Beloved Stranger: Gaian Series, Book 5 (16 page)

Roan shook his head. “Nothing like that should be necessary. Wilcan will give up when he sees he can’t win. In the meantime I’ll take Barnat and Earny’s advice and try to keep out of the man’s way.”

“What about Suna?” Sonja said.

“I think Allan’s right. The answer is to get her set up for the next marriage meet and rescue her on the way.” He turned to Allan. “Would you know when the next one is?”

“There was just an announcement yesterday. They’re holding a special one, day after tomorrow.”

Roan looked grim, and Sonja realized that was the third day of their trial period. Even keeping with their bargain, she’d be free to leave that same night. He stared at her for a long moment, and she wondered if he’d argue it was too soon and they wouldn’t have enough time to plan.

Instead he said, “If we’re to do this, we’ll have to work fast.”

For a moment she was almost disappointed he hadn’t argued for more time. But if she was going to leave, it would be better to do it soon. “So how are we going to get out of the mining complex? You said something about a smuggling route? Is it dangerous?”

“Not really. We’ll take her through the mine,” Allan said. “Same as Roan’s other goods.” He looked over at Roan. “You might as well show her.”

Roan started up his datastore and displayed on the holographic screen what looked like a three-dimensional map of the mining colony. At the top level were round enclosures linked by tubes that she recognized as the colony’s bubbles and shuttle lines. From each bubble came long shafts that led to a set of what looked like worm-like tunnels leading in all directions, some up, some down, and the rest north, south, east and west. These intersected in places with the shafts going up to the surface, and were detailed in different colors.

Roan pointed to the display. “This is the official map of Ares Five showing the mining tunnels. The colors indicate what kind of mineral is found there.” Roan pointed to the red, green, white and yellow tunnels. “For example red means copper, green is aluminum and white is silver. Yellow means gold.”

“A lot of metals here.”

“Yes. But that’s not what I wanted to show you.” Roan touched a key, and a second set of tunnels showed up, this time in blue. From several of the blue tunnels, shafts again led directly up to the bubbles.

Sonja pointed to them. “What do you find in a blue tunnel?”

Roan grinned. “Water. Ares is one of the few planetoids that has plenty of underground water. These are old mining shafts that have flooded.”

“So these tunnels are completely full of water? How does that help us?”

“Some are totally flooded, but a lot of them have too much trapped air in them and are less than half full,” Roan told her. “They can be negotiated by a boat small enough to fit in the tunnel.” He touched another key, and several thin red lines showed up on the screen. Roan pointed to them. “These show the navigable tunnels. There are routes to and from the spaceport.”

Sonja smiled. “That’s how you move goods from the spaceport into the colony without going through security.”

Allan nodded. “That’s right. There is a shaft from one of the flooded tunnels directly into the spaceport. After all, they need water too.”

“So how do we get Suna into the waterways? Can you use the shaft into the residence she’s in?”

“No, that one’s too well-guarded.” Roan pointed to a bubble far on the outskirts. “This is Omega Residence. As you can see, there is only one linking shuttle that leads to the main branch, and it doesn’t go directly to the spaceport. The shuttle has to change lines here at Zeta Station. The problem will be getting Suna out of the shuttle while it is in Zeta.”

Allan looked thoughtful. “Easiest thing would be to set the shuttle on fire.”

“What?” Sonja couldn’t help her outburst.

“Just a controlled fire,” Allan soothed. “A little bit of flame in the machinery. Or maybe just some smoke to make them think the engine is broken.” He thought for a few more moments. “Or…” Allan began to grin. “I may have something even better.”

He got up to leave. “The first thing we’ll need to do is find a way to get your sister sent to the next marriage meet. I’ll report back when I’ve got an idea.”

After Allan left, Sonja stared at the network of blue and red lines. “It must have taken you years to map all this out.”

Roan shrugged. “I’ve been here for years. I found the first waterways during my first six months here.”

“But why did you explore them? Were you planning on smuggling?”

“No.” He hesitated. “Finding the waterways and exploring them kept me sane those first few years. I was so used to being free, living in the open. Being in the mines and the bubbles was just too confining.”

She pointed to the mapped waterways. “So you explored the underground?”

A wistful look came into his eyes. “It became my own world down there. I found an old abandoned boat and fixed it up, then would slip away at night and explore. In a funny way it reminded me of home.”

She understood. Wasn’t that what her tree house at home had represented to her, a place she could call her own? “Your own world,” she repeated. “One you didn’t have to share with everyone.”

He smiled at her. “I’d be happy to share it with you. It’s given me something I needed. A space of my own.” He chuckled. “I may even miss it when I return to Gaia.”

Sonja stared at him. Roan would be leaving here in six months, returning to Gaia, a place she was never likely to visit. Once he was there, she’d never see him again.

A funny pang shot through her at that.

Roan shut off the display. “There are other things we could be doing.”

“Oh? What do you have in mind?”

He laughed and took her by the hand, pulling her firmly into his arms. “I would say that we should entertain ourselves until Allan comes back.”

“What do you want to do for entertainment?”

A devilish look appeared in his eyes. “Oh, I suspect we’ll think of something.”

Then he leaned in to kiss her, and Sonja no longer had any doubt as to just how the next few hours would be spent.

Chapter Fourteen

She was warm and pliant in his arms, a woman who normally would be hard to call sweet but was all sweetness now. His woman, his wife, even if it was only for three days.

Two days, three…how could that possibly be enough? How did a man continue his life after he’d had someone like her to care about? He couldn’t keep her—he knew that. If they were successful and rescued her sister, Sonja would leave with her.

No hope she would stay with him and help him serve out the last of his sentence, no hope she would stand beside him when he returned to Gaia and fulfilled his promise to his family.

No hope she would be the woman with him for the rest of his days, his helpmate and mother to his children.

That wasn’t the woman he’d fallen in love with. Sonja could never be the woman he wanted her to be, but that didn’t make any difference to his heart. Roan was lost over her. If all he could have were these few days, hours and moments, he would make the most of them.

So he kissed her and put into that kiss all the feelings he couldn’t actually tell her. He knew she would leave him, so what point would there be in telling her how he felt? Telling her he loved her would make him seem pathetic and only cause embarrassment for both of them.

Keep what was between them physical. It was easier for her, he suspected. She never showed any emotion outside of the strong feelings she had for her sisters. Clearly Sonja had a problem with showing others how she felt. She was more comfortable engaging in sex than conversation.

So sex they would have, and it would be wonderful, simply because it was Sonja in his arms and Sonja whose body he would sink into. They would make love because it was easy to do with her.

Each time she’d climaxed, Sonja cried out, and her inside muscles tightened around him and worked him into a state of ecstasy. He loved the feel of her tightening around him. And once they’d both reached their peaks and things had calmed down, he would hold her as close as he wanted, and she would let him, because for some reason she was most approachable right after sex.

Not that she was unapproachable now. Right now she melted into him and with very little pressure opened her mouth under his, giving him permission to taste her depths. She tasted sweet and salty and totally like Sonja.

Lifting her in his arms, he carried her slight frame to his bedroom. No,
their
bedroom. He was going to keep thinking of them as a couple right up to the point she walked away from him.

So he laid her on
their
bed and stripped off his shirt, noting again how wide her eyes got at the sight of him. Roan smiled to himself. He suspected his little wife liked the way he looked without a shirt.

Then again, why shouldn’t she like his body? It was only fair, since he certainly liked hers. He helped her take off her blouse and pants, making a point of letting her take off her own boots. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what other weapons she had hidden in her otherwise innocuous-looking footwear.

Soon, though, they were both naked and Sonja was lying on the bed. She leaned back against the pillow, and Roan was struck by how beautiful she looked. Slowly she ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it up and over her shoulders, her eyes watching him. Roan knew she understood how much he loved the way her hair fell around her face, the pale curls softening her elfin features and even her stubborn-looking chin. With her hair tumbled she looked like a woman well loved. Or a woman about to be loved.

Which she was. Roan slipped onto the bed next to her and pulled her up against his chest. She went willingly into his arms, sliding hers around his neck. He meant to kiss her again, but suddenly that seemed too ordinary. Instead he nibbled her neck, feeling her head tilt to give him better access. A small sigh escaped her lips, so small that Roan wondered if she even knew she’d made it.

Possibly not.
Her heartbeat was fast, and he felt her pulse under his lips as he gently nibbled his way down her neck. Her breathing picked up, and against his chest her nipples hardened.

Sonja might seem like a woman tightly controlled, but that control slipped when she was in bed with him. There she sighed, moaned and cried out with passion. He touched her breasts, again enjoying the soft fullness of them.

Earlier when she’d attacked the man with the stunner, he’d been surprised at how agile she’d been. Now he wasn’t so surprised. She had the slim, hard body of an athlete, but even so, her breasts were as soft as any woman’s.

A sensuous woman who opened her arms to him and pulled him closer. Roan let her guide his hands to her private places and show him how to stroke her there. She cried out and moaned her pleasure at his touch. Her hands explored him, bolder now that they were more used to each other. When she took his erection into her hands and stroked him, he was reminded he wasn’t the first man she’d touched that way. Her caress was too sure for that.

But it didn’t matter. He didn’t care that he wasn’t her first lover. He cared that once she was gone it was unlikely he would be her last lover. Even so, he didn’t begrudge her moving on to another man.

He only begrudged that she wouldn’t be staying with him.

But when she pushed him onto his back and straddled him, he no longer wanted to think about anything but the fact that she was here and at the moment impaling herself on his cock. The look on her face showed such delight that he couldn’t help but laugh. They moved together, Sonja setting the pace until all too soon he was at a precipice, ready to come.

She slowed then, staring into his eyes as if reading his soul. “You look so amazed,” she whispered.

“You amaze me.” He grabbed her by the waist and made her speed up, but then the world seemed to crash in around him, his body exploding deep inside her.

Sonja cried out, her body shuddering, her eyes tightly closed. Her hands clutched at his shoulders, and then slowly they relaxed. She leaned forward as if her spine could no longer hold her upright, and her forehead touched his chin. After a few long moments she seemed to recover and sat up enough to stare at him. The oddest look was on her face, and she studied him as if he were a puzzle she’d yet to figure out.

Finally she shook her head. “I’m amazed too.”

For the longest time they stared at each other. Roan leaned in to kiss her but was interrupted by the sound of the commlink in the living room.

He gave Sonja a rueful smile. “Given what we’re up to here, I guess I should get that. It might be Allan with a brainstorm on how to get your sister to that marriage meet.”

But it wasn’t. Roan answered the comm only to hear an unfamiliar man’s voice.

“You’re Roan Duman?”

“That’s right.”

“I’ve heard you called the Dealer?”

He answered cautiously. “What do you want?”

The man grunted. “My name is Tron, and I have a deal for you. I understand you want to find a way to get Suna Deems out of the mine.”

Cautiously, Roan answered him. “How do you know about Suna?”

“I’m married to her sister, Sulla. I want to talk to you. Do you know Nick’s Bar in Delta Residence?”