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1
JADE
Jade stood on the frigid terrain of the frontier moon of Sigg-3, scanning her surroundings for landmarks.
But there was nothing. Pale green lichen went on as far as she could see in every direction, broken up slightly by the occasional jagged gray of a rock formation, until it reached the shadow of distant mountains against an iron sky.
The only real features were a few giant chunks of rock drifting through the sky every so often. They were majestic and just a little ominous, but the fact that they were moving made them unreliable as landmarks.
Her friends had left with their adopted babies already. Now she was the only one left standing.
“Hey,” a deep, male voice called.
She turned to find a thickly muscled and nearly naked man, wearing nothing more than leather armor and a pair of low-slung breeches, standing beside a reindeer-drawn sleigh.
He was too big to be human, and his skin was the pearlescent blue of oil floating on a puddle. His long, dark hair moved slightly in the frigid breeze, but his achingly handsome face showed no sign of discomfort from the cold, despite his lack of clothing.
As he approached, his green eyes tracked up and down her body, and she felt a flicker of attraction. Then fear clamped down on her heart, and her belly tightened so that she was afraid she would vomit up her breakfast.
Will it always be this way? she wondered. Will I always be afraid of my own desire?
Her hand went automatically to her wrist to be sure the tattoo was covered. But of course, she was wearing her gloves, so no one but Jade could know about the series of symbols delicately scrolled on her arm.
The man reached into the sleigh and pulled out a bundle, striding toward her with anticipation in those dancing green eyes.
She looked down at the bundle, and it looked back at her.
Then it laughed.
The tinkling sound was like a tiny bell, or maybe more like icicles falling to the ground when spring came again, back on Terra-14.
The baby’s eyes were crinkled up merrily, and Jade couldn’t help but smile back.
“I’m Rafe,” the man said, tapping his chest. “And this is your son.”
“Well met,” she replied without meeting his eyes. There was no need to notice how hot he was again. “I’m Jade Gatlin. What’s the little guy’s name?”
“That’s your job,” Rafe shrugged, sending glorious blue muscles rippling in her periphery. “I’ve been calling him Gus.”
“Unusual name,” Jade said, surprised.
“Not at all,” Rafe replied. “He’s named after Augustus Voelkard, the first Terran to pilot an intergalactic mission. He brought your people to the stars.”
Jade blinked at him, accidentally meeting his eyes and feeling another pull of attraction.
“But you can call him whatever you want,” Rafe said quickly, putting on an expression that was clearly meant to say that he didn’t care a bit what she called the boy.
“Gus,” she said experimentally.
The baby laughed again and waved his arms at her like he was trying to flag down a hover-cab.
“We’ll keep it,” she decided.
“Would you like to hold him?” Rafe asked.
“I guess that’s my job now,” she replied without really answering the question. She didn’t have a whole lot of experience with babies.
Though, surprisingly, she actually was eager to hold the laughing boy with his head of soft curls. He seemed like he already thought they shared a secret. It must have been a good one if even Jade didn’t know what it was.
