Seeker

Praise for Susan Kearney

Kearney is a master storyteller.

—New York Times bestselling author Virginia Henley

This book is like eating a piece of dark chocolate when you are dieting—you know it is not good for you, but you cannot help wolfing it down with guilty pleasure.

—All About Romance on Enslaved

Other Titles by Susan Kearney

Romantic Suspense

Kiss Me Deadly * Dancing With Fire * Secrets of Moore House

Born in Danger * Born in Mystery * Born in Secret

Science Fiction and Fantasy Romance

The Challenge * The Dare * The Ultimatum * The Quest

Lunar Heat * Solar Heat * Shifter in Paradise

The Shimmering * Stargazing

Historical Romance

Conquer the Mist

Coming Soon

Beyond the Edge * A Burning Obsession

Bordering on Obsession * Double the Thrill

Enslaved * Royal Target * Royal Ransom

Royal Pursuit Daddy to the Rescue * Defending the Heiress

Saving the Girl Next Door * Hijacked Honeymoon

Cradle Will Rock * Little Boys Blue * Lullaby and Goodnight

When the Bough Breaks * Touch Me * On the Edge

Seeker

by

Susan Kearney

Bell Bridge Books

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events or locations is entirely coincidental.

Bell Bridge Books

PO BOX 300921

Memphis, TN 38130

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61194-748-9

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61194-748-9

Bell Bridge Books is an Imprint of BelleBooks, Inc.

Copyright © 2005 by Susan Kearney

Published in the United States of America.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Originally published as Tomorrow’s Promise by Susan Kearney in the anthology The Hope Chest by Harlequin Books S.A.in 2005

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Cover design: Debra Dixon

Interior design: Hank Smith

Photo/Art credits:

Background (manipulated) © Aphelleon | Dreamstime.com

Man (manipulated) © Vadymvdrobot | Dreamstime.com

:Eswx:01:

Chapter One

Earth 2405

MARS WAS CALLING to Dr. Sara Tolliver in more ways than one. Feeling like a college student on her first day on campus, she anticipated her trip to Mars where she could put her degree in Martian archeology into practice. With lots of hard work and a little luck she could expand upon the discoveries Professor Dixon had already made on the planet’s North Pole. She looked forward to reuniting with her former mentor, a man married to his archeology. However, she didn’t intend to end up a salty old soul like Dixon, who might study the mating rituals of other peoples, but likely never experienced any sex firsthand. And since Mars was no longer considered a raw frontier, she planned to enjoy a social life along with her work, preferably with a man who didn’t necessarily ask for more from her than great sex.

Studying relics was one of her passions, but she liked the old-fashioned physical kind of passion, too. In fact, Sara impatiently contemplated being pursued—almost a guarantee due to the lack of available women on Mars. Although many women had ventured into space, the majority of the first Mars explorers had been male, and females remained a rarity among the planet’s population. She liked the idea of having choices. There certainly hadn’t been enough men in her life recently. Her colleagues believed she was too picky—that she shouldn’t compare the Alpha men of history to the civilized men of today, but she disagreed. She just hoped the men on Mars might be more to her liking: individualistic, entrepreneurial, dynamic—not the I-want-to-get-in-your-head intellectual archaeologists that she tended to meet. Sara preferred a make-love-and-move-on kind of relationship to one that required . . . feelings. Feelings opened up too much risk of pain. And from the assortment of men around her right now, she suspected that she just might find a man to satisfy her needs—one who would overlook real intimacy for a good time and a willing partner.

ne of only two women among twenty males in the boarding line for a rocket ship, Sara appreciated the ratio in her favor, a reflection of the population of her soon-to-be home planet, Mars. Even in her baggy jumpsuit, she was drawing the attention of several hot-looking men.

Hmm. She could become accustomed to this kind of advantage. The men who surrounded her in the boarding line—tall men, short men, husky men—kept eyeing her as though she were a prize. One shot her a charming, knock-your-spacesuit-off smile, and she nodded back, but lost sight of him as her line advanced toward the ticket agent.

So far, Sara had no regrets about her imminent departure from Earth. The planet was overcrowded and even the oceans had few places left to discover. She craved the excitement of exploration, of seeing new sights and meeting new people, especially men who wouldn’t be too demanding on her time. Sara was smart enough to comprehend that her fear of intimacy stemmed from the fact that everyone whom she’d ever loved had been taken from her. However, recognizing the source of her problem and eliminating it were two different things. While she couldn’t change the way she felt, that didn’t mean she had to be alone. She simply had to find a man who had a full life that kept him occupied when he wasn’t sharing lusty companionship with her.

Filled with hope, eager to get to work, more than ready to leave her old life behind, Sara looked forward to her departure and her new life, which made the slowly moving line seem to creep.

Next!

Finally. Sara stepped forward, holding an heirloom that had been in her family for generations, a box that contained all her earthly possessions. With care she set the box on the scale, pleased when it weighed in at twenty-eight pounds, the maximum allowance for the Earth-to-Mars trip without paying a penalty.

Sara couldn’t afford a penalty. She’d spent all her credit on the box’s precious contents. Inside were computer chips that held her life’s work, research and reference material, books and music chips, pen and paper, and holographic scenery of Earth. She might not be able to take her favorite beach, Daytona, to Mars, but she’d carefully packed a vial of ocean water to help her remember the scent and a pinch of sand for the computer to replicate. She’d also brought thousands of e-books—romance, science fiction, and fantasy—to keep her company in the Martian Outback. Among her luxury items were precious seeds to grow a variety of tropical flowers and plants, as well as her ancestor’s journal from the 1800s, several magazines that had sentimental value, her mother’s dried wedding bouquet, and her father’s chronometer.

Identichip, please.

Sara pressed her finger onto the access plate