Free Keeper of the Heart by Johanna Lindsey Page A

going on inside her. She was absolutely ecstatic, and her grin showed it.
    “I’d swear you were being kissed and loving it, but I know no one’s touching you,” Martha remarked, actually sounding curious. “What’s got you even more excited?”
    “He just beat a warrior, Martha.” And Shanelle was the one feeling proud.
    “So?”
    “All right, take a look.” She positioned the computer-link unit so that the viewer on the end was aiming right at the triumphant visitor.
    “Shani, you’d better be pointing in the wrong direction,” Martha said, clearly irritated. “That’s not a warrior.”
    “I don’t care what he is, he’s the one. And I’m going to turn you off now, Martha. I don’t need any help from the sidelines.”
    “Don’t you dare. Your mother pulled that once and got herself claimed.”
    “And look how nicely that ended up.”
    “Shani—”
    Martha’s voice was cut off, but Shanelle knew she could still hear and monitor her with the Rover’s short-range scanner, so she offered, “I’m sorry, Martha, but I’ve made my choice.” She patted the unit at her waist. “I’ll talk to you later.”
    “I believe the man wishes me to challenge him, Shani,” Corth remarked suddenly.
    Her “choice”
was
looking directly at Corth just then. “Glance away,” she told him. “In fact, move away. He thinks you’re with me.”
    “I am with you.”
    “You know what I mean. And stop grinning. This isn’t funny. He’s a visitor. Unlike warriors, visitors
do
get jealous over the most ridiculous things, and that’s not how I want to start out this relationship.”
    “Perhaps I should oblige him.” Corth’s humor mode was obviously running on strong. “To show him I am merely a machine,” he added.
    Shanelle knew it was still in his programming, the time Challen had been jealous of him. Even after her father had been told Corth was only a machine, he’d still been jealous of him. And Corth’s strength was ten times greater than any man’s, including a warrior’s. She wasn’t going to have him prove that to the visitor when the test wouldn’t be for the contest, but over her.
    “All right, you’ve had your little joke, Corth. But that’s the man I want to get to know, and I mean
know.
So absent yourself for a while.”
    “You know I cannot do that, Shani.”
    “Then keep me within your sight, but yourself out of
his
notice. You can do that—”
    Shanelle fell silent as she realized it was too late. The visitor was already approaching, signaling the judge that he wouldn’t be participating further at this time. And with those long legs, he was there before Shanelle could get her thoughts together. But he was still looking only at Corth.
    “If you wish not to enter these competitions, we can go elsewhere to settle this matter in private.”
    He had the Sha-Ka’ani language down pat, with only a slight accent that was really very lyrical, but Shanelle’s mouth dropped at that opening challenge, and it
was
a challenge. Corth, however, was still finding the situation highly amusing.
    He smiled at the visitor. “This we could do, yet would the doing be unnecessary. The woman has made her choice.”
    Those light blue eyes came to Shanelle, and even through her sudden mortification, she knew she was looking at an intensity of emotion the likes of which she’d never experienced before. Hot, savage—scary, but gone as soon as he looked back at Corth, leaving Shanelle merely shaken and wondering if she’d imagined it. But she hadn’t imagined Corth’s bald statement.
    “I’m going to unplug you for that,” she whispered to her friend, her cheeks still burning.
    Both males chose not to hear her, or else hadn’t heard her during their continuing regard of each other. The visitor was looking at Corth’s hair when he asked him, “Are you from the east?”
    “No,” Corth said simply.
    “From this planet?”
    “Not originally.”
    That easily, Corth was dismissed and Shanelle