A/N: Kaynara, Kaynara, Kaynara - this litte one-off is all her fault ... she kept begging and begging for me to write some Mal/Inara smut - and I caved. *sigh* Oh well ...

Thanks to Kaynara for the beta as well. If you hate this, it's all her fault - if you love it, well, it's because I'm a genius writer! :op

Please read and comment - I hope to have Chapter 3 of my prompt series, The Right To Love, up by tomorrow - stay tuned!

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Dancin’

***

The muffled shouts of the crew returning from a mission reached Inara all the way in her shuttle. Her hairbrush freezing partway through its stroke, she listened for Mal’s voice, relieved to hear him bellowing orders as the cargo bay door clanked into place and the whine of Serenity’s engines permeated the air.

Listening for a second more, her heartbeat sped up rapidly as she heard Zoe call for Simon. With barely another thought, Inara pulled her dressing gown tight about her and rushed out to the catwalk, her still damp hair fanning out behind her.

With wide, brown eyes, she scanned the scene below, trying to assess who exactly was hurt. She saw Zoe, standing over someone and Inara’s anxiety rose tenfold. It was no secret the first mate was partial to Mal, for her to be so concerned now … praying she was wrong, Inara made it down to the bay’s floor, rushing up to the side of the mule, frantically trying to ascertain who was bleeding.

Later she would curse her transparency. Since Miranda it seemed that her emotions were on constant display and while she had always secretly envied Kaylee for the woman’s ability to feel so deeply, Inara found the lack of emotional control disconcerting. But she seemed loathed to stop it. Of course, Mal didn’t help. The man still had the ability to push every button she owned and she was fairly certain he’d installed some himself. He could rile her, silence her and weaken her with a look and Inara wondered how he’d gotten so adept at reading her emotions – and when she’d become so incapable of int