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Desperate to make her feel better, he held her close, wrapping his arms around her curvy body and squeezing her tight, letting her know she wasn’t going anywhere as long as he had anything to say about it.
At last Makenna quieted some. Her sobs turned into sniffles and the death grip she had around his neck loosened a bit. She looked up at Bard, her dark eyes red-rimmed with crying.
“Not give Makenna?” she asked in a trembling voice. “Not…ever?”
“Not ever,” Bard promised her. “You’re staying with me. With Bard.” He let go of her with one arm and pointed to himself. “Bard,” he repeated.
“Bard?” She looked up at him, comprehension filling her eyes. “Bard keep Makenna?”
“Bard keep Makenna,” he affirmed, nodding.
Damn, he needed to get this little female a shot of translation bacteria soon, so they could stop sounding like toddlers or cavemen when they tried to talk to each other! But as long as she understood that he would keep her safe, it didn’t really matter.
“Bard keep,” she said in her broken Standard, as though reassuring herself. “Bard…good one. Not bad one.”
“Well, I hope so, anyway,” Bard muttered, rubbing her back some more to sooth her. “Just rest now, baby girl. We’ll be in the Mother Ship soon and we can get a doctor to check you out and make sure you’re okay.”
But this seemed to be beyond her comprehension. She shook her head, frowning, as though she was trying to understand. Seeing her look of confusion, Bard repeated what he knew she would get.
“Bard keep Makenna,” he said firmly. Stroking a lock of her long, curly hair out of her face, he cupped her cheek in one big, rough hand. “Bard keep Makenna safe,” he told her, looking into her big, dark eyes earnestly.
She nuzzled her small face against his palm, her eyes slowly losing their fear and filling with trust instead. In that moment, he couldn’t help noticing how distractingly lovely she was. Her light brown skin was creamy and soft and there was a smattering of dark freckles across her tip-tilted nose. Not to mention her full, lush lips, which were the same color as ripe tinga berries.
“Bard keep Makenna safe,” she repeated. And turning slightly, she placed a soft kiss in the palm of his hand before pressing her face to his shoulder once more and cuddling in his arms.
The kiss seemed to do something to Bard—seemed to wake up a part of him that had been sleeping for years. Gods, she was lovely, he thought! So soft and small and curvy—
Then he got hold of himself.
What the hell is wrong with you, old man? She’s not for you—you’re old enough to be her fucking father! And besides, she’s been fucking traumatized by that damn Trollox and who knows what horrible things were done to her on Passion Prime? She needs to heal and you need to get your fucking filthy mind out of the gutter!
If he could have done it, he would have pushed the girl away from him. Now that he had noticed her beauty, he couldn’t un-notice it, no matter how inappropriate it was. He was also uncomfortably aware of the fact that her torn gown was open, meaning that she was bare as she pressed against him. The soft crush of her full breasts against his chest and the heat of her soft pussy against his abdomen were damn hard to ignore.
Bard did his best, however. He shifted, willing his body not to respond to hers, ordering his shaft not to harden.
Damn it, he’d been free of any kind of sexual instinct for twenty years, since Rilla had died. Why did his male hormones have to come rushing back now, in these incredibly inappropriate circumstances?
I’ll get her off me as soon as the shuttle touches down inside the Mother Ship, he promised himself. I’ll hand her over to Dr. Olivia or one of the other Med Center Staff and they can take care of her. That way I’m not tempted to do anything I shouldn’t.
Not that he would. Kindred held females in high regard—he would never take advantage of a female who was clearly traumatized and only in need of comfort.
But damn, he really wished she had more clothes on!
4
“I’m sorry, Commander Bard, but she doesn’t seem to want to let go of you and if she’s been through everything you say she has, I don’t think it’s wise to make her.”
Dr. Olivia shook her head, her gray eyes serious.
“But I have to go back to my suite at some point,” Bard protested. “I have a pet Ya’greer I have to feed. He’s probably about ready to chew a hole in my fucking couch right now!”
He was leaning back against the exam table—which Makenna had absolute refused to sit on, just as she had flinched away from the human doctor when Olivia had tried to examine her. The girl was still cradled in his arms, her body wrapped around his like a vine around an oak tree.
