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Marissa had a lump in her throat when she climbed into the car and lifted a hand in goodbye to Dot.
Asher pushed the gearstick into first, kangaroo-hopping the car before pulling smoothly away. And suddenly Marissa was laughing and crying all at the same time, her emotions pulled every which way.
“Oops,” Asher said, glancing her way with a grin. “Guess I’m not used to driving Earth cars.”
She swiped away a tear. “Don’t be sorry, you’re a damn good driver considering this is only your second time.”
Asher negotiated the rutted dirt road snaking between trees and brown grass, the sky a cloudless azure and the bright yellow sun descending fast toward the horizon. “On Riddich, driving is second nature. We have no choice really, being that our planet is three times the size of your Earth with a fraction of inhabitants.”
She sniffled back any remaining tears and asked, “Why are there so few of your kind?”
He tensed, his hands clamping tighter on the steering wheel and his shoulders flexing. But his voice sounded smooth and devoid of emotion when he said, “Our women only have a very small window of time in which to reproduce. Even then, a lot of women choose not to conceive so their future kin won’t go through the torment of shifting.”
“Do the women have some kind of birth control then?”
He nodded. “There is a weed on our planet, it grows almost everywhere. Ingesting its crushed up flowers once a month prevents pregnancy.”
She blinked, trying to imagine the inner debate of deciding between having children and seeing them suffer, or not having children at all. It seemed like an appalling choice.
But how must Asher now feel knowing all chance of keeping his race alive was practically impossible? That his whole species must be on the brink of being wiped out?
She clasped his thigh, aware how small her hand looked in comparison, and how he filled the whole seat and sucked away all space in the car. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through. It can’t have been easy.”
He put his hand over hers, his warmth seeping through her skin and making her breath catch and her nerve endings dance.
“It’s been horrific,” he conceded, “but I’m blessed to have survived.” He glanced at her. “Blessed to have found you.”
She had an insane urge to lift his hand to her mouth and kiss it. What the heck, she did it anyway. Her lips tingled as she kissed his knuckles, her whole body alive and aware. She released his hand and looked at him. “I’m the one who feels lucky.”
His eyes glowed. “Then I can only trust that whatever the future holds won’t change your mind.”
“I doubt that very much,” she admitted softly.
“I hope you’re right.”
I know I’m right.
She stifled a yawn, weariness suddenly falling over her. “I think all the excitement is catching up on me.”
His smiled almost looked sad. “Why don’t you get some sleep? I just follow the Sydney signs, right?”
She pushed away the odd sensation that he was hiding something. “Yes. I’ll take over from you before we get anywhere near the city. Wake me up when the road turns into a big highway.”
He grinned. “Yes ma’am.”
Marissa closed her eyes with a smile, feeling all mistrust melt away even as the miles slipped past as she drifted in and out of sleep. Intermittent dreams of a Riddich warrior filtered through her mind. It was only when the warrior became a fearsome dragon who sent a ball of fire in her direction that she woke with a start.
Asher glanced at her from the driver’s seat. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, though her skin was drenched with sweat and her heart rate galloped. “Yeah, I’m good now.”
He frowned, clearly not convinced. “Well the good news is you slept a few hours away.”
She sat up straight, blinking at the sun sinking behind the far horizon even as she took in the endless cars ahead on the multi-lane highway. “Holy shit,” she whispered, “we’re almost there.”
She didn’t even dwell on the fact Asher was driving on a busy highway, with little to no driving experience, at least, not with Earth cars. Instead her whole focus zoned in on the fact they were almost at her father’s.
Pressing a hand to her belly at the sickening lurch, she turned to him and said, “I’d better drive from now on, there’ll be traffic lights and stop signs, not to mention pedestrian crossings and a hundred other things I’ll need to teach you.”
He nodded, flicked on the indicator and pulled onto the shoulder of the road. Asher waited until she’d climbed out, holding open the driver’s door while cars flew past. A big truck rumbled by when she climbed in and he shut the door behind her with a soft clunk, drowning out the rest of the traffic.
She drew in a steadying breath before Asher climbed into the passenger seat next to her. He leaned over, his big hand clasping behind her head before he gently drew her to him, their mouths touching in the briefest of kisses.
She sighed against his mouth, his reassuring touch making her fear drain away and courage take its place. “Thank you,” she murmured when he pulled back, burning embers glinting in his eyes, “I needed that.”
He smiled, and said, “Let’s go face your dad together.”
She nodded, and even managed a smile in return. “Yes, let’s.”
A little over an hour later she pulled the car into a wide driveway, her hands damp on the steering wheel and her belly quivering as she braked to a stop and the headlights picked out the familiar but imposing set of wrought iron gates.
Keying in the code, she waited for the gates to slide open before she drove through, trying not to overthink things and allow doubts and fears to conquer her all over again. But as she drove slowly up the cobblestone driveway lined with palm trees and gleaming solar lights, and the imposing white mansion came into view in a blaze of lights, long repressed emotions rose like bile.
If she’d been an ordinary visitor, the four story mansion with its huge tinted windows and circular verandas with views of Sydney Harbour might have impressed her. But she wasn’t a guest, probably not even a welcome one, and everything within her wanted to throw the car into reverse and get the hell away from her childhood home.
Then she glanced at Asher and knew he was well and truly worth doing this for. Her dad had wealth and connections, and she couldn’t for a minute bypass that opportunity.
She stopped the car into one of the parking bays in front of the house, where another solar light showcased a fountain gurgling into a pond of water filled with lazily swimming, colorful koi. Not that she really noticed the once a familiar scene.
Asher was at her driver’s door and pulling it open before she even realized she was sitting numbly in her seat.
“C’mon, what’s the worst that could happen?” he asked gently.
She managed a smile. “You’re right. I’m being a sissy.” She sucked in a breath and then expelled it noisily before she took his proffered hand and walked with him across the driveway and up the ocher colored pathway.
At the carved teak double entrance doors, she pressed the doorbell. Footsteps sounded and the door opened. Tenille, the live-in housekeeper who’d been under Marissa’s father’s employ for easily twenty years, stared back at her.
“Marissa!” she breathed, her round, apple cheeks staining red with high emotion. “Oh my god, you’re home!” Before Marissa had a chance to reply, Tenille pulled Marissa into her chunky arms. Pulling back a little, she reprimanded in a shaky voice, “My god, you’ve lost so much weight. We’ll need to remedy that.”
Marissa smiled, despite herself. Tenille thought everyone should be robust and rounded to be even moderately healthy.
Tenille’s eyes were bright with tears. “We’d begun to think you were never coming home.”
Marissa awkwardly patted Tenille on the back, surprised by the rush of emotion at seeing the housekeeper again. But then Tenille had stepped in and been like a mother to her when her real, biological mom had chosen to leave behind all responsibility and take her own life.
Marissa swallowed past a lump in her throat and said huskily, “I didn’t think I ever would, either.”
Tenille stepped back. “Well you’re here now, that’s all that counts. Your dad will be over the moon to see you.”
She bit into her bottom lip. “Will he?”
Tenille’s mouth dropped open. “Of course, he’s never stopped hoping you’d come back home. Not once.”
Marissa’s smile felt tremulous, and Tenille frowned a little, as though shocked Marissa believed otherwise of her father.
But then Tenille twisted to face Asher, her stare appraising. “And I see you’ve brought company?”
Marissa cleared her throat. “Yes. Tenille, meet Asher, my ... friend.”
It was odd how that one word seemed wrong on so many levels. Not because he was an alien, but because the feelings she’d developed for him in such a short time had gone beyond friendship into something deeper, more intimate.
Tenille giggled like an infatuated schoolgirl. “My, aren’t you a big man!” Putting an outspread hand to her bosom, she cleared her throat and said in a much more subdued voice, “I’m very pleased to meet you, Asher.”
He nodded. “I’m pleased to make your acquaintance too, Tenille.”
The housekeeper giggled again, before she visibly calmed herself and opened the door wide. “Please, come inside. I’ll fetch your dad, Marissa, and then make you all a nice glass of iced tea.”
Marissa baulked as Tenille turned to lead the way. But the moment Asher’s hands closed over hers and he stepped inside, there was no going back. He gave her the strength and courage necessary to face her father who she loved and yet hated, an authoritarian man who’d done everything wrong with his daughter in possibly trying to get it right.
Tenille left them in the informal lounge and Asher tugged Marissa around to face him, before he took hold of her other hand. His stared burned into hers. “You can do this, okay? It’s not a firing squad you’re facing.”
She sighed and nodded. “I know, it’s just, there’s been a lot of bad blood left between us.”
“Perhaps some misunderstandings?”
She blinked. “I guess we’ll soon find out.”
“Marissa!”
Asher released her hands as she turned to face her father. Her eyes rounded. Dear god, he looked as if he’d aged a decade in the three years since she’d left. His once gray-streaked hair was a shock of silver, his sharp eyes underscored with shadows and deeper grooves set in his brow.
“You came home ... at last!” he said hoarsely.
She stood immobile as he ran forward and pulled her against him in a surprisingly strong embrace. It had to be the most caring act he’d shown her since his wife had swallowed a bottle of pills.
He pulled back, his eyes shining and his whiskered face breaking into a relieved smile. “I’d almost lost hope that I’d ever see you again.”
She softened a little, before memories intruded of him turning his back on her when she needed him most. Of him callously matchmaking her to his old friend, someone who’d apparently take good care of her and give her everything she needed, like it was a relief he could wash his hands of her and let someone else take over.
But love was all she’d ever craved, and Luke had been the only man to give her that. Her father had lost that ability the moment he’d lost his wife. A pity he’d forgotten she’d also lost a mother at an age when she’d needed one so badly.
She jerked free, her face hot. “I’m not here for a family reunion, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
His eyes flashed with something raw; before he blinked and looked at her with a considering stare. “Then why?”
“Because ... we need your help.”
Her dad’s eyes sharpened before he turned to inspect Asher. And in that moment she saw Asher through her father’s eyes. Asher with his ill-fitting clothes but big, menacing physique. Asher with his silent but deadly presence.
Her father turned back to her and rasped, “Marissa, what have you done?”
Before she had time to digest his jumping to the wrong conclusion, a soft, feminine voice asked, “Reginald, what’s going on?”
Marissa turned to the silver-haired lady whose high heels clack-clacked across the polished quartzite floor. When the woman approached Marissa’s father and he wrapped an arm around the lady’s waist, Marissa said tightly, “Yes, what is going on?”
She’d never seen her father uncomfortable before, but his flushed face and averted gaze warned her of the worst even before he said, “Marissa, this is my wife, Amanda.” He turned to Amanda. “Amanda this is my daughter, Marissa.”
Amanda visibly blanched. “Oh my god.”
Marissa clenched her fists, her belly churning as she bit out, “You remarried.” She shook her head. ”So much for your vow to never replace my mom with another woman. Goodbye, Dad.”
As she spun on her heel to walk away, for good this time, her father yelled out, “Marissa, wait!”
She stilled, and then slowly pivoted back to him. It was only then she realized Asher hadn’t moved. He stood watching her with an inscrutable expression that pushed her anger up another notch. He’d never hidden his feelings from her before, but now that they were in her father’s house he chose to put on a mask?
Her chin tilted, her stare clashing with her father’s. “Yes?”
“Don’t go. Please.”
Amanda nodded. “Yes, please stay. I know all this must come as a shock to you, but your dad didn’t want to make more waves and push you even farther away.”
“Is that what he told you?” Marissa barked out a sharp laugh. “Let me guess, Amanda, you’re a wealthy socialite with connections?”
“Marissa,” her father warned softly.
“What, Dad? Am I touching a nerve? Exposing the truth?” She turned to Amanda. “You see, power and privilege means everything to my father. I’m guessing you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth along with all the contacts my father craves?”
Amanda shook her head. “You’ve got it all wrong.”
Marissa curled her lip. “I might agree with you if my father hadn’t tried marrying me off to his friend to gain connections.” And to wash his hands of her. “I know I’m not wrong!”
Amanda exchanged a look with her father, before she expelled a soft breath and said gently, “Actually, I’m a nurse. My father is a warehouse forklift driver and my mother runs her own bakery.”
Marissa blinked, disbelief for a moment holding her in its spell. But reality soon crashed over her, making her eyes burn as she stared at her father. “So you get to marry anyone you choose, but your daughter has to marry someone of influence, is that it?”
Her father shook his head. “I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?” she asked hoarsely.
“From people trying to take advantage of you, people like—”
Something inside her drew tight. “Like who, Dad? No one ever tried to take advantage of me. Except maybe your spineless friend you tried to fob me off to!”
He shook his head. “You’re wrong, Marissa. And Jacob was a good man who had your best interests at heart. I trusted him, trusted he’d do right by you and give you the freedom to be you.”
If only her father knew just how much his friend had changed. Or maybe Jacob had always been a loser and had covered his true self from them both? Asher had more integrity and willpower in his little finger than Jacob had in his whole body.
She shook her head, and refocused on her father. “The freedom to be me? And just who is that Dad? Is it the one who brought back stray animals because she had a conscience? Or the one who left behind her domineering father to be with a man who loved her?”
Her father’s eyes glinted. “Luke wasn’t the man you fell in love with. He pretended to be what you wanted, said what you wanted to hear.”
She blinked back tears, the pain inside roaring like a freight train in her ears. “He’s hardly here to defend himself now, is he?”
Her vision blurred. What her father didn’t know was that Luke would never be here to defend himself ever again.
Asher stepped forward. “Maybe this discussion can be continued when things aren’t so heated?”
Her father drew himself up, his eyes as steely hard as his spine. “And who exactly are you?”
“My name is Asher Mannet.” He put an arm around Marissa even as she swayed with fatigue and bitter resentment and every other emotion known to mankind. Asher held her father’s stare. “I am ruler of my planet Riddich.”
Her father’s face lost all color, even as his eyes glittered as he turned back to Marissa and snarled, “Another lost cause you’ve brought home?”
Asher stiffened and Marissa’s tension ratcheted up another notch. “He’s nowhere near a lost cause, and this is no longer my home.”
Tenille walked into the room then, completely oblivious to all the tension as she balanced a jug of iced tea and choc-chip biscuits on a tray. “How wonderful you’re all together again as a family,” she babbled, her eyes shining. “And isn’t it wonderful to see Marissa with another man at last?”
Marissa pushed a hand over her face, her insides swirling sickly. So they all knew Luke had died. And her father had the gall to say Luke had been deceitful. “Sounds like you all know I lost Luke a year ago?”
Her father nodded, his voice strained. “Yes. I’d hoped you might come home after the tragedy.”
She closed her eyes. He’d seriously expected her to come back with her tail between her legs as though he’d been right all along, and that her love for Luke had meant nothing. The fact her father had known of her grief and struggles and hadn’t once stepped in to offer comfort or support just confirmed her worst fears.
He hadn’t changed. He was still a heartless, domineering man with crap parenting skills.
“I’m sorry.” At Tenille’s apology, Marissa’s eyes snapped open to see the housekeeper press a hand to her generous bosom. “I’m excited to see you home and I wasn’t thinking clearly. I shouldn’t have said anything. I don’t want to cause more tension.”
Marissa shook her head. “It’s not your fault Tenille. It’s no one’s fault I feel like I don’t belong here.”
