Stars in Her Eyes

by Becky Lee Weyrich

  And then came the moment of their blending. Emily was yet unprepared for this new and staggering experience. He covered her writhing body and parted her thighs, then poised himself for the first loving thrust.

  Any lingering uncertainty deserted her Starwanderer. He entered her with swift but tender precision, filling not only her body, but her soul. Staggered, dazed, she felt as if she had been pierced by a lightning bolt. A fierce liquid heat consumed her. Electricity sizzled through her veins, and star-bursts went off behind her eyes. She clung to him, straining every muscle in her body to draw him deeper, ever deeper.

  Their bodies—slick with the sweat of love—worked as one in the ebb and flow of their passionate thrusts. Hips heaving, eyes flashing, Emily met him blow for blow until she could no longer allow him to move inside her. The feeling was so intense, the pleasure so all-consuming. She held him fast, begging silently for the moment not to come just yet, but aching with everything in her to know the final, total ecstasy that she sensed lurked only a half breath away.

  And then it came! Crashing down over them like some gigantic starquake, it rocked the heavens and the very ship that cradled them in the sky. Indeed, it seemed to Emily in that wondrous instant that they were soaring through the heavens faster than a plummeting meteor.

  Gasping, moaning, crying with the purest joy she had ever known, she cradled his face in her hands and kissed him deeply, fondling his tongue with long, even strokes of her own.

  When she gave up her loving hold on him, he leaned down and touched his lips to her breast. “By all the stars in the heavens, I’ll never leave you, Emily darling. I cannot! Not after this blending—the sharing of true love. You have given me more than any other woman could; you have gifted me with the knowledge of love and passion. If I am forced to return, Starcommand might as well send my dull vapor on to the Planet of the Dead. You are my life now!”

  His words brought joyous tears to her eyes, but fear to her heart. “You must go back when the time comes, Jonathan! You said it yourself. You might die if you stay here. I won’t let that happen.”

  He held her so close she could feel his heart thundering against her naked breasts. “Never!” he murmured. “I would surely die without you, now. At last I know what love is, and I can’t give it up. I want to marry you, Emily, and love you forever. I mean to stay with you and our child!”

  “But, Jonathan…”

  He allowed her no other words of protest. His eyes glowed luminous green into hers, and the next instant, he was entering her once more, thrusting his tongue against her unuttered words. All thoughts, all protests ceased as Emily lost herself once more in a deep well of desire for what only he could give.

  Could it possibly be better than the first time? she wondered vaguely through a haze of purest pleasure.

  “For us, it will be better every time,” Jonathan murmured between kisses.

  Suddenly, Emily grew dizzy. The quicksilver bed seemed to spin beneath them. A strong gust of wind blew through the cabin, and with it a swirl of brightly colored lights and snapping sparks.

  “Jonathan!” she cried, clinging to him desperately. “Jonathan, what’s happening?”

  She never heard his answer. When the spinning sensation left her, she opened her eyes to find herself standing once more in the Georgetown alley, the mid-afternoon sun brassy overhead. Jonathan held her in his arms, just finishing a thorough kiss.

  “Ah, privacy!” He sighed as he smiled down at her. “My favorite thing when I can share it with the woman I love, the woman I mean to spend the rest of my life with.”

  Totally confused by what had happened or what she had imagined had taken place, she glanced about. Everything looked exactly the same as it had the moment they had stepped into the alley from the street. Yet something told her that she was not the same at all. Surely, she hadn’t imagined going to his ship and all that had taken place there. She didn’t possess that much imagination.

  She glanced up at Jonathan. “Did we actually…? What I mean to say is, did you and I go up…?” At a loss to put the fantastic events into words, Emily simply pointed toward the sky.

  Jonathan didn’t answer her. He only smiled, but his eyes glowed a sensual, luminous green, and two tiny beams shot out to pleasure her breasts for a moment longer.

  8

  Senator Thomas Middleton was waiting, none too patiently, at Emily’s house when she and Jonathan returned late in the afternoon.

  “Uncle! What a pleasant surprise!” Emily cried, carefully masking her panic.

  The senator’s eyes paused only briefly on his niece. He allotted a much fuller measure of his attention to her male companion.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your gentleman friend, Emily?” the senator said sternly.

  Emily’s heart was fluttering so that she could hardly speak. She had meant to introduce the two men, but she had hoped to choose her own time and place. This confrontation caught her completely off-guard, and she was certain her uncle could guess exactly what she and her Starwanderer had been up to, simply by looking at their faces.

  “Why, of course, Uncle Thomas. This is Mr. Jonathan Webb, the gentleman who saved my life the night the Union Star went down.” She noted with great relief that the expression on her uncle’s face softened immediately. She quickly added for good measure, “Mr. Webb also managed to recover the necklace from Crete.”

  “Well, well! Then we’re twice in your debt, sir,” Senator Middleton said, offering his hand and a friendly smile. Then his snowy brows knit together. “But aren’t you the young man that Emily thought had drowned?”

  “Yes, Uncle Thomas. Jonathan is that very one,” she babbled nervously. “But luckily…”

  “For goodness sakes, my dear, do let the man speak for himself.”

  They both turned their eyes on Jonathan. For a strained moment, he said nothing. Then, finally, he spoke up. “I’m happy to meet you, sir. Your niece has spoken highly of you since we first met on the ship.”

  Emily allowed herself to breathe again. Jonathan was saying the proper things to her uncle and sounding quite normal—thank God!

  “Do tell me what happened after you got Emily back to the lifeboat, Mr. Webb.”

  Emily interrupted to give Jonathan time to think. “Why don’t we get comfortable first? Shall we go into the parlor for a glass of sherry?”

  She ushered the two men into her elegant maroon-and-gold parlor and poured the sherry herself as they settled on fancifully carved, gilt chairs that were rather too fragile to be comfortable for the two large men.

  “Well, now,” the senator prompted, “you were about to tell me about your experiences, Mr. Webb.”

  The Starwanderer watched Middleton take a sip of the golden liquid from his fragile crystal glass, then copied his actions before he spoke. The stuff burned, but left a pleasantly fruity taste in his mouth. And the fumes made his head feel unaccountably light.

  “I’m afraid, Senator, that I can’t tell you what happened. The last thing I remember is helping your niece to the surface. I must have struck my head on the boat. After that, my memory is a total blank.”

  “Dear God!” the senator exclaimed. “Then it’s a wonder you survived. You have absolutely no memory of that night beyond Emily’s rescue?”

  “I remember nothing at all of the past two weeks until I found myself on your niece’s doorstep earlier today. How I was saved, how I got here remain a mystery. There are also gaping holes in my memory of earlier events in my life.”

  Emily was quick to disarm her uncle’s obvious concern. “Jonathan feels, though, that it’s only temporary amnesia, Uncle Thomas. In time, everything should come back to him.”

  As more and more of the sherry slipped down Jonathan Webb’s throat into the Starwanderer’s system, the alien liquor began having an effect on its host. He became unusually talkative, even verbose.

  Setting his empty sherry goblet aside, he leaned forward in his chair, toward the senator. “There is on
e thing, sir, that I recall in vivid detail.”

  “Yes?” Middleton said, excitement creeping into his voice. “And that is?”

  “Not one instant of the time that I spent with your lovely niece on board the Union Star is lost to me. And I must tell you honestly, Senator, that I find her company more than delightful. With your permission, sir, I would like to marry Emily—as soon as possible.”

  Emily gasped audibly. Both men turned to stare at her.

  “This comes as a surprise to you, my dear?” her uncle asked.

  She stumbled over her words, trying to get out an answer. “Well, yes. I mean, no! Jonathan and I had talked about an engagement and marriage eventually. But I didn’t realize that he meant to speak to you this very afternoon, Uncle Thomas.”

  Jonathan was staring at Emily, his eyes a dazzling turquoise, a giddy smile on his wickedly handsome face.

  “This seems a bit sudden, but if it is what you want, my dear…”

  She reached over and touched Jonathan’s hand, returning his loving gaze. “Oh, yes, Uncle Thomas! It’s what I want more than anything in the world. And I agree with Jonathan—the sooner the better.”

  The senator cleared his throat and rose a bit nervously when it seemed that Mr. Webb might be about to kiss Emily right there in front of him. So, he thought, Heatherbee wasn’t mistaken. They’re up to hanky-panky already.

  “Owing to the unusual circumstances, my dear, I believe that an engagement would be a waste of time.”

  Emily glanced up at her uncle, shocked by his words. Did he know about Jonathan—where he came from, who he really was?

  “I mean,” the senator went on, “that a hasty marriage ceremony might be the best all around.” When no one commented, Middleton, blushing fearsomely, blurted out, “Dash it all, he was seen in your bedchamber this morning, and you were hardly dressed to receive company. It seems to me that we should proceed with all haste in this matrimonial matter.”

  Emily giggled in spite of herself. “And will you carry a shotgun, Uncle Thomas?”

  “Of course not!” he snapped. “The very idea!”

  Emily rose and went to hug her uncle. “I’m only teasing,” she told him. “It’s just that I never dreamed you’d approve of my marrying so soon after Sir Harold…”

  “Oh, horsefeathers, my dear! That was no true marriage, nor ever meant to be. Why, Sir Harold himself told me that I should find you a husband the minute anything happened to him. He knew he didn’t have long to live, and he didn’t want you wasting away in widow’s weeds after he was gone. I’m just happy that Mr. Webb here came along when he did. Saved me the trouble of throwing an assortment of young pups in your path.”

  “How soon were you thinking of, Uncle?” Emily asked, wondering if the dear old chap had a parson stashed away in the back hall.

  “How soon can you be ready? I thought my party tomorrow night might be the perfect setting. And all our close friends will be there. Food, wine, music, flowers. You’ll need a suitable gown, of course. Not white, but something soft and feminine.” He’d been ticking off items on his fingers. Now, he looked up at his niece. “Have I forgotten anything?”

  “Perhaps a minister would be nice,” Emily ventured.

  “How about a justice of the peace or, better yet, a justice of the Supreme Court?”

  “Marvelous!” Emily cried. “And Heatherbee can serve as maid of honor. Oh, won’t she be thrilled!”

  Senator Middleton barked a laugh. “You’ll never get that old baggage into a frilly lace dress, my dear.”

  The Starwanderer took no part in this discussion of plans to wed his lovely Earthling. As he and Emily had been walking home, he thought he’d heard someone trying to contact him. Now he was sure of it. It was a random signal. They had watched him crash his ship into the sea and, not knowing that he had repaired the craft, thought that he was lost. But when he’d transported back to his vessel with Emily earlier, they’d homed in on his activated remote control. They were searching for him now. It could be only a matter of time.

  “We’ll hold the ceremony in the garden and perhaps have a light show in the sky for the event, like the one we viewed at the Castines’,” the Starwanderer heard Senator Middleton tell his niece.

  “No! Inside, please,” Jonathan said with a good deal of force.

  They both turned to stare at him.

  “Fine, Jonathan,” Emily answered. “Whatever you like.”

  “I would like to rest,” he said. He was weary. In order to keep the others from locating him, he had produced a shield to block his life force from detection. The process was both risky and draining.

  “Jonathan?” Emily went to him and pressed her palm to his forehead. “Are you ill? You look so pale suddenly.”

  “I must rest now.” His voice sounded strained.

  “Come along home with me, then, Mr. Webb,” the senator offered. “I’ve a comfortable guest room, ready and waiting.”

  “No!” Emily cried. Then in a quieter voice, she said, “I think he should lie down this minute. I’m going to take him upstairs to one of my guest rooms.”

  “Do you think that’s quite proper?” her uncle asked, obviously scandalized by the idea.

  “If he’s going to be my husband tomorrow, I certainly intend to see to his welfare today. If you can’t abide the situation, Uncle, then send for your justice right this minute. He can marry us on the spot.”

  “Now, now, Emily. Calm yourself,” the senator said. “After the ordeal Mr. Webb’s been through, he should rest, of course. I promise not to tell anyone he’s upstairs in one of your bedrooms, if you promise the same. Send that blathering busybody Heatherbee over to my house. I’ll put her to work and keep her out of your way.”

  Emily kissed her uncle on the forehead. “You’re an old dear. Thank you.”

  Moments later, Senator Middleton was on his way home, and Emily was tucking her husband-to-be into bed.

  “What happened, Jonathan?” she asked, her concern all-consuming.

  “It is nothing.”

  “Don’t try to tell me that,” she said. “I saw the change that came over you down there. One minute, you were fine and laughing. The next, you looked as pale as this sheet. If I’m going to be your wife, the mother of your child, you can’t keep secrets from me. Now, tell me!” she demanded.

  He forced a weak smile. “I’m not used to your sherry. Strong stuff!”

  “Nonsense! I had a glass myself. Why, a baby could drink that safely. Tell me the real cause of this weakness.”

  He seemed to consider for a moment before he said, “We should not have gone to my ship.”

  Emily stared at him for one uncomprehending instant, then rolled her eyes. “You’re more a prude than Heatherbee. Neither of us has any reason to feel guilty. What we did was right. It was beautiful and uplifting.”

  He reached up and cupped her cheek with his hand. “It was all that and more, Emily darling. You misunderstand. I used my remote control. They sensed it. Now, they are looking for me.”

  A cold hand closed over Emily’s heart. “Who is looking for you?”

  “Starcommand. There is something I didn’t tell you.”

  “Oh, not some new secret!”

  He nodded and closed his eyes for a moment, obviously weary beyond words. “I disobeyed orders. Shortly before the Union Star began to sink, I was commanded to return to the mother ship. But I couldn’t leave you, Emily. I’d been watching you for weeks, and I already loved you from afar, although I couldn’t put a name to the emotion. If I had turned back, you might have died. I’d have been sent back to Earth at a later time, but you would not have been here for me.”

  Emily’s heart was racing. “What will happen if they find you?”

  “I’ll be removed from here, taken back to go before the judges of Starcommand.”

  “And?”

  He shrugged. “I am guilty. I admit it. But I would do the same again. For you, Emily.”

  She leaned down a
nd put her cheek against his, closing her arms around his shoulders. “Oh, my darling, what have I gotten you into?”

  “Bed!” he answered with a sly chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. “Won’t you join me?”

  With a cry of sheer disbelief, Emily lifted her head. “You! I can’t believe it! Here you lie, weak and sick, with a bunch of aliens out to find you and probably hang you, but all you can think of is blending. Honestly, Jonathan, I don’t know what I’m going to do with you!”

  “Love me?” he whispered.

  “You said you needed to rest.”

  “I’ll rest afterward, I promise.” He propped up on one elbow and glanced down at the rise under the sheet, a grin spreading across his face. “Marvelous, isn’t it, this human body? Look there, it raises a signal when it is in need.”

  Emily’s eyes strayed to where he was pointing and she gasped softly. No decent man would mention such a thing to a lady. “We don’t talk about things like that,” she said quickly. “Lie down, now.”

  “Why, don’t you talk about them?” he persisted. “Now that I’ve gotten used to it, I consider this body a marvel. I want to explore all its possibilities.” He caught Emily’s hand and brought it to rest on the rise under the covers. “I want to explore them with you, my darling.”

  With another sharp gasp and a scarlet blush, Emily jerked her hand away. Quickly, she rose from the bed. “No! Absolutely not! That’s all I need—for my housekeeper to hear the bed ropes groaning right at dinnertime. She’d report directly to Uncle Thomas, and he really would bring a shotgun to our wedding tomorrow night. We’d be the scandal of the season in Washington City.”

  Emily crossed the room and poured water from an ironstone pitcher into the bowl. She dampened a cloth, folded it, and placed it on Jonathan’s forehead, then quickly moved out of his reach.

  He laughed softly. “You think you can cool me down with that piece of wet rag? Not likely!” He motioned toward her. “Come over here. I ache. I need you to soothe me with your soft hands.”