“The lady is no fool,” Bryn said with clear admiration in his voice. “She would not have written the names on a list where they could be easily found.”
“She did not reveal them under the pressure of interrogation either,” Taryn added, also with that approving tone.
Andrew sat up, his back straight, and looked directly at his second lieutenant.
“What did you find out about her time at the prison?” he asked.
“I sent one of our men to speak to the guards. They seemed quite proud of how they had tried to break her.”
He wasn’t sure he wanted the details, that he would be able to handle them without unleashing mayhem upon the men who had harmed Caroline and yet he needed to know all that had happened to her.
“Tell me.”
Taryn took a seat at the table while Bryn hovered in the background, as anxious as Andrew to hear about the methods the Council had employed.
“Well, they acted on an anonymous tip that she was the leader of a dangerous rebel group.”
Andrew snorted at that. From what he could tell, Caroline and her friends were simply a group of privileged young woman who gathered together to discuss books.
“They dragged her to the prison,” Taryn continued. “She was stripped and they took her to a small, dark room and bombarded her with questions, which she refused to answer.”
Andrew nodded, feeling a surge of admiration toward Caroline for not giving up the names of her friends to the secret police. She must have known the sort of trouble they would end up in and her obvious need to protect those she cared for made his heart warm toward her even more.
“The interrogation went on for hours, without a break. They were very persistent, refusing to let up in their questioning. She was given no food, no water.”
Andrew blew out a breath and exchanged a look with Bryn.
“And she did not betray her friends?” Bryn appeared impressed. “Many men would have crumbled.”
Yes, Andrew thought, they would have but his Caroline, as he’d already begun to think of her, was clearly made of something stronger.
“Go on,” he urged.
“Eventually they realized that their bullying tactics would not loosen her tongue so they threatened to throw her into a cell with several male prisoners, their most sadistic inmates and leave her at their mercy until she decided to talk.”
Evidently that had not happened as her virtue had been intact when she was examined and Andrew doubted that such men would have displayed any honor in the presence of a beautiful young virgin.
“Fortunately it was just a threat,” Taryn went on. “But they hacked off her hair and put her in a cell on her own with no windows and only a bench to sleep on. They still did not give her any food or water and left her to freeze.”
Andrew shook his head. It was a miracle she had survived the ordeal. She had been through hell and he had added to her suffering. “And then we subjected her to that damned examination and I beat her in public.”
Shame washed over him but his friends and fellow warriors would not allow him to reproach himself.
“She asked you to do it,” Bryn said. “She understood how dangerous the situation was and made it easier for you. She trusted you would not harm her.”
“Perhaps.”
“You saved her life, Commander,” Taryn said firmly. “The High Council planned to execute her.”
“Execution?” Andrew said. “You are sure of that?”
Executions were rare on Earth these days with the population so diminished that a practical use had to be found for even the most heinous of criminals. The sentence the president had threatened her with at the trial was a series of floggings and confinement to a state facility for life. At least, that is what he had said the usual sentence was. He’d alluded to needing to find some different solution for a woman of Caroline’s standing, but Andrew had assumed that meant some measure of lenience, not a more drastic punishment.
“I am certain,” Taryn confirmed. “The Council knows that rebellion is in the air and they planned to make an example of Lady Chatterton as a warning to the real dissenters. They knew her crimes were not so terrible but wanted to use her as an example of what would happen to anyone who dared to defy their rules.”
Andrew felt his chest tighten. He’d known her situation was serious but he had never imagined something like this. What if he had chosen not to intervene in the trial? If he had not decided to honor the contract with her grandfather, would that beautiful young woman be dead by now? He could hardly bear thinking about it.
“And what was to be the manner of her execution?”
“I do not know but there was some reference to a silken rope.”
“Hanging.” Andrew was grateful once more to Lord Perceval for teaching him Earth’s long and tangled history. “They intended to hang her by the neck. The use of a silken rope rather than the coarser kind was a concession they once made to aristocrats.”
Both Taryn and Bryn looked horrified. On Taar-Breck, women were never treated in such a fashion. If a woman committed a crime, she was sent to be trained to follow a more obedient path and then assigned to a mate who would ensure that she stuck to it.
“These are dangerous times,” Bryn remarked, looking strangely pale, no doubt thinking about such a terrible fate befalling his commanding officer’s bride to be.
“Dangerous indeed,” Andrew agreed. “One can only wonder what their purpose in taking such action might be.”
“It is hard to read these humans,” Taryn responded with disdain. “You never know how they will act. That is why, as a precaution, I have summoned another legion to the outer atmosphere. They will serve as warning to the Council not to strike against our commander or his bride.”
Andrew nodded, grateful for Taryn’s foresight.
“You realize we must persuade her to tell us where the other ladies of her group are,” Bryn said. “If they fall into the hands of the Council, it will not go well for them.”
“I will speak to Caroline tomorrow, once she has had some time to sleep.”
“Very good, Commander,” Bryn said. “Now, Taryn and I will organize the men to watch through the night. What will you do?”
“The only thing I can do,” Andrew said, looking at the pieces of the broken toy on the table. “I’m going to fix this damned bird.”
Chapter Six
Caroline woke to a familiar hooting sound that made her heart swell. Opening her eyes, she looked to the nightstand where her little mechanical bird was walking around in a large circle. As she sat up and clapped her hands together with unbridled glee, she became aware that she was being watched and turned to see Andrew standing by the door, a look of such intensity in his eye, it made the hairs at the back of her neck bristle.
With all that had happened yesterday, she hadn’t taken the time to appreciate just what a fine specimen of masculinity he was. It wasn’t simply a question of him being taller and more muscular than any other man she’d met; there was something about the way he carried himself as well. He exuded a total confidence in his own ability to take command of any situation, of any woman, for that matter, and it made her breath catch at the back of her throat when he walked into the room. He was the hero of the exotic novels she devoured so enthusiastically made flesh. No, he was more than any of those characters, larger somehow.
For the first time, as she looked at him, so incredibly out of place in the distinctly feminine setting of her bedroom, she began to truly grasp the idea that she was soon to be married to this man. Although he’d made it perfectly clear to her yesterday that he intended to take her as his bride, the notion had seemed so abstract, as though it was something that might happen at some vague, undefined point in the future. Everything had been so hazy that her mind had not been able to cope with the reality of her situation and so she’d not really come to terms with anything that was happening to her. Now, after a chance to rest and recov
er her wits somewhat, it was all too clear. She could feel it deep inside her as an absolute certainty. Within a couple of days, she would belong to this man in every way and she barely knew him, what to expect from him. The prospect was more than a little terrifying.
As she gazed at him, he stared back at her as though trying to see past the surface to get to her deepest thoughts and feelings.
“You mended her?” Caroline asked suddenly, to break the unbearable tension.
“Her?”
“Yes, the bird. Her name is Oolie.”
“Oolie?” Andrew’s lips quirked into a smile. “That is a truly terrible name but, yes, I put her back together again.”
“Why?” Caroline didn’t want to seem ungrateful but it seemed like an odd thing for a man with all the responsibility Andrew carried to have bothered to do.
“To see you smile.”
After a moment’s pause in which she gauged how sincere his response had been, Caroline found herself overcome with delight that he would take the time to do such a thing just to make her happy. Leaping out of bed, she ran to fling her arms around Andrew’s neck. She planted a kiss on his lips and then danced away before he could attempt to draw her into a deeper embrace. She went to the nightstand and put her hand out for the bird to hop onto. Lifting it carefully, she held it out for Andrew to see, as though he had not been the one who’d fixed it and brought it to her in the first place.
“She is an ool bird, you know? There used to be creatures like her of flesh and blood and they lived right here on Earth in the ancient woodlands before they were all destroyed.”
“She is an owl,” Andrew corrected her with an indulgent smile. “And we still have them on Taar-Breck.”
“Really?” Caroline gasped.
“Yes, and many other creatures that once lived on this planet. When the first Taar-Breckian delegation came to Earth more than two centuries ago, they took specimens of many different animals and birds back with them. They have thrived in our landscape.”
“Our landscape? You consider Taar-Breck your home?”
“I do, yes, and I intend for it to be your home also.”
“Oh.” Caroline hadn’t given any thought to that possibility and wasn’t sure how she felt about leaving her home to be with a virtual stranger.
“I have a special fondness for the place,” Andrew said with a smile. “My mother lives there. I am sure you’ve heard the rumors about my real mother.”
Caroline nodded. She had, indeed, heard the gossip about Andrew being the product of his father’s affair with a Taar-Breckian princess while he was visiting her planet on a diplomatic mission. It had been quite the romance if the stories were to be believed, but Rossingham had been unwilling to abandon his wife to pursue his own happiness. He’d taken Andrew back to New Cambridge when he was a baby and Adaline Rossingham had raised the child as her own. Caroline’s brow formed a quizzical frown as she tried to imagine how Andrew’s mother could have given him up like that. Perhaps full-blooded Taar-Breckians were less emotionally attached to their children than humans? The question must have been written all over her face because Andrew grimaced uncomfortably and then spoke again, redirecting the conversation.
“You seem much happier this morning, Caroline. You slept well?”
“Mostly.” Caroline shuffled her feet nervously and looked down at the floor. The truth was, she’d experienced fraught dreams about being arrested and made to stand trial, but she didn’t want to let Andrew see that she was vulnerable. She preferred to simply try to put the whole terrible ordeal behind her.
Fortunately, Andrew seemed to misread her response and assumed it was something else that had prevented her from sleeping as well as she might have.
“Let me guess,” he said with a teasing glint in his eye. “The dilator?”
Seizing on his misunderstanding about why she’d been unable to sleep, Caroline blushed prettily and, biting her lip coyly, nodded her head.
“It’s just so intrusive,” she complained. “I am sure it expanded again during the night and it’s so big.”
“I can assure you, Caroline, whatever size it is, I am bigger,” Andrew told her, smiling broadly as her eyes widened in surprise. He didn’t give her time to respond. “Now, get dressed and come for breakfast. I don’t think you’ve eaten properly in the last few days.”
Caroline nodded mutely, trying to wrap her head around his comment about the size of his penis. Bigger than this thing lodged inside her? It didn’t seem possible but his words had been no idle boast. Perhaps it was true what they said about Taar-Breckian men being built a little larger than their human counterparts. Of course, Andrew was only half Taar-Breckian so perhaps she had nothing to worry about. As she thought about it, her eyes unwittingly traveled to his groin, encased in the tight black pants of his military uniform and her heart skipped a beat. As he winked cockily and turned to leave the room, she suddenly felt the strongest desire to see for herself just how well-endowed he was.
* * *
Squirming on her seat as the plug embedded in her bottom pressed mercilessly against her inner walls, Caroline tried to maintain a serene expression so the three large men who’d joined her at the breakfast table would not realize the torment she was experiencing. The knowing grins on each of their faces told her she was not fooling anyone. Her cheeks flushed bright red beneath their scrutiny and she struggled for something to say to break the increasingly awkward silence.
The dining room felt so claustrophobic with these three massive men in it but there was also something comforting about their presence. With them around, she knew that she was safe but recognizing that no harm could come to her only made her worry about her missing sister even more. She had no idea where Elizabeth might have fled to and, as much as she wanted to ask Andrew for help to find her, Caroline was not yet sure how far she could trust him.
Trying to put aside her fears for her sister, she reached for a piece of toast and suddenly realized just how hungry she was.
“The house looks much better this morning,” she said to no one in particular.
“I am glad you’re pleased.” It was Taryn who spoke. “The men worked for much of the night to put things right.”
“Well,” Caroline poured herself a glass of orange juice, “I am very grateful. Please thank them for me.”
Taryn nodded and silence settled heavily over the room once more. Caroline wondered whether Taar-Breckian warriors were taciturn by nature or if it was her in particular they had nothing to say to. She wouldn’t blame them if they did disapprove of her. After all, she was to marry one of their most distinguished military leaders under less than ideal circumstances. They could be forgiven for not being too happy about it. She hoped, however, that they would come to the wedding as their presence would make her feel more secure, whether they liked her or not. Almost as though he’d read her thoughts about the impending marriage, Andrew spoke.
“Do you have anyone you’d like to invite to the wedding ceremony tomorrow?” Andrew asked. “Any close friends?”
Wondering if that had been an attempt to get the names of some of the members of her group out of her, Caroline shook her head.
“Nobody?” Andrew pressed but she didn’t respond. “What about the ladies you meet up with each week? Would you not like any of them to be there?”
“No,” Caroline said quietly.
“You’re sure? If you give me their names, I can arrange for them to be there.”
“No,” Caroline said a little more firmly.
“Very well.” Andrew smiled benevolently. “Do you have someone you’d like to escort you down the aisle?”
Caroline shook her head. There were no men left in her family and tradition dictated that a close male relation or guardian should be the one to bring a bride to her future husband.
“There’s no one.” Her tone was melancholic.
“Would you like one of my lieutenants to do it?”
>
“Oh.” Caroline perked up a little and then her shoulders slumped again as she began to twist a napkin between her fingers. “I don’t want to put anyone to any inconvenience.”
“It would be no inconvenience, my lady,” Bryn spoke up. “I would be honored to accompany you.”
“As would I,” Taryn said, his deep violet eyes reflecting his sincerity.
Caroline smiled. Perhaps she’d been wrong about them disliking her.
“Maybe you could both walk me up the aisle,” she said.
A look passed between the two men and Bryn turned back to her.
“That would be acceptable.”
“Thank you.” Caroline’s gratitude was genuine. She had no desire to return to the town hall after yesterday’s deeply unpleasant events and the thought of making such important, personal vows in front of hostile members of the High Council was a little nerve-racking. Having these warriors there would make her feel a lot better about the whole thing
“How is it you have no guardian?” Taryn seemed curious rather than disapproving as the men on the Council had been.
“When my grandfather died, we discovered he’d chosen not to make provision for a guardian in his will. His lawyer was well paid to remain silent about his decision and my sister and I simply didn’t draw attention to our situation.” Her face fell into a frown as it occurred to her for the first time that it was odd that they had come to the attention of the secret police, given the discretion they exercised at all times.
“Your grandfather wished for you to experience some independence?” Bryn asked, pulling her away from the terrible thought that one of her friends from the Hyde Ladies’ Circle might have betrayed her.
“As much as that’s possible in our society, yes,” Caroline replied. “He wished for Elizabeth and me to expand our minds. He didn’t like the idea of us being stifled by some overbearing male.”
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