"Excuse me? Lady Pope'nose?" someone said.

"What? Where?" Maggie looked around her wildly until Kor took her hand, more firmly this time, and whispered, "I think it's talking to you."

"It?" She faced forward again and finally saw what he was talking about. "Oh," she said weakly. "What is that?"

"My apologies, Lady Pope'nose," said the alien creature, coming forward. It had eight waving tentacles and a bulbous head covered in blue and green blotches. Its mouth appeared to be a shiny purple beak but it lacked a nose as far as Kor could tell. He couldn't see its body very well because it was wearing a stiff black uniform with shiny gold b.u.t.tons but it moved with the boneless ease of a creature more suited to water than land.

"Uh..." Maggie's eyes were still wide behind her oculars. "I'm not-"

"You should apologize," Kor cut in swiftly, putting himself between Maggie and the strange creature. "You startled my lady."

"I meant no disrespect." The creature spoke in a strange, bubbling voice that made it sound like it was talking underwater. "I am Xilix-a Sporran. I have come to convey your lady to the Lo'thian spa and resort as she requested." It peered around Kor, trying to see Maggie with its bulbous eyes. "You did request transport to the spa, did you not, my lady? As the spa is located on Twidal, Yonnie Six's second moon, it is quite difficult to get there without a proper escort."

A light went off in Kor's head. "Yes," he said, answering for Maggie. "As a matter of fact, my lady did request transport to the spa. Lead the way."

"Oh, good. I am glad not to be mistaken." The Sporran burbled happily and slithered down the sidewalk to a long black hovercoach which obviously had flight capabilities. "Please step inside and make yourselves comfortable," it said, opening the door with one of its many tentacles. "Your luggage was sent days ago, as I am sure you remember, so there is nothing to do but enjoy your ride."

"Good." Kor started to pull Maggie toward the hovercoach but she balked.

"No," she hissed at Kor, shaking her head. "No, I'm not going."

"Why not?"

Maggie had a feeling Kor was losing patience but he didn't shout and more importantly, his eyes stayed a cool, pale blue. He simply stood there and looked at her in a way that made her squirm uncomfortably.

"Why not?" he asked again.

"Because. I told you I'm not going off planet with you," she hissed. "I have a ship-"

"Which you can call from the spa the minute we get there," he said soothingly. "Look, this is the perfect opportunity to put at least a million miles between us and..." He cast a quick glance at the Sporran who was still holding the door and waiting politely, pretending not to hear. "And our problem" he finished in a low voice.

"I don't know..." Maggie's insides felt all twisted up in knots. Somehow her initial action of freeing Kor kept getting blown further and further out of proportion. First she'd been forced to kiss him (well, not actually forced because to be honest, she'd kind of enjoyed it, but still...) And then she'd had to touch him intimately all over his body. Then she'd seen him blast a hole in solid stone with his eyes and now he wanted her to go off-planet with him, about a million miles from where she was supposed to be. Things were getting so out of control and she didn't know how to stop them or even slow down a little.

"I...I just don't know," she repeated. "This is all going so fast."

"Is there a problem?" The Sporran chose this moment to come forward, a look of uncertainty on its bulbous face. "Have you changed your mind about coming to the Lo'thian spa, my lady?"

"My mistress is a little nervous about s.p.a.ce flight, that's all." Kor shooed the alien away dismissively. "Give me a moment more to soothe her."

"Of course. Forgive my intrusion." The Sporran retreated but it was still within hearing distance.

"Mistress..." To Maggie's astonishment, Kor dropped abruptly to one knee in front of her. "My lady, please get over your fear and come with me," he said, loudly enough for the Sporran to catch each word. "Please."

"I...I..." Maggie felt tongue tied. He was so tall that they were almost eye to eye even with him kneeling-she'd always liked tall men. Also, he looked absolutely mouthwatering in those tight black leather pants and she could still taste his mouth on hers, could still feel the rock-hard planes of his big body under her hands...

But he also had laser beams for eyes-or something like them, anyway. And despite her dreams, he was essentially a stranger. She'd been raised from childhood to never go anywhere with a strange man-not even around the corner, let alone to a far distant moon. There was also the fact that he was an avowed killer-he freaking murdered people for a living! Could there be a more dangerous person to run off with? Maggie didn't think so.

Not to mention you also have a fiance, whispered a snarky little voice inside her head. I mean, as long as we're listing pros and cons don't forget about poor Donald.

Maggie blushed when she realized she had almost forgotten him. How could she even be considering going off with some strange man when she'd been with her fiance for five years?

She opened her mouth to refuse but then Kor took her hands in his much larger ones and looked into her eyes.

"I'm asking you nicely because our driver is watching," he said in a low voice meant for her ears only. "I don't want to scare you, Maggie, but it's clear you won't last a minute here alone and this is the best chance we're going to get to leave the planet."

"What are you saying?" she demanded, keeping her voice low. "That you'll sling me over your shoulder and carry me off?"

"If I have to." His eyes flashed red for a moment. "If it's the only way to keep you safe. Do you know what will happen to you if you try to cross the prosti and p.o.r.no district alone?"

"Nothing, I'm sure." She raised her chin. "After all, this is a female dominated society. So I'm sure if there are any prost.i.tutes, they're male."

"So they are." His deep voice was grim. "Because the upper echelons of Yonnie Six are all female dominated. But what they don't know-what they don't want to know is that the lower echelons-the dregs of society and the poorest of the poor-are free males who hate the females who rule them. And the p.o.r.no and prosti district is where they all congregate. If you go down there dressed like a rich mistress-even this time of day-they'll tear you apart. After they rape you." His deep voice was harsh.

Maggie's stomach did a slow, sick flip. "I...but I can go around that area then, can't I?"

He shook his head. "Walk leagues and leagues out of the way? In those shoes?" He nodded down at the ridiculously high green leather heels strapped to her feet. "I don't think so, blondie. And if you have to run in them, which you will if you go down the wrong block by mistake..."

"All right." Maggie looked down at her feet. "They do hurt but Lady...uh, she made me wear them. Apparently they're all the rage this season."

"They're liable to get you killed," Kor said grimly. "Which is why you're coming with me. So I can protect you."

His proprietary att.i.tude p.i.s.sed Maggie off. "Who do you think you are, anyway?" she demanded, poking a finger in his broad, bare chest. "I mean, I rescued you, remember?"

"Of course I remember," he said gravely. "I owe you a debt. You came at my darkest hour and saved me. I am a warrior-it's a point of honor for me to repay my debts. I must protect you. Please..." He squeezed her hands. "Please trust me, Maggie."

That was what it boiled down to, wasn't it? Trust. Did she trust him? Maggie wasn't at all sure but when she opened her mouth she heard herself say, "All right. I'll come."

"Thank you." He rose smoothly and pulled her to him. Before Maggie could say anything, he took her mouth in a sweet, breathless kiss.

At first she was stunned, but then she pushed against his broad chest, breaking the kiss.

"Wait a minute-what do you think you're doing?"

"Where I come from, we seal an agreement with a kiss." He looked at her innocently. "Isn't that how you do things where you live?"

"No...no, absolutely not." Maggie's heart was thumping and her cheeks felt hot. G.o.d, she never felt this way when she kissed Donald. Which wasn't very often since he disliked kissing.

"I'm sorry." He shrugged as though it was no big deal. "Well, shall we go? I believe our car is waiting, Lady Pope'nose."

"Yes, I..." Maggie took a deep breath. "I guess we should."

As she allowed him to help her into the luxurious hovercoach which reminded her of a stretch limo, she still couldn't explain why she'd agreed to go with him. She only knew that being around the huge, muscular prisoner seemed to turn part of her brain off-namely the part that reasoned and kept her from getting into trouble.

But it's going to be okay, she told herself as she settled back against the plush, velvet gray seat cushion. As soon as we get to this spa place, I'll call Ferna and Ratner and tell them where to meet me. Then we can get on with our mission and I'll never have to think about Yonnie Six or Kor or anything that happened here ever again. Right?

Chapter Six.

Kor was relieved that she had agreed to come with him of her own volition in the end. If necessary, he had been prepared to pick her up, throw her over his shoulder, and take her with him by force. He didn't want to do that, though-Maggie was already wary of him and it would have been much more difficult to win her trust back if he'd had to resort to such measures to keep her with him. But he would have done it if he had to.

He couldn't completely explain it, even to himself, but he was unwilling to part from her. The universe was vast and wide-huge beyond imagining. If there was one thing Kor had learned it was that once you lost someone in that deep, black void, the chances of ever finding them again were a trillion to one. So he planned to keep Maggie with him by whatever means necessary-at least until he was sure she was safe. Or so he told himself.

Kor made sure the privacy screen between the driver's and pa.s.sengers' compartment was up and then settled into one of the plush gray seats. He didn't want to take a chance on their alien driver overhearing their conversation.

"Comfortable?" he asked, c.o.c.king an eyebrow at Maggie.

"Hardly." She relaxed in the seat across from him, putting an arm across her face. "Will it be a long trip, do you think? I'm dying to get out of these shoes."

"Not long. Here." He reached for one of her small feet and began removing the ridiculous strappy green shoe she was wearing.

"Hey!" Maggie sat up with a jerk and would have yanked her foot right out of his hand if he hadn't kept a firm but gentle grip on her ankle. "What...what are you doing?"

"Giving you a foot ma.s.sage...Mistress." Kor raised an eyebrow at her and then finished taking off her shoe.

"But you don't...you shouldn't..." she protested weakly. "I mean you don't have to do that."

"I want to," Kor said simply. Really what he wanted was to touch any part of her at all and if he could bring her pleasure at the same time, so much the better. They were going to be together for a while-he wanted Maggie to get used to having his hands on her. He rubbed the sole of her little foot, which was barely as long as his hand, then kneaded the arch with his thumbs.

"You don't...ooooh..." Maggie's eyes rolled up in her head. "You're, uh, really good at that."

"I know." Kor grinned at her.

She opened her eyes and frowned at him. "But...where did you learn to do that, anyway? I thought you were a warrior. A, uh, gladiator kind of guy."

Kor shrugged. "Don't know what a gladiator is."

"It's...basically it's a slave that fights in the arena for the entertainment of a bloodthirsty crowd. There were people like that-gladiators-in the past on my planet. In ancient Rome. You wouldn't know where that is but it was a city where everyone was trying to sleep with or a.s.sa.s.sinate everyone else. If the prime time cable shows are right, anyway."

Kor nodded thoughtfully. "That sounds about right. If it makes you feel better then, yes, I was a kind of 'gladiator.'"

"It doesn't make me feel a whole lot better," she said, frowning as he started on her other foot. "But I guess it's better than you being just a straight out cold blooded murderer."

"Not all of my kills took place in the arena. I killed my old master, as I'm sure Lady Pope'nose told you," Kor said neutrally. "And I would do it again in a heartbeat." He didn't want to frighten her but there was no point in her making false a.s.sumptions or romanticizing his past life. Much of his former existence had been nasty and brutish-there was no hiding or denying it and Kor didn't intend to try.

"You..." She shook her head. "Why? Did he torture you like Lady Pope'nose did?"

"He treated me well as long as I was winning-which I generally always was," Kor said. "He never beat or starved me or forced me to service him s.e.xually."

Maggie shivered. "Well, that's good, at least. So then why..."

Kor looked down, concentrating on her foot. "You don't need to know why. Not now," he said roughly. "It should be enough that I admitted it to you-that I didn't try to hide it." He looked back up at her. "Can you just trust me when I said I had a d.a.m.n good reason and leave it at that? Is that enough?"

"I...guess so," she said hesitantly. "I guess it will have to be."

"Thank you," Kor said simply. He felt relieved. The reason behind the death of his master was still too fresh-too raw. Talking about it would have been like poking an open wound with a stick. He was glad she wasn't demanding a full explanation right this instant.

"So, uh, are we doing true confessions then?" Maggie sounded uncertain. "Because I cheated on a spelling test in sixth grade."

Kor looked up at her swiftly. "You cheated? On a test?"

Her cheeks got red at once. "Yes. I knew it was wrong but I...see, I've always been strong in math and science but spelling just isn't my thing and it was going to hurt my final grade and I, well, I..."

"I'm kidding." Kor almost laughed at the guilt on her face. What was it about this little female? She was so innocent that she was almost completely transparent-every emotion she felt showed on her face. He liked that about her. "I admitted to you that I murdered my old master and you come back at me with a falsified test," he pointed out. "Those don't exactly measure up."

"Sorry," she muttered. "I can't help it I've lived a boring life up until now. I mean, I've never killed anyone or stolen anything other than a pair of pantyhose I accidentally tucked under my arm at the store and I took those back immediately. I've basically just been living the life of a sequestered academic, up in my ivory tower doing nothing but research and writing papers to get grants."

"Well, I'm glad you came down from your ivory tower to save me," Kor remarked.

Maggie's face got even redder. "That's just it-I didn't come for you. I'm not even supposed to be on this planet. I was going to wait in the ship. I should be on my way to Gaia right now-the new Super Earth world the Kindred discovered-to catalogue all the new species of flora and fauna."

"The Kindred, hmm?" Kor frowned.

"Yes, do you know of them? They saved my planet from the Scourge attack and they're still orbiting our moon. They've been very helpful and willing to share research opportunities."

"h.e.l.l yes, I know of them." He frowned. "I've got Kindred blood myself-they're the ones who sold me-slaved me out in the first place. Because I didn't fit their ideal-because I was a freak." He tapped his temple, indicating his red eyes. "I know because I heard it from my first master."

"They what?" Maggie frowned. "I've never heard of them doing anything like that. They've been nothing but nice to me."

"I'm sure," Kor said neutrally. To change the subject, he tickled the arch of her foot and smiled when she jumped.

"Hey!" Maggie flexed her toes. Despite the impromptu tickle, he really was amazingly good at this. "You know, you still never told me how a gladiator got so good at giving foot ma.s.sages," she remarked.

"It's the easiest way to relax a female when she's nervous-at least, so I've found," Kor said.

"What?" Maggie began to get a bad feeling. "What do you mean by that? How many women have you had to, uh, relax?"

Kor shrugged. "On occasion my master sent me a female to breed who was a virgin. I never wanted to frighten them so I tried my best to relax them before we did what was necessary."

"What?" She sat up fast, jerking her foot out of his hand. "You're treating me like some...some floozy you're about to have s.e.x with?"

He frowned. "No, of course not. I'm just trying to relax you...and to be honest with you. You asked how I learned to give ma.s.sages-well..." He shrugged again, like it was no big deal.

"But this is...that's..." Maggie shook her head in disgust. "I knew I shouldn't have gotten into this ship with you. You're just some kind of a...an intergalactic player, aren't you?"

Kor lifted an eyebrow. "Define 'player.' Is it like a gladiator?"

"No! It's a guy who screws every girl he sees-or tries to. He doesn't give a d.a.m.n about their feelings-he just wants into their pants." Maggie crossed her arms over her chest angrily. How could she have let herself be so taken in by him? The quickest way to relax a girl, indeed. It was disgusting.

"Maggie," Kor said, leaning forward. "I don't think you understand. I didn't try to get into these girls, uh, pants-or under their skirts-or however you want to put it. They were sent to my cell for me to breed them whether I wanted to or not. I simply tried to make it easier for them."