Amorous Overnight (33 page)

“Tread carefully, Shelley,” Hastion warned. “The minister speaks the truth.
You
came to
me
in the night, while he was here. You made advances toward both of us.”

“I couldn’t have!” she said desperately. “I’m—God, this sounds like a cliché, but I’m just not that kind of girl.”

Cecine’s scowl deepened. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, Shelley, but it’s too late for second thoughts. You made your mating bed last night and you will lie in it.”

“But I don’t remember!” she shouted at him.

“Then let me refresh your memory,” he said implacably. “Armitran, display audio and video footage of Shelley’s arrival at Ensign Hastion’s quarters last evening.”

Instantly a flare screen appeared in midair, showing a door.

Shelley sucked in an appalled breath. “You record us?”

“All corridors are under surveillance for security purposes. Private areas are exactly that—private. Now, observe. As I recall, Hastion hovered in the doorway for quite some time.”

Shelley saw herself walk up to the door in her robe and put her shaking hand over her mouth. Oh God, was it true?

The door opened, revealing a half-naked Hastion, and the situation went straight to hell. She threw herself at him, even after he tried to warn her off, and then made a beeline for the naked minister in the background, stripping on her way there. Jesus, she didn’t even ask before going down on a clearly surprised Cecine.

She couldn’t bear to watch another minute. Turning away, she said numbly, “I believe you. Turn it off.”

In an instant, he was at her side, folding her in his arms and forcing her face back toward the screen. “Not yet, my little animal. You will acknowledge what you agreed to.”

Shocked to be in such close contact with the naked male, she didn’t struggle. By the time he named her children his, tears were running down her hot cheeks, making the hard fingers holding her still slide against her skin.

Her children. She’d always had a feeling he wanted them and now he had them. What had she done?

“There is no more Bonham, Shelley. His name will not be spoken in my House again. Do you understand me?”

“Please!”

“Tell me you understand, Shelley.”

“I understand!”

“Your name is Shelley Nicole Emray. Say it.”

“My name is Shelley Nicole Emray and I want to be fucked, God dammit!”

Shelley closed her eyes as nausea roiled in her stomach. “Please turn it off,” she whispered brokenly.

When the screen dissolved, the minister let go of her and she slumped to her knees.

“Let us have no more of your craven denials,” he said sharply. Then he snatched his pants off the floor and stalked out of the room naked.

Hastion wasn’t sure how to feel about what he’d just witnessed, but the sight of Shelley’s pale, tear-streaked face, reddened where the minister’s fingers had clamped it, twisted his heart unbearably.

“Shelley, what happened?” he asked softly, wanting to go to her but unwilling to frighten her further.

Her blue eyes focused on him, full of such pain and misery he felt like weeping for her. She swallowed visibly. “Hastion,” she whispered. “I really don’t feel good.”

Then she doubled over and vomited on the polished wood floor.

He was off the bed in an instant. “Oh, my poor Shelley…” Kneeling behind her, he twisted her hair into a messy knot at her nape and then supported her with a hand on her forehead and one across her convulsing stomach.

“Oh God,” she cried, “there’s no pad here. I’m so sorry.”

Then she vomited again.

“The floor is easily cleaned,” he said, kissing her cool, clammy shoulder. “I’m more concerned about you.”

“If I die, will you take the twins home to my parents?” she asked weakly.

“You’re not going to die, silly Terran girl.” The very idea chilled him to the marrow. “The minister wouldn’t allow it.”

“It feels like I have some kind of King Kong flu. My head is killing me. My whole body is killing me.”

“Do you think you’re finished?”

When she nodded, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her down the corridor to her room, sending a cerecom request to clean his as he walked. She didn’t protest when he took her into the bathroom, unwrapped the blanket and set her under the shower’s warm spray. She didn’t protest when he joined her and washed her water-darkened mass of curls. And she didn’t protest when he soaped her body.

She did cringe a bit when he knelt to clean thoroughly between her legs, but he ignored it.

“This is surreal,” she murmured, bracing her hand on his shoulder.

“What is?” he asked absently. Sitting back on his haunches, he picked up one of her feet and scrubbed it gently between his palms.

“All of it. I can’t believe…any of it.”

He looked up at her. “Shelley…”

She wiped a bead of water off his cheek. “Yes?”

“Last night you said that you loved me.”

For a moment she looked uncertain, but then she gave him a chagrined smile. “I did, huh?”

“You did. Was it the illness talking?”

She was silent for a long, taut moment. “Actually,” she finally said, “this whole situation reminds me of when Shauss used that corai stuff to question me, only this time I can’t remember blurting out every humiliating truth I never wanted anyone to know.”

“Truth?”

Shelley nodded. “Truth. It’s…hard to admit it, but last night was probably all my most twisted fantasies come true. I can’t believe I don’t even remember it.”

Relief washed over him. “Not all of them,” he said, trying unsuccessfully to hide a grin. “There’s a reason the minister calls you szistaan…little animal.”

After a brief pause, she said, “I don’t even want to know. Really. I’ve had enough shocks for one day.”

“Maybe just one more?”

“Oh God, what?”

“You told the minister you loved him too.”

She sighed. “Of course I did.”

“More truth?”

“I don’t know. It might have been true last night, in the heat of…whatever it was,” she said, her eyes shadowed, “but today he scares me.”

Hastion wanted to reassure her that she had nothing to be afraid of, but he wasn’t absolutely certain that was true. The minister had reacted to her with unexpected harshness this morning. “He can be a bit intimidating.”

She gave a dry laugh, leaning her head back against the shower wall. “Just a bit, huh?”

“Are you feeling better?” he asked, rising and quickly soaping himself from head to groin.

Her eyes followed his hands avidly. “The nausea’s gone but I still feel like I got beat up for my lunch money. Do you guys keep aspirin around, or something else for aches and pains?”

“Perhaps Ketrok should examine you.”

“Could I see Monica instead?” she asked.

“Of course. I should have thought of that.”

After he rinsed himself, he picked her up.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said self-consciously.

“I’m your mate,” he said. “I enjoy caring for you.”

“Oh, Hastion,” she sighed, laying her head on his chest. “If I didn’t have puke breath, I’d kiss you.”

He grinned as he set her down and reached for a towel. “What is it your people say? I’ll take a rain check?”

While he dried her off, she said, “My own husband never did anything like this for me.”

“Don’t say any part of his name,” he reminded her quickly. “If the minister asked, I would have to tell him the truth and I don’t wish to see you spanked again.”

“He
spanked
me?” she demanded with wide eyes.

“He spanked you and then bit your bottom to mark you his. You truly don’t remember, do you?”

“Hell no, I don’t remember! He bit me too?”

Hastion nodded. Knowing the mirror over the sink was too high for her to see the mark, he said, “Armitran, full-length flare reflection.”

The flare appeared beside them instantly and she turned, twisting her torso and craning her neck to see the circle of teeth marks, which was barely visible now. “Wow. And he called
me
an animal? What, exactly, did I do to earn this?”

“You said, ‘Mark was almost as’—” Hastion paused as his heart thumped. “Peserin’s hell, I just said his name.”

“You mean you can’t say it either?”

“His exact words were, ‘His name will not be spoken in my house again.’”

She grinned. “So does that mean you’ll get a spanking too?”

“I should be so fortunate,” he muttered without thinking.

The grin faded. “Oh, Hastion…”

He knelt to pat her legs and feet with the towel, a flush burning his ears. Apparently he could keep nothing from her.

“Did I enjoy the spanking, at least?” she finally asked.

“I don’t believe you had time to enjoy it. And I’m certain he didn’t intend for you to. If you wish him to deliver an enjoyable spanking, bringing another male’s name into the mating bed is probably not the best way to accomplish it.”

“He’s really mad at me, isn’t he?”

“He thought you were attempting to annul our mating through dishonest means.”

“I wasn’t. It was just such a shock, you know? After what Mar—” She inhaled sharply. “Crap! I mean, after what the prick did to me, it’s kind of hard to trust anyone.”

“I understand.”

“I don’t know if you do,” she said. “Hastion, he never cared about me. I mean At. All. He didn’t even like to touch me. He fed me a line of crap about how intimacy should be saved for our wedding night, and I think somewhere deep down I knew he wasn’t remotely attracted to me because I kept pushing him to have sex. We only slept together that one time, when I went home for the weekend, and that was because I threatened to break it off. I told him it felt like he was using me to get to the Garathani.” She sighed. “Why didn’t I listen to myself? My instincts about him were dead-on.”

“Sometimes the truth is hard to admit even to oneself.” Standing again, Hastion scrubbed the towel over his head.

“God, it was so awful I wanted to break it off anyway—which means I probably never cared about him any more than he cared about me. But he acted really offended after it was over and said it was his first time, that he’d been too embarrassed to tell me. I couldn’t just take his virginity and then dump him, you know?” She chuckled humorlessly. “Talk about irony on top of irony. Looking back, I think he must have been married to someone else. He totally lost it when he found out I was pregnant.”

He paused in the middle of drying his back. “I never thought of that. We know he has a sister—Jasmine used to babysit them both—but we haven’t found a trace of her.”

“Really? Because he told me he was an only child.” She sighed. “It’s kind of scary to realize I really know absolutely nothing about the father of my children.”

“Minister Cecine is the father of your children,” he said firmly. “That’s all you need to know.”

Shelley winced. “He wouldn’t be their father if I hadn’t forced his hand too. This is all my fault.”

Hastion looked away from her again. Although he knew their deceit had been necessary, he hated to see her berating herself for something that really wasn’t her fault, and he had a bad feeling they were going to regret not having been more forthcoming.

“God, I can’t believe I was so damn aggressive again!” She rubbed the heels of her hands over her eyes. “I’m turning into a total hose hound.”

That startled a snort of laughter out of him. “
Hose hound?
”

“That means, um…” She looked uncomfortable.

“I believe I grasp the idea.” He grinned. “I adore Terrans. You’re all so funny.”

Shelley snorted. “Not Mark.”

“Shelley!”

Her eyes widened. “—ers! I said markers. Those aren’t funny at all. And neither was the prick,” she added.

“Excellent recovery,” he murmured.

Dropping the towel on the floor, he went to pick her up again, but she stopped him. “I need to brush my teeth.”

“You’re not using the rinse?”

“What rinse?” When he pointed at the dispenser high on the wall, she laughed. “Oh my God, I’ve been using that for hand soap and wondering why the hell it was way up there.”

“It’s appropriate for both, and you may as well get used to it now. Once your toothpaste runs out, the rinse is all you’ll have and it’s ten times more effective at cleansing your teeth.”

“I like brushing my teeth! It keeps my gums healthy.”

“So will this.”

She eyed him skeptically. “What does it taste like?”

“Like water. Just try it. Stand underneath and open your mouth.”

“All right, but if my mouth still tastes nasty, I reserve the right to brush.”

“Reservation noted.”

When she moved below the dispenser and reluctantly opened her mouth, he squirted a shot of the clear liquid directly onto her tongue. “Swish it around for a few seconds and then spit it in the basin. Normally I’d tell you to swallow it, but with your stomach unsettled, you’d best not.”