At Star's End Read online

  At Star’s End

  By Anna Hackett

  Dr. Eos Rai has spent a lifetime dedicated to her mother’s dream of finding the long-lost Mona Lisa. When Eos uncovers tantalizing evidence of Star’s End—the last known location of the masterpiece—she’s shocked when her employer, the Galactic Institute of Historic Preservation, refuses to back her expedition. Left with no choice, Eos must trust the most notorious treasure hunter in the galaxy, a man she finds infuriating, annoying and far too tempting.

  Dathan Phoenix can sniff out relics at a stellar mile. With his brothers by his side, he takes the adventures that suit him and refuses to become a lazy, bitter failure like their father. When the gorgeous Eos Rai comes looking to hire him, he knows she’s trouble, but he’s lured into a hunt that turns into a wild and dangerous adventure. As Eos and Dathan are pushed to their limits, they discover treasure isn’t the only thing they’re drawn to...but how will their desire survive when Dathan demands the Mona Lisa as his payment?

  42,000 words

  Dear Reader,

  I know many of you have been waiting for the next installment of New York Times bestselling author Marie Force’s thrilling romantic suspense series. Fatal Jeopardy is finally here, and Nick and Sam are as good as ever!

  But that’s not all the great storytelling we have in store for you with the March releases. This month, we introduce debut author Matt Sheehan and a book that had the Carina Press acquisitions team in hysterics. Be sure to check out Helmut Saves the World, in which there’s magic, fistfights and one-liners with the best, most handsome and, of course, humble detective Helmut Haase and his apathetic sidekick Shamus O’Sheagan.

  If you’ve been longing for a great historical romance, we’ve got two this month. Juliana Ross finishes up her erotic Improper trilogy. In Improper Proposals, a lonely young widow learns to live—and love—again as she and her ambitious publisher, the most captivating man she has ever met, work on a forbidden guide to sexual pleasure. It’s An Heir of Uncertainty by Alyssa Everett and it’s also the answer to Colonel Win Vaughan’s prayers when he learns he’s the heir to the newly deceased Earl of Radbourne—but the beginning of a deadly mystery when he arrives to claim his inheritance, only to discover that the earl’s lovely widow is carrying a child who could displace him.

  If you’re looking for something hot, with an unusual hero, Solace Ames releases erotic romance The Submission Gift this month. A young husband offers his wife an unusual gift—to fulfill a fantasy she’d always set aside. But what starts out as a onetime session becomes something precious shared between three—one of them a male escort. Solace Ames brings something new to this story and if you love erotic romance, you’ll want to check this out.

  Also in the hot category is Up in Knots by Gillian Archer. Still bruised over the death of her boyfriend two years ago, Kyla Grant is determined to get back into the kinky dating scene, and bad-boy top Sawyer is just the man to help her. Joining Gillian, Juliana and Solace in the erotic romance category, Nico Rosso’s Slam Dance with the Devil, from his Demon Rock series, brings entertainment to a new level. Wild rock star Kent Gaol’s dark past goes back even further than private investigator Nona Harris could’ve imagined, and one night onstage surprises them both by slamming her into his supernatural world.

  March shapes up to be a good one for erotic romances because Emily Ryan-Davis brings us the follow-up to Ménage on 34th Street, which she coauthored with Elise Logan. In this next installment, Dial M for Ménage, it’s a new year and a new way of life for Katrina Holland, who started 2014 by waking up with two men in her bed. Now, she, Owen and Hunter struggle to define, and redefine, their relationships with one another after the first rush of newness fades.

  Paranormal romance author Lorenda Christensen follows up her funny, entertaining Never Deal with Dragons with the next in the series, Dancing with Dragons. If Carol Jenski knows anything, it’s fashion—and it’s in fashion to consort with dragons, even though they’ve coexisted with humans since WWIII. Still, she would never have agreed to take part in a plot against them. Now a dragon lord has called for her head, her boyfriend is MIA and she’s been abandoned in a foreign country.

  Stacy Gail’s paranormal romance miniseries, The Earth Angels, comes to an exciting conclusion in Dangerous Angel, where the heroes and heroines from all the previous books combine their efforts to avert a demonic apocalypse. In Kathleen Collins’s Death’s Daughter, Realm Walker Juliana Norris hunts a serial killer targeting Altered children while an enemy from her past closes in.

  This month we have two titles in the science-fiction genre. First, join the adventure At Star’s End! A galactic treasure hunter and an astro-archaeologist race across the galaxy in pursuit of the last remaining fragment of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in this space opera romance from Anna Hackett.

  And we’re pleased to welcome T.D. Wilson with his debut, The Epherium Chronicles: Embrace. Set in the mid-twenty-second century, Embrace is the first book of an exciting new space opera series where Earth’s newest warship, the Armstrong, must make contact with fledgling colonies in nearby solar systems amid the threat of an alien attack.

  If you’re ready for a cozy mystery to keep you guessing as to whodunit, look no further than Julie Anne Lindsey’s latest release. Most islanders celebrate the reprieve of summer tourism with cider, mums and cocoa, but sharks, birders and a possible serial killer seem intent on ruining autumn for Patience when Murder Comes Ashore.

  Anne Marie Becker returns with another suspenseful installment in her romantic suspense series. In Dark Deeds, SSAM security expert Becca Haney is hiding a past that could hurt her ex-lover, NYPD detective Diego Sandoval—but the true threat comes from a “fan” whose conscience urges him to kill.

  Coming next month: contemporary romance Taken with You from New York Times bestselling author Shannon Stacey. Also, sports week and six irresistible sports romances!

  Here’s wishing you a wonderful month of books you love, remember and recommend.

  Happy reading!

  ~Angela James

  Executive Editor, Carina Press

  Contents

  Official Document

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Official Document

  ~ Official Document ~

  Galactic Institute of Historical Preservation

  Ancient Terran Records Extract #03-K64

  Subject: Treasures of the New Louvre

  ...war is imminent. The treasures of the New Louvre are no longer safe. We lost so much during the terrorist bombings of the original museum a century ago. As director of this institution, it is my duty to ensure the safety and survival of mankind’s greatest treasures...

  [Record damaged]

  ...graciously accept your offer to take some of the museum’s most important pieces on your expedition. They will be sent to the New Hope for loading as soon as they are packaged. Captain Hawkins, I entrust much into your capable hands—Egyptian, Greek and Roman treasures, sculpture and paintings by the masters. But the most revered piece I give over with greatest reluctance—the last surviving fragment of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

  All of us can gaze upon the quiet magic of the Mona Lisa and find our own meaning. Mankind needs this if we are to survive this coming war... [Record damaged]

  ...take care of our history, Captain. As soon as Earth is safe again, I look forward to these artifacts finding their way home.

  I wish you and your colonists a safe and speedy journey to the end of the stars...

  Chapter One

  Dr. Eos Rai gripped the edge of her seat and gritted her teeth. The pilot of her hired minishuttle executed a dizzying spiral descent toward the moon below.

  The free fall was exactly what her life was like at the moment. Her hand clenched on the seat. How much longer until she hit the bottom?

  Eos focused on the irregular, pockmarked surface below. Her first look at Khan.

  The moon was a captured asteroid that now orbited the market planet of Souk. If she craned her neck, she could just make out the large planet with its urban areas interspaced with farms and forests.

  Here at the edge of the known galaxy, Souk was the stopping-off point for explorers, colonists and daredevils heading off into unknown space to make their fortunes. And its small moon of Khan was home to the most notorious treasure hunters in the galaxy—the Phoenix Brothers.

  Another sharp turn and she almost head-butted the synth-glass windshield. She shot a narrow look at the pilot, but the weathered old man peered straight ahead through his thick glasses—who still wore glasses when you could visit a medbooth and get your vision fixed for a few e-creds?—didn’t even glance at her. In fact, he looked bored.

  As long as she landed in one piece...

  She had to make the Phoenix brothers help her.

  She pulled in a deep breath and rubbed the fingers of her left hand together. She felt the slight bump at the end of her index finger and thought of the precious cargo it carried.

  It challenged all her beliefs to put this into the hands of treasure hunters, but she was out of options.

  She’d worked with Niklas years ago at the Galactic Institute for Historical Preservation. He was steady and smart. She trusted him. His brothers, though, were the wild cards.

  Why the hell had Niklas thrown away a promising career in astro-archeology for this? She stared at the scratched and dinted hulls of the various starships that littered the moon’s surface. A spaceship graveyard.

  But she knew it wasn’t the brothers’ main business. No, they went after items far more lucrative than scrap metal.

  Dathan Phoenix had a reputation for sniffing out the choicest ancient relics.

  Right or wrong, it was a skill she needed. If she could convince him to chase a myth.

  He was legendary across the Exodus quadrant. Not to mention cursed in the halls of the Institute. Heat seared under her rib cage. Artifacts that should be in vaults or museums, taken by his grubby hands and then sold to the highest bidder. Her mother had died trying to keep artifacts out of the hands of pirates.

  Eos smoothed a finger over the floral markings that traced up the back of her hand and twined around her wrist. The familiar habit soothed her. No one had the right to steal someone’s history.

  “There she is,” the pilot said.

  Eos’s gaze shifted downward. A large huma-dome shimmered pink-purple on the horizon. The energy field of the dome kept the atmosphere inside but also permitted solid objects to pass through. Moments later, the bubble-shaped shuttle shot straight downward—along with Eos’s stomach. The light lunch she’d had earlier at the spacedock on Souk threatened to come back up. The shuttle descended through the dome and touched down on a small landing pad.

  “Thank you.” Eos didn’t hide her eagerness to exit the shuttle. She’d already transferred payment into the pilot’s account before the trip, leaving her e-cred account dangerously low. Her stomach clenched. She’d already forked out a small fortune for the commercial fare to get to Souk. What she had left was to convince the Phoenix brothers to help her.

  As Eos slipped on her small backpack, the shuttle shot upward, bathing her in steam. Spinning, she faced the building.

  No one to greet her.

  Hmm, security sucked. Her boots made a quiet tap on the smooth floor as she headed inside the monstrous warehouse.

  The inside was packed with...junk. Mostly ships—or parts of them—of all types and sizes. She spied lights in one corner of the building and wended her way through the debris.

  As she passed a small pile of rusted metal, she glimpsed paintwork on the...whatever it was. She stopped and crouched, smoothing a hand over the surface.

  “It can’t be,” she breathed.

  NASA was written in faded white paint, with a small flag made up of stars and stripes. Remnants of a Terran satellite!

  She shot to her feet. So little was known about the world that had seeded life on so many planets in the galaxy. Most of the planet’s records had been lost after its nuclear devastation in the Great Terran War. She imagined for a second what it must have been like with the world’s superpowers at war. Even over the name of the planet itself. Earth had been the English term used by the United Countries of the Americas, but the records showed that in the other powerful group of countries, the Northern Federation, they’d used Terra. Both terms were now commonly used throughout the galaxy.

  Eos’s mouth firmed. This satellite should be in a museum being studied, not rotting here on a desolate moon. She marched toward the back of the warehouse. The light she’d spotted was spilling from a half-open door. She pushed it open.

  Living quarters. Not tidy ones. She noted the clothes strewn across the floor. A large bed with rumpled covers was pushed against one wall. A battered metal desk was closest to her.

  What sat on it had the breath rushing out of her lungs.

  She circled the desk. “By Suva’s grace.” A Renaissance bronze in mint condition. She’d only ever seen pictures of them in records. She reached out a trembling hand.

  Then she was yanked backward.

  A strong arm wrapped around her chest like a steel band. A hard male body pressed against her back. She stiffened and shoved her elbow into a firm abdomen. A wet, naked abdomen. The cool metal of a weapon pressed against her temple and she froze.

  “I’ve already had one woman sneak up on me today. I don’t plan to make it two.” The male voice was low, raspy.

  “I don’t care what kind of day you’re having.” She wasn’t violent by nature but she’d been trained to defend herself on isolated digs. Acting on instinct, she dropped low and swiped out at his ankles with her foot.

  She obviously surprised him, because he toppled. Pulling her over with him.

  For a second, she glimpsed the lean, tough body of a runner—all firm, sinewy muscle. She had a quick impression of dark ink covering one of his arms. She didn’t let her gaze go lower.

  He was strong and she realized she’d never beat him in a fair fight.

  He was cursing in a language her lingual implant didn’t recognize. She scrambled off him, reaching for the laser pistol that was now lying on the floor.

  Her fingers brushed metal. Then she was tackled from behind.

  She hit the floor face-first and all the air was forced out of her lungs in rush. The man’s heavy weight settled over her and her cheek pressed against the smooth concrete.

  Warm breath tickled her ear. “Now what, darlin’?”

  “Now nothing. Get off me.” Eos bucked her body. But all that did was grind her butt into a hard stomach.

  “Not until you tell me who you are and what the hell you’re doing in my place.”

  She sucked in a breath. “No one met my shuttle.”

  Footsteps.

  “Her name’s Dr. Eos Rai.”

  Eos recognized Niklas’s voice. Relief flooded through her. She turned her head enough to see Niklas and a younger man with tawny hair in the doorway.

  The younger man smiled. “Twice in one day you’ve gotten beaten up by a girl, Dath.”

  “Screw you, Z,” the man above her said.

  She guessed the one with Niklas was the former Galactic Strike Wing fighter pilot, Zayn. Which left the hard, dangerous man on top of her as none other than Dathan Phoenix.

  His weight shifted off her and she sat up.

  Now she knew who he was, she let herself look.

  Tanned skin over hard muscles. Actually, he was a bit pink, like he had bad solarburn. Not that it detracted from his blatant masculinity. A washboard stomach and a deep V of muscle that disappeared...downward. Where she wasn’t going to look.

  One strong arm and shoulder were covered in black ink. Her heart stuttered as her gaze traced the wild, masculine design. She pressed her hands together, touching her own designs. His markings were nothing like the elegant mehndi markings the men and women on her world were born with.

  Dathan grabbed a towel off a nearby chair and wrapped it around his hips, then he crossed his arms over his chest. Her gaze met eyes the color of the bright blue-green mountain lakes on her home world. Hair the color of deepest space fell around a slightly battered face and a small white scar cut through his left eyebrow.

  “How are you, Eos?”

  She forced her gaze away from Dathan. “Niklas. It’s nice to see you.”

  “So you know each other?” Dathan asked with a frown.

  Niklas nodded. “We worked together at the Galactic Institute of Historical Preservation.”

  Dathan’s face tightened. “We’re not real fond of Institute snobs around here.”

  She arched a brow. “I’m on a leave of absence.” A forced one, but they didn’t need to know that.

  Dathan extended a hand, his intense eyes burning through her. “Well, regardless of your profession, I’m sorry about the gun in your face. Like I said, it’s been a rough day.”

  She put her hand in his. Ignored the tingle where their palms met. “Spent in the sun?”