by Fiona Roarke
Riker was also glad the royal chair was positioned out of sight and away from the front door. No one would know he and Elise were here. He plucked a diamond-shaped iced cake out of a crinkled paper cup and popped the whole thing into his mouth.
A divine flavor he didn’t recognize soaked his taste buds in joy as he chewed the confection. He eyed the tray again, searching for a treat that looked like the one he’d just eaten. He found another and ate that one, too. Divine.
Riker glanced at the arched doorway where Elise had disappeared with Corette, anxious to see what sort of mate dress she would pick out for their ceremony. Maybe they could also find a jewelry store in Nocturne Falls and select matching pieces. Lots of couples on Alpha-Prime chose wrist bands, others identical necklaces. He had learned that on Earth, finger rings were the typical selection. He simply wanted Elise. He didn’t care what jewelry they wore as a symbol of their love and being mated to one another.
The big question rolling around in his head was where they would live. If she didn’t want to go back to their home planet, he’d have to give up his title as The Calderian, end his law enforcement career and move to Earth for a much lower rank and likely less prestigious position. He’d offered to do just that during his spontaneous proposal at the coffee shop. Further thought confirmed it.
Even if it meant giving up everything he knew to have the woman he loved and wanted, Elise was well worth it.
A troubling thread of memory came to the forefront of his mind without warning. Elise hadn’t verbally responded to his proposal. They’d kissed. She had certainly participated eagerly in that lip-lock and at the time that had been response enough for him. However, perhaps he needed to hear the words to ensure they were thinking the same thing.
Sure, Riker sat in the middle of an Earth-styled, white-filled, bridal haven, but had Elise actually agreed to marry him or were they simply hiding out to escape Anya and her followers?
Chapter Eleven
<^> <^> <^>
Elise slipped a beautiful confection of a dress over her head with Corette’s help. The fabric fell into place, draping perfectly over her body. The style was sleek and modern.
“You look amazing in that dress,” Corette said with a wide smile. “I know you think I say that to every bride who visits, but I don’t, only when I truly mean it.”
“This dress is lovely,” Elise said, chewing her bottom lip. She’d always been a bit of a tomboy, as earthlings called it. She was more comfortable in rough and tumble clothing made for running around and getting dirty, rather than dresses or anything feminine. This dress made her look like a girl. No. it made her look like an attractive girl.
“Do you like it?” Corette asked.
“I love it.” It’s just as I imagined, and it’s absolutely perfect.
“Shall we go show your fiancé?”
She stiffened unconsciously, worried that he wouldn’t care for her selection or that he wouldn’t find her as attractive in frilly, feminine clothes. “Do you think he’ll like it?”
Corette’s eyes narrowed. “I believe his mouth will fall open in awe and that he’ll love every single dress you show him today. How could he not?”
“Thank you.”
“Honestly, I think we could put you in a bleached potato sack and his tongue would still fall out of his head when he saw you.”
“That’s sweet of you to say.”
“I only speak the truth.” Corette tugged and smoothed the dress in several places before gesturing Elise toward the door back to the showroom. The dress initially felt a bit tight through the shoulders, but as Corette adjusted and smoothed, the dress seemed to expand to fit perfectly. Like magic.
Elise took a deep breath, forced herself to relax and turned to walk down the hallway to the arched opening where Riker waited. At least she hoped he still waited. An unruly spike of panicked fear that he’d run screaming from the bridal store the moment she was out of sight socked her in the gut, but she ignored it and kept walking.
The dress had a light pearl-beaded cape—made of some gossamer fabric that looked like fairies had breathed life into it—attached at her shoulders. It wasn’t as long as some of the trains she’d seen in royal weddings on television, but extended a few feet behind her as she strolled along. Corette walked behind her, holding the end of the cape up so she could move more easily.
The front of the gown was plain satin with a sweetheart neck and cap sleeves, showing most of her arms, but closely fitted to her frame at waist and hip. There was a small flare at the hem for what Corette said was a rebellious kick.
Elise walked slowly and carefully out into the showroom. Riker sat in the regal chair. A small giggle escaped Elise before she could stop it. He had the tray of treats balanced on his lap. One side of the tray was filled with a dozen or so empty small white crinkled wrappers; the other side of the tray had three lonely treats in paper cups.
Riker looked up. The moment he saw her—and the dress—his eyes widened, his mouth fell open, and the tray of goodies he’d had balanced on his lap slid forward and wobbled. He absently caught the tray before it fell, still staring at her like he’d never seen her before.
“What do you think?” Elise asked, resisting the nervous impulse to chew her lower lip.
Riker stood up, holding the mostly decimated treat tray. His seemingly star-struck gaze traveled from the top of her head to the rebellious flare on the hem twice before he cleared his throat. A half smile filled with awe surfaced on his lips.
“It’s perfect.”
“You think so?”
“I know so. It’s perfection and so are you.”
Corette artfully arranged the bottom edge of the cape behind her before coming to stand at Elise’s side. She eyed the mostly eaten tray. A gracious, charming expression quickly covered an almost stunned look on her face. “I see you liked the treats.”
Riker looked sheepish. “They were delicious. I saved you three,” he said to Elise. He sounded so proud of his selfless act of willpower in saving her any at all.
Elise grinned. “Thanks, but I don’t want to eat anything while wearing this dress.” She brushed her fingertips down the smooth satin front from chest to bellybutton.
Corette reached for the tray. “I’ll just freshen up this tray for you. While I’m gone, the two of you can discuss this dress selection.”
Riker nodded, grabbed one last triangle-shaped treat out of a paper cup, and handed over the tray. He popped the white iced petit four into his mouth. “Thanks. The diamond shapes are my favorite.”
Another gracious smile appeared on Corette’s face. “Ah, yes. The white chocolate lemon coconut is very good. I’ll see if I have any more.”
“Excellent. Thanks.”
Corette exited the room, leaving them alone at last.
“What do you really think of this dress?” Elise asked, looking at herself in the mirror with a critical eye, seeing too many flaws for perfection. Her arms were mostly bare. Maybe she needed a dress with long lace sleeves to hide her muscly arms.
Riker walked a semi-circle path around her, staring at the dress like he balanced a life or death decision regarding the destruction of the planet with his next answer.
He stopped, crossed his arms and stared at the dress from hem to neckline. When he finally lifted his face to hers, he wore an expression she’d never seen before. He looked hungry, for lack of a better word. He shouldn’t be, considering all the petit fours he’d just mowed through.
“I haven’t changed my mind. It’s perfect. The more important question is, what do you think of the dress?”
“It makes me look like a girl.”
“Well, you are a girl.”
“I know, but most of my life I’ve been more of a tomboy.” Noting the questioning look on his face, she explained, “That’s an earthling term for boyish-girl. And on either planet, I’m still not used to looking like a girl.”
“I like the way you look, Elise. For the record, you never look
ed like a boyish-girl to me. This dress is perfect for you. It’s simple, it’s elegant and it shows off your lovely toned arms. I love the part that hangs off your shoulders and drapes down to the floor.” He gestured to the back of the dress.
“The cape,” she twisted to look at it. “Yes. That’s my favorite part, too.”
“Do you know what my favorite part is?”
Elise spun back to face him. “What?”
He moved closer, careful not to trample her hem, pointed a finger at the sweetheart neckline, touching her collarbone, and said, “You.”
“Me?”
“You are the best part about this dress. And make no mistake, while I like the clothes you’re wearing, I don’t care what dress you select as long as you’re my mate forever.”
Her lips parted and a sigh escaped. He loved her.
“I love you, too,” she whispered.
“Do you?”
She straightened. “How can you doubt me? I’m standing in a fancy boutique wearing a girly wedding dress after proclaiming you’re my fiancé to a stranger.”
“You never said yes to my proposal.”
“I did.”
“No. We got interrupted before you gave me a formal answer. The robed and hooded figure kept you from declaring your intentions out loud. Then we ran out.”
Elise sucked in a deep breath. “Don’t you think by coming here to an elegant boutique to select a wedding dress that I proved what my answer is?”
He shrugged, looking quite content with himself. “Perhaps it’s implied, but not stated plainly. Maybe we’re just hiding here to keep away from Anya and her followers.” The hint of a smile played on his beautiful lips.
“So you want a definitive answer?”
“I do.”
“I love you, Riker. I’ve loved you since before I shook your hand at my graduation. I left my home planet after discovering you were promised to another woman. And she’s not just any other woman, is she? No. The one set to marry the only man I’ll ever love is not only smart and kind, but also wealthy and beyond stunningly beautiful.
“I volunteered to work at a far-off colony post so that I wouldn’t have to see the two of you together on every public broadcast until the day I died, where I fully expected to be a shriveled up, bitter old maid.”
His eyes narrowed. “A shriveled up, bitter old maid?”
“Another Earther expression.” Elise closed her eyes. She hated to let her emotions get the better of her. She wasn’t a girly emotional type. She was a fierce warrior at heart, everyone said so. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes and said, “Yes. I want to be your mate until the end of time. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
Riker leaned closer and pressed his mouth to hers. He tasted like lemon coconut petit four and the vision of him wolfing down dainty treats while waiting for her to put on a girly dress made her smile inside.
He pulled away and whispered, “I may not have known you before you graduated from the RMG program as well as you knew me, but I did my best to catch up and learn everything about you from the moment we met. I looked up your records because it was the only legal way I could read about you. I’m a member of the board and have full access to the training program.
“When we shook hands in line, it was like a ribbon of electricity zoomed straight up my arm the moment our palms touched and made me take special notice of you.”
“You felt it, too?”
He kept talking. “I was stunned when you volunteered for the colony on Earth. Ask any one of my friends, but I was moody and miserable for months. After that, I expected to spend my life alone. I was also headed down the path of being a shriveled up, bitter old maid.”
Elise cracked a smile. “Really?” She didn’t mention that only women were bitter old maids.
“Yes. Really.”
“Good thing you came here, huh?”
“Oh, I volunteered to come here. My brother was in trouble and that was my first priority, but finding you was a close second, if not tied for first place. Now that I have proposed and you have said yes, and you are in a very girly perfect dress, I think we should kiss again to make it truly official.”
Elise smiled. “I agree.” She leaned forward, careful not to wrinkle her dress. Riker pressed his lips to hers, his fingertips caressing both sides of her face with gentle strokes.
Several seconds of unadulterated bliss marched forward to claim her attention.
She distantly heard the ring of bells. Two female voices called out as the boutique’s door closed with a final peal. Elise opened her eyes halfway, glanced in the direction of the newcomers and saw a flash of blue hair. Her already fast heartbeat went into overdrive.
Anya. Crapa-tootie. How in the world had she found them?
Chapter Twelve
<^> <^> <^>
Riker was lost to Elise’s kiss. A hail of gunfire, bombs and explosions from extreme warfare could have rained down upon them and he would still be blithely kissing Elise—his future mate—as if nothing else in the world concerned him.
Elise broke the kiss and immediately sucked in a sharp breath, her focus going to the boutique’s front door.
He frowned at her reaction and turned halfway to see who’d arrived. He saw the blue hair first and every muscle in his body tightened in readiness to fight.
Then he looked into the face of someone who was definitely not Anya, and relaxed.
“Mom? Are you here?” the redhead beside the woman with the blue hair asked in an overloud voice.
Corette came into the room carrying the refilled tray. “Pandora, my sweet daughter, and Miss Jayne Frost. It’s good to see you both. What can I do for the two of you today?”
Pandora, her sweet daughter, glanced at Elise and Riker. “Are you too busy right now? We can come back later.”
Corette looked at Elise. “Do you need more time with this dress, dear?”
Elise shook her head. “No. I’d like to try on a couple more just to be sure, though, if you don’t mind. But if you’re busy, I’m happy to wait.” Riker pictured them closing the place down sometime later on tonight, Elise not leaving until she’d tried on and showed him every dress in the place. Perhaps it was simply his anxiety talking.
“Nonsense. I’ll help you into the next dress while my daughter and Jayne wait for me in my office for a few minutes. Is that all right, dear?”
“Sure thing,” Pandora responded. She and the blue-haired woman—Miss Jayne Frost—went through the door Corette had just come through after refilling the treat tray.
The flash of blue hair was a potent reminder of where they were and what they were supposed to be doing. They needed to focus on their immediate goals again.
Behind him, Elise whispered, “That scared the space potatoes right out of me.”
“You and me both. What do you want to do?”
“Probably best that we stay off the streets for now. I know they are still looking for us. I’ll try on another dress or two and then we’ll reassess our options.”
“So about this dress you’re wearing…”
“Yes?”
“I like it. You should get it, if that’s the one you want. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough Earther funds with me right now to pay for it. So buy what you like and I’ll repay you later. Okay?”
She grinned. “Okay. No worries, Riker.”
“Maybe we should shop for finger rings next,” he said. It was another place they could get off the streets and shop to hide out while serving their personal purposes.
Her grin widened. “Maybe so.”
Elise disappeared with Corette through the arched doorway, leaving him once again all alone with a tray half filled with diamond-shaped treats.
He sat in the regal chair and popped a treat in his mouth. He wondered how many he was allowed to have before he’d consumed more than was socially acceptable. Maybe he’d already had too many. He was on his second tray after all.
Riker resisted popping another treat into
his mouth for about three seconds before he reached for his favorite, eating it in two tiny bites instead of one satisfying mouthful.
Elise and Corette came out with a second dress that, while very pretty and very flattering, wasn’t the first one. He nodded and smiled and tried to say all the right things, but if he had a choice—and in this case he didn’t—he’d select the first dress, call it done and move on.
Corette left them alone a second time to discuss the outfit, heading into her office presumably to talk to her daughter and the blue-haired woman. She wasn’t gone for long. Riker didn’t even have a chance to kiss Elise before she was whisked away to try another dress, which Corette said was certainly wild but trendy in a few upscale places. It was short, coming only to mid-thigh. He liked seeing Elise’s legs, but didn’t care for the half-a-dress, as he thought of it.
Whatever. Riker had been ready to leave after the first dress. The only thing keeping him from running screaming from the house of frippery was the little tray of frosted diamond-shaped cakes he was unabashedly consuming like the air he breathed. That, and the fact they were actually hiding out.
Corette’s daughter and her friend returned to the showroom. He stood as they walked past, as he would on his planet out of respect. They nodded on their way out and Pandora said, “You’re fiancée is lovely and that dress she had on was perfect for her. My mom knows her stuff.”
“I agree, but whatever she chooses is supposed to be a secret from me, so I’ll try and act surprised on our special day.”
“Good for you.” They exited the shop, leaving him alone again.
Riker noticed a gray-robed figure across the street. The shop’s door hadn’t quite closed all the way behind Pandora and Jayne when the figure stopped walking mid-step, pulled her hood back to reveal short, messy, dark hair and an unblinking stare. She gave him a look of wide-eyed shock. Her arm lifted and she pointed at him. He expected unearthly shrieking to come next, but didn’t wait to find out.
