The Pleasure Palace. Evangeline Anderson

the Chancellor’s son. If you try and fail you will still receive the tidy sum of twenty-five thousand credits apiece. If, however, and this is our sincere hope, you bring back Paul alive and hopefully unharmed, you will be given the sum of five million credits apiece, considerably more, as I’m sure you’ll note. News or capture of the heinous beast who perpetrated this travesty in the first place will double your fee in either case.

      “And now, Officers, Chief Hamilton, I must go. The Chancellor would like to see me once more before I see you off at the port. Just bring the completed documents along with you when you come. Remember, nothing else is necessary. Good-bye, good-bye, a pleasure, an absolute pleasure my dear.” He patted Shaina’s hand once more, pumped the Chief’s, and waved austerely at Tyson as he left by the office window. Stepping into a hovering, iridescent blue racer that was waiting for him outside, he roared away in a cloud of aesthetically pleasing pink dust.

      “Spread your legs, sweetheart. That’s it, a little wider. Let me in.” Shaina did as he asked, watching the molten gold eyes flaring above her in the semidarkness. Smooth golden-tan skin brushed against hers, making her aware of her nakedness and her defenseless position pinned beneath his masculine bulk.

      “Ty, we shouldn’t…I’ve never…” she gasped, but he didn’t let her finish. Bending over her, he took her mouth in a hungry kiss that left her breathless, unable to protest his assault on her senses. The warm scent of him filled her head and his mouth tasted like cinnamon.

      “Been wanting to do this for a long time, Shaina. Been wanting to fuck you,” he growled low in her ear and she gasped to feel the head of his heavy cock brushing along one inner thigh, searching for her center.

      “No…please…” she begged even as she spread her legs wider, trembling, feeling the pulsing heat and wetness between them as her sex prepared for his invasion.

      “Can’t stop now. Can’t wait to be inside you.” She felt the broad head find its target and part her slippery folds, nudging into her wet heat. Goddess, he was so big…She cried out in terror and need.

      “Please…” She didn’t know if she was begging him to stop or go on.

      “Gonna ride your sweet pussy hard tonight, Shaina. Gonna fuck you all night long,” he whispered as the thick shaft of his cock slid home inside her quivering, defenseless sex, taking her, making her his…

      Shaina woke up gasping and drenched in sweat. It took her a moment to assure herself that she was in her own room on her familiar gel mattress. Just a dream, it had been just a dream. But it had been so real that she could taste Ty’s mouth on hers, still feel the weight of his body on her…inside her.

      No, she thought. It won’t be like that. Just another undercover assignment, that’s all this mission is…

      An undercover assignment where she had to play Mistress to Brent Tyson’s sex slave…Goddess, what had she let herself in for?

      Shaina rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. The mission started tomorrow and she would need her rest. But the dream wouldn’t leave her mind and sleep was a long time coming.

      4

      Tyson was right on time at Gate Three in the private sector of the space port, which was considerably cleaner and more luxurious than the port proper. The huge, arching white shield wall looming above him was meant to protect the privacy and safety of the ultra-rich and famous, the only people who could afford to own their own ships.

      Shaina was only five minutes late. She arrived a little out of breath from having run all the way from the main gate. She was carrying a small velour knapsack despite the Minister’s instructions. Tyson wasn’t surprised. Shaina always had about a hundred items she absolutely couldn’t do without and couldn’t possibly find in her purse at any given time.

      “Is it good?” She nodded at the sheaf of paperwork, the only item he had brought with him as per instructions. Tyson smiled a little. Of course Shaina knew him well enough to know that he would have spent his time getting the contract checked out. The only real family he had to say good-bye to was his younger brother, Brad, who was out on his own and doing well in university.

      She, on the other hand, had probably been placating her mother with wild lies and half-truths. Ty had met her mother once and he liked Mrs. McCullough immensely, mainly because she shared his views about keeping Shaina out of harm’s way.

      “It’s good.” He nodded confidently at the large contract. “You can sign it. Lawyer says it’s airtight but fair. The Chancellor must be really desperate to get his son back.”

      “Wouldn’t you be?” With no warning she changed tacks. “Ty, why are you coming on this mission with me? Really.”

      Tyson thought about it. He could say he was coming to take care of her, to keep her from getting her fool self killed. This was no training exercise; it was flat-out espionage and death was a real possibility. He wondered if Shaina knew that. Really understood it in her bones the way he did. Yes, he could lecture her about putting herself willfully into danger but that would only start another argument, and that was a bad way to begin a mission where they would have to trust each other with their lives. So instead he said as lightly as he could, “I’m coming for the five million credits, of course. After this I can quit my job and live in the lap of luxury,”

      Shaina gave him a skeptical look and shifted her flowing mass of silky hair from one slender shoulder to the other with that defiant little toss of her head. In the afternoon solarshine, it looked like a mass of molten copper running down her back and Ty had to restrain himself from reaching out to touch it.

      “You love the job.” She gave him a direct, serious look. “You’re a great officer; you’ll never give it up. So why are you really coming? What is it about if not the credits?”

      He decided to drop the pretense. “It’s about you, Shaina.” His voice was quiet and he looked directly in her eyes. “Maybe I just wanted to spend some time as your personal pleasure slave. Did you ever think about that?” He grinned at her to lighten his words, but she blushed and dropped her eyes. Unable to help himself, Ty moved in closer and leaned down, whispering into the pink shell of her ear. “Maybe I just want to serve you, want to be on my knees before you, pleasuring you in whatever way you command, Mistress…”

      He saw a shiver go through her, and when she raised her eyes to his again, the pupils were dilated and drowning deep with some emotion he couldn’t read.

      “Don’t…I can never tell when you’re teasing.” Her low voice trembled slightly.

      “I’d never tease about something so important.” God, she smelled good. She was wearing some light, floral fragrance but underneath it, Ty swore he could smell her heat, an intoxicating feminine musk that spoke of her need for him. Why wouldn’t she ever acknowledge it?

      “You promised to stay out of my life.” Still looking up at him, she searched his eyes for his true motivations.

      “I lied.” He reached over and ran one large hand through the silky strands of her hair as he had wanted to earlier. She pulled away, a frightened, hunted look in her eyes. Tyson kept his face neutral, but inside, he swore angrily to himself. Damn it, he had pushed her too far again…

      “Well, well, right on time. I must beg your pardon for being just a touch late myself. Business with the Chancellor, you know, most pressing. Well, come in.” The Minister came bustling up, oblivious to the tension between them, presented one wide gray iris to the optical scanner, and mumbled a complicated series of code words. Ty couldn’t make out more than one in ten. Then the huge, arching white barrier melted and they were inside the private port.

      Scarlet real-wool carpeting ran along a luxuriously decorated corridor hung with holo-prints of the rich and famous. Because he’d been to the private port before, investigating a homicide, Ty knew that the discreet pearl buttons to the left of each print would start a bio-spiel. The narrator told the listener everything interesting about that particular celebrity, plus some juicy lesser-known