Grant, Susan - The Star King

Title: The Star King
Author: Susan Grant
Series: Book 1 of the Star series
Pub: Love Spell
Pub Date: December, 2000
ISBN: 0505524139
Genre:
Time Period:
Setting:
Hero: Romlijhian "Rom" B'Kah
Heroine: Jasmine Boswell

Summary:

Haunted by a magical encounter in the desert after her jet was shot down, ex-fighter pilot Jas Hamilton is determined to discover why dreams of the mysterious golden-eyed man have derailed her life. When the two find each other after twenty years, they rekindle a passionate attraction.

Excerpt:

    The missile pursued Lieutenant Jasmine Boswell's fighter jet across the sky with heartless accuracy. Fear-fed adrenaline pumped through her veins. No time to be scared.
    "Thunder Flight, break left! Bandit in your six!" Her wingman's directions blasted inside her helmet. "Harder left!"
Jas gripped the control stick in her gloved hand and pulled. Nine times the force of gravity crushed her into the seat. Her oxygen mask slid lower on her sweaty face as she struggled to suck in enough air to fill her compressed lungs.
    "Bandit right -- seven o'clock. Two miles."
    Damn it. Her thoughts spun in a whirlpool of fear, denial, and anger. This was Saudi Arabia, the no-fly zone, for Pete's sake. Who had fired at her? How could she not know they were there?
    "Take it down! Reverse right!"
    Jas shoved the stick the opposite way and forward. Her seat belt and shoulder harnesses kept her bottom firmly on the seat, but the effect of negative gravity propelled her insides upward, as if she'd just crested the highest hill on the world's biggest roller coaster.
    "Missile in your six, less than a mile. Thunder Flight, break right, hard right!" Urgency slipped into her wingman's tone. "Harder right!" A heartbeat later an explosion bleached the cloud-starved sky.
    Aw, hell. Teeth-shaking vibrations shook her against her harnesses, while warning lights in the snug, single seat cockpit flashed like a Christmas tree gone wild. Then the F-16C began a slow sideways slide, barreling crookedly along like her grandfather's old pickup truck.
    "I'm losing hydraulics . . . and fuel," she said, wrestling with the stick and rudder pedals. "Can't keep her level." She glanced outside. Hundreds of miles of barren desert yawned beneath her. If she lost control, then --
    The horizon plunged, and the jet tumbled. The sudden violent acceleration pinned her head and shoulders to the top of the canopy. Distantly, she heard "Eject, eject, eject" in her headset. But she couldn't. She tried to stretch her left arm to reach the ejection handle below her, but her limb felt as if it weighed hundreds of pounds. She gasped past clenched teeth, battled to move her hand, while her trusted stoic inner voice scrolled through a litany of options. If she bailed out trapped in this awkward position, she might break her back. But the fighter was out of control -- if she stayed inside she'd surely die.
    She slid her hand, lower, lower. Please. Her arm trembled and her shoulders burned. Sweat stung her eyes. Oh, God. One . . . more . . . inch. Her gloved fingers closed over the handgrip and she pulled for all she was worth.

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Comments:

The Star series

Prequel: The Star Queen - Susan Grant [from the anthology The Only One]
Book 1: The Star King - Susan Grant
Book 2: The Star Prince - Susan Grant
Book 3: The Star Princess - Susan Grant