“Yes, we got it from her parents’ personal effects. Her name is Gardenia Barron. The parents were Gerald and Lucinda.”
Victoria sighed. As only people from the upper levels of society were generally able to travel, the chances of her knowing the deceased couple had been quite high. Gerald was the brother of her friend Elizabeth’s lover. Victoria had only vaguely known Lucinda but she’d seemed a pleasant enough woman. She hadn’t realized the couple had a child, though. Perhaps they’d kept it quiet because they planned to flee from New Cambridge.
“You know them?” Kyree could clearly see the thoughts going through her head.
“Yes. They’re William Barron’s brother and sister-in-law.”
“Our new ambassador from Earth?” Kyree said. “I suppose that explains why they were traveling to Taar-Breck.”
“They were probably going to see him,” Victoria said regretfully. “What will happen to this little one?”
“I don’t know. Do you think the ambassador will take her in?”
Victoria really wasn’t sure if William Barron would take the child in and care for her. She didn’t actually know much about the man, except that Elizabeth had lost her head over him. She was generally a good judge of character, so Victoria supposed that meant he was decent enough. Babies were a lot of responsibility, though, and William had only been appointed as ambassador to Taar-Breck a few weeks ago. She wasn’t sure he would have the time or inclination to look after a baby.
“He might take her in,” Victoria said. She looked down at the little girl’s enormous blue eyes and nodded her head. “Of course he will. Who could resist such a beautiful little girl?”
“She is very pretty,” Kyree agreed. “But her name is awful. Gardenia—what does that mean?”
“It’s a type of flower.”
“Ah, I still don’t like it.”
Victoria smiled at the distaste in Kyree’s voice and then screwed her nose up as an unmistakably foul smell wafted into the air.
“She needs changed,” Victoria said, looking expectantly at Kyree.
“Oh, no.” Kyree shook her head vehemently. “I’ve already changed her once today and it’s terrifying. She’s too small and fragile for me to cope with. I’m going to need you to help me.”
“You need to practice changing diapers,” Victoria said. “I can’t be on call twenty-four hours a day.”
“Yes, you can,” Kyree replied and Victoria suddenly felt a sinking feeling. “I need you to take care of her until we get to Taar-Breck.”
“That’s almost two weeks. What’s Allik going to say about that?” Victoria waved what she was sure would be her get out of jail free card.
“Allik will say it’s a good idea.” A deep male voice came from behind them.
Victoria turned and scowled at Allik as he strode into the room. “You realize if I have a baby to take care of, we won’t have any time alone.” She stared at him pointedly, hoping that his healthy libido would get her out of caring for the child. She didn’t have much experience with children.
“They sleep a lot, don’t they?” Kyree said and Victoria scowled at her treacherous new friend.
“They also cry a lot.”
“I do not mind,” Allik said. “It will be good practice.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed. “Practice for what exactly?”
“For rearing our own offspring, of course.”
“I beg your pardon,” Victoria spluttered. “We’ve only just met. Who said anything about me having your babies?”
“I did,” Allik said unashamedly. “But don’t look so shocked. I am willing to wait.”
“Are you?” Victoria scoffed and then blanched as she realized that she might already be pregnant since they had taken no measures to prevent her from conceiving. Her hand drifted to her abdomen and she glared at Allik.
“Don’t worry,” Allik said. “You are not carrying my child.”
“You know that for sure?” Victoria had no idea how he could sound so certain of the fact.
“Yes. We are of a different species, you and I,” he said as though she needed to be reminded of the fact. “You will need to take special hormone supplements before you can conceive my child.”
“You’re positive about this?” Victoria had to check. Having an unplanned pregnancy sprung on her would be too much to take.
“Yes, I will have you to myself for a few years and then I will fill your belly with my child.”
Well, that was her told. It seemed romance was well and truly off the agenda for Allik. I’m going to fuck your bottom. I’m going to claim you. I’m going to fill your belly with my child. Victoria scowled and a wicked thought occurred to her. She got to her feet and thrust Gardenia into his arms.
“Well, if you want to be a daddy, you can start practicing now. Her diaper needs changed and I have to warn you, it’s a stinker.”
With that, she flounced off. She didn’t look back, but she could hear the gasp of horror he gave and Kyree’s snort of delight. There was bound to be a spanking in her future for that one, but Victoria didn’t care. If it taught him a lesson about planning out her life for her, it was worth it.
* * *
Victoria paced back and forth across the floor of Allik’s bedroom. Although he’d told her that she should consider his private quarters to be her home while they were on board the ship, she still didn’t feel entirely comfortable staking a claim on the space. It was clear that Allik intended for their relationship to be permanent but she had her doubts. There were things she wanted from life that didn’t seem compatible with being the captured mate of a dominant alien. She still had thoughts about finding a way out.
As she waited for him to return to the room, she grew increasingly nervous. When she’d dumped the baby on him like that, she’d half-expected that he would chase her down immediately and throw her over his knee for a thorough spanking. Wondering whether he was angry with her, if he would take it out on her bottom, was becoming hard to bear.
She heard the main door opening and sank down onto the bed. The moment of reckoning was here at last. She glanced up warily as Allik came into the room. Immediately, she warmed at the sight before her. He was carrying the baby, nestled against his broad shoulder. In his free hand, he held a large suitcase. Victoria had expected him to be wearing a look of annoyance but, instead, what she saw was contentment. He was actually smiling. Clearly, baby Gardenia was working some sort of magic on the gruff warrior because Victoria had never seen him look so at peace.
“These things were retrieved from the shuttle,” Allik told her as he put the traveling case down. “Kyree tells me that there is clothing for the child and other necessities.”
“That’s good.” Victoria was still a little on edge as Allik took a seat next to her. Rather than handing her the child, he sat the little girl on his lap. She looked so tiny but, with her arms and legs flailing as she kicked out in obvious glee, she appeared pretty robust.
A look of deep satisfaction passed across Allik’s face as Gardenia snuggled into his chest.
“She does not fear me.” His tone was full of wonder.
“Of course she doesn’t,” Victoria said. “Why would she?”
Victoria felt a tug at her heart as Allik indicated the scarring on his face and gave a hopeless shrug. “You said it yourself,” Allik said. “I am a monster.”
Victoria reached out and touched his arm. “You know I didn’t mean it,” she said. There was a look of skepticism on Allik’s face. “Well, maybe I did, but I was referring to the way you were behaving at that moment, you silly man.”
“You are not afraid of me either,” Allik observed.
“No.” Victoria had to admit that although she was sometimes a little wary of him, he didn’t actually scare her. “But right now, I am a little worried. Are you going to punish me?”
“For what?”
“For leaving you to change her dirty diaper.”
Allik laughed. “No, I will not punish
you for that. I provoked you.”
Victoria blew out a theatrical sigh of relief. “So, you’re not angry?”
“I was shocked,” Allik confessed. “But changing a baby’s diaper is not the worst I’ve endured.”
Victoria gave him a sympathetic smile that he instantly turned away from. The exaggerated attention he gave to the baby told her she’d made him uncomfortable. Whatever had happened to him, Allik clearly did not want pity.
“You’re a natural,” Victoria complimented him as he bounced Gardenia on his knee. “Do Taar-Breckian men have much to do with their children?”
“No.” Allik shook his head. “I may have been the first in history to clean a baby’s bottom.”
That didn’t really surprise Victoria. It was the same in her society. Most men spent little time with their children, except when they were parading them about on social occasions. Her own father had been better than most, she supposed, but he had let her down badly by passing on guardianship of her to her odious stepbrother, Jonathan.
“So, I guess I’ll be changing her diapers for the next two weeks,” Victoria said.
“That would be my preference,” Allik said. There was a gleam in his eye but Victoria couldn’t tell whether he was joking or not.
She rested her head on his shoulder and reached out to touch the baby’s cheek. Allik put his arm around her and drew her closer. For a moment everything felt perfect. Victoria almost convinced herself that they had a future. Almost.
Chapter Thirteen
Despite her initial reluctance to take care of baby Gardenia, Victoria actually enjoyed every minute of it and two weeks passed incredibly quickly. There were some fraught moments when the baby had seemed to cry for no reason but, on the whole, she’d loved being her temporary guardian. In fact, she was almost sorry when they finally reached Taar-Breck.
Allik and Victoria took a passenger shuttle from the transport ship to a military base. When they landed, a nursemaid came on board to take charge of the baby. Victoria felt incredibly sad as she handed the little girl over but she was comforted to know that a warm welcome awaited her with her uncle. By all accounts, William Barron had been grief-stricken at the loss of his brother and had immediately pledged to care for the child. It was exactly what Victoria had hoped for, but she couldn’t help wishing things could be different.
“Take good care of her,” she told the older woman, a Taar-Breckian who had introduced herself as Alaina.
“Of course.” Alaina gave her a sympathetic smile as though she could sense what a wrench it was for Victoria to give up the child. “I am sure the ambassador will wish for you to visit the infant once she’s settled.”
Victoria almost laughed at that. There were those words again. Once she’s settled. It seemed to be a stock phrase for the Taar-Breckians. Allik had repeatedly told her that she would be able to see Lucy once she was settled into her new life. She wondered if it was just a delaying tactic and if she would ever actually see Lucy or the baby again.
She watched as the nurse walked down the steps from the shuttle with Gardenia in her arms, and got into the long black vehicle that was waiting for her. It was like the cars they had back on Earth, but it had no wheels and instead of running along the ground, it hovered a few feet above it. A land-cruiser, if she recalled correctly, rather than an air-cruiser, which flew at high altitudes. Allik had told her all about the different modes of transportation on his planet over the last two weeks, but almost nothing about himself. Victoria found it deeply perplexing. He had been firm with her, but also kind and attentive. They had the most incredible, mind-blowing sex. He made her feel safe and happy, yet she knew little about him. It left her wanting more.
The vehicle the nurse had got into sped away and Victoria wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye. It was silly to have become so attached to a child that she’d known all along she would have to give up. Although she really wasn’t ready for the responsibility of motherhood, a part of her had secretly hoped that William would change his mind and ask her to raise the baby for him.
“Come,” Allik said gruffly as he gestured toward the exit. He didn’t show it, but Victoria knew he was not unaffected by having to say goodbye to the baby. After all, Gardenia had lived in their quarters with them around the clock for almost a fortnight. Victoria had been surprised by how attentive he was toward Gardenia, how gently he had held her. The care he’d shown her was probably because he’d been the one who rescued her. Obviously, he’d felt invested in ensuring that she made it to Taar-Breck in one piece.
As she disembarked from the shuttle, the first thing that struck Victoria was the glorious heat of the sun. She knew now why Allik had insisted on her wearing a gauzy white dress with a hem that skimmed her ankles. It was to show off her body whilst still protecting her delicate skin from the sun. She’d known warm summer days back in New Cambridge, but they’d been nothing like this. There had never been such a strong, golden glow in the sky as there was here.
“Is it like this a lot?” she asked Allik, who frowned as though he had no idea what she was talking about. “The weather,” she elaborated, “is it often this hot?”
“Always,” Allik said. “You will need to take a daily supplement to help your body withstand the heat.”
Allik took her arm and led her across the landing zone. He opened the door of a slick silver cruiser and helped her into the passenger seat. He got into the other side, pressed a button on the control panel, and the engine whirred into life. The vehicle lifted a few feet off the ground and took off at a speed that made Victoria’s stomach lurch. A few deep breaths helped her to settle.
As they traveled through the city at an exhilarating speed, Victoria pressed her nose against the window. The vehicle joined a steady stream of traffic as they emerged from the space port and headed through what looked like a residential area. Like an excited child, she tried to take in every detail, wanting each sight, sound, smell to be imprinted on her mind forever. Everything was so clean and well-ordered. She had to admit that Allik’s apparently dispassionate description of his homeland was pretty accurate. Warm, clean, efficient, it appeared to be all of those things.
The streets, which looked as though they were paved with white stone, were wide and largely empty. The few people she saw were tall and elegant Taar-Breckian women. The buildings formed a corridor that stretched for miles. They were so tall, they seemed to skim the almost purple sky. Their white stone facades gleamed in the sunshine. It was not at all what she’d expected. Somehow, she’d imagined that everything would be grey and austere. There were hundreds of enormous windows in the buildings. The walls of glass they formed glinted in the sun but, oddly, the light didn’t seem to bounce off them in the way she would have expected.
“We rely on solar power.” Allik clearly sensed her interest. “The windows absorb the sun’s rays and convert them to clean energy.”
“Is that a lot cheaper?”
“It is free,” Allik said. “We do not believe our citizens should have to pay for such basic necessities.”
“But surely they pay for food and clothing?”
Allik shook his head. “There is an allowance from the state. If a man wants something beyond that, he pays.”
It was hard for Victoria to wrap her head around the concept of such a benevolent state. The High Council never gave anything away for free.
After a few minutes of driving along identical streets with strikingly similar buildings, she sat back and looked at Allik. It was impressive that he could make the vehicle do what he wanted with just a few subtle movements of his hand.
“Will you teach me to operate one of these things?” she asked.
“Yes,” Allik said, surprising her with his lack of hesitation.
“When?” Victoria thought it best to pin him down while he seemed willing.
“Soon, before my next posting.”
Victoria’s heart sank. It hadn’t occurred to her that he would be deployed on some missi
on that might take him away from her. A wave of disappointment swept through her. It wasn’t so much the thought of him having to work that bothered her as the fact that she would have nothing to do while she was gone. After helping Kyree during the crisis with the passenger shuttle and then caring for the baby, she’d realized just how much she wanted to find something important to do with her life.
She rested her head back against the seat and tried not to let those thoughts spoil her first experience of her new home. It was exciting to be on a planet so different to her own. She should be making the most of it.
Only a couple of minutes passed before they came to a stop outside one of the tall, shiny buildings.
“Hold on,” Allik instructed her.
Victoria’s stomach dropped as the vehicle suddenly lifted into the air.
“We’re on the fortieth floor,” he told her as the vehicle sped upward and then stopped. With a flick of his hand, he spun the vehicle around as it passed through a large opening in the side of the building. Victoria shrieked as they turned a full three hundred and sixty degrees before coming to a stop. Allik switched off the engines and the vehicle slowly lowered to the ground.
As she came to her senses once more, Victoria realized that they were in a docking area with space for at least six more vehicles. She glanced behind her and saw a shimmering light that seemed to cover the entrance. She assumed it was a force field of some kind, designed to prevent unauthorized access.
“Did you have to ascend so rapidly?” Victoria grumbled.
“Probably not,” Allik grinned and Victoria realized he’d been showing off to her. “But don’t pretend you didn’t like it. I can smell the cream in your panties.”
“I’m not wearing panties,” she retorted as she got out of the vehicle.
She waited a moment until her legs felt a bit less like jelly and walked toward the door. Allik caught up with her and put a hand at the small of her back. It was a possessive gesture, typical of what she’d come to expect from him. He guided her out through the door and into an expansive hallway, lined with marble. The opulence was beyond anything she’d seen before.
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