GALLANT (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 3) (41 page)

She was tempted to ask him to make love to her one more time before he left but she was no more of a masochist than he was.

After he was gone, she ordered herself to concentrate on her upcoming audition. In spite of Gallant's assurance that Theodophilus would be lucky to have her and her own self-confidence in her talent, she knew better than to assume it was in the bag. No matter what trick she tried to get her mind on track though, it kept sliding off.

She kept promising herself that she could think about Gallant and how confused she was later, after the audition was over, but his words kept bouncing around in her head.

He had told her he loved her and asked nothing in return. Why? Better question—how? Love was possession, dominance, captivity. It was
not
the freedom to leave. If he really loved her, he would have insisted—

She cut off her own thought by recalling his mother's attitude about love. She'd said it before.

That woman was one smart lady. Obviously, a hell of a lot smarter than she was.

She had just let the only man she'd ever loved walk away.

* * *

Trooper that she was, Cherry gave a spectacular performance for Theodophilus that evening and managed to look happily stunned when he offered her a lead position in the Noronian Performing Company.

The only problem was his returning to Innerworld for her had cost them valuable time. They were committed to a six-month tour throughout the Consociation of Planets, commencing with Norona in two weeks. She could study her roles en route, but it was absolutely necessary that she be prepared to depart Innerworld in two days.

The time should have sped by in a frenzy of activity. Anything would have been preferable to wondering if she had made a terrible mistake about Gallant. Unfortunately for her state of mind, she had very little that needed attending before she could leave and she could only spend so many hours with Aster and a sleeping baby.

It was uncomfortable knowing that she would miss six whole months of Shara's infancy, but Aster promised to maintain a detailed visual record of every important moment and repeatedly assured Cherry that she had to take advantage of this opportunity.

Eventually, the minutes became hours and the sleepless nights passed one after the other, until it was time to board Theodophilus's ship. She couldn't stop herself from glancing into the docking bay where Gallant's ship had been, even though she knew it wouldn't be there.

He was gone. In another hour, she would be also. And the odds against her running into him while they were on tour were at least a zillion to one.

Forget him, Cherry,
she scolded herself.
There's a whole universe of men out there, just waiting to adore you!
With that thought in mind, she pasted on a smile and walked on board.

Theodophilus greeted her briefly then turned her over to one of the crew members for a tour of the ship she would be living on for the next six months. As the fawning young man escorted her from one level to another, she kept wondering how something this enormous could ever get off the ground. Why, Gallant's whole ship would fit—

Damn! There he was again, insinuating himself into her every thought. Since this was a mental handicap she had never experienced before, she fretted over how long it would take to be rehabilitated.

When they reached her quarters, she thanked her guide and promised to have dinner with him some evening. She had been very pleased to hear that she had a two-room suite with a private bath and supply station. Automatically, she thought of Gallant's miniscule cabin and knew before she saw the suite which one she would have preferred walking into at this moment.

The living room was an ultramodern masterpiece of design, and she supposed she would get used to it... sooner or later. Hoping the bedroom had a little more warmth to it, she opened that door.

And gasped.

The room was a picture of femininity in pink-and-white chintz, with a ruffled canopy over a four-poster bed and a decorative dressing screen in the corner. Only one thing was wrong with the picture.

There was a man in it. A very big, dangerous-looking man to be precise, stretched out in the middle of the bed, with his back propped up by a stack of frilly pillows.

Cherry's bewildered gaze traveled from his bare feet, up over tight black leather pants, to a matching vest with no shirt. Two snow white streaks ran through his long black hair and a black patch covered his left eye. Even without the piratical costume, the look on his face was enough to frighten any sensible woman.

But then, no one ever accused Cherry of being sensible.

She took two steps into the room and abruptly stopped again. Around his neck was a black leather collar with a row of short silver spikes sticking out of it and a chain that ran from the collar to a manacle clamped around one bedpost.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. That mindless organ didn't care in the least why he was here, just so he didn't go away again.

Ever.

Seeing him once more was all she needed to confirm how foolish she had been to think she could forget about him. But her mind needed something more before giving in and admitting her weakness aloud. "Explain, please," she said without getting any closer.

"Isn't it obvious?" Gallant said casually. "I'm giving myself to you. To do whatever you want with me. I was a day off Terra when I realized you were absolutely right the whole time. Love does make a slave of you. My mother always said that it was best to accept the inevitable. So, here I am."

"You're crazy," Cherry murmured.

"I'm in love."

"But you despised being a slave."

"Being your slave would be better than living without you. And this way, you don't ever have to worry about my making a slave out of you.
You
are the master, er, mistress, and I'm here to submit to you."

As Cherry's gaze took a second, slower, tour over his muscular body, her eyes twinkled with the possibilities his declaration suggested. She recovered from her shock sufficiently to take a step closer to the bed. "Just so I don't jump to any false conclusions here, exactly how long is this term of slavery?"

"Aah, that is one of the conditions to my subservience. The term is forever."

"I see. But what if I get bored with you?"

His uncovered eye narrowed with warning. "One of my duties as your slave is to make sure you
never
get bored."

She angled her head and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I don't know. I tend to think a slave who did everything I ordered, and agreed with everything I said, would become rather tiresome."

"I think it would be safe for you to assume that I would occasionally refuse to do your bidding and frequently argue the clothes right off you."

She couldn't hold back the grin or the eyebrow wiggle. "Promise?"

"Guaranteed," he said with an answering smile.

"You said there were conditions,
plural,
to your being my slave. What else besides the term?"

"Because of certain arrangements I've made, you'll have to allow me to go without the collar outside of your bedroom."

"What arrangements?"

"I'm still working secretly for the Consociation but it was decided that I needed to change my operating cover. Being a free agent for hire carries too many risks, and it makes it difficult for the Regent to contact me when she wants to. After some consideration, I came up with the perfect solution."

"Are you going to get to the punch line, or do I have to beat it out of you,
slave?"

"If you keep interrupting me, we're never going to get to the good part. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. The solution. As you may have noticed, my previous cover required a fair amount of acting ability. I auditioned for Theodophilus this morning and he admitted that I'm adequate—which is a compliment from that old crank. I've been hired on as a regular member of the Noronian Performing Company."

"What?"
She was too stunned to fully comprehend.

"With a few special privileges that only Theodophilus, and you of course, will know about. After our first stop on Norona, you and I will travel in my ship instead of with the company. Mar-Dot is already flying there ahead of us. In between appearances, we may be asked to handle a problem or two for the Consociation and it would be best if we had independent transportation."

"Did you say we?"

He managed to keep a perfectly straight face as he said, "Didn't I tell you? The Regent officially approved you as my partner."

"Holy stars," she whispered, then repeated the exclamation several decibels louder. A rush of adrenalin urged her to pace back and forth as she absorbed what he was saying. "This is incredible! Never in my wildest dreams could I have come up with this." She started toward him but halted again. "Is that everything?"

He shook his head. "Now we get to the good part." He paused just long enough to make her anxious. "The good part is where you agree to all of the above. Then we make up for lost time."

"Well, let's see. I agree with the part about you working with the Company. And I definitely agree with me being your partner on secret missions. Did you renovate your supply station?"

He chuckled. "You can have waffles for breakfast and toasted marshmallows at night. You'll also have a wider choice of clothing, including undergarments, and by reducing the cargo area, we were able to have a larger water recycler installed. You'll be able to take short, but genuine, showers."

"Okay, then I also agree with traveling on your ship instead of this monster. But that collar," she said, pointing to it, "I don't agree with." His smile faded so quickly, she realized he misunderstood. She hurried to his side, but when her fingers reached out to stroke his cheek, they encountered nothing solid.

The man on the bed was only an illusion! The imaginary Gallant vanished and the real one stepped out from behind the dressing screen... without his eye patch. In the next second, the blatantly feminine decor also disappeared, leaving modern furnishings similar to the outer room.

Gallant answered her unspoken question. "I thought if you were going to reject me, it might be easier to take if I didn't have to experience it firsthand. I was wrong."

Cherry went to him and took his hands in hers. "Oh, love, I'm not rejecting you. All I meant was, I don't want you as my slave, any more than I want to be yours. If we stay together, it should be because we make each other happy. I want you to tell me you love me again and again, yet feel free to leave if you ever stop feeling that way."

She had repeatedly demanded honesty from him and now it was time she faced the truth herself. "Because of you, I learned how wrong I was about love. The right kind of love doesn't enslave you, it sets you free—the way I feel when I'm with you. I should have said this before you left, but I guess it took your walking away for me to fully understand what you'd been trying to show me.

"I love you, Gallant. I don't want us to be slave and master
or
mistress. I want us to be life-mates."

He pulled her into his embrace. "Say it again."

She took a breath and met his heated gaze. "I love you and I want to be your mate."

With a low-pitched growl, he carried her to the bed and made love to her with all the passion of several days of abstinence compounded by a much-needed release of nervous tension.

When Cherry was able to speak again, she said, "I take it that means you accept my counter-proposal?"

He kissed the tip of her nose. "Without a single condition. I shouldn't have been so surprised by your change of attitude. My mother always said a good man eventually gets what he wants if he's patient enough."

"Hmmm. Am I ever going to meet this paragon of parables?"

Gallant frowned. "You and my mother, in the same room, at the same time? I'd rather be dropped on Zoenid wearing that slave collar."

Cherry's fingers trailed lightly down his abdomen as she murmured into his ear,
"Ple-e-ease?"

As her hand crept closer to the sensitive flesh between his thighs, Gallant sighed. "We'll see."

The End

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