A dark-haired woman with old eyes and young cleavage finally leaned her bosom toward him. "I'm sorry, sir, but I don't think I caught your position in the Sol business affairs." Consort. Mica could have easily named him her personal guard. Her secretary. Even her research assistant. Well, two could play. He bowed his head slightly, happy to oblige. "I see to the sexual needs of Mica Sol, firstborn and heir to the Sol corp.

Mica didn't just glitter; she burned, and he was on fire.

This was the stuff of novels with -- yeah -- men like him on the cover.

The sooner it's over, the sooner we can go back to bed. Everything good happens in bed.

She gave herself up to the waves of the storm. If they drowned, it would be together, a shattered vessel on the sea, a collision of longing and desire.

He'd pushed and pushed and pushed until she had nowhere else to go but away from him. He'd been young back then himself. Inexperienced. Stupid. A little patience accomplished a lot more. Hard lesson to learn. Worst way to learn it.

He dragged her to him, and she, being equally focused on attaching her mouth to his, lost her balance. Stepping in for the save, he held her up against the doorjamb with his hard body, mouth rasping hers, tongue deep enough to touch her soul. Could be oxygen deprivation, but she saw stars behind her closed lids.

Oh, please, no. The tag was a six-moon survey permit for Encantada, a cluster world at the edge of the Han System. It was the kind of tag a xenobioform engineer would need among a crew exploring a new world. He'd seen one once before. Five years ago. When she had left him. His balance faltered. Vision narrowed. The universe condensed to a name, printed above the tag code. Mica Sol. Once his. Forever his only. He could've killed her...

Homo sapiens simonus, aka Simon Miner. Only one of his kind. Male. Predatory. Highly adaptable. Dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. 6'3". His well-muscled frame was agile and strong. His deadly smile incapacitated his victims. Voice promised safety. Sexual prowess compromised victim's intellect (temporarily). Yet he was intent on one vital organ - the heart.