Read Online Alien Overnight by Robin L. Rotham - Free Book Online Page B

postage stamp, but otherwise, she’d never felt better.
    “That’s good. Can you open your eyes for me now?”
    “I don’t know. They’re pretty heavy.”
    “Just try, okay?”
    Her sigh this time was long-suffering. “If you insist.”
    Her first thought was that someone had been doing some funky renovations in the hospital wing. Everything was blue, a startling iridescent blue.
    “ Hello !” she exclaimed weakly. “Was there a sale on spray paint at Home Depot?”
    “Not exactly.” Shelley’s smiling face came into view. “You’re aboard the Heptoral .”
    At Monica’s blank look, she clarified, “The Garathani ship.”
    “Wow, really?” Monica tried to sit up, but the wave of nausea that washed over her when she moved convinced her that was a really bad idea.
    “Just lie still, okay? The commander will explain everything when he gets here.”
    Shocks of excitement skittered down her spine. She was on a spaceship! She turned her head and looked around, unsurprised by the sleek, Spartan appearance of what must be one of the ship’s four infirmaries. Hers appeared to be the only bed out of six currently occupied.
    “What’s wrong with me?” she finally thought to ask, anxiety welling in her chest.
    “You’re fine now, sweetie,” Shelley assured her.
    “So what happened, then? Why am I here?”
    “I’d rather let Commander Kellen explain that, if it’s all the same to you.”
    “But why?” she demanded.
    40
    Alien Overnight
    “Quit haranguing your faithful sidekick, Monica. She’s under orders to leave the explanations to me.” Kellen’s voice swept over her like a balmy summer breeze and her eyes closed reflexively.
    Forcing her lids up again, she countered the dreamy feeling by mustering a glare as he stepped up beside the bed.
    “Commander,” she acknowledged. “Care to clue me in about what’s going on?”
    “I’ll do that, just as soon as Nurse Bonham has assured herself that you’re well.”
    “If she can stare daggers like that, she’s definitely on the mend,” Shelley declared with a broad grin. Then she leaned down and planted a kiss on Monica’s forehead. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Don’t ever scare me like that again, you hear me?”
    “Do my best,” Monica agreed thickly. How had she ever lived without friends?
    “I’ll come back as soon as I can.” When Shelley reached the door, she turned and said severely, “Be nice to the commander, Gothchild. He saved your life. If he wasn’t so big and scary, I’d have kissed him instead of you.”
    “It’s not too late,” Kellen interjected quickly, but Shelley just smiled and left the room. He turned to Monica. “I’m not that scary, am I?”
    His plaintive tone earned him a grin.
    “To a five-foot-two pansy, yeah, you’re that scary.”
    “But not to you.”
    “Nah. You’re just a big marshmallow.” Planet Narthan notwithstanding.
    “You didn’t seem to think so at our last meeting.”
    The frown pulling down his brow curled something in Monica’s stomach. Vague memories of that confrontation teased the edges of her mind, but she couldn’t recall the details with any accuracy. She did remember being terrified, but she couldn’t imagine he’d been the cause of it. More likely, she’d been scared out of her wits by whatever the hell had seized her body.
    “I think I was really out of my head with pain that day. I hope I didn’t say anything to hurt your feelings.” It crossed her mind that he might not have feelings, at least not as she knew them, but she wasn’t taking any chances. “How long has it been, anyway?”
    Kellen’s eyes were dark as they watched her.
    “Ten days.”
    “Holy crap, really? What was wrong with me? Did it require surgery? Why did you bring me here? And how did we—”
    “Let’s take one question at a time, little Terran.” He smiled. “Yes, you required some relatively minor surgery. We arrived here by molecular flare, which is an advanced technology we