The following day, Cherry went back to work in Fantasy World at the Indulgence Center. Not having an immediate assignment elsewhere, Gallant rationalized that he should remain in Innerworld until Regent Esquinerra contacted him regarding Cherry's appointment with Theodophilus. Cherry had invited Mar-Dot to stay in the extra bedroom of her apartment, but the he-she preferred to reside on the ship. Gallant didn't need an invitation to share her home while he was there.
Compared to the last month of practically being glued to one another, their time alone together was drastically reduced. While she performed, he kept busy doing repairs and making modifications on his ship. Another chunk of each day was spent fussing over Shara with Rom and Aster. But during the times they were alone, the passion that had sparked aboard Gallant's ship flared anew and carried them over until their next private hours.
Cherry stopped questioning why she hadn't grown bored with Gallant and simply enjoyed having him around. What she was questioning was why she wasn't more anxious to hear from the Regent about Theodophilus. She knew she still wanted the audition. She just wasn't all that concerned anymore about how long it took to arrange.
A week later, Gallant caught up with her in between reenactments. He was smiling as he handed her a piece of paper but Cherry's personal antennae picked up an underlying tension.
Referring to what she was sensing rather than the paper, she asked, "What is it?"
"Read it," he answered with forced enthusiasm.
Cherry skimmed over the message quickly then reread it more slowly to be sure she hadn't imagined it. "He's coming here! Oh, Gallant, do you believe this? Theodophilus is coming back to Innerworld just to audition me!"
He laughed as she jumped up into his arms and almost knocked him over. "I don't know why you sound so shocked. I'm sure he is well aware of what a coup it would be to add you to his company."
She released her stranglehold on him and started pacing. "He'll be here the day after tomorrow. Holy stars! What'll I wear? Which piece should I perform? Should I invite him to my apartment for dinner or would he think that was too personal?"
Gallant grabbed her hand as she passed and brought it to his lips for a kiss. "I'm sure whatever you had planned to wear and perform the first time around were the right choices."
"Of course they were. How silly of me. Listen, I have a reenactment in about five minutes and I still have to change. Do you want to hang around and we can do something to celebrate after I'm finished?"
He leaned over and whispered in her ear. "I'd rather celebrate someplace less public. Just come home when you're through. I'll be there."
But the celebration didn't have quite the tone Cherry expected. Gallant set the mood with soft background music and softer lighting. He touched her throughout their meal as he often did, but the contact was not the seductive stroking she was accustomed to from him. Instead, each touch, every look was an affectionate caress that silently spoke volumes about how he felt about her.
How he loved her.
They didn't talk. There didn't seem to be anything left to say between them. That night, when he took her into his arms, she denied him nothing. And began saying good-bye the only way she possibly could.
With her body, her mind, and her very soul, Cherry Cochran made love to Gallant Voyager.
* * *
The morning before Theodophilus was scheduled to arrive, Mar-Dot joined Gallant and Cherry for breakfast in her apartment. One glance at Dot's face made Cherry think that this was more than a simple social call and Gallant's somber mood throughout the meal confirmed it. When the plates were cleared away and less than a dozen words had been exchanged during the past hour, she demanded, "All right, what's going on?"
Gallant cleared his throat, took a sip of coffee and coughed lightly.
Cherry smirked at him. "It can't be that bad. Just spit it out."
Wiping his hands and mouth on a napkin, he stalled for another few seconds before confessing. "We're leaving this morning. I told Mar-Dot you probably wouldn't forgive them if they didn't say good-bye properly."
A chill swept over Cherry as his words registered. "You're leaving? This morning?"
"We have a new assignment," he said quietly, not meeting her gaze.
"But can't you leave tomorrow? Or at least wait until after my audition this evening?" Cherry could hear herself whining but her disappointment was too great. She had been mentally preparing herself for them to go their separate ways in a few days, maybe a week. Not in five minutes, with no warning whatsoever.
"I stayed too long as it is."
Cherry pouted and crossed her arms. "I don't understand. In fact, I don't understand anything about you."
Gallant raised his brow in disbelief. "Come now. There isn't a person in the galaxy who knows as much about me as you do... including Mar-Dot."
The he-she rose at the mention of their name. Dot faced Cherry first. "I believe there are things the two of you should discuss without company but not until we get our farewell hugs." She held her arms out and Cherry stepped into them with a sad smile.
"What can I say, Dot? I'm going to miss you. I'll never forget you."
"And we will never forget you, Cherry." Dot released her and turned around.
Mar placed his hands on Cherry's cheeks, tipped her head back and kissed her passionately before she had a chance to either brace herself or protest. When he ended the kiss, he said, "I've been wanting to do that since we met, but if I had, you would never have given the captain a second look, and it was past time for him to bring someone like you into his life."
Cherry laughed at him, then smiled at Gallant. "The captain is lucky to have the both of you."
It took several more rounds of flattery and teasing before Mar-Dot left Gallant and Cherry alone. The moment they were, Cherry let her frustration rule her tongue. "I can't believe you didn't tell me you were leaving ahead of time."
"I almost didn't tell you at all," he murmured.
She was shocked that he would even consider such a cowardly route. "Why?"
Gallant almost smiled. "I love you."
She let out an exasperated breath and paced a few steps before asking, "Then how can you leave like this? How can you say you love me and not want to stay with me until the last possible minute?"
Placing his arm around her shoulders, he led her to a chair and sat her down on his lap. "I promised to be truthful with you. The truth is, I love you, but every hour we've been together since we heard from the Regent has been filled with farewells. I'm not a masochist, Cherry. I can't stick around to watch you go."
She fought down the emotion that his words caused and asked again, "Then how can you leave at all? If you really loved me—"
He quieted her with a kiss. "I once told you that my saying I love you wouldn't mean I wanted to enslave you. I respect the fact that you need your independence and that nothing and no one is as important to you as your acting career. But my understanding that doesn't stop me from caring deeply about you. My mother always said that true love is demonstrated best by giving the one you love their freedom. She proved that the day she let me go. I'd like to think I'm as good a person as she is."
Cherry hugged him close. "My sweet Gallant. If I was ever going to allow myself to fall in love with any man, it would be you."
He held her away from him and shook his head. "You still don't get it, do you? Love isn't something you give yourself permission to feel. You either love someone or you don't. And, unfortunately, you don't."
She was tempted to ask him to make love to her one more time before he left but she was no more of a masochist than he was.
After he was gone, she ordered herself to concentrate on her upcoming audition. In spite of Gallant's assurance that Theodophilus would be lucky to have her and her own self-confidence in her talent, she knew better than to assume it was in the bag. No matter what trick she tried to get her mind on track though, it kept sliding off.
She kept promising herself that she co
uld think about Gallant and how confused she was later, after the audition was over, but his words kept bouncing around in her head.
He had told her he loved her and asked nothing in return. Why? Better question—how? Love was possession, dominance, captivity. It was not the freedom to leave. If he really loved her, he would have insisted—
She cut off her own thought by recalling his mother's attitude about love. She'd said it before.
That woman was one smart lady. Obviously, a hell of a lot smarter than she was.
She had just let the only man she'd ever loved walk away.
* * *
Trooper that she was, Cherry gave a spectacular performance for Theodophilus that evening and managed to look happily stunned when he offered her a lead position in the Noronian Performing Company.
The only problem was his returning to Innerworld for her had cost them valuable time. They were committed to a six-month tour throughout the Consociation of Planets, commencing with Norona in two weeks. She could study her roles en route, but it was absolutely necessary that she be prepared to depart Innerworld in two days.
The time should have sped by in a frenzy of activity. Anything would have been preferable to wondering if she had made a terrible mistake about Gallant. Unfortunately for her state of mind, she had very little that needed attending before she could leave and she could only spend so many hours with Aster and a sleeping baby.
It was uncomfortable knowing that she would miss six whole months of Shara's infancy, but Aster promised to maintain a detailed visual record of every important moment and repeatedly assured Cherry that she had to take advantage of this opportunity.
Eventually, the minutes became hours and the sleepless nights passed one after the other, until it was time to board Theodophilus's ship. She couldn't stop herself from glancing into the docking bay where Gallant's ship had been, even though she knew it wouldn't be there.
He was gone. In another hour, she would be also. And the odds against her running into him while they were on tour were at least a zillion to one.
Forget him, Cherry, she scolded herself. There's a whole universe of men out there, just waiting to adore you! With that thought in mind, she pasted on a smile and walked on board.
Theodophilus greeted her briefly then turned her over to one of the crew members for a tour of the ship she would be living on for the next six months. As the fawning young man escorted her from one level to another, she kept wondering how something this enormous could ever get off the ground. Why, Gallant's whole ship would fit—
Damn! There he was again, insinuating himself into her every thought. Since this was a mental handicap she had never experienced before, she fretted over how long it would take to be rehabilitated.
When they reached her quarters, she thanked her guide and promised to have dinner with him some evening. She had been very pleased to hear that she had a two-room suite with a private bath and supply station. Automatically, she thought of Gallant's miniscule cabin and knew before she saw the suite which one she would have preferred walking into at this moment.
The living room was an ultramodern masterpiece of design, and she supposed she would get used to it... sooner or later. Hoping the bedroom had a little more warmth to it, she opened that door.
And gasped.
The room was a picture of femininity in pink-and-white chintz, with a ruffled canopy over a four-poster bed and a decorative dressing screen in the corner. Only one thing was wrong with the picture.
There was a man in it. A very big, dangerous-looking man to be precise, stretched out in the middle of the bed, with his back propped up by a stack of frilly pillows.
Cherry's bewildered gaze traveled from his bare feet, up over tight black leather pants, to a matching vest with no shirt. Two snow white streaks ran through his long black hair and a black patch covered his left eye. Even without the piratical costume, the look on his face was enough to frighten any sensible woman.
But then, no one ever accused Cherry of being sensible.
She took two steps into the room and abruptly stopped again. Around his neck was a black leather collar with a row of short silver spikes sticking out of it and a chain that ran from the collar to a manacle clamped around one bedpost.
Her heart was pounding in her chest. That mindless organ didn't care in the least why he was here, just so he didn't go away again.
Ever.
Seeing him once more was all she needed to confirm how foolish she had been to think she could forget about him. But her mind needed something more before giving in and admitting her weakness aloud. "Explain, please," she said without getting any closer.
"Isn't it obvious?" Gallant said casually. "I'm giving myself to you. To do whatever you want with me. I was a day off Terra when I realized you were absolutely right the whole time. Love does make a slave of you. My mother always said that it was best to accept the inevitable. So, here I am."
"You're crazy," Cherry murmured.
"I'm in love."
"But you despised being a slave."
"Being your slave would be better than living without you. And this way, you don't ever have to worry about my making a slave out of you. You are the master, er, mistress, and I'm here to submit to you."
As Cherry's gaze took a second, slower, tour over his muscular body, her eyes twinkled with the possibilities his declaration suggested. She recovered from her shock sufficiently to take a step closer to the bed. "Just so I don't jump to any false conclusions here, exactly how long is this term of slavery?"
"Aah, that is one of the conditions to my subservience. The term is forever."
"I see. But what if I get bored with you?"
His uncovered eye narrowed with warning. "One of my duties as your slave is to make sure you never get bored."
She angled her head and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I don't know. I tend to think a slave who did everything I ordered, and agreed with everything I said, would become rather tiresome."
"I think it would be safe for you to assume that I would occasionally refuse to do your bidding and frequently argue the clothes right off you."
She couldn't hold back the grin or the eyebrow wiggle. "Promise?"
"Guaranteed," he said with an answering smile.
"You said there were conditions, plural, to your being my slave. What else besides the term?"
"Because of certain arrangements I've made, you'll have to allow me to go without the collar outside of your bedroom."
"What arrangements?"
"I'm still working secretly for the Consociation but it was decided that I needed to change my operating cover. Being a free agent for hire carries too many risks, and it makes it difficult for the Regent to contact me when she wants to. After some consideration, I came up with the perfect solution."
"Are you going to get to the punch line, or do I have to beat it out of you, slave?"
"If you keep interrupting me, we're never going to get to the good part. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. The solution. As you may have noticed, my previous cover required a fair amount of acting ability. I auditioned for Theodophilus this morning and he admitted that I'm adequate—which is a compliment from that old crank. I've been hired on as a regular member of the Noronian Performing Company."
"What?" She was too stunned to fully comprehend.
"With a few special privileges that only Theodophilus, and you of course, will know about. After our first stop on Norona, you and I will travel in my ship instead of with the company. Mar-Dot is already flying there ahead of us. In between appearances, we may be asked to handle a problem or two for the Consociation and it would be best if we had independent transportation."
"Did you say we?"
He managed to keep a perfectly straight face as he said, "Didn't I tell you? The Regent officially approved you as my partner."
"Holy stars," she whispered, then repeated the exclamation several decibels louder. A rush of adrenalin urged her to pace back and forth as she absorbed w
hat he was saying. "This is incredible! Never in my wildest dreams could I have come up with this." She started toward him but halted again. "Is that everything?"
He shook his head. "Now we get to the good part." He paused just long enough to make her anxious. "The good part is where you agree to all of the above. Then we make up for lost time."
"Well, let's see. I agree with the part about you working with the Company. And I definitely agree with me being your partner on secret missions. Did you renovate your supply station?"
He chuckled. "You can have waffles for breakfast and toasted marshmallows at night. You'll also have a wider choice of clothing, including undergarments, and by reducing the cargo area, we were able to have a larger water recycler installed. You'll be able to take short, but genuine, showers."
"Okay, then I also agree with traveling on your ship instead of this monster. But that collar," she said, pointing to it, "I don't agree with." His smile faded so quickly, she realized he misunderstood. She hurried to his side, but when her fingers reached out to stroke his cheek, they encountered nothing solid.
The man on the bed was only an illusion! The imaginary Gallant vanished and the real one stepped out from behind the dressing screen... without his eye patch. In the next second, the blatantly feminine decor also disappeared, leaving modern furnishings similar to the outer room.
Gallant answered her unspoken question. "I thought if you were going to reject me, it might be easier to take if I didn't have to experience it firsthand. I was wrong."
Cherry went to him and took his hands in hers. "Oh, love, I'm not rejecting you. All I meant was, I don't want you as my slave, any more than I want to be yours. If we stay together, it should be because we make each other happy. I want you to tell me you love me again and again, yet feel free to leave if you ever stop feeling that way."
She had repeatedly demanded honesty from him and now it was time she faced the truth herself. "Because of you, I learned how wrong I was about love. The right kind of love doesn't enslave you, it sets you free—the way I feel when I'm with you. I should have said this before you left, but I guess it took your walking away for me to fully understand what you'd been trying to show me.
GALLANT (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 3) Page 28
