Stark Pleasure; the Space Magnate's Mistress (The LodeStar Series) by Cathryn Cade Page A

you’re still in the air, turn around. I need you to bring Ms. te Nawa back here.”
    His pilot’s tough, square face filled the screen. “Sorry, sir. Just dropped her off at the space port. Problem?”
    “Yes, a continuation of yesterday’s, I believe. Come and pick me up, please.”  
    Opal and Giles had been monitoring him through the space port yesterday, a standard security procedure, so they’d seen him rescue Kiri from her attempted assault on the crooked gambler.
    “Be there in exactly twenty secs, sir.”
    “I’ll be waiting.” Logan rose and strode out into the main room. Natan, a slender Pangaean, was clearing the table. He straightened with dishes in his hands.  
    “Good breakfast,” Stark said. “Our guest will be returning for dinner.”
    “Very good, sir.” Natan’s greenish-blond hair stirred slightly in excitement, although his slim, pale face remained politely impassive. “She has an excellent appetite.”
    “Yes,” Stark said. “She does indeed.” In more ways than his butler knew.
    He collected his jacket from the closet by the passageway and strode down the passageway, just as the hatch at the end opened to reveal the cruiser, with Opal waiting.
    “Back to the space port,” Stark ordered as he strode on board. “Your passenger is going to need rescuing again.”
    “Really, sir?” Opal didn’t sound too surprised.  
    But then, reflected Stark wryly, neither was he.  
    As he sat back in his comfortable seat, he found himself chuckling. He should have had Giles fly in the opposite direction. The woman was a menace, to herself and possibly anyone in her vicinity. Nothing sly about her—she broadcast her emotions for everyone to hear and see.
    He wasn’t even sure he could keep her out of trouble.  
     
    ***
     
    Kiri thanked Stark’s flight attendant, or guard, as the woman opened the cruiser hatch for her to disembark at the space port, but neither of them bothered with a smile this time. Kiri wasn’t wasting any friendliness on the woman after she’d spent the entire flight keeping an eye on Kiri, as if that was the only thing preventing her from stealing the towels from the lavatory.
    As Kiri exited the cruiser, she passed the cockpit. It looked fascinating, full of gauges and lights and holovid displays. She wished she could step in and see what it felt like to sit up there, mistress of her own destiny, instead of a rather unwelcome passenger.
    Opal nodded curtly, and Kiri hurried along the podway toward the concourse, shivering in her thin tunic. Even though they were enclosed, the podways were always cold and damp, and permeated with the harsh stench of the port. Her shivers reminded her with a sickening jolt that she no longer owned a jacket, or indeed any clothes other than the ones she wore.
    She stopped just before the entrance to the concourse, one hand to her face, light-headed even after her sumptuous breakfast.
    “Better get busy and sell some coffee, Kiri,” she muttered to herself. A fashionably dressed woman looked at her as she passed, then hurried on.
    Kiri glowered after her. The woman had looked at her as if she were a crazy, someone to be avoided. Well, at least she had nice undies on, she thought with a flash of dark humor. Probably nicer than those the fashionista wore.  
    And she wasn’t entirely alone. She had Logan Stark. This memory lit a small, warm glow of hope in her chest.  
    Then she reminded herself not to depend on him. Ships in the same port, that was all they were, docking for a short time and then moving on.
     
    ***
     
    Kiri walked out onto the concourse and into yet another nightmare.  
    A crowd had gathered between her kiosk and the gambling den on the other side of the concourse. She stared in amazement at a news reporter holding forth in the glare of the spotlighted holovid cams. Even the space port police were here, their cycles hovering behind them as they worked the crowd. They seemed to be asking questions.
    At the back