Beloved Stranger: Gaian Series, Book 5

by Janet Miller

  “What do you expect to get from this?”

  “It’s a little late to for a discussion like this.” Roan yawned. “Can’t we talk about it in the morning?”

  Stubbornly Sonja sat on the couch. “I want to know.”

  His lips thinned. “You want to know why I would risk my safety, my fortune and my reputation to help you? Because it’s the right thing to do.”

  “The right thing?” It was as simple as that?

  Roan nodded. “It’s the right thing, because your sister deserves better than being re-sent to a marriage meet just because her husband had the misfortune to die. Because your other sister deserves better than to live in fear of her safety and that of her child. Because her husband asked me for help. Those are all good reasons.”

  “So that’s why? Because you think they deserve you helping them?”

  Roan shook his head. “Yes, they deserve it. But that’s not the main reason. The reason I’m helping is because you are my wife, and you need them to be safe to be happy. I will do anything in my power to make that happen.”

  Everything Sulla had said was true. “But, Roan, I’m not going to stay. I won’t be your wife after tomorrow…”

  “Today, tomorrow, as long as you wear my band, you are my wife. That means something to me.”

  “I’m not the kind of woman you wanted.”

  “You aren’t what I expected, that’s true. You are a whole lot more, and I care about you.”

  “Care about me?”

  “Do you want me to use the words, Sonja?” Roan stepped forward and reached out to caress her cheek. “I’ve fallen in love with you.”

  Sonja felt as if a huge weight was pushed against her heart. “You don’t know me that well. I’m not the kind of woman a man should love.”

  Roan laughed, the sound slightly bitter. “Oddly enough that doesn’t seem to have stopped me. I know how I feel about you.”

  “Roan, I’m still leaving.”

  He swallowed hard. “I know that. I said I wanted you to be happy. You couldn’t be happy if someone forced you to stay here. We are a lot alike that way.”

  “You’re a prisoner here.”

  “By my own decision. I told you that. I promised my family to serve my time, and I’m going to do that.” He reached down to pull her to her feet. “Come, little wife. We’ve had a busy day, and another one is coming soon. Let’s get some rest.”

  The empty longing inside her made her reach out her arms to him. “I’m not that sleepy.”

  He smiled, and this time it reached his eyes. “Well then, we need a bed for that too.”

  She lay with her head pillowed on Roan’s sleeping chest, feeling it rise and fall under her cheek. Their exertions making love had left both of them exhausted, but even so, Sonja found she couldn’t sleep.

  Roan loved her.

  Sulla had implied that was the case, and certainly his actions had been consistent with that fact, but it was different hearing him say the words. No man had mentioned love to her since Bearn, and what a lie his words had been. She’d always discouraged anyone getting that close to her and been able to sidestep deeper emotions with her few lovers. Most men wouldn’t offer love to a woman who obviously had no intention of falling in love herself.

  But Roan hadn’t allowed himself to be stepped around, and he’d made the declaration apparently without any thought that she would return his feelings. The way he felt for her was independent of anything she might have to say about it.

  In addition, he was using his caring for her to justify the serious risks he was taking in helping to free her sisters. She might not have been able to even find Suna and Sulla without his help, and having it was certainly making her goal easier.

  He was giving her everything she wanted, without her asking, and expecting nothing in return.

  Well, perhaps he was expecting a little more than that. Her hand stroked the solid muscles of his chest. Over the past two days, Roan had insisted on making love to her as often as possible. It could be that he was just taking advantage of her availability, but there had always been something more than simple physical release in the way he’d held her.

  For the first time in her life, she felt as if a man actually loved her, and she wasn’t completely sure that she was indifferent to him. She knew she liked Roan. He was funny and smart, a man to admire. He was the kind of man you could rely on.

  He was the kind of man a woman could easily fall in love with, assuming that woman was prone to falling in love. Which she wasn’t. But Sonja knew Roan stirred something in her that hadn’t been stirred in a long time.

  He’d seen her fight and had been amused rather than intimidated. Her audacity to dress like a man and sneak after him had bothered him, but only because he’d felt she’d put herself in danger, not because her capabilities made him feel less of a man. He wasn’t the kind who let another’s accomplishments affect him that way.

  Roan was perfect for her. But she couldn’t stay with him because she had to leave. Her sisters needed her to get them home safely. And it would break his honor to come with her. She knew she shouldn’t ask that of him again.

  Could they put their marriage on hold for six months, meet up again after he was released? If she loved him, there was no reason that wouldn’t work.

  But she couldn’t ask that of him unless she knew she loved him, and that wasn’t something she was sure of.

  Sonja wasn’t certain what to expect at Zeta Station, but she wasn’t disappointed when she saw it the next day. The place was huge, so big that they’d built it inside its own bubble. It was a central station where all of the shuttle traffic came to be routed between the bubbles.

  Roan laughed in her ear when she gasped aloud at the size of the place. “When they say all tubes lead to Zeta, they mean it.”

  “And it is the only place to get to the tube that leads to Omega Residence?”

  “True enough. Only place coming or going. Shuttles heading into Omega are stopped and searched carefully. Coming out, of course, they aren’t inspected quite so much, but they are stopped.”

  Roan indicated Allan standing on the platform nearby, wearing a bubble maintenance uniform of dark brown pants and matching shirt. It was the same outfit Roan was wearing. She was again dressed in the skirt and blouse she’d brought with her.

  Their cover was that he was a maintenance worker taking his wife to the station to shop while he worked his shift. Apparently no one noticed the maintenance workers who bustled to keep the colony infrastructure working smoothly. He and Allan had pulled this stunt often when working their smuggling route, although rarely from as populated a station as Zeta. However, the sheer number of people moving through the place should make them even more invisible than usual.

  The three of them went to the small restaurant they’d decided to use as their base of operations. It was a commuter place, the clientele moving in and out all the time, the servers behind the counter too busy to observe anyone hanging out longer than usual. If they were noticed, all they had to do was fall back on their second cover story—that they were waiting for Sonja’s sister to arrive to keep her company while shopping. The men were going on shift soon…but not yet, and so they waited with Roan’s wife.

  Only the most persistent inquisitive soul was likely to ask further questions, and for them Sonja had a third plan—the tranquilizer dart in one of her pockets, and if that didn’t work, her stunner was in another. She hoped she didn’t have to use either one, at least not yet.

  She wanted them both available, since she’d probably need at least one of them to take out the men guarding her sister.

  Roan hadn’t done more than shake his head and smile when she’d showed him the tranquilizer dart earlier that day. “I remember that little trick of yours,” he’d said, glancing meaningfully at her duffle bag.

  She carried the bag now, filled with extra clothing for Suna to wear, and she would be hiding her contraband weapons back in the hidden compartments as soon
as they weren’t needed anymore.

  Once they were in the restaurant and settled with cups of javi at a table far in the back, Allan pulled out his p-tab and began checking the shuttle schedule. “We won’t know which one she’s on, but there are only a few shuttles from Omega scheduled to come through in the next couple of hours. We’ll have to check each one.” He turned to Sonja. “Do you think you can recognize her?”

  “If she isn’t veiled I should be able to. Otherwise, I don’t know.”

  “Veiled. I hadn’t thought of that.” Allan gave Roan a worried look. “Will they move the women on the shuttle in marriage meet veils?”

  “I’m not sure. They might,” Roan said. “If they want to keep their identities hidden until after the meet.” He shook his head. “We’ll deal with that if it comes up. Did you see how many women were on the list from Omega when you put Suna in?”

  “There were four total. So Suna will make five.”

  “And there will be guards,” Sonja added. She thought for a moment. “At the marriage meet there were only three guards that I saw on the women’s side. Do you think they’d use more when transporting in a shuttle?”

  “Not if they don’t expect to change shuttles. So three sounds like a good number to expect.”

  “Five women plus three guards is enough to fill a small shuttle. I think they’ll move them all at once.” He laughed shortly. “More efficient that way, and the company is always efficient.”

  “Five identical woman and three guards armed with stunners.” Allan shook his head. “We’ll need to figure out which woman is Suna and get her away while they’re moving between shuttles.”

  “Are you sure you’re going to be able to get them to leave the one they are on?”

  Allan grinned at her. “I’ve got something special for that. Plus, we may be able to tell which woman is which. Just you wait.”

  Roan looked through the schedule. “There are three possible shuttles to check. The first is in ten minutes; the next is five minutes later. After that, there’s an hour break, so if she’s not on either of the earlier shuttles we’ll come back here.”

  Allan nodded. “I’ll get into position to do my part while you and Sonja stand near the platform where you can see inside the shuttles as they arrive for inspection. Signal me if you see your sister or if the shuttle is full of women wearing veils.”

  Closing his p-tab, Allan headed out of the restaurant. When Sonja got up to follow, Roan put his hand on her arm. “Give him a head start.”

  She settled back into her chair and finished the javi in her cup, tension filling her at the delay. Finally, at Roan’s nod, they got up and left the restaurant. Large as the station was, it wasn’t more than a short walk to where the tube from Omega Residence entered the bubble. They stayed on the second floor of the station, level with the platform where the shuttle would come to a stop. Unlike the other platforms where no one waited, two men in blue company uniforms guarded this one.

  Sonja couldn’t see where Allan had stationed himself until Roan made a surreptitious gesture with his hand. “Under the track,” he whispered. Then she saw a brief flash of brown as a man moved slowly beneath the narrow rail that the shuttle ran along as if checking it for worn places.

  “Hey, you!” One of the men on the platform wearing a grey uniform gestured at Allan. “What are you doing down there?”

  Roan and Sonja stiffened, and she worried that Allan was going to be found out. But Allan just waved at the man and called back, “We got some complaints about a smell along here. I’m seeing if I can’t track it down.”

  “Smell?” The man sniffed. “I don’t smell anything.”

  “You won’t up there. It seems to show up only inside the shuttles.”

  Roan groaned and took Sonja’s arm, leading her over to the railing. “Now I know what Allan is going to do to incapacitate the shuttle.” He shook his head sadly. “Your poor, poor sister.”

  “A stink bomb?” she guessed.

  Roan smiled wryly. “A very effective one that he invented. The stench will drive everyone out of the shuttle, plus it clings to outer clothes, so the women will be pulling off anything concealing. We should be able to spot your sister immediately.” Roan laughed. “He is an evil genius.”

  “How badly will she smell?” Sonja asked. “We don’t want her to stand out as we’re trying to sneak out of here.”

  “Most of it will be on her clothes, so we’ll just have her change. He has a remedy he can spray on her to get it off her skin and hair.” Roan grinned. “We’ll make him be the one to treat her, so if she’s angry she can take it out on him.”

  He consulted the chrono on his arm. “Just a few more moments and the first shuttle will be here. Try not to look too interested in what is going on at the platform until I tell you to. That way, even if the guards notice us, they won’t think anything of it.”

  Sonja turned her back against the railing to avoid the temptation to look over at the platform. Instead she concentrated on Roan standing so close to her. The glint of the wristband she’d made for him caught her eye, and suddenly she was reminded of what she’d engraved the band with. “You never asked me what I put on my band.”

  He glanced at it. “It’s a bird of some kind. Looks like a hawk or maybe a falcon.”

  She stared at him. “That’s right. How did you know?”

  Roan laughed. “I was guessing, but it seemed to suit you. I read about hawks when I was a boy.” His hand trailed against her cheek. “You can be so fierce, but I think you are also loyal, almost to a fault. Like a hawk, your loyalty needs to be earned. I like to think that with enough time I would have earned it.”

  Enough time, meaning longer than the few hours they still had together. She hated how little time they had left…

  What does that mean? She’d never felt that before, not wanting to leave someone, wanting to be with them. Not even Bearn had made her feel that way.

  Roan leaned over her, looking like the besotted husband he was pretending to be. And probably was, as she thought about it. “A shuttle just came in. The guards are busy, so you can look.”

  She turned to examine it, staring through the wide windows at the people inside. There were two women and two men, and as she watched, all four of them left the shuttle. None of them were wearing any kind of concealing clothes, and even from here Sonja saw the glint of marriage bands on their wrists. “Not the people we’re looking for,” she whispered to Roan.

  He nodded. “Looks like some of the married folks going out on the town. They’ll change to another shuttle.”

  “So we need to wait another five minutes.”

  “Less than that now.” He turned her back to face him. “So do you have any questions about the band I gave you?”

  She looked at it and the parallel wavy lines. “I’m not sure what it represents.”

  “My roots, actually. The sea. Like I told you, I grew up alongside the ocean. I used to watch the waves move like that.” He traced the lines with his finger. “It seemed ever constant. Always in motion, often changing but in many ways always the same. You could rely on the ocean to be there.”

  She couldn’t help leaning into him. “You think of yourself that way. ‘Ever constant’.”

  “I’ve wanted to be. I wanted to be that for you, a constant presence, reliable, even if I change.”

  She couldn’t help asking again. “Roan, come with me.”

  “Come where?”

  “Off Ares Five. Come to the Outer Colonies with me.”

  He blinked at her, and she realized she’d surprised him. “We talked about this before. I have to finish out my sentence. Even if I did…” He touched her wristband. “If I did, would you leave this on and stay my wife?”

  She hesitated. Maybe she was falling in love, maybe she wasn’t. Finally she decided to answer him honestly. “I don’t know. I couldn’t promise that, right now. But it would give us the time to decide if we should be together.”

  He l
aughed, but the sound was sad. “It would give you that time. I don’t need it, I know how I feel.”

  “So it would give me the time. Listen, after we’re gone, they’ll soon figure out you were involved in Suna’s and Sulla’s disappearances. Coming with us will keep you safe.”

  He seemed on the verge of answering, and she could see the regret in his eyes. He was going to say no, his promise to his family keeping him here in spite of the danger. In spite of how much she thought he wanted to be with her.

  But he’d asked if she could promise to stay his wife, and she couldn’t make that promise right now. She needed more time, and that wasn’t something they had enough of.

  Before Roan could answer, Sonja put her finger on his lips. “Don’t answer just yet. Just think about it, that’s all I’m going to ask. I’ll ask again before we leave, and you can decide then.”

  Roan studied her face for what seemed like a long time. Finally he nodded slowly. “Very well. I’ll tell you later.” He glanced over to the platform and stiffened. “In the meantime there’s another shuttle coming in. And this time the guards seem very intent.”

  Sonja turned to look at the arriving shuttle, again checking the riders through the window. For a moment, though, she thought they’d covered the inside of the clear plastisteel windows with some kind of curtains. All she could see was white. Then the door to the shuttle opened, and two men stepped out wearing blue uniforms.

  She clutched Roan’s arm. “It’s them. They’ve got the women dressed for the marriage meet already.”

  Roan pulled a small commlink from his pocket and spoke into it softly. He took Sonja’s arm. “We better get to where that platform ends.”

  They walked quickly but even so were still upstairs when a woman’s shriek split the air. Sonja looked over at the platform to see five white-garbed women rush from the shuttle followed by another blue-uniformed man.

  “Three guards,” she whispered to Roan. “Just as we expected.”

  He glanced over at the confusion on the platform. “Yes, but we forgot about the other two men.” Sonja turned to see the two guards who’d been waiting join the group. All five men ushered the women down the stairs to the main floor of the station.