Read Online Beloved Stranger: Gaian Series, Book 5 by Janet Miller - Free Book Online
Authors: Janet Miller
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woman he’d thought her to be. There wasn’t any excuse she could use for darting him. Even so, she didn’t want to leave. Earlier she’d thought that marrying him had been a means to getting inside the colony and nothing more. She still felt that way—mostly. What had happened between her and Roan had been great…well, okay, better-than-great sex. She’d never forget the way he made her feel.
For a moment in his arms she’d been a different woman, the woman he wanted her to be, someone other than the Sonja Deems the universe was familiar with. She’d liked being that woman for a little while.
But she had a mission, and she wouldn’t let the sudden empty feeling she had at leaving Roan stop her from completing it. She didn’t want to be part of his life, and he certainly had no place in hers.
Sonja stepped through and let the door slide shut behind her. She made a point of stopping and re-securing the door’s lock behind her. She might be sneaking out on him, but she wouldn’t leave Roan unprotected.
Only when she was sure the door lock was good as new did she head down the hallway towards the lift that would take her to the ground floor. Once there she would look for a public terminal that would let her access the mine’s computer system and use her sisters’ names to find their locations.
The lift’s security seemed only directed at restricting entry on going up rather than down. Roan had had to use his data wand to access this floor from the ground, but when she entered and pushed the ground floor button, the lift readily moved and deposited her at the base of the building.
Getting back to Roan’s floor wasn’t going to be a problem since she had no plans for returning to him. Even so, an odd emptiness filled her at how each step took her farther away from him.
Sonja shook her head. This is ridiculous!
In the past few years since losing her sisters and escaping the slavers who’d stolen her from her family’s farm, she’d joined a group dedicated to interfering with the slave traffic in the Outer Colonies. In that time she’d developed a reputation.
She was Sonja, pirate and fearsome scourge of slavers everywhere. She was known for her viciousness, and particularly her knives. There was no way a man could make her feel this way. She couldn’t be getting soft.
Her mission was to find her sisters and get them off this rock, not fall into a happily-ever-after relationship with a Gaian, of all people. Ruthlessly, she suppressed the emptiness and headed back down the path, moving quietly between the buildings. There must be a public terminal somewhere.
Several hours later, though, she was more than a little discouraged. The buildings in the area seemed to be residences with few buildings for public use. Nowhere was there an open terminal.
For a moment she wondered if perhaps she’d made the wrong decision earlier when she’d left Roan’s apartment. It wouldn’t have taken that long to get permission to use his datastore. Once she had, all she would have needed to do was wait for him to leave the apartment before leaving to find her sisters.
That would have been a better plan. So why was she just now thinking of it?
That funny empty, somewhat scary, feeling returned, and Sonja wondered if maybe she hadn’t acted precipitously because she’d been nervous about staying any longer with Roan than she had to. Maybe darting him and leaving in the middle of the night had been her way of coping with something she hadn’t the courage to deal with.
She sat on the bench outside one of the last buildings she’d searched. It had held exercise equipment, running pads, climbing walls and courts for ball games, but no computers or other kind of communications equipment. The bench sat alongside a long pool of water, probably for swimming. As throughout the bubble, trees and flowering bushes surrounded the buildings, keeping the air fresh and sweet-smelling.
The place had the feel of a high-class
For a moment in his arms she’d been a different woman, the woman he wanted her to be, someone other than the Sonja Deems the universe was familiar with. She’d liked being that woman for a little while.
But she had a mission, and she wouldn’t let the sudden empty feeling she had at leaving Roan stop her from completing it. She didn’t want to be part of his life, and he certainly had no place in hers.
Sonja stepped through and let the door slide shut behind her. She made a point of stopping and re-securing the door’s lock behind her. She might be sneaking out on him, but she wouldn’t leave Roan unprotected.
Only when she was sure the door lock was good as new did she head down the hallway towards the lift that would take her to the ground floor. Once there she would look for a public terminal that would let her access the mine’s computer system and use her sisters’ names to find their locations.
The lift’s security seemed only directed at restricting entry on going up rather than down. Roan had had to use his data wand to access this floor from the ground, but when she entered and pushed the ground floor button, the lift readily moved and deposited her at the base of the building.
Getting back to Roan’s floor wasn’t going to be a problem since she had no plans for returning to him. Even so, an odd emptiness filled her at how each step took her farther away from him.
Sonja shook her head. This is ridiculous!
In the past few years since losing her sisters and escaping the slavers who’d stolen her from her family’s farm, she’d joined a group dedicated to interfering with the slave traffic in the Outer Colonies. In that time she’d developed a reputation.
She was Sonja, pirate and fearsome scourge of slavers everywhere. She was known for her viciousness, and particularly her knives. There was no way a man could make her feel this way. She couldn’t be getting soft.
Her mission was to find her sisters and get them off this rock, not fall into a happily-ever-after relationship with a Gaian, of all people. Ruthlessly, she suppressed the emptiness and headed back down the path, moving quietly between the buildings. There must be a public terminal somewhere.
Several hours later, though, she was more than a little discouraged. The buildings in the area seemed to be residences with few buildings for public use. Nowhere was there an open terminal.
For a moment she wondered if perhaps she’d made the wrong decision earlier when she’d left Roan’s apartment. It wouldn’t have taken that long to get permission to use his datastore. Once she had, all she would have needed to do was wait for him to leave the apartment before leaving to find her sisters.
That would have been a better plan. So why was she just now thinking of it?
That funny empty, somewhat scary, feeling returned, and Sonja wondered if maybe she hadn’t acted precipitously because she’d been nervous about staying any longer with Roan than she had to. Maybe darting him and leaving in the middle of the night had been her way of coping with something she hadn’t the courage to deal with.
She sat on the bench outside one of the last buildings she’d searched. It had held exercise equipment, running pads, climbing walls and courts for ball games, but no computers or other kind of communications equipment. The bench sat alongside a long pool of water, probably for swimming. As throughout the bubble, trees and flowering bushes surrounded the buildings, keeping the air fresh and sweet-smelling.
The place had the feel of a high-class
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