Beloved Stranger: Gaian Series, Book 5 Read Online Free Page A

wanting, wanting everything he could give her as a man. Where his chest met hers, he felt her heartbeat racing, matching the pounding he felt in his. They were matched. It was inevitable.
    Maybe even now she saw it. “Will you marry me?”
    She didn’t laugh this time. “Yes…” She drew the word out. “Yes, I think I will.”
    He let out the breath he didn’t even know he was holding. Pushing up on his arms he rose off her, moving to a sitting position. He pulled her up to sit as well. From the pocket of his pants he pulled the marriage band he’d made earlier in the day and fastened it around her wrist.
    He pulled her hand to touch his own naked wrist. “You have a band for me?”
    “A band?” She sounded dazed. “Oh, yes.” She fumbled about and then he felt her wrap something around his wrist. The cool feel of the metal band was a comfort he’d sometimes wondered if he would ever know. With a sudden surge of joy he realized that he’d done it. He was a married man.
    He tugged her into his arms again and kissed her, this time in celebration. “Come on.” Roan practically leapt off the platform and onto his feet, pulling her with him.
    “Come where?” She sounded even more confused than before. “Aren’t we going to…”
    She thought he was going to make love to her in a dark room? Sometimes he knew couples did that, too overcome by desire to wait, but he’d always known that wasn’t his style. He grabbed her robe from where he’d left it on the hook and wrapped it around her, pulling the hood and mask over her face.
    “I’ve waited a long time for this. When I make love to my wife for the first time it will be on a bed, after a good dinner and a warm bath so neither of us smells like blood. I also want light so I can see your face.” He grabbed his robe and pulled it on, replacing the hood and mask.
    When she spoke again she’d apparently regained some of her earlier composure. “You’ve got it all planned out, I see.” Again she sounded amused.
    “You have no idea.” He opened the door and ushered her through.
    He directed her over to the desk at the room’s exit. The marriage meet complex was built as part of the spaceport on the outskirts of the mine. It was one of the few places outsiders were allowed.
    From here they’d take a shuttle to his residential bubble and his apartment. He’d order a good dinner for them, they’d take a bath, and then there was his bed…
    But first there were some details. He showed the mining official his banded wrist. “Roan Duman. Prisoner alpha-delta-four-seven-eight-two-zero. We’re married.”
    The man looked up at him with clear amusement. “Congratulations. But don’t you think you should introduce yourself to your wife first?”
    Roan thought he heard a distinct chuckle from the white-clad woman standing next to him.
    Feeling like an idiot, Roan pulled off his hood and mask and faced his bride. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. My name is Roan Duman.”
    She stood for a moment, and he thought through the mask she must be staring at him, taking in what he looked like. Roan had no delusions that he was the handsomest man around, but he hoped she wasn’t too disappointed. For a brief moment he wondered if she’d turn and run back the way she’d come in.
    Reaching up she pulled up the mask and hood in one gesture, uncovering her face. The long hair he’d touched in the dark room spilled down her back in a flow of light gold and she looked up at him with wide eyes as blue as the sky over Gaia, a sky he hadn’t seen in ten years. Her face was absolutely lovely, and it took his breath away.
    “My name is Sonja. Sonja Deems.” She smiled at him, and he was forever lost in her loveliness.
     

Chapter Three
    Sonja thought wryly that her new husband looked like someone had whapped him in the stomach. She’d known he’d probably be pleased at her appearance, but Roan seemed more than that. He looked positively stunned.
    Well, they didn’t get many