Owning His Bride (5 page)

On the heels of this threat, he swept her out into the corridor.

* * *

Hunter locked Becca in their quarters on the transport, then sought out the pilot to instruct him to stop at the Interstellar Port so they could take on supplies. The journey to Merro, including the stop at the port, would only take three days, and he planned to spend all his free time ensconced in his quarters with his new bride.

He sat in the bridge of the ship during takeoff, gazing at the brilliant stars and the moon that kept growing larger and larger until they zipped past it. Once they were far enough away from Kemmius and its moon, the pilots upped the speed and the stars became a blur of white lines against a black velvet backdrop. Interstellar travel had always fascinated him as a child, and though he had traveled in space dozens of times, he still experienced a thrill during the takeoffs.

He thanked the pilot and copilot, asking them not to disturb him unless there was an emergency. He navigated the narrow gray corridors until he reached his quarters and paused at the door.

He’d been harsh with Becca before they went to the chapel, had threatened her to ensure she repeated her vows. Most of the women who left Kemmius were happy to leave, even if the guard who claimed them was an ogre. Although if a woman refused to say her portion of the vows, she was still considered the man’s wife. Offering the woman a chance to repeat the vows was just a formality. But he’d heard of the occasional inmate who kicked and screamed all through her time in the chapel, and he hadn’t wanted Becca to behave that way.

Hunter wanted her to want him, wanted to hear her respectfully repeat every word the priest instructed her to say, and so he’d frightened her into submission. His threats had worked too, because she’d stood still before him and softly spoke her vows, not hesitating once, even as she promised to obey him in all things.

He ran a hand through his hair. She hadn’t uttered a word or even raised her eyes to his since they left the chapel. He thought about apologizing and took another step toward the door.

No. If he apologized for ordering her to behave, he might appear weak. She might think him soft and he didn’t want her believing she could do as she pleased. The reality of their situation hit him then, so hard it felt like a punch to the stomach.

After all the freedoms he fought for on Earth, after all the years he spent in prison for fighting back against an increasingly corrupt government, now he actually owned a human being.

He couldn’t free her. Women weren’t allowed to travel to most planets in this sector without a male relative, and she would only end up endangered, probably claimed by another man. Or if someone spotted the small tattoos on her wrists that marked her as a Kemmius inmate, she would be captured and shipped back to the cold planet to serve the rest of her lifetime sentence.

He tried to tell himself he’d done a good deed by taking her from the prison, by keeping her out of the warden’s clutches. But he didn’t know what to tell himself to explain the desire that pumped through him at the thought that she legally belonged to him. His wife and his possession, his own little prisoner.

He cursed under his breath and typed in the security code. The door opened and he entered their quarters. It shut immediately behind him with a click, indicating that it was locked unless he reprogrammed it to open automatically. Not a chance. He didn’t want Becca wandering around the transport without him. Until he grew to trust her, he wanted to know her whereabouts at all times.

He scanned the room and didn’t see her. His ire rose. She’d just vowed to honor and obey him, only to hide from him not an hour after their wedding ceremony.

The room was sparse, with only few pieces of furniture bolted to the floors. The bathroom door was ajar, but no lights were on inside. There weren’t many places to hide in their small quarters. He could find her in seconds if he wished, but he preferred she come out of hiding on her own.

“Becca, show yourself now.” He waited, his impatience growing. “Becca, don’t make me look for you. You won’t like what happens when I find you.” Another threat. He cursed inwardly, but didn’t retract it. If she didn’t reveal herself, he would show her what happened to disobedient wives.

“I’m here,” a small voice came from the bathroom. She slipped out into their room, gave him a fearful look, and dropped her gaze to the floor.

He crossed the room and forced her chin up, forced her eyes to his. “Why were you hiding from me, wife?”

She stared at him but didn’t answer. She swallowed hard and tried to pull from his grasp, but he caught her arms and yanked her against him. Though she resisted him, her body felt soft and welcoming against his.

“I asked you a question, Becca. Why were you hiding from me?”

A defiant spark ignited in her eyes and she ceased her struggles. “Because I don’t know you, Officer Makin. One minute you are kind to me, and the next minute you are cold. I worry you might turn out to be worse than the warden.” Her words came out harsh and angry, and she trembled in his hold. “You could beat me bloody every day if you wanted to, you could even kill me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop you. Forgive me, but I wish I could curl up in the dark bathroom and stay there forever.”

He released her and stepped back, holding his hands out in a gesture of surrender. He hated to see her so afraid of him, and he knew earning her trust would take time. She stood in front of the one window in the room, the stars streaming by beyond her delicate frame. She held her hands in fists at her sides and spread her feet, as if preparing to fight him. She was so small he could subdue her in a second if he wished, but he didn’t want to force himself on her.

He wanted the future he’d dreamed about for the last five years. The island and the small farm. A wife and children. A quiet, simple life on a planet that wasn’t as crowded and as rife with corruption as Earth was.

He nodded at the table with two chairs beside a small kitchen area. “Sit down at the table, Becca, and I will fix you something to eat. We’ll talk and get to know one another a little better, and then you will see that I’m nothing like the warden. Please sit down and give me a chance to get to know you. I suspect you have been wronged by many people in your life, probably mostly men, and I understand that it will take some time for me to gain your trust, but I hope that you will at least give me a chance.”

His little speech seemed to work, because she slowly relaxed her stance and stared at the table. After a few moments of hesitation, she moved away from him, not once showing him her back, and finally sat down at the table.

“Good girl,” he said with warmth. “Now tell me, Becca, what is your favorite food?”

“Wh-what?”

“Your favorite food. There’s a food synthesizer in the kitchen. I can make anything you desire.”

She looked at the small metallic box on the counter. “I’ve never seen a food synthesizer before. Wow.”

“Tell me what you like,” he said, approaching her with slow, careful steps. Once he reached the counter, he leaned against it and grinned. “My favorite food is spaghetti and meatballs, with lots of parmesan cheese of course. It’s been my favorite since I was a child.”

The corners of her mouth turned up, and for a second he thought she might laugh. He settled for a tiny smile. “Well, I’ve always liked lasagna. I haven’t had it in years.”

He turned to the control pad on the food synthesizer. “Looks like we’re going Italian tonight, Becca. I’ll order a salad, rolls, and some wine to go with it. We’ll have to have dessert too. I’m thinking chocolate cake. How does that sound?”

“Like a dream.”

He ordered their salad, rolls, and wine first, and sat the items on the table. Becca watched him intently and a bit cautiously, but she seemed more relaxed than she’d ever been in his presence. He took it as a good sign. He had no delusions they would fall madly in love, but he at least wanted a cordial relationship with his wife. He certainly didn’t want her cowering in fear or hiding every time he walked into the room.

He ordered the rest of the food, then sat down and stared at his new bride from across the table. Even in her prison uniform and with her tangled mess of hair, she was the loveliest dinner companion he’d ever had. She gave him another one of her small smiles and the stars seemed to spin out of control outside the window.

“I know you must be famished, Becca. Please eat. Just promise to listen while I talk.”

“I am starving, and it smells wonderful,” she admitted, a flush spreading up from her neck to her face. “I-I promise to listen while you talk.”

She bit into a roll and her eyes closed for a moment, delight crossing her face. It pleased him to see her enjoying a meal, especially considering how pronounced her ribs had looked during her medical exam. At the time he had seethed inside and wanted to storm back to the council and demand better treatment for the inmates.

He watched her for a while as she dug into her lasagna with gusto, occasionally dabbing her mouth with the cloth napkin he’d placed next to her. She gulped her glass of wine down, and he replaced it with a cup of water, not wanting her to become intoxicated. As frail as she was, it wouldn’t take much to get her drunk.

“If you finish all of that, I can replicate seconds for you.”

She looked up from her plate. “Seconds? Really?”

He chuckled. “Seconds and even thirds if you wish it, Becca.” The huge smile she graced him with nearly knocked him out of his chair. God, she was gorgeous. He’d never seen a woman with eyes so large and blue, and so full of intelligence. “Becca, I’m going to tell you a bit about myself now. I hope once you know more about me, you will trust me better.”

“All right, Officer Makin.”

“Please, call me Hunter.”

“All right, Hunter.” She blushed, as if saying his first name was scandalous.

“I grew up in Florida and I’ve worked in construction most of my life. My father owned a construction company and we mostly built houses. I came from a normal, loving family. When I was twenty-five, my parents died. They were gunned down and the authorities never found their murderer.”

“How awful.” Her face shone with sympathy. “I’m so sorry, Hunter.”

“Thank you. It was awful. Anyway, after they died I discovered my father had been receiving threatening notes from government officials. It seems he was supposed to be installing surveillance cameras into all the houses we built, hidden cameras that the public wasn’t supposed to know about, but my father refused to do so. He didn’t even tell me about it, but once I took over the company, I started receiving the same threatening notes I found in his private files. To make a long story short, I tried to go public and fight the government officials who were violating the basic rights of citizens. I was arrested for tax evasion, a made-up charge, and sentenced to seven years in federal prison. They wanted to make an example of me to the other construction companies, as if making an example of my parents wasn’t enough.”

“Seven years?” She paled. “That’s a long time.”

“It was a long time, and after I was released I had nothing. The government seized my father’s company, and the little money I’d had hidden away didn’t do me very much good.”

Her brows narrowed together and she tilted her head to the side, looking so adorable in her inquisitiveness. “But people with criminal records aren’t allowed to leave Earth. It’s forbidden.”

“A friend of my uncle’s forged documents for me, gave me a new identity. I got the hell off Earth and found my way to Kemmius. The promise of a huge payout after just five years, enough to start my life over, was too good to resist.” His gaze lingered on her. “The promise of a bride was also too good to resist.”

“That’s quite a story,” she said, pushing aside her empty plate. She reached for another roll. “Well, aren’t we a pair? Two former convicts.”

“Do you believe my story, Becca?” He paused and considered whether or not to tell her of the horrors he had experienced in prison, how he’d had to take lives just to survive during the numerous prison riots. Kill or be killed. Taking a deep breath, he decided against it. The full truth of his time in prison might frighten her beyond recovery. He cleared his throat. “I still have one of my original IDs with my real name, as well as news stories about my tax evasion and my parents’ murder.”

He shouldn’t feel the need to prove himself to her, but he didn’t want her thinking he was a hardened criminal. Or a liar. Divulging his secrets to her wasn’t a risk. She was a woman without any rights in this part of space. No one would listen to any stories she tried to tell about him. Even if she contacted the Kemmius high council, they would ignore her. Hunter suspected a large number of guards were former convicts themselves. Forging documents and creating new identities was a thriving black market in every country on Earth. Still, he hoped she believed him, and he held his breath and waited for her response as she stared thoughtfully into his eyes.

“Yes,” she finally said. “I believe you. I don’t see why you would make such a story up, and I’ve heard rumors about the surveillance cameras being an unspoken requirement in every house in the United States. My father was a bit of a conspiracy theorist before he died.”

“I’m sorry you lost your father too, Becca. Is your mother still alive? Or do you have any other family back on Earth? I can help you get a message to any friends or family you have.”

A sheen of moisture glimmered in her eyes, and she blinked hard a few times, until she seemed to reel in her emotions. “That is very kind of you, but my mother passed away years before my father died. I don’t have any other family, and I can’t think of any friends I’d like to contact either. If I’d had real friends, they would’ve offered to take me in after my father died. I used to think Raymond was my only friend in the world, and then I found out he was a monster.”

Hunter stood up and circled the table, then rested his hands on Becca’s shoulders. She gave a small gasp and tensed. “Relax, little one. I won’t hurt you. I promise to be a fair husband to you. You needn’t fear me, and I promise to protect you from any monsters.”