Honour Read Free Page B

looked down and noted that her clothing was missing. “Why am I here?”
    “Because, I need you. I need a living link to the outer worlds. A voice for the modern age. They only call upon me when they have desperate need, so if I am needed, I need a woman who can stand with me.”
    He pressed a kiss to her neck.
    Shivers overtook her. “Why not ask for volunteers?”
    “I did. They did. No government would willingly part with a Terran just for the sake of an experiment for a few months. If you are the one, they will accept this choice gladly, but they would not offer you up.”
    “So, you had them bring me here. Threaten the lives of the people I worked with and dragged me from my holiday.”
    He sighed and continued to kiss at her neck and shoulder. “I did not know where you were, merely that you were the nearest unattached member of your species and gender.”
    “Flatterer.”
    “Despite my interest in your species, it is you in particular that matches what I was looking for in a mate.”
    “If that is true, why are the other women still here?”
    “I did not want to frighten you. If everyone else disappeared on the first night, it would have upset you, and I am not yet ready to meet you face to face.”
    “Why not?”
    He turned her in his embrace, and while she could not see the details of his body, she could feel them. It was a dramatic melding of heat and muscle. She flattened her hands to his chest and pushed, but he wasn’t yielding.
    “I am not complete yet. My body is being tailored to match yours and that takes time.”
    She blinked. “Are all the other candidates getting the same speech?”
    His grip on her tightened. “No. You are the one I have chosen. The others merely have conversations with my shadows while I am speaking with you.”
    Honour shifted her hips against him. “Conversation?”
    He laughed. “Simply conversations.”
    She curled her fingers into fists. “How did you get the roses?”
    “I have had that pattern on hold for a few hundred years. It was put on file until we could find one of your kind for the selection process. The moment that your people were released into the depths of space, I cultivated those flowers in the hope that one of yours would be found near enough for this moment.”
    One hand caressed her spine and the other stroked her cheek. “Your skin is as soft as the petals on that flower.”
    She didn’t know if she was blushing, but she couldn’t look into the dark, shifting shadows where his face should be.
    He pressed a kiss to her temple and worked down her face.
    The one question surfaced again and again. “What are you, exactly?”
    He sighed and turned her to face the alien world once again. “Do you see that endless green canopy?”
    “Yes.”
    “That is me. For five thousand years, I have guarded the Freyalki. When they need me to help them with the worlds around them, they bring a mineral into the heart of the forest and leave it. It is the catalyst for the largest and oldest tree to begin growing a pod. My new body is within that pod, and it lets me move on the surface and speak with my people.”
    Honour tilted her head as he nibbled at her neck. “What do you need me for?”
    “I require a bride who can help me leave Yalki and make treatises with the races in the area. Through you, I will have a link to the animal worlds, and our symbiosis will keep me stable when it comes to visiting the neighboring systems.”
    “What do I gain in return?” She shivered as his hands cupped her breasts.
    “You gain the rule of an entire star system.”
    “That sounds like more of a job than a bonus.”
    “I am sure that I can find something to make the effort worth your while.” He slid his fingers between her thighs and parted her sex.
    “Sex isn’t usually something I stand in line for.”
    He laughed and whispered, “You haven’t felt the way I do it. You keep waking yourself up.”
    He pressed his fingers against her while his mouth sucked at