Shifter Planet by D.B. Reynolds Read Free Book Online

gallantly.
    She blushed. “She is beautiful, isn’t she?”
    Rhodry thought Amanda was far more beautiful, and definitely more intriguing, and it bothered him that she clearly didn’t think so. He had the idiotic thought that she needed defending, that he should jump in and tell her exactly what he thought of her. Until reason prevailed.
    “Leveque is your father?” he asked instead, thinking that explained the differences in appearance between mother and daughter, and prevented him from making a fool of himself.
    “No,” she snapped immediately, then visibly swallowed her irritation and explained. “Admiral Leveque is my mother’s escort for the evening, nothing more.”
    A hot flush of color crept over her high cheekbones. She didn’t like Leveque, and yet, he was not only her superior officer, but was also, apparently, dating her mother. He had a moment’s unwanted sympathy for her, and so did something he’d never intended.
    “Would you care to dance, Lieutenant?” He held out a hand, studiously ignoring the smug look on his cousin’s face.
    She looked up and met his eyes, then glanced out over the dancers before shifting her attention back to him once more. “I don’t know the steps,” she said, frowning.
    He couldn’t help it. He smiled at her. “I’ll teach you.”
    She reached out and placed her hand in his, and when she looked up at him this time, she was laughing…and every bit as lovely as her mother. A welcome warmth flooded his chest, as if he could fill his lungs again after too long holding his breath. As if everything had changed because Amanda had shared that joyful laugh with him. It was so unexpected that he froze for a moment.
    She didn’t give him any more than that moment, however, tugging him onto the dance floor, while his cousin chuckled his ass off at Rhodry’s expense.
    She stopped on the edge of the crowd, her hands clasped beneath her chin, her watchful study taking in the couples moving rapidly over the center floor in one of the clan’s set dances. City folk on Harp might disdain and distrust the clans, but when it came to dancing, no one did it better.
    “So it’s Rhodry, is it?” she asked, her eyes following the dancers as they flowed and shifted in the complex pattern of the dance.
    He glanced over, but her focus was on the dancers, not him. “It is,” he agreed. “And you’re Amanda.”
    She smiled, eyes still on the dancers, her body shifting in time with the music, almost vibrating with the need to join them.
    He couldn’t resist the happiness rolling off of her in waves, couldn’t stop the grin that split his face. “Well, now that’s out of the way,” he said. “Are you ready to dance?”
    She turned to him, her eyes alight with excitement. A wild laugh escaped as she reached for his hand again, and Rhodry braced for the same unexplainable reaction. This time, when their fingers touched, there was a shock of heat so intense that it was like touching a live flame. He yanked his fingers away reflexively, only to look up and see her staring back at him, equally stunned. Their eyes locked in silent acknowledgment of what they’d both felt.
    He opened his mouth to say something… What would it be? That he’d never felt the like with any woman? That she was his, and he wanted to drag her away somewhere he could throw her down and fuck her senseless? Shit! He couldn’t say that! Where had that thought even come from? It had to be the electro-static shock because of all the dancers swishing about. That sounded idiotic even to himself. And it wasn’t true anyway. Shit again.
    His cousin was now eyeing him strangely, so Rhodry reached out and gripped her hand again, her fingers squeezing his nervously, as they both waited for whatever might happen. When there was nothing but the normal warmth of their joined hands, they both sighed in relief, and he pulled her across the floor.
    Putting them in position at the very end of a long double line, he said,