"Oh." She looked away, but not before he saw the hope fade from her eyes.
"Lainey..."
"You should get some rest," Lainey said. Rising, she pulled on her clothes and stepped into her sandals. "I'm going for a walk."
He started to reach for her, then thought better of it. He didn't want to hurt her, to make her think that what they had shared had been - what had she called it, casual sex? - but maybe it was better this way. They had no future together. Once he repaired the intergalactic transmitter, he would be able to send a message relaying his situation and whereabouts and someone from home would come to pick him up and he would never see Lainey St. John again.
The mere idea hurt worse than the nagging pain in his side.
Part One Chapter Ten
When would she ever learn? Every time she thought she'd found Prince Charming, he turned out to be a frog!
She wouldn't cry. She refused to cry. After all, she hardly knew the man. Heck, she didn't even know his last name. Didn't know if his parents were living, if he had brothers and sisters, or how old he was.
She kicked the corner of a picket fence. How long could it take to get over a man she had only known for a few days?
A lifetime, she thought, remembering how tenderly he had made love to her. It would take a lifetime to forget a man like Micah.
Suddenly cold, she wrapped her arms around herself and then, with a sigh, she turned around and went home.
Micah met her at the door. "Lainey..."
She swept past him, relieved to see he had pulled on his laundered jeans and T-shirt in her absence.
"Lainey, forgive me. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"You didn't."
He didn't say anything, only gazed down at her through those amazing silver-blue eyes that seemed able to probe the furthest reaches of her soul.
"Okay, so you hurt me. I'll get over it."
"Will you?"
She lifted her chin defiantly. "Of course I will."
"But I will never get over you, Lainey St. John," he replied softly, sadly. "No matter how long I live, no matter where I go, your goodness will always be a part of me."
His words, filled with sincere feeling and regret, melted the wall of ice around her heart.
"Micah, please don't go. Not yet."
"Lainey, come and sit down."
I don't want to hear this, she thought as she crossed the room and sat down on the sofa.Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it .
Micah paced the floor for a moment, one hand pressed against his wounded side. And then, against his better judgment, he knelt in front of her, determined to tell her the truth before he left.
"Lainey, there's something I have to tell you."
"No." She shook her head, knowing that whatever he said was going to alter her life forever.
"Please, just listen. I'm not who you think I am,what you think I am."
"Youare married!" she exclaimed. "I knew it!"
"No." He started to reach for her hand, then thought better of it. "Lainey, those men weren't looking for me because I'm some kind of fugitive from your law. They're looking for me because I'm not from your world."
"Right. Next thing I know, you'll be telling me you can't stay because your flying saucer is ready to blast off to explore a galaxy far, far away."
"Lainey, it's the truth. Xanthia isn't a country. It's a planet located at the edge of the Milky Way. My spaceship crashed in the woods behind that old house where we met."
Exasperated, she shook her head. "If this is your way of letting me down easy, I don't find it very amusing."
"Lainey, look at me. Who do I look like?"
"What?"
"Who do I look like?"
"Except for your eyes, you look a lot like my favorite romance cover hunk. So what?"
"Do you know why?"
Lainey frowned. "Heredity, I would imagine."
"No. I look like this man because I knew he wouldn't frighten you."
"I don't understand."
"When you came into the upper room in the mansion, I probed your mind for a male image that you found pleasing, one that you found attractive.''
"No..." It was too outrageous, too incredible. She didn't believe in aliens or flying saucers any more than she believed in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. "It can't be true."
"I can prove it."
She didn't ask how. She knew how. Images of space monsters