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Tally suddenly looked ashamed.
“Pretty much,” he said. “Sorry if I kind of inhaled that stew. I just hadn’t eaten until now because… because…”
“I understand,” she said, not wanting to make him say the words.
“I feel better now though,” he said. “We’re going to catch them, aren’t we?”
She nodded, hoping it was true.
14
RAFE
Rafe drove the sleigh home in silence, trying hard not to overthink things.
Jade sat beside him, her soft thigh pressed to his harder one, looking out over the frozen tundra as if she might find answers to all of life’s questions there.
But there was only one question in her heart. And he didn’t have to ask her what it was in order to know.
She wanted to know why she was so drawn to him.
Deep in his chest, the dragon chuckled.
Jade’s reaction to that silly waitress had been instantaneous. It would have been funny, if his heart hadn’t broken for her a little.
Poor Jade didn’t know that he couldn’t pursue that waitress even if he wanted to, which he very much did not.
Now that he had seen his true mate, Rafe would never desire another.
But he had scented the jealousy on her from the moment the schoolteacher smiled at him. By the time the waitress mentioned a drink, he had been surprised Jade was able to hold in her roiling fury.
She was troubled now.
He had been around her long enough to know that she was laid-back and smart. These visceral, jealous reactions would be counter to who she was.
Right now, she was frustrated, maybe even frightened by these unfamiliar feelings.
He had to talk to her.
The only trouble was that Rafe had never been much good at talking.
He was an ace behind the controls of a spacecraft, and he was the best person to have by your side in a bar fight or a brawl.
He would laugh at the most terrible jokes, and gladly cross sector lines to bail out any friend in trouble.
But a serious conversation with a woman he was frantic to claim, with the dragon interrupting his train of thought every five seconds to roar in despair?
It was hopeless.
It’s not hopeless, boy, the dragon snarled. You are a coward.
But Rafe wasn’t a coward. He had broken over twenty speed records, patrolled the worst of Outer Ring unarmed, and even fought a wedge of the Armada and lived to tell the tale.
You’re a coward when it comes to the girl, the dragon told him. But coward or hero, you must claim her. Claim her now. Claim her before someone else does.
The dragon’s lament went on, and Rafe knew it would only grow worse the longer he waited.
At last, they arrived back at the farmhouse.
