Knight, Dee S. - Bride of the Pryde (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read Online Free

said quickly. He pressed a button on his COMM unit.
    “Erik here.” The captain said only two words, but any member of his crew recognized the tightly controlled tension in his voice. The half-hour delay had been hell for a man to whom punctuality was sacred.
    “We’re on our way out now,” Charlie said.
    “About damn time,” Erik replied.
    “Captain, she’s carrying a weapon, a pistol I believe. I haven’t seen it.”
    “When you come aboard stow it in the weapons locker. Stow the rest of her bags in her cabin and show her to the bridge.”
    “Right. Out,” Charlie said.
    “Who was that?”
    “The captain, John Erik. He prefers to be called Erik,” Charlie said playfully, echoing her words.
    “People shouldn’t be allowed to have interchangeable names.”
    “As opposed to rhyming names, huh?” He added a smile to show he was teasing. The woman still had her weapon, after all.
    “He sounded a bit testy.”
    Charlie didn’t answer. He’d worked with John Erik for the past eight years, ever since gaining his pilot’s pin, and the man never stopped at testy. He was either a hundred percent with you or a hundred twenty percent pissed.
    “Well, I’ve had a bitch of a day, so I hope he knows his manners. I want to get on board and stay in my cabin. By the way, how long before we get under way?”
    “Once we get clearance we’ll be at mach in no time.”
    “Good.”
    She sounded calm, but one glance at her stiff posture and how her hands gripped the passenger-seat arms showed she was anything but. Charlie didn’t know if marriage nerves still plagued her or the thought of months of flight alone with the crew bothered her.
    “We have a long trip ahead of us, so try to relax and enjoy the ride. It will be several months before you meet your husband, and you don’t want to spend all that time stressed out, do you? I promise we’ll take good care of you.”
    “When do you expect to arrive in M3859?”
    “About three Earth months.”
    Her jaw clenched. Slowly, she nodded her head. Charlie could almost see the wheels turn in her head. The woman was calculating something, but what? The days she had to wait until her wedding night, when she revealed what was to all accounts a luscious, ripe body to her new husband?
    Lucky bastard.
    “I don’t suppose the captain would consider a slight detour, would he?”
    That was strange. Guess she hadn’t been wishing the time away until she was in hubby’s arms, after all. “You can ask, but I’d wait awhile. As you mentioned, he’s a bit pissed right now.”
    She considered this and then nodded again, this time as though she’d made a decision. “Tell me about the crew.”
    “There are three of us, all pilots. I’m the newest, and I’ve been on board for eight years. Adam Phelps, he’s the XO—that’s executive officer—has been with Erik for almost fifteen years, since Erik first bought Erik’s Pryde.”
    “The Pride?”
    Didn’t she know the name of the ship where she was about to spend the next few months of her life? “Erik’s Pryde. P-R-Y-D-E. He’s from some place in the Euro grid, and it’s their old-world spelling of pride, the emotion. The ship has a little age on her, but she moves right along.” He checked to see how she was absorbing all this. In actuality, she seemed almost disinterested.
    “Anyway, there’s me, Adam, and the captain.”
    “Who wants to be called Erik instead of John.”
    “Right. He says John’s too ordinary a name.”
    She snorted, making him look her way again. She faced him with brows raised. “And he’s extra ordinary?”
    “Yes.” He said it without hesitation because he meant it. John Erik was one of the most amazing men he’d ever met, comparable to his two brothers, Walt and Dan, and that was saying a hell of a lot. “You’ll see.”
    “Yeah,” she said, sarcasm hanging heavily on the one word, “I’ll see.”
    Charlie decided to ignore the attitude. She was under pressure, after all. “I