“I’d like to invite you and Jerred over to my ship to share a meal,” he continued. “I’m sure you’d enjoy the opportunity to meet more of my crew.”
“We’d be delighted,” Jerred said, his tone anything but. “I suppose it’s too much to hope that you’ll leave the ship untouched while we enjoy your hospitality?”
“Yes, that would be too much to hope for,” Josiah said. “I don’t trust you, Jerred. I’ve never made a secret of that. Now you’re on my territory and we’ll do things my way.”
She shivered, and Jerred squeezed her again, as if trying to comfort her. It was a nice gesture, but it wasn’t enough. She didn’t like Josiah, not one little bit, and she’d been a waitress long enough to trust her instincts where strangers were concerned.
“We’ll leave immediately. Jerred, would you like to take the lead?” Josiah asked politely. Jerred nodded tightly, then dropped his arm from her shoulder to take her hand. She gripped his fingers gratefully.
“How long will we be off the ship?” she whispered. Jerred shrugged, then smiled reassuringly at her as he led the way to the airlock.
It took them less than five minutes to make the short trip to Josiah’s station. She’d known it was big, but as they walked out of the airlock and down the corridor, she realized it was more than a small space habitat. It was a fortress. There were tough-looking men everywhere, all carrying weapons and eyeing them suspiciously. Several times she thought she spotted women, and even a child or two peering down from an overhanging railing, but it was hard to tell. The lighting was just a bit dimmer than standard.
They were escorted to a small, well-appointed room, and Josiah spoke again.
‘You’ll find toiletries in the fresher, and I had them round up some clothing for you,” he said. “We’ll have dinner in an hour. I anticipate you’ll be with us for a while, so make yourself comfortable.”
He gave them a mocking bow, and then the door slid shut behind him. She turned to Jerred, and saw to her disgust that he had a bemused smile on his face.
“You can’t tell me this was part of the original plan,” she asked. “You said it would be a quick meeting. I don’t think this man intends to let us go!”
“That’s a distinct possibility,” he said softly. “At least at the moment. Don’t worry, though.”
“Easy for you to say,” she snapped, throwing herself down on the bed. She draped one arm across her eyes, and decided that Jerred’s ship really wasn’t so bad after all. At least he didn’t lock her in the cabin.
“What are we going to do now?” she asked after a moment. To her disgust, her voice wavered.
“I think we should just relax,” he said. “I would imagine we’ll be treated to a very nice dinner. Josiah likes to show off.”
“Lovely,” she muttered. “And after that?”
“If things go well, we’ll be done here within the next cycle and be on our way.”
“Do I want to know what will happen if things don’t go well?”
“You may want to be careful not to display too much personal loyalty toward me,” he said after a brief pause. “There are always opportunities for people with Josiah. You may wish to examine them.”
“Wonderful,” she muttered, and rolled over onto her stomach. She thought longingly of Manya’s, where all she had to think about was filling drink orders. Granted, good waitressing was a challenging job, but it was fairly straightforward. People ordered drinks, she brought them.
Nobody ever locked her up in the process.
She felt the bed depress as he came to sit next to her, and his hand rubbed slowly up and down her back.
“I’m sorry that you’re caught in this,” he said after a moment. “I really didn’t anticipate that we’d be here this long, let alone that we’d be leaving the ship.”
She tried to reply, but to her disgust a snuffling noise came out instead. She was crying, dammit. It wasn’t fair. She burrowed her head in the covers, allowing him to rub her back steadily as the tears flowed. It started slowly at first, but the more she thought about everything that had happened to her, the more she felt like crying. Her home had been destroyed. She’d been forced to leave Manya’s. Now she was stuck in a cabin that belonged to some damn space pirate, all because her “rescuer” had business with him. Things didn’t look good. It felt good to cry, but she wasn’t able to keep it up for long. Her natural pragmatism kept rearing its head, demanding that she get control of her emotions and figure out the next move.
After a while she sat up, wiping her face with her fingers. He sat next to her, his eyes filled with such compassion and concern that it hurt. Without thinking, she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. He kissed her back, a soft, gentle kiss that seemed to wash over her with infinite patience. It was enough to make her want to cry again.
She reached up her arms to deepen the kiss, but as she did so the chamber door slid open and a young woman stepped in. She looked past them at the wall, carefully ignoring their embrace, and held something out stiffly before her.
“Captain said to bring you this,” she muttered. “To wear for dinner. Said your coverall was ugly.”
Jerred stood and took the swath of fabric from her, and she turned to leave the room. Giselle waited until she was gone before she stood and joined him.
“Nothing like a vote of confidence from your captor,” she said wryly. “What is it?”
“It seems to be a dress,” he said. She took it from him and held it up. Her breath caught.
It was a lovely, filmy floating thing, made of some kind of shimmering fabric she didn’t recognize. The color, a deep, emerald green, would provide the perfect foil for her reddish curls. It was generously cut, too, to accommodate her chest. A chill washed over her as she realized just how closely Josiah must have examined her body.
“You might as well put it on,” Jerred said softly. “He won’t be happy until you do. I would imagine you’ll look lovely in it. He has good taste.”
“I can’t decide which of you I like least right at this moment,” she muttered acidly. “I really can’t.”
She stalked off toward the fresher without waiting to hear his reply.
To her disgust, the dress did look lovely. Incredible, in fact. She’d never seen herself look so fine before. The fabric’s color was perfect for her complexion, giving her a soft glow like a goddess come to life. It did wonderful things for her chest, too. She’d always been well-endowed, but the cut of the dress celebrated the voluptuousness of her figure with a new level of comfort. Whoever had designed it was a genius, she thought. It supported her very well, yet left her feeling as sexy as if she were wearing nothing at all.