Lord Regret's Price: A Jane Austen Space Opera, Book 3 Read Online Free

a beautiful lady smoldering on his arm.
    Despite his happiness, he couldn’t deny the kernel of ugliness in his heart as they walked back toward the inn. The small hope that maybe her other man was gone for good.
    He’d been furiously, terribly afraid for her safety once he’d learned of her association with the galaxy’s infamous assassin, then appalled that she actually loved the man. But then he’d met Sigmund Regret. He’d seen how quickly the man killed to protect her. And he couldn’t fault the man’s deadly skills, not when it came to keeping their beloved out of Queen Majel’s hands.
    He’d be the first to admit that he’d rather be alone with Charlotte. She’d taken care from the beginning to appease them both. He had no cause for jealousy, not really. She never slighted or favored one over the other, even though he sometimes wished…
    I want her heart all to myself.
    Reluctantly, he voiced his concerns. “Do you think Sig will come back?”
    “Of course.” She spared a glance up at him as if surprised at his concerns. “He’s still close, though I don’t see him yet.”
    “How do you know?”
    “I feel him.” She reached up and touched the heart-shaped locket wrapped in gold filigree. Gil didn’t know exactly what it contained—her science was beyond his understanding—but whatever secrets were hidden in that necklace had managed to save both her life and Sig’s before they’d left Americus. The memory was enough to make him haul her closer, fighting the instinct to sweep her into his arms, carry her to the ship and flee to the most remote edges of space he could find. “Ever since I healed him that first time, I’ve been able to sense his nearness. Since…”
    Since she’d almost died. To keep from squeezing her arm too hard with his furious need to keep her safe, he gripped the handle of his six-shooter, hidden beneath his coat.
    “It’s strange,” she mused. “My nanobots lived inside him for seven years, keeping his heart beating. When he gave some of them back to me, it’s like they carried part of him with them.”
    “Like his memories? His thoughts?”
    “No, not at all. It’s more subtle than that. I just…know him. At a bone-deep level. Yet I’m still confounded by him at the same time. There are many things I don’t understand, but I know one thing above all. He won’t fail me.”
    “Do these nanobot things talk to you?”
    She paced alongside him for several steps before she answered. “Yes and no. They don’t speak to me directly, but I regularly download logs to my datapad. I can see what they’re doing and it’s remarkable. What they’ve done for Sig is beyond astounding. They’re not only keeping his damaged heart beating, but they’re also improving his metabolism, building his muscle tone, speed and hand-eye coordination. He was a formidable assassin before the accident that nearly killed him, but now… Gil, he’s like a superhuman.”
    “And you,” he whispered solemnly. “What are they doing to you? What can they do to you? Is it safe?”
    “Most of them returned to Sig. That’s why he’s still alive.” She paused in the middle of the alley, rising up on her toes to see over the surging crowds. “Look, is that a Razari?”
    “Charlotte,” he firmed his voice, trying to draw her attention back to him. “I insist that we discuss these nanobots still inside you. I don’t understand.”
    “Later.” She patted his arm and beamed up at him. “Do you think he’ll speak to me?”
    “Who? Sig?”
    “No, the Razari.” She nibbled on her lip and dropped her gaze. “Britannia did horrible things to them, Gil, thanks to me. They used my research to destroy them. There are so many things I’d hoped to learn from them…”
    “Your nanobots were used to destroy people?” The same ones living inside her now? He clenched his hand harder around the gun, fighting the urge to shake her. He hated not understanding her technology. Not being a