Stolen and Seduced - Christine Pope Page 0,6

if that really was who’d abducted me — weren’t into it, either.

Pale golden light washed over my shoulder, and I turned at once to see where it was coming from. Although I could have sworn there were no doors in the wall opposite me, a rectangular opening had suddenly appeared there. The light inside was much brighter than in the room where I stood. I moved cautiously toward it, wondering if the aliens were at last going to make their appearance — and then I realized I was naked, just as I had been when I awoke the night before. Not that it probably mattered, since whoever was holding me captive had already seen pretty much everything there was to see.

But I pulled my hair over my breasts anyway, thanking God that I’d let it grow almost to my waist so it made a decent covering, and I held one hand over my pubic mound as I moved closer to the opening in the wall. When I was a foot away, I could see clearly inside. The fixtures were odd, but it was obviously a bathroom of some kind, with a sink and toilet. There was also, I noticed with a good deal of relief, some sort of garment hanging from a hook. An opening into an alcove seemed to be a shower enclosure.

I reached up and plucked the piece of clothing from the hook. It appeared to be a loose-fitting sleeveless caftan, slipping easily over my head and then falling with a gentle drift of blood-colored fabric over my body. Maybe it was silk, but the material seemed almost lighter than that, and yet warm at the same time. The deep “V” of the necklace showed the amount of cleavage I’d only display if I was going clubbing or something, and the gown was slit up to almost mid-thigh on either side.

Since I spent almost all my days in khaki shorts and tank tops — switching to jeans and sweaters in cooler weather — a thigh-baring silk caftan wasn’t exactly my speed. But it was better than wandering around naked…and I had to admit there was something enticing about the touch of the delicate fabric against my breasts, and the swish of it on my bare thighs.

I placed my hands under the tap, thinking it might be a smart idea to splash some cool water on my face, if only to possibly shock myself back to reality if it turned out this was some sort of strange, sleepwalking dream. What came out of the sleek, silvery spout wasn’t water, however, but a glowing substance that moved from my fingers up to my throat. I didn’t have time to gasp, though, because when it touched my skin, it spread a gentle heat as it went, seeming to massage its way over my neck and up along my jaw, moving over my entire face. Then I made a brief sound of alarm, and reached up to wipe it away.

Just as quickly as it had come, it seemed to evaporate. Hand shaking a little, I gingerly touched one cheek, not sure of what I would find. But my skin felt smooth and softer than it ever had, even after that one time Jessica had talked me into getting a facial at a spa in Scottsdale.

His voice echoed directly in my mind. We mean you no harm.

Even though — just like the night before — I’d seen no one, and even though the words apparently had taken form only in my thoughts, I turned around, looking to see if someone had entered the room without my noticing. Of course, I was alone.

“‘No harm’?” I repeated, speaking aloud. “Serial kidnapping and rape with foreign objects is your idea of ‘no harm’?”

Silence for a second or two, and then the voice replied, We did not force you.

“Oh, really?”

Aliens apparently weren’t very good at sarcasm, because he — or it, although the mental voice sounded male — said immediately, If you had responded negatively, we would have stopped at once. All of your physical responses showed that you derived a great deal of pleasure from our contact.

I wanted to deny it, but my three or four screaming orgasms were probably signal enough that I had, in fact, enjoyed the experience. Still, I didn’t see any reason to make this easy for my captors. “So, if someone isn’t into it, you what…just let them go?”

Precisely. If that had been the case with you, we would have sent