The sky was still dark when a loud neigh woke Jerden from his nightmare. The horse had been doing that more and more, almost as though he sensed Jerden’s disturbing dream and refused to allow it to continue. Jerden had fallen asleep in his chair. Again. He had a perfectly good bed, but without Audrey’s soft, warm body to share it with him, it wasn’t a haven of respite or slumber, but a place to be reminded of what he’d done and what he’d lost.
Rising from his chair, he went out on the porch, Cria’s soft tread following close behind. The horse stood near the steps, his ebony coat gleaming in the moonlight. “I was having another bad dream.” He ran a hand down the animal’s elegant yet powerful neck. “But you knew that, didn’t you?”
The horse snorted, nudging Jerden’s chest with his nose.
“You should’ve gone with her. You belong to her, and she needs you—for different reasons than mine, perhaps—but she does need you.”
The stallion tossed his head, seeming to disagree. With a soft nicker, he turned sideways, inviting Jerden to mount, just as he always did.
One last ride.
Grasping the thick, flowing mane, he swung onto the stallion’s back. The horse pivoted on his hindquarters and launched into a gentle, rocking canter—a gait that lengthened into a thundering gallop as they left the house and its stand of pines behind. Jerden’s night vision was excellent, but he trusted the horse to find a clear path and let him run, knowing that the rush of wind in his hair would dispel the dregs of sleep as well as the lingering shadows of the dream.
The dream was always the same; one moment Audrey was walking beside him, the next, she lay crumpled and lifeless in the middle of the street while a crowd gathered. The murderer was quickly apprehended, her blue Davordian eyes wild with insane excitement. She didn’t seem to understand that committing murder was a crime that made her ineligible for Audrey’s job or any other. In her twisted mind, she had only to eliminate Audrey and the job was hers.
But as the powerful horse carried him onward and the moonlit landscape rushed past, those visions were thrust aside. His mind focused only on what his body needed to do to remain astride the stallion. The rest was pure sensory input—the scent of the horse’s sweat, the echo of his pounding hooves, the flow of the night air over his bare skin, the surge of speed when the terrain allowed it. A quick, downward glance revealed Cria keeping pace alongside, never slacking, running effortlessly through the night.
Before moving to Terra Minor, Jerden had never been alone like this, with only the land and the animals surrounding him. On board the refugee ship, he had been crowded together with other boys, and later, when he worked with Onca and Tarq, he seldom spent nights alone, only sleeping when his work was done.
If it could be called work. Later, when they’d hired Audrey, she’d often shared his bed, eventually sleeping with him exclusively. Jerden hadn’t realized what was happening then. It was simply the progression of events that occurred over time.
And now, he couldn’t have carried on with his work even if he’d wanted to. No, this seclusion was best. Nature might heal him eventually, but until then, solitude was the cure—no matter what others might think. He’d been urged to turn his land into a working ranch—to raise livestock, hire hands to help with the chores, build quarters for them, hire a cook—but Jerden wasn’t ready for that. For now, he enjoyed the peace that came with not having to discuss anything with anyone, often going for days without hearing another voice or having to answer a question.
He’d been rude to Sara Shield, but he’d only been able to see her as an intruder who would take from him his greatest source of solace. He harbored no illusions that she might not return. She would be back with whatever and whomever she needed to capture the horse and take him home. Jerden knew he should have offered to deliver him to her ranch—and in his other life, he would have done that and more; anything to make her smile. After all, pleasing women was what he did—what he’d always done—and he’d done it very well. But not anymore.
The horse slowed to a walk as they reached the foothills. The mountain range was public land, but Jerden had never seen anyone there, and he could enjoy his solitude on those rocky slopes as well as in his own home, perhaps even better. There he found freedom, fresh air to breathe, and space to roam—things he hadn’t had since his early childhood on Zetith. With the war already raging all around him, there wasn’t much of that even then.
There had been plenty of freedom on Rhylos, though of a different kind. A man could walk the streets of Damenk wearing nothing but a smile, but Terra Minor was a more family-oriented world. There were no brothels or casinos here. No laws against them; they simply didn’t exist. It was out of character for that world, if a world could be said to have a character. His nudity may have embarrassed Sara Shield, but he’d spent the last several years of his life wearing clothing only on rare occasions. He liked being naked. It was comfortable and natural for him.
Living in his own house on his own land with no outsiders was also comfortable and natural. The walk out onto his porch in the middle of the night to step over sleeping dogs and cats didn’t draw the censure of anyone. Not even the dogs and cats, none of which Jerden had purchased or adopted. They’d simply arrived on his doorstep, seeming to expect very little other than a place to sleep. Jerden had discovered a certain solace in brushing them, and they would take turns lying on the porch while he tended to them, removing parasites and treating them for fleas with herbs that Bonnie had given him. Feeding them wasn’t a problem; in fact, they ate most of the food Lynx supplied. These days, Jerden ate only to sustain himself, sometimes forgetting to eat at all.
Cria reminded him, though. If the horse renewed his spirit, Cria improved his health, growling at him if he didn’t clean his plate and lulling him to sleep with her purring. Like the others in his growing menagerie, the leopard had simply arrived one day. Following a particularly desperate run, he’d returned to the house, his legs cramping with fatigue, and had collapsed in a chair on the porch. Later that evening, he’d awakened to find her head resting on his thigh. She hadn’t left his side since, and he’d named her Cria because of the sound she made when she yawned.
He hadn’t named the horse, though. Perhaps because he’d known their relationship would be short-lived. Still, whether he had a name or not, all Jerden had to do was think about where he wanted to go, and the horse took him there. Having never ridden before, he didn’t know for certain but suspected that wasn’t always the case. Ultimately, however, it made no difference. Dawn would break and this interlude would end.
Unless he could make a deal with Sara Shield.
***
Sara was trying hard not to lose her temper, but it had been simmering near the surface ever since her meeting with Jerden Morokovitz, and what Lynx had to say wasn’t helping. Her eyes narrowed as she studied his image in the viewscreen. “Let me get this straight. He wants to buy my horse?”
“That’s right,” Lynx replied. “And, believe me, he’s got more than enough money to make it worth your while.”
“I doubt it,” Sara said bluntly. No amount of money could compensate her for the time she’d already spent, and there was no guarantee she could find another stallion of Danuban’s caliber anytime soon—another available stallion, that is—and then there was the eleven-month equine gestation period. She had mares that would be in season soon and paying stud fees wasn’t part of her plan, not to mention having to deal with Jerden. “I don’t suppose he’d settle for one of the foals, would he?”
“I got the impression it was this horse he wants. Not a replacement.”
“Well, that makes two of us,” Sara retorted. “Danuban is mine and he’s not for sale. If I’d wanted to deal with another stallion owner, I’d be breeding my mares to Nate Wolmack’s stud.”
Lynx snickered. “I don’t know much about horses, but I’ve seen his stallion, and there’s no comparison.”
“No kidding. Why else would I go to this much trouble? I’ve waited a long time for this horse, and believe me, going horse hunting on another planet isn’t easy.” To be perfectly correct, Sara had been waiting for Danuban all her life. He was the culmination of a lifetime of hard work, dedication, and planning. “I’m sorry, but the answer is no.”
I sound like a real hard-ass. She closed her eyes for a moment, schooling her voice to sound less harsh. “Look, if he wants to ride him once in a while, I’m fine with that, but Danuban isn’t just another horse. I need him.”
“I know you do, but Jerden needs him too. He’s… well, he’s improved some, but you never knew him before. He was nothing like this.”
“And if the horse helps him, I ought to be shot for not letting him keep him? Is that what you’re saying?”
“No, but nothing I’ve done to help him has worked. All he wants to do is hole up on his land and never see or speak to anyone. At least the horse gets him out of the house.” Lynx smiled. Not as tall as Jerden, with yellow eyes and curly, light brown hair, Lynx had been in even worse shape than Jerden when Bonnie hired him. Having come a long way himself, he obviously knew how difficult the journey was. Bonnie loved him enough to see him through it.
Sara had no such tie to Jerden and didn’t want one. She could see it now. She would sell him Danuban, enabling him to get back to his seductive playboy self—which is what Sara imagined him to have been before—and then he’d run off and marry Salan or some other sweet young thing. She’d be out a horse and a man in one fell swoop.
Sara stopped that thought cold. It shouldn’t matter who Jerden wound up with or what he did. And she wasn’t heartless. Far from it. If Danuban could help a grieving man return to normal, she ought to be more flexible and understanding.
But what about me? What about my life? Sara suspected that a man like Jerden could bring out her quashed romantic inclinations without even trying. She didn’t want to dig up those old feelings. She was better off without them.
“Of course, if Jerden had to come over to your place to ride him,” Lynx went on, “that might be even better. That way, he’d have to leave his place for a while.”
“That’s a pretty long walk,” Sara said drily. “I’d probably have to go and get him.”
“Might help,” Lynx said with a nod.
Sara started to voice her own approval when it hit her that if she did that, she’d be riding in a speeder with him. Sitting side by side. In an enclosed space. Too close. Being in close proximity with a man still made her heart pound and her throat tighten. She’d never been able to get past the fear and had discovered that the best strategy was to deny her feelings and avoid men as much as possible. She’d hoped that using Lynx as a go-between would eliminate the need for any further contact with Jerden. This didn’t sound like she’d be avoiding him, especially if he didn’t bother to dress for the occasion. “I… I’ll think about it.”
“Then again, if he really wants to ride that horse, it might convince him to get his own speeder if we made him walk.”
“It’d be good for him,” Sara agreed. “Downright therapeutic, in fact.” Though Jerden didn’t appear to need any form of therapy—at least, not the physical type. Overall, he was the fittest-looking man she’d ever seen. And I’ve seen every square centimeter of him. A flash of visual memory shook her to the core. No. Not going there.
Lynx nodded. “It’ll take some time to bring him around—that, and a little love. You’ll see. Since he came here he’s gotten a reputation as a wild man, but he’s really nothing like this.”
Love? It was an echo of her earlier thoughts, prompting Sara to wonder whose love he might need, but she bit back her question only to have it replaced by another. “Why would it matter to me what he’s like?”
“Well, he is your nearest neighbor,” Lynx reminded her. “It would be nice if you two at least got along with one another.”
“I suppose so.” Considering he’d already lived there for several months without the two of them ever meeting, Sara couldn’t see the relevance. It wasn’t as though she’d ever needed to borrow a cup of sugar from him. Then again, disputes between neighbors were to be avoided whenever possible, and the situation with Danuban had all the makings of a feud waiting to happen.
“I’ll run the idea past him,” Lynx said. “But I’ll also make it clear that you aren’t interested in selling.” He paused, smiling in that bone-melting way that all the Zetithians she’d ever met seemed to have, with the possible exception of Jerden. “Thanks for not being… nasty about it. He really doesn’t need that right now.”
“If it had been any other horse…”
“I know. This one is special.”
Sara nodded. “Very special.”
She’d already established herself as a breeder of fine Arabians, but she only had four Andalusian mares, and she hated to dilute their bloodlines by crossing them with one of the Arab stallions. Though they would have been high-quality foals, they wouldn’t hold a candle to Danuban’s offspring.
If only she could catch the sonofabitch.
After the call from Lynx, Sara went out to tend her roses, needing their graceful beauty to settle her frayed nerves. As she pruned the spent blossoms and pulled a few stray weeds, she found the sense of balance these tasks always gave her. Peace restored, she went out to the main barn where Reutal, her Norludian stable hand, was leading a bay Arabian back to her stall, closely followed by the mare’s young filly.
Nodding toward the Andalusians stabled at the far end of the barn, he waved his sucker-tipped fingers and licked his fishlike lips in a lascivious manner. “That Katy mare is so ready, one touch made my tongue hard.”
Sara rolled her eyes. She’d long since learned to ignore Reutal’s sexual remarks—and because a Norludian male’s tongue did double duty as his sex organ, this comment was definitely sexual. “Thanks, Reutal, but a simple ‘she’s in season’ would’ve done.”
In the three years he’d worked for Sara, the horses had stepped on Reutal’s flipper-like feet so many times, it was a wonder he could still walk. However, he had the uncanny knack of being able to simply touch a finger to a mare’s lip and know when she was in estrus, which made him a very handy fellow to have on a breeding farm. He could also predict almost to the minute when a mare would foal. Unfortunately, he also liked to sample the “essence” of other females, and the fact that Norludians rarely wore clothing was disturbing to most people.
“Still true,” Reutal insisted with a cheeky grin. “Can’t lie to the boss.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.”
Drania popped her head up over a stall door, her piglike ears pricked forward through the snowy fleece of her curly hair. “Did you find the stallion?”
A Rutaran native, Drania’s body was similar to that of a chimpanzee—though not nearly as hairy—which made her an absolute wizard when it came to starting the young horses under saddle. She could leap onto the back of an unruly colt, clinging like a burr until it finally settled down. Sara had yet to see one throw her.
Sara sighed. “Yeah, I found him. He’s on Jerden Morokovitz’s place. Trouble is, Jerden wants to keep him, and Danuban doesn’t seem to care that I’ve got four mares over here that are dying to meet him.”
Reutal snickered but somehow managed to keep his mouth shut—for once. Sara knew it was simply a matter of time before the comments about Jerden began but was thankful for the respite. “Where’s Zatlen?”
“Over at the stud barn,” Drania replied. “He was going to check on the yearlings and feed the stallions.”
Sara nodded. “I need to go over there myself. After meeting Danuban, something tells me that paddock isn’t going to be enough to keep him in.”
Reutal waggled his eyebrows. “A real wild man, is he?”
“Yeah. I certainly couldn’t catch him. Dunno how well he can jump, but we may have to add another rail to the fence.”
“And Jerden wants to keep him?” Drania asked. “How?”
“Beats the shit out of me,” Sara replied. “He was riding him without so much as a halter, but I couldn’t get near him.”
A chill ran down her spine as a booted footstep behind her heralded more bad news, and she suppressed a groan.
“I know the feeling,” Nate said. “You’re a hard woman to get close to, Sara.”
Mentally counting to three before she turned around to face him, Sara did her best to maintain a neutral expression. Nate always rubbed her the wrong way, and she didn’t appreciate him sneaking up behind her. At least she wasn’t alone.
Reutal was well aware that Sara didn’t particularly care for Nate and seldom missed the opportunity to make a quip at his expense. This time, Nate had left himself wide open. “Must be your aura keeping her away, Nate. But then, I’ve noticed that flies don’t like you, either.”
Nate shot a disdainful glance at the Norludian before directing his gaze at Sara. “You need to teach your hired help to watch his mouth.”
It was quick, but Sara saw Reutal’s tongue dart out in the silent, Norludian version of fuck you.
Sara faked a cough, covering her smile with her hand. “Haven’t met anyone yet who could control a Norludian’s mouth. I gave up a long time ago.” It wasn’t true, of course, but Nate didn’t have to know that. She’d made it very clear at the outset that while Reutal could talk all he liked, she was the boss, and therefore off-limits in terms of romantic liaisons.
“Any luck finding your stallion?” Nate asked. “Damn shame, him running off like that.”
Sara wasn’t fooled. She knew Nate was fishing for her to use his stud, Kraken, though why she would want to breed her mares to an unapproved stallion when Danuban was around defied explanation.
“Oh, haven’t you heard?” she said blithely. “He wound up on Jerden Morokovitz’s place. He’ll be bringing him over soon.” Or so she hoped.
Nate’s steely blue eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Is that so?”
Sara nodded. “Yes, and you should see that man ride,” she said, not bothering to hide her admiration. “He doesn’t even need a bridle.”
Nate’s brow rose, albeit very slightly. “Never knew Zetithians were any good with horses. Best I can tell, all they do is steal women from other men.”
Sara was surprised at just how much this comment galled her. “Hadn’t noticed that.” Her shrug was carefully indifferent. “But then, I don’t get out much.”
“Had one stolen from you, Nate?” Reutal’s tone was all innocence, but his bulbous eyes were aglow with mischief.
Sara doubted it. Tall, blond, and ruggedly handsome, Nate was one of the region’s more eligible bachelors. What Sara couldn’t understand was why he kept dogging her—if this was romance, she wanted no part of it. His attentions were too… calculated, and like most men, he made her feel uneasy. Since she’d never been pursued for herself alone, she could only conclude that he wanted something from her.
Other than a trace of irritation marring his chiseled features, Nate gave no indication that he’d even heard Reutal, addressing Sara instead. “I’ve noticed that about you, Sara. Nimbaza isn’t exactly the playground of the galaxy, but there are some nice restaurants and clubs. Places a man can take a woman that are a little more”—his eyes swept the interior of the barn, ending with a sidelong glance at Reutal—“private.”
Oh, God. Is he asking me for a date? “I’m sure there are, but I don’t have the time for it. Too much work to do.”
He took a step closer. “You know what they say about all work and no play, don’t you?”
Though a tremor of fear ran up her spine, Sara lifted her chin slightly. “I don’t put much stock in that crap.”
Nate’s retort was cut off by the sound of approaching hoofbeats.
Sara glanced up as Jerden entered the barn astride Danuban, the pair of them seeming more like a centaur than two separate beings. The black leopard stalked alongside them like a warlock’s familiar. As they came to a halt a few paces away, tingles raced over Sara’s skin and a hush fell over the barn. Even the birds nesting in the rafters ceased their incessant chirping.
Jerden’s eyes met hers with an impact Sara could almost feel.
“I brought your horse back.”