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Without thinking, he licked his lips and reached one hand toward her

She batted it away, grabbing for the food instead

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said, laughter filling her voice “I’th We can play later Nohat’s this about youra cook?”

“Well, my mother has a cook,” he said, confused

“I heard that,” she replied around a ust and stabbed another forkful of food She held it up in the air and gestured at him with it

“I mean, why did she need a cook?”

“Well, becausethe estate,” Jerred said “My father ayIt hardly seemed fair to ask her to cook, too”

“You have an estate?” Giselle asked, her eyes popping

“No, er to wipe a droplet of syrup from her lip

He raised it to his own, and thought with soood as she had the night before

“I have this ship,” he said “Family lands only pass to sons who have life mates on Saurellia, and I don’t have one”

“So it’s true, then?” she asked thoughtfully “Josiah told me that you wouldn’t stay with me, that you couldn’t even if you wanted to”

Her tone was lighthearted, but a serious look had co to think of what to say Honesty was best

“Yes, that’s true,” he said slowly “I wish you could be my life mate, Giselle, but that’s just not possible

You’re not Saurellian”

“You mean nobody on Saurellia has ever found a life mate outside his or her own race?” she asked softly

“A few have,” he said slowly “But even those women seem to have Saurellian DNA in theh”

“Oh,” she said, falling silent He felt unco advantage of her It was better not to talk about things like this, he thought in disgust He didn’t want to ruin what tio and get cleaned up,” he said finally “Just put the dishes and tray in the galley when you’re finished, and I’ll take care of it”

“How long are we going to be traveling?” she asked as he stood to leave “And where are we going from here?”

“We’ll be ready to make the jump out of noro to Davidian, where the Saurellian military headquarters are located I need to make my report”

“What about me?” she asked softly