the great hall. Her flat boots clacked against the stone, the only sound as no one dared to breathe.

Light cast shadows over her lined face as she studied the sheet. Her spine straightened and the attendant lifted her chin. She pulled in a breath, making ready for her voice to boom around the hall. “The most honored lord paladin has made his choice.”

“Praise be to the sovereign.”

The words swept over the galleries and their intensity pricked Ceta’s skin. Her stomach turned over and she forced her breathing to slow. She had to pay attention.

“His choice from the candidates is…Ceta Lars.”

A hot wash of disbelieving panic shot down to her toes. The attendant had just said her name…hadn’t she? Why the hell had he chosen her? It had to be a mistake. She had to have misheard. That was it, she’d projected her name over the real candidate in some masochistic haze—

The paladin striding toward her cut through her rambling thoughts as they chased themselves around her brain. The serious expression on his face, the purpose in this stride… She wasn’t a mistake. Oh, shit.

He stopped in front of her, his height shadowing her. “Come with me, Ceta Lars.” He took her hand, his fingers sliding warm and dry to her wrist. His touch burned under her skin and her breath hitched. Ceta held his gaze, but nothing, no similar awareness flickered in his eyes.

It squeezed her heart. The cold weight of a thin band circled her wrist, the mechanism giving a soft click before he released it. It fell down against her wrist bone, prickling her skin where it touched. A silver chain bound her to him and connected to the manacle around his left wrist.
“Are you ready, Ceta?”

Something about the way he said her name had her stomach in knots. It burned soft, dark, filled with promise. She fixed on his mouth, wanting to taste her name as he said it. Did every candidate have this overwhelming need to jump him?

She realized with a start, that she hadn’t answered his question. “Yes.” She swallowed, almost flushing at the croak in her voice. He was smooth perfection. Her? She sounded like a choked amphibian. “Yes, lord, I’m ready.”

His left hand slid into hers, strong fingers pressed against her cool skin. Ceta willed her eyes to stay open and cursed the fact that simply his touch had her weak-kneed. Yes, she’d spent far too much time with simulated flesh rather than the real thing.

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ISBN: 1-41992-1148
Length: Novella
Price: $4.49

18 August 2009
Ellora’s Cave