“Lael?” Tessa’s eyes narrowed.
“My wife. An Endekian killed her.”
“I’m sorry,” she told him, her tone sincere. “Do you have children?”
He shook his head, his throat clogged with grief that wasn’t quite as thick as it had been before he’d met Tessa. He recalled her words that no one would replace Mike in her heart but that she was sure she could love again. Sometimes she seemed so wise and well balanced. However, he’d never wanted to care again. Caring caused pain, and he’d certainly had enough loss in his lifetime. But then so had she, and he marveled at her courage.
Tessa must have seen the torment in his eyes. “Didn’t you once tell me that if a Rystani’s mate died, another would be found?”
“I refused. As leader of my people, I had enough to worry about. I didn’t intend to remarry.”
“You can still change your mind.”
“No, I can’t. I can’t let you die for stealing the spaceship—not when it was my fault that you escaped. Not after you’ve proven you have psi ability that might allow you to win the Challenge.”
“Kahn, you deserve a wife who will be proud to keep your home and raise your children. I’m sorry that you’re stuck with me because I’m so obviously unqualified. Perhaps after the Challenge is done, we can go our separate ways.”
“You will adjust. Don’t think to fight me on this, woman. Life on Rystan is hard enough without a man coming home to strife. Since we must make this sacrifice of marriage and since we will live in my world, the least you can do is adapt to our customs.”
“Wouldn’t you prefer to live on Earth? The air might not be fit to breathe but at least there’s enough food.”
“My people need me. And you have no ties on Earth.
She hesitated, then words burst out of her as if she couldn’t keep them inside. “If we wed, I also want something in return.”
He would make no concessions. Didn’t she yet understand that the winning the Challenge came before their own preferences? “You will do as I say.”
“Wouldn’t you rather I was willing?”
Yes, and admitting so would give her negotiating powers. Yet his silence seemed to tell her what she wanted to know.
She bit her bottom lip, then raised her eyes to his. “I’ll agree to follow your customs as well as I’m able. In return, you train me for the Challenge as you would a man.”
Such an important decision could not be made without much thought. “I will consider your request.”
Her eyes darkened. “I understand that to you hitting a woman is unacceptable. But torturing me sexually is fine and dandy?”
He glared at her, wishing he could explain that his behavior was no more acceptable to him than to her. “I would never treat a Rystani woman that way.”
“But since I’m not Rystani, it’s okay?”
“The necessity of winning the Challenge changes the rules of acceptable behavior.”
“Not in my mind.” She shook her head. “The ends don’t justify the means.”
He couldn’t argue his reasons for his actions without explaining more than he should. And for now, it would not hurt her to believe that she had to obey him or suffer consequences she wouldn’t like. “You will abide by Rystani marriage laws.”
Stubborn as a warrior, Tessa wouldn’t give up, and she shot him a saucy grin. “What would you say to a little bet?”
He deliberately looked her up and down, knowing her nudity bothered her and needing to prove a point—that she couldn’t manipulate him. Winning the Challenge was simply too critical to too many people for him to let her think she could do what she pleased. “I will take what I want. You have nothing to wager.”
“Actually, I do. Wouldn’t you prefer to have my cooperation?”
“I’ll have that either way.”
“You said life was hard on your planet. You don’t want strife. Do you really want to spend the rest of our lives fighting one another?” He didn’t appreciate her using his own words against him. When he didn’t answer, she continued, “Must I remind you that for me to win the Challenge and save your people that you need my cooperation? I’m willing to bet that I can defeat you in unarmed combat—if you don’t use your suit.”
“You wouldn’t know if I used it or not.” As abhorrent as he found her suggestion, in truth, he was actually considering her request. He couldn’t ignore that she hadn’t responded at all to the sexual frustration or that her first use of psi had been an attack. She wasn’t Rystani, she was from Earth, and he should have taken her background into account sooner.
“Your honor would forbid you from cheating. I’ll trust you to be true to your word. And if I defeat you, you’ll train me as a man.”
Still undecided, he asked, “And if you lose?”
She spoke boldly. “If I lose—we’ll do everything your way—and with my full participation.”
As if knowing that he couldn’t make up his mind on the matter, she eyed him with a distinct twinkle in her eyes. “I’m sure a man of your enormous fighting abilities can subdue little ole me without throwing a punch.”
True. He could wrestle her to the floor and pin her with his weight. Or he could use mai-slan-hi against her joints. Perhaps a gentle wrist twist to put her on her knees. He could defeat her without striking her, yet it bothered him that she seemed to know he could do so, and yet she’d still asked to make this strange bet anyway.
“I agree.” With a psi thought he lowered the dais until it once again became part of the deck, leaving them a wide, flat surface and nothing to trip over or run into. Then he deactivated his suit.
She widened her stance and raised her hands in a defensive gesture. “Shall we begin?”
Chapter Nine
“DON’T YOU WISH to first rest and recover from your injuries?” Kahn asked Tessa with more kindness than she’d heard from him since she’d arrived in space.
Apparently, his striking her had hit some taboo that made him feel guilty. Good. Perhaps that guilt would even the match. Although she’d practiced martial arts all her life, he must be double her weight, and his long reach and superior strength gave him a huge advantage.
Still, the bigger the man, the harder he fell.
She could defeat him by using his own strength and weight against him. She had to, especially since she understood that his training sessions in sexual frustration would be endlessly repeated if she didn’t win this bet. The fate of Earth might very well depend on the outcome of this bout because Tessa very much wanted to learn to use her psi. And if she won, he could frustrate her all he wanted while he taught her how to fight with her psi powers
That he’d given her this opportunity, told her of his desperation, but it also told her he had the ability to change. Perhaps if she defeated him this once, just maybe he’d respect her for her different attitude, because the idea of marriage to a man who couldn’t bend, not even to save his world, disturbed her on many levels.
Kahn dropped into a bent-kneed, wide-footed stance that balanced him and gave him the ability to move left or right, back or forward. He cocked his wrists, leaving his hands straight.
Balanced on the balls of her feet, Tessa circled, watching his eyes and searching for an opening. She feinted to the right, spun to her left, and swept his front foot.
To counter her sweep, he lifted his foot and shifted out of reach, but she still jammed an elbow into his ribs.
He grunted and grinned. “Try that again, woman.”
Not frickin’ likely. No way would she repeat a move and give him a chance to grab her. Instead, she lunged at an angle and struck a blow to his jaw. He countered the face strike but missed her simultaneous side-kick to his groin. Only a last minute twist of his hips saved him from a painful injury.
He frowned. She chuckled. “What? You don’t want me to try that move again?”
“Your blows cannot hurt me.”
That’s exactly what she wanted him to think. She needed overconfidence to make
him careless.
Master Chen hadn’t taught Tessa only technique, but also strategy, and he’d fed her mind with the belief she could conquer any opponent if she set her mind to the task. While the eighty-year-old master sensei had found a new reason to live as he tutored Tessa, his star pupil, he’d pushed her to her limit. She’d developed an acute awareness of timing, of space, and—most important of all—of trusting her skills. She’d never realized how proficient she had become until he’d entered her in her first and only competition, The World Karate Championship. Tessa had dominated the fighting, winning a title. Shortly afterward, her mentor died, and she’d never competed again.
Instead, she delved into the secret world of the ninja, studying under Master Funishoki. Tessa learned to sneak silently upon an opponent and kill without ever being seen. She was the shadow to be feared in the night. The enemy you never saw or heard. Over three hundred and thirty years ago, she’d guarded Daron Garner, and the sixty-year-old wheeler-dealer business tycoon had shown his appreciation for her saving his life by making sure she’d been assigned to the presidential protective detail.
She’d learned additional skills after the Secret Service recruited her. Now, she would need every one of them.
Kahn was keeping strict control over his temper. Despite landing a series of blows to his neck, chest, and thigh, she hadn’t done real damage. To defeat him, she needed to goad him into an attack where she could use his power against him. But he wasn’t even trying to attack, merely staying on guard and countering her when possible.
“You needn’t be so very careful, Kahn. I won’t hurt you—at least not badly.” She shifted, spun, caught his thigh in a glancing kick.
With his thighs thick as tree trunks, he didn’t so much as budge. Yet the skin reddened as blood rose to the surface. The big man was keeping his word. He hadn’t raised his psi shields, or she wouldn’t have seen the evidence of her accumulation of strikes.
He chuckled but never relaxed the wariness in his eyes. “The only offensive move I plan to make is riding you on our wedding night.”
A trickle of sweat seeped down his brow, and she goaded him. “Let’s hope your stamina at lovemaking is better than when you’re fighting.”
He glowered at her. “I’m also looking forward to your accommodating my every request.”
Perhaps she could distract him with sex talk. “I will deny you nothing.” She performed a spinning back kick and spiked her heel into his chest. “You will stroke my breasts or lick them, and I will be thinking of—” she slammed a side thrust kick at his groin—“pleasing you, so very much.”
Between her words and her blows, she could see anger building in those careful amber eyes. When he finally pounced, she almost didn’t react quickly enough. Almost. Kahn lunged straight at her, coming in fast and hard with his arms outstretched, his hands ready to grab her.
She dropped to her bottom, planted her feet in his stomach and catapulted him over her head. Even as she fought, she realized that he’d adjusted her suit. When she’d dropped, the floor hadn’t met her bottom with a normal force. Even as he’d attacked, he’d protected her.
Forced to give up his plan to grab her, he slapped his palms on the floor, ducked his head and rolled. However, she somersaulted backward and ended up astride his chest, her wrist cocked with a straight-edged knife hand to his throat. “You adjusted my suit.”
“To protect you,” he admitted.
He’d adjusted her suit to prevent an injury, but hadn’t touched his own. Both of them knew she could have ended the fight with the death blow she’d held back.
“You’ve won.” He spoke with respect. “You have what you wanted.”
She expected to see defeat in his eyes, but not regret. At first she thought his disappointment was self directed, but then she realized her error. He used his psi power to regain his feet and was staring at her with confusion.
The uncertainty in his eyes bothered her more than she wanted to admit. She stood and backed away a few steps, saying nothing because there was nothing to say. By defeating him, she’d proven to him that she was everything he didn’t want in a wife.
She could see he wanted no part of her in his life, but she already knew him well enough to understand that his dedication to his people would override his personal preferences.
She kept her voice soft and level. “If you have changed your mind about our marriage, I will accept your decision.”
“I am a man of my word.”
At his statement, tension eased out of her then returned with a measure of uncertainty at his next words. “You must prepare a meal for our wedding ceremony. Also, there is a ritual bathing, and then we place ceremonial bands on one another.”
“When will our wedding take place?”
“You shall have time to rest. We shall marry two hours after you awaken. Be ready.”
She nodded. “I will.”
“YOU ARE INSANE,” Dora told Tessa the moment she awakened after a restless sleep.
“Thanks a lot.” Tessa’s mind whirled with plans. With the revelation of her psi abilities, her attitude had done a complete 360 degree change. She no longer preferred death to living—even if that meant marriage to a sexy alien who didn’t even like her. “Dora, I have no time to waste. What must I do to get ready for the wedding?”
“You must cook dinner. Prepare a ritual bath.”
“Kahn told me. I don’t want him to suspect your presence so if you must leave—”
“Not necessary. I’ve inserted my personality into the mother ship’s systems.”
“That’s great.”
“You have no idea,” Dora bragged. “Watch.”
The computer altered the chamber. A table rose from the floor. Cooking equipment and cabinets materialized right out of the walls.
“Kahn authorized the computer to give you whatever is necessary to prepare for the wedding ceremony.”
“Did that include clothes?”
“Sorry, no.”
Tessa closed her eyes. “Dora, would you please be quiet for a few minutes. I want to experiment.”
“Compliance.”
Ever since Tessa had attacked Kahn with her psi powers, she’d wanted to tap into her mind, again. Until now, she hadn’t had the opportunity. Sitting with her legs crossed on the floor, Tessa closed her eyes. She tried to put herself into the same emotionally fragile state she’d been in when she’d accidentally activated her psi.
She built a mental picture of a steel trap, put herself inside and let the walls and ceiling close her in. All the while she imagined herself in clothing. Trapped in a cage, wearing a dress. With no place to go in her white dress. No free will in her pretty white dress. Her frustration mounted, and with a mental shove, she again merged into an emotional maelstrom.
“Congratulations!” Dora piped in.
Annoyed by the interruption, Tessa opened her eyes, but then she looked down and smiled in delight. She was no longer naked but covered by the simple white dress of her imagination. “This is so awesome. I can’t wait to try again.”
“You don’t have time.”
“I’ll get faster with practice.”
“Right now, you’d better start cooking a meal and drawing water for the bath.”
“Okay. Tell me what to prepare and how.”
“I’m a computer, not a cook.”
“Don’t you have recipes in your data banks?”
“No.”
“How does Kahn prepare our meals?”
“He uses his psi. But he would probably expect you to prepare a meal from the ingredients in the blue cabinet.”
Tessa opened the blue doors and stared at the strange array of fruits, meats, and vegetables. She might as well have been a Stone-age woman in a twentieth-century grocery store. She had no idea how to identify the food or how to prepare it. For all she knew, she could accidentally poison them both.
“Maybe I’ll try the food materializer, after all. What should I do?”
<
br /> “Kahn stands there and the food appears.”
“Thank you very much. Even I know that,” Tessa muttered. Once again she closed her eyes and envisioned the steel trap. This time she built the image more quickly, called up the frustration more easily. She thought of food inside the box with her. Raw carrots, celery and peanut butter. Pizza and beer. Ice cream with hot fudge sauce. And steaming black coffee.
She smelled the delicious scent of coffee and pizza before she opened her eyes. Pleased by her efforts, her mouthwatering, she raised the cup of coffee to her lips, ready to enjoy that first scalding sip as much as the rich flavor that reminded her of home. Delicious.
She enjoyed another gulp before speaking. “Now all I have to do is keep the pizza hot, the ice cream frozen, and the beer cold.”
“Not a problem. The kitchen comes fully equipped with a warmer and a freezer.”
Tessa placed the foods in the appropriate compartments but kept the coffee to savor as she made preparations. “Do I have time to fix my hair before preparing the ritual bath?”
“If you hurry.”
The caffeine from the coffee kicked in, revving through her veins. “Do you have a mirror?”
“Compliance.”
Tessa pulled her hair into a neat twist onto the top of her head. She didn’t have time to figure out how to make her suit keep her hair in place, but she snagged a food tie from the blue cabinet. “I could do wonders with a curling iron, but this will work.” Tessa pulled a few strands loose around her face.
“You look more feminine.”
“That’s the idea. Kahn has issues with a wife who can defeat him in hand-to-hand combat—without a suit—even if that’s considered an archaic form of fighting here.”
She shivered at the recollection of disgust in his eyes. While she didn’t want to marry, she now most definitely wanted to train her new psi powers and win the Challenge. If that meant marrying Kahn, if that meant having sex, so be it, but she didn’t want him to be revolted every time he looked at her.
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