Her easy agreement put a look of astonishment on his face, and she—
Hold up! Something he’d said chose that moment to reverberate in her mind. A sense of impending doom slithered down her spine. Ice branched through her veins, and she frowned. “You, uh, mentioned studying my world. You meant another state, country or continent, right?”
“Nay. To me, world means celestial body, planet or star.” As he spoke, a glaze of sadness spread over his irises. He appeared…vulnerable.
Jorlan, vulnerable? Please! So why had her chest constricted with sympathy?
“For me,” he added, “world means Imperia, my home.”
Imperia. Em-peer-ee-ah. “Never heard of it. Is it Eastern European or something?” Granted, geography had never been her greatest talent. Nor had math, science or history. The only subjects she’d aced had been English, PE and home economics. The only subjects that mattered, yo!
“Mayhap I can show you Imperia.” He held up a hand and closed his eyes, intense concentration etching his features. As she watched, a small colorful globe materialized above his palm, spinning slowly. Around it, three smaller globes formed a half-moon. Every inch was exquisitely detailed, and each orb somehow appeared solid but also translucent. “Touch it.”
Tentative, she reached out to trace her fingertips over the largest globe. It was solid and amazingly warm.
A second later, vivid pictures flashed in her mind, boom, boom, boom, one after the other as if she were flipping through an album on a cell phone, and she gasped. She saw crystal castles and a violet skyline, with dragon-like creatures soaring through pink clouds. Trees towered in every direction, limbs bowed by bejeweled fruit. Blankets of white grass billowed in a gentle, dew-kissed breeze.
His expression tightened, making her suspect he was using every ounce of his strength to create the globes. First, they wavered, then they vanished altogether, and he dropped his arm to his side.
Duuuude. He’d told the truth. Imperia wasn’t a country but a planet, and magic legit existed. No mortal could conjure such a wondrous, tangible apparition.
“You have magic powers, and you’re an alien.” She blinked, then blinked again, now seeing images of spaceships and bedlam in her head. “You’re an alien, and you have magic powers. Alien, magic. Magic, alien.” She thought, hoped, if she said it a thousand times, her shock would finally fade, but…nope. “You don’t look like a creature from another planet.”
“Just what does a creature from another planet look like, then?”
“Green skin. Large black eyes that look at you as if you should be flat on a table, naked and spread-eagle for a probe. A long, slimy body, with extra-long, lanky limbs.”
“I have encountered only one race who looks as you describe.” He shrugged. “They travel from world to world, on the hunt for knowledge and enlightenment.”
And butts to probe. What? Truth was truth. “Speaking of traveling to different worlds. How did you get here?” Katie mentally patted herself on the back. Here she was, conversing with an alien instead of curling into a fetal ball, and drinking white wine from a baby bottle.
He flicked his tongue over an incisor. “Hoping to aid me, my mother opened a vortex between my world and yours.”
A vortex. Another word for portal or wormhole?
Eyes widening, she looked from one statue to another. At the moment, there were seven males and three females within her sightline. Were they from Imperia, too, just waiting for a kiss to come alive?
Jorlan’s husky chuckle filled the space between them.
Uh-oh. Had she inadvertently spoken aloud? Totally possible. To be honest, Katie was too discombobulated to keep track of her actions, beliefs, words or thoughts.
“I am the only one,” he assured her. “The others are merely stone.”
Relief caused her shoulders to slump. No way she would survive awakening another male like Jorlan. “What’s your last name?”
“Imperians do not have last names. We have designations and titles. I am Jorlan en Sarr, first in command of great lord Gui en Sarr’s army.”
En Sarr must be a military designation, since he led an army. “Well, I do have a last name. I am Katie James, first in command of James Real Estate.”
“Kaay-tee.” Though he’d spoken her name long before this, he dragged out the vowels, as if saying it for the first time. He nodded with approval. “Similar to katya. Such a name suits you well.”
Okay. Maybe “little witch” wasn’t an insult where he was from?
A night wind drifted by as she said, “Look. Now that I know you’re not planning to harm me…” He’d had ample time to try to harm her, but hadn’t. “You’re not, are you?”
“I am not,” he replied, offended. “I swear to Elliea.”
Elliea. The Imperian word for God? “Then I’d like to extend an invitation to you. Come inside the house, and we’ll continue our conversation there.” Where she could cover his erection with a sheet.
Was he still hard? She looked down.
Still hard as steel. Her cheeks blistered with mortification…and stronger arousal.
“I would be happy to go inside with you…after you vow to help me locate a sorcerer tomorrow.”
So he thought he could use her own tricks against her?
Another breeze blew by. “Well?” Jorlan asked. Obviously, patience was not one of his skills.
“It’s hard to concentrate when you’re—” she searched her mind for a proper description “—waving around like a flag. For goodness’ sake, cover yourself with a leaf or something.”
He looked at his shaft, then her, and arched a brow, all, Hide this? Then he shrugged, unabashed. “I think we can also agree you love looking at my body. And don’t try to deny it, katya. You’re staring at it even now.”
Oh, crap! She was. Jerking her gaze up, she told him, “It’s just that the men of my world are so much…bigger.” This little witch would make him regret teasing her.
He gave a rough growl, and she swallowed a laugh. “No one is bigger!” he grated.
Score: Katie—1, Jorlan—0. “I’ll take you to a psychic tomorrow. You have my word. Happy now?”
“Nay.” He canted his head and worried a hand over his jawbone, his gaze guarded. “I am unsure why I requested such a vow from you. Women cannot be trusted to honor their word.”
Katie rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky I’m feeling gracious, Jordie. I’m going to allow you to live despite your chauvinistic remark. Now, come on. Let’s hustle inside.” She batted her lashes at him and twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “Unless you plan to break your word.”
“I will never break my word,” he ground out, his tone iron hard. “Not now, not ever. My honor is too important to me.”
Easy to say, difficult to prove. “After you, then.” She waved him on, partly because she didn’t trust him behind her, partly to watch his butt as he walked.
He strode ahead and threw a glance over his shoulder, his irises a smoky blue. “Mayhap next time you can return the favor and stroll naked in front of me, aye?”
“Not even if you’re dying and it’s the only way to save you.”