The Challenge by Susan Kearney Page B

feelings, she’d given him the key to her vulnerabilities. And he suspected that she knew it.
    Marveling at her bravery, he regretted what he must do. “You are suggesting that I can invoke your feelings with my touch?”
    She bit her bottom lip in hesitation, then blurted, “Yes. Kindness. Offering your friendship and sharing mutual passion is another way.”
    “What happened to the man you loved?”
    Pain clouded her eyes. “He died.”
    Before they’d made love. No wonder she seemed both innocent and experienced. He knew all too well what it was like to lose a loved one. “On Rystan we would have found you a new husband to ease the pain.”
    “No one will ever replace Mike in my heart,” she spoke fiercely. “But that does not mean that I will never love again.” She looked him straight in the eye. “Human beings have the capacity for much more life than we give ourselves credit for.”
    Was she speaking about herself or him?
    “What are you asking from me?”
    She spoke simply. There was no begging in her tone, just a desire for understanding. “I’m asking for all that you have to give.”
    All that he had to give . She’d given the answer of a warrior. Her words struck him like a direct punch to his gut. This Earthling had courage. Not mere physical bravery, but a deep abiding belief in herself that came through despite all the setbacks she’d found.
    When he said nothing, she continued, “We have done things your way. They have not worked. You’ve asked me to adapt, now I’m asking you to do the same.”
    Honor would not allow him to do less. “Agreed.”
    With no knowledge of how the Federation manual’s instructions clashed with Rystani customs, she could not fully comprehend what she’d asked a warrior like him to do, but her words of courage made him realize that because she was much stronger than he’d believed, he had to push her much harder than he’d planned to cause her psi powers to emerge. Because as awful as it sounded to his own sense of honor and sensibilities, he would befriend her, make her believe she’d receive exactly what she’d asked him for, and then he must deny her.
    She would hate him for it.
    But he could handle her hatred. He had to. He beckoned her to take his hand. “Once we begin, you cannot change your mind.”
    “I understand.”
    She didn’t. She couldn’t, and although one part of him was reluctant to begin, another part of him hungered to discover more about her. Never had he known such a woman, and his heartbeat sped in anticipation of touching her, holding her. Arousing her.
    He led her to the platform, placed his hands on her slender waist, lifting her until she stood once again and faced him eye to eye. He searched her face but saw no sign of panic or regret, just a firm determination.
    He threaded his fingers into the hair to either side of her cheekbones and stroked the silky strands back from her face. Her eyes darkened, and she swallowed hard, but she remained still, except for the palm which she placed on his shoulder to steady herself.
    “Kiss me,” she demanded.
    He almost complied. Almost.
    “I will,” he promised, but he didn’t. Instead, he placed one finger on her forehead and traced her finely arched brows, the straight line of her nose, her eager lips. She nibbled on his finger, and he pretended not to notice.
    “I want to touch your chest,” she told him.
    With a thought, he banished his vest, leaving his skin bared to her eyes and her palms. When she skimmed her fingertips from his shoulders, over his pectoral muscles to his stomach, his breath caught in his throat. Rystani women were not so bold. They didn’t touch their men unless instructed to do so, but the Earthling hadn’t waited for his permission. She’d simply done what came naturally to her. Ever mindful of evoking her emotions, of making her feel comfortable with him, he accepted her touch . . . for now.
    Kahn could have turned off the sensors in his suit to