Read Online Beloved Stranger: Gaian Series, Book 5 by Janet Miller - Free Book Online Page B

second man, who must be Earny, said. “But what’s she doing out after curfew? And why the bag?” He pointed to her small duffle still sitting on the bench where she’d left it.
    Roan gave a rueful grin. “I guess I didn’t wear her out quite enough. Did you really need to go swimming right now, honey?”
    Swimming? Sonja blinked at him before realizing he was suggesting her swimming clothes were in the bag. Sonja quickly decided to go along with the ploy. “You know how hard it is to change from ship time, and when I heard there was a swimming pool I got so excited.”
    She pretended to look longingly at the vast expanse of dark water and suppressed a shudder at the thought of getting into it. Even if she could swim, which she couldn’t, the water was no doubt far too cold to be comfortable. “I guess I should have waited until morning.”
    Roan laughed and threw an arm around her shoulders. The weight of it was comforting even if the hand clutching her shoulder was doing so a little too tightly. “You’re right, that would have been a better plan.” He turned to Barnat and Earny. “I’ll take her home now. Sorry you were bothered. Come by tomorrow and I’ll find something to make it up to you.”
    Both uniformed men cheered up at the obvious bribe and after a couple more pleasantries bid them good night. Once they were gone, Roan’s smile disappeared. With a quickness she didn’t expect, he searched her pockets, finding her stunner and one of her knives as well as her lock pick. His eyes hardened as he stared at them. He pocketed the weapons without a word, then grabbed her bag with one hand and her arm with the other.
    “Don’t say another word until we’re back. Understand?” he whispered in her ear.
    Sonja went docilely, happy to still have two knives but not happy at the tone in Roan’s voice. He pulled her down the pathways to the apartment, moving much quieter than she would have expected from such a big man.
    When they got back and the door was secure, she took another look at the dark clothing he was wearing and made a guess. “So how long were you following me?”

Chapter Six
    Roan tossed the bag onto the couch, trying desperately to get hold of his temper. It was his rage that had always gotten him into trouble before, and badly as he wanted to let it loose, he knew he couldn’t do that in this situation. Something or someone would get hurt.
    Hurt even worse than he was right now. Making love to his wife last evening had been the best experience of his life. Getting jabbed by whatever had been in that needle of hers and then waking to find her gone had been close to the worst.
    His wife had left him. Made love to him, drugged him and then left him, without a word, without an explanation. Just walked out the door, taking her bag with her.
    And she had the audacity to ask the first question when he was the one wanting to wring answers out of her? It was unbelievable.
    Roan took several deep breaths before answering. “I found you about an hour ago.”
    She frowned. “How?”
    He pointed to her wristband. “There’s a short-lived tracer in it. Won’t work for more than a couple of days, but until you had a tracker inserted I wanted to be sure I could find you if we got separated.”
    She glared at her wristband. “I guess I should have taken it off. But you were able to follow me for an hour and I didn’t notice?”
    Her eyebrows went up, and he realized she was impressed. What kind of woman was impressed he could follow her without being seen? Not what she’d first appeared to be, with her outer colony peasant skirt and blouse, that was for certain. Then she’d looked like some kind of farm girl.
    Some sweet farm girl she’d turned out to be with her stealth equipment and weapons. Who was this woman he’d married?
    Sonja shook her head. “I never had a clue you were there. I even thought you were asleep when I left.”
    “Asleep or drugged?”
    She winced. “You remember