The Gigolo's Bride (The Necklace Chronicles) by R.E. Butler Read Free Book Online Page A

enough to
go to school."
    She found herself frowning. She'd wanted to
get married and have babies and stay home with them, the way her
mother had with her. But she'd planned to do that on Earth .
She was a little bit relieved to know that it was something that
the two planets had in common, that one of the parents was a
caregiver while the other one worked.
    "What do you do, Eden?" she asked, aware he
hadn't really told her much about himself. He'd talked at length
about the planet, but had revealed little personally.
    He froze for a moment, and she wondered if
she'd said something to upset him. When she was going to ask him if
something was wrong, he said suddenly, "I saved money before this
trip so that we could spend time together once we were back
on-planet. When the time comes, I'll find work." He spoke
animatedly, but she felt like it was a false happiness. Before she
could ask him to elaborate, he said, "Tell me what you did when you
were not at the daycare with others' children."
    He seemed genuinely interested in her, and
she found herself warming to him. She told him about her monthly
book club, and the historical romance novel she'd just started for
the group; her twice-monthly trips to local dance clubs with some
of the women she worked with; and her obsession with a TV series
about vampires.
    "Vampires are not real, though? I read
something about them when I was studying your people."
    "No, not real," she laughed. It felt good to
laugh. And to share.
    "They sound like the ligaru , a
mythological race of flesh-eaters. They have sharp teeth and hide
in the shadows. Parents use them to frighten their children into
being obedient."
    She wrinkled her nose. "That sounds like the
bogeyman from my planet. The vampires I like looked and acted
human, but drank blood instead of eating food. They're a myth,
though, too. When I was seven, an older neighbor boy told me that
the bogeyman liked to hide in closets and under beds. That night, I
was so terrified of my open closet door and the darkness inside
that I screamed myself hoarse and scared my mom and dad to pieces.
I slept with a light on after that. For a long time."
    Eden's eyes narrowed, and a particularly
feral look crossed his face. "I would string up that young boy for
terrifying you, if I could."
    Her face flushed and she dropped her eyes.
She'd never had a man want to avenge her honor before. Peeking up
at him through the veil of her lashes, she was sure that he would
go after Tommy Perkins if he could.
    That evening, he cooked dinner for her and
she watched. In the small kitchen area was a cooker, a refrigerator
that he called a ‘refrigerated cabinet’ and an oval- shaped sink.
The stove and sink, like the bathtub and lights, worked by voice
control. The refrigerated cabinet was square and contained shelves
stocked neatly with containers of food and drink.
    He laid out two saffron-yellow pieces of flat
bread and arranged strips of pink meat he had fried on the cooker
on one side of the bread. He had asked her to slice a pale green
vegetable that was shaped like a carrot, and he added those thin
slices to the meat. Dabbing a white cream on top, he rolled the
flat-bread up like a wrap sandwich and placed them on plates. A
scoop of crispy noodles with light brown gravy sat to the side of
the sandwich.
    "Oh, this is really good, Eden!" she
exclaimed after taking a bite of the sandwich. The meat was crisp
and salty, the vegetable was crunchy and mildly sweet, and the
cream was tangy.
    "Thank you." He blushed. "It's my favorite. Esot with guiu and freks ."
    She had to laugh. "I have no idea what any of
that stuff is, but it tastes good."
    After dinner, they watched a vid that was a
popular evening show and a lot like a nighttime soap opera. It was
about a wealthy family and the fictional town that they lived in.
Despite her best intentions, Ashleigh found herself enjoying not
only Eden's company, but the things about his planet and his life
that he was showing