Read Online Ambasadora (Book 1 of Ambasadora) by Heidi Ruby Miller - Free Book Online Page A

agreed not to
talk about this for a while.”
    “It’s been almost a month
since I mentioned it.” She propped herself up by an elbow.
    “That’s only a month, not a
while.” He knew that wouldn’t pacify her. They would end up in the same
argument they always did recently.
    “Do you think you can do
better than me,” she said. Her tone implied she didn’t quite believe it,
but she’d lost a bit of her confidence since her abdunction.
    How could I do better?
    Mari’s insecurities about her
coral-colored eyes were unfounded in David’s opinion. She couldn’t help that
she had a reaction to a vaccine while living on Deleine. Besides, it gave her
individuality in a society of tired copies. Of course, that’s why Dale could
fetch such a high price for her from the psycho.
    David’s real concern was Mari’s
age and inexperience. Not only was he her first real relationship, but the
first and only man she had ever been intimate with. That worried him. She was
too young to be thinking about marriage and children. There was too much life
for her yet to live. Armadan males often started families much later, after
their service to the fleet came to an end, but Socialites always jumped right in,
practically after puberty. Just the cultural variations, he supposed. Still, a
guilty little part of him felt as though he were taking advantage of her. He
needed to be sure of his feelings and hers before they took another step.
    He realized she was still talking
when she asked, “Or are you just holding out for a battle maiden?”
    “I’ve had lots and lots of
battle maidens,” he said. He meant it as a joke, but she didn’t need to
know it was true.
    She flicked him in between the
eyes, the purse of her lips daring him to continue.
    “All I meant was if I had
wanted a military woman as my prime, then I had lots— a couple of— opportunities
to do so.” He stroked her cheek, enjoying the feel of her soft skin.
“We’ll talk about this another time, I promise.” He leaned over and
kissed her until he could think of something else to talk about, wondering at
the morality of using his kiss as a distractor.
    “Are you coming with me to the
Hub to pick up our ambasadora today?” he asked. Mari was always ready to venture
off the ship.
    When her mouth became very small,
he knew this morning would end in a fight no matter what. “ Our ambasadora?” she asked. “So, that’s it, isn’t it? You’re waiting for
a chance to snag a Face of the Embassy. Go ahead and deny it.” She sat up
and folded her arms over her bare breasts.
    David caressed her thigh under
the duvet, hoping to soothe her a bit. “Mari, you’re making me crazy with your
jealousy.”
    “So, you aren’t going to
deny it?”
    She hadn’t heard a thing he said.
He rested his head against her leg in defeat. “Deny what, Mari? Deny
what!” This just reinforced his earlier opinion that she was too young for
him. Dealing with a nineteen year-old’s insecurities frustrated him, but it
also made him feel alive in a way even combat hadn’t. Each day he stayed with
Mari, he came closer to reconciling those opposites. Even with today’s fight,
he favored feeling alive.
    “I need to go,” she
said. “I promised Geir I’d help him with the mid-day meal.” She rolled
out of the duvet and away from David, a little pout on her thin lips. It was
petulant, but arousing.
    “Mari.”
    She walked over to the chair
where her clothes lay. David forgot their fight as he watched her slip on her
little mauve top and shorts while she hummed some song he had never heard
before.
    “Mari.”
    When she pulled on matching
thigh-high boots, he considered taking her back to bed, boots and all. She
might be a little short, but her legs were long, and those boots made them even
longer.
    “Mari.”
    She studied the line drawing on
the wall, trying to ignore him as he pulled on pants and a shirt, but he caught
her peeking at his body anyway. It was one of the things she