Stolen and Seduced - Christine Pope Page 0,160

didn’t need to explain the reasons why because it didn’t matter. “I’d like to freshen up, please. You must have a washroom, and if it’s been days, then I’m overdue,” she said, cutting off whatever his excuse might have been.

He frowned and seemed to want to pursue the topic, but she’d reminded him of a valid point. Until dinner, she’d been able to think about nothing but food, but now other needs were pressing, and she really did need a bathroom.

She just hoped it was a bathroom that worked for humans. She hadn’t forgotten his comment that they were mostly the same ‘where it showed in public.’

“This way,” he said, as he led her back towards the room where she’d woken. For a second, she panicked, thinking he was going to lock her back in, but no. The corridor that had seemed blank and empty had hidden surprises. She was starting to think that every wall on the ship did.

He gave her a serious look, narrowing his eyes. “I’m going to give you the freedom of the ship so you don’t need to wait for me to open the doors, but you will stay out of the control room. It’s dangerous. Do you understand?”

Of course she understood! She had no interest in crashing them, and that was probably a very real possibility when one couldn’t even tell where the controls were. “Yes, Kave.”

His eyes searched her expression for a moment and then he nodded and pressed his palm flat on a discolored section she hadn’t noticed before. The door slid open. Instead of letting her go inside, he tapped out a complicated sequence on the panel, and then took her hand and pressed it to the same spot, holding it there until the door closed again.

“Rachael, I will see if it’s possible to bring you home. Things are complicated and it may not be an option, but I’ll make an attempt,” he said suddenly.

His hand pressing down on hers was a warm and reassuring weight. She took a deep breath and nodded. She believed him; maybe that was stupid of her, but she did.

“It should work now,” he said as he released her hand.

“You know this is only useful if I know where the doors are hidden, right?” she pointed out, but obediently touched the panel again. This time when it opened, she went inside. He followed her in to explain how things worked. She was grateful that he’d thought to show her because their version of a lavatory was like nothing she’d ever experienced, but at least it seemed to have all the important bits.

She did have to pee urgently, and she took care of that first. The shower, or their version of it, was next although it didn’t seem to use water. She wasn’t sure how it worked, but she did feel cleaner when she got out. He’d shown her how to work the cleansing unit for laundry and she was delighted to find it only took a minute to run everything she had through the cycle before her clothes emerged warm and clean.

There was no rush to leave the room, but there wasn’t much to do once she’d taken care of the essentials, so eventually she had to open the door. He wasn’t waiting for her like she’d half-expected, but it was a small ship and the number of places he could be were limited. When she opened the door at the end of the corridor that led into the main part of the ship, he was there waiting.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

It was only after she’d nodded that she realized she actually did feel better. Being clean and fed had boosted her mood even if the rest of her situation was a little dodgy. She shifted, one arm rubbing the other, trying to think of something to say. It wasn’t like they had vast interests in common, and she certainly wasn’t ready to ask more questions about her future. “So, what do you do to keep busy on a ship like this?” she asked finally. “It doesn’t seem like there’s much to do for entertainment.”

“We have ledgers—” He paused, frowning with a look of concentration on his face. “Sorry, no, I meant books.” When he continued, the words came slowly as if he were weighing them in his mind before he spoke. “Movies. Some games: strategy mostly, I’m not sure you’d enjoy those much. This ship is built for one passenger and short trips, so most of