Protecting His Mistress - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,74

Karn was so big and strong and gentle and sweet and loving? How could she not want to be with him forever as more than just a Mistress and bodyslave?

“I wanted to tell you—” Karn began but just then the jeweled chronometer strapped to Lilli’s wrist began to go off.

“Lilli, this is your mother!” a pre-recorded message from Mistress Mirabella announced. “If you’re not already at the conception center, you should be!”

They jumped apart guiltily and Lilli looked at the chronometer. Oh dear—she was supposed to be at the center in less than twenty minutes!

“We’d better go,” Karn said, also looking at the time. “Don’t want to be late for your fake appointment.”

“Exactly.” Lilli nodded. She looked up at him. “But I still want to hear what you were going to tell me, Karn.”

“Later, baby,” he murmured, stroking her cheek. “Let’s get this appointment thing over with and then we can spend all night in each other’s arms. I’ll tell you then.”

Lilli felt a warm glow suffuse her entire body.

“That sounds wonderful,” she whispered, leaning up to kiss him. “I guess we’ll have more time to do things right after I get finished at the conception center.”

“We’ll have all the time in the world,” Karn promised her.

Neither of them knew their time together had almost run out.

Thirty-Eight

“I don’t like the look of this place,” Karn growled as they stood outside the tall metal door of the conception center. The dark gray plastisteel the building was constructed of was forbidding and it didn’t help that there wasn’t a single window in sight.

“I don’t either,” Lilli said. She lifted her chin, looking determined. “But we only have to go in for a minute. Just long enough for me to check myself in and pretend I’ve had the procedure done. Right?”

“Right.” Karn nodded, but he still didn’t like it. He felt instinctively that there was danger lurking here—something that might harm his female.

The feeling was so strong he almost took Lilli by the arm and pulled her away.

I could tell her everything now, he thought. We could call the Mother Ship for extraction and run away together and never see this cursed planet again.

After Lilli’s declaration that she loved him, he was certain she’d go with him. The only thing that held him back was the fact that he wouldn’t be able to bond her to him.

But she doesn’t seem to mind about that, he told himself. And we’re in love—this feels right. Maybe the priestesses in the Sacred Grove can ask the Goddess to give us some kind of special blessing to help us grow closer together even if we can’t bond.

It was a hopeful thought and the only thing that kept him from speaking it out loud was the fact that he wanted time to explain everything to Lilli in detail before he asked her to go with him.

We’ll just get this over with quickly, he thought, looking up at the conception center, which rose like an accusing gray finger towards the Yonnite sky. Then we’ll go back to the hotel and order something nice from room service and make love and I can lay all the facts out for her. Then she can make up her mind.

After all, this was a decision which couldn’t be rushed.

He had no fear that Lilli would try to keep him as her bodyslave or turn him in to the authorities or anything like that. And he had little doubt that she would come with him. Her mother’s mansion might be nice, but Lady Mirabella herself was a nightmare. Karn had seen the way her cruel words reduced the tenderhearted Lilli to tears. She would probably prefer a life with him, even if it wasn’t as drenched in glitz and wealth—at least he hoped so.

I’ll ask her later, after all this—after I have time to explain myself, he told himself again. I’ll—

The beeping of Lilli’s chronometer interrupted his thoughts. It was time for her appointment.

“Well…I guess I’d better go in.” Lilli’s cheeks were pale and her eyes were big as she stepped towards the gray, windowless building.

“You mean we’d better go in, baby.” Karn took her hand and entwined their fingers. He gave her a reassuring squeeze. “You’re not going anywhere without me.”

“Thank you, Karn.” She shot him a grateful look and took a deep breath. “Okay, then let’s go.”

Together, they stepped into the building.

Thirty-Nine

Inside it was cold—meat locker cold, Lilli thought, wishing she’d worn something warmer than the flimsy pink top and skirt. She