Honour Read Free Page A

safe and comfortable.”
    She blinked and looked at him, trying to make his face stay steady. “You know what would make me feel better?”
    “What?”
    “I want to talk to the base. I want to know that they are safe and that the Raiders left them alive and well.”
    He cocked his head. “That isn’t protocol.”
    “ I am not protocol. I am a Terran. We defy the rules and force new ones.” Her defiant words were muted when she yawned.
    “Go back to the garden. Have a nice soak. I will see what I can do.” He patted her shoulder again, and the guards appeared as if summoned.
    They walked back with her and took her right to the groomers. She was carefully undressed, scrubbed, soaked and scrubbed again.
    Pouting was not Honour’s style, but she really felt put upon when she was flopped on a stone and oil was poured on her back. Strong hands worked at the muscles tightened by the stimulants, and Honour dozed.
     
    She was flat on her belly on warm stone with strong hands rubbing oil down her back before massaging her shoulders.
    “I applaud your efforts to avoid me.”
    Her eyes opened wide as the voice from her dreams came to her ears. “Um, thank you?”
    “You are very welcome. I was worried that you had found a way to shut me out. I am relieved to find that it was a simple matter of stimulants. Well done. None of the others figured that out. They are surprisingly docile to my demands.”
    He ran his hands down her spine to her buttocks and back up again.
    “So, I am asleep on the massage table right now?”
    “My massage is only slightly different than the one you are receiving while you sleep.” He moved his hands down to the backs of her thighs and kneaded at her skin.
    “Why the elaborate testing? Why are you trying all of us on for size, so to speak?”
    “I choose a bride, that bride rules with me, not just a city, nor a country, nor even a world, but an entire star system. I need a woman of an identifiable species, strong mind, strong body and creative means of thinking. The sexual component is vital, but so is the psychic link.”
    “Why is it you who chooses?” She blurted it out, but what the hell, it was her unconscious mind.
    He chuckled. “I have the right, I have the power and I have the funds. These are all factors that have enabled men to choose their women throughout history. Even your histories. Either the women surrender to their situation or they find ways to entertain themselves. This testing is to make sure that my bride will never be bored enough to seek another’s bed.”
    Honour pushed herself up on her elbows and looked back at the shadows that cloaked him, even in her dream. “Why can’t I see you?”
    “It is not necessary. You can hear my voice, feel my touch. I will learn you as you learn me.”
    She shivered; he was right, his touch was hypnotic. He drew slow circles on her skin, climbing back toward her waist with designs on her inner thighs.
    When he parted her thighs with his hands, she jerked awake.
     
    Her heart was pounding and her sex was damp. She looked around, and the nearby groomer got to her feet and put a robe around Honour with easy movements. “The short rest did you good, lady, but you need real sleep.”
    Honour grimaced and drank the tea she was given. There was a bitter aftertaste that reminded her of a sedative she had been given once. Oh, damn.
    The guards helped her back to her room, checked her to make sure she had no more leaves, and after they had run through her room in search of the same, they left her alone.
    Honour wasn’t able to stay awake any longer. She dropped into bed and hoped that the mysterious host was done playing with her.
    She never was that lucky.
     
    Honour was standing on the edge of a cliff. The forests stretched as far as the eye could see.
    “It is amazing, is it not? I am always so proud when I see it from this vantage point.” The host was there behind her. He put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed her arms.
    She