HYWELA LYN
Romance that's 'Out of this World'
STARQUEST
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BLURB
When Jestine Darnell is rescued from her sabotaged starship by the crew of the Destiny her only objective is to complete her mission and keep her promise to save a world from slavery. Love is the last thing on her mind. However, she has not counted on losing her heart to Kerry Marchant the ship’s second in command, who makes his distrust of her painfully obvious, despite the chemistry between them. The completion of her mission has consequences that neither of them could have foreseen.Enter Dahll Tarron, who becomes involved in a long and dangerous quest to find the Destiny. Fates become intertwined, perils shared, culminating in the realization that sometimes love may be so close that there is a danger it will not be recognized until it is too late…
EXCERPT
Jess reached her cabin and stood with her back to the hatch, her heart thumping uncomfortably. This was crazy. She was not ready for the feelings that clouded her senses, filling her mind. The timing was all wrong. There was too much at stake. She needed her wits about her. She would not allow herself to feel this way...especially about someone who so obviously cared nothing for her, or any other woman, it seemed.When the soft knock came, she knew immediately who it was. There was no one else it could be at this hour. She activated the remote lock control, turning away as the hatch slid open.
“Jess, we need to talk.”
“I...I thought we had.”
“There’s something you've not told me. I sensed you were holding something back just now.” Kerry’s voice was soft, almost persuasive.
She turned to face him, although she avoided meeting his eyes. “There’s nothing. I’m not hiding any dark secrets from you, if that’s what you mean. You needn’t worry about the ship any more.”
“I’m not. But there is something troubling you.”
“Even if there were, why should you care?” she asked, a sharp edge to her voice that she hadn’t intended. “You’ve made it fairly clear you don’t like me very much. I’ll try and keep out of your way, until we reach Phidia.” She turned away again, so he would not see the colour she felt once more rushing to her face.
“That won’t be necessary. And...it’s not that I...dislike you.” He hesitated. She frowned. Kerry Marchant did not normally appear to have difficulty in finding the right words, but for once, he seemed to be struggling.
“Why,” he asked at last, “do you suppose I kept quiet about the gun and risked the safety of this ship?”“I really have no idea,” she replied uncomfortably, thrown off-balance by his sudden change of attitude.
“I was hoping you would return it, or hand it over to Jon or myself. I didn't want to believe you were plotting some kind of treachery against us, so I waited. When it became obvious you did not intend to put it back, I decided to have it out with you myself. I was hoping you had a good reason for your actions.”
“I know I should’ve told you the truth in the beginning,” she confessed, trying not to let her voice give her away. There was some comfort in the knowledge Kerry’s previous cool behaviour toward her had been mainly because he'd known of her deception. “I realise that now.”
“It would have saved time if you had not been so suspicious of us.”
Interpreting his words as criticism, she hesitated for a moment, unable to cope with the awkwardness between them any longer. She did not understand why he'd come to her cabin like this. He’d said he thought she was concealing something, and yet he no longer seemed to believe she was a threat to the ship. She turned to face him, while still not quite looking into his face. She ignored the heat burning her cheeks. She tried not to think about the strange sensation in the pit of her stomach, spreading until it tightened across her heart, which insisted on playing a perfidious cacophony against her ribs. They could not go on like this until they reached Phidia. “Look, I know you and I haven’t exactly hit it off. I can understand why you didn’t trust me, but now you know my reasons for not being honest with you in the first place, can we at least attempt to get along? Can’t we try to...just...be friends?”
“Oh no, Jess. I doubt if you and I could ever just be friends.”
So he would not even give her that. She was about to make a sharp retort, when she saw the expression in his eyes, the way he looked at her, and realised with a feeling of shocked disbelief, what he was implying.
So he would not even give her that. She was about to make a sharp retort, when she saw the expression in his eyes, the way he looked at her, and realised with a feeling of shocked disbelief, what he was implying.