Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
He was with me in seconds, lifting me. I wanted a comb for my hair, and a toothbrush, but felt shy so I said nothing as he carried me back out and up to the bed.
“Feel okay?” he inquired.
“Um, mm hm. But maybe we need to dry that stool.”
“It’ll dry.”
He fetched the tin of salve from a table by one of those black microwave-like food delivery things and once he set me in the bed, he smeared it over my ankle again, then put a new pillow-thing over my ankle.
“You’re taking good care of me,” I whispered and smiled, trying to relieve him of the tension that was so evident by the look on his face.
“No. I’m not. I’ve done a terrible job.” He tossed the salve tin back to the shelf and stormed to the bathroom. I heard the water run.
He was quickly back, eyes on me. My face must’ve been questioning him.
“I’ve let you down,” he explained. “I’m pissed. And so fucking sorry.”
“It’s not your fault that bad guys turned up while you were doing your job, Zane.”
He shook his head. “First, I act like a rogue myself by stealing you away without a word and then I leave you alone and vulnerable to be attacked. Now, here you are…” he gestured, “being sweet to me while I’m being miserable.” He clenched his jaw and thrust a hand through the thick mop of curls on his head, staring at me. He wasn’t giving himself a break.
“Did you close and lock the door when you left?” I asked.
He stared and his jaw muscles bulged.
“Or, did you tell the bad guys, ‘Here she is. Come get her!’?”
“Point taken,” he grumbled, but didn’t look convinced.
“The bath was very nice. I like the pajamas.” I ran my hand along the silky fabric on my arm.
He reached out and ran his finger along the fabric, too. I shivered.
“I chose these.” His eyes instantly warmed and were on me. “I thought they’d suit your coloring nicely. And they do.”
The approval on his face made me want to wear this color all the time. For him. I tucked my hair behind my ear shyly. For some reason, his lip curled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Drawing you a bath was the least I could do to offer you a way to wash off the stench of your dead husband.” He jerked his chin at me, staring.
I flinched. Huh?
He let out a frustrated growl sound.
“My…my what?” I breathed.
He shook his head as his shoulders slumped a little. “I don’t blame you if you can’t forgive me.”
“Uh… my what? It was, what, two minutes I was alone with him before you rescued me? How could I have ---” I remembered how the guy sneered at Zane and told him he’d married me.
“It doesn’t have to take long,” Zane snarled.
I frowned.
“Wh-what? I’m confused, Zane.”
He sat on the edge of the bed.
“The marriage laws on our planet changed in preparation for your arrival. Any man who has sex with either Earth or Phallyxian woman is instantly her husband. No other marital ceremony or contract is needed. He’s dead, so---this means you’re widowed.”
“Sex?” I gasped. And then my face went scarlet at how loudly I’d blurted that.
Zane tilted his head and pulled his legs up onto the bed.
I was in his bed beside him. Holy cow. Under normal circumstances, I’d be shy and unsure. Right now? I was just confused.
“He attacked you.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“And your gemstone turned blue.”
I frowned and put my hand to my ear, feeling the stud, which was exposed due to my tucking my hair behind my ear.
What?
“Whether it was consensual or not, it happened. If he’d lived, you’d have been hauled off with him to some tribunal hearing. The government hasn’t fleshed out all the laws yet, or if they have, they haven’t notified us, so I don’t know if you’re immediately eligible to remarry or ---”
“Hang on.” I held my hand up. “He didn’t rape me.”
Zane’s face was stony, his icy blue eyes that were filled to the brim with anger suddenly changed to confused.
“You got there just as he was about to... you know. You saved me.”
Zane swallowed. And then his eyes moved from my eyes to my ear. He stared a beat and then reached for that little phone-like device sitting on the table beside his phone. He tapped something on the screen and held it over my ear until it made a sound. He pulled a small stylus from the side of it as he examined the screen and then he put the probe into my ear canal and touched the screen. This was different from the one he’d put in earlier. I saw on the larger screen a bunch of symbols scrolling below a map that had a flashing blue circle. My location?