Read The Gigolo's Bride (The Necklace Chronicles) for Free Online Page A

picked up her plate and
talked about the dishes as he put some of everything on her plate.
The meat was an animal that sounded a lot like a cow, the mound of
yellow mash was made from root vegetables they grew in a garden on
the ship, and the noodles were actually the stems of a flower,
which he also used to make the soup. In a small blue crock was mirsh soup. She tried that first, and was pleasantly
surprised to find it tasted like cheddar cheese.
    She drank a sweet fruit juice and ate
everything, feeling like she hadn't eaten in days, which prompted
her to question just how long she had been out of things.
    “Our days are similar to yours, but we call
them dins . The drugs kept you unconscious for half of one din .”
    She could tell that he wanted to talk more,
but she wanted to think, so the silence hung heavily between
them.
    When they were finished eating, he sent her
to sit on the couch with a refilled glass of fruit juice while he
cleaned up. As he moved quietly and efficiently through the small
kitchen area, she mused on the situation. He had said that she
couldn’t go back to Earth. But if they had come to Earth, then they
certainly could take her back. Perhaps if she was rude or mean to
him, then he might not like her, and he would be willing to arrange
for her to be sent back. Then her brain’s equivalent of a warning
bell went off. What if he rejected her because of her behavior, and
she was sent off to some kind of slave camp or something?
    When he sat down on the ottoman in front of
her again, she had the strangest feeling that he was setting
himself below her, as if he didn’t think he deserved to sit on the
couch with her. Something about that thought, about the way he held
himself shyly away from her, made her heart ache. But just a
little. She wanted to go home. She didn’t want to care about this
man who had stolen her from her home.
    "Can I see the women who were in the cell
with me?"
    "No. There isn't any contact allowed between
the brides until a moon cycle has passed on our home world."
    She frowned. “What’s a moon cycle?”
    “You would call it a month. There are
twenty-eight dins in a moon cycle.”
    They probably didn't want the women all
gathering together and rising up against their captors. Although it
was kind of hard to see shy Eden as a captor. "So how long does it
take to get to your home world?"
    "Two moon cycles."
    Two months of travel, and then they didn't
allow contact for another month after that. They must want to make
certain the women were happy with their men before they allowed
them contact with their own people. Well, so much for conspiring
with Kate or any of the other women.
    He licked his lips nervously, "I can put on a
vid, if you'd like to watch something."
    "Vid?"
    He gestured to a screen hanging against the
wall, and she realized that by vid he meant a movie or show. "I'm
kind of tired."
    "Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. Let me
turn the bed down for you."
    She was going to protest that she could turn
down the bed herself, but he was standing up and holding out his
hand to her with such an earnest look on his face that she didn't
have the heart to say no. She let him lead her into the room, where
he first opened the cabinet, pulled out some clothes and handed
them to her, saying she could change in the bathroom, and then he
busied himself pulling off the mounded pillows.
    She changed out of the top and pants and
found that he'd given her a set of comfy-looking pajamas, a
short-sleeved top and a pair of shorts in light pink. She stepped
out of the bathroom and found him standing in the doorway wearing
only a pair of lounge pants with a drawstring waist. His upper body
was bare, and in the low light of the room, she saw how
well-defined his muscles really were. Although not large, he was
perfectly sculpted, as if someone had sat down and molded the
perfect man.
    She knew he caught her looking at him, and
embarrassment made her lash out. "You can't sleep with me.