Jeannie Holmes - The Mammoth Book of Futuristic Romance

Carrollus unfastened his, and then leaned across me to press a series of buttons on the arm of my chair.

The web holding me to my seat released me.

“Ms Selkirk,” Grisham said, “you’ve saved our lives. I doubt you’ll ever know what that means to us.”

Registering the regret in his voice, I levered myself to my feet. The icy pulse of fear in my gut made me waver.

Trygg closed a hand around my upper arm to support me.

The resulting shower of internal fireworks annoyed me.

“Don’t you dare tell me I’ve seen too much and that you can no longer afford to send me home.”

“That is the problem,” Grisham said.

“It isn’t,” I countered. “Do an internet search on UFO abductions. Have a look at how the people who report them are treated. No. Wait. I’ll demonstrate.”

On autopilot, I stuck my hand in my jacket pocket. My cellphone was still there. Why?

Commander Carrollus didn’t strike me as careless. He’d have searched me. Why leave me my phone?

Had he assumed it was useless on the far side of the moon?

We weren’t out that far, yet.

I yanked the phone out of my pocket and lit the screen. One bar. Must be a satellite still in range. Lucky me. I hit “quick dial” for Jill, and then punched the “speaker” button. The line clicked twice, and then began ringing.

I caught the concern in the old man’s face and, shaking off Carrollus’s hold, I put distance between us.

Jill picked up mid-ring.

“Fin!” she said, her voice carrying through the room. “How’d the interview go?”

“You’re on speaker,” I said.

“So I hear. The interview. Spill.”

“About that,” I said. “Turns out the interview was a front for a bunch of aliens who’ve kidnapped me for sex. I’m not going to make your Christmas party.”

Alarm spiked in Grisham’s face. It warmed my heart.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Jill grumbled.

I turned the phone and an I-told-you-so glare on the old man.

Carrollus, trying not to smile, seemed abruptly to find the toes of his boots fascinating.

“I really won’t make the party,” I said.

“It went that well?” she prodded, her tone riding high on excitement.

“That remains to be seen. I can’t say much.”

Jill gasped. “You’re under NDA already?”

“I suppose a non-disclosure agreement is one way to look at it,” I said. “Look. Jill, you aren’t going to see me for a while.”

“This isn’t you trying to get out of the holidays, is it?” she grumbled. “You aced the interview and now you’re holed up in some secret lab? That had better be some damned fun research.”

Carrollus stared at me.

“I can’t answer that,” I said. “And this will be the only call I’m allowed. I’ll have to give up the phone in a minute.”

“How long will you be gone?” she demanded.

I pinned a meaningful look on Grisham. “Unknown.”

“You have to be back in time for Christmas,” she protested.

“I’m nobody’s present, Jill.”

“Because you’re afraid to care for anyone, again. That’s your Christmas gift from me to you, my professional, psychiatric evaluation. No charge. Finlay. What do I tell the school?”

“Nothing.”

“Your students will think—”

The phone went dead.

I rubbed my forehead and tried not to see the sudden concern crinkling Carrollus’s brow. I handed him the phone.

“You misled your friend about us,” he noted as he took the cell, pulled the battery, and pocketed both, one on either hip.

“A demonstration. You can put me back without fear because no one will believe me if I say I was abducted by aliens.”

“The demonstration is not lost on me,” the captain said, his tone grave. “You ceded us thirty days.

Allow us to use that time to thank you properly for your assistance. Commander? Escort Ms Selkirk to her quarters.”

All the words were right. He insinuated that he’d send me home, but something in Grisham’s tone told me he didn’t intend ever to let me go. I swallowed a huge, jagged lump of fear.

“Finlay—” Carrollus said. He took my hand and placed it in the crook of his arm.

My heart nearly tripped over itself. Damn biology.

He ushered me through the doors of the command center, back to the elevators, waved one open, and escorted me inside.

When I attempted to draw away from him, he tightened his grip on my hand. He gave a verbal command I assumed equated to a floor number.

“You’ve put me in a difficult position,” he noted as the elevator began moving.

Guilt lurched through my chest, but I mentally strangled the emotion. I turned to face him.

“Funny,” I said when I could be sure my tone would remain neutral. “I could say the same of you.”

He met my eye with a direct gaze that unnerved me. “Yes.”

“Especially since your captain doesn’t intend ever to let me go home.” I refused to back down, even as my body heated.

His gaze shifted to my lips.

“I’ve been ordered to ensure that when your thirty days are up, you will not want to leave us.”

Liquid fire dumped straight to my lower belly. I clenched my teeth to keep from telling him that his job wouldn’t be so hard.

“I get the impression you’d put me back, if it were up to you,” I persisted, my breath suddenly in short supply, “even though you brought me here in the first place.”

As if unaware of what he did, he smoothed a strand of my hair where it fell over the collar of my jacket. He wound the curl around his finger.

I held my breath. The subtle electricity of his touch smashed into my senses.

Desire darkened his eyes, even as he frowned. “Yes.”

He didn’t like being attracted to me.

Despite his reluctant response, or maybe because of it, arousal slid hot and wet into my lower body. I gasped. Did I really want someone who didn’t want to want me?

“So put me back,” I forced myself to rasp. “You could pick any number of women who’d be less trouble than I am.”

He smiled, but lines that looked like pain creased his forehead. With a gentle tug, he freed himself from my hair. “Not possible. Not now.”

“Why not?”

The elevator stopped. The doors opened. He led me out.

“What you said to your friend on the phone,” he said, glancing at me, “‘I’m nobody’s present.’ What does that mean?”

“You heard her assessment,” I said, pressing my voice flat.

“You’re afraid to care? You have no one?”

I detected no sympathy or pity in his tone, just straightforward curiosity. “No.”

I felt the look he ran over me as a caress, and had to suppress a shiver despite the hurt gripping me.

“Look. I buried my heart a long time ago. That makes me no use to you.”

“Heartless? Is that what you think you are?” Carrollus murmured.

Hot blood flooded my face.

“You aren’t. I’ll prove it,” he said, disengaging his hand from mine. “I’ll be right back.”

He ducked into a door that closed behind him.

Beneath my feet, the vibration of the engines eased to the point that they became undetectable. Orbit achieved, I gathered.

When Carrollus emerged, he carried a rumpled package in one hand. He held out his hand to me.

“Fewer than thirty humans have seen the far side of the moon. If you can keep it a secret, I’ll make you one of them.”

I gasped at the unexpected thrill. I think I bounced as I tucked my hand into his. “Yes!”

Chuckling, he led me through a maze of corridors to a point low on the ship. He unlocked a door. It opened on what looked like a glass bubble.

The pockmarked lunar surface spread out before me, a slender crescent illuminated by the sun, the rest cast in shadow. It looked close enough to touch. For a split second, I hesitated, overwhelmed by the sheer wonder of seeing something only a handful of humans in the history of my world had seen.