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“I thought I was going to be raising a herd of reindeer,” she said, frowning.
“You are,” he told her. “But your ranch is right on the edge of the town. It’s a very nice site - just close enough to things to make it easy to get supplies and veterinary assistance.”
She nodded, but the frown was still on her face.
Why have the gods saddled me with this infuriating, inscrutable woman? he asked himself.
Mate, the dragon answered.
Rafe turned the sleigh toward the train, wearing a frown of his own.
3
JADE
Jade was stunned to find herself looking at the platform of a train station that could have been lifted out of an Old Earth storybook.
“Ready?” Rafe asked from the ground below, offering her his arm.
She took it, swinging herself and Gus onto the ground, and trying not to let the delicious heat of Rafe’s arm awaken her senses.
“How is this here?” she asked, indicating the train station. “It looks like it belongs to another time.”
“It does,” Rafe said. “When Sigg-3 was first cataloged, the explorers found evidence of sol-crystal deposits. They expected Sigg-3 to become a mining moon, and the train tracks were started, as well as a small town.”
“What happened?” she asked. “Did they find a cheaper place to import sol-crystals from?”
Jade wasn’t exactly sure what a sol-crystal was. But she thought they had something to do with energy storage.
“They never found any more,” he said, shaking his head. “I guess that one vein was a fluke. One in a million that they happened to take soil samples there. The train and town were abandoned until more recently, when a trade chain was rerouted past Sigg-3 and 0-dette. Then folks figured it might be worth living on again.”
“Wow,” she said. “I guess trade routes are pretty important.”
“If you need anything but lichen and gray rocks to live, yes,” he replied.
“Rafe,” she said, smiling. “Was that a joke?”
He shrugged but didn’t look at her.
“And here I thought the Invicta were so professional and stern,” she teased, trying to get a rise out of him.
“We don’t have to posture like that,” he said simply. “We’re Invicta. We’re dead serious when it counts. We don’t have to put on airs the rest of the time.”
“Goodness,” she said. “I’m even more impressed now.”
That got him. His eyes flashed to hers.
When he saw she was grinning, he smiled back like he couldn’t help himself.
Gods, but that pirate smile was hot. She could practically feel her insides melting.
Take it easy, she pleaded with her libido.
“Tickets,” a bot called out from the window on the platform. “Tickets to Rothbart and Queen’s Mine.”
“Time to go,” Rafe told her, jutting his chin toward the ticket window.
Jade nodded, and they headed off together.
