Beloved Stranger: Gaian Series, Book 5 (5 page)

As she ate, she looked around at what she could see of Roan’s apartment. To one side was a kitchen nook with modern and too-new-looking-to-have-been-used-much appliances, except for the refrigerator, which mostly held drinks like the bottle of beer in her hand. A dining counter with tall stools separated the kitchen from the living area they were sitting in.

The space was larger than she’d expected and furnished expensively in subtle colors. It was elegant but at the same time it felt sterile. Nowhere did she see anything personal, like a personal datastore, or portable holovid images of Roan’s family and friends. The place looked more like a showroom rather than someplace a man lived.

It was like Roan was hiding who he was. Either that or he didn’t know how to personalize his space, and from what she’d seen of the way he dressed, she doubted that was the case. He might have been wearing a mask when she met him, but his home was doing the same thing now. She could tell nothing about him from this room.

Curious about what Allan had said, Sonja asked, “What did Allan mean by calling you the Dealer?”

Roan hesitated then shrugged. “Inside the prison people need things that are sometimes hard to get, and I have ways of getting them.”

Astonished, Sonja blinked at him. “You’re a black marketer?”

“That’s another way of putting it. I call myself a dealer.”

She finished her beer. “That’s where you got the money to buy me.”

A trace of irritation crossed Roan’s face, and he shook his head. “You shouldn’t look at it that way. I didn’t buy you. I paid the marriage fee, that’s all. Most inmates save up for the marriage fee, and because of what I do I just had an easier time of it, that’s all.”

Roan grabbed her hand. “I don’t consider you a possession, Sonja. You are my wife—I’m your husband. We belong to each other.”

In his eyes, she supposed that was true. But she didn’t want to be a wife or have a husband, or belong with anyone. She wanted to find her sisters, and Roan was simply a means to an end.

At least that’s what she told herself as Roan brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed it. As earlier when they’d been alone, odd tingles went up and down her arm from where he touched her, tingles that weren’t unpleasant. Sonja considered pulling her hand away but didn’t. Disturbing as the way he affected her was, she didn’t want to alert Roan that anything was wrong.

He wanted a wedding night with her, and she owed him that much for getting her inside the prison. It would hardly be her first time in a man’s bed anyway. She’d put on an act for him and sneak out later on.

It was a good plan. It would be an even better one if those odd tingles would stop happening every time he touched her.

Still holding her hand, Roan stood up, and Sonja found herself following him to her feet. He stared into her face, and she realized his eyes weren’t quite the ordinary brown she’d thought earlier but had deep green highlights. Those highlights seemed to intensify.

“We’ve had dinner, although it wasn’t quite the gourmet meal I’d had in mind.”

She glanced at the disused kitchen and wondered where the gourmet meal would have come from. “The pizza was great. And I liked your friend.”

“I like him too. I liked him even better when he took the hint to leave. But the dinner was only the first step. I also promised you a warm bath.”

And a bed, with enough light to see your face.
She remembered what he’d said at the marriage meet, and just as she’d felt then, a set of tingles slipped through her, rippling along her spine. Back in the dark room, with him lying on top of her, rubbing against her, it had been obvious why she was reacting to him. Now with just him holding her hand, things weren’t so clear.

Was she really so attracted to him that just having her hand in his made her eager for more? To her he was just another man, and she’d had plenty of those in the past. Only Gaian males attached, after all.

There might be another explanation, though. It had been a long time since her last lover. Over six months, in fact, since she and the pilot of her last ship had spent the night together on Baile Na, the Travelers’ home planet. It hadn’t been love on her part, only a way to pass the night.

Perhaps she was just eager for a man’s touch, and Roan happened to be available the way her friend had. That was the most likely explanation.

But then Roan gathered her into his arms and he kissed her, soft and sweet, only a hint of the passion he’d shown earlier. Even so, she felt her knees buckle, and she leaned back from him, shaken at her reaction.

Roan smiled as if pleased with her response. “How about a bath?”

One arm around her waist, he guided her through the apartment to a bedroom, decorated in the same muted colors as the living area. It looked just as impersonal, and it was hard for Sonja to see it as the home for the vibrant man with her. Roan seemed to exude personality, and there was none in the decoration of his apartment. She barely had a chance to examine the bedroom for signs of his personality before he directed her into an elegant and outrageously luxurious sanitary.

Here finally was a room she thought matched Roan. There was a tub big enough to soak in, which would even sit two if those two were very friendly. He touched a knob on one side and the tub quickly filled with water that steamed invitingly.

“Go ahead and get in,” he whispered into her hair.

“Do you think I need a bath?”

He turned her to stare down into her face, puzzlement in his green-brown eyes. “I think you’d enjoy one. You’ve probably been on a spaceship for days. When did you last have a bath in real water, rather than using a sonic shower?”

Six months ago, maybe, before she left Baile Na, and even then it had been in a tiny tub with barely enough room for even her small frame. Water baths were a luxury in most parts of the universe, generally considered a waste of a precious resource. A water bath like the one here was pure decadence.

After six months of shipboard sonic showers, decadence sounded pretty good. Even so, she didn’t feel comfortable stripping off her clothes in front of him, particularly given the knives she had concealed under her skirt. Learning she was armed might give Roan the wrong idea. Or, the unfortunate right one.

She felt nearly naked without a weapon of some kind on her. In fact, it had been hard for her to give up the knife in the meeting room.

Fortunately Roan seemed to read her hesitation as maidenly modesty, even though he knew she wasn’t a virgin. “It’s all right, little wife. I won’t watch you get undressed.” He turned and headed for the door. “I’ll leave and give you some privacy.”

“Where will you be?”

“Not far.” He indicated the bedroom. “There is something I want to get for you.”

“But you wanted to clean up too.”

He seemed pleased that she’d thought of him. “Don’t worry about me. You just take a nice, relaxing bath and I’ll be here when you get out.”

As soon as he was gone, Sonja stripped off her clothes, unfastening the knife sheath from her thigh and hiding it in one of her boots. They were her special ones, with a knife sheath at the top and a hidden knife in one of the heels. Her skirt and blouse she folded and stowed on top of the boots so they’d be out of sight.

She braided her hair and coiled it on top of her head, securing it with some pins. Only then did she slip into the bathwater, which was still at the optimum temperature for a decadent soak.

Sonja couldn’t help her moan of appreciation as the warm water soothed away the tensions of the last few days. She’d been worried about a lot of things, but most of all her previous experiences as a marriage meet bride. She’d been to several after the slavers had taken her, and no man had attached to her. That had haunted her. Suppose the same thing had happened this time?

But it hadn’t. Not only had Roan attached, but so had that other man, the brute who’d hurt her arm. That man she hadn’t liked at all, her stomach turning queasy when he’d touched her. Sonja rubbed the bruises he’d left. Roan had looked like he was going to allow the other man to have her until she’d cried out.

She probably could have handled the bully herself, but she hadn’t wanted to be alone with him. She might have been forced to maim him if he’d persisted in trying to hurt her, and that wouldn’t have helped her mission at all.

As it was, things had worked out even better than she’d hoped. She was inside the prison with a man she knew wouldn’t hurt her. The only negatives were that he’d gotten injured in defending her and had spent all that money…

No, she wasn’t going to feel guilty about the money or the injury to Roan’s arm. She wasn’t even going to feel guilty about what she planned after they’d had sex. She’d make it up to him by being a good little wife to him tonight and giving him whatever he wanted. Everything except the future he obviously envisioned with her.

At least after she was gone tomorrow he wouldn’t be a virgin anymore. That had to count for something, didn’t it?

There was a knock at the door, and she ducked down into the tub. “Who is it?”

There was a chuckle from the other side. “It’s just me, of course. Just stay where you are. I’m guessing you’d rather have something to put on.” The door opened and an ivory-colored bundle slid through the crack. “It’s just something for you to wear.” Roan closed the door, leaving the bundle on the floor.

Sonja spent two more minutes in the tub before curiosity got the better of her. She had to know what the pile of fabric sitting on the floor was. She got out of the tub and dried off using one of the thick plush towels before investigating what Roan had left her.

The ivory fabric was silky to the touch, and richly embroidered. Shaking it out, she found it was two pieces, a long gown that was cut low in front and a matching robe.

A negligee, suitable for a bride…
Sonja held it up and admired how close he’d come to matching her size. It would be a little long on her but would fit otherwise. She slipped into the gown, enjoying how soft the material was against her skin. She undid her braid, combed out her hair with her fingers and checked her reflection in the mirror. What she saw astonished her.

She knew she was an attractive woman, but the woman in the mirror was more than that. With her hair loose around her face, she looked softer, more delicate than she’d believed possible, and she had to admit, she looked sexy in an innocent kind of way.

She wasn’t just dressed like a bride—she looked like one too.

Sonja ran her hand down the silky fabric and tried to quell her nervousness. She looked like a bride. Now all she had to do was act like one.

Chapter Four

There was a knock at the door. “Sonja. Are you ready?”

There was a touch of worry in Roan’s voice, and she wondered if he was nervous. No, most likely not. He was the most in-control man she’d ever met, and it wouldn’t be like him to be nervous about taking a woman to bed, even if it was for the first time.

She wasn’t nervous either, she told herself, even though she found she was still stroking the fabric of her gown. Why should she be? It wasn’t her first time, and it certainly wasn’t going to be the last.

She slipped the robe on over her gown and tied it. It had a small pocket in the seam. That gave her pause. It was too small for her knife or stunner, and she didn’t really want to use either on Roan anyway. But it would fit a dart.

From the bottom of her duffle she fetched her miniature tranquilizer dart, adjusted the dosage to its maximum dose, enough to put a man Roan’s size out for at least an hour, and secured it in her pocket before opening the door. Roan was on the other side, his hair slicked back and damp, and she realized that his apartment must have a second sanitary where he’d cleaned up while she’d soaked in the tub. How thoughtful of him to give her the bathroom all to herself.

He was dressed in a dark blue robe made of fabric that looked as rich as what she was wearing. Roan certainly had expensive tastes. Good thing he could apparently afford to indulge them.

Sonja stepped into the bedroom and noticed that while the lamps had been dimmed, there was still plenty of light in the room. The bed was turned down, revealing pale sheets that gleamed like satin.

It was a scene set for seduction planned by a man who was seduction himself.

Roan smiled at her, obviously admiring the negligee on her. “You look beautiful.”

He undid the front of the robe and pulled it off her shoulders, dropping it to the floor and leaving her wearing only the gown. His gaze took in how it clung to her breasts, and he smiled.

“I was right. This color is perfect on you.”

Sonja smoothed the filmy fabric with her hand. “It’s lovely. Where did you get it?”

“From my inventory. Lovely garments for new brides are some of my most popular merchandise.”

“You could have sold it and made a profit.”

Roan grinned at her. “I’m profiting right now, seeing it on you. You are a beautiful woman, Sonja.”

“You look…” And she didn’t know what to say. Handsome wasn’t quite right, even though he was. He looked dangerously sexy. He looked like a man who knew what he wanted and had finally gotten his hands on it.

What he wanted was her, and he wasn’t afraid to make that clear. Sonja stepped forward and placed her hand on his cheek. He turned his head and placed a kiss in the middle of her palm. “You were going to tell me what I looked like.”