Garnets or Bust Read online

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Garnets or Bust

  ISBN 9781419915291

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Garnets or Bust Copyright © 2008 Joanna Wylde

  Edited by Briana St. James.

  Cover art by Syneca.

  Electronic book Publication January 2008

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in

  part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing,

  Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

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  copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is

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  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales

  is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  GARNETS OR BUST

  Joanna Wylde

  Joanna Wylde

  Chapter One

  Year 5, Saurellian Calendar

  Daaron crept up to the edge of the hillside on his belly, raising the scope of his rifle

  to his eyes, finger light on the trigger. The small figure of a woman came into focus and

  his breath hissed inward. He recognized her.

  Tessa Marasdottir.

  Fuck.

  Of all the people in the damn Empire to find the garnet deposits, why the hell her?

  Tessa’s tiny form hunched over an ore processor, and from the excited tension she

  radiated he knew she’d struck pay dirt. She’d discovered cerulean star garnets, which

  just happened to be the new Emperor’s favorite gemstone. Before today, they could

  only be found on one planet in the entire Empire.

  The damn things would be worth a fortune, a dream come true for Tessa. Now

  Daaron’s job was to kill that dream. By all rights he should kill Tessa too. He sighed

  heavily and raised one hand to signal his men to hold their fire. He just couldn’t bring

  himself to do it, not yet.

  Tessa dropped something, falling to her knees and reaching under the processing

  platform to find it. The position pulled her sturdy work pants tight against her butt and

  Daaron’s breath caught on a surge of lust. He’d wanted to get his hands on that ass for

  years, ever since the first time he’d seen her at university. She had a tight, compact little

  body just soft and round enough to give a man all kinds of ideas—mostly about

  plowing her until she screamed for mercy. His cock stirred, prodding the ground

  painfully, which also brought back memories. No woman had turned him down before

  or since, yet he’d spent two years lusting after Tessa without so much as a kiss, let alone

  the long hard screw he needed.

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  Garnets or Bust

  Nope, she’d protected her virtue against every type of assault, from his first gentle

  attempts to flirt to his final humiliating offers of money.

  Daaron lifted his pelvis, adjusting himself awkwardly, but the brief touch of his

  hand brushing his stubborn prick just made things worse. Trying to ignore his arousal,

  he studied her carefully through the scope. Long, reddish braids still swung down her

  back, reaching all the way to her knees. He hated those braids. A proud symbol of her

  purity and unwed state, they were the crowning glory for any girl raised in the Warrens

  of Tyre. Why a people would refuse to allow their women to have sex outside marriage

  was beyond him, but that stubborn, lower-class morality had kept her out of his bed.

  He would have given her anything, yet she rejected him.

  As he watched, Tessa stood and turned toward him, reaching both hands down to

  the small of her back, stretching. High, pointed breasts poked forward. Taunting him.

  He’d never seen them naked, but he’d watched her working out at the pool more than

  once. Her bathing suit, while modest, still left little to the imagination. He wanted to

  lick those nipples, suck on them while he thrust his fingers right into her cunt. Virgin

  territory, so tight it would hurt. Daaron reached down again, unable to resist gripping

  his cock as she turned away from him. His hips thrust down involuntarily, need

  hardening his thighs.

  How could he kill Tessa? She’d fought so hard to make her way in the world, rising

  above her birth to escape the Warrens and build a life for herself. And what a waste of a

  beautiful woman that would be… Daaron forced himself to pull his hand away from his

  crotch as a solution came to him.

  Maybe he wouldn’t have to kill her after all.

  * * * * *

  Tessa sat next to her fire in the cool evening air, studying an ancient colonial survey

  on her tablet. The brightly lit screen scrolled by quickly, dancing across the caparison

  data gleaned from fifteen core samples she’d taken earlier in the day. The last had been

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  Joanna Wylde

  the best—who could have dreamed that she’d find a cerulean star garnet as big as her

  eye in a frigging core sample? Stuff like that never happened in the real world, and

  certainly not to Tessa.

  As she read the analysis of her other findings, her ore processor chugged away

  quietly behind her. Occasionally it gave a little ping, setting her heart pounding. Each

  ping meant another garnet. She already had enough that she’d never have to work

  again, and that was without excavating at all. When she’d been assigned as a lowly

  clerk in the nearly defunct colonial geologic survey office she’d thought it was the

  worse thing that could have happened. Buried alive professionally, or so she’d been

  told.

  Fuck that.

  Tessa Marasdottir was about to rise from the dead. With this money she’d pay off

  her mother’s indenture and cover the immigration tax without even noticing. Within six

  months they’d be starting a new life in a new place. Hell, she might even be able to get

  married eventually, have kids.

  Tonight her new life could begin.

  Tessa flicked off the tablet and sat back in her camp chair, looking at the stars. Then

  she raised her glass of carefully hoarded Tyrian brandy and toasted herself.

  “To the future,” she said, and drained it down.

  “You got another cup?”

  It took every bit of willpower Tessa had to hold her glass steady at the sound of that

  penetrating, hated voice.

  Daaron Von Saur’rel.

  Her eyes darted, searching for him, hunting him in the dim darkness beyond the

  reach of her fire. What the hell was he doing here? And more importantly, did he know

  about the garnets?

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  Garnets or Bust

  Daaron stepped into the circle of light. The bastard looked just like she remembered

  him, but different too. Still tall, with unruly dark hair that played around his head with

  a looseness that echoed his morals. Still that hideously beautiful face
. Sculpted mouth

  and cheekbones, heavy-lidded eyes that belonged in the bedroom. A casually cruel

  mouth capable of flaying a classmate alive if they spoke out of turn or didn’t do their

  homework. Muscle-bound body, like a great ape.

  But there were differences too. At university, he’d worn silken shirts that cost more

  than her mother’s indenture. Now he wore clothing that was still expensive but

  eminently more practical. She could tell even in the dim firelight that he had one of

  those fancy nano-shirts capable of shedding water, providing heat and even morphing

  shape as needed, the type used by the military. The same material in the form of pants

  cupped those lean hips she’d always tried so hard not to notice. She’d give anything to

  own a suit like that, far better than the cheap synth crap she wore.

  And in his hand?

  A blaster, pointed right at her.

  “The old Daaron Von Saur’rel wouldn’t have let himself get this far from a luxury

  hotel and an entourage,” she said, sounding far cooler than she felt. “What brings you

  to my campsite?”

  “The old Daaron Von Saur’rel is dead,” he replied, voice light but eyes deadly

  serious. “You still have your braids.”

  She started, off guard.

  “I am still unmarried,” she replied, choosing her words with great care. “That

  shouldn’t surprise you. I can only bring a man debt, not a dowry.”

  “Doesn’t it seem a little old-fashioned to you?” he asked, his tone conversational,

  almost friendly. The gun wasn’t friendly at all.

  “Our customs may seem strange to an aristocrat,” she replied, thinking rapidly.

  Where was he going with this? “But they serve a valuable purpose for my people. Of

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  Joanna Wylde

  course, we’ve had this conversation before. Without guns. I’m not going to change my

  mind about sleeping with you.”

  “Having sex,” he corrected gently. “I wanted you to have sex with me. Sleep was

  always optional.”

  He stepped farther into the light, and a crooked smile stole across his lips.

  “You’re always cold, aren’t you, princess?” he asked. “Always high above us

  mortals?”

  “Mortal?” she asked, her tone harsh and bitter. “You’ve never been mortal, Von

  Saur’rel. As far as I’m concerned, you aren’t even human.”

  “You’re right about that,” he replied. “I stopped being human a long time ago. But

  probably not for the reasons you think. You were always too smart for your own good,

  Tessa. You’re lucky I happened to go out with the scouting party that followed you

  here. Otherwise you’d be dead by now. Instead, you have a choice.”

  His words struck her hard. Followed her? How and why would Daaron Von

  Saur’rel be following anyone on this nearly empty planet in the back of beyond? And

  any choices Daaron might offer her wouldn’t be good; she knew that in her bones. He’d

  never made a secret of what he wanted from her. Sex. In her darkest moments she could

  even admit that she’d wanted him too. Every girl in their class had, and a good many

  more than that. He’d worked his way through more of them than should have been

  possible.

  But how had he found her in the first place?

  He strode into the firelight, eyes holding hers, blaster steady. He held it low, near to

  his hips, drawing her eyes toward that part of his body she always pretended didn’t

  exist. Dear Goddess, she could see his erection from here. Answering heat flickered to

  life in her own groin, he’d always done that to her. She cursed her response even as her

  mind raced. He’d followed her. Did he know about the garnets? How long had he been

  watching? Could she strike a deal with him? There were enough riches for both of

  them.

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  Garnets or Bust

  Although with his family, he didn’t need riches, something she’d been all too aware

  of at school. He’d been a frequent customer at the bar where she’d worked, spending

  more credits in a night that she’d earn in a month. A year.

  Money couldn’t motivate Daaron Von Saur’rel.

  He pointed with the tip of his blaster toward her tent.

  “It looked to me earlier like you’d found something,” he said. “I’m assuming

  garnets?”

  “How did you know?” she asked. “I sorted through thousands of planetary surveys

  to find them, records that nobody had accessed for generations. They’re mine.”

  “I can’t let you keep them,” he said, and for one second she could have sworn there

  was compassion in his eyes. “You don’t want me to explain all the reasons why, trust

  me.”

  She nodded toward the blaster.

  “Are you going to kill me?” she asked. “Because unless you plan to do it, get out of

  my campsite. I don’t want you here, and I won’t let you get in the way of my plans. You

  may not have ever had to do anything more important than find exactly the right suit

  for an Imperial ball, but I have commitments. To my mother. She sacrificed everything

  to give me my education, and this is my chance to pay her back. Surely you can

  understand that?”

  He nodded his head, surprising her.

  “Actually, I can.”

  He leaned one hip against her camp table, ignoring the careful piles of flimsies he

  crushed. She gritted her teeth—same old Daaron, oblivious to other people’s hard work.

  She stood slowly, eyeing the blaster as she set down her glass. Then she took a careful

  step toward him.

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  Joanna Wylde

  “Please don’t touch my papers,” she said, doing her best to maintain her dignity.

  She remembered him leaning that same way against her lab bench at university,

  tempting her with delights she couldn’t allow herself to contemplate.

  Daughters of bond servants can’t afford relationships with aristocrats, not if they want to

  stay honorable. And Tessa was always honorable. Honor was the only inheritance her

  mother had given her, despite the fact that most nobles thought honor belonged to them

  alone. Stupid aristocrats with their duels. Daaron had fought three of them during those

  two years they’d studied together. Each time she’d been terrified for his life. But Daaron

  simply laughed at danger. To him, life was nothing more than a game. Still, she

  wondered if playing on the ancient aristocratic code might work in this circumstance…

  “I found this claim fairly, using open records and my own intellect,” she said,

  walking toward him slowly and steadily. “When I sunk those core samples, I staked a

  claim that will hold up in Imperial court. You need to leave or you’ll be dishonoring

  me, not to mention opening yourself up to liability.”

  He laughed, relaxing his grip on the blaster.

  “I don’t give a damn about your claim,” he said. “And to be honest, honor doesn’t

  come into it. The Code wasn’t written for people like you. The Imperial officials would

  laugh in your face if you challenged me.”

  Tessa froze. She’d always known he considered her inferior, but he’d never spoken

  so baldly. It hurt more than she’d realized.

  “But this isn’t about the garnets,” he continued. “I don’t give a damn about money.

  I have more
than I need. This is more important than money, more important than our

  pathetic little lives put together. If you discover a new source of cerulean star garnets

  this planet will be crawling with speculators. Even worse, a consortium will eventually

  come in and strip mine. I can’t allow that to happen.”

  “Why do you care?” she asked, genuinely puzzled. “We’re in the middle of

  nowhere, I don’t even understand why anybody settled here. It’s not an environmental

  preserve, not even ecologically unique. I checked. There is nothing special about this

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  Garnets or Bust

  planet, it’s not even very good for farming, Goddess help those poor settlers who are

  trying. The spaceport looks like it might shut down any day from lack of use. Why are

  you determined to destroy this for me?”

  “Come here and I’ll tell you,” he said. His eyes bore into hers, and for a moment she

  froze, mesmerized. What was it about him that called to her? Sure, he was handsome

  and sexy. He had power. But Daaron Von Saur’rel stood forever beyond her reach. Only

  a fool would hope for anything from him.

  “Come here and kiss me,” he said, voice hoarse. She licked her lips nervously,

  drawing his eyes. Their heat burned her. He flicked off the blaster and put it in the

  holster hanging low on a belt across his hips.

  Tessa stepped closer. She wanted to be near him, wanted to smell his scent.

  He leaned his head down and sniffed at her neck, giving a low groan.

  “So sweet,” he whispered, the breath of air touching her skin and sending ripples of

  sensation through her body. “Let me taste you, Tess.”

  She nodded her head, incapable of disagreeing.

  He reached a hand around her neck, gripping her braids loosely and pulling her in

  for the kiss. His mouth opened over hers and she sank back into his touch. Finally. She’d

  wanted him so many times, had come close to doing this more than once. Each time

  she’d held back, knowing they could never be together. But now…this might be her last

  chance to get rid of him. She’d manipulate him, use her body to convince him to leave