Free The Marine's Queen by Susan Kelley Page B

They’re falling in love with Roz if they haven’t already. It will break their hearts to leave him.”
    “ Do people die of broken hearts, Lady Callie?”
    “ No, I guess not.” Callie wondered what convoluted path his thoughts were traveling.
    “ Unless Roz has in some way insulted or injured the lady, I see no reason to interfere.”
    “ But….”
    “ We’ve given you haven and asked nothing of you, Lady Callie.” Joe rose to his feet, the action effortless and graceful. “If one of my men find a few stolen moments of happiness or feels a bit of human kindness, would you deny him even that?”
    Callie shook her head, surprised at the passion and anger in Joe’s voice. “I’m sorry. I guess I sounded selfish and cruel.”
    Joe sighed and his shoulders slumped. “You’ve all been cruel. None of us have been around real people before. We’ve met many other soldiers, but they never liked being with us. Now we bring you here and you cook us fine meals and let us see your children. You treat us like we’re normal.”
    “ And that’s cruel?”
    “ Vin and Tar are seeing if we can use parts from your ship to repair ours. If we can, you’ll be able to leave.”
    “ By the Father.” Hope surged in Callie’s chest. She might be able to return to her people.
    “ You’ll go, and we’ll remain. Let Roz have his moment of being loved and needed for something other than as a killing machine. You’ll return to your lives among your kind, and Roz will have only his memories. Better for him to have never met Grace and Glory.”
    “ What about you, Joe? Would it be better for you if you’d never met us?” Callie drifted to him, placing her hand on his hard chest. “Better for you if you’d never met me?”
    Joe’s dark blue eyes filled with heat. His gaze dropped to her lips, but he didn’t move.
    Callie did. She stretched up on her toes and kissed his slightly parted lips.
    Joe didn’t react either by returning the kiss or pulling away.
    She slid her hands up his arms and around his neck. Making sure her chest pressed against his, Callie kissed him again.
    A muffled curse answered her kiss, but then he joined her. His arms wrapped her close, and his lips twisted slightly on hers. She opened her mouth, and he accepted the invitation. His tongue stroked the roof of her mouth and across her tongue. She stroked back, and a deep moan vibrated his chest against hers.
    Callie followed him when he started to pull back. He broke contact with her lips, but he kissed the sensitive corner of her mouth. Then her jawbone. Then the soft skin beneath her ear. Then a series of kisses down the side of her neck. His warm lips traced a delicate path along her collarbone.
    She leaned back to give him access to the spot at the base of her neck. He lingered there.
    Her nipples rubbed against the borrowed camouflage shirt she wore, so she wanted to remove it. She needed his lips to soothe the sensitive spot where no man had ever touched her before. Man!
    Callie froze. What had she been thinking? Her earlier perceptions of the marines rose to haunt her. Lab creations. At the very least, he was a man she would leave behind as soon as an opportunity arose.
    Joe’s arms loosened and then dropped away. He looked a bit dazed and certainly confused.
    Guilt flooded Callie. She’d led him on, driven by her lust and loneliness. She was cruel, just as he’d accused her. And selfish. She knew herself as a woman plain in appearance with a figure too full and large for fashion. It flattered her to have a handsome man like Joe lusting for her. For her and not her throne or her special gifts.
    “ I don’t know why you let me kiss you, Lady Callie.” Joe backed away. “Are you playing at some game for your own amusement? You may question my origins and my humanity, but I’m a man. I have a man’s desires and a man’s needs. Don’t offer to satisfy them unless you mean it.”
    He stalked back to camp. Callie rubbed her arms against a